Page 39 - FMH7

Flash back to Burzum, a band that many credit with creating or at least shaping the sound of modern black metal with lyrics that aspired beyond cheap Satanic shock tactics, and a musical aesthetic that can be seen as pure minimalism - frontman Varg Vikernes uti- lized repetition, lengthy songs with moments of almost pure stasis and low production values that influence the perception of the music, etc. Unfortunately, the underpinnings of his philosophy are anti-semitic and more largely racist - despite the contradiction of Black Metal being a stylistic evolution of rock and roll which was created by Black Americans.
I listened to two Burzum albums two or three times each last year in order to be fully aware of the history and evolution of the genre, and they were revelatory, in the sense that there are many bands that have copied the songwriting, production, and even specific riffs/ harmonic progressions from the blueprint laid out by Vikernes - having done so, I haven’t returned to them since (and certainly didn’t pay for them in the first place). There are literally dozens of bands that do this style and do it better, many without subscribing to the white supremacist philosophies of its progenitor, or at least not directly. Unfortunately there’s not much in the way of intersectionality in black metal - I frequently see posters on forums using homophobic slurs to distance themselves from white supremacy in metal, and unfor- tunately one of the few out gay men in the black metal scene, Gaahl (formerly of Gorgoroth), has espoused racist views in the past (not recently, mind, but he’s never completely disavowed any of the stuff he said
in the past, using the convenient excuse of “having to espouse certain beliefs in order to avoid getting your ass kicked”). Hell, even well-meaning people on metal forums use homophobic slurs TO INSULT HOMO- PHOBES. (This is all without addressing the misogyny, ableism and cis-sexism that is an everyday part of metal discussions on the internet and in real life.)
But whatever the philosophical intent behind so much black metal, whether it addresses intolerance or pro- motes it, there is always the musical spectre. If I am listening to a band that is stylistically similar to Burzum but rejects the inevitability of racial intolerance in black metal, I still feel a bit guilty for somehow acknowledg- ing Vikernes influence if only by proxy. Even a band like Wolves in the Throne Room, having largely agreeable politics on the issues they choose to address, has the shadow of Burzum’s “Det Som Engang Var” hover-
ing all over it, even though Wolves and many modern black metal bands reflect a true stylistic development and evolution from that source.
That’s why a band like Liturgy is so important to me. The philosophy may be stated in a pretentious way, but the message is clear, both musically and extra-musically. Move beyond the problematic origins of Scandinavian black metal, stop pretending that the isolationism of this music is an excuse for ignorance, and stop pretending that the music itself exists in a vacuum. Actively seek out the musical connections black metal has aesthetically
to other genres - to chant, to minimalism, to jazz and classically-derived musics. The astonishing consistency with which detractors of Liturgy respond with (often violent) homophobia is the sign that it has struck a nerve against the static tendencies of the genre. Even the de- tractors that manage to avoid injecting hate speech into their critiques seem to be reacting primarily to Hunt-Hen- drix’s essays and interviews, to his appearance, to the fact that the band has been noticed by NPR, the New York Times, etc. Very rarely do they address the fact that the band is trying to avoid the musical and social prat- falls of black metal, the ones that keep allowing a large percentage of the scene to feel as though they’re being revolutionary simply by subscribing to the same cliches of isolationism and individuality. Yes, he may have stated his goals in some of the most pretentious terms pos- sible, but by both talking about avoiding the traps of black metal (yes, the ones that allow racism, misogyny and homophobia to thrive in this scene), and trying to distance themselves musically from the Burzum blue- print, they inadvertently raise a lot of questions about the very nature of black metal as an art form - the answers to which, I suspect, are uncomfortable to many. But to me, as a person of color and queer identified, someone who has frequently felt threatened or uncomfortable by the fierce regressiveness of the black metal scene while trying to navigate the music, these are the questions that are long overdue.
(oh yeah, and the music is actually pretty good too, at least the album Aesthetica. Nice guitar tone, fucking EX- CELLENT drumming indicating a high degree of compo- sition and forethought, nice harmonic structures, etc.)
Adam Matlock
http://troubledsigh.tumblr.com