Black Metal.

[cookiecutter]

Agreed. I enjoy all of Kim's work I have heard thus far, although I have yet to hear any Kyla material, I'm sure I will soon. For me I have always viewed Lifelover as a band people either love or hate, as with most bands in the experimental/depressive bm genre.

Have you heard Life is Pain? It is a collaboration between Kim and Trist (Cze). It's pretty good stuff.

 

[Alter]

I really dislike Lifelover, despite enjoying black metal and the other types of music that influence Lifelover's music a lot.

Same. I don't see whats special or interesting about it. They seem to be strange or strange's sake.

 

[Quasimoto]

I really hate that phrase "x for the sake of x" though I will say Lifelover is fairly boring. They have some potential to put out something awesome but it's like a collection of decent ideas made terrible.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

I really dislike Lifelover, despite enjoying black metal and the other types of music that influence Lifelover's music a lot.

It's probably because usually the "influences" just sound like a random pastiche they throw into their music.

 

[Omni]

It's probably because usually the "influences" just sound like a random pastiche they throw into their music.

I agree. I think they're sometimes more weird than they are good, and that just isn't good. His vocals are also kind of annoying, though I like the way he sounds in Hypothermia even though I don't listen to that band either. I also really don't care for the drums, which I'm pretty sure are programmed.

However, I really like the stuff Amesoeurs has released so far, because Neige's song arrangements show a definitely similarity to those of Joy Division, down to the drum patterns, guitar style and bass playing, and I feel like he just pulls it off a lot more competently. The more post-punk/gothic songs like "Faiblesse Des Sens" also just have wonderful feeling and I really like Audrey as a vocalist.

I can fully understand people also not liking Amesoeurs if they have an issue with black metal being combined with the dark rock and pop of the 80's. I guess in essence it isn't a completely original idea, but he doesn't claim that it is and has numerous times spoke of his influences and called this project partially a tribute to his love for them.

I'm definitely looking forward to the new Amesoeurs album, but I couldn't care less about the new Lifelover album. Too bad that's the last I'll hear from Amesoeurs.

 

[Alter]

Amesoeurs are obviously much better than Lifelover and have a much more "real" sense to their music but from what I have heard from the debut EP and a little bit from the most recent split, they sound a lot like doing the whole "clean riff-up-beat-ish black metal-clean riff" thing. I don't see how they are blending the Joy Division influence so seamlessly. "Faiblesse Des Sens" seems to be their most dedicated attempt at trying the post-punk sound and it comes off lazy. Neige has a lot of work to do in terms of the music aspect and trying to blend the genres together. The more recent EP shows a better progression, save for the vocals but I hate 82% of female vocals in rock so that is just me.

 

[Omni]

The song on the new split is actually their oldest and most simplistic song. If you don't recognize the plain Joy Division influence on the way he writes and plays, you need to listen hearder. It's just really obvious, and all of the playing on Ruines Humaines shows a pretty big amount of it. I'd wager they're his favorite band by a big margin.

Then again, you don't think Interpol sounds like Joy Division, so I'm not really surprised by this.

 

[Hubster]

While I can totally respect that people don't like Lifelover and that we all have our own opinions, the last few posts are somewhat comical.

I think (both) you folks take what you read in Neige interviews a little too seriously to the point where you draw comparisons to Joy Division in a way which doesn't present itself in the actual music: no doubt post punk is an influence, but I certainly do not agree to the level at which you guys are thinking its at. No offence intended, but there's a wee bit of masturbation going on

Personally I find Amesoeurs and Lifelover another apples to oranges comparison. The closest comparison to Lifelover at the moment is Circle of Ouroborus, and even then I don't think too much of an alignment can be made outside of the Black Metal aspect.

I feel post-punk and Black Metal is somewhat young in terms of how it's been experimented with. I'd like to see how someone, perhaps Carlsson himself, can come up with something which mixes dancier elements of Joy Division and (early) New Order, even perhaps some of the twisted Avantgarde soundscapes & vocals of Cocteau Twins, with Black Metal, and then tying that with stories of social urban dysfunction. That would be pretty interesting imo.

