The scene: A small auditorium, somewhere on the East Coast. A “black metal symposium” event has brought the self-styled indie intelligentsia out in droves, packing the auditorium nearly to capacity. A scrawny, effeminate man with long hair approaches the podium. The man clears his throat and begins reading from his “manifesto,” proclaiming black metal as dead and stating that his own band is the savior of the genre. Suddenly, the double doors at the back of the auditorium fly open. A corpse-painted figure strides into the room from out of the shadows, cold winter air swirling about him. The figure is Hoest, multi-instrumentalist/mastermind of Norwegian black metallers Taake. Before anyone in the room can react, Hoest is on stage, stalking the scrawny man. Hoest grabs the man by the hair, pulls a large knife out of his belt and slits the man’s throat without so much as a pause. Blood spurts and pours everywhere, covering the podium, forming a massive plasma-slick on the stage. Another man, this one a so-called journalist that’s made a career out of dabbling in heavy metal for the amusement of the indie crowd, rushes on stage to the aid of his friend. As he kneels over the convulsing body, Hoest unsheathes a spiked club that was strapped to his back, bringing it down on the journalist’s head in one fluid motion, splitting his skull nearly in half. The crowd is in shock, unsure whether this is actually happening or merely part of the show. Without a word, Hoest jumps off stage and walks out the back of the auditorium from whence he came, taking care to shut the double doors behind him. He takes a padlock and chains from his belt, effectively shackling the doors together, trapping the audience inside. He then kicks over a large drum of gasoline, allowing it to seep through the cracks underneath the auditorium doors. Hoest lights a match, watching it flicker for a second before tossing it into the pool of petrol. The screams of those trapped inside lick at the frigid night sky along with the rising flames.
Read more »
Archive for the Music Category
THKD First Listen: Wylve / The Rain in Endless Fall
Posted in black metal, heavy metal, Metal, Music, USBM with tags black metal, Blut Der Nacht, Fallen Empire, Metal, Music, The Rain in Endless Fall, track premiere, USA, USBM, Wylve on 02/14/2012 by THKD
Last month, I covered a demo tape from an excellent raw black metal band known as Blut Der Nacht. Not long after, I was contacted by Mike, the owner of BDN’s label, Fallen Empire Records. Mike told me that BDN also had a couple of side projects up their sleeves that he was planning on releasing. Needless to say, I was eager to hear what else these musicians were capable of, so I waited patiently for any scrap of information regarding these projects.
Read more »
Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction (Profound Lore, 2012)
Posted in doom, heavy metal, Metal, Music, Reviews with tags Arkansas, doom, Loss, Metal, Music, Pallbearer, Profound Lore, Reviews, Sorrow and Extinction, USA on 02/11/2012 by THKD
I first became aware of Pallbearer after hearing singer/guitarist Brett Campbell’s stunning guest vocal turn on Loss’ Despond. I quickly discovered that there was quite a buzz surrounding the Arkansas-bred quartet, based on the strength of a three song demo (which is available as a free download on the band’s bandcamp page), not to mention the fact that they too had signed with the mighty Profound Lore. But as fond as I was of Mr. Campbell’s contribution to Despond, I decided to steer clear of said buzz, purposefully not listening to the demo or any preview tracks prior to hearing Sorrow and Extinction in full. You see, in this day and age, bands rarely live up to their hype, and I feared that if I gave in to the buzz, I’d only be setting myself up for disappointment when I finally had the album in hand. Read more »
Worship Black Metal Cassettes: Scratching the surface of Crepusculo Negro and Rhinocervs.
