How to listen to metal
Summary
TLDRO vídeo ofrece unha análise detallada de "Fall From Grace" de Morbid Angel, ilustrando como o tema exemplifica a pesadez no death metal a través de técnicas que inclúen xogos de tempo e ton. Discute a evolución do metal desde o movemento británico ata o death metal, destacando o papel de Morbid Angel como innovador clave. Ademais, explora a influencia da cultura hipster na música metal, sinalando como a ironía e a falta de autenticidade modificaron a percepción do xénero. O relator tamén reflexiona sobre as prácticas modernas de consumo musical, argumentando que a casualización do fandom e a procura de auto-expresión individual contribúen á desconexión co legado tradicional do metal. O vídeo conclúe cunha visión sobre o futuro do metal, suxerindo que a ruptura entre os estilos tradicionais e modernos pode traer innovacións beneficiosas.
Takeaways
- 🎸 A pesadez no metal combina ton de guitarra, reverberación e distorsión.
- 🤘 Morbid Angel influíu significativamente no desenvolvemento do death metal.
- 🎵 A música metal evoluciona continuamente coas influencias culturais.
- 🎭 A ironía hipster desafía a autenticidade da música metal.
- 💡 A casualización do fandom pode diminuír a conexión coa música.
- 📚 Unha rica historia de innovación musical existe dentro do metal.
- 🎧 A música ofrece múltiples interpretacións segundo o contexto persoal.
- 🛠️ A auto-expresión individualizada redefine prácticas musicais tradicionais.
- 🔀 Innovacións xénericas emerxen da ruptura entre metal tradicional e moderno.
- 🔊 Outros xéneros como o ambient atraen a certos fans do metal.
Timeline
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
O vídeo discute como a banda Morbid Angel, coa súa canción "Fall From Grace", desafía as expectativas do xénero do death metal co seu xogo de tempos e a introdución de tensión musical. A análise céntrase en como elementos como o riff inicial e a batería crean anticipación e sorpresa nun xénero que habitualmente prioriza a velocidade e agresividade.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
O segundo segmento destaca como Morbid Angel utiliza repeticións medidas e a colocación inesperada de acentos pola batería para crear caos dentro de estruturas previsibles. A voz clara de David Vincent permite que as letras se escoiten claramente, interactuando dinámicamente coas guitarras e reformulando motivos de temas anteriores.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
No terceiro segmento, a conversación pasou a discutir como a guitarra líder trae melodía e dirección á canción, con riffs repetidos que evocan sensacións de conflito e desesperación. A música é analizada non só pola súa tonalidade sino tamén pola sensación que evoca no oínte.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
A continuación, o texto reflexiona sobre a tendencia da música metal a experimentar e incluír influencias culturais, mencionando como as letras poden xogar un papel secundario na transmisión da esencia da canción. Este enfoque ábrese a múltiples interpretacións, subliñando a complexidade musical da obra.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
O seguinte segmento amplía a análise para falar sobre a evolución do metal como xénero, mencionando a influencia de subculturas como os hipsters e como a atención en novas audiencias e cambios culturais afectan á esencia e percepción do metal.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Logo, o artigo discute a influencia da cultura hipster no metal e como a ironía que caracteriza este grupo conseguiu alterar a percepción cultural do metal, retando o seu ethos tradicional e levando á evolución do xénero.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Explórase como a evolución da tecnoloxía de música dixital e a presenza dunha subcultura en constante expansión, cos cambios socioculturais influíndo na forma en que a xente consume música metal, demandando máis diversidade e personalización.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
A discusión céntrase entón na intersección de economía de mercado e fandom de metal, analizando como o consumismo influíu nas identidades musicais e como as plataformas de streaming redefiniron as sensacións e conexións coa música co tempo.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
O segmento posterior aborda a casualización do fandom de metal, onde a música é tratada máis como produtos de consumo que como arte, mencionando tanto a simplificación inherente ás etiquetas de xénero como o predominio da estética sobre o contido.
- 00:45:00 - 00:50:00
As análises sobre a crítica e a interpretación na música de metal subliñan a importancia da autenticidade e o coñecemento profundo, en contraste coa superficialidade das críticas modernas que tenden a simplificar e banalizar a complexidade do xénero.
- 00:50:00 - 00:55:00
O artigo segue delineando como certas innovacións musicais son mal interpretadas como revolucionarias cando a miúdo non aportan avances fundamentais dentro do xénero do metal, máis ben reciclando elementos xa existentes.
- 00:55:00 - 01:00:00
Comentários recentes sobre o death metal enfróntanse á minimización do xénero polo mainstream, onde estilos asociados con death metal son reclasificados de maneira errónea por intereses comerciais e xornalísticos.
- 01:00:00 - 01:05:00
A discusión prosigue coa crítica ao tratamento simplista do xénero do black metal, abordando erros comúns e malentendidos, destacando a variedade e riqueza histórica ignorada por visións redutivas.
- 01:05:00 - 01:10:00
O enfoque subseguinte na autenticidade e na comprensión contorna a crítica destaca a complexidade da música underground e como a ampla diversidade de escenas e estilos é asiduamente pasada por alto.
- 01:10:00 - 01:15:00
Logo, a narrativa cuestiona a imposición de identidades no metal, reflectindo sobre como os xuízos personalistas dentro do xénero conducen a unha dicotomía entre tradición e progresión.
- 01:15:00 - 01:20:18
Finalmente, o vídeo conclúe que, a pesar dos conflitos e tensiones internas, as variacións e a diversidade no metal deben ser celebradas, predicindo que o xénero medrará se abre a novas interpretacións e creatividade, potenciando un espazo para a autenticidade e diversidad máis aló do social media.
Mind Map
Video Q&A
Que canción de Morbid Angel se discute no vídeo?
A canción discutida no vídeo é "Fall From Grace".
Cales son os elementos principais que definen a pesadez no metal segundo o relator?
A pesadez no metal ven dada por unha combinación de ton de guitarra, reverberación, distorsión e xogos tonais que xeran ambigüidade e falta de resolución.
Como afecta a cultura hipster ao metal, segundo o vídeo?
A cultura hipster afecta ao metal introducindo unha falta de autenticidade e ironía, o que desafía a paixón xenuína e vulnerábel dos fanáticos do metal.
Que tenors históricos se mencionan respecto ao desenvolvemento do metal?
Menciónase o desenvolvemento do metal desde o new wave británico de heavy metal ata o thrash e black metal, e como estes estilos variaron en intensidade e melodía.
Cales son as críticas do relator ao consumo moderno de música?
O relator crítica a 'casualización' do fandom, onde a música convértese en productos listos para o consumo rápido, diminuíndo a intimidade e a familiaridade coas obras.
Que outros xéneros fora do metal menciona o relator que atraen a fans do metal?
Os fans do metal tamén se senten atraídos por xéneros que pivotan en torno ao espazo, minimalismo e estasis como o ambient, neoclásico e electrónica minimalista.
Cal é a opinión do relator sobre a auto-expresión no metal?
O relator argumenta que o metal hoxe en día céntrase demasiado na auto-expresión individual en vez de contribuír a un pool colectivo de recursos compositivos como fixo no pasado.
Que opina o relator da rotura entre metal tradicional e novo?
Considera que a rotura entre metal tradicional e novo pode ser beneficiosa, permitindo que emerxan novas formas ao separar estilos e ideais.
View more video summaries
- 00:00:02you know like when it's you get home
- 00:00:03from work and you've had a really sucky
- 00:00:05day and you're just like you just want
- 00:00:07you want to listen to music that kind of
- 00:00:08goes like
- 00:00:09[Music]
- 00:00:19a morbid Angels Fall From Grace opens
- 00:00:22with a slow ponderous riff lurching
- 00:00:24between half step of sense and desense
- 00:00:27immediately invoking Menace weight and
- 00:00:29threat
- 00:00:30[Music]
- 00:00:55this is a perfect example of heaviness
- 00:00:58in the context of metal
- 00:01:00the concept is not captured solely in
- 00:01:02the guitar tone the production Reverb or
- 00:01:05Distortion but a combination of these
- 00:01:07things along with tonal play that leaves
- 00:01:10a lingering sense of ambiguity and lack
- 00:01:13of resolution both musically and
- 00:01:16emotionally the track then devolves into
- 00:01:19what feels like random climbs in Pitch
- 00:01:21as if the music is reaching Beyond The
- 00:01:24Depths it initially resided in grasping
- 00:01:26for light and air
- 00:01:31[Music]
- 00:01:46drums tease at release through off kill
- 00:01:49to Phils hinting at an increase in Tempo
- 00:01:51but they keep pulling back at the last
- 00:01:53minute this enhances the tension created
- 00:01:55by the guitar line as it all but tears
- 00:01:57itself apart playing with Tempo in this
- 00:01:59way is particularly noteworthy in the
- 00:02:01context of when this material was
- 00:02:03written when four From Grace was
- 00:02:05released in 1991 death metal was
- 00:02:08reaching a state of maturity prior to
- 00:02:11this it had been characterized on the
- 00:02:13whole by a frantic almost impatient
- 00:02:15sense of energy communicated almost
- 00:02:18entirely through the language of riffs
- 00:02:20this is a process that had been
- 00:02:21developing for some time 10 years prior
- 00:02:24to the release of Fall From Grace the
- 00:02:26new wave of British heavy metal movement
- 00:02:28had achieved something of a compromise
- 00:02:30between the simplistic urgency of punk
- 00:02:32and The Meandering indulgent bombast of
- 00:02:35heavy rock it streamlined the pomp of
- 00:02:3870s album Rock whilst elevating the
- 00:02:41Simplicity of punk away from purely
- 00:02:43Verse Chorus exchanges via more complex
- 00:02:46compositions made up of lengthy
- 00:02:48Arrangements of distinct but related
- 00:02:50Rifts and whilst frash heightened the
- 00:02:52intensity in this regard it also dragged
- 00:02:54the music away from traditional melodic
- 00:02:57forms into atonal or chromatic runs
- 00:03:00this meant that a lot of metal lacked a
- 00:03:02Cadence that would make the music feel
- 00:03:04like it had returned home or resolved
- 00:03:06itself in some way it goes about saying
- 00:03:08that alongside increasing speed and
- 00:03:10Distortion this only enhanced the sense
- 00:03:13of urgency and aggression within metal
- 00:03:16and by the end of the80s some metal
- 00:03:18albums consisted of nothing but a
- 00:03:20consciously ordered string of power cord
- 00:03:22formed riffs with little variation in
- 00:03:25tambra Dynamics or pitch Melody had
- 00:03:27become an opal extra deployed only to
- 00:03:29add contrast and drama this new genre
- 00:03:31was called Death Metal and Morbid Angel
- 00:03:34were both a key innovator in this form
- 00:03:36and one of its most Adept practitioners
- 00:03:38at the time that Fall From Grace was
- 00:03:40released it would have been standard
- 00:03:42practice for a death metal band to break
- 00:03:44into an unconditional burst of speed at
- 00:03:46this point in the track and this would
- 00:03:48have been the expectation of fans at the
- 00:03:50time instead we get this teasing
- 00:03:53conditional tentative play with Tempo
- 00:03:55from the drummer Pete sandal thus
- 00:03:57challenging the listeners preconceptions
- 00:03:59of how the genre is supposed to behave
- 00:04:01whilst building tension until we develop
- 00:04:03a near incandescent craving for the
- 00:04:05speed and chaos to finally
- 00:04:08[Music]
- 00:04:25begin at about the 45 second Mark we
- 00:04:29finally get what what we were waiting
- 00:04:30for a small link section brings the
- 00:04:33music to what could be considered a
- 00:04:35place of rest despite the fact that the
- 00:04:37tempo has picked up and the new theme
- 00:04:39introduced at this point trades in that
- 00:04:41same Lial Menace that characterized the
- 00:04:44opening riff
- 00:04:46[Music]
