The blog of author Dennis Cooper

MANCY presents … “CRIES, SCREAMS, TORTURE, ETC: RAW BLACK METAL” *

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Akitsa est un groupe de black metal québécois fondé en 1999 à Montréal par O.T. et Néant.

Montreal-based black metal duo Akitsa are one of the many overlooked gems in the Canadian metal landscape that come as a breath of fresh air once found. Akitsa are masters of loft, punk/garage rock influenced black metal that also occasionally borders power electronics and harsh noise (especially on tracks like Les Ruines De La Modernité), with downright primitive, ceaseless shrieks from O.T. (the vocalist) that really bring a sense of unquenchable bloodlust and anger that characterizes their work. Whether their song structure is reliant on pretty simple, alternating, almost doomy riffs, or extremely complex instrumentation that completely overwhelms at times, Akitsa does it so, so right- a hard thing to do when driving through multiple tempos, atmospheres, and various types of experimentation in my own opinion.

-fucked by noise

Imagine being able to peer into an underground room with some of pretty bad recording equipment, and a few guys who want to creative very raw and antihuman black metal. Akitsa are that band and Goetie is an album that is about twenty years archaic, though the lofi black metal sound is a fifty/fifty wager on either being incredibly atmospheric or downright abysmal. Though there are moments where the production hampers the experience, Goetie is one of the better examples of underground black metal where atmosphere trumps the choice production. Though it may either take ears accustomed to the sounds of Haine et Vengeance, or repeated listens to understand Goetie the album is a voyage into the murky realms of underground black metal.

-metalreviews.com

Heavily in the Burzum way! One of the most raw and primitive bands emerging from the canadian and the quebecers true underground black metal scene.

-red stream

AKITSA GOÈTIE (FULL ALBUM)

 

 


 

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For most listeners this music is almost unlistenable: unrelenting and mostly unchanging basic flickbeats through a drum machine trot past a fiercely, cheaply, grossly distorted guitar power chording riffs built of the same basic ideas and reacharound counterpoint tendencies. Barring that aesthetic restrainer, a careful listener will find the insecurity of a will behind seemingly random, simplistic music; with interpretation, one can see why this music walks heir to the throne of Hellhammer, Bathory, and Burzum: it breaks down in order to show melody and structure in the cracks of an aging order, and retaliates with a virulent nihilism and ideological anti aesthetic textural synthesis. Where it is brilliant it is, and where else it is nonetheless reflective.

-deathmetal.org

Ildjarn’s chief claim to fame is briefly being a live Emperor bassist, but the mysterious Norwegian also had a self titled project. And, amidst various albums, mostly ambient, deep in the band’s discography lies this deceptive little bastard, armed with a name and artwork which suggests some Bergtatty stroll through gentle, kind trees, perhaps with a picnic. As you’ll know if you actually play it, the Forest Poetry experience is nothing like that. Imagine yourself in a forest at night in a blizzard, being chased by some mad snarling goblin with an axe, frequently running into trees and knocking yourself senseless – whereupon everything goes quiet as you pick yourself up and start running again. The production is very raw, the drumming is a primitive racket, the bass is loud and obnoxious, there are no songs, just count-ins and abrupt endings.
There’s no melody or structure, and the instruments form one deranged DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA-DIRNGA that makes Venom’s Black Metal sound like the lushest Nightwish song in existence. I’d forgive you if you listened to a single track and declared it the worst garage band in the world at rehearsal.

-metalreviews.com

For the most part, Forest Poetry appears to be composed of the same riffs, the same monotonous drumbeats and the same amount of fuzz and static that you expected from the last two records. While the drums actually sound much better here than on the debut album, only the fact that Ildjarn started to compose traditional song structures makes it a little better than the debut. There are no electronics or experimentation on the record either, as it sounds very basic and that might be its greatest downfall. Perhaps I don’t quite understand the notion of kvlt, but the same song with a slight variation for an hour’s length isn’t in any way noteworthy; and comes off as pretentious and lethargic to say the very least. When listening to an album becomes a test of patience, you start to wonder what odd textures roil about in the minds of those who consider this work to be genius. (Eric May)

-new noise

ILDJARN FOREST POETRY (FULL ALBUM)

 


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The disc is composed of two pieces , without major differences between them, the length of 25 minutes each . We are talking about a piece of music is difficult to define in words that embodies the pioneering spirit of Black Metal, made of screams, distortions, extremism , the typical gait reflective (although here the term seems to be out of tune) of Ambient music: we could talk quietly Dark Ambient if this term were not so overused nowadays be understood another thing (i.e. Ambient played with synthesizers but especially by extreme music exponents). The Abruptum: namely the Bauhaus struggling with the experimental suite “cacophonous” The Soft Machine Third … rumorismo the extremes of the first and dilating ominously structures of seconds (of course I am referring to the most jam-session of the English pieces) . Their music has neither head nor tail, has no real purpose, since it eliminates the shape song that would tie this kind (and any other) to the canons of the Rock / Pop (of which the metal is sound evolution).

