Related:
Drowning the Light - A Pact with Madness (2009)
Drowning the Light - Oceans of Eternity (2011)
Wolfblood - A Victory to Echo Through Time (Demo I) (2012)
Harvest - Forgotten Vampyres of the Melancholic Night (2013)
More eerie atmospheric black metal courtesy of Australia's Drowning the Light. To me, Catacombs of Blood is the most complete representation of this project, and not because it does anything particularly different from his/their other albums -- it's the same ghostly guitars, distant drums, hissing vocals, and general atmosphere of evil ethereality -- but simply because it all comes together so immaculately, in a way that's hard to quantify. It certainly doesn't hurt that the piano intro sounds like it was lifted straight out of a 70s-era Fulci film; and need I mention the album art? Honestly, probably one of my all-time favorite BM records.
Track listing:
1. Fragmented and Unrealizable
2. As Plague upon the Sheep (Poison in Redemption)
3. Torn Away by the Shadows
4. Entrance to Illumination
5. Autumn Mourning
6. Such Cruelty Never Rests
7. Burial in the Rain
8. Pact of the Black Templars
9. Eyes of Onyx (Carrion for the Worms)
10. This Darkest Hour
11. Requiem of Honor and Glory
He lived in the same manner he died
Bitter, cold, and unrelenting
Also listen to:
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| Vampyric Blood - Ordo Dracul (2012) |
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| Blood Stronghold - From Sepulchral Remains... (2014) |
Open/Honest Question: How do you approach bands/artists with NS ties/projects in their past or even present? It's something I've been struggling with personally. That Blood Stronghold album you posted is one of my favorites from the past year or so but the drummer was in a straight up white supremacist hate band. Azorgh from Drowning the Light has a Nazi solo project called Reich of the Black Sun. I know it's easy to say 'Oh well these bands are a dime a dozen and just find one that ISN'T NS." But some of these are albums I really love and have a hard time letting go of. How do you approach the issue?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you so much for posing your question in such a thoughtful, genuinely curious manner. It can be hard to do, especially with such a loaded issue, but you pulled it off. All of us here on the internet would do well to follow your example.
DeleteTo address your question: for me, it's a case-by-case basis, all hinging on the nebulous but relatively simple idea of whether or not I genuinely enjoy listening to it. No matter how great an album theoretically might be musically, if it's called "Aryan Supremacy" and has a big ol' swastika on the cover, listening to it will be an unpleasant experience -- like, if a band is all about Naziism, what's a Nazi hater gonna like about it?
But if all I see is trees/wolves/ghosts/Christ being sodomized by a demon/etc., and none of your song names make my ears prick up, I'm listening. Above all, I'm a music nerd, and if it's easy for me to ignore or, even better, never even fucking know that they're boneheads, then that's what I'm gonna do.
Hey, really appreciate your response dude.
ReplyDeleteI think my problems are two-fold. I admit that against my better judgement I still listen to some sketchy stuff, like the aforementioned Blood Stronghold, and try to justify it by telling myself that if I'm not paying for it and it's not actively turning ME into a Nazi then I'm not doing anything wrong. At the same time, the music nerd in me—and I think this a sentiment you can relate to—wants to share stuff I think is awesome. But at that point aren't I actively spreading the work of people with despicable beliefs? You seem to do so openly and do a good job of being upfront about what you're sharing, but how do you feel about that aspect of it?
My second concern,which I think related, is that by both listening to this stuff and sharing it with people through whatever means, I'm just normalizing these people and their views. My base instinct says that's not the case and that the people involved in this circle of sharing are intelligent enough to see this stuff for what it is and enjoy it in the context of simply being a music fan. Bad people can make good art, and all that. But am I just trying to justify my own moral failing? Shit. I don't know.
Sorry to go on like this but it's something I've been struggling with and and in these times our cultural choices feel so much more weighted. Thanks again for your response and creating/maintaining this space. It's been a refuge.
I do think that music can help us to gain a better understanding of our world, and can in some respects shape our worldviews. However, I feel certain that anyone who has found, or will find their way to racism/naziism through black metal was already harboring those types of beliefs, and it was only a matter of time before they went full-blown. And honestly, I'd probably rather have that shit out in the open so they can get stomped.
DeleteAnd I guess that's where normalization comes in, and that's a bit trickier as it's so hard to account for. Certainly, I hope that I'm not helping to normalize this shit. I try to point out any sketchy ties that a band has when I post them, which should help to reinforce the idea that these kinds of beliefs are harmful and shitty. Maybe I don't do enough, though.
I think what it comes down to is that I want this blog to represent my listening habits as fully as possible. I sorta think of this thing as a cryptic kind of autobiography, and it would be incomplete without Drowning the Light, Blood Stronghold, and all of the other sketchy bands I've posted, as they're currently making some of my favorite music in the world. I just wish they weren't shitty people.