- 00:04:55[Music]
- 00:05:02now that the Proto Melodies outlined in
- 00:05:04the previous passage have been duly
- 00:05:07jettisoned the low chromatic riff we see
- 00:05:10here offers a substitute for home base
- 00:05:12in lie of a perfect Cadence orbit Angel
- 00:05:15are sometimes criticized for repeating
- 00:05:17measures in predictable units of four
- 00:05:19six or eight bars and so on in contrast
- 00:05:22to more progressively inclined acts who
- 00:05:24were attempting to subvert these Norms
- 00:05:26at the time but I'd argue that you can
- 00:05:29cause a lot of chaos within otherwise
- 00:05:31predictable measures something that
- 00:05:33sandal enhances by often placing fills
- 00:05:35and Accents in the wrong place for want
- 00:05:38of a better word on their previous album
- 00:05:40alas of Madness drums were notable not
- 00:05:43just for their speed and precision but
- 00:05:45their ability to deliver phills a little
- 00:05:47left of center constantly interrupting
- 00:05:50the flow of the guitars but on the first
- 00:05:53two measures of this new faster Riff on
- 00:05:56Fall From Grace sandal huls back to a
- 00:05:59linear
- 00:06:00uninterrupted blastbeat with Phil's
- 00:06:02coming at the expected moment again
- 00:06:05subverting fan expectations here it's as
- 00:06:07if he's rewarding The Listener for their
- 00:06:09patience in getting through the jarring
- 00:06:11opening
- 00:06:12[Music]
- 00:06:19[Music]
- 00:06:25sequence this is something that becomes
- 00:06:28only more apparent as Phil and guitar
- 00:06:30accents engage in a malformed call and
- 00:06:32response with the vocals in what for the
- 00:06:34sake of argument we'll call the verse at
- 00:06:36this
- 00:06:37point burn me burning as I got
- 00:06:42away speechless in the Holy
- 00:06:47way the van
- 00:06:51the I Am Lord I take come
- 00:06:58[Music]
- 00:07:01all the
- 00:07:04[Music]
- 00:07:20gra F your me up you're makes me David
- 00:07:25Vincent's vocals were remarkably clear
- 00:07:28by death metal standards he is an Adept
- 00:07:30clean singer something that makes the
- 00:07:32lyrics perfectly Audible and affords his
- 00:07:35vocal expressions and Cadence a more
- 00:07:37Dynamic interaction with the guitars
- 00:07:40this is why despite the fact that the
- 00:07:42accompanying riff is perhaps busier than
- 00:07:43the main instrumental theme framing
- 00:07:45these vocal passages his voice still
- 00:07:48dominates after reiterating the main
- 00:07:50theme we return to the opening riff
- 00:07:52delivered at twice the speed and
- 00:07:54slightly flattened out
- 00:08:04reasserting motifs in different guises
- 00:08:06like this is a tried and tested
- 00:08:08compositional technique borrowed from
- 00:08:10classical it allows The Listener to
- 00:08:12study themes from different angles
- 00:08:15emphasizing the importance of context in
- 00:08:18understanding the meaning of particular
- 00:08:19refrains this also binds the subsequent
- 00:08:22development section to the original
- 00:08:23intent of the piece as deviations within
- 00:08:26the track Compound on one another
- 00:08:39it's at this point that an antagonism
- 00:08:41unfolds between the peripheral threats
- 00:08:43hinted at in the intro F and a more
- 00:08:46immediate violence this is achieved
- 00:08:48through simple shifts in Tempo and pitch
- 00:08:52[Music]
- 00:09:07[Music]
- 00:09:12what
- 00:09:15my my
- 00:09:21dead anointing Me
- 00:09:24Now consume my sore
- 00:09:30[Music]
- 00:09:36violence wins for a time as a frantic
- 00:09:38lead guitar passage breaks out and
- 00:09:40dictates the direction and flow of tonal
- 00:09:48[Music]
- 00:09:56[Music]
- 00:09:58intent the rhythm guitar attempts to
- 00:10:00Anchor this sudden outpouring of
- 00:10:02unprecedented Melody by deploying
- 00:10:04variations on previous themes only to be
- 00:10:06farted in this conservativism by
- 00:10:08Sandoval's drum work which remains an
- 00:10:10unsettling agent of chaos resetting the
- 00:10:12rhythmic flow with each
- 00:10:20[Music]
- 00:10:22repetition before compromising with a
- 00:10:25steady gallop
- 00:10:35as total disorientation threatens the
- 00:10:37lead guitar gives way to A variation on
- 00:10:39the second riff of the track
- 00:10:48[Music]
- 00:11:00this time delivered with a heightened
- 00:11:01sense of urgency and Randomness evoking
- 00:11:04conflict anemy and Desperation in the
- 00:11:06effort to ground on let's go back to the
- 00:11:08original version and compare it to this
- 00:11:10new
- 00:11:11[Music]
- 00:11:19variation and the second
- 00:11:28variation so far we've not discussed the
- 00:11:30lyrics or concept behind this track and
- 00:11:32that is deliberate despite Metal's
- 00:11:34strict aesthetic and thematic Norms they
- 00:11:36have for me always being secondary to
- 00:11:38the study of the music itself whilst
- 00:11:41this may put me in the minority I always
- 00:11:43find lyrics to be useful only in Safar
- 00:11:45as they give us a broad Rush stroke
- 00:11:48concept that motivates the music but
- 00:11:50here we should note that as the music
- 00:11:52lurches between a bastardization of the
- 00:11:54opening theme Vincent delivers a spoken
- 00:11:56word passage glorifying in the decadent
- 00:11:58suggest Ed by the tracks
- 00:12:03title I ride in
- 00:12:05the and the SS of
- 00:12:09hell I am
- 00:12:12the I bend my knee not but for myself
- 00:12:18desire this signposts us to the
- 00:12:20completion of the titular Fall From
- 00:12:22Grace contrasting with the tension and
- 00:12:25urgency of the initial vocal passages
- 00:12:27which were more process driven and
- 00:12:29intentional compared to this learic
- 00:12:31confidence the obvious thing to do at
- 00:12:33this point would be to release all this
- 00:12:35tension via a perfect Cadence a
- 00:12:37crescendo or another burst of speed
- 00:12:39maybe but morbid Angels simply allow the
- 00:12:41tension to dissolve away unresolved like
- 00:12:45toxins uncomfortably leaving a
- 00:12:46bloodstream
- 00:12:50[Music]
- 00:13:00this is another example of how metal
- 00:13:02bands toy with and weaponize ambiguity
- 00:13:05foregrounding it as an important element
- 00:13:06of confrontational Arts especially when
- 00:13:09jok deposed with more direct musical
- 00:13:11signifiers for example those
- 00:13:13traditionally understood as evil in the
- 00:13:15western harmonic Cannon finally Morbid
- 00:13:18Angel returned to the opening theme of
- 00:13:19the piece another simple yet effective
- 00:13:22technique common in metal compositions
- 00:13:27[Music]
- 00:13:38[Applause]
- 00:13:41[Music]
- 00:13:47[Applause]
- 00:13:48[Music]
- 00:13:50having come full circle The Listener is
- 00:13:52invited to inspect where they started
- 00:13:54from armed with new knowledge and
- 00:13:56perspectives acquired on the journey
- 00:13:58where once we found Menace maybe
- 00:14:00inevitability a lurking threat now we
- 00:14:02experience an almost drunken sense of
- 00:14:04contentment aided by the pitch bending
- 00:14:06sustained guitar lead now accompanying
- 00:14:08the opening riff a hazy intoxicated Glee
- 00:14:12arises from material that only a few
- 00:14:14minutes ago presented nothing but dread
- 00:14:16Morbid Angel closed the track by
- 00:14:18recapitulating the initial blasting riff
- 00:14:20one last time
- 00:14:24[Music]
- 00:14:39where in its initial context it may have
- 00:14:41offered a sense of resolution it now
- 00:14:43invokes nothing but chaos as the only
- 00:14:45logical response to the slow disillusion
- 00:14:48of selford the completion of our Fall
- 00:14:50From Grace you can listen to the same
- 00:14:52three metal bands from the 80s and call
- 00:14:54me poser or you can check out some of my
- 00:14:57recommendations your choice
- 00:15:03voice no need to FR about it we lose
- 00:15:08your head
- 00:15:21with we are not
- 00:15:24nothing what we feel
- 00:15:33so what the [ __ ] was the point in all
- 00:15:34that I don't rehearse this analysis of
- 00:15:37for From Grace on every listen nor I
- 00:15:39expect to many listeners my
- 00:15:41interpretation is probably far from
- 00:15:43anything Morbid Angel had in mind when
- 00:15:44they composed it it's not the correct
- 00:15:47way to listen to Morbid Angel it's not
- 00:15:48grounded in music theory I don't play
- 00:15:50guitar I've never played in a metal band
- 00:15:53my formal musical education doesn't
- 00:15:54stretch much Beyond GCSE that's roughly
- 00:15:5716 years old for any listeners outside
- 00:15:59the UK I've probably misused a number of
- 00:16:01terms along the way to get my point
- 00:16:02across because that's just what I call
- 00:16:04the different um parts of the song uh
- 00:16:07nor is this the only way to listen to
- 00:16:08morbit angel art particularly the
- 00:16:10experiential and temporal Dimensions
- 00:16:13inherent to music specifically this is a
- 00:16:15matter of interpretation after all and
- 00:16:17even as I was cutting together that
- 00:16:19analysis I I spotted several other
- 00:16:21angles that I could have approached the
- 00:16:22music from there's much more to say on
- 00:16:24this piece after all but this is how I
- 00:16:26tend to approach metal during a f
- 00:16:28focused listening session say and I've
- 00:16:31used Morbid Angel to demonstrate this
- 00:16:33for a number of reasons uh one is that
- 00:16:35they embody that rare intersection of
- 00:16:37widespread popularity and genuine
- 00:16:39quality so chances are you're very
- 00:16:41familiar with this track already their
- 00:16:43music is complex enough to contain the
- 00:16:45potential for any number of competing
- 00:16:47interpretations but blessed are the sick
- 00:16:49in particular is a strikingly clinical
- 00:16:52clear uncluttered album inviting us to
- 00:16:55scrutinize the Contours of every note
- 00:16:57whilst allowing for broader bird's eye
- 00:17:00view if we so choose aided by crisp
- 00:17:03production which some have characterized
- 00:17:05as being a bit too clinical and the E
- 00:17:07flat tuning it is a Wonder of Sonic
- 00:17:09architecture mechanically precise
- 00:17:11perfectly balanced and above these 30
- 00:17:14foundations they have erected an edifice
- 00:17:16of captivating Artistry they quote and
- 00:17:19toy with cultural signifiers familiar to
- 00:17:22Their audience whilst adding to this
- 00:17:23vocabulary and challenging them they
- 00:17:25invoke an evil aesthetic melodrama
- 00:17:28tension theater
- 00:17:29deploying references and subversions
- 00:17:31that develop the art form whilst being
- 00:17:33mindful of its
- 00:17:37past metal is not written in Sonata form
- 00:17:41though structurally it comes in many
- 00:17:43guises or frankly none at all it doesn't
- 00:17:46have to follow these set patterns in
- 00:17:47order to count as metal metal heads are
- 00:17:50it should be noted unsung champions of
- 00:17:53variety as much as anything nor is it
- 00:17:55the case that one needs to be intimate
- 00:17:57with music theory to appreciate music on
- 00:17:59this level as I've already stated
- 00:18:01equally whilst I made references to the
- 00:18:03historical context in my analysis this
- 00:18:05is not required to enjoy metal least of
- 00:18:07all Morbid Angel as with any form of
- 00:18:10Music knowledge can enhance the context
- 00:18:12of one's listening experience and enrich
- 00:18:14it from that angle refining our
- 00:18:15appreciation for how artists work with
- 00:18:17their influences and subvert and toy
- 00:18:20with forms just as it it can diminish
- 00:18:23the initial magical immediacy of
- 00:18:25experiencing an unfamiliar form of music
- 00:18:27for the first time but it is important
- 00:18:29that metal be at least active at the
- 00:18:32compositional level before we can
- 00:18:33discuss what I tend to refer to as Vibes
- 00:18:36which are guitar tone production vocal
- 00:18:39technique texture additional instrument
- 00:18:41additional instrumentation so on all of
- 00:18:44which interact with the composition for
- 00:18:46sure but ultimately to my mind work as
- 00:18:49configurable modules that can be bolted
- 00:18:52onto the core program at leisure
- 00:18:54enhancing but never defining our
- 00:18:56understanding of a piece black metal is
- 00:18:58perhaps most Adept at toying with this
- 00:19:00intersection of texture and composition
- 00:19:03allowing the information to flow both