-debaser

The line up for the album is quite simple. IT performed the vocals, and Evil took care of the guitar, drums, and noise. The track list, is not even worth mentioning. As there aren’t any. The entire album, is one hour long audial trip to and from Helvete. Each section of the record lasts twenty five minutes.
And it is within this hour, that you will experience a dark awakening and experience. Many listeners to that of Abruptum’s work, especially of this, and of their second full-length Umbra Malitiae Ambulabo, In Aeternum In Triumpho Tenebrarum, have noted that listening to their noise causes violent thoughts, vomiting, and even seizures. That, as well as hallucinations make this a noise like musical drug.
I would speak about the instruments, and the music itself, but there purely is none to speak of. While the guitar and drums are present, they are but there for an effect every now and then. This recording is nothing but loud, blaring, thunderous noise.
As for IT’s vocals, they are absent. All that you have is his screams, as he tortures himself. This, coupled with the demonic noise, makes you feel like you’re in Hell, and are listening as Satanas speaks in tongue.

-unbalanced ramblings

Vocals are nothing more than demented and tortured howls and shrieks, as well as some painful moaning. The question regarding whether or not there are actual lyrics here is up for debate. Again, everything sounds quite improvised. If there is an overall structure to these two pieces, I haven’t yet discovered it. Due to the length, I’ve only listened to this recording about a dozen times in the past few years. Whenever I need an Abruptum fix, I’m much more likely to go after the Evil E.P.

-rise of the black moon

ABRUPTUM OBSCURITATUM ADVOCO AMPLECTERE ME (FULL ALBUM)

 


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Dutch black metallers Urfaust carry the blackened torch of ultra cult, totally personal, and weird as fuck black metal into infinity with this record. Imagine an opera singer, wandering drunkenly down the street, ducking into a Karaoke bar, only to discover that the back up band is Burzum or Woodtemple or some other stumbling droney black metal outfit, and thus proceeds to CROON maniacally atop their grim fuzzy midtempo buzzing backing, in a ultra dramatic warble that is equal parts Ethel Merman, Devil Doll’s Mr. Doctor and Tom Jones. Sometimes the music kicks up a notch into a pounding Viking style shanty, and the vocals follow right along, spat out in belligerent slurred shout / growl, and punctuated by occasional grunts and wild warbling wooooooaaaaahhhh’s. The vocals occasionally get even weirder, becoming a wild banshee like falsetto shriek before slipping back into that campy warbly croon. Sounds goofy and it is, but it’s also totally compelling and emotional, dark and weirdly wonderfully creepy. And these songs are strangely catchy and will totally get stuck in your head. Every once in a while since we got this in, I’ll find myself humming something to myself trying to figure out what it is only to realize it’s Urfaust! Holy shit! How often does that happen? With some demented BM band?! As if that wasn’t enough, toward the end of the record things get REALLY weird. The second to last track is an extended mournful epic, just minor key strings, majestic and sorrowful, a slowly shifting doomscape, and the vocals fit perfectly here, like a damned and doomed heartbroken shell of a man, standing alone at the edge of the world, staring into the abyss wailing and moaning his anguish, in that by now unmistakable hyper dramatic caterwaul. Then the final track comes out of nowhere and finishes things off with a tranquil swirl, an instrumental new age swoosh, all warm and dreamy and blissed out, like the Orb or maybe Labradford, What the fuck?!

-aquarius records

While they may technically not be good at all, his wailing has some sort of depressing, sad undertone that is mesmerizing from start to finish. And to top it all off, he occasionally boasts out a shriek that sounds more mentally unstable than Nattramn (Silencer) will ever be able to. His performance is impressive, as he comes frighteningly close to how a fanatical Devil worshipper would sound. All fuses are blown, and IX is lost forever, dancing and praying in the woods, singing loud his unholy worship. Endless solitary worship. A very chilling experience to say the least.

-metal storm

URFAUST GEIST IST TEUFEL (FULL ALBUM)

 

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The bulk of the music is built around extremely dreary guitar riffs and tormented screams. This possesses an atmosphere similar to early Mütiilation or Burzum, with the focus on conveying pitchblack negativity to the heart and mind of the listener. Things are often carried out at a brooding pace. Even when the drumming speeds up, the guitar melodies carry on in a hypnotic manner, never really approaching anything that could be called intense. Feasts is the sort of album that would serve well as a soundtrack to a nightmare. There is something downright unsettling about some of the riffs, giving you the feeling that you have been pulled into Hell. The songwriting also includes elements that are similar to the works of Vlad Tepes and Belketre, such as some of the old school rhythms and more traditional passages. Good examples of this can be heard in “Deadsex” and “The Last Supper”. This adds to the unique feel of the material, while also helping it to be that much more memorable.
Feasts is one of the better releases from the LLN, in every way possible, and is definitely essential for fans of Vlad Tepes, Mütiilation, Belketre, Torgeist, etc. Even those into I Shalt Become will, most likely, appreciate the bleak and miserable content of this album. This recording cemented Black Murder as one of the most important bands to ever emerge from the French underground and I, for one, feel as if I have been robbed for not hearing it sooner. Avoid the same horrible fate and seek this out now.

