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Metal Notebook: Daath, Seventh Angel, Shape of Despair

Wednesday 28 May 2008 at 07:09 am

Daath - Futility

This band appears to be an attempt to integrate industrial beats, Marilyn Manson-style dark hard rock, and black metal vocals and aesthetics. It ends up sounding like a cross between Ministry and Prong with the kind of emphasis on internal rhythm that made middle-period Metallica so much fun to listen to. Vocals emulate the kind of radio propaganda that Rammstein use, but end up sounding like a phone conversation intercepted mid-song. Fans of Girls Under Glass and other techno/metal hybrids (let's be honest about what this is) might appreciate it but the Pantera elements -- gratifyingly symmetric rhythms, rock/jazz lead riffing, uniform complementary melodic slopes for primary riffs -- make this sound like nu-metal to an underground fan.

Seventh Angel - The Torment

Exodus crossed with Morbid Angel: introductory death metal riffing breaks to bouncy, precision-strummed speed metal riffs that exchange leadership of rhythm between a few patterns which ultimate regress to the initial offering. Song breakdowns and overall concept of relationship between tempi is reminiscent of Suffocation, albeit slowed down, but the majority of the songcraft here is rendered in the form of jaunty, ebullient muffled-strum offbeat romps that made Exodus fun back in 1986 or so. Melodically a reasonable comparison would be Iron Maiden, as songs develop melodically from pentatonic to patterns approximating minor scales with majestic leaps that preserve harmonic suspense in bass-centric development, but its relentless speed metal styling forces this music through a compositional channel which simplifies it. In addition, the attribute of the best metal bands, namely the ability to maintain a narrative which finds beauty in the confluence of seemingly disparate parts, is in light supply, rendering this inaccessible to all but diehard 1980s metal fans.

Shape of Despair - Shape of

Imagine Burzum hybridized with epic doom like Skepticism or Sunn)))HIV), with rhythms like feet treading the path to the place of execution overlaid with gentle keyboard sequences over a Norse-style longboat-rowing beat. Probably this music is best for time in prison, or when sick, or locked in the cockpit of a propeller plane crossing oceans, because while it is quite pretty it develops slowly and its atmosphere conveys mostly repetition. Much like Satyricon, these composers are excellent at starting promising-sounding melodies yet have no idea where to take them, so they repeat and then squeak out with an improvised exit strategy as best they can. The result is somewhat "obvious" in that little mystery hides in its direction or the resolution to its patterns. Songwriting ability is high, but strategy is correspondingly low. It might be perfect for a soundtrack to a film about prospecting in the sands of the Sahara for water (on foot) but as a musical experience it is less than compelling.

News: Frontiers and Meetings

Tuesday 27 May 2008 at 7:02 pm We've been quiet but not lazy. New article Frontiers, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Creation and Love Destruction is online for your reading pleasure. It's about how to reverse a decaying genre, or decaying civilization, through laughter and destruction.

Next, we're having a meeting in Houston, Texas on May 30 for all those who might be in the area and want to attend. Talk, food, pranks, possible mayhem. Come meet some fellow deviants and see if they have ideas to share.

Nihilism

Monday 12 May 2008 at 2:08 pm

Nihilism is the removal of false logic based on the human perspective. Like heavy metal, it's an attempt to see the heavy in life -- the invisible threads of experience, need and wisdom that unite those who are awake.

Nihilism should be seen as a form of idealism, a rejection of the phenomenological and existential, as well as the dualistic heaven/earth scenario that creates an absolutist good/evil. Nihilism is looking at what connects the many parts of life, at once, instead of limiting ourselves to a human or machine perspective.

Nihilism is Romanticism.

Nihilism is derived from a Liberal impulse, "do what is right not what is profitable," but uses the methods that have been true in every age. It is more conservationism than conservatism. It is anti-liberal, and demands that both capitalism and socialism be tempered by an abstract goal.

Nihilism is nothing, like the order of the universe itself. You cannot touch it, you cannot own it, you cannot make it your own. Sometimes, you can channel it, and you will find your thoughts have greater clarity and your actions are not only more effective but achieve results of greater beauty.

And that, in the end, is nihilism: using primal science to escape linearity arising from our entrenchment in the human time-denying (but not timeless) perspective, and to unite the threads of interconnected reality into an organic order.

What is nihilism?

Black metal... cupcakes

Monday 12 May 2008 at 2:06 pm

In a perfect world everything would be as stark and void of color as these cupcakes. They are baneful in their absolute disdain for your tastelessness, and are true misanthropes as far as baked goods go.

Le Petit Gateau du Les Legions Noire-Traditional cupcakes inspired by untraditional black metal

Heavy Metal FAQ

Sunday 04 May 2008 at 11:16 am We've updated the Heavy Metal FAQ with new information and clearer articulation of the beliefs behind metal music. Our basic belief is that heavy metal art is that espouses the anti-civilizing principle in order to keep civilization from becoming a cancer. Check it out and let us know what you think.