Xasthur - Subliminal Genocide
- Thread starter Sadguru
- Start date
NFU
I like pie.
i think xasthur gets perpetually predictable, but hopefully this next album wont be the case. im looking forward to it with extremely mild interest.
Pethical
Tom
improve the production? fat chance. this is lofi bm we are talking about here. i am looking very forward to this though
Prognostic
Jiggachu
i put a song from 'oblivious' onto a mix cd project a few years ago for my 70 year old history teacher who grew up listening to jethro tull and various german nazi-era music. she liked it a lot. oh and im sort of interested in hearing the new one.
metal_wrath
I dip my forefinger...
MasterOLightning
Optimator
The production has been improving steadily. Hopefully working with Twilight and Sunn has inspired Malefic to try some more new things this time around. I'll pick this one up regardless, I guess.
Pethical
Tom
metal_wrath
I dip my forefinger...
Hubster
...
Subliminal Genocide has a lesser production level than what To Violate The Oblivious did, but it is a good album. In some ways quite different from the rest of the discography, but I must say that To Violate The Oblivious imo is still the definitive Xasthur release.
Tom is right - the lo-fi aspect of xasthur is great, but I do feel that it suffers from the muffled production as the music is already minimal itself.
Perhaps with the final release of Subliminal Genocide the production will approach that of To Violate The Oblivious, which could open up the album more.
And how do I know what Subliminal Genocide sounds like you ask? I've had it for ages
Tom is right - the lo-fi aspect of xasthur is great, but I do feel that it suffers from the muffled production as the music is already minimal itself.
Perhaps with the final release of Subliminal Genocide the production will approach that of To Violate The Oblivious, which could open up the album more.
And how do I know what Subliminal Genocide sounds like you ask? I've had it for ages
i certainly am not one to bitch about the production of a black metal album, but the production of the previous xasthur albums have been dismal even by bm standards. the sound of the older albums like nocturnal poisoning is like that of a running vacuum cleaner. i am sure many people would think of much of black metal in that way, but they would be wrong. leviathan's demos have shitty production as well, but that got better over the years without losing the black metal aesthetic. and a lot of stuff happens under the muffled production in an album like nattens madrigal, even though the production is beyond dismal. if one listens to it carefully (with headphones), one discovers a lot of details in nattens madrigal, but in xasthur's albums there are no such details to be discovered. that seems to be malefic's intention as well. malefic goes for creating an atmosphere in which there are no subtleties, but i think others like wrest beat him to it.
Hubster
...
I must agree with you (yet again ) on your point.
Xasthur's production *is* quite appalling. For under-production, I felt that To Violate The Oblivious (as I stated earlier) is probably a good balance for Xasthur.
I can accept under-production (hello big Burzum fan here), but come on... the first 3 Nortt demos are self-released, and (especially in the case of Døden) they have great "under-production" even for demos, in comaprison to some of the greater Xasthur releases.
) on your point.Xasthur's production *is* quite appalling. For under-production, I felt that To Violate The Oblivious (as I stated earlier) is probably a good balance for Xasthur.
I can accept under-production (hello big Burzum fan here), but come on... the first 3 Nortt demos are self-released, and (especially in the case of Døden) they have great "under-production" even for demos, in comaprison to some of the greater Xasthur releases.
you are right about nortt. partly for that reason, nortt achieves its aim better than xasthur does. to violate the oblivious was a step up for xasthur, and hopefully the new one will be better. well at this time you know better than we do 
Hubster
...
Material wise, its on par with TVTO. Production wise, appalling.... like, a 1960s model Hoover at the tip.
Hubster
...
A sub-question of sorts:
Some of us here are big fans of Black Metal. So with Xasthur in mind: we are used to and can see the benefits of under-production in Black Metal. But where is the line drawn? Where does it stop helping to create the art as opposed to destroy or hinder it?
Any thoughts?
Some of us here are big fans of Black Metal. So with Xasthur in mind: we are used to and can see the benefits of under-production in Black Metal. But where is the line drawn? Where does it stop helping to create the art as opposed to destroy or hinder it?
Any thoughts?
AshDLS
Huh?
As far as production goes, my problem with Xasthur is that it just sounds flat and sterile. Of course the majority of black metal albums have a "cold" sound to them, but at least there's usually a roomy or atmospheric sound to it too (for example, I love the booming tom sounds in Ulver's Bergtatt). Admittedly I only have To Violate The Oblivious, but the boring drum machine combined with a guitar that sounds like it was plugged straight into a computer with a cheap amp simulator is just pissweak.
Hubster
...
Funnily enough, the wall of fuzz and distortion on the album reminds me in part of bands like Ride (or showgazing overall). And dont anyone shoot me for saying that - go listen to the Nowhere album and you'll see what I mean.
Pethical
Tom
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