Metal Briefs: National Socialist Black Metal, Part 1

I Wonder Who A.H. Is

I've been wanting to do this for a very long time now. As I've repeatedly said, lyrics don't mean anything to me. I'm a Christian who is an avid consumer of black metal, so that should go without saying. It's not tough to ignore them, when you have to have a lyric sheet to pick out more than five or six words at a time. But I am interested in lyrics from a more academic standpoint, and I appreciate the strong correlations between musical style and lyrical standpoint. I have my theories as to why Christian bands so rarely make good metal.

While many metalheads will draw the line at NSBM, I don't see that line. To me, being against God is worse than being against a particular race. Neither is exactly a good thing, but like I said, it doesn't matter. And if you want to be logically consistent, I hardly think a racist viewpoint is worse than a misogynist viewpoint. So if you're drawing one line but not the other, you're being silly.

Anyway, here is my first exploration of NSBM, in an attempt to see if I can find any kind of connection between ideology and music. These are all courtesy of Cosmic Hearse.

Malveillance: Que La Mort Vous Emporte (2003)
3 out of 5 stars

Que La Mort Vous Emporte is the debut full-length of Quebecois one-man band Malveillance. I quite like two-thirds of this record. Between the writing style and the treble-overdrive guitar tone it sounds like a (comparatively) primitive blend of Nargaroth and The Ash Eaters. Unfortunately, two of the songs here are an abortion with blown-out production, so I can't give it a strong endorsement.

Summary Judgments, Volume 4

Bags

Sometimes, it's just not my bag. Sometimes, I've already got a bag like it, and I'm happy with that. Sometimes, it's a bag of shit.

As always, the X out of Y songs tells you how far I made it into the record before shelving it.

Persefone: Spiritual Migration (2013)
(5 out of 13 songs)

I haven't read the site in a couple years, but I bet the guys over at MetalSucks absolutely shit their pants over Persefone. It's very high-quality prog-metal with (synthesized) symphonic elements, like a heavier version of Symphony X (or to a lesser extent, Dream Theater). I'm not so much into that kind of thing anymore, but this was good enough to hook me for a while anyway. The thing that eventually turned me off was, I can hear how much these guys are a part of the metalcore generation. They have some of the rhythms I hate from metalcore, and the vocals (both clean and harsh) are right out of that school of metal. I'm just too old for this, but for what it is--it's pretty awesome.

Thrawsunblat: Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings (2013)

They Like Trees

If I came right out the gate to tell you any specifics about Thrawsunblat, you might make the mistake (as I almost did) of dismissing them out of hand. So instead, I think it prudent to begin with my assessment of the quality of Wanderer on the Continent of Saplings.

This is some damn catchy music. Memorable leads, great vocals consisting of a hoarse growl and clean singing, plus some interesting riffs. Those elements conspire to make music of an epic quality that’s got a high-quality but not sterile production. It’s very, very good music. Yet, it’s from a Canadian folk metal band. I know! OK, OK, Canadian folk/melodic black metal sounds a little better, but still. The very term “folk metal” is enough to put most of you on notice that you probably won’t like it, and Canadians aren’t exactly known for the genre anyway. This just goes to show that general rules don’t apply in every case.

Mortillery: Origin of Extinction (2013)

New Queens of Thrash?

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

A lot of ink has been spilled discussing the topic of women in heavy metal. I am not going to waste a bunch of time rehashing that mostly tired subject. Suffice to say that metal musicians are mostly male. The rare female member garners a lot of attention solely based on her gender, fair or not. What I will discuss briefly is the fact that even for metal, women are underrepresented in thrash. One very notable exception is Sabine Classen from the underrated German group Holy Moses. Classen is who I would classify the Queen of Thrash. Unfortunately she has not really opened the floodgates to many young bands with female lead singers and thrash remains mostly a man's game.

