Hippies fail at metal because metal hates hippies

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Hippies can’t play metal. Black Sabbath kicked off the metal movement because they wanted to make dark rock in contrast to the “peace, love and happiness” movement that had swept rock music into conformity. In this they joined other acts, like The Doors and Jethro Tull, who warned that good intentions would not save the world.

Since the 1990s, hippies are no longer the opposition to our evil conservative overlords… hippies are the Establishment, and they have become just as conservative and evil as anything before, except that now that have a mantle of moral superiority to use as a weapon like grandmothers use guilt. Not only have the hippies aged into their 60s, but they have adopted the view that they are right and anyone who deviates must be quashed. So much for the summer of love.

For that reason it’s natural that much as metal fought the suburban mom censors and Christian fundamentalists back in the 1980s, from the 1990s onward it has been fighting hippie fundamentalists who believe that peace, love, inclusiveness, happiness and political correctness are the only topics one can sing about, and if not, one is the enemy. This follows the path other ideological fanatics took, as in the Soviet Union, where their revolution for equality ended in mass executions.

This is a turf war. Hippies have wanted to take over metal since we challenged them (and their insipid rock) in the 1960s. They took over hardcore in the 1980s and songs went from rants about the imminent decline of our society to cute ditties about how the singer is outraged that people are not more accepting of everyone and everything. They transferred all that boring late hardcore into metal and threw some metal and jazz riffs on the top and called it a new genre, “modern metal.” The problem with it is that it is boring. Every single band of this type is random because the message it endorses is the anti-message: stand for nothing except going along with the hippies. This means writing transparent songs about SJW-topics that never really go anywhere since they all have the same meaning, “join the revolution!”

If you listen to enough modern metal, you will notice a pattern emerges. On the surface, this music is diverse and exciting. Jazz riffs, metal riffs, punk riffs and indie rock tropes compete for surface space. But then if you look at the heart of it, these songs really do not have much going for them. There is no melody or theme uniting them, just a loop of verse-chorus to which the band tacks on the randomness. This is because these are not songs about anything but are new and not very exciting ways of saying the exact same thing over and over again. Like a loudspeaker blaring in Moscow square, SJW-metal repeats the same propaganda in lockstep in hopes of reducing your brain to sludge so you go along with it. There is a reason it is all boring, and it relates to the purpose behind the music. Just like pop is annoying because its only purpose is to be catchy and vapid, SJW-metal is boring because its only purpose is to bleat propaganda while trying to be “unique” by making new surface variations of the same tired 1960s-1980s rock.

When hippies invaded rock, they destroyed it. When they invaded punk, they neutered it. If they successfully invade heavy metal, they will turn the last comfort of the rebellious soul into the dogma of the boring 1960s revolutionary left. SJWs are zombies who preach the same stuff that baby boomers were wailing on about in the 1960s, forgetting that all that stuff got debunked when the USSR fell in ruins and we got to see the SJW paradise: everyone was equal, and anyone who disagreed got shot, so no one did much of anything and it all fell apart. Hippies would bring us to the same end. They are essentially apologists for the decay of our society. Where metalheads want to look at reality and come up with solutions, hippies want us to space out with happy feelings and ignore the fact that we are in free fall as a society and soon to bottom out. This is why industry and government eventually embraced hippies: they do not threaten the power structure. Metal does, and that is why today’s hippies are trying to invade it, and why we must refute, resist and reject them.

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Interview with Viranesir

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Some weeks ago we received a letter from a band called Viranesir who informed us both that they were creating metal music and that they faced a good deal of pushback for their treatment of controversial topics. Since 2014 is the year of political speech control, corruption and controversy, I wrote them asking if they would conduct a brief interview with us. From that arose this dialogue with Viranesir from Turkey…

“Sublimation is a great mystery.” — C. G. Jung

When did Viranesir start and who are the personnel? What musical influences inspired its creation? What does the name mean?

Viranesir started out in 2013 when I created it to score my first feature length film “Drink From The Fountain Of Uncertainty.” I remember it being initially on my thoughts for longer out of the influence that Quorthon made Quorthon as a creatively fuelling side project to Bathory and I wanted to do one for YAYLA, and with “Drink From The Fountain Of Uncertainty” came the opportunity.

Personnel are myself, Merdumgiriz and Ruhanathanas. We switch instruments and styles very frequently but its usually Merdumgiriz on drums, myself on guitar/vox and Ruhan on synth/vox. Musically speaking some common bands that all our current members enjoy in our blood orgies include Abruptum, Haus Arafna, early John Frusciante, Ildjarn-Nidhogg, early Deathspell Omega, G.G. Allin, Til Det Bergens Skyggene, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and Poesie Noire. All of which I think to some extent can be traced as influences on our current and future discography. The name comes from where Musician ends up in “Drink From The Fountain Of Uncertainty” on his solipsistic quest for his personal redemption. The place he ends up is Viranşehir (means ruined city); we manipulated it as Viranesir (ruined slave).

