Black Metal, Blacker Hearts
Heathens roasting on a burned church spire, Celtic Frost nipping at your nose.
Turns out that our predictions last week were right on the money. This past week saw some truly exciting music get released, and I can’t wait to show you what ended up on our list of favorites. In addition to some great music, we’re continuing our history lesson on harsh vocals and are jumping back into subgenres with a deep dive into black metal.
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Body Void - Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth
In a week full of highly anticipated releases, Body Void’s Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth was still a clear standout. Few albums attempt to be this heavy, and even fewer succeed. Those in the know should realize how ridiculous it is that this album is heavier than the latest release by BIG|BRAVE, a band who routinely releases music that would make Sunn O))) turn their heads. Even more absurd, Body Void weaponizes this heaviness without losing edge. Often, the heaviest stoner doom and drone metal albums feel akin to being slowly ground to a pulp beneath the weight of a large, agonizingly slow hydraulic press. Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth is more like being bludgeoned to death with a rivet filled baseball bat. Each second of this rattling monstrosity sounds like an apocalypse condensed into an audio format. This is essential doom metal listening, and is bound to be a modern doom classic.
Great Metal from this Week
Body Void wasn’t the only thing that blew me away this week. We’ve got five monster albums that are sure to be popping up on year end lists and in the upper echelons of Rate Your Music searches in 2021. Albums in bold received an 8/10 or higher, and should be considered essential, but the other albums weren’t far behind and could be an 8+ depending on your taste and genre preferences.
Neptunian Maximalism - Solar Drone Ceremony
This experimental metal album consists of a single 52 minute song and every second of it is incredible. After last year’s Éons it was clear that this band was onto something special. Their innovative blend of metal with one of its closest sonic brethren, jazz, has proven bountiful once again, and I’d contest that the slower, more condensed nature of this record makes it even more impressive than its highly lauded predecessor.
I told y’all this was going to be a good one and I was not mistaken. BIG|BRAVE provides amazing atmospheres and gut-churning riffs with such consistency that they’re rapidly approaching the hallowed halls of drone metal canonization. In a few short years people will consider BIG|BRAVE to be on the same tier as groups like Sunn O))), Earth and Boris. This album is going to be a big reason why.
Victory Over the Sun - Nowherer
Oh my god the potential here is completely staggering. This is something that I’ll have to revisit a few times before year end lists roll around, but from the jump it’s clear that Victory Over the Sun is a special artist. The hulking riffs border on experimental, and the distortion often boils over into the realm of noise, but it’s all part of a sonic journey that we should count ourselves lucky to have embarked upon.
Some artists just have the magic in their bones. Paysage d’Hiver is one of them. The man just knows how to make absurdly consistent black metal that doesn’t conform to the modern trends in the genre. Geister is a brutal, red-hot block of lead that captures the spirit of classic Norwegian black metal without all the baggage that it often carries.
Some of the Greeks behind Wanderers: The Astrology of the Nine return to make equally impressive black metal. This is a big ol’ excursion through the loudest, least accommodating parts of the cosmos and I couldn’t have been happier to take the trip.
You can hear tracks from most of these albums on our Spotify playlist, Fresh Kills, by clicking the button below.
Subgenre Guide - You Know What They Say. The Blacker the Metal, the… More Questionable the Beliefs of the Band Leader
Despite having the most compelling story of any subgenre’s origin, the discussion of black metal is always a difficult one. Those who have been reading for some time know about black metal and its tendency to tilt towards Nazism. We even constructed a whole guide about how this happened and how you can avoid Nazi black metal bands. So this leaves me only one choice, I’ll give the history of black metal, will acknowledge that these awful bands filled with awful people were pivotal, and will call them Nazis and tell you not to listen to them. Any bands with Nazi members or Nazi history will not be linked to in any fashion, but I’ll still clearly note what they are. Alright, let's jump into this pile of discarded needles.
We’ll primarily be skipping over the first wave of black metal, which was much smaller and less influential than the second wave. But for the sake of being comprehensive, the original black metal sprung up from thrash and death metal, and included bands like Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Mercyful Fate.
Second wave black metal, often known as Norwegian black metal, is generally what people are referring to when they discuss black metal. It originally began as a synonym for “satanic metal” which really had nothing to do with Satanism, and a lot more to do with a strong distaste for religion, specifically Christianity. For some bands, this was the equivalent of a teenager’s emo phase or was just part of the look. Others considered it to be their duty and calling to destroy Christianity and return to the old ways of European paganism. While there’s nothing wrong with people caring for their roots and wanting to connect with them, it was less that they loved their culture and wanted to show what they loved and more “other cultures are destroying my better culture so now I need to destroy their culture.” It should be pretty clear which group ended up producing a lot of Nazis.
Stylistically, black metal differentiates itself from thrash and death metal in a variety of ways. Black metal often kept the guitars in standard tuning, which led to an ironically brighter and lighter sound. This is further backed up by the harsh high-pitched screams that the singers tend to utilize. The guitars are played at blistering speeds thanks to tremolo picking and power chords. Black metal guitarists also aim to create dissonance between the guitars using tritone or flat fifth, which helps the music to feel more unsettling. Drummers in black metal held onto the use of the double bass pedal and used blast beats to further increase the tempo of the song.
Thematically, black metal aims for transgression with signature corpse paint and inverted crosses. Pentagrams are also a common feature of many black metal bands, though anti-religious themes have never been rare in metal. The lyrics are often about misanthropy or the evils of religion. Modern fusion genres and niche genres like depressive suicidal black metal focus on self-loathing as well.
The history of black metal begins with Bathory, who, as a first wave black metal band, contributed a new style of guitar playing that would influence Norwegian black metal bands like Mayhem (Nazi Members), Darkthrone, Burzum (Nazi), Satyricon and Gorgoroth. (Note, none of these bands are filled with great folks, but only two bands are outright NSBM) These bands would then go on a tear of church burnings, occasional live performances and various murders. Most notable are the suicide of Dead, the vocalist for Mayhem and the murder of Euronymous, the leader of Mayhem, at the hands of Varg Vikernes (Nazi), the bassist of Mayhem. These events sent shockwaves throughout the Norwegian black metal community, but ultimately served as a way to keep the genre niche and away from the influence of outsiders.
After these events, black metal quickly became one of the most popular genres within the metal community. While it remains inaccessible to most because of its harsh nature, it has been smashed together with just about every metal subgenre imaginable. This popularization began in the ‘90s but reached a peak in the 2000s as bands like Dimmu Borgir, Wolves in the Throne Room, Krallice and Xasthur. These bands, while still inaccessible to most, refined the recording techniques of black metal and (in some cases) divorced themselves from the ideologies of their predecessors, making it easier for fans of other metal genres to get on board with their sound.
Today, black metal’s ability to be fused with other genres has given it something of a second life. While pure black bands like Paysage d’Hiver still exist, most people have found black metal through one of its many fusion genres. The most notable of these fusions is atmospheric black metal or blackgaze, which is practiced by groups like Morwinyon, Deafheaven, Alcest and Lantlôs. Black metal has also been fused with folk by artists like Ornassi Pazuzu, Bríi and Kaatayra. While these are by no means the only fusions, they’re some of the most notable black metal groups in the current era.
With that, we’ll draw the curtain on black metal, but we’ll be back to discuss some of its sub-categories in the very near future. For our song selection, I’ll leave you all with one of my favorite black metal tracks of all time, “Ilmestys” by Ornassi Pazuzu.
Welcome to the Harsh Era
Last week we dove into the history of harsh vocals and how they invaded metal music, but stopped just short of where they took over. This week we’ll continue to explore how harsh vocals have proliferated throughout metal, and we’ll pick up where we left off, at the dawn of death metal in the late ‘80s. Now that harsh vocals have fully been embraced by the world of metal, the rest of this exploration will be more focused on the types of harsh vocals in each subgenre, and examples of what they sound like.
Death Metal: Death metal vocals are exceedingly harsh even among harsh vocal styles. The standard death metal harsh vocal is the death growl, which is noted for being loud, raspy, low and virtually unintelligible. Early on, bands like Possessed pioneered this style but you can hear the strain in their voices as they attempt to do it. As the death growl became more popular, new techniques were discovered that allowed vocalists to expel harsher vocals without straining quite as much. A good example of this more modern vocal style comes from Disembowel, who released one of last year’s best death metal albums.
Death metal also has several notable subgenres and fusion genres that use different styles of harsh vocals to distinguish themselves. Some of these include technical death metal, which sometimes uses a clearer vocal style that focuses on comprehension over pure brutality. Tech death bands also tend to layer lower death growls with higher pitched shrieks. Conversely, brutal slam death bands like Afterbirth use a completely incomprehensible version of the death growl that is more of a grumble than anything else. I can’t say it’s my cup of tea, but it’s a style unto itself.