-encyclopaedia metallum

Vorlok Drakkstein still performs those deranged screams. They sound even more deranged on here than they did on the first demo. His crazed nature pierces through the loft production with utter ease. As for the guitars, they too show a greater deal of complexity. Wlad Drakkstein plays a lot of midpaced riffs that, thanks to the tone and reverb, sound ominous and foreboding. The spine chilling atmosphere is present right at the beginning. He also plays a lot of vicious tremolo riffs that demonstrate pure raw supremacy. Some of these riffs even display a hint of catchiness. He even plays a few creepy acoustic guitars, such as those on “Interlude”.

-servile insurrection

What the demo lacks in originality, or even technical skill for that matter, it makes up for in unrepentant ferocity with buzzsaw guitars, powerful drumming and vocals that honestly cannot be explained in words. Surprisingly this demo also manages to create a rather unnerving atmosphere at times, similar to that found in the work of projects like Silencer.

-grim lord of misanthropy

BLACK MURDER FEASTS (FULL DEMO)

 

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The music is low quality run of the mill Black Metal; nothing stands out in the album. The production is horrible; I enjoy raw and difficult listening production a lot in Black Metal, but the production in this one is simply not enjoyable; first mistake is the vocals; they’re extremely high in the mix, plus Para Bellum’s growls are terrible, in an attempt to sound original and fresh he simply sounds annoying. The guitars sound dull and the riffing is simply far from being good; one or two nice riffs thrown here and there but overall they sound sloppy and plain boring. As for the drums the only thing you’ll hear is a constant snare beat; I thought drums had cymbals too, but it looks like Blackdeath hadn’t discovered them yet in 1997.

-metalreviews.com

Yes, the production kinda sucks, even by Black Metal standards. The synth drums are terrible, and the vocals suck beyond belief, they sound like someone’s screaming and moaning random Russian obscenities over a broken phone or something. Anyway, whenever in need of decent BM from Russia, stick to the Blazebirth Hall bands (Branikald, Forest / Vargleide, Nitberg, Ravendark). Far from essential, and nothing terribly original, but generally better than this disappointing album.

metalreviews.com

Upwards and onwards 80%
BM_DM, December 18th, 2007
There are motifs in the third full-length Blackdeath (Rus) release, ‘Bottomless Armageddon,’ that you may initially imagine denote the band as no more than early Darkthroneworshippers. The guitar tone and song structures are cases in point: the former is typically reverbdrenched, sharp and thin, whilst the latter often revolves around sequences of riffs, with little or no repetition. Opening track ‘Baphomet’ would be a typical example. Areas where the similarities end are the pleasantly fuzzy and clearly audible bass and the vocals, which are higher pitched and more rasping than the trademark Fenriz / Nocturne Culto croak. The ‘spoken rasp’ passage towards the end of the third track, ‘The falling of gold Jerusalem’, is supported by a halting bass line and nothing else. It is an interesting device, jarring in a good way and serving to refocus the listener’s attention on the rest of the track. ‘Bottomless Armageddon’ features other elements that set Blackdeath (Rus) apart. The synchronised bass and guitar line underpinning the simplypicked riff in ‘Under the spell of the black moors’ reminded me of similar passages in King Crimson’s ‘Red’. This three minute track drones on without a great deal of development, but is pleasingly hypnotic. In particular, I enjoyed the fact that its lack of complexity is a thoughtful counterpoint on the composers’ part to the barrage of twisting riffs in the track immediately preceding it.
Blackdeath don’t stint on the ‘metal’ on this release. The fourth track, ‘Dominus dusk hammer’, sees the guitar, bass and drums coalesce around the 1:30 mark for a nice head banging break before splitting up to go their separate ways. However, it’s not all good news. The curious ‘three blind mice’ motif which is repeated several times towards the end of ‘Seven towers of Satan’ is disappointingly bland after some of the exotic riffing that the listener has been treated to in the first two thirds of the release. It should be noted that, atmospheric though it is, the final track (‘Apocalyptic dream’) is really just an outro, with a little guitar work over wind sound effects. Other bands have called releases of similar duration EPs, but no matter.
Darkthrone have clearly served as a template for Blackdeath (Rus). However, this release is not merely the slavish reproduction of a blueprint, but more in the manner of a Wittgensteinian ladder: a means of ascent to a plateau upon which the band has created something distinctively their own.

BLACKDEATH BOTTOMLESS ARMAGEDDON (FULL ALBUM)


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The one thing that is problematic about Strength & Honour is the drum production. The bass drum is very loud and punchy, which, compared to the rest of the music, seems like it nears dance club levels. This big and boring bass kick is especially troublesome on track one, “Raging Winter” (which is maybe the worst song on the album), in which the simple, constant eighth note bass drum plod makes for an unpleasantly banal hammering experience. In a more practical sense, the loudness of the bass drum gets in the way somewhat of being able to hear the rest of the music, but it’s not so bad that you won’t be able to hear anything else. Overall, a good raw and basic black metal album.

