Rolling Metal 2017

That's not what I'm saying at all. What I'm saying is that Jameson is an idiot and a bad writer who caricatures counterarguments in a buffoonish and unfunny manner, and Harvey doesn't do that - he grants them the weight they deserve and even says "you could say x...and you'd be right."

Ah okay, sorry I misunderstood.

didn't decibel publish an opinion peace by some buffoon complaining about "social justice warriors" a few years ago (as the gamergate wars raged)?

christ piece*

didn't decibel publish an opinion peace by some buffoon complaining about "social justice warriors" a few years ago (as the gamergate wars raged)?

That would be Jameson.

this is why when I make friends w/ metalheads I like basically put them through an interview process.

let's just all agree that Craig Pillard deserves to have his stomach turned into a punching bag and move on I guess

Master of Puppets to become a gigantic box set November 10.

No disc of isolated Cliff bass tracks, not interested

I'm probably a sucker for wanting to hear those riff tapes, but I do.

I'd love to hear those, too, actually!

Like me as a teenager learning to play guitar and recording myself playing those riffs poorly would love to hear proper Jaymz chopping it up.

Huh. New album.

http://peaceville.com/bands/fleurety

didn't decibel publish an opinion peace by some buffoon complaining about "social justice warriors" a few years ago (as the gamergate wars raged)? ― adam

The one you're referring, I think, was by one Professor *shrug* Jeffrey S Podoshen which asked Does the Underground Metal Scene REALLY Have a Social Justice Warrior Problem? and answered in the affirmative in such tone-deaf ways that he got push-back even from the likes of Metal Injection and Metal Sucks.

On a personal note, author Laina Dawes and myself (among others) were discussing exactly how lame his thesis in a Facebook group devoted to Metal in Academia. As a member I had the authority and went and added him to the group, thinking a robust discussion would come around. Instead he started saying that the antisemitism that he allegedly deals with is just as pervasive as the death threats that inundate Amalie Bruun (Myrkur) whenever she has a new release available. When this was met by push-back, especially from Dawes who, as a black female metalhead of some renown can herself lay claim to "my dad can beat up your dad" stories about what it's like being a minority in metal, he proceeded to evidently leave the group and put Dawes, myself and likely others on ignore.

This was a while ago and I didn't think much of it. I only thought of it at all when in a thread on Decibel editor Albert Mudrian's Facebook page context clues showed me that the Professor was getting into it with Albert and others. I casually mentioned that the exchange I only saw half of showed me that he blocked me, which was fine and his right, but it apparently got back to him because he sent me a Facebook message which I was unable to respond to (because he had me blocked; he likely unblocked me long enough to send it and then ensure I would be unable to respond).

"Hi Brian. The reason I choose not to have a dialogue with you is because I don't like your comments. Belittling anti-Semitism is not ok with me. Now you can belittle anti-Semitism all you want, as is your right, but I don't need to read your comments in my newsfeed or an social media. Simple as that."

I posted this on my friends-only Facebook page so it would get back to him (since other things got back to him) that sending me a one-way message was cowardly and that, hey, guess what, my mom was Jewish and I was raised culturally Jewish in a New York kind of way, though not religiously. Frankly his accusations of Dawes and myself as being antisemitic made me think that the supposed abuse he gets as a Jew in metal is vastly overstated because neither of us said anything antisemitic unless saying that he didn't get it as bad as some other groups as he claimed was somehow antisemitic in and of itself.

It's a private group FB page but I can't even copy and paste the exchange to let people judge for themselves since (I am pretty sure) he deleted the exchanges (they are certainly deleted).

He got a lot of justified criticism, for that column as well as for the clumsy way he tried to run a panel on inclusivity in metal with a panel entirely made up of white and white-passing males (a panel I was at, which thanks to the uproar was fleshed out with actual diversity) and he cuts off those who would dare have a different perspective yet still send them snarky one-way messages. He's an ass.