From what I have seen, Raping Lesbians For Freedom is some kind of Swiftian satire. What are you satirizing with this album and its provocative title?

I haven’t heard Jonathan Swift’s name since grade school. Anyhow, before anything, I’d like to get some shit straight, we ain’t racist (we were all born into “hard to find more worthless” races), sexist (one of us is a female and all of us are bi) nor do we hold any “political” views (not in the sense that most mean). We hold the opinion that everyone in society is responsible for all the suffering in the world, therefore we kind of confess for others through this album. And yeah, we are bullies, genociders, rapists, murderers and animal torturers because someone committing that shit no matter when or where or who makes me as a human being responsible so long as I live.

I don’t think wearing El Che wristbands, mate calling in LGBTI parades or fighting for justice on the internet saves me from the fact that I am, like everybody else, a scum of this universe. All our hands are perpetually bloodstained in my book and metal and punk are among the most noble, healthy and effective mediums for expressing the heaviness of that burden through psychological sublimation, even raising awareness. But the political correct “authorities” are currently trying to sterilize these mediums so that their warzone is more of a fairytale. Well, we’ll rape their lesbian souls until they scream as their own sex!

Funny threats aside, I do not have a problem with these fascists under liberal skin until their elaborate self-contradiction becomes a means for oppression. I am and have been fed up with issues of freedom of speech. Especially from people who do not feel any responsibility for the suffering of mankind. Hypocritical educated pieces of shit who are deep racists, sexists, animal murderers, child abusers and torturers hiding behind so called racial sensitivities, feminism, vegetarianism, making children, naming, excluding in all its perverse forms; subliminally abusing the individualistic and promoting what they claim to fight against. Most artists who tackle these hard subjects directly are tired of dying for these people’s piece of shit sins as they have a good time in their festivals of peace as they exclude our “politically incorrect” work with their guilt propaganda and subliminal calls to censorship.

Wake up! People are murdering each other at family dinner tables everyday as they raise future killers by taking out their anger for their husbands on their children. We are the future of these very children and we need to take out our criminal intentions on songs we sing not your privileged lesbian assess. These mothers who raise us are the “politically correct” most of us worship. Why are they “politically correct”? I think it is because that is their confession booth in which they wash the blood of their hands with holy water. Well, nothing wrong with that except when they fuck with our temples in which we work with the blood through albums we make and sing about murder and abuse and rape, a more direct way of getting rid of the stench of blood that our, and their hands are painted with. Well, it pleases me that so far they have the right and tools to tell me that I am an inconsiderate up to no good piece of shit as I have the right to make this album. What a wonderful world.

How much does provoking the ire of religious people factor into your artistic work? Does it matter which religion?

I fucking hate the mainstream religions (jewism, footsmellam, gayristianity, atheism, nationalism), for the facts that most of their followers seem to A. otherise evil B. seek extension. Also, in footsmellam it seems the trend of using murder as a means of communication is at its peak, therefore I’d rather they all be degraded & destroyed as your rapper president suggests. With my music, I don’t want to merely provoke the ire of religious people because it is no different than kicking a huge dog. To make something happen with religion, I’d more so want to provoke the so-called “irreligious” people into acting like and realizing that they are the religious scum that they strive to fight against, and help them and myself craft more effective solutions.

In my opinion everybody is religious in that they form some sort of worldview that makes them relate to this uncertain existence and form a kind of “certainty matrix” through their vague and often highly distorted collection of memories. A matrix that tells them that if what they do in life brings them “success,” then the next unknown (eventually death) might not actually be unconquerable after all. Practicing their religion everyday through believing blindly in saying, doing and justifying things that make them feel good no matter how self-conflicting and half-thought they may be. It is a shame to admit that the mainstream religious are the ones who actually “in theory” submit to this tragedy. However, this does not at all mean that I respect or enjoy mainstream religious people. I just think it would be wise not to “otherise” in fighting against the tyranny of religion, because after all, it is a cheap weapon used by “pure religious radicalism” which is achieved exactly through fighting through otherising (see ISIS, Nazi Germs, guerilla, crusaders, Hollywood). And that is what most of us seem to do, however fighting without otherising can be achieved for example through discussion and self-criticism, which is only possible through total freedom of speech.

All religions, including in the cosmology sections of the most grimoires of Satanism that I became acquainted with (for example in their interpretation of the monarchic one God) have otherised and not considered the fact that the air we breathe is stenched with disparity yet we strive for unity. Of course Satanism (especially blended with quality black metal) is different in that it is an anti-religion and turning the spiritual theory on its head; in my interpretation and opinion, it is the gateway to a slightly more advanced cosmology and anti-belief system in that it is rooted in the depths of the human psyche and works with our need for certainty in a completely perverted manner especially in its alchemy of evil (that is why we formed Blliigghhtted).

Can you tell us where you are located? Are there any particular challenges about being a metal band, and having freedom of speech, there?

