Blind Guardian - Beyond the Red Mirror ALBUM REVIEW

Well, it looks like the year is half over and I haven’t written a single review. To get back on track reviewing my favorites (and least favorites) of the year so far I’ll start with an album from a very special band for me: Blind Guardian.

My Thoughts on Nazism and Racism in Black Metal

In April, the black metal duo Inquisition came under fire due to some damning evidence of their supposed neo-Nazi past which includes posing with a Nazi flag and the existence of many racist forum posts allegedly made by the band’s frontman Jason “Dagon” Weirbach. Perhaps most troubling (for me at least) was the fact the Weirbach was involved with a side-band called 88MM which released a track titled “14 Showerheads, 1 Gas Tight Door” released on a compilation with the delightful title Declaration of Anti-Semitic Terror, not to mention the fact that “88” is often used by neo-Nazis as an abbreviation for “Heil Hitler” since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. None of this was remotely helped by the very lukewarm apology made by Weirbach amidst these accusations. The band is playing this year’s Knotfest metal festival and the inclusion of such a band with this kind of controversy surrounding them could be a messy situation and could be bad publicity for the festival and its promoters, as this Metalsucks article explains. 

When I was in middle school and high school I was sometimes accused of being a racist because I was a metal fan. Where did this come from? Does the fact that most young metal kids in our schools happen to be white cause people to believe that the metal subculture excludes and is against blacks? This is a possibility, but I don't think there's any good reason to label heavy metal fans as racist because of a lack of African Americans in the American metal scene, as I believe that the low number of AfAm metalheads in this country is mainly due to personal choice in music more than anything else. But the rather alarming frequency of racist and neo-Nazi ideologies in black metal specifically is very troubling to me, especially since black metal is my favorite subgenre of metal. Black metal musicians like Rob Darken and Varg Vikernes (and many others) express opinions that surpass mere disagreement for me, but ideas I find totally reprehensible and intolerable, not to mention idiotic due to their Nazi beliefs being entirely based on white nationalism, heterosexism, racial separatism, and anti-Semitism. I have never once held any of these neo-Nazi sympathies in my life and I can say that with complete honesty.

Some of you might be thinking, “Well, Anthony, it’s obvious why your old school mates assumed you were racist for being a metal fan. It’s because of all this far-right racism within the black metal you love so much which you just admitted was within the scene with ‘alarming frequency.’” I’d have to completely disagree with that. I’m 100% certain that all the people who ever accused me of being racist based on the fact that I listen to metal have never heard of black metal in their lives, let alone know any of these band’s names or their ideologies. The people accusing me of racism were almost always young men and women who mainly listen to hip-hop and r&b and who’ve probably never heard a legitimate metal song in their lives, their only exposure to “metal” being something like Linkin Park or whatever else is played on the radio, as well as various snippets of screamo (which isn’t metal) and metalcore songs they overhear being played on their “rocker” classmate’s iPhones. If any of these people explained to me that they’ve actually heard all about Varg Vikernes and/or the eastern-European National Socialist Black Metal movement and that’s why they suspect me of being a racist then I would understand where they were coming from and I would correct them. But that’s never happened once, not even close. The accusations of racism that have been lobbed against me over the years have always come from positions of utter and complete ignorance, never a position of knowledge and understanding of the metal subculture. So no, the presence of racism in a genre of metal that none of my accusers have ever heard of is not the reason why I have ever been accused of racism, nor have any overtly racist actions I have ever done been the cause either since I’ve never been guilty of such actions. It’s completely unfair to generalize the entire worldwide heavy metal community based on a relatively small percentage of black metal and less than 1% of all metal that has ever existed.

With that out of the way, why would I even tolerate music that is about or made by people who support Nazism? Is it morally alright to do so? Is the listener in active support of Nazism when they listen to, say, a Graveland record? It’s all about making a kind of separation between your enjoyment of the art and its content. An album, in my view, is a piece of art and a work of artistic expression and should be judged as such. The content of the art could depict things that can be loving or hateful, pleasant or disgusting, good or evil. But it’s a piece of art and it’s about experiencing the artist’s point of view, the artist's views and how they particularly align with your personal views are irrelevant. If anyone’s ideal is to only expose themselves to media (books, music, movies, etc) that’s only about everything they already believe in then that is a very unfortunate ideal to strive for. Exposing yourself to other views, no matter how much you disagree with them, is how individuals increase their understanding of the world they live in, and coming to an understanding of the bad is just as important as taking in pleasure from the good. Because of the valuable perspective and understanding gained from various artistic expressions, taking in the full spectrum of expressions is crucial to becoming a more informed and enlightened member of society while coming to a better understanding of your fellow man.