- 00:19:05ways as guitar tone production inform
- 00:19:07the style and profile of a composition
- 00:19:09as opposed to merely decorating it but
- 00:19:11even here I would argue that the best of
- 00:19:13black metal operates with solid themes
- 00:19:16and structures serving as an anchor it
- 00:19:18is also why myself and a large number of
- 00:19:20metal heads when venturing outside of
- 00:19:22metal are drawn to genres that pivot on
- 00:19:24Space minimalism and stasis such as
- 00:19:27ambient Neo Focus and various forms of
- 00:19:29minimal Electronica which provide a
- 00:19:32reprieve from the rampant activity and
- 00:19:34engagement that metal
- 00:19:36demands so if you've regarded everything
- 00:19:39I've said up to this point with deep
- 00:19:40suspicion that's excellent fantastic
- 00:19:43that's why I invited you here as a fan
- 00:19:46approaching middle age I've seen metal
- 00:19:48go from an obscure dying outlier of Gen
- 00:19:50X culture in the early 2000s to a
- 00:19:53rampantly popular form of contemporary
- 00:19:55music but through intense and careful
- 00:19:57study of a range of new releases in
- 00:19:59recent years I'd argue that the
- 00:20:01mechanisms of change that have
- 00:20:02facilitated this transformation have
- 00:20:04flattened out the complexities of this
- 00:20:06music something that can largely be
- 00:20:09explained by the changing listening
- 00:20:11habits spurred on by an increasingly
- 00:20:13fleeting relationship with new music
- 00:20:15fueled by the need to keep on top of the
- 00:20:17constant churn of content this process
- 00:20:20is so far along and so far developed
- 00:20:22that talking to newans is sometimes like
- 00:20:24speaking in a foreign language and I
- 00:20:26don't mean that
- 00:20:27condescendingly like literally certain
- 00:20:29arms of metal fandom are now so far
- 00:20:31removed from each other that they look
- 00:20:32and behave like entirely distinct
- 00:20:34subcultures so let's expand on how I
- 00:20:38think we got here with a case
- 00:20:44[Music]
- 00:20:55study with nothing to defend uphold or
- 00:20:58or even embrace the idea of hipsterdom
- 00:21:01is left wide open for attack and yet it
- 00:21:05is this ironic lack of authenticity that
- 00:21:07has allowed hipm to grow into a global
- 00:21:10phenomenon that is set to consume the
- 00:21:12very core of Western
- 00:21:14counterculture most critics make a point
- 00:21:16of attacking the hipster's lack of
- 00:21:18individuality but it is this stubborn
- 00:21:20obfuscation that distinguishes them from
- 00:21:22their predecessors while allowing hipst
- 00:21:25them to easily blend in and mutate other
- 00:21:27social movement subcultures and
- 00:21:31Lifestyles metal was a viable living
- 00:21:33organism from roughly 1975 to 1999
- 00:21:37approximately a quarter of a century
- 00:21:39which is a pretty long run by the
- 00:21:41standards of music that arose out of
- 00:21:43post-war counterculture if you want a
- 00:21:46more detailed history of this Evolution
- 00:21:47[ __ ] Google it here I want to zoom in
- 00:21:49on that specific period in the early
- 00:21:5121st century when Metal's evolutionary
- 00:21:54Arc was all but complete which just so
- 00:21:56happened to coincide with when I got
- 00:21:58into this m as a teenager at this time
- 00:22:01metal was garnering greater attention
- 00:22:03from a group of individuals known as
- 00:22:04hipsters although largely anecdotal this
- 00:22:07transformative period goes some way to
- 00:22:09explaining the present moment of
- 00:22:11Disconnect within the scene throughout
- 00:22:13its history one arm of metal or another
- 00:22:15has been engaged in some form of trench
- 00:22:17warfare with perceived threats both
- 00:22:19internal and
- 00:22:21external by this time in the early 2000s
- 00:22:23the protracted Wars with old enemies on
- 00:22:26the Christian right and the forces of
- 00:22:27commercialization ation had all but
- 00:22:29burned themselves out demoralized by the
- 00:22:31ravage of glam metal grunge new metal
- 00:22:34and later emo and metal Core Extreme
- 00:22:36metal had returned to a Lial state of
- 00:22:38hibernation this period was an idea for
- 00:22:41creativity a scene exhausted on
- 00:22:43autopilots its assets stripped and sold
- 00:22:45for parts but nothing gets the juices
- 00:22:47flowing like an existential threat and
- 00:22:50the few remaining devotees of extreme
- 00:22:51metal many terminally online by this
- 00:22:54point found themselves confronted by a
- 00:22:56new and arguably more insipid f
- 00:22:59membership at the deck I hear it's
- 00:23:02nothing I liked it before it was cool
- 00:23:06paradoxically despite no one openly
- 00:23:08embracing the Hipster label the athetic
- 00:23:10and social norms were suddenly
- 00:23:12everywhere from about 2005 visible
- 00:23:14enough for auring in the channel 4
- 00:23:17sitcom naan barley ruthlessly savaging a
- 00:23:20facade invading every area of adolescent
- 00:23:22life although its Origins are much older
- 00:23:25the word hipster quickly became a
- 00:23:27mid-2000 slurf or any cultural
- 00:23:29expression deemed
- 00:23:31disingenuous this loose application made
- 00:23:33the term impenetrably nebulous covering
- 00:23:36everything from the mighty bsh to walls
- 00:23:38in the throne room to specialist coffee
- 00:23:40served against a backdrop of exposed
- 00:23:42brick the appropriation of various
- 00:23:44elements of workingclass dress a passion
- 00:23:47for Gourmet street food a rustic DIY
- 00:23:50aesthetic often deployed to obscure just
- 00:23:52how ruthlessly curated everything was
- 00:23:54artisanal products Indie businesses
- 00:23:59and a complete prohibition on ever
- 00:24:01losing oneself to the moment never
- 00:24:03letting the mask slip in public to
- 00:24:05reveal a genuine and uncontrolled
- 00:24:06emotional response to anything this goes
- 00:24:09some way to defining the look and feel
- 00:24:12of the Hipster but for metal the threet
- 00:24:14stemmed from a very particular
- 00:24:16characteristic of hpom
- 00:24:18irony this word became a Catal phrase to
- 00:24:21describe the ambient pretense and
- 00:24:24affectation oozing from hipster
- 00:24:26environments everything was for show but
- 00:24:29specifically designed to hide that fact
- 00:24:32anyone who has spent time in these
- 00:24:33spaces will no doubt be familiar with
- 00:24:35this strange Aura A vibe we Ambiguously
- 00:24:38refer to as irony but it should be
- 00:24:40admitted that we've made this word do
- 00:24:41some pretty heavy lifting over the years
- 00:24:43but that aside this prevailing attitude
- 00:24:46proved to be uniquely dangerous for
- 00:24:48metal because it clashes with a
- 00:24:50fundamental aspect of metal psychology
- 00:24:52which is namely a a genuine and
- 00:24:54vulnerable passion more broadly as far
- 00:24:57as the standards of contemporary music
- 00:24:59and culture are concerned metal does
- 00:25:01everything wrong it behaves in direct
- 00:25:03contradiction to n in spite of agreed
- 00:25:06definitions of cool style and artistic
- 00:25:08subtlety it requires total
- 00:25:11unselfconscious commitment to the moment
- 00:25:13a heightened sense of melodrama theater
- 00:25:15a reckless surplus of noise imagery
- 00:25:18activity once possessed of this mindset
- 00:25:21metalheads are compelled to radically
- 00:25:23alter their image and start behaving
- 00:25:25like Christian missionaries in their
- 00:25:26desire to spread the good news
- 00:25:29these are things that brought it in
- 00:25:31direct conflict with the Hipster hipster
- 00:25:34didn't dissolve the transparent and
- 00:25:36perhaps naive passion embodied by metal
- 00:25:38heads although there was usually no
- 00:25:40intentionality or malice behind this
- 00:25:42process it was no less damaging where
- 00:25:45previously external adversaries had
- 00:25:46simply appropriated and dumb down metal
- 00:25:49for commercial ends hipon contradicted
- 00:25:52the very attitudes and behaviors of the
- 00:25:54metal head the singular dedication and
- 00:25:57often obnoxious love of metal was
- 00:25:58absorbed into a mist of ironic Shadow
- 00:26:01play running parallel to this process
- 00:26:03was Metal's contradictory self-image it
- 00:26:06demands legitimacy from the institutions
- 00:26:08of culture like validation from musical
- 00:26:11academics your teenage crushed to
- 00:26:13finally wake up and realize how awesome
- 00:26:15your CD collection is the YouTube
- 00:26:17reaction videos
- 00:26:22yeah yet we dread the prospect of ever
- 00:26:24being granted this legitimacy from the
- 00:26:27academy because allow it would allow us
- 00:26:29to leave our little
- 00:26:34B allowing us to leave our little bunker
- 00:26:37would Rob us of a cherished Outsider
- 00:26:39status bordering on
- 00:26:41victimhood the push and pull between a
- 00:26:44sense of superiority among subcultures
- 00:26:47and an entrenched and cherished Siege
- 00:26:49mentality that refuses to accept
- 00:26:51institutional legitimacy hipsterdom cut
- 00:26:54through all these contradictions Like a
- 00:26:56Knife granting the music not only a
- 00:26:58sense of legitimacy in the surrounding
- 00:27:00cultural Zeitgeist but altering the very
- 00:27:02psychology of what a metal head could or
- 00:27:04should look like this is one reason why
- 00:27:07black metal as the branch of the
- 00:27:08community embodying the metal Faith to
- 00:27:11the fullest if you will proved to be the
- 00:27:12weaker Flank In This regard that and the
- 00:27:15fact that black metal is the subre most
- 00:27:17closely aligned to the Avant guard in
- 00:27:19the traditional sense of the word if
- 00:27:20that's a contradiction in terms forly
- 00:27:23the value of metal in so far as it gives
- 00:27:25people permission to be ridiculous was
- 00:27:27under from a detached ironic cultural
- 00:27:30Veil a rigorous recapitulation of cool
- 00:27:33arrived that through a uniquely rigid
- 00:27:36policing of behavior the resulting post
- 00:27:38black metal Avant guard black metal
- 00:27:41hipster black metal and later black gaze
- 00:27:43this threatened to NE to the music of
- 00:27:45all excitement dispossess it of the
- 00:27:47things that made it both silly and
- 00:27:49special replacing it with a cool yet
- 00:27:51decidedly domestic edifice in its place
- 00:27:55this conflict never really reached a
- 00:27:56resolution but as the two 2000s bled
- 00:27:59into the 2010s and the internet was
- 00:28:00dragged out of the Wild West the old
- 00:28:03forums and hideouts were abandoned
- 00:28:05replaced by the Limited basket of social
- 00:28:07media platforms we know and doom scroll
- 00:28:09on today the idea that you even had to
- 00:28:12commit to one subculture lost all
- 00:28:14meaning the ease with which music can be
- 00:28:17produced and consumed has given rise to
- 00:28:19a smoggers board of choice this has all
- 00:28:21but dissolved the once closely guarded
- 00:28:23borders of genre scene and subculture
- 00:28:26replacing it with a daily Choose Your
- 00:28:27Own Adventure from the Limitless
- 00:28:29archives of online content the Hipster
- 00:28:32as a kind of cultural Nomad was a mere
- 00:28:34harbinger of these things to come as we
- 00:28:37all now to some extent are encouraged to
- 00:28:39wander on an Endless Sea of content all
- 00:28:41limitations of geography time and money
- 00:28:44melting away at the first sign of a
- 00:28:45Wi-Fi connection these new cultural
- 00:28:48pastures have allowed an uneasy piece to
- 00:28:51persist the Hipster Siege of the mid
- 00:28:532000s was ultimately a conflict driven
- 00:28:55by scarcity of cultural resources
- 00:28:59conditions that have since evaporated in
- 00:29:00the face of the vast territories now
- 00:29:02opened up by online spaces there is room
- 00:29:05enough for a whole pleora of different
- 00:29:07and contradictory articulations of metal
- 00:29:09to coexist this
- 00:29:11is God a series of siloed but
- 00:29:15interconnected communities all claiming
- 00:29:17different aspects of the genre as their
- 00:29:18own all in effect using different
- 00:29:21languages to describe the same phenomena
- 00:29:24importantly and predictably there was an
- 00:29:27underlying political thread to all this
- 00:29:28whatever the value of hipster black
- 00:29:30metal from a purely musical perspective
- 00:29:33it's clear that on a broader cultural
