Worse

Bill Cosby said you should never challenge "worse." Things can always get worse.

You might have trouble taking care of all your kids while your spouse is out of town. Then she could get strep throat and you might have to take care of her and the kids. And you might order some expensive candy as an anniversary present, and she could get a tonsillectomy so you have to take care of everything for another month and lose most of her sense of taste, so she can't taste the candy.

Then you might wake up to find two deputies outside your door telling you your brother killed himself.

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.

Fell Voices: Regnum Saturni (2013)

Repetition

You will of course understand that I approached Fell Voices with some trepidation, when I learned they were a “drone/ambient” black metal band. But I also approached with an open mind. I’ve attempted to make some kind of sense out of drone music a handful of times over the past few years, with limited success, but I may have figured this out.

Maybe I didn’t figure anything out. As I mentioned recently, I’ve been freed from headphones, and volume constraints. And I’ve been advised that drone music should be heard loud. That’s how I listened to Regnum Saturni.

De Profundis: The Emptiness Within

At the Altar of At The Gates?

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

De Profundis is a melodeath band, despite the materials listing them as a black/doom metal hybrid. But do not let that word influence your decision about whether to check them out. Because that term has become diluted over the years the same way that the music has. Melodeath has come to be thought of as just recent In Flames, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, and the like, but it used to be something different. Something more aggressive and powerful. And that is what De Profundis is.

My personal favorite era of melodeath was the early years. Think Lunar Strain-era In Flames, Skydancer-era Dark Tranquillity, and the like. Back when melodeath bands were just more melodic death metal bands. De Profundis has that kind of sound. Yes there are elements of black metal and doom metal present, but the basis of this album is in the tremolo riff-driven style of the early wave of melodic death metal.

Fatherhood

Yesterday marked 6 years of fatherhood for me. The significance of that in my life can't be overstated.

For some people this won't be the case, but for me, it was the end of having friends. That wasn't really my choice, but I feel it's worked out for the better. I've become more self-sufficient. I may not be as fun to be around, but I'm more capable. More awesome. What is admirable is not what is fun; someone who is only out to have fun is a child and, if not actually a child, is an object of ridicule.

If someone can literally shit into your hand and you just deal with it, you are a person who can deal with things. You are not to be taken lightly.

Ask yourself, What are you capable of? In the most extreme situation, what would you do? If you are not a parent, your most extreme response is weak.

I have responsibilities that are beyond anything a childless person can imagine. And I take them, and deal with all of it in stride. It's work like you wouldn't believe. The things I accomplish in one day would stagger the non-parents among you, and it comes day after day. But it's also rewarding beyond anything else in life.

You may scoff. Mock all you want. This is not the most metal thing to say, by traditional metal standards. But until such time as Lemmy Kilmister takes responsibility for the life and well-being of a child, he will be less awesome than any real father.

Pombagira: Maleficia Lamia (2013)

Not Short But Sweet

Review by joanismylover, the third metal attorney.

"Balance, Daniel-san." So stated the sensei in Karate Kid. Yin and Yang. Love and Hate. Studio output and live shows. Each of us needs to have a little variety, and "balance" in life, and by extension, his music collection. It's all well and good to have the fury and thunder accounted for - Slayer, Mastodon, Clutch, etc. But there's a place for introspection and breadth, and composition. It's not a big place, for me, anyways, but there's a place for it nonetheless.

Every year I try to expand my horizons a little bit and get something a little bit out of my comfort zone. Otherwise, High on Fire and Iron Maiden and Motörhead and the aforementioned bands might be the only thing in my collection. Pombagira - no idea what that means - apparently were a doom metal band at some point. I've never heard them before that release. But I'd not label them doom, and if there's metal here, it is in the margins. But does that make it a bad release?

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.

Be'lakor: Of Breath and Bone (2012)

Grayish Tranquillity

Review by Metallattorney. He is the law.

Apparently "Be'lakor" is the name of a demon in the Warhammer series. I will admit to not knowing a damn thing about Warhammer, or any other table top/RPG game for that matter. I could not tell you the difference between Warhammer and Dungeons & Dragons. It is just not something I have ever known about. What I do know is heavy metal. And I know what I like.

Be'lakor is a melodeath band in the vein of mid-era Dark Tranquillity. Oddly they are from Australia, which is kind of bizarre for a band of this style. I would have assumed Be'lakor hailed from Sweden or Finland or some other country in that area. Australia is not really known for its melodeath.

Dark Americana Briefs, Part 7

Home and Far Away

Riitaoja: Mantereelle (2013)
3.5 out of 5 stars

Now here's something a little out of the ordinary for this series: a Finnish band with Finnish lyrics. But the fact it's Americana is undeniable, with Western-sounding electric guitars and banjos, plus a bit of harmonica, and an overall American folk vibe through most of the music. The promo spiel referred to Wovenhand (possibly because the promoter was catering to me specifically?) but it's a fair comparison. That's not to say the European-ness is absent. The vocal style (both female and male) is decidedly un-Americana, and a few lighter tracks sound very Euro. Complete with bass and understated drums, the best songs on here are fantastic, even bordering on heavy (as the title track). Besides the great songs there are also a few very good droning tunes, as well as some weak ones that might sound like lullabies or lifeless indie rock. Overall, much more good than bad.

Live Shows This Month

Tonight, I'm going to my second show in almost a decade. But if there's any band that can get me out of the house, it's Opeth. Them, and Wovenhand, but I think they're in Europe now or something.

I've been a huge fan of them for years, and now that I've had time to digest it, Heritage hasn't changed that. In fact, I listened to it on Tuesday on a system not unlike what people used in the 70's, and it sounded even better. With production that dynamic, you really need a system you can crank up, and get great separation.

Anyway, I'm mostly a hermit, as I'm sure you've gathered. But occasionally a band does come through town that I want to see. This past week, there have been too many. Boris was here on Monday, and Volbeat Wednesday. Clutch is going to be here with The Sword next week. Months and months go by without any bands I care to see, and then all of these within 10 days. Also, apparently the not-quite-Alice in Chains a day later. Sadly, I'm only able to make the Opeth show.

The Volbeat show was interesting to read about . . . . I've been saying for the last five years that they should be huge in the U.S. I found out they were headlining a local 4,500-seat arena and took that as vindication. That is, until I saw the follow-up message that the show would be at the Bourbon Theatre instead. That's a 750 capacity place.

That sure makes Volbeat look bad, but their last-minute move forced Mushroomhead to move. Also, whose bright idea was it to schedule two shows on the same day that are going to draw mostly the same crowd? Don't you think the second band's tour manager might have picked up on that, and realized in a town this size that's a problem?