Posted in black metal, demos, Features, heavy metal, Metal, Music, USBM with tags Arizmenda, black metal, Black Twilight Circle, Blut Der Nacht, Bone Awl, cassettes, Crepusculo Negro, Darkthrone, Dolorvotre, Fallen Empire, Kallathon, Les Legiones Noires, Metal, Mutiilation, Odz Manouk, Profound Lore, RH-12, Rhinocervs, Torgeist, Transilvanian Hunger, Tukaaria, Vlad Tepes, Volahn, VON on 02/04/2012 by THKD
In my review of Blut Der Nacht’s excellent Demo MMXI, I talked a little about the rise of cassette culture within the American black metal underground over the last few years. Some see it as nostalgia, others see it as pure gimmickry. I see it as a way to bring black metal back to its roots, a return to the DIY ethos, primitivism and shadowy mystique the genre was built upon.
The cassette is a cheap way of reproducing and distributing music. I haven’t gone to the trouble of actually pricing tape production and duplication (maybe some readers can shed light on that in the comments?), but I can guarantee that it is much more cost-effective than having CDs and especially vinyl pressed. In this respect, it is the perfect format for bands that have no interest in dealing with Heavy Metal Inc, and although black metal has long since been absorbed into the establishment, there’s no time like the present to take it back underground. With that said, it should be noted that some cassette-based labels, specifically Crepusulo Negro and Rhinocervs (probably the two most infamous), have begun working with larger, more established labels such as Profound Lore and The Ajna Offensive to get some of their releases (Dolorvotre, Tukaaria, Odz Manouk) on CD, but this is surely due more to outside interest and demand. These cassette releases are cheap to purchase (typically $5 – $8) and are often extremely limited, selling out in a matter of days or even hours, and therefore not always readily available. Also, no matter how much metal fans might want to hear this stuff, many are unwilling to embrace the cassette due to its supposed limitations. This need for wider distribution and other formats is a consequence of releasing great music that people want to hear, and it’s much better than forcing fans to go scouring the internet for often janky downloads of these sold out releases. Of course, the fact that the music is being released on a format which many find unacceptable only adds to the clandestine nature of these bands and the music they create, and in my mind a little of that mystique dies every time I hear about this stuff coming out on CD or even vinyl. Nonetheless, what these bands are creating is some of the most compelling modern black metal I’ve heard in years (much more on this later), and deserves to be heard and made widely available.
Read more »
Behold! The Monolith – Defender, Redeemist (self-released, 2012)
Posted in death metal, doom, hard rock, heavy metal, Metal, Music, Reviews, rock, sludge, stoner rock with tags Behold! The Monolith, California, death metal, doom, hard rock, heavy metal, Los Angeles, Metal, Music, Reviews, rock, sludge, stoner rock, USA on 01/25/2012 by THKD
I’ve always been fascinated by power trios. It surely has something to do with my love of all things raw and stripped down, since it doesn’t get any more stripped down than tres hombres against the world, brandishing only electric instruments and bad attitudes. The power trio is the bare minimum of musicians needed to produce a full and complete sound within a rock or metal format (although I’m sure there are plenty of duos who would beg to differ… eh, fuck ‘em); it’s all about maximizing the minimal, and I’ve often found that power trios are inherently heavier and more powerful-sounding than these bands that feel the need to have three guitarists, two vocalists, four drummers, a percussionist, a keyboardist, a DJ, an acrobat, a lion tamer, etc… just listen to Motorhead, Venom, High on Fire or Hellhammer and you’ll catch my drift.
Read more »
DVD Review: Eyehategod – Live (2011)
Posted in blues, hardcore, heavy metal, live, Metal, Music, Punk, Reviews, rock, sludge with tags blues, DVD, Eyehategod, hardcore, live, Louisiana, Metal, Music, New Orleans, punk, Reviews, sludge, USA on 01/21/2012 by THKD
Eyehategod has long been one of my absolute favorite bands, yet thanks to living in the asshole of the Midwest for all of my natural life (six months in California doesn’t count), I’ve never had the chance to experience their down-tuned Sabbath-ian scuzz-sludge live. Luckily, the band released their first ever live DVD (simply titled Live) late last year, and I think I can safely say it’s the next best thing witnessing the crawling chaos that is Eyehategod in person.