- 00:29:35level hipsters were merely the Vanguard
- 00:29:36of a much larger sea change metal was
- 00:29:39opened up to new populations new ideas
- 00:29:42and new identities that followed in
- 00:29:43their weake terms like true and false
- 00:29:45metal often function as a proxy for
- 00:29:48conservative versus Progressive ideas a
- 00:29:50microcosm of a societal wide divide we
- 00:29:54can decry the Hipster Invasion and what
- 00:29:56it did to Black Metal as an art form but
- 00:29:58the Dual benefit of re re re-energizing
- 00:30:02the underground by providing it with a
- 00:30:04common existential threat at one end and
- 00:30:07introducing metal to New Perspectives
- 00:30:09ideas and populations at the other these
- 00:30:11are things that with hindsight should
- 00:30:13give us cause for celebration the
- 00:30:15hipster's detached irony may feel
- 00:30:17decidedly dated at this point or but
- 00:30:19killed off by the unbridled enthusiasm
- 00:30:22and positivity required to grow a brand
- 00:30:24and community on social media but their
- 00:30:27nomadic at ude to genre and culture has
- 00:30:29left a lasting Legacy the result is a
- 00:30:32broader music fandom whose default
- 00:30:34setting is now unabashed enthusiasm
- 00:30:36combined with a watered down often
- 00:30:39binary understanding of Arts culture and
- 00:30:41music history at one end and a
- 00:30:43reenergized underground at the other
- 00:30:45there are some pretty Stern caveats to
- 00:30:47that last point however
- 00:30:58whenever we are training an AI model on
- 00:31:01data which is generated by other AI
- 00:31:03models it is essentially learning from a
- 00:31:05distorted reflection of itself just like
- 00:31:08a game of telephone each iteration of
- 00:31:11the AI generated data becomes more
- 00:31:13corrupted and disconnected from reality
- 00:31:16researchers have found that introducing
- 00:31:18a relatively small amount of AI
- 00:31:19generated content in the training data
- 00:31:22can be poisonous to the model causing
- 00:31:24its outputs to rapidly degrade into
- 00:31:26nonsensical gibberish within a few
- 00:31:28training
- 00:31:29Cycles this is because the errors and
- 00:31:32biases inherent in the synthetic data
- 00:31:35get Amplified as the model learns from
- 00:31:36its own generated
- 00:31:38outputs the Hipster episode is but a
- 00:31:41microcosm of a much wider Trend within
- 00:31:4421st century culture largely defined by
- 00:31:46the rise of the internet it facilitated
- 00:31:48a repaci archist tendency within metal
- 00:31:51fandom in particular allowing newer
- 00:31:53generations to discover and resurrect
- 00:31:55older music that had until recently
- 00:31:57languished in Ultra
- 00:31:59obscurity therefore although metal had
- 00:32:03Al but expired as a creative Force by
- 00:32:04the turn of the century it was not
- 00:32:06permitted to go quietly into the pasti
- 00:32:09good night along with disco or swing by
- 00:32:11the late 2000s metal was not just
- 00:32:13popular again but ushered into the
- 00:32:15clubhouse of legitimacy amongst other
- 00:32:17music genres and garnering greater
- 00:32:19interest from a wider music loving
- 00:32:21public thanks to the ease of
- 00:32:23access this not only rehabilitated once
- 00:32:26obscure genres and artists but it
- 00:32:27allowed Legacy acts to Rise From the
- 00:32:29Ashes reform tour put out comeback
- 00:32:32albums and and flood Festival bills we
- 00:32:35shouldn't mistake all this activity for
- 00:32:37a renewal of creative and artistic
- 00:32:39Innovation however in fact the most
- 00:32:41dramatic changes came at the level of
- 00:32:42Music consumption and distribution
- 00:32:45through MP3 files and later streaming
- 00:32:48alongside the increasing dominance of
- 00:32:50social media as a means of establishing
- 00:32:52a brand promoting and marketing the
- 00:32:55music itself was much the same as it
- 00:32:57ever had been with any new Innovations
- 00:32:59coming from people gluing different
- 00:33:01genres and styles together giving a
- 00:33:04veneer of progress that when studied
- 00:33:06more closely was nowhere near as
- 00:33:08significant or fundamental as the
- 00:33:09developments from heavy metal thrash
- 00:33:12death and black metal in previous
- 00:33:14decades as a result metal looks for all
- 00:33:17the world like a thriving and legitimate
- 00:33:19subculture arguably culture at this
- 00:33:21point but the period which saw the most
- 00:33:23obvious and observable changes between
- 00:33:2575 and 99 were the result of a very
- 00:33:28specific set of historical circumstances
- 00:33:31within very specific locations as well
- 00:33:33things impossible to replicate or
- 00:33:36manufacture the rampant popularity of
- 00:33:38previously obscure artists and genres
- 00:33:40has also distorted our understanding of
- 00:33:42History itself tempting us to impose the
- 00:33:45tastes and habits of today's demographic
- 00:33:47onto the past and younger generation
- 00:33:49seem condemned to Fashion their identity
- 00:33:53and their entire body of work within the
- 00:33:54long shadow of a legacy the meaning of
- 00:33:57which is slowly fading from memory when
- 00:34:00their contributions do reach for
- 00:34:01comparable levels of profundity they are
- 00:34:04lost beneath the sheer quantity of
- 00:34:05content on offer and the absence of
- 00:34:07media establishments with the clout
- 00:34:09required to manufacture a collective
- 00:34:11cultural experience much like England
- 00:34:14after the fall of Rome bear with me here
- 00:34:16I don't know why I wrote this we live in
- 00:34:17proximity to a sophisticated past we
- 00:34:20seem unable to fully
- 00:34:22grasp the historical evidence is all
- 00:34:26around us but what it means and how it
- 00:34:28was constructed has been lost to time
- 00:34:31and neglect for Dark Age England this
- 00:34:33meant losing Science and Technology the
- 00:34:36written word networks of trade and
- 00:34:38communication with the wider Empire
- 00:34:40systems of government the very stuff of
- 00:34:42civilization the process would have been
- 00:34:44gradual as news from Beyond England
- 00:34:46Shores slowly dissipated and an older
- 00:34:48generation died off until one day the
- 00:34:50memory of Empire became locked in the
- 00:34:53decaying Villas bath houses and forts
- 00:34:55populating the landscape all around them
- 00:34:57alien artifacts mystical Clues left by a
- 00:35:00highly Advanced race from a forgotten
- 00:35:02past and to extend our analogy further
- 00:35:05pre-christian Saxon England practiced a
- 00:35:08highly localized form of paganism while
- 00:35:10some deities spanned regions and
- 00:35:12sometimes Nations rituals and beliefs
- 00:35:14could vary from one Village to the next
- 00:35:17one can walk through the world of modern
- 00:35:19metal past the decaying ruins of once
- 00:35:22great monuments operating under an
- 00:35:24entirely different set of norms to
- 00:35:26another Metal Head by into contradictory
- 00:35:29narratives on what metal is and who the
- 00:35:31current significant artists Publications
- 00:35:33festivals or labels are such as the
- 00:35:36vastness of the digital thiefdom metal
- 00:35:38now
- 00:35:39occupies given that this zombie state
- 00:35:42has lasted for almost 25 years nearly as
- 00:35:44long as Metal's initial Inception it
- 00:35:46seems dubious to chalk this all up to
- 00:35:49Mere
- 00:35:50Nostalgia the past is now the exception
- 00:35:53the current Malay is brought on by an
- 00:35:55unknowable excess of content the rule
- 00:35:58the overwhelming majority of bands
- 00:35:59releases Publications and labels are
- 00:36:01products of this post 2000 zombie era if
- 00:36:05the capture of the present by the past
- 00:36:06goes on for long enough metal becomes a
- 00:36:09culture in suspended animation a
- 00:36:11gradually disintegrating echo of a
- 00:36:13momentary blip this is a distinct and
- 00:36:16decidedly more insipid condition than
- 00:36:18pure Nostalgia metal becomes a set of
- 00:36:21disconnected cultural streams Loosely
- 00:36:23bound together by a half-remembered
- 00:36:25shared ancestry now relegated to brands
- 00:36:28affectations or Vibes the parameters of
- 00:36:30which are defined by a pseudo journalism
- 00:36:32unable or unwilling to interpret the
- 00:36:35symbol of the past into anything more
- 00:36:37substantive than vague aesthetic auras
- 00:36:39within this environment the resulting
- 00:36:41death of imagination leads many to
- 00:36:43conclude that the only way to
- 00:36:45revolutionize metal is to break with it
- 00:36:47entirely hence the endless reams of
- 00:36:49chimerical avant guard metal policing
- 00:36:51the borders of what experimentation can
- 00:36:53look like dictating the parameters of
- 00:36:56true innovation
- 00:36:58I am aware that for many this assessment
- 00:37:00of contemporary metal just doesn't
- 00:37:01resonate they will object that metal is
- 00:37:04living through a never- ending present
- 00:37:05of vibrancy replete with exciting new
- 00:37:08releases interesting
- 00:37:10artists boundless Innovation and
- 00:37:12challenging new music whilst I don't
- 00:37:15believe these arguments come from a
- 00:37:16place of denial or bad faith I do
- 00:37:19believe that the source of this
- 00:37:20disagreement arises from a change in how
- 00:37:23newer fans listen to metal the internet
- 00:37:25after all didn't only revolutionize
- 00:37:27consumption and distribution of Music it
- 00:37:30fundamentally changed the way in which
- 00:37:31metal fandom is expressed the fleeting
- 00:37:34One-Stop shop of a social media scroll
- 00:37:36means people rely on instantly
- 00:37:38recognizable symbols phrases and
- 00:37:41Aesthetics to signal to others their
- 00:37:43cultural allegiances this shifts the
- 00:37:45focus away from what metal can express
- 00:37:47in the abstract and back to an
- 00:37:48individualized form of self-expression
- 00:37:50dictated by the very specific
- 00:37:52motivations and values of the individual
- 00:37:54listener
- 00:37:57[Music]
- 00:38:11it's really an ideal situation for
- 00:38:12capitalists that's why so many
- 00:38:14corporations Banks and neoliberal
- 00:38:16politicians have readily adopted the
- 00:38:18language of identity as well as the
- 00:38:21aesthetic of diversity and Equity they
- 00:38:24have every reason to be happy with this
- 00:38:25cosmological shift since they will still
- 00:38:28get to keep property relations intact as
- 00:38:30long as they offer more expression to
- 00:38:32Identity
- 00:38:33concerns it's important to understand
- 00:38:36the broader context that created the
- 00:38:37conditions for this shift before the rot
- 00:38:39of misanthropy sets in after all the
- 00:38:42slow erosion of the public realm forces
- 00:38:44us to Define our identities by our
- 00:38:46purchasing habits our sense of self
- 00:38:48foregrounds hobbies and culture because
- 00:38:51these are malleable marketing
- 00:38:53demographics fluid and susceptible to
- 00:38:55persuasion compared to identities is
- 00:38:57defined by Place community and class
- 00:38:59Consciousness these latter elements are
- 00:39:01concretely political unlike the identity
- 00:39:04politics of representation that tends to
- 00:39:07permeate cultural zones these are easily
- 00:39:09absorbed into a neoliberal world order
- 00:39:12on paper this is nothing new even for
- 00:39:14extreme metal whatever lofty ideals it
- 00:39:16upholds in the abstract in practice it
- 00:39:19has manifested as a movement primarily
- 00:39:21concerned with identity thus the scum
- 00:39:24jigsaw puzzles the festivals resembling
- 00:39:26theme parks the merch subscription
- 00:39:29services and unboxing videos the holiday
- 00:39:31cruises the musicals the Branded
- 00:39:33homewear all are just extensions of what
- 00:39:35bands like Kiss have been doing for
- 00:39:37decades what's insidiously novel about
- 00:39:40consumerism today though is just how
- 00:39:42configurable it is highly bespoke
- 00:39:45underground forms of branding
- 00:39:46facilitated by sites like Etsy running
- 00:39:48parallel to more traditional top- down
- 00:39:51marketing this allows businesses large
- 00:39:53and small to tailor their advertising to
- 00:39:56very specific populations within metal
- 00:39:58using very bespoke values driven
- 00:40:00language and lifestyle porn as fetics
