Rolling Metal 2017

Interesting article about a Minneapolis-based white power label and the corporate lawyer who runs it

Saw Tour of the Doomed on Sunday. Metal Mike Smith, organizer of Milwaukee's Days of the Doomed Fest which last happened in 2014, arranged this tour with Spillage (Tony Spillman of Earthen Grave), Beelzefuzz and the mighty sHEAVY from Newfoundland. The band formed in 1993, and remarkably this is their first U.S. tour! Highly recommended for fans of rock 'n' doom. One thing all the bands shared in common were strong, unique vocalists, which is often a weakness in this genre. They hit Cleveland tonight, then Pittsburgh, York and Brooklyn. Apostle Of Solitude opened in Chicago. Other dates will include Argus, Witch Hazel, Reign Of Zaius and Pale Divine.

Pics: http://www.johnmourlas.com/2017/20170813400/

Also on Friday I saw Castle probably for the fifth time. Rather than take them for granted, I'm always amazed all over again by their musicianship and commitment to put out with great performances every time (pics). My favorite husband-wife team currently in metal, Elizabeth Blackwell puts forth an intensity that suggests she's not just performing, but exercising demons nightly. Mat Davis is a first rate shredder, watching his fingers flying on the fret is a joy for all guitaraholics (ex on "Corpse Candles"). Drummer Al McCartney ably carries the weight of a power trio drummer. For some reason they haven't gotten quite the same attention as contemporaries such as Christian Mistress and Witch Mountain. They are true road dogs, criss-crossing the U.S. and playing in Europe, and deserve more love. Initially considered a doom band, they've always been a mix of mystical hard rock and traditional metal. Their fifth album should come out early next year. Friends and I chatted with Elizabeth a good 30 minutes before the show and my favorite thing she said was when she talked about how much she loved Judas Priest -- "I'd do anything for Rob Halford -- I'd feed his cats!"

Phrenelith owns, thanks for the sugg

That Serpent Column is really good. I've got tons of stuff to listen to that I'm behind on, but I'm listening to this again.

the Lör album In Forgotten Sleep is incredible imo, sort of a folk/black metal + power hybrid? unexpectedly savage in places, really unique production.

Oh, nice, this Lör album is good. And I will now go fix them in Spotify so that the two not-even-vaguely-similar-to-this-or-each-other records by other Lors are on different pages...

happy 2 be an agent of change

There's a new Ehnahre out next week. I haven't listened to it yet.

Just pre-ordered the deluxe version (5 bonus tracks) of the new Myrkur, and grabbed an Author & Punisher EP that came out back in March (not metal, but metal-adjacent).

The Undergang and Temple of Void albums mentioned upthread are both really good.

wow thanks for Temple of Void recc. reminds me a little of if Bolt Thrower decided to also add funeral doom elements.

New Wildspeaker is highly recommended if you like blackened crust. I'm kind of dubious about that as a genre, tbh, but this is really good and weighty.

so I guess antifa are planning on disrupting Bolzer's tour, which has prompted the guy from Bolzer to issue a statement. the statement seems righteous to me but I mean...if you're gonna get swastika tattoos and then tell people about how the swastika isn't really like that, you gotta expect plenty of blowback

https://www.facebook.com/erosatarms/posts/1637456716287584

I didn't know his dad was a well-known musician and it's heartening to see him say he's anti-fascist/racist/sexist.

The swastika thing... uh. Trying to reclaim the swastika at this point might not be the best idea.

Antifa... man. I'm like 100% behind them except they seem to be kind of knee-jerk reacting to metal bands without knowing much about them or really caring (like the Marduk show they interrupted in the Bay Area). I see them brought up a lot on metal discussion boards by people who aren't necessarily fascist sympathizers but they'll whip out some good old "antifa are fascists too!" horseshit.

I mean, shit, you can see it in the comments on his post.

there's been a spotify purge of white supremacist music. they even briefly removed nokturnal mortum then restored them (you can tell because they play counts have been reset). obviously i'm in favour of this where it explicitly applies but yeah there are more racist fish to fry than our ukrainian patriot buddies

Yeah I haven't wanted to speak ill of Antifa but they do go too far in classifying people in the metal, neofolk, industrial scenes without knowing them and in some cases for playing shows on a book with another band they didn't know that was thrown together by a local booker. Particularly happened to a friend of mine.

