Malicious Intent on the Facebooks

Sadly, none of us hosts the Malicious Intent radio show any longer (I haven't for well over a year and a half while Mark of the Beast and Wulf haven't for about a year, I think).  In lieu of an ACTUAL radio show that we host, we have a Facebook page on which we'll post songs (both new and old) that we have been blasting, up-to-date news items, and other random bullshit.  Feel free to leave the most grim, frost-bitten comments that you can summon.

Malicious Intent on the Facebooks

Why So Serious?

As any casual listener can infer, Metal bands often take themselves very seriously.  Even as an avid Metal listener and musician for the last 15 years, I've often felt the same way.  One of the first images that comes to mind when thinking of overly serious Metal musicians is the now infamous clip from Gaahl's (of Gorgoroth) interview in the documentary "A Headbanger's Journey".  When asked what the "primary ideologies or ideas that fuel Gorgoroth's music" are, Gaahl succinctly replies (after an unusually long silence), "Satan" without any indication that he is being anything other than dead.fucking.serious. 

But it goes well beyond that:  stages splattered with blood and adorned with pigs' heads, identities forever shrouded under cloaks, interviews that never stray from Satanic and/or Anti-Cosmos ideologies, and never ever smiling for any reason ever.

Sure, you can make the argument that there are artists across all spectra of music genres who take themselves very seriously, and even those who take themselves too seriously.  The difference, in my humble opinion, is that metal is an inherently over-the-top and absurd genre of music.  As much as I love metal, I am usually the first to say that just about everything concerning the Metal genre is ridiculous: the lyrics, subject matter, vocals, images, blastbeats, guitar shredding, etc. Basically just one extreme after another! From an insider's perspective, these elements are simply commonplace and are what we love about the genre.  To my non-metalhead friends (i.e. outsider's perspective), these elements are laughable at best.

But I digress.

I really wonder how many Metal bands there are that take their image and music very seriously because that's simply what Metal bands are expected to do.  I think there is a certain amount of inauthenticity attributed to Metal bands (especially of the Black and Death ilk) who don't take themselves seriously (or seriously enough).  There are obviously some exceptions.  Barring Anal Cunt style buffoonery, there are bands like Exhumed, Immortal, Darkthrone, Impaled, Cephalic Carnage, Cemetary Rapist, and a few others who are all self-deprecating and/or playful with their own images in different ways.  I think the aforementioned bands are all bands who are at least conscious enough to realize that, while they love what they do, they understand how ridiculous it is.  But of course, this is the exception and not the rule.

From a more cynical point of view, one might even say that it is good marketing to take yourself too seriously.  Look no further than the early 90s Second Wave Black Metal in Norway.  You had your church burnings, your homicides, your Satanism, your paganism...they seemed pretty fucking serious about everything.  And look what happened?  That scene blew up in a huge way making most of them international Metal superstars. 

I'm not trying to put down anyone who does take their own band seriously (or even too seriously).  Obviously, for most musicians music is art, art is self-expression, and self-expression, if done right, is a reflection of your soul.  To me, that certainly something you're allowed to take seriously.  However, what I'm saying is that I think it's valuable to have a bit of objective perspective once in a while, and to laugh at yourself.  Who knows?  Maybe these bands laugh at themselves all the time when they aren't in front of interviewers or fans.

One Man Metal

Noisey, a sub-site of the uber-hipster king of irony, Vice Magazine, recently completed a surprisingly unironic video interview trilogy entitled "One Man Metal".  These videos focus on three "One Man" Black Metal projects:  Leviathan, Xasthur, and Striborg.  I was a little skeptical at first, but the interviewer seems like a veteran metalhead.  In fact, to prove his sincerity to Wrest of Leviathan, he gets a tattoo of the "Howl Mockery at the Cross" album cover. 

Anyway, there are some really interesting interviews with all three artists:  really fragile moments with Malefic, emotionally dark moments with Wrest, and some awkward moments with Sin Nanna. 

You can start the unholy trilogy here.

Enjoy!

Moshing in Bangalore

(photo credited to Hindustan Times)

Salon.com recently posted (OK, it was a whiiiiile ago) an article about Metal fandom in the tech-world of India.  Unfortunately, the author, Jason Overdorf, follows some of the same mistakes made by other media sources with limited knowledge of the genre (Dire Straits?  Metal?  HAHAHA).  Nonetheless, it is still a good read.  The author attributes the recent boom of modern underground metal in India to the availability and speed of the internet at engineering colleges.  Subsequently, this has not only increased fan support of the metal underground in India, but also the amount of Indian Metal bands getting recognized outside of India.

The Death of the Hydra Head

While I was well immersed into the world of underground Metal by 2000, I was still naïve and impressionable in terms of my metal tastes.  I obsessed over sub-standard bands like Deeds of Flesh or Thyrfing.  I thought Vinnie Paul was one of the best drummers in Metal.  I thought "Re-Load" wasn't THAT bad of an album.  And sure, I had become accustomed to the expected sounds of 99% of Death Metal, Black Metal, and (insert standard sub-genre here) Metal bands. 

But then, seemingly all at once, I was catapulted into a kaleidoscope of sounds:  ISIS, Discordance Axis, Cave In, Phantomsmasher, and Old Man Gloom among others on the Hydra Head roster.  What was wrong with these people?!  Were they, like, on a lot more drugs than your average metal musician?  How was it even possible to BE on more drugs than your average metal musician?!?!

