thanks, clearcutters. i'm thrilled all the paper products made from a precious, virtually non-renewable resource--old-growth trees, old trees of any sort--that could be produced several thousand times more cheaply and more "eco"-responsibly with nothing less than fields of weed is worth the extinction of hundreds of known, rare species spanning kingdoms fungal, bacterial, animalian, and plantaen; the elimination of hundreds of undiscovered species in these same kingdoms; and, you know, the overall destruction of our planet's cradle of life. don't forget a top reason the global climate has fluctuated by more than a couple degrees and continues to climb with our ice caps diminishing by the minute.
a day for metal, naturally.
y'all dig goblins? forget all that squawking about our withering globe. we're on to goblins. keep up now, child. goblins. do you like 'em? you best say yes. goblins fucking rule. goblins are fucking sweet. get your shit straight. they're mythological and harbor--at the least, elementary--magical abilities, first off. so, one point right there. they're humanoid in construct yet dwarfed. they get point two for being pygmied. their skin's all shades of brown-green and seemingly amphibian in nature with a hint of reptilian yet they live underground and seem really crusty all the time. an obvious third point. and cool, unpredictably nasty voices. four.
my point is battlemaster slays.
richmond, va is foaming and frothing forth mouthfuls of sickening shit. cough, cannabis corpse, inter arma, parasytic, the catalyst, brainworms to name just some of the punk and metal. and then there's battlemaster. battlemaster fucking brutalize. battlemaster are fucking disgusting. yr about to get yr shit straightened. i have four analogous points to award. their lyrics deal with magic, mead, and your everyday pelt-clad axe-wielder. one point. andy also does vocals for cannabis corpse; vic who i believe is now also in cannabis corpse, plays guitar; bassist pete also plays some black metal for bastard sapling; alex has drummed for withered and arsis among other bands; and second guitarist alex just gets a heap of praise for shredding so fucking well. point two for musical prowess. they play a tight-as-fuck technical brand of blackened thrash metal. obviously getting a third point. and nasty goblin-throated vocals ranging from deep gurgles to shrieking. four.
seriously listen to this one. cover to cover. don't bollocks around. my "favorite" track: intelligencer.
battlemaster - "warthirsting & winterbound" (2007)
i made a new friend. he got me to listen to immortal. oh, of course i'd seen their covers before, immediately identified corpse-paint and costumes, and promptly dismissed them as "some black metal band." never gave black metal its dues, or at least never cared enough to delve into it, to hack away at the mountain of genera engulfed by the simple word METAL and dig out its blackened, boiling spleen. never appealed. until i realized that just like every other "category" of music, what you hear in passing that has been universally tagged and presented as one thing is in fact always only a watered-down version, an absolute shit version, or at best simply a single incarnation of the thing. well, this thing they call black metal is getting to me. i've officially begun my hunt. i shall now scour the earth for styles of black metal that fit me. oldschool, newschool, refreshed, innovated: the near future holds favorites to knight. thank you ben. thank you immortal. much in the way of converts to a faith or those born into it again, i now proclaim "sons of northern darkness" as the first black metal album my once-ignorant ears have heard. making new friends is great, isn't it, kids?
i know tons of people already love immortal or know all about black metal, but tons don't, so here's the fat. apparently their earlier work is more of what people like to call "traditional" black metal--early '90s, Second Wave of black metal-- but 1999 saw immortal fusing this sound with some teutonic thrash elements: an early '80s, First Wave-oriented sound. three years later, the band releases "sons of northern darkness" and it proves to be their third album written in the newfound style. starts off the way i like metal albums to start. punch in the face. no intro. straight into heavy, heavy riffs, blast beats, and--could it be? in black metal?--audible, crushing bass. vocals are definitely black metal, with the raspy grate and slightly higher register, but they don't get to me the way most black metal vocals do. in fact, i like his voice. it's like a more sinister version of a death metal growl. to skip a lot of descriptive language, anyone who likes fast, heavy death or thrash metal would love this. plus, long songs give you the opportunity to hear all the sick riffs more than just once or twice and give the band more playing field for boatloads of transitions. "sons of northern darkness" was the beginning of a new era for me. i don't doubt it could be for someone else. my "favorite" track: one by one.
immortal - "sons of northern darkness" (2002)
this here is norwegian black metal by heavyweights darkthrone. their eleventh album, "the cult is alive," dealt die-hard fans a back-of-the-neck donkey-punch, tossing heads off-kilter with a sudden shift in musical style. i didn't care much for darkthrone, maybe dabbled in "sardonic wrath" for a short while, and cast the band aside as another boring black metal outfit; but after hazily recalling a tip-off concerning overhaul i had overheard years ago, i did some research on the duo. darkthrone has been prevalent in the norwegian metal scene for a couple decades now, starting off as a death metal band, switching to black metal for most of it, and then started playing what i would describe as stripped-down, primitive crust. after having read about the origins and progress of black metal, this style change in darkthrone (and immortal) isn't really much of a genre-busting affair. both bands are just tapping the roots of their true love. the first black metal dudes were pretty much crust dudes anyways: scummy haircuts, bullet-belts, stretch pants, jean vests, studs, patches, and, of course, black clothing. darkthrone just seems to be returning to a fetal version of black metal--dirtier, grittier, more punk. so, by all means guys, carry on.
darkthrone's twelfth full-length, "F.O.A.D." or "Fuck Off And Die," is an awesome record. sound and song structures have been improved upon since their first black/crust/rock album, having had time to hone their newfound style, naturally. the simplistic drumming and forefronted evil leads recorded lo-fi give the listener the illusion of headbanging alone in a consuming void, or revving through cosmic hollowness on a motorcycle, or existing as a mixture of rip van winkel and prometheus. please excuse those inept descriptions of how darkthrone has an oppressive, omnipresent emptiness to their sound. it's probably just the fact that the vocals got an echo on 'em. regardless, front to back: solid raw. my "favorite" track: the church of real metal.
darkthrone - "f.o.a.d." (2007)
remember how i mentioned motorcycles? well, check this shit out while riding a motorcycle. born dead icons: jogging-paced, dark-riffed, motorhead-influenced montreal purveyors of crusty hulking grit. the occasional awesome background thrash lurking behind a curt, scrappy d-beat. a set of rough vocals decry like proclamations up from the pavement. very fine punk album, "work" is. i believe it's their first full-length, and although their other releases i've heard--"salvation on the knees" LP (2001); "modern plague" 7" (2001); "unlearn" 7" (2003); and "ruins" LP (2003)--are solid records, "work" is my most enjoyed to date. i don't have a rant quite like the others for born dead icons, but that should not detract from my praises. they write good punk tunes and deserve all accolades. plus, i figured the first couple sentences would suffice as description of their sound. my "favorite" track: ceremony.
born dead icons - "work" (2000)
all comments welcome. not a d-bag turned away.
