A Tribute to Black Metal (Poem)

Sprawling black roots of sound

extended below by mammoth Tree of Odin.

Bark grey and chipping with age.

Planted in times of pagan gods and Viking raids,

thriving on modern misanthropy

Ravishing grimness overtakes underground.

Chords of obsidian darkness

play to the lost and the damned.

Hel at the reins

directing roots of horrific essence

throughout the bleak countryside of the Eastern front,

the bustling city of liberty,

the jungles of Myan descendants,

the frostbitten forests of the north.

A befouled metallic creation.

Odin stands triumphant.

The Black Dahlia Murder-Everblack ALBUM REVIEW

When it comes to consistency in metal, Michigan metal crew The Black Dahlia Murder is one band that’s always been worth paying attention to, even worth buying in to. Over the course of six albums, the band has refused to compromise on their signature and unmistakable brand of melodious death metal, producing music where its purpose and conviction is undeniable. On their most recent album, Everblack, BDM sounds tighter and more focused than ever before doing what they have proven to be most adept a doing. Unfortunately, “doing what they’re most adept at doing” also entails the total avoidance of throwing any surprises at the listener.

CLASSICS: Nachtmystium-Addicts: Black Meddle Part II ALBUM REVIEW

Up until fairly recently, American black metal was rarely ever taken too seriously and was seen as a novelty by some, especially those who fall under the “black metal elitist” category who won’t accept anything that comes from anywhere else but Scandinavia. American bands that donned corpsepaint and leather armor and imitated Norwegian low-fi production styles were seen more as unfunny parodies of black metal and not as groups of earnest musicians, and by looking at silly photos of Leviathan, Xasthur, and Absu that ape early Darkthrone album covers, it’s not hard to understand why. It finally took some bands that were brave enough to opt out of that decade-old image and take black metal into new stylistic territories for critics and fans to start paying attention to what the Americans were doing with great interest. By no means has this pleased everybody; the stigmatized “hipster” tag gets placed on many of these bands, and even veterans of American black metal like Wrest of Leviathan have derided them for not being “satanic” (“Don’t call it black metal then.” He said about Wolves in the Throne Room and Liturgy in an interview with Decibel.) But the development of black metal since the Americans have taken over has been an exciting evolution of sorts, and who knows where the genre will end up next.

Deafheaven-Sunbather ALBUM REVIEW

My interest in USBM (United States Black Metal for the uninformed) has been relatively high ever since I became a fan of Wolves in the Throne Room and Krallice as a high schooler several years ago. These bands, who showed up during the middle of the last decade, gave my generation its own black metal bands to sacrifice cats to, as well as freed us from being limited to just those scary-looking (or silly-looking depending on how you see it) 1990s Nordic fellows for black metal enjoyment. For me, this is fantastic because of how far-removed black metal seemed to me for such a long time. While I indeed enjoyed Emperor and Immortal, there wasn't a lot to relate to other than a distaste for Christianity. With these new trailblazers within our borders, I finally feel like I can take black metal music as my own, rather than just looking at it from behind a glass at a museum.

"God is Dead?" First Black Sabbath Song With Ozzy Osbourne in 15 Fucking Years

I really did see this coming. After Dio's sad passing a few years ago I got the idea in my head that the original Sabbath Lineup would reunite (again) and take the place of the Mk II Sabbath lineup of Appice and Dio. It was just the perfect opportunity, and you got to remember that several years ago they already planned to record another album with the original 4 members. The plan was already made (with Rick Rubin as the producer, as originally planned) but it just took an miniature eternity for it to be acted upon, and now we have this; the first Ozzy led Sabbath song in 15 years, 35 if you only count the last album the lineup made together.

Black Veil Brides: OBVIOUS APPEAL

   One band that most jaded metalheads get all pissy about these days has to be Black Veil Brides, a melodic metal band that lies in the same vein as the equally polarizing Avenged Sevenfold in terms of overall sound. While I find many of their songs to be really catchy, perhaps even good (minus some stuff I've heard off their over-bloated latest album), I have never considered myself to be a fan of the group (this has absolutely nothing to do with protecting my metal cred, honest Abe) but I understand their appeal to so many suburban teenagers who wear their t-shirts and go to their shows with scars painted on the sides of their mouths akin to the band's singer Andy Biersack. But honestly, the people I don't understand are the people who DON'T get their appeal.

METAL MODAYS: Varg Will Never NOT Be Funny

   I don't have a lot of time here today, so if you don't know who this crazy bastard is then let me tell you in short: He's a Norwegian black metal guy who burned a bunch of churches to the fucking ground in the '90s and stabbed Euronymous 23 times, killing him. Who's Euronymous? Fuck, I gotta do math homework now so just look it up, and you can read all of his confusing, almost "exclusively contradictory" statements (said Daniel Bukzpan) in the book Lords of Chaos (a book that Varg claims to have taken all of said contradictory statements out of context, if not, they were totally fabricated.)The point here is, he will never NOT be funny. For example: