I would like to begin by saying that this is a great album. The phrases in the music are clearly discernable, the melodies are relatively consonant and the musicians are clearly skilled, both in terms of technical ability, song composition, and in thematic symmetry. I like how the cover art is complementary to the feel of the album. It’s interesting, inspired, and creative, and the melodies are quite catchy. I would put this on over a lot of other modern heavy metal (all sub-genre’s included) albums. But in the same breath, I feel compelled to annihilate the notion that this is a black metal album, in any way shape or form.
Although at first glance it may resemble something analogous to black metal, someone familiar with what it is about the classics that makes them great, their black metal-ness, is not present in “the mantle.” To gain comprehension of this requires a sort of conceptual perspective on just what black metal is, as it is quite unique. The first aspect of its individuality is it’s relation to the backdrop of the culture and events of the time and locality, which of coarse very few have first hand experience of. This sort of makes the genre a closed genre for those willing to hold such a strict view.
Let us set that aside briefly, and entertain the view that we can have a black metal album come from outside the cultural perspective from which the genre derives meaning, and from which it is interpreted. In this case, the essence of the old black metal albums is in what they are lacking. The beauty of something that is not polished, skillful, or easy to listen to, but that isn’t simply rough aggression like one may find in some very guttural German thrash groups: kreator or destruction for example. In the position of being one man, with no band, the cheapest gear, no training, no chance for popularity, and little to no audience, Varg Vickerness was able to still create something of value, and effectively popularize a subgenre (which some deny is even associated with metal at all).
Though it is unfashionable to like burzum when bands like agalloch make something that is palatable to listen to, one cannot deny that the mere fact this album has the name “black metal” associated with it is due to the history that Varg is undeniably the driving force behind (at the very least it’s popularity.) at the same time, it is too easy to mistake the events which popularized the genre (which few at the time would have claimed they wanted, whether that reflects how they felt is a different story) with what it is about burzum, or any of the other great albums at the time that is essentially substantial. The substance lies in the rejection of the polished, the well crafted, the clear, and easy to listen to, and ultimately the popular. Blackmetal is like the appreciation of tattered rags, and what is coming on the scene now is essentially designer rags – made all pretty like. It’s a sort of Zen like appreciation for expression of the untalented to show more clearly the raw creativity behind their music, without technical aspects or songwriting and such to get in the way. Varg can’t write a classical symphony, and probably can’t read music, and is already responsible for the death of one semi-band mate, and helped another to kill himself. And lets not forget who is actually in jail due to the church burnings. But what varg can do, is take something that has musical value, and effectively transmit it in a way that was previously unintelligible, with no band and with the cheapest gear possible.
There’s a very famous story in the east, where an emperor came to a famous tea master and requested that the tea master build him a solid gold tea hut. The tea hut in traditional Japanese culture is representative (at least partially) of the characteristics of wabi and sabi, which I will not explain in this review. Never the less, it remains very close to what is so good about black metal, and the tea master ultimately refused, which may or may not have lead to his death. Kakuzo Okakura has a very famous book called “the book of tea” which is a classic about Japanese aesthetics in relation to religious and ethical philosophy. This album reminds me of the golden tea hut. That, and those kids who want to be gangster, with “ghetto style” but come from the suburbs.
The classics are ominous, expressive with very little, distorted and bitter. They are monotonous, and what’s going on is not clearly defined, but layered and atmospheric. The vocals alone turn away most listeners. Usually in Norwegian, the themes of the albums are usually cultural, dark, mystical, and anti-modernist, and semi-fantasy related. Mozart is spinning in his grave, but john cage is laughing with Jackson Pollock. What is there however is usually a groove, and a heaviness, and usually a killer riff somewhere. But again, it’s all about the placement, and the relation to the unlistenable. Accenting a phrase by setting it apart from a white-wash of monotonous depression, like a thunderbolt from a grey sky. It may not be “good music” but it sure as hell is good art.
I would like assert again, by saying that this is a great album. The phrases in the music are clearly discernable, the melodies are relatively consonant and the musicians are clearly skilled, both in terms of technical ability, song composition, and in thematic symmetry. I like how the cover art is complementary to the feel of the album. It’s interesting, inspired, and creative, and the melodies are quite catchy: which is exactly why is fails to convey the aesthetic of black metal.
