So, I get Terrorizer on my iPod. I like Terrorizer a lot and I was really excited when I figured I could get issues thusly. This might be harkening the end of printed media but whatever. That said, I don't know what bothers me more: how this month there was a huge feature on Slipknot (who are described as having "changed the metal world," or something equally, nakedly misleading or misconceived as that assertion) or the sheer volume of folk metal coverage. And that speaks to a quandary I'm having -- I feel like I can't objectively look at folk metal (e.g. Turisas, Finntroll, or...eughhh, Alestorm), all of it just seems like gimmicky, wishy-washy bullshit to me. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the sheer boyish enthusiasm and adventurousness of classic heavy metal and I can kind of see traces of that in the aforementioned bands but...uhhhhhhh I think they suck and I can't seem to force myself to appreciate them in the slightest. That's all.
W.F.
Showing posts with label Speculative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Speculative. Show all posts
Friday, November 11, 2011
Saturday, October 29, 2011
I really like the new Rosetta but hang on for a second...
Just like the title says.
This was in the editing stage for a looooong time. I think I finally narrowed down my central thesis. I felt like I couldn't talk about Rosetta without reflecting on the sub-sub-genre they are usually grouped into, being atmospheric sludge (or "Post Metal" but let's discontinue the use of that marker, eh?). That reflection turned into an enormous, unwieldy essay. I gutted that and started over.
In brief, rarely do I find groups within the constellation of this "P.M." genre that good anymore (with the exception of Isis and Neurosis, who are often imitated with middling, unrefined results) -- which is odd, considering how much I typically like the pairing of aggression and atmosphere [link -- case in point]. SO, I did some reflection, and remembered a discussion with a friend I had one time that is somewhat related to the matter.
Atmo-sludge bands typically play an aggregate style of heavy music that encompasses elements of sludge, doom, post-rock, and hardcore, which should be AMAZING -- Passionate, confrontational, heavy music with an atmospheric flair that you can headbang to -- yet rarely that's the case. Rarely do things "click" for me the way they did in 2008.
I present the example of the first (and only so far, come to think of it..) time I saw Rosetta. In a hyper-condensed version of that set, they played "Red in Tooth and Claw" and I got AMPED. That is, I got about as excited as possible and I thought "This is going to be the best show I've ever been to" and then the set continued for what felt like 45 minutes as I became exhausted, drained, and annoyed.
To me, this speaks to this style in general. First, thirteen minute hardcore songs are exhausting. There's only so much of yourself to give, which must be what Neurosis figured out as they began to experiment with weirdo industrial textures and odd instrumental interludes in the 90s. So, the music (and this ultimately is what I'm diagnosing as what doesn't work for me with this style of music in general) wasn't as immediate or primal as normal hardcore, AND it lacked the pure grit and absurd heaviness of some good, modern harsh sludge/doom (such as Grief or Corrupted), and lacked a developed sonic landscape that if I really wanted to, could find elsewhere, in any number of Explosions in the Sky clone bands.
Finally, returning to that conversation I mentioned earlier, the issue that we agreed upon is that (and please forgive the very broad terms I'm speaking in...generally speaking) these groups that have one foot in the door in several places never fully commit to actualizing what's so good about the genres they're dabbling in in the first place, so you're typically left with an only half-decent hodgepodge that can be entertaining for a little while but will ultimately have you reaching for something better. For example, "Quietly," [link] by Mouth of the Architect is a pretty good song but then everything else I've tried to listen to from them has been totally forgettable and boring.
There was a definite period of time where this niche genre was in heavy rotation for me but then I got serious about listening to black metal as well as other things that were new to me at the time and suddenly I no longer saw the point. This is all, of course, dependent on my lived experiences and I'm not trying to suggest I have some sophisticated musical taste that makes these bands inferior and unimportant, or whatever. It's just that I've found very little I've cared to listen to in this stylistic family outside of Isis and Neurosis...well, except for the new Rosetta.
I'm done writing. I'm going to get to what brought me here in the first place next time.
Put it on the Pizza
-W.F.
This was in the editing stage for a looooong time. I think I finally narrowed down my central thesis. I felt like I couldn't talk about Rosetta without reflecting on the sub-sub-genre they are usually grouped into, being atmospheric sludge (or "Post Metal" but let's discontinue the use of that marker, eh?). That reflection turned into an enormous, unwieldy essay. I gutted that and started over.
In brief, rarely do I find groups within the constellation of this "P.M." genre that good anymore (with the exception of Isis and Neurosis, who are often imitated with middling, unrefined results) -- which is odd, considering how much I typically like the pairing of aggression and atmosphere [link -- case in point]. SO, I did some reflection, and remembered a discussion with a friend I had one time that is somewhat related to the matter.