He also penned One Of The Worst Takes Ever Written About Online Gambling, which frankly affects me a lot more because my actual job is working for a New Jersey online casino and his misinformed opinions presented authoritatively in a well-known outlet could influence opinion of the populace and legislators negatively which would directly and negatively impact my ability to keep my job/grow a career in the field because expansion to Pennsylvania may be crucial for the company I work for. I would be happy to debate him on that one but the website I linked to does a good enough job and I would hate for him to think my disagreement is because he's Jewish.

For the record I like Neill Jameson quite a bit and think he's a genuine, flawed but still evolving human being who has helped create music that I enjoy. It's not my place to defend him otherwise; he is easy enough to find and he does not shy away from answering questions (though I am sure he doesn't waste his time with everyone who attempts to correspond) so feel free to take things up with him.

Kevin Hufnagel (Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, etc.) is going to be doing a duo performance with keyboardist Craig Taborn at The Stone in NYC on Tuesday.

Revolver Magazine has relaunched with four separate Mastodon covers and a limited 7" single from the band.

"The new issue of Revolver magazine hits newsstands on September 12th and features an all-new editorial direction and visual design," says the press release.

"The issue is both the culmination of a long journey and the start of a new one. When we started down the road to reinventing Revolver over a year ago, we had many goals. We wanted to create the smartest, most sophisticated metal magazine and website that have ever existed. We wanted to champion artists — particularly younger, up-and-coming artists like Code Orange, Venom Prison and Full of Hell — who really have something to say and who are pushing heavy music into brave new places. We wanted to show heavy music to be the intellectually and technically challenging art form that we've known it to be since we first became fans. But maybe most of all, we wanted to celebrate metal not only as a particularly badass style of music but also as a hard-fighting, never-give-up attitude and an empowered, iconoclastic way of living. It's a philosophy embodied in everyone from blue-collar road dogs Mastodon, to gravity-defying skateboarder Elliot Sloan, to gate-crashing fashion designer Ashley Rose, to any diehard fan who has ever had to dig deep to persevere through tough times or overcome a daunting obstacle. And it's a philosophy that, we think, is embodied in the first issue of Revolver 2.0."

Any ILXors involved with this? I am hopeful it will be decent - I am a Luddite who likes metal magazines and the overseas ones are cost-prohibitive to subscribe to.

Wouldn't this be Revolver 3.0, since Revolver started out as a classic-rock-worshipping Rolling Stone wannabe? I mean, they had Jim Morrison on their first cover.

thank you for the context about that podoshen essay! i also like physical magazines and that thing kinda turned me off of decibel

Wouldn't this be Revolver 3.0, since Revolver started out as a classic-rock-worshipping Rolling Stone wannabe? I mean, they had Jim Morrison on their first cover. ― grawlix (unperson)

Doug Moore of Pyrrhon has thoughts about metal and fascism.

damn that was well done

Good read. And I like Neill Jameson, too, dammit. Even if he's said and says some dumb things he's evolving and I feel like it's important for metal dudes to see it's possible.

And this is nowt to do with that, but it's good discordant death metal with bass that sounds like it's being played by a giant scarab creature.

http://daemogog.bandcamp.com/releases

New Mastodon song. New four-song EP out 9/22.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u44bs_Cwoms

new Botanist! now with full-band action

https://verdant-realm-botanist.bandcamp.com/album/collective-the-shape-of-he-to-come

The Botanist is fucking great...

Also out today is the new one from SxuperioN:
http://bloodymountainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/myriad-e-p

I like them both lots as well as the new Dalek that also came out today (not metal, of course, but they've always been indie-rap-metalheads-like and the new one is a return to the noisier stuff of old).

yeah the new Botanist is instant top 10 material

I liked it a lot on first listen, although it's a surprise. Sounded a bit like melodic folk-metal epics!

Man I love a lot of black metal but the lyrics to Goat Mockery Ritual are so otm

that title just gives me a hard-on

I forgot I bought that Pyrrhon the other day...lol

so I'm hearing the new Akercocke is actually good?

one of my old SSMT buddies apparently reviewed it for Decibel. givin it a spin now....

damn those vocals

damn went from Pazuzu-taunts to full-on Morrissey-cum-Danzig warbling

I've never really liked Akercocke before and what I've read abou the new one is equal parts intriguing and offputting, might give it a bash at some point.