- 00:40:03itself a symptom of Metal's aging
- 00:40:04population and the greater purchasing
- 00:40:06power that comes with this this means
- 00:40:09that everyone from fans to Indie labels
- 00:40:11to Major magazines play a role in
- 00:40:14opening up new areas of branding
- 00:40:16potential this extends far beyond band
- 00:40:19merch and imagery it reaches into one's
- 00:40:21very cultural philosophy are you true to
- 00:40:24the underground spirit for example are
- 00:40:26you in favor of of professional studio
- 00:40:28mixes and Arena shows or is a DIY
- 00:40:31aesthetic important to you are you in
- 00:40:33favor of the new ideas entering your
- 00:40:35subculture or fiercely opposed to them
- 00:40:37whatever they may be answers to these
- 00:40:39questions have a corresponding product
- 00:40:41or service someone wants to sell you the
- 00:40:44Hipster Petty Bourgeois commitment to
- 00:40:46artisanal produce startup businesses and
- 00:40:48ethical consumption is but one example
- 00:40:50of how buying power has replaced
- 00:40:52Collective political action culturally
- 00:40:55this manifests as the casualization of
- 00:40:57fan
- 00:40:58a fleeting relationship to the music
- 00:40:59itself ostensibly the reason why we're
- 00:41:01all here encouraged not just by the
- 00:41:03sheer volume of content available but
- 00:41:05the demand to display our love of music
- 00:41:07through ever more diverse and novel
- 00:41:09items extending Beyond merchandise into
- 00:41:12home wear beer and wine and even dog
- 00:41:14food this is not simply a case of plying
- 00:41:16a social media feed with relevant ads
- 00:41:19based on a de metal fan likes for
- 00:41:21example it matters what your values as a
- 00:41:23death metal fan are this is one reason
- 00:41:26why genre tags are become so prolific
- 00:41:28they serve a purpose as clunky but
- 00:41:30utilitarian descriptors for sure but
- 00:41:33behind this is the lurking Spectre of a
- 00:41:35value judgment osdm dsbm Tech death
- 00:41:39mellow death death core brutal death
- 00:41:41metal all come with negative or positive
- 00:41:44connotations depending on context and
- 00:41:46personal preference anyone looking to
- 00:41:48enter the market knows this and they
- 00:41:50know how to manipulate these words to
- 00:41:52reach an intended audience we assimilate
- 00:41:55culture through the filter of branding l
- 00:41:57lingo creating genre tags to delineate a
- 00:41:59particular Choose Your Own Adventure
- 00:42:01lifestyle a process we mistake for
- 00:42:03genuine artistic features of the music
- 00:42:06otherwise intelligent commentators begin
- 00:42:08to Parrot this terminology leading to
- 00:42:10this casualization of fandom where where
- 00:42:12everyone is entitled to access their
- 00:42:14brand free of friction musical critique
- 00:42:16is dismissed as elitism one feature of
- 00:42:19this casualization of fandom is the
- 00:42:21foregrounding of Vibes an imprecise set
- 00:42:24of moods signifies in fact similes
- 00:42:26designed to slot into a predetermined
- 00:42:29cultural stream or Market in his 1970s
- 00:42:32Harvard lecture series Leonard Bernstein
- 00:42:35described music as a metaphor a single
- 00:42:38note may have no meaning but place two
- 00:42:40notes together and our brains begin to
- 00:42:42construct a story a notion or an idea
- 00:42:45the process is almost reflective we
- 00:42:46cannot help but do it through intuition
- 00:42:49cultural upbringing context and for
- 00:42:51knowledge we engage in a dialogue with
- 00:42:53the music it communicates to us even if
- 00:42:55the message is ambiguous open-ended my
- 00:42:58interpretation of orber Angel is one of
- 00:43:00many possibilities for example all of
- 00:43:02which stem from their manipulation of
- 00:43:04Riff Melody a tonality rhythm pacing and
- 00:43:07Dynamics which in turn trigger in me a
- 00:43:09response based on my experiences of
- 00:43:11Music the overall Vibe the triggered
- 00:43:14drums the crisp Distortion the slightly
- 00:43:16American accent and the clinical
- 00:43:18production allow us to impose a
- 00:43:20historical geographical and cultural
- 00:43:23location onto the music but they do not
- 00:43:25Define the flow of metaphor and
- 00:43:27interpretations that result from this
- 00:43:29which arise from how these musicians
- 00:43:31communicate with their chosen genre and
- 00:43:33are imposed by The Listener on the music
- 00:43:35almost impulsively we reflexively
- 00:43:38interpret the minor key as sad the major
- 00:43:40key as happy the Tron as Eerie the
- 00:43:43atonal as ambiguous and dissonant as
- 00:43:45alien for example although not always
- 00:43:48intentional fudging
- 00:43:52the although not always intentional
- 00:43:54fudging the boundary between Vibes and
- 00:43:56genre is a common PR tactic pirate metal
- 00:44:00Viking metal folk metal battle metal all
- 00:44:02are prominent examples of what happens
- 00:44:04when we mistake Vibes for genre cloaking
- 00:44:07the lack of substantive development at
- 00:44:09the compositional level and therefore
- 00:44:10the metaphorical level there is real
- 00:44:13money in selling certain groups and
- 00:44:14releases is genuinely novel hence why
- 00:44:17managers of capital such as they are in
- 00:44:19metal are only too happy to join the
- 00:44:21Pyon against elitists and other Vibe
- 00:44:25Skeptics these are antagonists would
- 00:44:27seek to disrupt the free flow of goods
- 00:44:29by shining a light on the mechanics of
- 00:44:31advertising lingo and its tenuous
- 00:44:32connection to the substance of the music
- 00:44:35dismissing such individuals as elitists
- 00:44:38paints their motivations as purely
- 00:44:40status-driven and bitter thus precluding
- 00:44:42the need to meaningfully engage with
- 00:44:44them the Spotify playlist is a key
- 00:44:46villain in this story their model now an
- 00:44:49industry standard for music consumption
- 00:44:51trades on curating moods and feelings as
- 00:44:54paramounts a musical experience this
- 00:44:56diminish es the importance of intimacy
- 00:44:58with music familiarity encouraging
- 00:45:01eclectic fleeting acquaintances with as
- 00:45:03many releases as possible aborted Vibe
- 00:45:05Fabrications like void gaze indicate
- 00:45:07that Spotify is not always successful in
- 00:45:09this regard but the reduction of music
- 00:45:11to a buffet of prepackaged vaguely
- 00:45:14defined mutes to be to be browsed on at
- 00:45:16leisure is something metal has well and
- 00:45:18truly succumbed to in the streaming age
- 00:45:20fundamentally re-engineer Metal's
- 00:45:21relationship to the
- 00:45:23music but the symptoms can be traced
- 00:45:25well beyond streaming and social media
- 00:45:27platforms it is also illustrated by the
- 00:45:29caliber of modern journalism and with
- 00:45:31clever manipulation it can even decide
- 00:45:33who gets the right to speak from a place
- 00:45:35of legitimacy or objectivity brainy
- 00:45:38Publications such as louder and forly
- 00:45:40vice or the quietus Pitchfork and
- 00:45:43invisible oranges a rif with journalists
- 00:45:45posing as dispassionate sociologists
- 00:45:48documenting the flow of culture within a
- 00:45:50scene yet in the process they casually
- 00:45:52throw around the language of marketing
- 00:45:54without subjecting it to any scrutiny
- 00:45:57thus the cycle of covert branding is
- 00:45:59perpetuated unanchored eclecticism is
- 00:46:01championed discernment denigrated as
- 00:46:03gatekeeping a whole host of metal meme
- 00:46:06law celebrates the breadth of quirky
- 00:46:08listening consumption habits popular
- 00:46:10voices such as Anthony fantano def find
- 00:46:13themselves as jack of all trades master
- 00:46:15of non critics fantano's unassuming
- 00:46:17reviews on metal albums at least may
- 00:46:20look insightful but are often nothing
- 00:46:21more than sugarcoated Vibe chats rarely
- 00:46:23broaching Beyond The Superficial the
- 00:46:25fixation on Vibe can lead to
- 00:46:28commentators such as Jeff Vagner to make
- 00:46:30silly claims such as the following is it
- 00:46:32Wagner is that who you say it in America
- 00:46:33he makes silly claims such as the
- 00:46:35following where Morbid Angel sometimes
- 00:46:38offered organ Segways and moments of
- 00:46:40Arty diversion as on their heretic album
- 00:46:43they blasted and bludgeoned more than
- 00:46:46they experimented Wagner Vagner is often
- 00:46:49regarded as one of Metal's more cerebral
- 00:46:51journalists but in referring to the
- 00:46:53unfocused and frankly incoherent heretic
- 00:46:56as experimental and the rest of morbid
- 00:46:58Angel's back catalogers blasting and
- 00:47:00bludgeoning he betrays a troubling lack
- 00:47:03of insight into the deaf metal art form
- 00:47:05and morbid Angel's unique contributions
- 00:47:07to It ultimately the Confluence of vibe
- 00:47:10marketing and the casualization of
- 00:47:12fandom engenders the same degree of
- 00:47:14entitlement that one might feel towards
- 00:47:16a consumer product we've been
- 00:47:18conditioned to believe that we have a
- 00:47:20right to purchase free of friction which
- 00:47:22is literally true for consumer goods the
- 00:47:24companies that sell us things they they
- 00:47:26want want our transactions to be as
- 00:47:28smooth and regular as possible but art
- 00:47:31is not a product even if its emergent
- 00:47:33Vibes are hence the generation of terms
- 00:47:36like elitist and gatekeeper and purist
- 00:47:39to cloak a lack of interest in the
- 00:47:41complexity and Nuance of genre mechanics
- 00:47:44we feel entitled to purchase and consume
- 00:47:46a Vibe free of friction free of descent
- 00:47:49free of maybe critical thinking this
- 00:47:52creates a process of atomization Music
- 00:47:54becomes a toy box filled with
- 00:47:56disconnected artifacts for individuals
- 00:47:58to stitch together into whatever
- 00:48:00chimerical form they choose an
- 00:48:02individualist expression of personal
- 00:48:04identity equally this identity that is
- 00:48:07being expressed is more often than not a
- 00:48:09superficial cluster of consumer
- 00:48:10lifestyle modes nurtured by various
- 00:48:13Brands to generate another targetable
- 00:48:15audience to question the artistic Merit
- 00:48:17of this is elitist grandstanding this is
- 00:48:20also the root cause of the intractable
- 00:48:22disagreement over whoever metal is even
- 00:48:24a viable living organism anymore
- 00:48:27where one person sees a regular churn of
- 00:48:29activity and Novelty and new releases in
- 00:48:31life another sees nothing but the
- 00:48:33cultural equivalent of an AI model being
- 00:48:35fed training data generated by other AI
- 00:48:38models leading to outputs that rapidly
- 00:48:41degrade into nonsensical gibberish
- 00:48:44within just a few training Cycles
- 00:48:51[Music]
- 00:48:56seemingly inconsequential freedom of
- 00:48:59creative expression is a red herring a
- 00:49:01beard a ploy a false flag operation
- 00:49:04upholding the inali right for art to be
- 00:49:07anything say anything do anything is a
- 00:49:09Patric designed by the Lords of capital
- 00:49:11with extraordinary Insidious
- 00:49:13implications it has made art instead of
- 00:49:16being the shield weapon and broadside
- 00:49:18pamphlet of the otherwise disenfranchise
- 00:49:21attainable to anyone into a holy bit of
- 00:49:24fluff the well-being of which must be
- 00:49:26protected Ed at all costs by the muscle
- 00:49:28of the militarized state upheld by the
- 00:49:31super privileged championed by the
- 00:49:33cosmetically degenerate what point is
- 00:49:36there in defending this beast and what
- 00:49:38has the beast in such company
- 00:49:41become much of this comes back to our
- 00:49:43motivation for engaging with art and
- 00:49:46creating art is Bal just idle
- 00:49:48self-expression that we've all got a bit
- 00:49:50worked up over or is it something deeper
- 00:49:53contemporary wisdom treats metal in all
- 00:49:55its forms as a toy box giving us license
- 00:49:58to lift its Visual and Sonic signifies
- 00:50:01peac meal as a means of self-expression
- 00:50:04it becomes an affectation A Pose a
- 00:50:06performative gesture toward various
- 00:50:08forms of extremity on the surface it
- 00:50:11seems obvious that metal is about
- 00:50:13self-expression I mean how could it not
- 00:50:15be but if we look at the way metal rents