Read more »
Throne of Katarsis – Ved Graven (Candlelight, 2011)
Posted in black metal, heavy metal, Metal, Music, Norwegian Black Metal, Reviews with tags black metal, Darkthrone, Emperor, Enslaved, Metal, norway, norwegian black metal, Reviews, Throne of Katarsis, Ulver on 01/19/2012 by THKD
In spite of being the birthplace of the genre as we know it today (so-called “1st wave” bands notwithstanding), Norway’s icy grip on black metal has loosened considerably over the course of the last several decades. Many of the scene’s godfathers either called it a day (Emperor) or shifted their musical stylings away from black metal to varying degrees (see: Ulver’s fruit-bot trip hop, Darkthrone’s journey down the ol’ Manilla Road, Enslaved’s psychedelic Viking-prog, etc), leaving Norwegian black metal fragmented. With the next generation of Norse BM practitioners either not yet ready or perhaps not willing to step up and take their places at the dark lord’s left hand, the focus of black metal has centered on other countries such as France and the US in recent years.
Read more »
Black Pyramid – II (Meteor City, 2012)
Posted in doom, hard rock, heavy metal, Metal, Music, sludge, stoner rock with tags Black Pyramid, hard rock, heavy metal, II, Metal, Meteor City, Music, Reviews, rock, rock 'n' roll, stoner rock, USA on 01/14/2012 by THKD
The world needs real rock ‘n’ roll more than ever. Have you listened to the radio lately? Go on then, have a listen to some of the limp-wristed, candy-assed, sub-Nickelback horseshit that passes for mainstream rock music lately and you’ll hear what I’m talking about, a bunch of preening jackasses who look like they stepped out of the pages of the Abercrombie & Fuckface catalogue, playing songs about having sex with sluts, drinking, doing drugs and having sex with more sluts. And I don’t mean that in a filthy/sleazy/awesome Venom or Motorhead way either. I mean it in a soulless, sac-less, nauseating, pristinely produced and utterly contrived faux-grunge frat-rock way, replete with vocals that sound like a cross between Eddie Vedder and a goat with a cob up its ass. Yes folks, we need real rock ‘n’ roll more than ever.
Read more »
Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestial Lineage (Southern Lord, 2011)
Posted in Music with tags black metal, Cascadian black metal, Celestial Lineage, Metal, Music, Olympia, Reviews, Southern Lord, Two Hunters, USA, USBM, Washington, Wolves in the Throne Room on 01/09/2012 by THKD
Last year, much was made of so-called “Cascadian black metal.” To me, this was nothing more than an attempt to label a regional sound that didn’t exist and in the process lump a bunch of bands together that had very little in common. Invisible Oranges declared it “bullshit,” while an article in the Guardian stated that “cascadian metal” was a good descriptor for Krallice, apparently not aware that the term refers to Washington’s Cascade Range; Krallice hails from Brooklyn, NY which is on the other side of the country (a rock “journalist not doing their homework?! Hard to believe, I know. Insert eye-roll). No one seemed to have a good grasp of what exactly Cascadian black metal was, but that didn’t stop them from invoking the term ad nauseam to serve their own needs. A harmless geographical descriptor got twisted into utter nonsense by the metal media, and even the non metal media got in on the act.
Read more »
Xibalba – Demo 2010 (Nuclear War Now!, 2010)
Posted in black metal, demos, Metal, Music, Reviews with tags black metal, Demo 2010, Metal, Mexico, Music, Nuclear War Now!, Reviews, Xibalba on 01/07/2012 by THKD
There’s something that’s flat-out wrong about Xibalba’s Demo 2010. It’s a queasy, warped atmosphere that sounds like the product of fried ‘n’ frazzled minds bending the black metal paradigm to their twisted collective will, whilst in the throes of a hallucinogen-fueled trip to Mictlan. The result is some very bizarre music, a metallic apocalypse that starts with a boombox playing a half-melted cassette copy of A Blaze in the Northern Sky at half speed while projectile vomiting peyote out of its speakers.
Read more »