-maelstrom zine

After the first riff hits your ears you have the scene set for the rest of the album, lowfi,
dark, depressing and brutal. The way in which Satanic Warmaster are able to instantly switch from brutal black metal to depressive ambient guitar riffs is quite astonishing. There is also a sense of a dark atmosphere which inhabits every track on the album. Although the drums are typical of the black metal genre they are nevertheless crushing to your ears and effective at piecing this soundtrack together.

-encyclopaedia metallum

The most negative aspect of Strength and Honour is the production. Underground Black Metal is supposed to be raw, and this is no exception. In fact, the sound on this record is very much preferred over the horribly slick and soulless vibe of Horna’s Sudentaival. That said, the drums are far too high in the mix, with the bass drum being particularly distracting. The songwriting is fairly generic and there is nothing here that had not been done much better a decade earlier; nonetheless, for those people that want to hear more of this style, a more guitar oriented sound
would have been beneficial. For the majority of the album, the riffs are nearly stomped out by the percussion, which is something that should always be avoided. The vocals are a bit too prominent as well, though the problem may actually be that they sound oversaturated in effects. The cheap microphone did not help matters, as certain puffs of air come through far too much and add to the unprofessional quality that permeates this L.P. Strength and Honour is a fairly mediocre release, though it is actually one of the better albums to bear the Satanic Warmaster name, ranking just below Opferblut. There is nothing about this record that makes it essential for fans of Black Metal, as there were plenty of other bands doing the same style in a much more impressive manner, around the same time that this came out. It is doubtful that it even drew that much attention from fans of the early Horna material, that may have wondered what their exvocalist was up to, since Nazgul’s style is not very distinguishable. If you do not demand a high level of quality from musicians, then this may be for you. Otherwise, you may want to stick with originators, while ignoring those that tried to emulate them.

-rise of the black moon

SATANIC WARMASTER STRENGTH & HONOR (FULL ALBUM)

 


 

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This album surprised me… what happened to this band? Whereas the other two Judas Iscariot albums that I own (‘Heaven in Flames’ and ‘Of Great Eternity’) seemed to be mainly illustrating Akhenaten’s conflict between ‘traditional’ black metal and the compositional experimentation he obviously wanted to undertake, this record does away with the trepidation or instrumental hesitation that I hear on those earlier releases and instead decides to go straight for the listener’s throat with a strong sense of conviction and determination. Between ‘Heaven in Flames’ and this record Akhenaten must have reached something of a crisis point in his career, as the music here demonstrates a mastery of tone and obscure melodicism that was only hinted at before it’s as if the man went through a trial by fire, and emerged whole and victorious on the other side. Perhaps it is only his musical ‘maturity’ that I am feeling here, the ease with which he now approaches composition. Perhaps it is the sound of a reconciliation he had with his own aims within the genre. I can not be sure. But I am sure of one thing: this is not the Judas Iscariot that I knew from earlier recordings.

-encyclopaedia metallum

I guess I can’t say that any of these songs are bad per se as they’d probably be perfectly adequate coming from another band, but for Judas Iscariot they’re mediocre and phoned in. The first two tracks are conventional blast and tremolo numbers with decent riffs but no real surplus of inspiration, ‘Journey Through Visions Of War’ provides ‘variation’ by being slower than the first two, and ‘March Upon A Mighty Throne’ is a guitar only track because, well, Judas Iscariot does guitar only tracks! The only reason this sounds like Judas Iscariot is because it’s MADE TO SOUND THAT WAY, not a natural outgrowth of Akhenaten’s style. I’m not really sure what went wrong here but it really feels like a case of an artist believing his own hype. This is a pretty unnecessary release and even though it’s not really awful its lack of inspiration is so clear and massive that it’s kind of uncomfortable to listen to. Stick with the project’s earlier output and pretend this didn’t happen; if you get what Judas Iscariot was really about, you’ll be disappointed.

-encyclopaedia metallum

Of course, as Judas Iscariot’s music is only about the minimalistic style popularized by Darkthrone, the rhythms and pace of the songs remain pretty much constant, so Akhenaten really only has to work on one type of playing. But man, this is some great stuff. The production and feel of the songs are just right. This is the fastest material Judas Iscariot has done to date. While the best album of this US black metal frontrunner is still Heaven in Flames, I have no doubt that any fan of necro black metal will eat this up.

-maelstrom zine

JUDAS ISCARIOT DETHRONED CONQUERED AND FORGOTTEN (FULL ALBUM)

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Ashdautas belonged to the Black Twilight Circle. Disbanded in summer 2011.