It also must be stated that an album is mainly a form of entertainment despite whatever messages are contained within the lyrics. If morality is what you’re after, pick up a copy of Plato or Aristotle. If you’re looking for a profound message then listen to a speech by Martin Luther King or the Dali Lama, but if you want entertainment, pick up an album. While there’s a vast array of music that has a defined message – sometimes a bad message in the case of neo-Nazi black metal – music can be pleasing to the ear no matter how much you disagree with its lyrical content. Music is so much more than what its lyrics are about; musical value comes from instrumentation, musicianship, structure, songwriting prowess, production values, etc. So while Nokturnal Mortum’s album Goat Horns expresses some white nationalist sentiments in its lyrics, the album’s 16 bit video game music combined with melodic black metal is so pleasing to my ears that I can’t help but label it as one of my favorite black metal records of all time.

As much as I find neo-Nazi ideology to be horrible and filled with hate, I don’t believe it is morally wrong to enjoy black metal that expresses these beliefs and it is completely wrong to label the heavy metal community as a racist subculture because of these bands. Whether we like it or not, Nazism is part of world history and the beliefs that stem from it are still alive and well. The worst way to deal with an ugly past is to deny that it ever happened, and when it comes to these neo-Nazi black metal albums, I do not believe that an effective strategy in fighting these deplorable beliefs is to pretend that these recordings don't exist. While the dust around the Inquisition controversy is still settling it still shows that even 20 years after the National Socialist Black Metal movement started these ignorant views are still being held by members of the black metal scene. As much as a few of these albums are enjoyable to my ears the lyrical content should not be condoned on a personal level, but it’s a piece of art nonetheless and appreciating art for its aesthetic or sonic appeal is not the same as agreeing with its message.

More about the Inquisition Controversy

Pallbearer: Foundations of Burden ALBUM REVIEW

Pallbearer’s debut full-length, Sorrow and Extinction, impressed many upon its release with its utterly sincere take on traditional doom metal. It combined the core elements of Black Sabbath with the drama of Candlemass and the snail-paced crawl of funeral doom such as Evoken. It resulted in a very likable and worthwhile release that had many metalheads, young and old, raising their horns in approval, rocking out to the album’s wall of guitar sludge and soaring lead lines. Foundations of Burden, their latest offering, was met with even more acclaim from fans and critics than its predecessor, with Decibel in particular calling it a “goddamn masterpiece” and naming it Album of the Year. However, The Needle Drop criticized it for its lack of contrast and gave it a mere 5 out of 10.

Opeth: Pale Communion ALBUM REVIEW

Opeth’s transition from a progressive death metal juggernaut into a metal-free progressive rock group (rife with vintage keyboards and nods to King Crimson and Genesis) should have come to the surprise of no one, with the possible exception of infants or people who only heard Orchid in the mid ‘90s then promptly forgot about the band until 2011 when Heritage was released.

Dino Brown: I Dream of Dino ALBUM REVIEW

Dino Brown is a San Diego MC who’s just starting out in the rap game, and he already seems to have an ear for great production and catchy hooks to craft his ‘90s inspired sound and vision. He also possesses a deliciously smooth, deep voice to augment his already solid approach on the mic and his tight, aggressive flow, giving off the impression of someone who not only has confidence, but has his eyes set on something bigger for himself. His debut mixtape has just been released on datpiff, and since he already shows great promise (and since I also grew up with the guy) I think he earns a review here.

My Sadboys/Gravity Boys Playlist

As you all know from reading this blog, I love Yung Lean and Sadboys with a passion. Here is my current playlist of my favorite songs by Sadboys and Gravity Boys (the other, closely affiliated Swedish rap group. [Indicated in brackets] ) as of 2014. This playlist features 27 songs and is over 80 minutes long and it features material from all three main Yung Lean albums plus the Neal Yung 2003 unofficial mixtape, as well as various singles and material from the GTBSG compilation and Bladee's Gluee mixtape as well. This will only get longer as the two groups release more material. I'm pretty satisfied with how these songs flow together, so here they are with the names of their respective albums in parentheses.

Nachtmystium: The World We Left Behind ALBUM REVIEW

When not shamelessly ripping off fans and bandmates with impunity (according to former collaborator Neill Jameson and many disgruntled fans) by selling merchandise that didn’t exist or selling the rights to albums he didn’t own to make money to buy drugs, Blake Judd was more commonly known to be the “mastermind” behind Chicago black metal squad Nachtmystium. Whether he was truly the mastermind behind the long-running project has been brought into question (Jameson alluded in a lengthy article written about Blake that the majority of his music was written by others, not him.) no one can deny that the end results of many of the band’s recording endeavors have been stellar, even milestones of the black metal genre. The experimentation that started with Instinct: Decay and continued with the groundbreaking “Black Meddle” series show that someone, Blake or not, was thinking about what could be achieved within the black metal genre on a higher level. And although their previous album Silencing Machine did not expand upon the experimentation of the two Black Meddle installments, it was still a satisfyingly grim and aggressive record that had just enough electronic flourishes to distinguish itself from straight-ahead black metal. Hyped as the final Nachtmystium album, The World We Left Behind should have been a farewell as equally ambitious and exciting as anything else in their recent output. But when presented with the final product, that sadly doesn’t describe it.