Atmo-sludge bands typically play an aggregate style of heavy music that encompasses elements of sludge, doom, post-rock, and hardcore, which should be AMAZING -- Passionate, confrontational, heavy music with an atmospheric flair that you can headbang to -- yet rarely that's the case. Rarely do things "click" for me the way they did in 2008.
I present the example of the first (and only so far, come to think of it..) time I saw Rosetta. In a hyper-condensed version of that set, they played "Red in Tooth and Claw" and I got AMPED. That is, I got about as excited as possible and I thought "This is going to be the best show I've ever been to" and then the set continued for what felt like 45 minutes as I became exhausted, drained, and annoyed.
To me, this speaks to this style in general. First, thirteen minute hardcore songs are exhausting. There's only so much of yourself to give, which must be what Neurosis figured out as they began to experiment with weirdo industrial textures and odd instrumental interludes in the 90s. So, the music (and this ultimately is what I'm diagnosing as what doesn't work for me with this style of music in general) wasn't as immediate or primal as normal hardcore, AND it lacked the pure grit and absurd heaviness of some good, modern harsh sludge/doom (such as Grief or Corrupted), and lacked a developed sonic landscape that if I really wanted to, could find elsewhere, in any number of Explosions in the Sky clone bands.
Finally, returning to that conversation I mentioned earlier, the issue that we agreed upon is that (and please forgive the very broad terms I'm speaking in...generally speaking) these groups that have one foot in the door in several places never fully commit to actualizing what's so good about the genres they're dabbling in in the first place, so you're typically left with an only half-decent hodgepodge that can be entertaining for a little while but will ultimately have you reaching for something better. For example, "Quietly," [link] by Mouth of the Architect is a pretty good song but then everything else I've tried to listen to from them has been totally forgettable and boring.
There was a definite period of time where this niche genre was in heavy rotation for me but then I got serious about listening to black metal as well as other things that were new to me at the time and suddenly I no longer saw the point. This is all, of course, dependent on my lived experiences and I'm not trying to suggest I have some sophisticated musical taste that makes these bands inferior and unimportant, or whatever. It's just that I've found very little I've cared to listen to in this stylistic family outside of Isis and Neurosis...well, except for the new Rosetta.
I'm done writing. I'm going to get to what brought me here in the first place next time.
Put it on the Pizza
-W.F.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
In my own local paper
The Black Twilight Circle is the shit and I was really surprised to find an interview with Volahn in my local free paper. If you're so inclined, you can read a rare interview online HERE.
The theme of this issue itself is the Big Four (Anthrax fucking sucks. There, I said it.) and overall the content was pretty insightful, if not a little guilty of mystifying those golden years. While on the one hand, yes, Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica were in the right places at the right time to have an enormous cumulative impact, I think it's a little something -- not fatalistic but some close synonym, to accept that every current and future metal band will be somewhat consigned to a place of futility where they will never reach the same astronomical heights of influence and importance as those major bands did. Yes, conditions are different now, with a completely pervasive mass media and a seemingly limitless number of bands coming out of the wood works but, I think completely ruling out the eventual appearance of a band or bands who's sound could resonate so vastly, even outside of the core of the metal underground, is not a position I can wholeheartedly embrace. Instead of laying down and humbly bowing at the altar of the Big "Three," as quixotic as it sounds, I think we should be taking those lessons and applying them to build something better. There are thousands of ways this could be written off as too idealistic to be feasible, but come on.
Anywho
Here's a compilation from the Black Twilight Circle. They deserve their own post but that will wait.
Ritual Kaos
PEACE
-W.F.
The theme of this issue itself is the Big Four (Anthrax fucking sucks. There, I said it.) and overall the content was pretty insightful, if not a little guilty of mystifying those golden years. While on the one hand, yes, Slayer, Megadeth, and Metallica were in the right places at the right time to have an enormous cumulative impact, I think it's a little something -- not fatalistic but some close synonym, to accept that every current and future metal band will be somewhat consigned to a place of futility where they will never reach the same astronomical heights of influence and importance as those major bands did. Yes, conditions are different now, with a completely pervasive mass media and a seemingly limitless number of bands coming out of the wood works but, I think completely ruling out the eventual appearance of a band or bands who's sound could resonate so vastly, even outside of the core of the metal underground, is not a position I can wholeheartedly embrace. Instead of laying down and humbly bowing at the altar of the Big "Three," as quixotic as it sounds, I think we should be taking those lessons and applying them to build something better. There are thousands of ways this could be written off as too idealistic to be feasible, but come on.
Anywho
Here's a compilation from the Black Twilight Circle. They deserve their own post but that will wait.
Ritual Kaos
PEACE
-W.F.
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