As I was compiling my "Top 10 of 2011" list for this blog (read Judge Dredd's here and Cate the Great's here, good stuff!!) I realized that I listened to a TON of terrible metal in order to find a handful of great albums. Yeah yeah, I know that that's part of the fun is digging through all the garbage that comes out every year to find some truly superb masterpieces, but it got me thinking...now that I'm no longer a Malicious Intent DJ and am not obligated to at least pretend to listen to all the new shit that's coming out, perhaps it's time to backtrack a bit.
Here's what I mean: I can't tell you how many obscure, bedroom black metal demos I've listened to (some of them great fun too, don't get me wrong), but it's pretty embarrassing when I admit to fellow metalheads that I've never actually listened to no-brainer albums like Morbid Angel's Blessed Are the Sick, or that I can't name any classic Motörhead songs other than "Ace of Spades" off the top of my head. Similarly, now that I'm finished with school and have spent a lot of my free time around my apartment here in Sydney reading and playing video games, it dawned on me as I was looking for books to check out at the local library that I've never actually read really anything by H.P. Lovecraft, nor did I know anything about Aleister Crowley, both of whom are extremely important in shaping metal's overall atmosphere, lyrical themes, and imagery.
There are a lot of other examples too, but I'm trying to not turn this into a rant. My point is that because 2012 is arguably the most metal year in the history of mankind (the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar, the end of the world or whatever in the Mayan calendar, a potentially grueling American presidential race that is arguably going to decide the fate of the nation, global economic collapse, climate change, the God Particle at our fingertips, the History Channel and Giorgio Tsoukalos freaking out everyone with Ancient Aliens theories, Graham Hancock's compelling evidence in his book Fingerprints of the Gods of the existence of a pre-Ice Age advanced civilization and its relationship to 2012 (check out this interview as well, cool shit!), THIS guy, THIS shit, etc.), I couldn't think of a better soundtrack to the impending trainwreck of mankind's existence than classic metal albums that I've never listened to, great books and writers influential to metal's evolution, and exploring concepts relating to occultism, the paranormal, and other weird shit. So I guess aside from eating healthier and working out and stuff like that, this is going to be THE YEAR of having a blast getting into weird-as-fuck stuff.
Honestly, I don't really think anything's going to happen on December 21, 2012, but I feel like it's still as good as an excuse as any to explore some eccentric writers and solidify the foundation of my metal knowledge by listening out some essential metal albums (and other music I haven't bothered to check out in the past) for the first time!
Do I sound like a maniacal madman?? Is anyone else planning on getting WEIRD with me in 2012??
1 comment:
Let's get weird in 2012! That should be someone's campaign slogan...probably most appropriate for Ron Paul.
Wulf, the fact that you haven't listened to "Blessed Are The Sick" (as well as many other classic metal albums) still makes me want to poop in your mouth.
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