A second article, Victim of your dreams: A review of negativity and melancology in black metal theory and the arts of Xasthur, has been published in the Journal of Metal Music Studies, volume 2 issue 2. The abstract and a link to the journal page for the article are copied below.
The inherent criticisms presented by black metal and black metal theory demonstrate that the fallacies of ontology rest upon the illusion of coherent organization. This blackness consumes the human perspective and reveals a nothingness that penetrates all interpretations and purpose. In melancology, this epistemic darkness of black metal is directed upon the false human foundations of identity and orientation, negating the principles from which notions of value and agency originate. Black metal is then a misanthropic art that demonstrates the futility of moral ideologies. The present discussion examines these criticisms and explores the themes of pessimism, melancology, and misanthropy in examples derived from the black metal music of Xasthur.
http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Article,id=21979/
Showing posts with label xasthur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xasthur. Show all posts
Sunday, June 26, 2016
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Black Metal and Brews Review
For most of my life, I've had a slight hearing issue. Not the sort of thing you could really diagnose and treat, just the sonic equivalent of everything blurring a little around the edges. It wouldn't surprise me if the extra focus this requires of me has contributed heavily to my great appreciation of listening to the intricacies of music. I listen for the notes between notes, the hidden things that bands might not have even intended for us to hear. When I hear a murky album like Minblod's "Apparition and Aberration," I get a rush from the challenge and the promise of hidden sounds just waiting behind the blur of noise.
Minblod's music works in textures more than individual sonic components. While a determined ear can separate the instruments from each other, the first listen gives little more than a heavy blanket of distortion and shrieks. As the listener focuses, there is almost a calming sensation amid the bleak atmosphere that Minblod creates. The dense fuzz becomes a layer of fog enveloping the listener rather than an obstacle between the music and the listener. Indeed, there is a certain meditative quality to these songs, many of which plod along at a slower pace than is traditionally accepted in black metal. The slow pace paired with the density of the music take the lo-fi template of artists like Xasthur to new depths of isolation, as presented on tracks like "Three Permutations." However, unlike depressive groups who share a similar aesthetic, Minblod seems to be simply acknowledging the inherent chaos in every moment rather than simply holing up and wallowing in self-pity. Indeed, closing track "Heuristic Construct" has an almost redemptive quality to its relatively mellow ambiance, as if rewarding both listener and artist for surviving the album.
This album is available for download courtesy of Humid Records and will soon see physical release from Depressive Illusion. The album comes on CDr in a DVD case which holds a booklet explaining the philosophical journey on which "Apparition and Aberration" takes the listener. To say that the brief essays contained within are challenging reads would be an understatement, but they detail the artist's thoughts on our ability to observe ourselves using our established tools of perception. This companion booklet really makes the physical release a must-have, so keep an eye out.
Taken from: blackmetalandbrews.blogspot.com
Minblod's music works in textures more than individual sonic components. While a determined ear can separate the instruments from each other, the first listen gives little more than a heavy blanket of distortion and shrieks. As the listener focuses, there is almost a calming sensation amid the bleak atmosphere that Minblod creates. The dense fuzz becomes a layer of fog enveloping the listener rather than an obstacle between the music and the listener. Indeed, there is a certain meditative quality to these songs, many of which plod along at a slower pace than is traditionally accepted in black metal. The slow pace paired with the density of the music take the lo-fi template of artists like Xasthur to new depths of isolation, as presented on tracks like "Three Permutations." However, unlike depressive groups who share a similar aesthetic, Minblod seems to be simply acknowledging the inherent chaos in every moment rather than simply holing up and wallowing in self-pity. Indeed, closing track "Heuristic Construct" has an almost redemptive quality to its relatively mellow ambiance, as if rewarding both listener and artist for surviving the album.
This album is available for download courtesy of Humid Records and will soon see physical release from Depressive Illusion. The album comes on CDr in a DVD case which holds a booklet explaining the philosophical journey on which "Apparition and Aberration" takes the listener. To say that the brief essays contained within are challenging reads would be an understatement, but they detail the artist's thoughts on our ability to observe ourselves using our established tools of perception. This companion booklet really makes the physical release a must-have, so keep an eye out.
Taken from: blackmetalandbrews.blogspot.com
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Reduction
Free Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/g2341y8q08i7x41/DistortedCognitionsReduction.zip
Purchase: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/distortedcognitions4
"Reduction"
Recorded in the winter of 2010.
Reduction is a phenomenal application of the scientific method.
01 Sterics
02 Substrate Manifest
03 Empiricist Criterion
04 Wave Function
05 Entropy from Information
"Virus"
Featuring E. Newman
Recorded during various sessions spanning from 2007 through 2010.
Virus is an existential expression of the system.
06 Truth and Utility
07 Mechanism of Gaia
08 Tautomeric Shift
09 Commence Caliginous Confinement
10 Eternity Opens as in Ancient Time
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)