We are currently located in Istanbul/Turkey. No challenge whatsoever being a metal band and it gets me more pussy than most other countries I’ve lived in (Canada, America, England). I also run a record label here (www.merdumgiriz.org), my cheap ass fellow countrymen love us but never support us by buying our products, but its okay, at least they don’t behead us like the footsmellic sons of bitches they could have been. In terms of speech, there are no bigger issues than most of the west because we don’t have much of the idiocy called political correctness (Ruhan can often be seen around Turkey wearing a huge Swastika Mahakali shirt without getting any shit except from loser European tourists), however we have religious correctness to some extent, but not much.

I can actually say that between the respectable bigotries of the west and of east, Turkey is a calm little freedom center. Except if your speech is politically inclined; the only problem here is that if the government sees you as a threat, they will incarnate you. They are far from seeing Viranesir as a threat yet, which is our luck. Where fine art can go is way beyond the capacity of politics, and I am interested in such extremes that I can never even get close through politics. Yeah, yeah I know that I am actually sort of political even in saying that, but the particular challenge here that I am talking about would be to say shit about our government, certain political parties and its handsome leaders, a certain genocide, our blissful religion, our beautiful race and stuff, which except for footsmellam, I don’t really give two fucks to say anything about. Also, if I did, they might block access to DMU, which they do for many sites including all porn sites and many political sites. They got people on the tax-funded payroll searching and blocking “inappropriate” sites all day long.

It seems to me that freedom of speech is a bit of a paradox. Each society wants people to be able to express ideas, but does not want to be overwhelmed with speech for speech’s sake, which may not be relevant, true or important. How do we decide which speech is valuable, and which is not?

I contrarily think that society subliminally wants to be overwhelmed with speech for speech’s sake for a greater purpose, that is the reason for the blooming of social media. In my view speech is therapy, and the ejaculation of the unconscious; it is very healthy and to me, should definitely be totally set free.

For a merrier world, “no one should have to fear saying anything”. Since in my opinion deep inside society is aware of this, through saying a whole lot of nothing on twitter and facebook (and building a collective consciousness), it is getting ready for the future, which I feel is total freedom of speech. It is only a matter of time until we are all able to say many currently unimaginable things anywhere without getting treated as we are actually doing them.

Saying something is very important; for it is a lengthy and complex phase of contemplation (which inevitably leads to discussion, collective consideration and most importantly relief) before eventually doing it (except if you get in trouble for merely saying it) that most people skip. Saying something opens it up for contemplation and in my view, every speech is valuable; from the seemingly petty half-thought footsmellic rant of Arabic sand [redacted] to the meowing of a cat to a brain-dead high school girls vlog about relationships to a man-hating feminists blog entry on censorship to Quebecois peasants swearing disgusting French to each other in an alley way to Marxist-Lenninist bullshit preached by people who’ve never seen a socialist country to Schopenhauer’s aphorisms to spiritually enlightening Dissection lyrics. Something is to be learnt from all of them through interpretation and although many utterances can lead to unpleasant outcomes, it is the individual and the individual alone who should decide for what they should say. Irrelevant, untrue, unimportant, seemingly dangerous and/or extreme; I do not think prohibiting or censoring any sort of speech will get us anything but perpetual inner pain, stagnation and destructive destruction.

I’ve been told by others that Viranesir often gets compared to Anal Cunt, G.G. Allin and Impaled Nazarene, all of whom were very provocative. Do you see any commonality there?

I see much commonality, and personally feel that we have similar viewpoints for psychological sublimation in art. They too do not deny the blood on their hands and celebrate the fact that they are as human beings, no different than footsmellic arab murderers, rapists, torturers, bigots, animals, idiots. Viranesir, along with all those bands and many more all celebrate our impurity to be able to live with ourselves, unlike the hypocritical so called democratic bullies who not only otherise what they name to be evil and escape from their mental responsibilities, but condemn the ones who don’t as being extremists to raise hate for what they don’t understand. Speech can be beyond choosing sides or naming good & bad or love & hate.

Everybody is capable of bearing love and hate for the same thing, and they often do. Just as everything has the quality of bearing both good and evil qualities that also depend greatly on how one perceives them. Most things I do stem from the interaction of my emotions when I come in contact with these things that I bear conflicting feelings upon. When I say I hate something, I often mean I love it and vice versa. For example I can write a song saying “I love animal torture and taking advantage of women”. Although I “hate” both things in theory, I often use money to put a beast that I otherwise couldn’t have gotten closer than the eye can see to my plate, oh and I excuse the fact that it gets transcendent torture beforehand. Even if I think I don’t do it, I give money to restaurants that do it, or have friends who do it not if I let them pump their semen up my ass.