- 00:50:18out imagery ideas and conceptual
- 00:50:20material from other fields say history
- 00:50:22religion and mythology combines them
- 00:50:24with a a strict focus on musical form
- 00:50:27structure predetermination that begins
- 00:50:30to look like a deeply rigid inflexible
- 00:50:32unwieldy tool for anyone looking to say
- 00:50:35pour their heart out metal provides the
- 00:50:37user with a set of musical and
- 00:50:39conceptual tools they can manipulate and
- 00:50:42add to throughout the process of
- 00:50:43composition an ongoing dialogue with a A
- 00:50:46Wider historical current see Fall From
- 00:50:49Grace for example any novel or
- 00:50:51individual input is then placed within
- 00:50:54the pool of collective resources and
- 00:50:55made available for for the Next
- 00:50:57Generation hence Metal's fixation on who
- 00:50:59influenced who who was the first to
- 00:51:02deploy a particular technique like the
- 00:51:03blast be and whether certain artists
- 00:51:06were as significant as common sense
- 00:51:08wisdom would have us believe or maybe
- 00:51:10other artists that are deeply
- 00:51:12underated this is clearly not the case
- 00:51:15anymore metal as understood by a younger
- 00:51:18generation and in fact an older
- 00:51:20generation that have inculcated the
- 00:51:22ideas of the current moment metal is
- 00:51:25ostensibly about self-expression whether
- 00:51:27this be cultural political social or
- 00:51:30personal but paradoxically it retains
- 00:51:32and even exaggerates its use of extra
- 00:51:34musical signifiers this is especially
- 00:51:37true as metal became an increasingly
- 00:51:38Global presence and all manner of
- 00:51:41regional folk traditions and mythologies
- 00:51:43became wrapped up into versions of
- 00:51:45pre-existing metal genres writing genre
- 00:51:48metal that calls on specific historical
- 00:51:51periods is akin to cornering a certain
- 00:51:53Market plucking a readymade brand off
- 00:51:55the shelf that one else spotted so today
- 00:51:58as a listener I can come across artists
- 00:52:00that sing exclusively about German
- 00:52:02mining accidents Napoleonic France or
- 00:52:05the Eastern Orthodox liturgy but the
- 00:52:08further one goes back in time in metals
- 00:52:10history the less specific Metals
- 00:52:12imagination becomes until we arrive back
- 00:52:14at Black Sabbath and their dead pan
- 00:52:16reference to Satan as a vague antagonist
- 00:52:19the source of conflict discomfort
- 00:52:21contest or paranoia the forms of metal
- 00:52:23that are most explicit in their
- 00:52:25self-expression literally about The
- 00:52:27Human Experience tend to be newer forms
- 00:52:30such as post metal depressive black
- 00:52:32metal and any form of metal that
- 00:52:33self-identifies as being experimental
- 00:52:36Progressive in the Contemporary sense of
- 00:52:38the word or deploying the gay suffix the
- 00:52:41genres that Metals designated gatekeeper
- 00:52:43antagonists tend to dislike in other
- 00:52:45words the gatekeeper would argue that
- 00:52:47the self-expressive element to these
- 00:52:49genres is exactly what makes them not
- 00:52:51metal but in the alternative it is
- 00:52:53precisely because these Styles Define
- 00:52:55themselves in opposition to traditional
- 00:52:57forms of metal that they become a a
- 00:52:59troubling Prospect for the so-called
- 00:53:01traditionalist they refuse to submit to
- 00:53:03the rules of engagement at a cultural
- 00:53:05level by only extracting from the
- 00:53:07collective pool of compositional
- 00:53:08resources in the form of genre Alchemy
- 00:53:10and never contributing to it and at a
- 00:53:13musical level by valuing individual
- 00:53:15expression as Paramount as a result they
- 00:53:17fail to point toward a viable Collective
- 00:53:19next step for metal in a way that
- 00:53:21previous generations did by accident or
- 00:53:24Design This calls to mind nich's Last
- 00:53:26Man Without Direction time or purpose
- 00:53:30too aware of History both the internal
- 00:53:32history of metal and the Deep occurrence
- 00:53:34of global history picking at different
- 00:53:36areas of culture as Idle Curiosities
- 00:53:39with ironic Detachment unable or
- 00:53:41unwilling to say or do anything
- 00:53:43meaningful with them we mistake this
- 00:53:45Cosmopolitan fingering for A celebration
- 00:53:47of self-expression a communal Hub where
- 00:53:50all creativity is valid if it is a true
- 00:53:53reflection of some inner personal need
- 00:53:55and where everyone is engaged in a
- 00:53:57project of mutual support and love at
- 00:54:00the intersection of coping with the
- 00:54:02Relentless competition that is now a
- 00:54:04feature of running a digital platform
- 00:54:06bands but also labels Publications
- 00:54:08promoters artists and so on alongside
- 00:54:11the facade of self-expression this leads
- 00:54:13to a kind of dilettantism an idol
- 00:54:16investigation of History cultural
- 00:54:18theological or mythological material as
- 00:54:20a shortcut to crafting some kind of
- 00:54:23brand or image that could gain currency
- 00:54:25within the widest social media economy
- 00:54:28this is self-expression with a false
- 00:54:30consciousness all is recycled
- 00:54:34[Music]
- 00:54:42data I can feel myself
- 00:54:47[Music]
- 00:54:50r no one would ever confuse us with
- 00:54:52Oasis but we have parts that sound like
- 00:54:55that that's kind of how I feel about the
- 00:54:57black metal thing we definitely have
- 00:54:59Parts influenced by black metal but we
- 00:55:02aren't a black metal band I've tried to
- 00:55:04say that for so long no one wants to
- 00:55:06hear
- 00:55:08it spokespeople within the media and
- 00:55:11influencer classes increasingly feel the
- 00:55:13need to Pander to the sensitivities of a
- 00:55:15self-expressive metal audience elitist
- 00:55:18bashing is a quick way to build a
- 00:55:20platform the artistic values of metal
- 00:55:22are therefore subject to far more
- 00:55:24scrutiny than is normal for a subculture
- 00:55:27this mirrors the way larger Brands
- 00:55:29appeal to woke sensibilities bullying
- 00:55:32the movement against sexual harass
- 00:55:34masculinity is this the best a man can
- 00:55:40get is it not because they believe in
- 00:55:43the values they parrot corporations have
- 00:55:45no values but because they know it will
- 00:55:47enrage hordes of online weirdos whose
- 00:55:50rage will generate reams of free
- 00:55:52advertising for them commentators
- 00:55:54therefore impose obus half shs
- 00:55:57simplicities and other distorted
- 00:55:59histories onto the collective Narrative
- 00:56:01of metal provoking one arm of Metal's
- 00:56:03fan base whilst generating clickbait for
- 00:56:05another a subtler way to do this can be
- 00:56:08found in the many genre primers and
- 00:56:10brief history videos generated by the
- 00:56:12dark satanic content Mills where you'll
- 00:56:14find vague references to the mystical
- 00:56:16purist bogeyman the record was gaining
- 00:56:18so much attention it was even getting
- 00:56:21hate from black metal purists uh who
- 00:56:23favored more of course uh you know the
- 00:56:25old school sh the Scandinavian [ __ ] it's
- 00:56:27a genre that's pretty much defined by
- 00:56:29gatekeeping and Conformity right like if
- 00:56:31you listen to that quote I read from
- 00:56:33uronis a minute ago it's basically him
- 00:56:35like laying out the dress code and
- 00:56:36enforcing it and saying if you don't
- 00:56:38listen to the right bands and wear the
- 00:56:39right clothes you can't sit at our table
- 00:56:41it's rigid Conformity packaged as
- 00:56:44Rebellion this phenomena reached a peak
- 00:56:47in the mid-2010s although I still see it
- 00:56:49regularly crop up online and is
- 00:56:50something that Dale Patterson explores
- 00:56:52at length in his recently published new
- 00:56:55edition of evolution of the cult on a
- 00:56:57history of black metal in a lengthy
- 00:56:59closing chapter on post black metal and
- 00:57:01black gay genres
- 00:57:03which he discusses black gaze and post
- 00:57:06black metal in a lengthy closing chapter
- 00:57:08which are genres which almost by
- 00:57:10definition caught controversy the main
- 00:57:13contention is best summed up by this
- 00:57:15quote the presentation of post black
- 00:57:18metal black gaze Black core as the
- 00:57:20Forefront of artistic Vitality within
- 00:57:22black metal is as embarrassing as it is
- 00:57:24inaccurate and fans of black metal
- 00:57:27influence bands attempt to speak
- 00:57:28definitively on a genre they know very
- 00:57:30little about it doesn't do much to
- 00:57:32endear such bands to the black metal
- 00:57:35Community he points to the fact that
- 00:57:37many post-black metal musicians
- 00:57:39themselves have often stated that they
- 00:57:40are only inspired by black metal but are
- 00:57:42not themselves in any way related to
- 00:57:44Black Metal he calls out the Spate of
- 00:57:46Articles appearing in the likes of Vice
- 00:57:48metal sucks and Terrorizer throughout
- 00:57:50the 2010s framing bands like mik mik
- 00:57:53I've never heard this band pronounced
- 00:57:54that loud mik alest or de Heaven as The
- 00:57:58Cutting Edge of the genre and lambasting
- 00:58:00black metal fans as elitist Gatekeepers
- 00:58:02for not accepting them a you we were
- 00:58:04constantly brow beaten with at the time
- 00:58:06I remember being sent the vice article
- 00:58:09by a number of non-metal friends in what
- 00:58:11remains a particularly sour episode in
- 00:58:13inter genre relations and one of the
- 00:58:15formative events that led me to blogging
- 00:58:16in the first place Patterson defends
- 00:58:19black metal fans as uniquely open-minded
- 00:58:21individuals the musicians as fiercely
- 00:58:24experimental both of which should be
- 00:58:26self-evident given the breadth and
- 00:58:27Variety in the genre even by as early as
- 00:58:301994 he Likens placing post black metal
- 00:58:33at the Forefront of the genre is similar
- 00:58:35to trying to place the Clash at the
- 00:58:37Forefront of Reggae and accusing anyone
- 00:58:39who disagrees of gatekeeping lgy De
- 00:58:42heaven and aless these bands have
- 00:58:44attracted much Aya not simply because of
- 00:58:46their music but because the scene keeps
- 00:58:48getting told that they are the future of
- 00:58:49black metal by a disinterested music
- 00:58:52press and their readership despite the
- 00:58:54fact that all of them have openly
- 00:58:56distance themselves from black metal
- 00:58:58distinguishing themselves accurately as
- 00:59:00black metal influenced something their
- 00:59:02fans should be mindful of next time they
- 00:59:04wish to write off the broad and Novelty
- 00:59:06hungry fan base of black metal as
- 00:59:08notbook purist
- 00:59:09Gatekeepers it has never sat well the a
- 00:59:12genre as explicitly experimental as
- 00:59:14black metal is often accused of rampant
- 00:59:16traditionalism or subject to this
- 00:59:18constant need to somehow save or fix the
- 00:59:21music by individuals largely unaware or
- 00:59:23indifferent to the historical context
- 00:59:25and complexity of its
- 00:59:27Evolution a more detailed but no less
- 00:59:30misguided example of this can be found
- 00:59:31in Bill peele's recent book tonight it's
- 00:59:34a world we bury which goes further than
- 00:59:36most in its attempts to draw parallels
- 00:59:38between leftist Theory and black metal
- 00:59:40the book itself deserves praise for at
- 00:59:42least attempting a non- identitarian
- 00:59:44methodology but falls down when what
- 00:59:47Pele understands to be black metal
- 00:59:49becomes apparent peel discusses
- 00:59:51Distortion in the context of bingel
- 00:59:53Han's concept of psychopolitics
- 00:59:56it is not oppression but permissiveness
- 00:59:58that makes capitalism such a poorest
- 01:00:00opponent by encouraging us to actively
- 01:00:03pursue what we want free from external
- 01:00:05obstacles Spotify streaming model is so
- 01:00:08successful because not only does it give
- 01:00:10us exactly what we want but it actively
- 01:00:12anticipates our desires black metal by
- 01:00:15contrast trades on the rare and uncom
- 01:00:17modifiable traits of distortion both in
- 01:00:19the literal and metaphorical sense it
- 01:00:21puts up barriers makes itself unlikable