Unfortunately, I was only ever able to answer the first question:  From what I could tell, they did not give a fuck what anyone else thought about them or their music.  They were bands and musicians that were brave enough to break away from the stale and standard sounds of most of their metal brethren.  Instead, they forged their own myriad musical paths.  In other words, they let their freak flags fly.  To this day, bands that are or once were on Hydra Head are still some of my favorite bands.

Thank Satan there was a label that was brave enough to foster them.

R.I.P. Hydra Head Records

I still want to know where you guys got your drugs.

We'll Do It Live! Fuck It!

I had a laugh recently when The Dillinger Escape Plan posted a note dating back to a gig in 2008 on their Facebook page.  The note was passed to them by the management of a venue and it reads, "If they dive in the crowd with guitars or climb the truss or get anyone else to climb it I will cut the power."  If you know anything at all about the violent acrobatics contained in a DEP live setting, you should find this just as hilarious as I do.

Interview with Wizard of Accursed Wound!!

Interview conducted via email in August, 2012.

http://accursedwound.bandcamp.com/

WULF: To my knowledge, this is the first Accursed Wound interview...tell us a bit about the band as far as its origins and its members. What do you hope to accomplish as a group?

WIZARD: Thanks for having us!! The band is relatively new, we’ve been playing together for a year now. Aaron (Orc) and I (Wizard) have been musical cohorts for a while now and share a passion for all types of metal. We recruited our friend Dean (Aeden) specifically for this project, he’s insane. We met Simon (Grimhilt) in a tavern during our travels and he joined our cause. Sei played keyboards for us on the record but isn’t a regular member, Aeden might take on that role for live shows. As far as a band goal?... We’d like to continue putting out fantasy themed black metal records and possibly some ambient instrumentals.

WULF: While I hate asking about a band's inspirations as it's usually the same answers every time, I'm curious as to what are some of Accursed Wound's main inspirations, both musical and literary?

WIZARD: I really can’t speak for everyone on this front, however, I can say that we all love hard science fiction and fantasy and we are all very much into dark themed role-playing games. Musically, me and Aaron were big into thrash, grindcore, sludge and extreme shit in general but also loved the emotional power and dramatic effect of classical music... Prokofiev, Bartok, Holst, Stravinsky. So the obvious next step was to put out something close to symphonic black metal, we are big fans of the greats like Dimmu, Bal Sagoth, Nile, Emperor. We gave it our best shot to put forth an authentic sounding record that could tell a tale we could all agree on, so naturally dark fantasy. Thanks for that question.

WULF: Your lyrics involve grim tales of dungeon exploration, morbid sacrifices, demons, trolls, the undead, etc. Would you care to elaborate what drives you to record such macabre visions, as well as perhaps some of the overall themes depicted on the album? Does the band promote a specific philosophy or message? What is the most ideal way for the listener to experience your music?

WIZARD: umm... Some of the lyrics are sort of compiled fragments from old D&D campaigns I’ve played. But the majority of it is basically a story of a necromancer or lich from the underworld who is gaining power on the surface, destroying villages and raising an undead army. The trick of it all is that a spell has been cast, so while humans are fighting their above ground crusades, the undead army is growing, when the dead are hauled back into the city they awaken and ransack the place. There’s also a bit(Dungeon Crawling) on heroes who have been contracted to venture down and kill the Lich only to be raised as undead warriors themselves. So yeah, i’d love to see this made into a film... or better yet a D&D adventure module. Maybe we’ll include a module with our next record! ...And finally i would say first that the best way to listen to any metal record is to read the lyrics along with the music, I remember doing this with Butchered at Birth when I first got into metal, because i couldn’t understand the words. It made the record awesome and more listenable for me. I’d say Listen to Embrace the Forge in a low light subterranean environment.. or driving recklessly at high speeds. Nothing in between. haha

WULF: Are there any future plans to perform live or tour? What is the black metal scene like in your region of the US, and do you associate with it?
WIZARD: We have played this material out live only twice and since the band is kind of spread across the country right now we don’t really know. A regional tour is definitely something we’d like to do, though it might involve new members or stripping down to a smaller group. Regardless of the difficulties there will be more live shows. We are’nt really involved in the scene here, since we are so new, but there’s definitely a lot going on here in the bay area, of course classic thrash and garage but also some pretty sick heavy metal.

WULF: Braden Young mixed your album, who is he and what is your connection to him?
WIZARD: Basically we know him through Simon(Grimhilt). Three of us were already going to be in Lawrence, KS (where we grew up) over the winter so we just asked him to record us and he agreed. It was pretty strait forward, we played through the songs and then overdubbed our parts again. Braden was really particular about perfecting all the parts, I think it made the album alot more solid. The whole project definitely woundn’t have happened without him. He also hooked us up with Brommer, who did the cover art.

WULF: Besides any possible live shows, what are some of the band's future plans? Do you have any more music on the way?

WIZARD: We have 8 songs that still need to be recorded so look forward to that. Definitely the ambient stuff and of course adventure modules! I’m really considering that right now.

WULF: Thanks so much for this interview!! Any final comments?

WIZARD: I guess I would say to all the metal heads and metal musicians out there, keep listening to and creating stuff that you believe in. If you believe in that candy coated corporate shit then good for you, but know that you’re seen as a fan of easy listening. Thanks Wulf.