Monday, May 11, 2015

Minblod: Stigmata sans Schemata


Minblod album "Stigmata sans Schemata" is now available from the official website. The content of this release is presented as developed in the fall of 2012. There are no current plans to release this album in any format other than the free download.

Music

1. The indifference of nature
2. Chaos reigns I: The hammer
3. Chaos reigns II: The adversary
4. The nature of suffering

Text

Suffering is the definitive experience of subjectivity. Functional representations enable one to compare the present state to other potential forms of existence. As experience accumulates, the subject becomes increasingly aware of the fatality of continuity, and suffering occurs as one realizes that nature is not consistent with subjective valuations.

Nature is indifferent to such suffering. It is without intrinsic value. All forms are merely instrumental to the continuity of existence, and this progression is independent of any subjective judgment. Any criticism of its character is without absolute validity or an authentic foundation.

Nature is a truth that is only imperfectly realized by the subject. Because experience occurs through relativity, all representations are merely summations of phenomenal mechanisms. The authentic character is metaphysical. It is known only indirectly through a limited set of relational physics.

The subject inevitably compares present representations to alternative states. Some ideal states may be realized through the activity of the subject. However, because perceptual representations are not equivalent to existence, and because subjective values are often distinct from natural ends, other ideals are impossible in practice.

Suffering occurs with the accumulation of unsatisfied desires. The marginal increase of suffering resulting from each disappointment is proportional to the subjective value assigned to the relevant ideal. A shift in values or circumstances may alter the degree of suffering, but this essential condition is perpetually associated with the phenomenal limitations of subjectivity.

Suffering is only alleviated in death. In abjection, subjectivity collapses to reunite with the natural state. The cessation of artificial representations negates the possibility of idealism. Perceptions of intrinsic value are revealed as distortions of existence. This value is not an authentic property of nature but only preference defined in relation to erroneous interpretations.

The subject exists in a state of chaos. Existence may consist of some natural order, but the epistemic limitations of relativity prevent its revelation in the dimensions of consciousness. A fear of the unknown motivates humanity to construct artificial systems of organization that attempt to make sense of existence.

Nature is not bound by such principles. Nature continuously invalidates theoretical notions by demonstrating inconsistencies. Suffering is the symptom of this continuous failure. It can only be alleviated through the abandonment of epistemic pursuits.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Depressive Metal: Cultural Expression and Social Organization

I recently had the opportunity to aid in the translation of Depressive Metal: Cultural Expression and Social Organization by Egle Jurciute-Baleviciene. More information can be found at the following link, and a descriptive paragraph is below.

Depressive metal musicians and fans are a new and culturally specific community that is both musically and ideologically exclusive. The present book attempts to reveal this phenomenon, and it proceeds with an analysis of the features of the global depressive metal subculture intended to identify the cultural elements and social relations that may enable a conceptualization of its character. It discusses the perspectives, artistic creations, and cultural constructions of this subculture with an emic anthropological orientation, and it also attempts to describe the sub-cultural expression and the informal social organization of depressive metal musicians and fans within the context of globalization and in relation to the broader metal music culture as well as the more general contemporary society.

https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/depressive-metal:-cultural-expression-and-social-organisation/isbn/978-3-659-70728-5