Though I would say no matter your intent, you will have two lives, your life before you got a swastika tattoo & your life after and sadly for this kid.

The swastika thing... uh. Trying to reclaim the swastika at this point might not be the best idea.

I'm not sure that it can't be done, necessarily, but extreme metal is not the context to do it in. There's no way a swastika on a death metal musician won't invoke those associations, and I can't believe that he's really so naive as to think that his tattoos are "very benign".

The thing with tattoos is when you get them, and choose to make them publicly visible, you've pretty much opened yourself up to judgment, whether you like it or not. No doubt there are some people that would normally like me that see my Baphomet pentagram and say "ok fuck no". whatever, I chose that.

no doubt this dummy thought "well fuck, people will see this and come up and ask me about it and I can explain". but that's not really how tattoos work - they generate instant reactions, some people are moved enough to ask you 'ok what's that about', but a lot of other people are uncomfortable doing that.

so when you decide to get a tattoo "reclaiming" the swastika and you happen to be a musician in a genre that has had a notorious Nazi problem, both with the musicians and the fans, you can't really get upset that you're "misunderstood".

It's also hella fucking irresponsible considering how some undesirables will react to said tattoo - unless he plans on getting a two paragraph essay tattooed below the Swastika explaining why he got it. just a really dumb idea.

jmm otm.

How hard is it to just remove one fucking tattoo? Certainly a lot less effort than dealing with all this. Guess it does mean a lot to him personally then.

My only personal experience with Okoi/Bolzer was three years ago when he was a total asshole to the organisers of a local Swiss festival.

well removal is expensive so doubtful he wants to spend that kinda scrilla, but there is this thing called *concealer*.

Have you seen how many tats that dude has? If he can pay for those...

true. I suspect dude feels he "shouldn't have to" cos fans should "do homework" on his tatts cos after all tatts are the same as artwork in museums

so when you decide to get a tattoo "reclaiming" the swastika and you happen to be a musician in a genre that has had a notorious Nazi problem, both with the musicians and the fans, you can't really get upset that you're "misunderstood".

It's elitism, innit. I tweeted about this the other day when I read the Facebook post, which comes from a place of exasperation - like, ugh now I have to do the work and come out and explain my stance, I thought I was above having to communicate 'my' meaning with the symbols that I use UGH. But that defence of 'sorry you don't know what I really mean' is as common as it is weak. Doesn't make you a Nazi, just makes me think you're not on as solid an intellectual pedestal as you think you are.

The newest Cormorant album is really great. It manages to go some way in filling the space that the last few Opeth and Mastodon albums have left without sounding too much like either of them.

that defence of 'sorry you don't know what I really mean' is as common as it is weak. Doesn't make you a Nazi, just makes me think you're not on as solid an intellectual pedestal as you think you are.
otm
elitism and privilege, perceived or genuine
if you have a nazi tattoo in the 21st c you should be 100% prepared to explain it without outsourcing the work to your critics
please

Ugh can't you guys stick to Porky Pigging in corpsepaint and blasphemy.

http://i.imgur.com/B94KAAG.png

Profanatica is known for hating Christianity and Jesus/Christianity which are "good" things to hate. I could find no evidence that they are antisemitic or anything like that.

Likely the post has to do with Nyogthaeblisz, who was on a few of the shows for this tour, being kicked off the bill because they are known antisemites. In other local news, they lied to get on stage at a north Philly sports bar.

Apparently this has happened with other Profanatica support bands as well. My guess is the band happens to feel more kinship with their support acts than those who make enough noise to have them removed. I think they're wrong but that doesn't make them Nazis.

I am "sjw scum" and I was at the show so... Fuck me, I guess.

I also spoke with Paul (the band leader) briefly before and after the show. I didn't get into all of this but he was cordial and tried to get me to see the band in New York when they would have their main guitarist (the guy playing Delaware is evidently a fill-in guy for when the main guitarist cannot tour).

And I'll be seeing (and reviewing) Bolzer next week! My view is that he is misguided and ignorant of how pervasive a swastika is perceived as a negative thing, but not a Nazi. The photos he posted with his father were amazing.

