Its black metal or it isn’t.

The way Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_metal ) and other sources define black metal bothers me, specifically the whole concept of the “waves” of black metal. Some of the bands typically labeled as the “first wave of black metal” include Venom, Bathory, Celtic Frost, and Merciful Fate. With the exception of Bathory, these aren’t really black metal bands. I don’t know if people are stupid or what, but it is an easy distinction to make between bands that influence a genre of music, and bands that belong to a genre of music. Bands like Venom and Merciful fate certainly influenced the black metal bands to emerge in the early 1990’s (bands that are known as the “second wave of black metal”), but they weren’t black metal bands themselves. So, having said all that, the concept of first and second “waves” of black metal is quite simply, stupid. As far as the not as common classification called “third wave” black metal, this is also stemming from plain old stupidity. To illustrate; listen to old Mayhem, Darkthrone, Gorgoroth; and then listen to some of the symphonic bands like Dimmu Borgir. Yes, there is a difference. But at its core it’s still black metal. Most good bands progress. Carpathian Forest, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor… these are all bands that have progressed musically over the years. Should we now classify them as “third wave” because they sound different than the bands whose sound hasn’t really changed much over the years? Of course not. Musical progression does not equal a new sub-genre.

And that is my, most likely pointless, two cents.

Thank you.

I’m glad people like my blog so far. I need to add some more stuff soon. I have a couple of ideas for posts. Stay tuned.

Dark Funeral

Here’s the deal. The first album a bought from Dark Funeral was Attera Totus Sanctus. I then got Secrets of the Black Arts. Fast forward to yesterday, a got a hold of Diabolis Interium (not the extended version, their cover of Dead Skin Mask SUCKS) and I was disappointed. It seems like their “middle career” stuff is just more of the same, not much originality from album to album. Now, don’t get me wrong, Attera Totus Sanctus is an awesome album, so in honor of that accomplishment, I bring you my favorite track off that album: 666 Voices Inside…

 

Vote for your favorite black metal band.

I was wondering what black metal bands people like the most, so I added a page to this blog (see the sidebar) where you can vote for your favorite.

Are Dimmu Borgir sellouts?

It seems to me that there are two kinds of bands that people label as “sellouts.” The first kind are bands that sacrifice musical integrity for popularity. The second kind are bands that get labeled as sellouts by people simply because they become more popular. I will give you an example of each (which will bring us to the point of this post).

Metallica. Their first four albums are brilliant examples of speed metal and have stood the test of time. The problem is that when the creative force behind Metallica, Cliff Burton, died unexpectedly, they were just another speed metal band. Well, it seems that the rest of the egomaniacal band couldn’t handle that. So what did they do? They produced an album with the horrid Bob Rock (he even wrote and played some of the music) that would make them big rock stars. And it worked. They are now big rock stars who churn out un-memoriable albums that the masses dig. That is an example of a true sellout.

Dimmu Borgir. They started out as one of cookie cutter black metal bands of the time. Nothing wrong with that, you gotta’ start somewhere, right? Anyway, they produced pretty good “true” black metal for some time, and then a shift towards more technical and symphonic black metal began. I am assuming that this was something the band wanted to do for artistic reasons, as the black metal elitists didn’t like it much, and the general public didn’t care. So, they continued on this track, their albums became more complex and majestic, and eventually, with the release of “Death Cult Armageddon”, they started getting recognition with a larger audience. Mind you, I think that a lot of this new audience are a bunch of wankers, but that isn’t the point. The point is that a lot of the black metal community are calling Dimmu Borgir sellouts, yet DB never sacrificed their musical integrity. On the contrary, they progressed musically. They are being labeled as sellouts only because thier musical progression happened to catch peoples attention. I say more power to ‘em. Now, some might argue that because their music progressed over time, they are no longer “true” black metal any more. Well, shit, Gorgoroth’s music has progressed and gotten better over time, would you call them sellouts? If you do, fly to Norway and tell it to their faces, you will probably get stabbed.

I think I made my point.

Ah, the greatness that is Emperor…

The other day I was doing the dishes and put “Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk” in to my CD player. Man, the songs Alsvartr and Ye Entrancemperium have got to be the best intro to a black metal album to this day. So, for a Satanic blast to your senses, here is Ye Entrancemperium.

Up next: My rant about why Dimmu Borgir aren’t sell outs. Please hold all comments until after my rant (Yeah, right. Like anyone is reading this blog…)

Welcome to Hell kids!

Welcome to my blog. This is, as of right now, an experiment. But who knows, it might become an ode to my favorite genre of music: Black Metal!