“Ashdautas has nothing to do with that pathetic bullshit spouted from the mouth of Edward/Volahn in the [Phoenix interview],” Naeth wrote in a forum on the Nuclear War Now Productions site. “I am not Mexican and I started Ashdautas which is the first of all of the bands that have to do with what has been labeled ‘Black Twilight.’ Since that interview/statement was released I have ended Ashdautas as I and our other members can not be aligned with a person who is a lying, delusional, pseudo racist, wanna be brown power attention whore who grew up and still lives in the whitest part of the entirety of Orange County, CA.”
Naeth was evidently referring to a portion of the Phoenix interview in which Volahn claimed to have been involved in a violent altercaton with neoNazis, and spoke about the group’s solidarity with the Mexica movement. “Being brown in LA is hard,” Volahn told the Phoenix in last week’s interview, “especially dealing with cops and immigration. Settlers on the land of my ancestors want to govern my life. Fuck white occupation of my sacred land! We are to be governed by our own people. I’m an indigenous revolutionary for my people and our struggle, and we’re the true representatives of our culture today.
On another message board, Naeth elaborated on his reasons for breaking up the group: “I ended Ashdautas because Edward/Volahn is against me and my people racially as I myself am Russian/German and not Mexican. If that shit had been posted by a white person ANTIFA [an antifascist network] would be all over it and he and all related persons would be added to their list of hateful groups.”
In a separate email, Naeth added, “He [Volahn] talks about how people around him ‘fell into gangs and prison’ but there is only ONE person he knows who is in a ‘gang’ and served time in prison and guess who that is? It’s me.”

-thephoenix.com

It wasn’t long ago that the words “American” and “Black Metal” in the same sentence would produce laughter and scorn from many staunch supporters of deep Satanic art. Nowadays it would seem that some of the most interesting and violent Black Metal comes from the states. It’s difficult to peruse the pages of the metal mags and miss all the accolades thrust upon bands like Xasthur, and Leviathan. Los Angeles’ Ashdautas may not get the attention of the aforementioned hordes, but their 2005 album Shadow Plays Of Grief And Pain is so harsh and so mephitic that it demands to be heard. Most noticeable are the tortured vocals of Naeth. The guy seems torn apart from within, and combined with the fumbling, discordant chaos of the band, Shadow Plays is a noxious cocktail of pure, unabashed agony. Ashdautas received a bit of attention some time back for their hardline stance against “MySpace bands” and their threats of violence to other bands and individuals in “the scene.” This all makes for interesting threads on the interweb forums, but also serves as a distraction from Ashdautas’s real appeal, their brutally stark and manic cacophony. Ashdautas belong to a devout subject of Black Metal bands calling themselves The Black Twilight Circle. Other bands in this rigid group include Volahn, Aresmenda, and Kallathon. Ashdautas is no joke. If your interest in Black Metal is only an ironic gawking concern to be tittered at between rides on your fixed gear and lines of coke at Pop’s then turn back right now. This is the genuine article, you are not.

-cosmic hearse

ASHDAUTAS (LIVE)

 

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Nefarious Dismal Orations is easily more album-focused than their previous record Magnificent Glorification of Lucifer. Where that album had plenty of individual standout tracks, this album is best experienced as a start-to-finish piece of work. Between the melodically-inclined riffs and Dagon’s distinctive (and equally divisive) vocals, I’ve always thought that listeners needed to make a conscious choice between whether they wanted to take Inquisition’s atmosphere seriously or not. Those who choose to see the sound as legitimately eerie and evil will get what they’re looking for. I never understood a lot of the flak Dagon’s monotonous croak has received from detractors; it’s certainly unique, but no less outlandish than Atila Csihar’s vocals. The casual jokes are for nil; the strangeness gives Inquisition a sense of alien Otherness that would seem to contradict the instantly gratifying “hook” factor of their riffs. If you’d heard much of them before, nothing on Nefarious Dismal Orations should come as much of a surprise. Dagon’s riffs are hooked on the same melodic grooves. Incubus demonstrates himself again as one of black metal’s great (and underrated) drummers, launching into fills and intricate playing where lesser drummers might have settled for pure blasting.

-encyclopaedia metallum

Overtly Satanic & subtly violent without even treading into misanthropy, depression, fascism, mindless homicide/genocide or confabulated Nietzsche-inspired themes, this album like all others is entirely dedicated to the worship of The Supreme Lord of Nature.

-mehta kya kehta?

What makes the storming black metal of this Seattle duo so special? Certainly not just their love of Satan, though they do seem more sincerely devoted than most. No, they’re just different from the hordes of hordes out there. For one thing, Dagon’s vocals aren’t the usual high-pitched anguished rasps, nor are they deathly grunts. They’re more like droning cryptcreakings, layered and insidious, truly “nefarious dismal orations”, an integral part of Inquisition’s trance-inducing doomic atmospheres along with the varispeed velocity of their attack, seemingly simultaneously plodding yet blurred with speed. Then there’s the RIFFS. You can’t argue there. Inquisition understand old school heavy metal hookiness without being overtly retro, y’know? And this stuff oozes METAL as much as it gives off a sinister shine of actual originality and serious Satanic faith. Pure metalness plus weirdness (in the arcane, occult sense of “the weird”), yeah! We’re spellbound. And what the heck is going on with the buried, backwards masked munchkinisms we think we’re hearing at the end of the amazing title track?