I also often use beer, money, my artistic projects and patience to insert my penis into some female vagina. Even if I don’t do it I give money to bars that it is being done in or have friends who do it not if I let them do it to me. I am with the thought that rather than denying the fact that I directly or indirectly participate in these tribal transactions through glamorous theatrics like vegetarianism and feminism and temporarily calm my conflicting soul until I bump into the next tragedy that reminds my unconscious that I am self-contradicting, why not sing about them in a more direct manner and rid myself off of the illusion that I can be consistent and just when what I am made of is inconsistent and unjust? To the party concerned, through direct speech and sublimation in art, perhaps I can say what most leave unsaid, grant relief, and raise more awareness and some real shame than to protest against this shit by guilt propaganda and trying to ban it, totally degrading free will and sense of responsibility. In other words, degrading my own humanity just like the mainstream religious scum.

Does Viranesir have previous albums? What were those like? Were they concept albums like Raping Lesbians for Freedom?

Our previous albums Kill Your Repulsive Child, Shoot On Mom’s Corpse and Fountain Of Uncertainty as their titles might suggest are all concept albums in my opinion. Kill Your Repulsive Child is our first venture into psychedelic synthpunk. It is a very personal album in that it is directly about my life, but very vaguely put together and useful for free interpretation. The music is crazy psychotic drumming mixed with schizophrenic vocals and chaotic fat synths. Shoot On Mom’s Corpse is the same thing, and is the continuation of the trilogy started with Kill Your Repulsive Child, however, it is better produced and both lyrically and compositionally way more concise. There is going to be a “father” album to conclude the synthpunk trilogy, which is very different and way grander than the other two.

All these three albums are based on my short story called Axiom Rotting, which as I said, is directly about mein leben. is a whole different thing; it is made solely by me as the music of the musician character in my film Drink From The Fountain Of Uncertainty which is a character based on me. It is a very dark sort of experimental metal with synths; way thicker produced than all other Viranesir albums. Me, me, me yes it’s all about me and know-it-all it may sound, I personally think that anyone claiming that anything that they do is not ALL about themselves are at best self-deceiving hypocrites no different than vegan bitches swallowing the cum of their McDonald’s consuming lovers.

As I understand it, “Raping Lesbians for Freedom” is based on a text that you and/or other band members wrote, and the characters in that text become voice actors on the album. What’s it like to write an album based on dystopian fiction that you’ve written?

Some weeks back Viranesir had a quarrel with Polish tourists who insisted Ruhan took off her swastika shirt. Ruhan was in shock trying to explain that it was ceremonial and stuff whilst a bitch in their group was screaming “Take it off, take it off” at the same time all of the others shouting how their Jewish grandparents died or got saved from the genocide and stuff while a Kurdish fag on the street joined their side and started cursing us for being Nazis. I basically stood between them and Ruhan and calmly improvised what would become the song titles.

I mirrored what I interpreted as their indirect anger and became their mouth to say what I understood they really wanted to say from their tone. After I said, “Don’t be a fascist and tell us what to do” to the slut, they magically stopped. Other than their following us for a while, no side breached the speech barrier and it was all good. Afterword we had a blast dancing in a superb club that night, then we went back home. We discussed what happened again and Ruh just uttered, “Political correctness is European ignorance” and exited the house. Merdumgiriz & me booked a studio and started recording the event as actors in a play. Re-interpreted the beautiful chaotic disparity that different races, thoughts and sexes bloomed as they came together that night into music and words. The outcome is a beautiful alchemical artifact of centuries old subdued hatred into rock music. All made possible through freedom of speech and sublimation of civilized people. I quite often do these kinds of things for creativity and it is safe to say that my life has become an album based on dystopian fiction that I’m constantly writing.

What do you hope the reaction will be? If people are interested in what you are doing, where do they go to see more?

The reaction will come from both sides, the rowdy, beer drinking have a laughers might love it for its psycho-ness, freeness and the raw music, while the educated elitist other might hate it for its uneducated music and political incorrectness and lack of sensitivity towards victims of rape, genocide, abuse and murder, which they will presume I have no experience of. I personally find both to be equally uninteresting reactions from a society that smells like the area between my balls and ass when it thickens with greasy filth as I lock myself home for days to write new music and screenplays while I jack off with cheap lubricants all day long. The reactions I care about will come from people who sit down and take a moment to interpret what I do into thoughts that I couldn’t have conjured by myself; negative or positive.

That is what art deserves, not “hahaha you guys are psychos”s or political piece of shit correctness, sensitivity or censorship or anything political. Where politics (social hypocrisy) is not enough to calm human soul that is where fine art comes to aid. I would hope to have intellectual, lofty, philosophical and existential conversations on evil about my album with people who don’t use “like” as punctuation marks and their Majors in Philosophy as proof of legitimacy. That was a joke, come as you are, as you were and chances are you will find me one surprisingly kind son of a bitch!