Is Malcolm Tent still in the band

According to Encyclopedia Metallium, no.

Aw

New Municipal Waste is exactly what I want from the band... Which is great for me!

My view is that he is misguided and ignorant of how pervasive a swastika is perceived as a negative thing

My view is he's not misguided, he just thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Which isn't something you boycott or ban people's shows over; it's more the thing where 'get over yourself, you self-absorbed dick' seems to suffice.

In saying that, I don't know him, though I do know people who know people who know him/work with him. They say he's a good guy, and they're good people, so I'm going on that.

When this was last a thing a few years ago, I put together a few questions to email interview him through official-ish channels, questions I believed were fair based on the perceived slant of his own statements. I was more or less told he wouldn't answer them - which itself says a lot.

(I never got word from the man himself, though it basically came down to 'meet him in person at a gig to hash it out' which is... nah, that's more of a manipulation tactic than what you think I'm trying to pull on you. I'll pass.)

Likely the post has to do with Nyogthaeblisz, who was on a few of the shows for this tour, being kicked off the bill because they are known antisemites.

Ahh. Well, still, my back gets up easy at the prevalence of anti-"sjw" shit in the metal scene these days.

Also kinda bummed because those guys are in Hellvetron who are fucking amazing.

bolzer guy is clearly a fucking moron, and also a moron with some nazi ass tattoos. fuck that guy. there's a lot of metal out there!

profanatica guy: also a moron!

Thanks for your contribution to the thread.

My impression is that the Bolzer guy has a facile view about the swastika. That rates pretty low on the Nazi scale. It doesn't mean he shouldn't be criticized, but it's not enough to cross the threshold where I'd avoid listening to them on principle.

well now that that's settled, let us proceed further into the review of minutes from the last Council meeting

well now that that's settled, let us proceed further into the review of minutes from the last Council meeting

Fair enough! BIG|BRAVE count as metal, right? Their new one is excellent.

Trap Them are breaking up (final shows in November). I saw them live once about seven years ago and enjoyed it, but they were the kind of band that should have been together for maybe five years, and put out no more than three albums. (Converge is this kind of band too - whoops!) I have at least three Trap Them albums on my hard drive and don't think I've made it through a single one of them more than twice.

I liked Crown Feral a lot

The one and a half time I listened to it

Managed to see them once and they were tremendous.

I loved Great Falls too, a really apparently short-lived and wilfully obscure band featuring their singer.

Ambient metal devotees, Azonic (Blind Idiot God guitarist Andy Hawkins's solo project) is putting out its second full-length at the end of October. The first one, Halo, came out in 1994. It's an amazing record, hard to even describe - here's the first track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhV9n-52k7I

The new one isn't totally solo; Tim Wyskida (formerly of Khanate, currently in Blind Idiot God) is also on it, playing timpani, concert bass drum, and gong.

Oranssi Pazuzu taking flak on their Facebook page for bowing out of a Berlin festival they'd been scheduled to play, due to the Israeli embassy co-sponsoring travel expenses for another act.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Oranssi-pazuzu-58437793552/posts/?ref=page_internal

Decapitated kicked ass 2nite i m drunk

We do not want to endorse any state, governance or agenda; open or hidden.

Hmm. So does that extend to refusing any state arts funding, even indirect, such as playing in subsidised venues? Seems difficult if not impossible in Europe.

BDS is a perfectly valid strategy, and Radiohead rightly look a lot of flak for their own opposite stance (in defending a gig in Tel Aviv), but this smacks of... a facile understanding of the situation, at best.

This Maim record from a month or two ago is delicious riffy OSDM. Great instrumental track, too.

so when you decide to get a tattoo "reclaiming" the swastika and you happen to be a musician in a genre that has had a notorious Nazi problem, both with the musicians and the fans, you can't really get upset that you're "misunderstood"

this smacks of... a facile understanding of the situation, at best.

And this is why they are metal musicians and not rocket surgeons.

So Antisect have a new album coming out. The first song I've heard from it doesn't sound anything like Antisect, really, more groove-oriented doom. Kind of a bummer.

tbf there was a lot of grief over Antisect's reformation with a few members leaving acrimoniously so afaik it's only 1 original member now or something.