2011 Rolling Black Metal thread

the repetitiveness reminds me of oneida sheets of easter

damn this is cool

I need to give this a thorough listen.

I'm not so sold on Liturgy, although I can see the charm of their irreverent approach to BM, the resulting 'thousand monkeys with typewriters' music makes it all extremely hit-and-miss. "Generation" and "Veins Of God" are the only songs that really work IMO, the rest of the album is just full of tremolo picked melodies that are so obvious/random that bands even as primal as Ildjarn or Ganzmord would already have discarded them in rehearsals. In fact, I still have hours of rehearsal material at home from my old band with riffs like that - when you're really desperate for ideas, just randomly move about various scales in the hope you somehow stumble upon a good melody. So to me this record feels mostly like "dumster diving metal". The flat & boring vocals sound like placeholders too.

Great drummer though, no doubt about that.

So where is the line?

One of the kids I give drum lessons to tells me he's getting getting into more Black metal like Allagoch... But I thought they were more doomy.. so I ask, where is the line from Black Metal, to Doom-I guess its getting blurred a bit, yeah?

I ask this cuz my black metal knowledge is limited, at least more than I realized.. lol
Cheers!!

It is a blurry line! Music-wise, black metal is usually fast or mid-tempo, sometimes with slow breakdowns. But as black metal pushes the envelope, it has produced slow atmospheric stuff it sounds very similar to doom stuff that is slow and atmospheric! Also, black metal and doom metal can overlap thematically and lyrically as they both have regions that are super "occult" -- like black magick stuff is big in both genres.

I mean there is some stuff out there that you could just as well call "shoegazey deathrock" or something and have it fit, it is so nebulously tied to any specific metal tradition. I tend to use whatever the band or artist likes to self-define as or basically historical definition -- if a band started out as traditional black metal but they are doing really sludgy slow stuff that sounds like doom metal these days they are still IMO a black metal band.

But as a general rule of thumb, I dunno, here's my music essentialist take (that I don't strictly believe in or follow) - the black metal should sound cold and dark and uncompromising, full of venom and bile. The best black metal invokes anger or aggression, and thus catharsis... Doom metal should sound urgent, hectoring and distraught. The best doom metal invokes fear and terror, and again, catharsis.

Sean perhaps you should try Drudkh or Alcest?

The flat & boring vocals sound like placeholders too.

Yeah, the vocals are really shitty... one of the worst attempts at black metal singing I've ever heard.
They sound more like some hollow scream-o type vocals... like layers of static that just take away from the music.

And the 'Animal Collective attempting to write Brian Wilson hymns' type crap is so soulless and godawful.

Otherwise, the music is gradually growing on me, but the best parts sounds like nice little blasts from an old Glenn Branca project.

I'm surprised that anyone is seriously calling it black metal or any kind of metal at all.

After hearing so much praise about the new Liturgy, I'm mostly disappointed.
There's nothing transcendental or transcendent about it all.

As far as hypnotic/'transcendental' USBM goes I much prefer Austere - To Lay Like Old Ashes

i dont think Liturgy's vocals are bad

i dont think Liturgy's vocals are bad

^^ me neither. i like that kinda blurry/etheral vocals that just seem to blend with the music despite the aggression (a shoegazey sort of inclination from my teenage years, i guess). which reminds me how much i loved draugar in that particular aspect. one of the things i usually don't enjoy is bm vocals that are way up there in the mix (classical case in point : under a funeral moon. i really enjoy the album, notwithstanding).

looks like i'm the only guy that hasn't listened to 'aesthetica' here...

As far as hypnotic/'transcendental' USBM goes I much prefer Austere - To Lay Like Old Ashes

― Siegbran

i only listened to the split with lyrinx. the vocals reminded me of weakling or (more accurately, perhaps) marblebog. in this last case even sonically. also similar to some "suicidal bm" like i shalt become or nortt but with a more shoegazey sound overall, no?

That's an elaborate way of saying they sound like Burzum, but yes.

Thanks Viceroy... Thats pretty much what I thought, It seemed wierd I guess, the same stuff being called 2 or 3 different things.. I like the lines getting blurred though. its like everyone is taking ALL of extreme music, using varying amounts of ingredients and coming up with different flavors of stuff-I love it!