If people are interested in what I am doing, they shall go to:

To buy hand-made CDs and shirts:

All you need is serotonin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ESiyh2Ps0

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Interview with Utvara of Zloslut

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Serbian black metal band Zloslut has created some of the more interesting music to emerge from the underground of late and stand on the verge of releasin their second album, U Transu Sa Nepoznatim Siluetama in spring 2015. Main composer Utvara took some time to talk with us about the upcoming album and future of this innovative act…

What first attracted you to black metal music?

I would say it’s atmosphere, and its attitude toward all opposition.

What does black metal music communicate, represent or have as a value?

This depend from person to person, band to band and from era to era of the genre itself.

For me black metal represents all negation that “normal” people can’t stand. Primitivism with a way and a goal.

Its value was lost long ago. There are some good bands today of course! Even if I didn’t have the chance to experience black metal in the 90s, I can feel that it is not now what it was intended to be, judging by people who been through it, interviews and some well-documented movies.

Are you the sole creator of Zloslut? How did you decide to go ahead with this “lineup”?

Yes, Zloslut is me, Utvara.

The faithful individuals that follow me on shows are live session members.

You write and sing in your native language. Why did you make the choice to do this and not just use English, German and Norwegian like most black metal now?

I do this because I live in Serbia currently and I think it is an opportunity to know another language than English.

Many bands sing in English; I think it’s more original to sing in your native language, other then English if you have that privilege.

For those who don’t know that language, it will give them an esoteric feeling. As it gives me too when I listen to some Norwegian, Polish, German bands…

Zloslut have songs in English (three on the demo, one of them was re-recorded, it’s “Abyss of Eternal Deception” the track that closed the EP “Pustoš i prevare izgubljenih duša”) and two in French (one on the demo, and one other that was on the split “Anti-Human Manifest” with the song “Le Tonneau De La Haine,” with the text of Charles Baudelaire from Les Fleurs du Mals).

But I’m pretty sure that a musician who speaks several languages will agree with me that it depends from song to song.

Some sound better in English, but some must be in their native language because of its uniqueness.

Are you self-releasing your work as Dark Chants productions? Why this route and not another label?

Yes. Why? Because today anyone can be a label and many of them don’t take this work seriously. I have a problem with trusting a guy who runs a label on the other side of the planet. I don’t want someone to release my work and make a mistake. So I prefer to carry that burden myself.

I feel more safer when I do the work. I would rather support a mistake made by myself than by somebody else. The day I would let someone do that work is the day I will sign to a serious label who knows how things must be, but I have not had that chance yet.

What would you say inspires your songwriting, as in topics or emotions?

It depends; I guess that the lifestyle has a big impact in the work of a one man band.

The majority of my days are passed in reading, listening to music, and playing instruments. I’m not an “evil misanthropic” guy… It’s just that I enjoy times of loneliness. The feeling of melancholy gives me a lot of inspiration to write lyrics, music…

Or I let the intuition guide me. More people should try that, it’s amazing!

Too many bands today want to be like their idol, or for example the Disney band Watain. This brings us back to the second question, haha.

You’re about to release a new album, U Transu Sa Nepoznatim Siluetama available in 2015. How will this differ from your past work?

A lot. I think that this album is what I wanted to make since the creation of Zloslut, but couldn’t because of many obstacles, such as maturity, money, time and countless other factors.

Basically, everything is how I imagined it, so I think this album is the stamp of Zloslut, until further work.

This is definitely the most mature album and songs I’ve ever made.
I’m generally very negative when I make something. I always think that it should be otherwise, but I didn’t let that feeling overtake me.

What other styles or ideas influence you outside of black metal? How much does the history and current social/political/economic situation in your nation influence your thinking?

Literature (especially poetry), classical music…

I don’t let politics affect me in my musical world. I have some political opinions about Europe which are extreme for some people I believe. But I prefer to keep that for myself.

I don’t want to mix politics with my music, because they don’t have a connecting point. It’s pointless. Even if I love some bands that have some connections with politics.

What bands primarily influenced your basic style, and has this changed for U Transu Sa Nepoznatim Siluetama?

The bands that influenced me for Zloslut have not really changed since I created it.

When it comes to black metal, bands that influenced me the most were Burzum, Judas Iscariot, Taake, Peste Noire, Inquisition, Drudkh, Urfaust…

And I can’t hide my appreciation for the Finnish black metal scene. Almost all of them have something melancholic in their sounds… So Baptism, Sargeist, Noenum, Satanic Warmaster, Nattfog, Horna… I think that today they are the bearers of the “black metal flag.”

But the band that made my path into metal was Iron Maiden, and still today after more than fifteen years, I listen to them everyday at least once.

Classical music is also tied to me since I was a child. I was in music school for seven or eight years as a kid.

I love minimalistic pianist such as Philip Glass, Eric Satie (but just a few composition from him), but also the famous Tchaikovsky, Strauss…

And from time to time I like to put some OI Punk bands in the player, simple riffs, nervous voice with good messages.

Where did you record this latest album, and what techniques did you use? What were your goals for the sound/production of the music?

