Eligos
Problem Yet to be Solved
The bass work is even better than it was on IIII. Well worth the wait. They've got such a diverse sound.
Black Metal.
- Thread starter ROBL2500
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General Zaroff
Registered Lunatic
unknown
fuck ftagn
yeah I'm glad they've evolved their sound but kept some of the core elements: furious guitar work and outstanding bass work. I'm totally pumped to hear the full album.
Eligos
Problem Yet to be Solved
MasterOLightning
Optimator
That's one of Leviathan's oldest songs actually. Based on the track listing there are are a handful of songs from the demos era, which is a little disappointing.
EternalMetal
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I've been awaiting the new Farsot album and I really like what I hear so far. Powerful riffs and a really nice vibe, sort of hoping for some more good tremelo riffs on the full length like they utilized so well on IIII though.
Pyro Stick
Member
Wodensthrone have finished recording their second album. Its going to be called Curse and will be released early next year.
http://truecultheavymetal.com/blog1.php/2011/10/07/wodensthrone-finish-recording-second-album
http://truecultheavymetal.com/blog1.php/2011/10/07/wodensthrone-finish-recording-second-album
crimsonfloyd
Active Member
My girlfriend sent me this article about American black metal in the New Yorker by Sasha Frere-Jones. Overall, it has a lot of errors. He puts Leviathan in the "non-voilent" category and thinks that Inquisition is an American band. He also cuts the European scene way short- as if all Euro black metalers are knife wielding maniacs covered in corpse paint (not that there's anything wrong with that). Nonetheless, its nice to see black metal get a positive and fair review in a mainstream magazine, in which it is treated as a legitimate art form.
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2011/10/10/111010crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=all
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2011/10/10/111010crmu_music_frerejones?currentPage=all
Master_Yoda77
Juggalo
By all accounts Inquisition is an American band... They FORMED in Columbia, but Dagon moved to Washington before they even released their first album. I don't think he met Incubus until then either.
But yeah, Inquisition certainly hasn't left any violence out in their music. They are just as aggressive and hateful as ever. I think Crush the Jewish Prophet speaks for itself.
But yeah, Inquisition certainly hasn't left any violence out in their music. They are just as aggressive and hateful as ever. I think Crush the Jewish Prophet speaks for itself.
Cythraul
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It pains me to see Krallice, Liturgy, and Wolves in the Throne Room mentioned in the same breath as Absu and Inquisition, as though they're somehow on a par. Sure, this article treats black metal like it's a "serious art form" but it does so in the patronizing manner in which all hipster outsiders and alt rock dicks engage in this discussion: "ordinary" black metal is largely dumb heavy metal with latent potential for SERIOUS FUCKING ART, MAN. Good thing the "right" people (hipsters, indie rockers, people with serious opinions about art) with the "right" influences (post-punk, alt rock) came along to uncover black metal's full potential. Granted, this is not said explicitly in the article, but it seems like it's an assumption that underlies these sorts of outsider discussions of black metal.
How do you write an article about black metal and give European bm such short shrift? There's no discussion of what Euro bm really was; the discussion is largely confined to remarks on panda makeup, blast beats, and Satan. Yeah, let's not talk about how different from each other the original heavy hitters of this genre were. Let's not talk about how second wave Euro bm is largely a juxtaposition of heavy metal, punk, krautrock, European folk, and Western classical. Don't mention anything about how black metal has been "looking to expand" from the word "go." "Standard" black metal is that riff from "Transilvanian Hunger." Tremolo picking, blast beats, Satan, etc., etc. Good thing indie kids came along to give the genre the kick in the ass it needed.
Sorry, but early Emperor, Burzum, Immortal, et al. is still more potent than these hipster appropriations of black metal aesthetics. And, I mean, with the things that these people say about shit bands like Krallice and WitTR you'd think they never heard of Negura Bunget, a band that has achieved in a couple of albums virtually everything these false neo-black metal bands are going for. Nobody needs any of this stuff. Just listen to 'N Crugu Bradului and call it a day. Oh wait, sorry, that album doesn't have the right amount of wussy alt rock influences.