Mortillery is a very young band from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. As one can probably guess by the opening paragraph, their singer Cara McCutchen is a female. Their bassist Miranda Gladeau is also female. So Mortillery has two female band members. Certainly rare for a thrash metal band.

Striker: Armed to the Teeth (2012)

Lives Up to the Cover Art

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

I took one look at that cover art and knew that I absolutely had to check this one out. It is an animated skeleton of a carnivorous dinosaur, can not tell which one, possibly a tyrannosaurus. But the skeleton is equipped with two machine guns on its arms and a mini gun on its back. It is seriously awesome.

So the album art definitely grabs attention, but the music really keeps it. An album is disappointing if the music does not live up to the artwork on the cover. Luckily Striker is not a disappointment. This is Canadian speed metal, very much in the vein of Exciter and other underground bands from the Great White North. The music is certainly energetic and fast-paced and it is almost impossible not to find your self keeping time with it.

Summary Judgments, Volume 3

It's not you, it's me.

This is an occasionally-recurring feature wherein I mostly apologize for deficiencies in my own taste. Hey, at least I'm trying. The numbers in parentheses show how much of the record I listened to before calling it quits.

Aluk Todolo: Occult Rock (2012)
(6 out of 8 songs)

Aluk Todolo's Occult Rock has some really cool music on it. Progressive, psychedelic metal that explores elements of many different genres. Generally, just a tour de force or whatever. The problem is, it's a completely instrumental double album. Considering the instrumental part, it's amazing that it's good enough to get me through one disc and halfway through another, but I don't think I want to go any further. If you like instru-metal, though, it's rare to find anything better than this.

Derelict: Perpetuation (2012)

Shackled by my Derelict Indoctrination

Review by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

Bob Dylan once said "Don't criticize what you don't understand." Adhering to Mr. Dylan's advice here will be difficult because I've been asked to "critique" this release from Derelict, a technical death metal band from, where else, Canada. And I don't really "do" technical in my music. Full disclosure, I have tried many times but do not get bands like Opeth and Dillinger Escape Plan. Everyone and their mother, including Joan, thinks these two bands are great. I don't doubt they are, I just don't get it. Opeth bore me to tears. DEP just sounds like noise.

Demona: Metal Through the Time (2012)

It’s Speed Metal

Let’s talk about genre for a minute.

I know, you’re probably sick of this endless, ridiculous debate. On the one hand, you have people who hate classification of music in any form, and on the other, you have the people who want to explain the ins and outs of Eastern European psychedelic pirate metal. (I’m a lot closer to the second camp.) But wherever you fall, you have to admit that some genre identifiers are more useful than others. Take black metal, for instance. If both classic Darkthrone and recent Wolves in the Throne Room are equally described by the same two words, then it cuts a pretty broad swath. On the other hand, there’s speed metal. That’s a pretty specific genre. Stray too far in one direction, you become thrash metal; a little further left and you’re black metal; if you pull back too far, then you’re just plain heavy metal.

Which brings us to the subject of Demona. Demona is a speed metal band. That tells you a lot of what to expect, right there.

Xul: Malignance (2012)

Cybernetic Organism

Technical death metal and blackened death metal diverged from a common ancestor years ago, and only a few mules have spawned since that speciation. Canadian band Xul is one such mule, as debut full-length Malignance attests.

In terms of presentation, they (consciously or unconsciously) choose a decidedly old-school aesthetic. The cover art is charcoal-black occult high school art project all the way, and song titles tend toward hordes, winter, and tombs rather than words out of a science textbook. But there’s plenty of evidence that there’s a love of tech-death in the band as well.

Metal Briefs: Up the Irons!

Iron: The Original Black Metal

Briefs by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

Iron “is the most common element (by mass) forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. . . Iron metal has been used since ancient times.” Add the right amount of carbon, and iron “produces steel, which may be up to 1000 times harder than pure iron.” These “[s]teels and low carbon iron alloys … are by far the most common metals in industrial use, due to their great range of desirable properties and the abundance of iron.”*

So too is “Iron” the most common word in my iTunes metal library, a search of which results in six different artists, 39 different albums, and a whopping 420 songs. Certainly, iron has been employed “since ancient [metal] times” being wielded to all time heavy metal thunder perfection by Iommi and co way back in 1970 – “Iron Man” practically started it all.