It was recorded in Belgrade, Serbia. I wanted something between crystal clear and raw sound, how to say, to keep the atmospheric spirit of Black Metal.

I’m not a gearhead, to be honest, I’m more into music creation. Knowledge of technical sound production was never my interest (until recently). I leave that to the producers in general, in this case for this album was Nemanja Krneta (a.k.a. Zlorog). I tell him what I want, and then we together explore all the possibilities.

And I’m very happy with how everything turned out.

How do you compose? Do you start with a riff, an idea, an emotion or something else? How do you link together your riffs?

Oh, this depends from track to track, generally with a riff, then I slowly start to create a text, and then assemble everything until it sounds well-arranged for my taste.

What comes next for Zloslut? Will you tour, or record again?

Well after U Transu Sa Nepoznatim Siluetama will be released around spring 2015 we plan to tour in Europe to promote the new album. We have some offers, but much more details will come after the release see the light… And maybe some summer festivals.

For more recording, definitely I have some ideas, but nothing for 2015, since I really want to promote the album as it should be.
I don’t want to drown the fans with many albums, EPs, splits, singles etc…

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Num Skull – Ritually Abused re-issue has fatal flaws

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The late 80s were an extremely volatile time for metal music. The speed metal movement that had started a handful of years prior was simultaneously peaking and sounding its death rattle. The noises coming from Europe and developing in New England were firing warning shots across the bow of metal as it had been known in full-out, transformational revolution. 1988 saw the release of Bathory Blood Fire Death, Bolt Thrower In Battle There Is No Law, Napalm Death From Enslavement To Obliteration, Carcass Reek Of Putrefaction, and demos from Paradise Lost, Samael, Rotting Christ, Rigor Mortis (pre-Immolation) and Exmortis, just to name a few. One can only imagine that this must have placed tremendous pressure on fledgling speed metal bands as the music world they thought they knew crumbled around them.

Very few of them escaped this period intact. Bands that had issued one or two great albums seemed to perceive that they could not continue as they had been. They saw a fork in the road: either trying to emulate one of the “big four” or struggling to “get harder” to keep up with the tectonic shift death and black metal were creating. Either move alienated the fan base they had built and universally failed as a result. This writer cannot think of one band that consciously changed vocalists and/or styles that got better because of said shift at that time.

This is not a lesson in music history or an album review, but it is important to understand the context of a given release. It is easy today to call up a band, a song, an album, and sample it immediately, piece by piece. Consuming historical output in a vacuum, outside of the understanding of the environment in which it was produced and unleashed, is simply folly. The timeline of modern metal, now at over three solid decades, conveys the idea that there were obvious plateaus and curves, slow and deliberate. However, focusing in closer reveals that there were a great many peaks and valleys along the way, some single high points among a lot of noisy low points.

Focusing on the US, 1988 saw some fine thrash releases from Nuclear Assault, Rigor Mortis, Vio-Lence, Wehrmächt, Wasted Youth, Wargasm, and the subject of this writing, Num Skull. Num Skull’s release of Ritually Abused, while not a game-changer, was significant. It toed the line of death metal; one can hear some hints of Immolation in some of the riffs on this album. The spitting delivery and effects on the vocals were very unique and helped set them apart. And, perhaps most importantly, it remains one of the very few releases from a midwestern-US band at that time. The midwest had the proto-death stylings of Macabre and Impetigo, the progressive metal of Anacrusis, the punk of Life Sentence, and the thrash of Zoetrope, but for thrash that edged closely to death metal, Num Skull were it. Ritually Abused caught them at their peak, before they decided they needed to be yet another poor-to-mediocre “brutal” death metal band to be discarded as also-rans. They were extremely talented, high-energy, and unique in a musical world filling up with same-ness.

Fast-forward to 2014. The original Ritually Abused is criminally difficult to find, with the lone CD pressing fetching triple-digits on eBay and in trading circles. When Relapse announced that finally, after much pleading, they were going to reissue it, complete with bonus track, it seemed time to rejoice. A limited-run of 300 units, pressed on purple vinyl, was promised, along with a CD and new apparel. This was an opportunity for younger listeners to hear what was a peak during the swan song of the US thrash movement with some proto-death metal tendencies, and for the label to pay respect to one of their deceased children, Medusa Records, with a release that helped put them on the map.