- 01:00:24unlistenable difficult having
- 01:00:26established this Peele asserts that
- 01:00:28black Metals Distortion became
- 01:00:30formalized it risked stasis and
- 01:00:32commodification like any other
- 01:00:34genre here in lies the downside to Black
- 01:00:37Metal's oppositional attitude the
- 01:00:39genre's walls of distortion in keeping
- 01:00:41out psycho politics and the encroaching
- 01:00:43forces of commercialization also work to
- 01:00:46keep the genre rooted in
- 01:00:48place Distortion is the rope with which
- 01:00:51the Revolutionary Spirit of black metal
- 01:00:53hanged itself P singles out nagar's joke
- 01:00:56/ tribute album black Metalist C to
- 01:00:58chastise the genre for fixating on a
- 01:01:00single tragedian moment in Norway in the
- 01:01:031990s he argues that the homogeneity
- 01:01:06exemplified by nagaro misunderstood the
- 01:01:09Oslo scene's initial hostility to
- 01:01:11imitation with all Fetters removed
- 01:01:14instrumentally speaking bands were able
- 01:01:17to experiment with different sounds
- 01:01:19whilst maintaining their black metal
- 01:01:20credentials but instead when black metal
- 01:01:23cries out for more albums that sound
- 01:01:25like a funeral Moon an ASE not an album
- 01:01:27mate to distort no longer means to make
- 01:01:30music dirtier but to make music that
- 01:01:32evades and overcomes those strictures
- 01:01:33and
- 01:01:34demands Peele predictably posits ales
- 01:01:37death heaven and liturgy as the true
- 01:01:39inheritors of Uranus's vision for black
- 01:01:41metal because they subverted the mold by
- 01:01:43taking it in unexpected directions and
- 01:01:46of us more distorted this is because
- 01:01:49Distortion for peel is not a guitar
- 01:01:51effect but a nomadic process a way for
- 01:01:53us to make ourselves anema to the
- 01:01:55convenience of consumerism he then
- 01:01:58outlines three contemporary examples of
- 01:02:00subres demonstrating this that
- 01:02:02Distortion doesn't hide behind walls of
- 01:02:04familiarity but is instead nomadic and
- 01:02:07Divergent these examples are raw black
- 01:02:09metal dissonant black metal and hipster
- 01:02:11black metal it is here that Peele
- 01:02:14fashion a rod for black Metal's back by
- 01:02:16reciting a selective and skewed reading
- 01:02:17of its history the Orthodoxy he parrots
- 01:02:19roughly traces black metal from its
- 01:02:21birth in Newcastle to a climax and slow
- 01:02:23death in Norway before it was salvaged
- 01:02:25in the coffee houses of Brooklyn and
- 01:02:27California in the early 2000s this is
- 01:02:30evidenced by him repeating the fallacy
- 01:02:32that the Norwegian scene had no defining
- 01:02:33style and whilst it's certainly true
- 01:02:35that there was great diversion between
- 01:02:37the Norwegian bands the commonalities of
- 01:02:39Trey guitars tremolo strumming blast
- 01:02:41beats and high pitch vocals set them
- 01:02:43apart from the Epic newom flavor of
- 01:02:46Greek black metal for example or the
- 01:02:48dirty occultism of Italy and southern
- 01:02:50Europe the lowii eccentricity of the
- 01:02:52Czech Republic Swedish melodicism the
- 01:02:54black and fres of South America or the
- 01:02:56dark grind core of Finland all scenes
- 01:02:59that emerged in tandem with and some
- 01:03:01prior to Norway but by admitting this
- 01:03:04and simply retracing the common sense
- 01:03:06Norwegian Centric narrative it's easy to
- 01:03:08argue that black metal was regressive
- 01:03:11once this scene burnt itself out Peele
- 01:03:13is hardly unique in this regard a series
- 01:03:15of well documented extracurricular
- 01:03:17activities leads academics and
- 01:03:19journalist to continue evaluating the
- 01:03:21merits of a diverse International
- 01:03:23movement within extreme Metals solely on
- 01:03:25the basis of a small set of Norwegian
- 01:03:27bands in rehashing this narrative it
- 01:03:29allows him to needlessly wag a finger at
- 01:03:32black metal for failing to live up to
- 01:03:34its revolutionary promises to unpack
- 01:03:36this further it's worth examining
- 01:03:37peele's choice to position nagaro of all
- 01:03:39bands as emblematic of the
- 01:03:41traditionalist wing and de Heaven the
- 01:03:43Forward Thinking revolutionary Wing
- 01:03:46nagaro according to Peele refused to
- 01:03:49engage with the genres present as
- 01:03:51evinced by their album black Metalist C
- 01:03:53it's worth noting then that after
- 01:03:55release of this album nuro's output
- 01:03:57includes a black metal reinterpretation
- 01:03:59of R's Four Seasons a blackened
- 01:04:02electronic ambient collaboration with
- 01:04:04nicta's ons spectral visions of mental
- 01:04:06Warfare and a hybrid of flamco black
- 01:04:09metal prag and black and rolled on their
- 01:04:11latest album era of thrity you may not
- 01:04:14like nagar's attempts at experimentation
- 01:04:16but one could hardly accuse them of
- 01:04:17working to keep the genre rooted in
- 01:04:20place death Heaven by contrast plot
- 01:04:22lines of Escape for black metal that
- 01:04:24connect it to something outside itself
- 01:04:27according to Peele they do this by
- 01:04:29introducing it to unexpected genres
- 01:04:32essentially by applying a handful of
- 01:04:34Hallmarks from a specific branch of
- 01:04:35second wave Norwegian black metal to a
- 01:04:37variant of indicum post Rock rooted in
- 01:04:41highly conventional harmonic Traditions
- 01:04:42present in the vast majority of Western
- 01:04:44pop and rock music since the
- 01:04:461950s Peele is correct to say that this
- 01:04:48is certainly unexpected I certainly did
- 01:04:51not expect that stripping black metal of
- 01:04:52its ambitious compositional architecture
- 01:04:54and assimilating some of its tropes into
- 01:04:55to Western pop rock Orthodoxy would
- 01:04:57attract so many otherwise intelligent
- 01:04:59cheerleaders the common sense narrative
- 01:05:01pared here allows PE to position nagar
- 01:05:04offers misunderstanding black Metal's
- 01:05:06original spirit and de Heaven as an
- 01:05:08example of the desire to construct
- 01:05:10something different to it because this
- 01:05:12view reduces black metal to a simple
- 01:05:14binary of traditionalists and forward
- 01:05:16thinkers all the while the substance of
- 01:05:19these terms goes unexamined because they
- 01:05:21serve a lazy fiction manufactured by
- 01:05:23journalists to generate tribalist brand
- 01:05:25loyalty to take another example from the
- 01:05:28same book he positions raw black metal
- 01:05:30as another potential line of Escape
- 01:05:32failing to account for the fact that raw
- 01:05:34black metal in form if not in the name
- 01:05:36can be traced back to the likes of
- 01:05:37blasphemy and Von and Ilan again an
- 01:05:40experimental trait characterized as
- 01:05:42newer novel in this book was baked
- 01:05:43within black Metal's DNA decades ago
- 01:05:46Peele also misses the point when he
- 01:05:47feels the need to highlight to us that
- 01:05:49the members of De Heaven actually love
- 01:05:51bers and dark frone Defenders of true
- 01:05:53cult black metal are opposed to the new
- 01:05:55developments of the genre and presume
- 01:05:57that fans of these new bands are opposed
- 01:05:59to traditional black metal this frankly
- 01:06:02is just not true traditionalists are
- 01:06:05acutely aware of the interest dehe and
- 01:06:07Nal have in old school black metal not
- 01:06:10least because they openly say so what
- 01:06:12remains in question is precisely what de
- 01:06:15Heaven bring to the table for fans of
- 01:06:17black metal especially considering their
- 01:06:19openly distancing themselves from the
- 01:06:21black metal label
- 01:06:22itself another recent example can be
- 01:06:25found found in t Cole's recent book on
- 01:06:27death metal which makes the predictable
- 01:06:29but lamentable mistake of framing def
- 01:06:31core as the next chapter in De Metal's
- 01:06:33Evolution and it's dismissal by older
- 01:06:35fans as not but
- 01:06:37puritanism Cole is able to frame events
- 01:06:39in this way because they're working
- 01:06:41definition of De metal foregrounds
- 01:06:43vocals texture and lyrical themes
- 01:06:45leading to a misunderstanding of the
- 01:06:47significance or even relevance of death
- 01:06:49core as a descendant of Death Metal the
- 01:06:53bizarre focus on Napalm de carcass and
- 01:06:56one account of extreme noise Terror give
- 01:06:58further Clues as to what Cole thinks
- 01:07:00death metal is the fact that Finn mckeny
- 01:07:03of the punk rock NBA a 40-some baseball
- 01:07:05cap wearing YouTube gatekeeper prod par
- 01:07:07Excellence was interviewed for this
- 01:07:09chapter is kind of telling and is
- 01:07:10perhaps partly responsible for this
- 01:07:12narrative skewing the experience of
- 01:07:15reading an account so alien to the
- 01:07:16history of Death Metal told in
- 01:07:18unassumingly cheerful Pros is
- 01:07:20psychologically abrasive not least
- 01:07:22because the book is also riddled with
- 01:07:24factual errors but it's important not to
- 01:07:26lose sight of the fact that this comes
- 01:07:28about not out of malice but because the
- 01:07:30author approaches the genre from a very
- 01:07:32different place The Wider Zeitgeist has
- 01:07:35been Rewritten thanks to the
- 01:07:36administrations of influential figures
- 01:07:38like Sam Dunn Finn mckeny and metal
- 01:07:40sucks journalists and so on the legacy
- 01:07:43of these individuals has limited musical
- 01:07:45analysis to the level of Vibes this
- 01:07:48allows them to frame the backlash
- 01:07:50against genres like def core as nothing
- 01:07:52but elitist wind baggery in reality the
- 01:07:54association of De core with de metal was
- 01:07:57in part the result of a disinterested
- 01:07:59media PR and the managerial class Within
- 01:08:01the Music Industry drawing false
- 01:08:04equivalencies between genres based on
- 01:08:06superficial traits for marketing
- 01:08:08purposes this Divergence is perhaps best
- 01:08:11Illustrated in the 10 essential tracks
- 01:08:13list that closes off K's book which
- 01:08:15includes only five death metal tracks by
- 01:08:18my count if we charitably includes SL of
- 01:08:20the Soul which is also the only Swedish
- 01:08:22entry mind whilst grind C IR in apal De
- 01:08:25and marus are both included along with
- 01:08:27job for a cowboy this isn't just
- 01:08:29obscurantis moaning on my part here
- 01:08:31let's just be clear about this even the
- 01:08:33likes of Anthony fantano doesn't include
- 01:08:35death core anywhere near his death metal
- 01:08:36starter pack for God's
- 01:08:39[Music]
- 01:08:45[Music]
- 01:08:51sake we must not look at the past with
- 01:08:53the enormous condescension of POS
- 01:08:58it in this field commentary on
- 01:09:01alternative music essentially expertise
- 01:09:04is a difficult concept to pin down there
- 01:09:07are certain individuals that speak in
- 01:09:09certain capacities with a great deal of
- 01:09:10knowledge whever that be on music theory
- 01:09:13the music tech and the production
- 01:09:15process industry knowledge uh and the
- 01:09:17economy behind it but as we move into
- 01:09:19the wider journalistic field we find
- 01:09:22ourselves playing sociologist Economist
- 01:09:24and storian and sometimes in the same
- 01:09:26breath this leads to all manner of
- 01:09:29hyperbolic language and sweeping
- 01:09:30generalizations that would make an
- 01:09:32academic cringe I'm doing it right now
- 01:09:34metal is full of self-identifying
- 01:09:36experts because much like the broader
- 01:09:39spectrum of geek culture it shares
- 01:09:41demographics with it tends to attract
- 01:09:43people with a profound need to order
- 01:09:45categorize archive and research this is
- 01:09:48why metal populations get so up in arms
- 01:09:50when a high-profile figure or
- 01:09:52publication makes claims or statements
- 01:09:54that are fact dubious or otherwise
- 01:09:56misleading they indulge in casual
- 01:09:58Hyperbole and absolutist language and
- 01:10:01Reckless generalizations I'm doing it
- 01:10:03right now but it's not enough to Simply
- 01:10:05dismiss this as coming from a place of
- 01:10:07ignorance ad homonyms that undermine the
- 01:10:10motivations or character of the speaker
- 01:10:12have a place certainly but they
- 01:10:13shouldn't be the first thing we reach
- 01:10:14for when discussing an opinion we find
