Thursday, February 23, 2012

Scholarly

Liturgy's mainman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix is one of the most polarizing figures in metal today. I'm not going to get into why, but suffice it to say there are some closed-minded black metal fans out there that I do not associate with. Liturgy's Aesthetica landed at number 20 on my top 50 albums of 2011 list, so there should be no question as to my thoughts on the matter. It seems though that Hendrix is quite the metal theorist. This piece details his thoughts on the recent creative development of American black metal bands beyond their European antecedants. There is a certain strain of anti-intellectual metal fan to whom this sort of theorizing is heresy; for my own part I don't think metal has been subjected to enough serious consideration from musical and cultural theorists on its own terms. Who better to do it than the musicians themselves? Of particular interest to me is this concept of the "Haptic Void," the absolute frontier of musical extremity. This void can be broached, but not breached. It is infinitly brutal, infinately heavy. I would argue that bands have been rubbing up against this barrier since the first Napalm Death album, and it's taken until just the last few years for the music to orient itself on a different trajectory, one that prizes innovation and creativity over extremity and consolidation.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Charitable

Well, I'm not from Florida, but this is awesome.

I think I know what Dime would definately appreciate. Black Sabbath live in Paris in 1970.