How do you write an article about black metal and give European bm such short shrift? There's no discussion of what Euro bm really was; the discussion is largely confined to remarks on panda makeup, blast beats, and Satan. Yeah, let's not talk about how different from each other the original heavy hitters of this genre were. Let's not talk about how second wave Euro bm is largely a juxtaposition of heavy metal, punk, krautrock, European folk, and Western classical. Don't mention anything about how black metal has been "looking to expand" from the word "go." "Standard" black metal is that riff from "Transilvanian Hunger." Tremolo picking, blast beats, Satan, etc., etc. Good thing indie kids came along to give the genre the kick in the ass it needed.
Sorry, but early Emperor, Burzum, Immortal, et al. is still more potent than these hipster appropriations of black metal aesthetics. And, I mean, with the things that these people say about shit bands like Krallice and WitTR you'd think they never heard of Negura Bunget, a band that has achieved in a couple of albums virtually everything these false neo-black metal bands are going for. Nobody needs any of this stuff. Just listen to 'N Crugu Bradului and call it a day. Oh wait, sorry, that album doesn't have the right amount of wussy alt rock influences.
Necroraven
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I agree. But the article was specifically about American black metal, wasn't it? Still, the whole "originally black metal was a joke, but now WitTR and Liturgy with their "real music (indie, alt. rock)-influences" have come to make it serious"-shit annoyed me, and also the fact, that the article implied them to be the only noteworthy black metal acts from US. But then again I don't see why black metal should be accepted as a legitimate art form by mainstream public anyway. Wasn't black metal born as kind of anti-art in the first place?
crimsonfloyd
Active Member
Yeah that's what bothered me too. The article is about US BM, so its fine that its focus is on those bands, but that doesn't mean that they need to present
I don't know about the anti-art thing, I would qualify a lot of the second wave bands as pretty damn "artsy". Intricate songwriting, unusual son structures and instruments, concept albums etc.
With the internet, black metal simply isn't as underground as it once was. Most people who are into any type of underground music know what black metal is and have at least heard some of the bigger bands. Living in Oakland and Los Angeles, I almost never meet someone whose seriously into the music scene but doesn't know what black metal is.
EternalMetal
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Dude you stole the words right out of my mouth. Such ostentatious mockery of the actual black metal scene while giving bands like WIITR and Liturgy their hipster spotlight is fucking unacceptable.
crimsonfloyd
Active Member
Ha! Inquisition are just regurgitating the 2nd wave formula, but with shitty vocals. I don't think they're good enough to compare to Liturgy or WiitTR who are both doing some pretty original stuff. Krallice at least try to do something different, but can't write an interesting song to save their life. Haven't heard the new Absu albums so I can't comment there.
I basically agree with the rest of your post (except unlike you I think WitTR and Liturgy are good bands.) There's an underlying sense of condescension in the article, but then again, its the New Yorker. Its always borderline condescending about all alternative forms of artwork it writes about.
Hardly. While there's no denying that Inquisition owes a great deal of their sound to Pure Holocaust, they've continually been refining their unique take on black metal (particularly with Dagon's infatuation with layering dissonant broken chords, which are utilized with a degree of finesse that few BM bands can compete with) and progressing, conceptually, with each album. I almost feel like Ominous Doctrines... helped codify their entire back catalog, as every album before it seems to be anticipating what they achieved on that release. Say what you will about the vocals, but don't discredit Inquisition for calling upon the established classics to inform their distinct approach to making black metal instead of just tossing out the playbook, so to speak, and starting from scratch (which results in HIV+ failure 99% of the time).
brooks55
Elixir of Sorrow
Der Morgenstern
Trailer Park Bacchus
This concept that WitTR are a bunch of hipsters, or have alt-rock influences in their music, is about as dumb as that article was.
Cythraul
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Well, I never said they in particular were hipsters, but it's pretty easy to see why their music appeals to the "hipster" crowd (or underground alt rock crowd, if you like).
That has stuff like My Bloody Valentine and Godspeed You! Black Emperor written all over it. Granted, I don't know what bands WitTR actually cite as influences, but at the very least there's a glaring similarity in aesthetic sensibility there. I recall reading an interview with them where they described their musical background, and they didn't describe it as strictly metal, but rather a more general underground music background. I find it hard to believe that some guys from the Pacific Northwest with an interest in underground music wouldn't be cognizant of the kinds of bands I mentioned.
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