Although at first glance it may resemble something analogous to black metal, someone familiar with what it is about the classics that makes them great, their black metal-ness, is not present in “the mantle.” To gain comprehension of this requires a sort of conceptual perspective on just what black metal is, as it is quite unique. The first aspect of its individuality is it’s relation to the backdrop of the culture and events of the time and locality, which of coarse very few have first hand experience of. This sort of makes the genre a closed genre for those willing to hold such a strict view.
Let us set that aside briefly, and entertain the view that we can have a black metal album come from outside the cultural perspective from which the genre derives meaning, and from which it is interpreted. In this case, the essence of the old black metal albums is in what they are lacking. The beauty of something that is not polished, skillful, or easy to listen to, but that isn’t simply rough aggression like one may find in some very guttural German thrash groups: kreator or destruction for example. In the position of being one man, with no band, the cheapest gear, no training, no chance for popularity, and little to no audience, Varg Vickerness was able to still create something of value, and effectively popularize a subgenre (which some deny is even associated with metal at all).
Though it is unfashionable to like burzum when bands like agalloch make something that is palatable to listen to, one cannot deny that the mere fact this album has the name “black metal” associated with it is due to the history that Varg is undeniably the driving force behind (at the very least it’s popularity.) at the same time, it is too easy to mistake the events which popularized the genre (which few at the time would have claimed they wanted, whether that reflects how they felt is a different story) with what it is about burzum, or any of the other great albums at the time that is essentially substantial. The substance lies in the rejection of the polished, the well crafted, the clear, and easy to listen to, and ultimately the popular. Blackmetal is like the appreciation of tattered rags, and what is coming on the scene now is essentially designer rags – made all pretty like. It’s a sort of Zen like appreciation for expression of the untalented to show more clearly the raw creativity behind their music, without technical aspects or songwriting and such to get in the way. Varg can’t write a classical symphony, and probably can’t read music, and is already responsible for the death of one semi-band mate, and helped another to kill himself. And lets not forget who is actually in jail due to the church burnings. But what varg can do, is take something that has musical value, and effectively transmit it in a way that was previously unintelligible, with no band and with the cheapest gear possible.
There’s a very famous story in the east, where an emperor came to a famous tea master and requested that the tea master build him a solid gold tea hut. The tea hut in traditional Japanese culture is representative (at least partially) of the characteristics of wabi and sabi, which I will not explain in this review. Never the less, it remains very close to what is so good about black metal, and the tea master ultimately refused, which may or may not have lead to his death. Kakuzo Okakura has a very famous book called “the book of tea” which is a classic about Japanese aesthetics in relation to religious and ethical philosophy. This album reminds me of the golden tea hut. That, and those kids who want to be gangster, with “ghetto style” but come from the suburbs.
The classics are ominous, expressive with very little, distorted and bitter. They are monotonous, and what’s going on is not clearly defined, but layered and atmospheric. The vocals alone turn away most listeners. Usually in Norwegian, the themes of the albums are usually cultural, dark, mystical, and anti-modernist, and semi-fantasy related. Mozart is spinning in his grave, but john cage is laughing with Jackson Pollock. What is there however is usually a groove, and a heaviness, and usually a killer riff somewhere. But again, it’s all about the placement, and the relation to the unlistenable. Accenting a phrase by setting it apart from a white-wash of monotonous depression, like a thunderbolt from a grey sky. It may not be “good music” but it sure as hell is good art.
I would like assert again, by saying that this is a great album. The phrases in the music are clearly discernable, the melodies are relatively consonant and the musicians are clearly skilled, both in terms of technical ability, song composition, and in thematic symmetry. I like how the cover art is complementary to the feel of the album. It’s interesting, inspired, and creative, and the melodies are quite catchy: which is exactly why is fails to convey the aesthetic of black metal.
What? No music post? ha just kidding. Way to lay it out plain and simple. BTW, this is BLACK FOLK metal remember?
ReplyDeleteAwesome review, I never thought Japanese tea, Varg, and Mozart would ever be mentioned in the same post. But you pulled it off!
ReplyDelete