I loved olde Akercocke. so far I'm digging this one a bit........

wow, by "Familiar Ghosts", it gets downright amazzzzzzzing

new Botanist is sounding wonderful

Instrumental doom/stoner-type UFO themed album by Reptilian Illuminati :-) (just the kind of gimmick that gets me to press play, dammit)

https://reptilianilluminati.bandcamp.com/releases

anyone else get into the khashm record on iron bonehead from earlier this year?
https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/khashm-asmodeus-rising

riffy, head nodding black metal. not too fast, sounds nice and mean. and even the dark ambient shit is p cool & well done. I've found myself going back to this one a lot.

anybody catching Orphaned Land on this US tour?

Currently rediscovering Asomvel's Knuckle Duster, released back in 2013. They're pretty much a clone of Motörhead circa 1980-81, so if you're in a mood for that, dive in. It's on Bandcamp.

https://badomenrecords.bandcamp.com/album/knuckle-duster

Their 2009 album Kamikaze is up there, too:

https://asomvel.bandcamp.com/album/kamikaze

love that khashm record. the jordablod record, also on iron bonehead, is also up there: https://ironboneheadproductions.bandcamp.com/album/jordablod-upon-my-cremation-pyre

Darkspace + dozens of other bands also playing at Maryland Deathfest 2018 : http://www.deathfests.com/event/mdf-2018

(they're not on that poster yet but their label just said it -> https://www.facebook.com/avantgardemusiclabel/posts/10154692774487260 )

new Usnea is streaming at Vice and it's a bruiser

https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/mbbz84/usneas-impossibly-heavy-new-doom-metal-album-is-a-sci-fi-odyssey

New Electric Wizard song. Bluesier than usual for them, and it kinda rules. New album later this year, I guess?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8x0NE0Hqw

Out today, epic/power influenced Argus and the proto-metal of Demon Eye, both touched fleetingly by the hand of DOOM.

https://argusmetal.bandcamp.com/album/from-fields-of-fire
https://demoneye.bandcamp.com/album/prophecies-and-lies

And I'll leave this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Srm6_pwgfA8

Interesting interview with Doug Moore of Pyrrhon on Bandcamp today. Quote re metal's Nazi problem:

It seems to me that the best way to deal with these boneheads is just to ostracize them. You ultimately can’t stop people from making bad art about their revolting political ideas, but you can starve them of support and rain scorn on them until nobody else wants to be seen with them. Unfortunately, the threshold for misbehavior necessary to evoke this kind of response is quite high because of how pervasive regressive attitudes are in metal culture. A lot of canonical metal records were written by various species of bigot and psycho, and many people whose sympathies were shaped by those ideas are in positions of power in the genre now. And while that’s unfortunate, it’s also unsurprising—a style of music so thoroughly wrapped up with violence, hatred, and barbarism is, of course, going to appeal to some violent, hateful, barbaric people. On some level, most metal fans know this, which is part of why so many of them fly into a defensive rage when the subject comes up.

To further complicate matters, it’s often impossible to differentiate between sincere appeals to racism or authoritarian politics and troll-y transgression-for-its-own-sake—a kind of coyness that is popular among both metal bands and the online right. This kind of edgelord shit is just totally pervasive in metal, a genre where iron crosses are so common as to be basically invisible, and where you can literally scream excruciating descriptions of various sexual tortures for a whole album and everyone will just shrug. In this kind of environment, where basically everyone has enthusiastically consumed at least some ‘problematic’ work regardless of their actual sympathies, it becomes difficult to determine which kinds of behavior are genuinely reprehensible and which should just be shrugged off as ‘part of the deal.’ There are nonetheless plenty of clear-cut cases of bad guys whom most sane people would agree to shun, but the truth is that the line differentiating fascist sympathizers from run-of-the-mill metal scumbags is often much fuzzier than some people would like to admit.