Black Metal: When death metal went low, black metal went high; really, really high. The signature style utilized by black metal is often called a shriek, and it’s clear to see why when you listen to early black metal bands like Satyricon. The core style has been refined, and has led to the vocal stylings of modern black metal bands such as Paysage d’Hiver, Deafheaven and Liturgy. Some bands in the more esoteric corners of black metal have invented a style known as “depressive suicidal black metal” (DSBM) which uses high pitched vocals that sound more like wailing and weeping than typical black metal.
Prog Metal: Harsh vocals are less common in prog-metal than most other modern metal genres. Even alt-metal and hard rock tend to employ harsh vocals more frequently than prog. In general, prog’s harsh vocals tend to be more of a yell or shout than a full-throated raspy scream. One of the most notable examples is the 23-second yell in TOOL’s “The Grudge.”
Grindcore: Grindcore bands tend to use a less professional sounding style of harsh vocals than most metal genres. As one might expect this comes from hardcore punk more than metal. The style is more panicked than other metal vocals, though grindcore bands have been known to employ a variety of vocal styles in the pursuit of fast enunciation and maximum abrasiveness.
Nu-Metal/Alt Metal: Yes, nu-metal and alt-metal are distinct genres, yes, I’m grouping them together. Despite the metal community’s distaste for these genres on the whole, they both pushed harsh vocals into new places and influenced their usage in the future. Some of the most notable inventions of these genres are the inhale scream and the pig squeal (I’m begging you not to listen to that song). Many of the bands in this genre (and in hard rock) also figured out a way to do a scream that sounds like inhalation but is still an exhaled scream, which is probably because inhaled screams annihilate your vocal chords after awhile.
Sludge Metal/Doom Metal: Sludge and doom vocalists use a similar vocal style to one another. While the latter is generally performed with clean vocals, there are many notable examples of stoner doom bands using harsh vocals within their songs, like at the end of Electric Wizard’s “Funeralopolis.” Sludge bands almost always use harsh vocals. The vocals are similar to death growls, and tend to keep in line with the low tuning of the guitar and bass. They are often more raspy and enunciated than death metal growls thanks to the slower pacing of sludge metal tracks.
Experimental Metal/Harsh Noise: There is no single vocal style for experimental metal or harsh noise, but most bands see their objective as pushing the limits of sound and music. Some notable screams include the piercing shriek used by Chip King of The Body, the distorted vocals of Blanck Mass, and the brain melting howls of Prurient and Pharmakon.
Post Hardcore: Post hardcore didn’t necessarily invent its own style of screaming but the manic screams of Fall of Troy and Dance Gavin Dance deserve mention.
Non-Metal AOTW
Porter Robinson - Nurture
The highly anticipated album from noted electro-sadboi Porter Robinson did not disappoint. This is one of the most towering achievements in modern popular electronic music. While there’s nothing too revolutionary in terms of sound choice, tempo or even song construction, Robinson just puts everything together perfectly. Much like Worlds before it, Nurture takes a genre known for parties, drugs and debauchery and makes it a vehicle for introspection without stealing the fun away. What he’s doing is amazing, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
Runners-up
Dinosaur Jr. - Sweep It Into Space
The best reunion band continues to be the best reunion band. Sweep It Into Space doesn’t quite reach the highs of their pre-breakup albums, or the towering heights of their best record, Farm, but it is still an incredibly solid Dinosaur Jr. album. People may overlook this one (as much as a Dinosaur Jr. release can be overlooked) but if this were released by someone else we’d be calling it one of the year’s best.
Remember Sports - Like a Stone
Remember Sports is perfect pop-punk emo. Like a Stone hits the peaks of all those genres, has all the right lyrics, and then it goes and adds a tinge of country/folk to it. I can’t say enough good things about this album, I just wish it was a little bit longer. In the meantime I’ll just have to play the whole thing again.
Hidden Gems in the Next Mine
Lots of exciting things to come on the non-metal side, some of these albums come from artists that are super underappreciated so I highly suggest you check them out and throw some support their direction.
On the metal side of things, there’s only one album that I’m specifically looking forward to, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be anything good this week, it just means that there’s a lot of bands I’ve never heard of that I get to check out. If that still doesn’t sound promising, keep in mind that of our 50 favorite metal albums from 2020, only 10 came from bands that I had previously heard.
Metal Albums
Non-Metal Albums
If there’s something that you think I missed, let me hear about it in the comments. I say it every week, but I really do mean it when I say that your feedback and comments, whether positive or negative, are extremely helpful when it comes to improving this newsletter.
Shrinekeeping
That’s gonna do it for this week of the newsletter. Thanks for reading! If you dug it, hit the share button below to pass it along to a friend.
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Next week we’ll talk about nu-metal and it’s going to be a bad time for all of us. I can’t wait.