And now, thanks to the FULL METAL ATTORNEY, I have three more Iron Bands: Iron Curtain, Iron Dogs, and Iron Kobra. Certainly these bands recognized that Iron is “by far the most common [of the] metals in [] use, due to their great range of desirable properties.” And we get some great, some desireable, and some that need work in this range of Iron metal products.

Let’s start with the great. Iron Curtain hail from Spain and play straight up heavy metal. There’s nothing new on "Road to Hell", and that’s the point. Releases like this live and die by how well they execute. How well they execute is usually a byproduct of how much they love what they are doing. Iron Curtain love what they are doing. They are doing it well. I will play “Taste My Whip”, “Scream & Shout”, “Black Fist” and “Marshall Law” over and over as much for their clever word play as for their memorable choruses and ripping solos. “Road to Hell” is the best produced of these three and Iron Curtain don’t waste that production with pointless intros or interludes. They were “Ready to Strike” and get to the point. A lesson many bands would do well to heed. 4 out of 5 stars.

Metal Briefs: Death Metal 2012 (EP Edition)

A Quick Death

I didn't pay nearly as much attention to death metal as I should have in 2012. In an effort to rectify that, here are three death metal EP's from last year, all of which tickled my fancy.

Hammerdrone: A Demon Rising
4 out of 5 stars

All my information states that Hammerdrone is a recently-formed Canadian band, but I'm pretty sure they're from Sweden circa 1999. They play melodic death metal the way it was originally meant to be: uncompromising and ridiculously catchy. There's nothing especially original about their style--it can be summed up as a combination of The Chainheart Machine Soilwork and Versus the World Amon Amarth--but good luck getting these songs out of your head. Very good stuff.

Derelict: Perpetuation (2012)

Shackled by my Derelict Indoctrination

Review by the third metal attorney, joanismylover.

Bob Dylan once said "Don't criticize what you don't understand." Adhering to Mr. Dylan's advice here will be difficult because I've been asked to "critique" this release from Derelict, a technical death metal band from, where else, Canada. And I don't really "do" technical in my music. Full disclosure, I have tried many times but do not get bands like Opeth and Dillinger Escape Plan. Everyone and their mother, including Joan, thinks these two bands are great. I don't doubt they are, I just don't get it. Opeth bore me to tears. DEP just sounds like noise.

Haiduk: Spellbook (2012)

Damn Right, Canada is (Slightly Less) Awesome

Guest review by joanismylover, who completes the trifecta of attorneys writing for this blog. That is the first of The Signs. Tomorrow: The sun will be blotted from the sky.

Among the 200+ episodes of The Simpsons is the one where Bart and Millhouse make the Canadian Olympic basketball team. When Bart asks Homer if the family would go to Canada to support him, Homer asks the relevant question, "Why would I want to go to America, Junior?" And of course South Park's Bigger, Louder, Uncut was basically just one big joke about Canada starting with the Canadians bombing the Baldwin brothers at their Hollywood mansion from WWII era B-29 bombers.

It's easy to make fun of Canada, and, well, it's fun. But it's also easy to forget that a lot of talent hails from those northward frozen tundras. Just about every single SNL original was Canadian. Neil Young was Canadian though the southern man didn't need him around. Leonard Cohen, Shannon Tweed, and Keanu Reeves are Canadian. Though "the Canadian government has apologized for Bryan Adams on several occasions," Metalattorney rightly points out that their metal collective is unassailable. I'd add Infernal Majesty, Weapon, Bison (BC), and Exciter to his list. Canada, while fun to make fun of, kicks ass.