My Top 30 Favorite Albums!

My top 30 albums list is done. Below is the video I did for the top 25, the other 5 are included in my Sputnik list here. Is number one REALLY Goblin? Find out by watching the video!

Judas Priest: Redeemer of Souls ALBUM REVIEW

Black Sabbath (and to a lesser extent, Led Zeppelin) may be responsible for “inventing” heavy metal, but it was the mighty, leather-clad Judas Priest who should be credited with defining what we commonly refer to as metal today. Priest was the band responsible for gradually subtracting the blues element out of heavy rock, and while there is certainly nothing negative about blues-based rock, we most likely would never know what thrash metal is - and in turn the various forms of extreme metal that came later – without this crucial shift in style. While purging the blues from their equation during their ‘70s years, Priest added a hefty dose of drama into their sound to balance things out (most likely influenced by Queen more than any other) and these kinds of dramatics can be seen all over the metal sphere today in bands like Candlemass and Blind Guardian. So when presented with a new album from such a monumentally important act in the pantheon of heavy metal, this late in their career at that, one has to ask “What could they possibly have to prove in 2014? Can I expect anything new? Is Judas Priest still the band flying the flag for metal?”

How To Get A Better Metal Tone

This video is kind of a long ramble where I repeat myself too much, so here is a condensation of my main points if you don't want to watch all 12 minutes of this shit...If you have any more questions after reading the list below then this vid may have the answers. If not, message me in the comments section.

Upcoming Reviews

I'm going to start writing reviews again! So here's a bunch of albums that I'll be dissecting and my initial thoughts of all of them...

• Nachtmystium - The World We Left Behind: This one disappointed me. The above song initially got me very excited about the finished product, but the band really plays it safe on this record and the result was very unexciting.
• Judas Priest - Redeemer of Souls: Same feelings as above, but to an even greater extent.
• Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden: This one comes out tomorrow. I haven't heard the whole thing yet but I was really impressed with what I've heard so far. It's looking better than the first!
• The Atlas Moth - The Old Believer: This came out a while ago but I still want to review it.
• Opeth - Pale Communion: This hasn't come out yet but I'll review it as soon as I hear it.

That's it. So stay tuned for these reviews!

Opeth Releases "Eternal Rains" and I Say OMNOMNOMNOMNOM

Opeth is a band that I honestly hold to a higher standard than most all other bands. I respect them and their artistic decisions to a great extent, even when it came to their last album, Heritage, which completely ditched their progressive death metal sound in favor for a retro prog-rock one. Heritage has indeed grown on me over the last few years and it looks like the band is continuing down that path with their latest release, Pale Communion.

Second NehruvianDOOM Track "Om" Released.

Another track by NehruvianDOOM - a hip-hop duo consisting of up and coming young rapper Bishop Nehru and underground king MF DOOM - is now in the world. "Om", as it is called, makes this guy really excited about the new record.

My CD Collection: Part 7

A Whole Lotta Metal, and this won't be the last metal centric stack, but almost.

Lil Debbie-Work the Middle: TRACK REVIEW

Given that I'm obsessed with Yung Lean, it's not surprising that I'm also into this white internet rapper as well. I was introduced to her by a friend who is (or was) totally in love with her and scored her a "1,000 out of 10" on the looks scale. Lil Debbie grew on me more and more to the point where I went out to see her show last month. She killed it. It was one of the funnest shows I've ever been to. So I was eager to hear what she had cooking up for us next, and here we are with her new song "Work the Middle".

Her rapping is what you would expect from Lil Debbie, not bad at all. But, unfortunately, the beat on this track is pretty cheap and generic. Debbie has been really good about choosing great beats in the past but this one doesn't cut it for me. Really nothing special about it whatsoever, which really disappoints me about this track. If this is what she chose to be her single then I'm not sure what to expect from the rest of the mixtape, but I'll make sure to hear it when it's released.

I'll probable be reviewing California Sweetheart Part 2 exclusively on this blog when it comes out, so stay tuned.

CD Collection: Part 6

Part 6! My all time favorite band Judas Priest with Mastodon and Tool. All great stuff.

*BREAKING* METALLICA ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION ALBUM WITH GICCI MANE

IT'S HAPPENING

My CD Collection: Part 5

A heavy metal-centric stack, and lot more to go...

My CD Collection: Part 3

Part 3. Watch and subscribe.

My CD Collection: Part 2

Second part of my collection video. This is going to be a looooong series. Stay tuned for more, there will be a new one every day.