 

[Omni]

I don't see how pointing out the obvious influence an artist had on another is masturbation. That actually makes no sense, to be honest.

 

[Hubster]

No - what I mean is that you're putting more emphasis on the influence of Joy Division than these artists actually are. That's where the masturbation is.

 

[Omni]

I didn't put more emphasis on Joy Division than the actual artists. He specifically said that they don't really sound like Joy Division or other bands, and described a weird formula by which they create music, something about clean-distorted-harsh-clean or whatever, and I responded by pointing out that they definitely are influenced by those artists, particularly by Joy Division, which is definitely the one that his songs are the most similar to out of all those old post-punk and goth bands. I didn't devalue anything, so stop reading too much into what I post, please.

 

[challenge_everything]

A bit like how everyone describes Alcest as obviously influenced by shoegaze and dream pop, despite Neige having said he had never actually listened to those bands?

 

[Hubster]

Exactly. Thanks Benji

 

[Alter]

The song on the new split is actually their oldest and most simplistic song. If you don't recognize the plain Joy Division influence on the way he writes and plays, you need to listen hearder. It's just really obvious, and all of the playing on Ruines Humaines shows a pretty big amount of it. I'd wager they're his favorite band by a big margin.

Then again, you don't think Interpol sounds like Joy Division, so I'm not really surprised by this.

Your fucking stupid. I see the influence but I find it lazy. They just fucking sucked on Ruines Humaines, and on the most recent split the song is decent. Still they pretty much fucking suck and surly do not blend their Joy Division influence into black metal very well. At all. Got that?

Interpol do not sound like Joy Division aside from vocals and the dark vibe. Your fucking stupid and that is just a lazy connection to both of their music.

 

[Omni]

You're*

 

[cookiecutter]

You're*

Not to mention "surly"

 

[challenge_everything]

Anyway, moving on...

I rediscovered Apotheosis' Far Away From the Sun the other day and remembered how much I love this album. Any fans? 'The Maimed God' is seriously the mother of all epics, like the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy compressed into 20 minutes. There's so much going on, yet so beautifully controlled, it's no wonder it took a year for him to compose just that one song. The Bathory influence is huge, but thankfully most of the album doesn't just copy Bathory.

 

[T. Terrorist]

Have you heard Life is Pain? It is a collaboration between Kim and Trist (Cze). It's pretty good stuff.

Yes, I'm fond of that project as well! Trist has released some pretty good material as well but it's hard to keep up with all of his releases.

Regarding some of the other posts, I'm a fan of Amesoeurs and Alcest also - "Faiblesse Des Sens" has to be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, black metal or not, it sure is addicting. But to each his/her own, I'm just particularly fond of this style of bm, if even considered that at all Too many subgenres these days anyways.

 

[The Creator of Failure]

I started listening to black metal relatively recently. However, I don't like really raw, extreme black metal and I have to say that 95% (not literally ) of the lyrics are complete senseless crap - all those stuff about blood n guts, Satanism and similar stuff. If someone is really a Satanist, I think it's fine to write lyrics about that. But most of black metal bands write completely stupid lyrics. For example, all lyrics of Secrets of the Moon are Satanic, but they're different, they're very deep and intelligent, not just some crap written in order to attract people to buy their crap. So far, these are the bands that I listen to:
Secrets of the Moon
Black Messiah
Keep of Kalessin
Catamenia
Limbonic Art

 

[Hubster]

Yes, I'm fond of that project as well! Trist has released some pretty good material as well but it's hard to keep up with all of his releases.

Regarding some of the other posts, I'm a fan of Amesoeurs and Alcest also - "Faiblesse Des Sens" has to be one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, black metal or not, it sure is addicting. But to each his/her own, I'm just particularly fond of this style of bm, if even considered that at all Too many subgenres these days anyways.

Let's just hope Neige sorts out his love life and gets Amesoeurs rolling again at some point. There's far more promise with Amesoeurs as opposed to Alcest imo, despite Alceste being cool.