- 01:10:17distasteful this is something I often
- 01:10:19encounter on my own writing I don't
- 01:10:22claim to be an expert although I am but
- 01:10:24equally I'm not sure for what an expert
- 01:10:26looks like in that vague intersection of
- 01:10:28review commentary opinion and polemic
- 01:10:30the tagline of my blog is armchair
- 01:10:32rhetoric on Extreme metal and that's not
- 01:10:34just a cute line but a declaration of
- 01:10:36intent almost everything I publish there
- 01:10:38is clearly my own opinion I like to
- 01:10:40think it's a well-informed and fairly
- 01:10:42articulate opinion mostly but it's
- 01:10:44opinion nonetheless I'm not immune from
- 01:10:46making sweeping generalizations as
- 01:10:48provocations it is liable to cause such
- 01:10:51upset in some that they seem incapable
- 01:10:53of engaging with an argument on its own
- 01:10:55terms and must seek to undermine some
- 01:10:57imagined set of credentials they think I
- 01:10:59should have in order to speak on this
- 01:11:01online they question my motivation or
- 01:11:04otherwise assume that the arguments are
- 01:11:05being made in bad faith I'm drawing
- 01:11:08attention all this not to have a bit of
- 01:11:09a moan although I do love it but to
- 01:11:11merely point out that for some people
- 01:11:13reading opinions contrary or challenging
- 01:11:15to their own is a psychologically
- 01:11:17difficult experience one that
- 01:11:18immediately sets into motion a series of
- 01:11:20defensive tactics to jettison the
- 01:11:23Hostile antagonist and carry on
- 01:11:25consuming their beloved favorites free
- 01:11:27of such conflicts or else they'll
- 01:11:30actively Stoke and seek out opinions
- 01:11:31they know to be contrary to their own to
- 01:11:33stir up drama to hate read and hate
- 01:11:35watch a pasttime universal to social
- 01:11:37media spaces for many years now despite
- 01:11:40my disagreements with the characters
- 01:11:42I've discussed so far I genuinely enjoy
- 01:11:44exploring and challenging their ideas in
- 01:11:46good faith and attempting to understand
- 01:11:48why they are so Divergent to my own and
- 01:11:50where they're coming from it's important
- 01:11:52to keep this in mind the alternative is
- 01:11:54to continue to call each of a
- 01:11:55Gatekeepers add infin item so let's
- 01:11:57maybe zoom in on that term gatekeeper
- 01:11:59while we're here if it ever served a
- 01:12:01purpose it certainly or Lo been lost in
- 01:12:04the eepa now a bit like hipster
- 01:12:05everyone's been called a gatekeeper
- 01:12:07everyone's called someone else a
- 01:12:09gatekeeper where once it was a
- 01:12:11disparagement thrown at self-appointed
- 01:12:13policers of culture it has since mutated
- 01:12:15culture itself into an act of vapid
- 01:12:17consumption we have an inali right to
- 01:12:20consume totally free of friction free
- 01:12:22from Gatekeepers eclecticism becomes a
- 01:12:25status symbol because taste is mediated
- 01:12:27through corporate streaming platforms
- 01:12:29culture becomes nothing more than a
- 01:12:31disconnected set of experiences
- 01:12:32suspended in a broom without context or
- 01:12:35meaning this ultimately is why standards
- 01:12:38matter and why there is an urgent need
- 01:12:39to inject austerity into our listening
- 01:12:41habits promoting intimacy and
- 01:12:44familiarity over endless conveyor belts
- 01:12:45of so so new material equally if we find
- 01:12:48ourselves in disagreement with someone
- 01:12:50over a piece of music why not discuss it
- 01:12:52if they are willing and you are willing
- 01:12:54yes music is a very personal experience
- 01:12:56and having someone talk disparagingly
- 01:12:58over something you hold dear can be
- 01:13:00difficult if you really don't want to do
- 01:13:01it then don't engage with the content
- 01:13:03online full stop don't listen to
- 01:13:05Gatekeepers we hear over and over don't
- 01:13:07let them discourage you from enjoying
- 01:13:09things well certainly but surely if you
- 01:13:11really enjoy something then that
- 01:13:13inoculates you from gatekeeping they
- 01:13:15only exist if you listen to them if you
- 01:13:18truly enjoy a thing then surely that
- 01:13:19shouldn't be contingent on the
- 01:13:21unconditional blessing or at the very
- 01:13:22least the Silence of others met like any
- 01:13:26other geeky cultural Arena has become a
- 01:13:28toy we're all fighting over ped this way
- 01:13:31and that by competing in contradictory
- 01:13:33agendas for a long time it has remained
- 01:13:36in a state of Splendid isolation pining
- 01:13:39for attention and legitimacy but subject
- 01:13:41to fear and more often ridicule in a
- 01:13:44post social media age the unthinkable
- 01:13:46has happened its wishes have come true
- 01:13:49increasing numbers of music fans have
- 01:13:50become interested in it and with that
- 01:13:52they have brought their own values
- 01:13:54preconceptions and partial readings of
- 01:13:55its history to the table this makes
- 01:13:57discourse all the more fraught unfocused
- 01:14:00and siloed but ultimately this diversity
- 01:14:03and this variation should be celebrated
- 01:14:05and as I mentioned in my discussion of
- 01:14:07the Hipster it has reenergized the
- 01:14:09underground to some extent and led to
- 01:14:10some very very interesting new releases
- 01:14:14[Music]
- 01:14:25Children of the stones was an English
- 01:14:27folk horror TV series originally airing
- 01:14:29on ITV in
- 01:14:311977 the plot follows astrophysicist
- 01:14:34Adam bre and his son Matthew they've
- 01:14:36just moved to the Village of Milbury a
- 01:14:38paragon of pastoral England to deep in
- 01:14:41the Sleepy Countryside break has been
- 01:14:43awarded a grant to carry out research on
- 01:14:45the mysterious megalithic Stone Circle
- 01:14:47that surrounds the village as they
- 01:14:49acquaint themselves with the town's folk
- 01:14:51they begin to realize that some of them
- 01:14:53are just not all there
- 01:14:56they appear incapable of aggression the
- 01:14:59children in Matthew's school have
- 01:15:00mastered Advanced calculus the adults
- 01:15:03are oddly vacant expressing only mild
- 01:15:05positivity at every turn they greet each
- 01:15:08other with a salutation happy day happy
- 01:15:11day Mrs Warner happy day Bob The Village
- 01:15:14itself appears entirely incapable of
- 01:15:16even mild conflict tension or anger
- 01:15:19alongside an eerie soundtrack and
- 01:15:22disorientating shots of the stones
- 01:15:24themselves punctuating each episode with
- 01:15:26the English weird
- 01:15:28[Music]
- 01:15:39undercurrent the feeling of isolation
- 01:15:41engendered by this pervasive
- 01:15:43light-hearted cheeriness of everyone
- 01:15:45they come across creates an almost
- 01:15:47rampant Aura of isolation and
- 01:15:50alienation one can engage in
- 01:15:52conversation with the Villagers but the
- 01:15:53feeling that one is not not quite
- 01:15:55understood
- 01:15:57comprehended of a great psychological
- 01:15:59disconnect between our main characters
- 01:16:01and the surrounding extras only
- 01:16:03intensifies as the series progresses one
- 01:16:06shouldn't Rock the Boat ask too many
- 01:16:08questions speak out of turn appear too
- 01:16:10aggressive negative or otherwise
- 01:16:14combative throughout this piece I have
- 01:16:16made frequent references to ideological
- 01:16:18conflicts in metal whilst actively
- 01:16:19stoking them I'd love to say this was a
- 01:16:22deliberate loy on my part a clever
- 01:16:24framing device that I'll now elaborate
- 01:16:26on to tie everything together into a
- 01:16:27neat little bow sadly it's just cuz I
- 01:16:29couldn't resist I can't even pretend to
- 01:16:31step outside of the ideological turmoil
- 01:16:34and anomy of metal without oiling up
- 01:16:36myself this in turn is but a microcosm
- 01:16:39of social media's remit of rewarding
- 01:16:41provocation piffy takedowns flattening
- 01:16:44nuance and encouraging rage bait there's
- 01:16:46no point rehearsing all of this here but
- 01:16:49equally the sway social media holds over
- 01:16:51our daily lives and consumption of Music
- 01:16:53in particular is beginning to Wayne and
- 01:16:55ironically given the common sense idea
- 01:16:58that these apps for all of their flaws
- 01:17:00at least afford US a greater sense of
- 01:17:03connectedness as their influence
- 01:17:05diminishes I predict that it will allow
- 01:17:06us to maybe reappraise competing
- 01:17:08perspectives from a more a more
- 01:17:10considered place and maybe reconnect
- 01:17:12with each other as platform capitalism
- 01:17:15and influencer culture begins to
- 01:17:17dissolve away as social media strategies
- 01:17:19for increasing ad Revenue Drive ever
- 01:17:21more people away from these platforms so
- 01:17:24too will the constant impulse to engage
- 01:17:26with new content maybe attention spans
- 01:17:29will recover enough for us to engage
- 01:17:30with ideas not condensable to a single
- 01:17:32tweet time will tell that's not to say
- 01:17:36that the content I literally new music
- 01:17:38itself will diminish even if their
- 01:17:40returns will but rampant and fleeting
- 01:17:43engagement will certainly dissolve away
- 01:17:44as we grow less satisfied with the lack
- 01:17:47of satisfaction surrounding this mode of
- 01:17:49consumption and the fleeting
- 01:17:50accelerationist philosophy it espouses
- 01:17:53for champions of metal in its many
- 01:17:55current forms let's call them Metals
- 01:17:57happy day fandom happy day Mrs Warner
- 01:17:59happy day Bob Life Will Go On and they
- 01:18:02will remain in place as the spokespeople
- 01:18:04of metal to the outside world an
- 01:18:06increasingly diverse populous uncritical
- 01:18:08or largely superficially critical
- 01:18:10environment populated by people
- 01:18:12ostensibly able and willing to absorb
- 01:18:14all of this recycled content with Glee
- 01:18:17far be it from me or anyone else to take
- 01:18:19this away from them equally to a group
- 01:18:21of metal fans who are becoming
- 01:18:22increasingly disenchanted with its
- 01:18:24Direction let's call them the metal
- 01:18:26heads you hate metal the idea that
- 01:18:28people so diametrically opposed to their
- 01:18:30interpretation and understanding of art
- 01:18:32should speak on or for this music is
- 01:18:36unconscionable music in particular
- 01:18:38provokes these feelings in US precisely
- 01:18:40because it is so immediate abstract
- 01:18:42intangible it is also the art form
- 01:18:45around which informal communities tend
- 01:18:47to spring up particularly for younger
- 01:18:48people and all the tribal loyalties that
- 01:18:51come with this process as the metal
- 01:18:53Community ages we are still fting over
- 01:18:55these same toys why not just split the
- 01:18:57difference and accept that we are no
- 01:18:59longer talking about the same thing even
- 01:19:01if we share an interest in certain
- 01:19:03artists and albums until that point I
- 01:19:06will make one prediction something that
- 01:19:08I've hinted at earlier on in this video
- 01:19:11as social media sites slowly dissolve
- 01:19:13into self-parody AI content and Bot
- 01:19:16generated robber us feedback loops metal
- 01:19:19will genuinely break with itself and
- 01:19:21this will be a good thing I'd argue that
- 01:19:23this process is already well underway
- 01:19:25forget talk of a new genre or the split
- 01:19:27between underground and mainstream metal
- 01:19:29as we had in the early ' 80s for example
- 01:19:32now this will involve an Institutional
- 01:19:34as well as a stylistic shift more
- 01:19:36dramatic than anything we've seen in the
- 01:19:38past some of this will be down to
- 01:19:40geography I.E areas beyond the US
- 01:19:43European sphere of influence showing the
- 01:19:44most creative impetus at present some
- 01:19:46down to pre-existing genre politics
- 01:19:49genre is more resistant to the degrading
- 01:19:51effects of genre blending proving to be
- 01:19:53more persistently creative
- 01:19:55but a lot of it will be down to what
- 01:19:57different groups actually want from this
- 01:19:58music
- 01:20:02[Applause]
- 01:20:07[Music]
- Morbid Angel
- death metal
- metal evolutivo
- hipsters e metal
- consumo musical
- Fall From Grace
- auto-expresión
- subxéneros de metal
- innovación musical
- análise musical