-aquarius records

INQUISITION NEFARIOUS DISMAL ORATIONS (FULL ALBUM)

 

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p.s. Hey. ** David Ehrenstein, De rien. ** Sypha, I should read more fantasy fiction to make sure, but I think this blog has goblins. Oh, no problem on the requested delete. In fact, hold on … Done. ** Dominik, Hi, hi!! The ARTE thing: Zac and I put our vexed, exhausted heads together and tried to figure out a proposal for a revision of the script that would address most of the things they say they want us to add/change while keeping as much of what we want to do as possible. I typed it up. Gisele is now reading it, and we will meet to get her input/suggestions before finalising the proposal and sending it to ARTE. Then I imagine they’ll take quite a while to read it and get their opinions together, and then we will all meet, and, at that point, I think we’ll find out just drastically they want the series to be normalised or not, and we just have to ‘pray’ that we’ve begun to satisfy them. We were supposed to meet today, but Gisele just broke her foot, eek, and so that’s on hold until her pain killers’ effect gets mild enough for her brain to function properly. Yes, Scott Barley is an awesome, fascinating guy. It was a real pleasure getting to know him, and, of course, seeing his films projected since they’re meant to be. Oh, sure, I get that itch plus unfocused aim about what will scratch the itch quite frequently. Did you finally figure out what to watch, and did it fill the weird hole? Our heatwave has violently returned, and it’s supposed to be worse than the last time and last longer, ugh. They’re saying it’s going to get to 40 degrees this time. I’m scared. Sucks majorly that yours still hovering. I really hope they like your translation as is. I’m like that every time I think the TV script might be finally acceptable. I’ve been okay. Working on polishing the film script into final shape and starting to write all the boring, endless proposal documents we need to write to apply for funding for the new film. There’s a possibility of showing PGL in London next month, and I’m waiting to see if, how, and when that will happen. Seeing some friends. And lots of sweating. I think I’m going to duck into air-conditioned movie theatres and museums as much as possible for the duration of heatwave, which is supposed to last until next Wednesday! Enjoy your brother’s company and just have a super swell weekend all the way around, and give me the highlights and lowlights even if you don’t mind. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Your post was really popular to judge by the wealth of hits. Huh, awesome about the great Simon Carman and Helen Sharp show. The photos are very intriguing. I don’t I know their work at all. I’ll make fast work at filling in that blank. Thank you a lot, and have an excellent weekend! ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Well, I guess you tell me when you think your problems seeing the comments gets better ‘cos I’d love to have that ‘response video’ post you’re proposing, obviously. I love unboxing videos. I haven’t made an ‘unboxing’ post in a while. No, I didn’t know about the Doctors of Madness boxset. Huh, interesting. I haven’t thought about them in ages. Time for a re-dive. ** Okay. I decided, with obviously every good reason in the world, to restore MANCY’s dead and beautiful Black Metal post for you this weekend. The perfect thing for a sweltering couple of late summer days, I think. Enjoy it. Say stuff. Thank you. See you on Monday.

14 Comments

  1. Kyler

    Hey, I was able to find yesterday’s comments in a roundabout way, and unfortunately, like Sypha and Steve, we spoke too soon. Back to the hopeful idea of August 19th and Mercury Retrograde ending.

    If anyone’s interested, I’d like to mention something about pentagrams, upright or inverse. They are not symbols of Satanism – but are, in fact, holy symbols, the 5 points standing for earth, air, fire and water – with spirit on top. When it’s reversed, it means the material plane is exalted, with spirit being brought down into you. The inverse pentagram is the symbol of 2nd Degree Wicca (modern witchcraft) – and is not evil, but dark, yes. The only symbol for Satanism is the inverted cross, since Satanism is a rebellion against Christianity. 2nd degree is supposed to bring the witch/priestess/priest into the dark subconscious, the underworld – to examine his/her inner life. Both of my novels were written in my 2nd degree. I’ve always wondered if Paul Auster understood this concept in his novel MR. VERTIGO – the boy undergoes his strict training, very similar to 2nd Degree – and is able to “fly” – levitate – when he emerges from the difficult discipline. So the inverse pentagram is not evil, but a symbol mistakenly used by Hollywood and Rock Bands. I like the music though and so do many witches!

  2. David Ehrenstein

    “in a ultra dramatic warble that is equal parts Ethel Merman, Devil Doll’s Mr. Doctor and Tom Jones. ” How about Patti Smith singing Sondheim?

    So hard to find a Satanic Mechanic these days.

  3. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Eh, the private browser didn’t work so well last night or today. Oh, well. No biggie. I’ll keep on trying.

    I did like the Blain Day a lot. Interesting stuff there, particularly the films he directed.

    Oh, man, I tell you, it’s to the point -and I’ve discussed this to Steve- where we weigh almost everything we say now because even the most innocuous thing you might say may be taken “wrongly” by someone else and then you’re suddenly an asshole who’s out of a job. I mean, even on the elevator at work now, if I’m on there with only a woman, I’ll stand in the far corner with my hands in my pocket so there’s almost no chance I’ll be accused of some sort of harassment for standing too close or something. Seriously. It’s cray cray here in a lot of respects.

