Interview: PANOPTICON

Panopticon’s Kentucky is one of the finest black metal albums you’ll hear this year.   But it’s more than just a black metal album.  It is one man’s ode to his home state, a downright joyous fusion of ripping USBM and Appalachian folk/bluegrass traditions, resulting in something that has to be heard to be believed.  I contacted Panopticon mastermind and sole member Austin Lunn via e-mail to learn more about the concepts behind Kentucky and the following interrogation ensued…
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Panopticon – Social Disservices (Flenser, 2011)

Most black metal is pure fantasy.  The end of the world, kingdoms of snow and ice, fever dreams involving murder, suicide, Satanisim and extreme sexual behavior are the genre’s tried and true conceptual fodder.  But not so for Louisville, Kentucky’s Panopticon, who uses black metal as a means to tackle some frighteningly real social issues on his third album, Social Disservices.
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