Upon inspection, the colors on the cover appear richer and the back cover has a new layout. Opening it, there is a basic lyrics sheet and plain sleeve. OK, so it’s not a deluxe reissue — this is not ideal but it is forgivable. After all, at least this piece of history was unearthed and given new life. Dropping the needle, fond memories of youth are replaced with jarring incongruity and disjointedness. What was originally a quick, seductive and declarative introduction of “The End” (“The end is near…”) followed by the huge, rhythmic hook of the title track was now the machine gun blast of “Death And Innocence”. Confused, a listener might consult the track listing again. As written, it shows the familiar order with the addition of a bonus track originally written for one of their demos:

  1. The End
  2. Ritually Abused
  3. Death And Innocence
  4. No Morals
  5. Friday’s Child
  6. Off with Your Head
  7. The Henchman
  8. Pirate’s Night
  9. Turn of a Screw
  10. Kiss Me, Kill Me
  11. Rigor Mortis
  12. Murder By The Minister (Bonus Track)

However, the lists of tracks as present on the disc is as follows:

    Side A

  1. Death And Innocence
  2. No Morals
  3. Friday’s Child
  4. Off With Your Head
  5. The Henchman
  6. Pirate’s Night
  7. Side B

  8. Turn Of A Screw
  9. Kiss Me, Kill Me
  10. Rigor Mortis
  11. Murder By The Minister (Bonus Track)
  12. The End
  13. Ritually Abused

The CD is also thus plagued. Such a clear display of “no fucks given” from the label dismantles the flow and intent of the original album and leaves the listener with a much less effective product. The lack of even basic quality control on this, after over a quarter of a century of waiting, demonstrates the fact that Relapse had no respect for this band or this release, a piece of its history. Relapse passed up an opportunity to finally give this release some deserved love and perhaps atone in some small way for the massive ignoring and lack of promotion payed to this upon its original release in favor of a quick cash-grab from their back catalog.

One wonders what little effort it may have taken to reach out to the band and seek their input and involvement on such a reissue. This has been done repeatedly lately to a high degree of success and satisfaction from fans; albums from Sacrifice, Darkthrone, and Bl’ast are prime examples of how to do proper reissues. Alternately, a few sentences from label leaders or peers about what the band meant to them at the time, initial reactions to hearing the album, etc. — anything — would have been a nice inclusion. At absolute minimum, a simple CD-to-vinyl rip using the 2002 disc as source material, while not giving a proper vinyl sound, would have resulted in a correct track listing and required exactly zero effort. It seems Relapse went out of their way to fuck this up, as though they gave the pressing plant some idea that there was a band called Num Skull that once upon a time had an album entitled Ritually Abused and let them figure out how to press it, never once checking any test pressings prior to collecting money and shipping another product about which they are ambivalent.

At their genesis, one likes to think that most record labels start with the idea of giving voice to deserving artists that would otherwise go unheard and unnoticed by other labels. In the mind of the listener, a label also bears the responsibility of curator of a slice of music history. Dear reader, what is the half life of such a fantasy? At what point does a label simply become a business with no artistic integrity left in their empty souls? At what point does churning out album after album of whatever flavor of the day fits best into the accepted formula that will sell enough product to turn a profit become more attractive than unleashing quality, moving music? Some rhetorical questions without answers, but one would think re-issuing a “lost” gem that requires minimal investment of money or time would be a simple feat if the label had one cell of shit-giving left.

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Sadistic Metal Reviews 12-27-14

wolfgang_fleur

Nothing is less metal than accepting everyone and everything. Metal discriminates. Fundamentally, we recognize that most people have their head in their clouds and like craven mice prefer comforting illusions to even only moderately disturbing truths. In fact, over 90% of everything is simply disorganized garbage made by distracted mice. For this reason, we unleash our cruelty and separate the music from the squeaking with Sadistic Metal Reviews

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Arkham – “Demo 2014”

It may become necessary to invent a genre for this style because it shows up frequently. It might be called “narrative speed metal” for music that adds heavy metal and death metal into speed metal but fundamentally follows the vocal line for song development, as if narrated as background action by the lyrics. The dominant influence on Arkham seems to be Iron Maiden, whose harmonized riffing and song structures bleed through, but the band has chosen a death metal vocal and a basic speed metal verse-chorus approach with introductory riffs leading to change in the verse riff for each section of the song. Good riffs, and good sense of melody, but this band ends up being too linear in narrative and the chaotic vocals interrupt their melodic songwriting.

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Bloodscribe – Prologue to the Apocalypse

Fairly standard brutal percussive death metal in the post-Internal Bleeding style that is essentially deathcore but with more internal coherence through simplicity. The problem with this genre is that, like Cannibal Corpse and the post-Suffocation clones that inspired it, it requires reducing itself to a catchy guttural vocal phrase and distracting riffs with lots of squeaks and squeals but very little put together into tremolo or complex textures. The result is that this is the musical equivalent of elevator music, just a lot more intense sonically and with far better technique. It misses (however) the mind-blowing aspects of death metal and replaces them with the toe-tapping, head-bouncing and brick-eating mental state of listening to someone force a jackhammer around a sewer line.

