One of the principal aims of DMU is to not only serve as curator of metal music, but also to keep developing an informed, cultured and realist interpretation and formulation of the past, present and future of the genre in the interest of transcendent goals. To this end DMU is launching two contribution-based efforts in parallel to the website content: an e-zine and a music compilation.
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Tags: chymia niger, compilation, litigium, zine
We live in a modern wasteland. Crafted as a disposable society, our civilization consists of business and government, with culture and organic activities nearly entirely excluded. As those who wander this outland of foreign and alien values and behaviors, staying on top of fast food is essential.
20 CommentsTags: junk food, steak nachos box, Taco Bell, wasteland
Last month we ran the first of a two part series on flavor of the week metal subgenres, focusing soley on black metal. The plan was to release a second edition a week later, but the Tulio Baars DDOS attacks prevented that from happening. That is, until now…
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Tags: death metal, deathcore, despised icon, flavor of the week, gut, Hate Eternal, hipsters, in flames, Job for a Cowboy, leaf metal, losers in life, Melodic Death Metal, nu death, nu-metal, sadistic metal reviews, scene kids, slammin gore, smr, trends, white trash, wiggercore
Most Death metal bands don’t age gracefully and tend to either become parodies of themselves or end up playing pop music. Atrocity after having conquered Death metal decided to experiment with various genres but each of those experiments has been abysmal failure. This band therefore destroyed its reputation in both underground and mainstream circles to the extent of being forgotten by all. But from 1985 to 1992, Atrocity were on the war path until the release of their Magnum Opus Todessehnsucht (Longing for Death). Five musicians with an obvious passion for classical music combined with Floridian Death metal and the Teutonic trio. More precisely their main influences seem to be Death, Destruction, Kreator, Morbid Angel and Richard Wagner.
5 CommentsTags: 1992, Atrocity, death, death metal, richard wagner, Todessensucht
Brother Thelonious
750ml, $7
North Coast Brewing
Upon opening, this beer smells a lot like 1980s Dos Equis, namely a rich dark beer with overtones of molasses. Once decanted and tasted, however, this brew reveals quite a different flavor: like a plum-scented wine mixed with a sweet dark beer, it has a fruity undertone to a rich taste.
12 CommentsTags: beer, brother thelonious, fruit, north coast
This article serves as a stone cold warning to younger musicians: your band has no hope of being as big or as popular as the bands you love.
7 CommentsTags: commercialization, Heavy Metal, History
As with anything labeled “USBM,” it is an inevitable that an experienced metal fan will approach this release with caution regarding just how flannelly, how post rock, how try-hard and yet how vulnerable it is. With a cliched moniker that clashes together a couple of clumsy tropes to echo the oil and water mixture that Americans and black metal suspend as, Wolvhammer presents itself and its material as confidently confrontational so the saccharine despair of modern takes on the vulturized genre are initially somewhat absent, but the juvenile approach does not in its stead give credence to the overbearing impudence on display.
1 CommentTags: 2018, black 'n roll, flannelcore, hipster, post grunge, poverty stricken junkies, review
Article Contributed by Salustiano Ferdinand
tl;dr: Despite controversy surrounding the indie pedigree of Weakling’s musicians and their musical descendants, Dead as Dreams remains, as described by none other than Fenriz, an “odd masterpiece” on its musical merits and should be a part of any serious underground metal fan’s collection. The album, for a number of reasons, is currently something of a locus of blame for whatever particular sins people ascribe to west coast black metal. Some people point to Weakling as the origin point of indie creep into US black metal due to the supposed indie credibility of its members in particular as well as to a lesser extent the trend of questionable publicity stunts engaged in by mediocre bands from Velvet Cocoon to Ghost Bath (although in Weakling’s case this should be blamed on the label, not the band). As a result of these complaints, Dead As Dreams has over time become something of an Emmanuel Goldstein for black metal fans, and the album some people are critiquing when they say “Dead as Dreams” (such as the time DMU’s most alpha editor described it as “shoegaze black metal”) bears little resemblance to the actual album Dead As Dreams.
8 CommentsTags: 2000's, Black Metal, California black metal, Dead as Dreams, guest contribution, metal, post-rock, review, shogaze, weakling
Dissection was one of the last bands to be associated with violence and action in metal. Jon Nodveidt, a true Hessian who rejected the modern world, committed various acts that most will consider morally reprehensible yet they embodied his personal philosophy and the ideology of his music. Barring the third album, Dissection display a penchant for ambitious composition within a framework of heavy/death and black metal. The second outing reached too far and ended up sounding almost confused from the virtuosity of the musicians and the wide number of techniques at their disposal without the vision to streamline all these ideas. The Somberlain is a lot more focused in its inspirations by sticking closer to the source material and more structured arrangements.
A Land Forlorn impressively bridges multiple approaches to metal.
Tags: analysis article, Black Metal, death metal, dissection, Heavy Metal, hessians, innovation, music theory, Swedish Death Metal, traditionalism
The ability to spot flavor of the week(/weak) trends in metal is a key element of elitism and will save you a load of embarrassment further down the road. Both death metal and black metal have seen their share of torrid but temporary trends in the form of herd pleasing bastardizations that quickly spike in popularity and then evaporate from relevancy as their fans move on to something even worse (usually after a period of denial and/or clinging to a safe intermediary genre). Crowdism is for losers but it’s heavily pushed in the metal scene and thus one must stay sharp to avoid it’s pitfalls.
Therefore in the interest of providing you, the reader, with the knowledge of how to identify and properly dismantle future flavor of the week trends as they appear, this two part series SMR series will focus on a trend, a selected album from that defines it’s failings, and the worst offenders for each of these forgettable movements. This week, we will focus on black metal’s most embarrassing waves of herd-fandom and sadistically dissect their unfortunate rise and much needed fall.
17 CommentsTags: Black Metal, black witchery, cradle of filth, deafheaven, depressive suicidal black metal, dsbm, flavor of the week, gothic black metal, hipsters, I'm in a Coffin, Industrial Black Metal, mallcore, post-black metal, sadistic metal reviews, smr, The Kovenant, trends, War Metal
