All metalheads secretly want the return of early 1990s death metal and black metal. Instead we get nostalgia bands who prey on our desires by delivering aesthetic imitation of the past, but with none of its depth, and by doing so, make a mockery of the underground as desperate metalheads embrace this stuff.
It cannot be popular to dismiss Teitanblood, but it must be done. This music is pointless. Yes, it reaches for a chaotic, noisy aesthetic in which to wrap very basic songs written in strictly chromatic three-note passages around extremely fundamental rhythms, achieving the same hypnotic-enigmatic effect that Cannibal Corpse or Blasphemy used to, but without the corresponding delivery of interesting expansion upon it that the latter managed. Instead, it just loops. Sometimes new riffs — very close to the old, or radically contrasting it but remaining proximate harmonically — enter the fray, but then they become part of the loop. At some point the studio engineer staggers in drunk, cuts off the tape and writes a song title on it which appears to have been generated by a Visual Basic script trawling through a black metal dictionary.
Dare I use the word “fraud”? Death is a fraud, an impostor, a pretender, and a thief of image which will replace what we know of the past with a superstition that it was composed of moronic guitar practice that was lauded by accident by people who were secretly imbeciles but hid that fact for their lifetimes. Aesthetic posturing occurs to give these songs “epic” introductions and striking contrast between different moments, but they return to the same pounding noise and rage. The problem is not that it is not faithful to the past, but that it is mediocre. It is boring. It is pointless. And it commits an unforgivable sin by trying to drag the rest of underground metal down with it on its path to sonic heat-death.
Remember Krisiun? Teitanblood is the new Krisiun, or the new Skinless, or a less interesting version of Impiety. It turns up the speed and chaos to eleven but has nothing to say. The people behind this band are very friendly and intelligent and surely are not hipsters and thus could come up with something better, but their problem is a lack of anything to say. They want to emulate the past, so they came up with this, but it strays from the mind nearly instantly because it has no relevance to anything except itself. I wanted to believe. Instead I found only emptiness, noise and an excuse for passing the time that leaves people even more desolate and mind-numbed than before.
Tags: 2014, blackened death metal, crust, crustcore, death metal, noise, review, teitanblood, War Metal
Hey Brett, what do you think about this song? http://youtu.be/IQ5CKSgT32Y
Burzumy, eh?
Why can’t people make good death metal anymore?
Society is basically the same as it was in the early 1990’s. The same inspirations should exist.
If you plan on taking the view that metal is a response to this society; then consider looking into the psychology of then versus now. Then, there was a distinct fear of impending cataclysm and from the perspective you are taking, metal can be interpreted as a response; one that embraced it in the hopes of improvement after it. The next thousand years, are ours!
However, that didn’t happen. As the years rolled by, things have steadily declined and done so without upheaval. The bottom keeps dropping out for more and more as the social consensus remains unquestionable.
That fear of imminent destruction has been largely replaced with the feelings of despair and apathy on the contrarian edge of the spectrum. I don’t think it is unreasonable to suggest that this is why contemporary metal is infatuated with nostalgia, melancholy and self loathing.
Judging from the outcome of Brexit, the psychosis of fatalism might pass and with it, maybe metal will gain some relevance. It would however, have to adapt to a world not on the cusp of a great turning but within it and give it meaning.
After black metal, it was clear what needed to be done: deny the Enlightenment and pursue the path that Nietzsche and the Romantics indicate. But this requires civilization upheaval, not a slow steady decline as we are experiencing, and so it is highly unpopular as people fight to hold on to what they have. However, now the death has become apparent and more people are realizing that even a roll of the dice is better than certain death, no matter how prolonged.
“people fight to hold on to what they have.”
A succinct summary of the attitude by which civilizations in decline, fail. People would readily cannibalize their infrastructure to maintain a sense of normalcy amidst an ever shrinking pie than simply accept that the good days are over and we all get smaller pieces.
“However, now the death has become apparent and more people are realizing that even a roll of the dice is better than certain death, no matter how prolonged”
Indeed. Furthermore, the beneficiaries of contemporary arrangements seem to have, in their desperation, taken to antagonizing such people who have little left to lose. I suspect it is a means of coping with the fact that their decisions have led to nasty consequences and therefore don’t have to address those failures because the dissent has a “moral deficiency” (read: racist)
You might want to have a look at “The Joyful Wisdom (La Gaya Scienza)” (this should really be “The merry science” or “The science borne out of happiness”), book 5, aphorism 370 before pairing “Nietzsche and the Romantics”.