    Of course, among friends, things are still cool. But in other situations, you just never know, you know?

  4. Misanthrope

    Dennis, Eh, the private browser didn’t work so well last night or today. Oh, well. No biggie. I’ll keep on trying.

    I did like the Blain Day a lot. Interesting stuff there, particularly the films he directed.

    Oh, man, I tell you, it’s to the point -and I’ve discussed this to Steve- where we weigh almost everything we say now because even the most innocuous thing you might say may be taken “wrongly” by someone else and then you’re suddenly an asshole who’s out of a job. I mean, even on the elevator at work now, if I’m on there with only a woman, I’ll stand in the far corner with my hands in my pocket so there’s almost no chance I’ll be accused of some sort of harassment for standing too close or something. Seriously. It’s cray cray here in a lot of respects.

    Of course, among friends, things are still cool. But in other situations, you just never know, you know?

  5. Sypha

    Somewhat relevant to today’s subject matter: I ordered this book at work a few days ago. https://www.amazon.com/Corpsepaint-David-Peak/dp/1939905389

    I guess it’s a horror novel set in the Black Metal milieu.

    Dennis, yeah, the heat’s been awful here as well… I think it’s going to be in the 90’s the next 3 days. This has certainly been one of the hottest summers on record. It’s actually making me yearn for winter… and I don’t like winter all that much either. I just don’t like extremes period… but this is increasingly an extreme world.

    Okay, thanks, I’ll be sure to tell Ursula about that.

  6. Damien Ark

    Black metal is cool, I guess. Used to be really into it. The Nazi scene that’s involved really turned me off though. In fact, I was part of this LGBT music server recently, which included people talking about how Nazi’s make the best metal music, so I left. Feel like I’ve been surrounded by a lot of Nazi imagery lately. Recently, someone burned a swastika by a WW2 memorial in my city, which is dedicated to those that died fighting Germany. I’m typically a proud Jew and don’t mind being open about that, but lately, I feel the need to hide and not even practice at all. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been really depressed lately. Omaha is very isolating and full of bigots. // I found another publisher that might work better, but they don’t post much on their social media, so I’m a bit critical of submitting to them. Later today, I’m going to continue chopping up the cover letter, trying to make it even shorter or whatever. I’ve talked to people about places that might work and for some reason they think ‘lgbt transgressive fiction’ means feminist non-fiction political mostly dedicated to poetry publishing house. Very confusing. It’d be my dream to be published by my favorite writers, like Anderson Prunty or something, but I think Grindhouse prefers only horror.
    While I was at city lights a week ago, my friend David told me to buy this book by David Wojnarowicz called “Close to the Knives”, so I did. It’s not until thirty minutes ago that I saw your name on the back of it! No wonder he recommended it to me. Hilarious.
    Going to go cry and hide under the shelves in my coffee shop now. Take care and have a good day.

  7. Steve Erickson

    I am hoping to interview Jonas Akerlund, director of the LORDS OF CHAOS adaptation (and drummer of Bathory from 1983-4). The film is getting its premiere at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s horror festival in August, but the timing is bad, coming just before my film shoot, and he’s not traveling to the screening. I’ve tried contacting the publicist at its US distributor. Even though he directed 3 Kesha videos last year and Queens of the Stone Age are the heaviest band he’s worked with lately, he still looks like a headbanger in recent photos, with long hair and dark clothes. Funny that he went from drumming in Bathory to directing a documentary on Madonna’s interest in Kabbala.

    In terms of what Misa is talking about, I went back on Facebook and deleted one comment which now seems tasteless. It was nothing like a joke about rape or pedophilia, and I don’t think I’m really a public figure, but if anyone wants to get me, there are things I’ve said on social media that could be misinterpreted. There’s a filmmaker whose tweets which seem to attack sex workers and trans women got dug up yesterday, with the usual shaming following, except that I can’t find any direct quotes of the offending comments or detailed criticisms of her, just a lot of vague accusations. Twitter: truly “the context of no context.”

    The weather in New York has led to migraines being a weekly rather than monthly occurrence for me. I woke up at 7:30 this morning with one. Fucking hell! I’ve never had a hangover in my life, but I think waking up with a migraine must be the equivalent.

    • Steve Erickson

      One other thing: obviously, I haven’t seen Akerlund’s LORDS OF CHAOS yet, but I like the fact that he cast a Jewish actor as Varg Vikernes. I was also amused that the project’s original director was the Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono.

  8. Bill

    Sorry about the disappearing act, Dennis. Been one of those weeks, even without the jet lag.

    Hope you’re surviving the heatwave, and the continuing ARTE saga.

    I agree with Steevee that Eastern Boys is worth catching in its entirety. Just saw the new Alexander McQueen doc. It’s very enjoyable, and some of those outfits are just breathtaking (and I’m not much of a couture person).