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Gnosis – The Third-Eye Gate

This band of some local repute comes to us playing the style that some call shuffle metal. In this genre, the vocalist chants and the drums race to catch up while guitars strobe a two chord riff in the background. It has the gratifying tremolo sound of early Florida death metal but the vocal dominance inevitably makes this combination sing-song and thus the foreboding sense comes apart, replaced by the feeling that one is in a local pub, drinking a warm brew, listening to the local band whose songs are as familiar as backyard dirt at this point and while improving, never seem to get good. Interesting ideas appear on this album but never develop because they are too busy keeping the chanty choruses going for the Budweiser drinkers who are wondering if they should pass out or vomit first. If this band wanted to get good, they would lose the vocal hook and replace it with monotone until the guitars sounded good, then re-write vocals to fit the guitars.

nameless_one-thousand_memories_and_nameless_sword

Nameless One – Thousand Memories and Nameless Sword

Essentially Iron Maiden styled heavy metal with death metal vocals and riffs thrown in for emphasis, Nameless One achieve a reasonable fusion of the genres but cannot hide the sickly sweet pop music underlying their Iron Maiden tribute composition. It is catchy and elegant in the way Iron Maiden is, but everything wraps up too nicely and the result is a sense of listening to one of those pop bands that pop up and vanish overnight in the dance music community. All instruments are executed with aplomb and solos are highly professional, and no song drops into lower-quality riffs, suggesting these guys have good quality control. Riffs are cut from archetypes, and the fusion is a little goofy, but the real sin here is making Iron Maiden into a candy pop band and thus making it as saccharine form of the irritation of nails on a chalk board.

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Winds of Genocide – Usurping the Throne of Disease

This album is hilarious. Imagine taking a standard hard rock album and trying to do it in the style of Blasphemy (yes, the Ross Bay one). Then add vocals which linger past the phrase or lead the vocals much like a pop band, and allow individual musicians to show off in the process. The result is unintentionally comedic as it sounds like Hollywood hired a bunch of Charles Bronson style tough guys to make Poison relevant again. In an attempt to hide the roots of this music, the band play fast and loud and layer it in vocals of several types, including the electronically processed chant and the barking chihuahua howl. For comedy’s sake they throw in citations to Sarcofago, Von and other ultra-basic bands, but no experienced listener will be able to get past the hard rock progressions and bouncy glam metal riffs even if played in detuned, double BOSS HM2 distortion’d power chords. Do not listen when stoned, as you might have a laugh attack.

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Crucifyre – Black Magic Fire

crucifyre-black_magic_fire

Late entries in the attempt to partake in the retro-Swedish death metal sound, Crucifyre comes with an impressive pedigree of B-level Swedish death metal bands contributing members to this new project. To realize this vision, they combined heavy metal verses with Sodom-style chanted choruses and melodic death metal touches using the Swedish death metal modified d-beat under the skin. The result is not stylistically terrible except that it satisfies none of the cravings associated with its constituent parts, and instead makes a very “modern metal” collage which makes sense linearly but taken as a whole expresses nothing.

In addition, the melodies and vocal rhythms used here are simple in the way radio jingles are (as opposed to the “broken air conditioner that needs oil” way that Cannibal Corpse-derived bands can be) and the combination makes this music simply annoying. Catchy rhythms, sing-song melodies and a jumble of riffs thrown together seemingly both hastily and craftily creates a sensation of being in a Disney ride where each new riff is a new attraction and each represents a general gesture at an idea, not an attempt to unite a theme through all the different parts. This creates a feeling of rotation to the songs as they cycle past.

Making retro death metal is not easy, nor is it usually advisable. Death metal does best when motivated by a strong vision and hence a clear aesthetic voice and thus selective use of the techniques available to it after three generations of metal and punk. What happens with Black Magic Fire is instead the an attempt to make music like one would make a burrito: dump in some death metal asada, top it off with heavy metal cheese, then scatter some d-beat rice and German speed metal lettuce through the mix and wrap it up. Then hope it makes sense. This album does not, and does so in the most brain-liquefying simplistic way possible.

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#metalgate reminder: SJWs tried banning metal in the USSR

Bands the SJWs in the USSR tried to ban

Uproxx unearthed a list of bands that SJWs in the Soviet Union tried to ban for reasons such as nationalism, racism, neofascism, sex, eroticism and their favorite, “Anti-Soviet propaganda.”

Included on this list were Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Nazareth, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Kiss. As we go through another round of political figures attempting to brand metal as evil and force people to ostracize it, it helps us remember who their ideological ancestors are.

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The Best Underground Metal of 2014

bill_and_teds_excellent_adventure

William Burroughs often wrote about the “edge,” or the liminal threshold between states. The last real edge year for underground metal was 2009 when strong contenders and new voices united to defend extreme metal against the onslaught of imitators making Potemkin village metal from hipster flair and lite-jazz fireworks but underneath it, nothing but disorganized songwriting and an absence of something to express. As the underground has come back with a vengeance, it has begun to displace the imitators because their music simply does not measure up. This has created a backlash as the hipsters defend their territory with guilt, ostentation, pretense and surface-level novelty. On the other hand, the underground has produced some strong contenders. And so we move forward through the past to the future, remembering that what is true is eternal, and trends, novelties, fads, hipsters and other transient moments pass quickly away…
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