…you might want to have a closer look at the Romantics, and the divisions within them.
Well, maybe I might. But that’s unrelated to Nietzsche rejecting romanticism as adverse to life. Maybe he should have had a closer look at this in order to discover that romantic pessimism (a term he also uses) isn’t all of it. OTOH, the characterization of Delacroix, Berlioz and Baudelaire ‘Ecce Homo’ is consistent with the ‘or else intoxication, spasm, bewilderment and madness’ from the aphorism.
I think we are lucky to have Desecresy, Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Kever, Horrid (Italy), Perdition Temple and Destroying Divinity. And don’t forget: Autopsy are still around!
And also don’t forget the Condemner, Cruciamentum, Ascended Dead, Blasperian, Blasphemophager, and Profanatica! You FUCKERS.
I like this album
Dropping the nostalgia, as that’s an accusation which couldn’t have been made against that, this eerily resembles These songs cycle through verse-chorus with exceptions made to fit in some transitional riffs, but never construct themselves around an idea expressed in both riff and song. As a result, they come across as random […] The song structures are too simple to give these riffs room to breathe, so they just cycle, which is to say raw repetition “one removed” by introduction of a contrary or at least different theme. Expectations thus set, this sounds good so far.
BTW: Comparing this with Krisiun in seriously grotesque.
BTW^2: Nostalgia is something for people with very selective memories. Most of ‘the past’ was shit and it’s good that it’s over. Preciously few things weren’t but these won’t come back, only memories remain.
I was a baby, or non existent, when most good metal came out.
I can not possibly have nostalgia for it, and even I recognize that the music is better.
When it comes to metal, it really was better during the 80’s and 90’s.
The end of history and the last man?
There have been musical peaks before, and these peaks have ended. Scandinavian folk music ended. European symphonies ended. And metal ended.
I do not think that the decline of metal signals the coming of the musical “last man”. This has happened before; music can rise again.
If you mean society at large, and not just music, then I’m actually rather scared.
Individuals can and do become “over men”, but then these individuals die, and things go back to normal.
The question that must be answered is how to create an over culture, because soon, humanity may change forever, and become something that is no longer human. The species may take control of its own evolution, rather than leaving it up to blind natural selection.
And if this happens while last men are dominant, rather than over men, then they will be the ones who decide the future nature of humanity.
I would prefer to wait until humanity is culturally and intellectually mature enough to guide its own evolution.
Ok, metal hasn’t ended. I have to give credit where it is due, to Sammath for being violent and terrifying, and to Summoning for still being good.
But the early 1990’s, holy shit, by the gods.
What could have inspired such a fertile time period of master pieces?
It’s legendary, as if part of humanity was touched by a magical force.
So many good albums every year.
In the early ’90s, the internet hadn’t turned potentially introspective art creators into attention-seekers who pandered to other dark and brooding personalities they met online. That’s a huge part of it, I think. The internet is gay.
Thanks. I exited a portion of “the scene” this year, everyone is a sassy beauty pageant bitch or a brain dead imbecile with substance abuse problems, you can only deal with that dumb shit for so long. Not using Facebook is also great.
The only difference between the dozens of Mexi flavored $5 Black Death CDs that have come before and this is HYPE. There is fuckng nothing going on here, I bought this on 2LP cause well buying records is fun while traveling and I never give it a fucking listen, Grave Upheaval, another ridiculous hyped up art project is actually way better, in novelty value.
“Dare I use the word “fraud”? Death is a fraud, an impostor, a pretender, and a thief of image which will replace what we know of the past with a superstition that it was composed of moronic guitar practice that was lauded by accident by people who were secretly imbeciles but hid that fact for their lifetimes. Aesthetic posturing occurs to give these songs “epic” introductions and striking contrast between different moments, but they return to the same pounding noise and rage. The problem is not that it is not faithful to the past, but that it is mediocre. It is boring. It is pointless. And it commits an unforgivable sin by trying to drag the rest of underground metal down with it on its path to sonic heat-death.”
What a cringe fest of try hard-isms.