Isn't there a thing about production? like the true BM is recorded poorly?

depends who you talk to i suppose

I'm talking to you, Kerr!!! lol!

Well I wouldn't say im the best qualified guy to ask about BM but I'd say generally yes, but a lot of BM is well produced nowadays. It's certainly not all lofi. A big difference between bone awl & agalloch for instance but it works well for both!

So, you know, go fuck yourself.

― that's not funny. (unperson), Monday, April 11, 2011 9:17 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j231/su94r/u-mad1.jpg

"exchanged multiple emails"

dying

I'm not so sold on Liturgy, although I can see the charm of their irreverent approach to BM, the resulting 'thousand monkeys with typewriters' music makes it all extremely hit-and-miss. "Generation" and "Veins Of God" are the only songs that really work IMO, the rest of the album is just full of tremolo picked melodies that are so obvious/random that bands even as primal as Ildjarn or Ganzmord would already have discarded them in rehearsals. In fact, I still have hours of rehearsal material at home from my old band with riffs like that - when you're really desperate for ideas, just randomly move about various scales in the hope you somehow stumble upon a good melody. So to me this record feels mostly like "dumster diving metal". The flat & boring vocals sound like placeholders too.

Post MP3s please. I'd like to hear the genius stuff you're throwing away and the even better stuff you're hapy with.

(My own problems with Liturgy concern the vocals but 'flat' isn't a word I'd use to describe them.)

xpost - thanks for the tip on Austere, Siegbran. Amazing.

Post MP3s please. I'd like to hear the genius stuff you're throwing away and the even better stuff you're hapy with.

for those who dont look at new answers
Who are the BIG FOUR OF BLACK METAL?

lyric sheet for the beginning of liturgy's glass earth: 'hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey'

*goes back to listening to evanesence*

whilst snacking?

\n\o\t\ \y\e\t\

If you put blastbeats under Glenn Branca's "Symphony No. 8" it would be pretty convincing avant-black metal. Add some screeching, too.

got the other 2 Book Of Sand cdrs in the mail

been blasting Inquisition's "Ominous Doctrines . ." all week. Compulsive stuff!

that album's great!

All the elements come together perfectly. Solid old-school BM stuff, but with lots of weird sonics and surprises leaping out of the mix. And those vocals!

New Alcest song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXKv37xtuyE

apparently the circle of ouroborus pre-orders are about to be shipped

Anyone get the Liturgy / Oval RSD split?

Really dig the Liturgy side. Oval side is really disappointing.

Nope, didn't know there was one!

I'm putting Liturgy on tomorrow so if (a) they have copies and (b) I don't hemorrhage money on the show I'll probably get one. Is the Oval side tiny little micro-tracks like the thing they did last year?

Can you get me one please?

I have just written it down on a 'to do' list - will let you know

thanks!

is the Oval side tiny little micro-tracks like the thing they did last year?

Yes, all but one, which is six minutes. It's some of the dullest stuff he's done.

I used to like Oval but not heard anything recent at all.

Are they like Circle but a little flatter in the middle? (ok ok, sorry)

I don't do this that often but I thought people might be interested in this: Tony Wilson a UK/Jamaican hip hop fan who emigrated to Oslo explains his theory of parallel evolution between Mayhem and N.W.A.

De Mysteriis Dom N.W.A

I think Mayhem and NWA have similarities in the way that they both redefined their respective genres and made them synonymous with the cities they hailed from. NWA like Mayhem have their fair share of tragedy (Dead/Euronymous Vs Eazy E) and estranged members (Count Grishnackh/Ice Cube). I personally don’t think it’s a stretch to compare Ice Cube’s solo records AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and The Predator to Burzum classics like Aske and Filosofem . Moreover Cube like Grishnackh was also accused of racism (against Koreans) and antisemitism.

all of this is stretching it quite a bit

yeah but I do think there are some legitimate parallels between Euronymous and Easy, and maybe Varg and Ice Cube...

they are male musicians

they are not cats!

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h279/juicyfrt/sarahel.jpg