    Bill

  9. Steve Erickson

    I may have told this story before here, but I asked the owner of the hole-in-the-wall metal/noise record store Hospital for a recommendation, and he suggested the Polish band Graveland. I bought a CD by them, and it was quite good “Viking metal” in the vein of Bathory. The song titles are in English, but I couldn’t make out any of the words. However, I googled the band a few weeks later and came across with their sole member (?) Rob Darken, where he went into extensive detail on his neo-Nazi beliefs, saying things like “MTV is a Zionist plot to destroy America” (which makes no sense if you’re not a conspiratorial fascist – Zionists love America, because the U.S. government gives billions of dollars to Israel each year and supports absolutely everything Netanyahu does.) I’ve recently deleted that album from iTunes on my computer, although I still think the music is good. And I never went back to the store – it’s fine with me if they sell NSBM, but the owner should offer a disclaimer to customers before recommending it, as Aquarius Records used to. But I have to confess I’m a big fan of Drudkh’s BLOOD IN OUR WELLS, which isn’t outright NSBM but certainly flirts with anti-Semitic and right-wing nationalist imagery. It’s funny how the band instantly dropped all that stuff when they signed to a large metal-oriented indie label rather than staying with their original label Supernal, whose owner sent out newsletters ranting about the evils of immigration.

    On a much different note, here’s my review of Denzel Curry’s TA13OO album: https://medium.com/@stevenerickson/denzel-curry-bridges-hip-hops-generation-gap-with-ta13oo-3fcaaa18bf65

  10. Steve Erickson

    I have an idea for a feature-length script which would be very topical, about a middle-aged father whose son is killed in a school shooting. Then he gets harassed on social media by followers of a talk show host who claim the shooting was faked and his son really never existed. He is driven to great rage, to the point where he buys a gun and heads too the studio where the talk show is filmed, planning to shoot the host. But he has a change of heart standing at the entrance. He decides that he needs to go after a larger target and plans a massacre at the offices of an organization akin to the NRA after watching their head declare that violent TV shows, movies, music and video games and everything except the wide availability of guns themselves is responsible for gun violence in the U.S. and that what America really needs is even more guns. I’d like the film to end with him walking into their offices, with a backpack full of guns and bullets, walking back out and ending on a freeze frame of that. I am in no way trying to condone or glorify vigilantism, but when I read about the abuse that survivors of Sandy Hook, Las Vegas and Parkland and their families have been subjected to – even though some of them are still teens themselves – I have thought it’s testimony to their moral strength that the above narrative has not yet been played out in real life. I think it’s only a matter of time before it is. I don’t want to do any actual writing till I’ve started production on the film I want to make, but maybe I should write a treatment now, especially because I have no writing on film or music to do this week beyond polishing some drafts to their final state.

  11. _Black_Acrylic

    Black Metal was quite the obsession on the Scottish art scene of 15 years ago, including my own work at the time. This is Lessons in Institutional Critique Volume I from my 2004 degree show, in B&Q Tate Colour household paint on canvas. I remember being very into the Lords of Chaos book and I hope they can make a good job of the forthcoming film adaptation.

    The football season kicked off again this weekend and these are exciting times to be a Leeds United supporter. We have a new Argentinian manager Marcelo Bielsa who’s considered something of a genius by those in the know. Today he won his first game in charge 3-1, against the league favourites no less, so I’m very encouraged by this. It’s really the big news of my weekend.

    Rachel Maclean is having some major TV exposure later tonight. She’ll be on Channel 4’s show Artist in Residence for an hour, working in Birmingham’s Bull Ring shopping centre and trying to come up with some kind of creative response to that environment. I’ll report back on how she gets along with it.

    • _Black_Acrylic

      So I just watched it and the show was really great! Rachel is a delight and I’m sure the thing will be up on YouTube soon . Meanwhile there was a Guardian article published today with some info about the project here.

  12. Corey Heiferman

    My last experience of a heavy metal concert was waiting outside with my boyfriend like uncles or something (though we’re the age of most of the attendees) to pick up his cousin, who’d travelled for hours (which in Israel means the other side of the country) to get to it. I like the more raga-like parts of MANCY’s selections.

    I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the differences between live and recorded music, and how it’s strange that nowadays so much music depends on electronics that in most cases studio recordings are a much better expression of the artist’s musical intentions, but almost all of the money is in live performance.

    Part of me likes the idea of different kinds of music being associated with various tribes and cults, since this is something humans have been doing since the dawn of history. Still, I think sometimes people (myself included) get too wrapped up in thinking about the kinds of people who listen to various kinds of music instead of the music itself.

    What’s your hot take on these two very old and endlessly discussed topics?

    Damien , I’m very saddened and disturbed to see what you’re going through in Omaha. I don’t want to come off as urging you to “give up” on Omaha or USA, but I would like to say there’s a home for you here in Israel with plenty of problems of its own and what at least from the periphery seems like a solid metal scene. This is just something random that popped up for me on Facebook, hope you enjoy:

    https://eternalstruggleband.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-entering-ep

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