Mortör: Shoot 'Em Up (2012)

Damn Right, Canada is Awesome

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Canada's metal scene is another one that is somewhat underrated, but they have churned out some amazing groups across all genres. Crytopsy, Kataklysm, Voivod, Razor, Sacrifice, and Slaughter are just a few of the death and thrash metal bands that have called Canada home. Mortör is another band to have come up out of the Great White North.

Mortör has only been active for a few years at this point, but this is already the second full-length from the Quebec natives. All of the songs are fairly short, with only a couple breaking the four minute mark. This makes for a tight, punch-filled album that is unapologetic in its take-no-prisoners approach.

Menace Ruine: Alight in Ashes (2012)

Infernal Rituals

There are many bands who claim their music is a ritual, but there are precious few who make anything that sounds even remotely religious. Alight in Ashes, the fourth full-length from Montreal’s Menace Ruine, indeed sounds like some kind of occult mass.

They accomplish this with a deceptively simple, yet entirely unique approach. The arcane mechanics of their method are shrouded in mystery, given that they credit the members as playing only “instruments.” In some places it sounds like it’s your typical guitar, as in “Set Water to Flames” or “Arsenikon (faded in discord).” But the bulk of the record sounds as if it’s played on a keyboard instrument through guitar-type distortion. The effect is something like an infernal church organ.

Weapon: Embers and Revelations (2012)

Non-Aligned Death

Weapon is one of those rare death metal bands who don’t sound exactly like a more famous band, or a combination of two more famous bands. With 2010’s From the Devil’s Tomb, they had Middle Eastern inflections, yet they sounded nothing at all like Nile. Embers and Revelations finds them continuing on their own path, but with a few changes.

Most notably, the Middle Eastern aspect is toned down significantly. You can still hear it in places, but those moments tend to be fleeting and/or subtler than they were on Tomb. The other more notable change is in the production, which is much clearer this time around—they are on powerhouse Relapse now, after all—but it still manages to avoid being overpolished.

Auroch: From Forgotten Worlds (2012)

Canada Is Awesome

There are hundreds of bands playing old-school death metal these days. Almost all of them can be succinctly described: This one sounds like Morbid Angel, that one is Swe-death, the other one is an Incantation clone. Very few have managed to sound old-school while being unique. Auroch is one of those few.

The Canadian three-piece have the popular Incantation-style production, murky and evil. Many would be satisfied by that alone. They’d play some equally murky and evil (yet mundane) riffs and call it “atmosphere.” That’s not enough for Auroch.

Tribune: Elder Lore / The Dark Arts (2012)

Ever-Changing

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Tribune (apparently pronounced TRY-BUNE) shows a large variety of influences. Elements of thrash, progressive, death, and even some metalcore are woven throughout this release. The band probably is most reminiscent of Into Eternity, a fellow Canadian progressive metal band with a variety of other influences. But, if anything, Tribune is even more varied.

Nephelium: Coils of Entropy (2012)

Savage Nomads

Guest review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

I don't really know what to call this quality that certain death metal bands have that appeals to me. Apophis has it. Cenotaph, the Mexican band, has it. It is this particularly savage riffing and vocal style that comes across as exciting and fresh. It is like the bands truly enjoy what they are doing and this enthusiasm comes across in their intensity.

Nephelium has the same quality.

Mares of Thrace: The Pilgrimage (2012)

Proving a Point

Women in metal don't get as much respect as they deserve. They don't hit the drums hard enough. They can't growl. So go the usual criticisms. Canadian band Mares of Thrace seems like it was formed precisely to destroy such notions. Not only is it an all-female band, but they've handicapped themselves from the get-go, operating as a two-piece of just drums and guitar.

They create far more racket than any two people have a right to. They use their tools to lay down largely Remission-inspired riffs, the occasional punk rhythm, and ferocious wildcat snarls. It's also barely produced, with no noticeable overdubs and very little electronic accompaniment, as if to emphasize the point further: The ladies can play.