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Everyone that takes metal seriously completely misunderstands metal as intentionally absurd, over the top, pushed beyond the boundaries of normality and into self aware ridiculousness. Demons and the coming hordes of hell and whatever screamed to death and edginess.
This is why combining it with other seemingly absurd things works, and generally doing whatever utterly ridiculous stuff you want to mix with it. Ridiculous combinations work because it is quite ridiculous to begin with.
Everyone that fails to understand that metal is ridiculous and silly doesn't really understand metal. There's a reason shit like Ladybeard works. It's ridiculous, accept it, lean into it and have fun.
Oh yeah, even a lot of the "tr0o kvlt" black metal bands are firmly tongue in cheek, just look at Darkthrone, Aura Noir and Immortal, or even Venom if you want to go way back.
And in my 25 or so years in the metal scene, 90% of the people I've met are just absolute goofballs.
absolute goofballs
Rofl god yes. So much ridiculous goofyness that people get up to at festivals, gigs and pubs. The metal events in particular had a far goofier vibe with sillier behaviour compared to something like the punk gigs where you could reasonably expect all the punks to be on drugs by the end of the night or the emo gigs where half the pub would be empty halfway through as they always went home early.
Metal dudes just wanted to "be metal", which itself meant to behave somewhat ridiculously.
Can you show me some metal that shouldn't be viewed with some self awareness that it is absurdist and over the top?
anti-war '80s thrash, Napalm Death and grind against inequality, Botanist, etc.
Napalm Death are an interesting one! I think there's an interesting argument that when the punk political elements are added the songs become very serious, all the rage and screaming and death and skulls of metal suddenly gains a legitimate reason. Metal is absurd because none of that stuff really has a purpose, it's just there to be metal because that's what metal is, when the politics is thrown in suddenly all of that becomes legitimately dark. Where metal has no motive for the excess, punk on the other hand wears its motive quite openly. Combining the two definitely turns metal in a different direction to its usual roots.
I'm not sure about my thoughts on the usual anti-war metal, I can think of a few songs that fit this off the top of my head and you're right that they're hard to view as absurd in many ways. Soad does a bunch of this content and is both absurd and anti-war though.
I am just trying to understand you, examples help, I'm not really asking for "proof", it's not a debate it's a conversation. This kind of thing is going to be quite generalised, we're talking about feelings and emotions in art.
My general point is that when core parts of the identity of the entire genre are doing devil horns with your hands, screaming as loudly as possible and thrashing your head back and forth while applauding drink, drugs and DEATH to the excess... You have to accept that this is intentionally absurd, a push against the boundaries of normal.
Metal is an invitation to be excessive, and in that excess you find absurdity. I'm not saying that metal itself is all a parody, but that failing to understand that metal is at its very core an absurd and over-the-top invitation to scream and delight in death blood and chaos means a failure to understand metal. This is, at its core, ridiculous, and that is why it works when you combine it with the ridiculous.
This isn't an attack against metal, I like metal, I have listened to a wide variety of different types of metal and very much enjoyed the metal and alt-clubs I used to regular at every weekend. I am just deconstructing why taking it too seriously like some of these people do is arguably a misunderstanding of what metal fundamentally is.
Yeah sure that's a good descriptor. Jojo is completely ridiculous too, in a good way.
It's all about being intentionally excessive while staying within the boundaries of a particular theme. When you realise that "excess" is a fundamental component, you can take that excess to practically any degree you want and it works because it's literally the point. That's the same for Jojo and other things that have been influenced by it.
Yeah I mean "taking it seriously" to be lacking some sort of self awareness that the whole point of the genre is enjoying excess, and if you're determining that something isn't metal because it's not black and dark enough you're really killing the vibe of metal itself which is definitely about enjoying excess. Standing in a thunderstorm and giving the finger to a thunderbolt is ridiculous, it's also very metal. Determining that this or that isn't metal enough because there's not enough skulls is fundamentally antithetical to metal to me, it misunderstands metal as silly.
Unless someone is doing it with self-awareness, then I guess it becomes metal again?
I mean I would argue that genres like post metal and other atmospheric metal genres tend to focus on more grounded suffering and communicating that through contrasting the beautiful and the harsh, thematically and aurally. It's not exactly over the top and even tongue in cheek like you would get from power metal or some black metal (and plenty of other metal genres). I take it as seriously as I would any other piece from more self serious genres along the lines of, say, post punk.
Think of an album like Panopticon by ISIS. I have zero issue taking seriously the sound and themes presented on that album. Metal isn't inherently devil horns and pentagrams, even if that aesthetic surrounds its origins and persists.
Let me listen to the whole thing tomorrow? I haven't listened to it before but it gives me 65daysofstatic vibes at a glance.
I really like Moth-Eaten Soul from the latest Panopticon
I also like Deafheaven so I’m banned from Facebook metal groups.
Just lie, but like the few FB groups for black metal I'm in are shitholes, frankly. The admins acting all 'centrist'...
"well I don't like their politics" promotes some shitty neonazis with guitars "listen it's about the harshness, that's all"
Some metalheads are just the shittiest people to talk about music to. They're always hyper-focused on their specific sub-genre of music and they get very upset when metal publications even talk about related genres e.g. darksynth or hardcore.
Like they still buy into the mentality that the music you listen to is what makes you cool or tough or manly, like they're still fucking 13
Aww come on, some of us are pretty okay and not like that at all :deeper-sadness:
Hexbear metalheads are the coolest metal heads
:side-eye-1: :side-eye-2:
I only mean the most obnoxiously vocal ones
I have a friend who's super into metal but he also doesn't shit on other music. You guys do exist.
Genre purism leads straight to stagnation too
It's an attitude that actively kills their own scene
Metal has a similar problem to rap in that regard, that being the genre is very self-referential.
Almost every metal band has some stupid song like "Can't Kill Metal" or "Brothers of Metal" or some other shit with metal. We know you're a metal band you don't need to tell us every 5 seconds. I want a metal song, not a song about metal.
One thing I appreciated about the synthwave scene is how tight-knit, welcoming, and chill it was, probably due to massive crossover appeal in its heyday
Need to start going to concerts again
Whenever people talk about black metal I always cry laugh my favorite band ended up having a pedo and a Nazi. Got the black metal special.
you should listen to my friends band
I mean, is it really Kvlt if you're not searching for the mixtape in the woods?
The tape has to be buried in snow and frostbitten.
Don't ask me how inanimate objects can become frostbitten ok? It's just grim and kvlt
I'm looking like a poser with my shovel looking for that mixtape... suddenly the local 5th gen black metal band taking photos for the cover art see me and think I'm burying a shallow grave.
Edit: They start weeping, because they're more post-rocky and open than the edgelords of yore
I like atmospheric/psychedelic black metal :I-was-saying:
Luminous Vault, its got that EDM stuff, kinda of like Violet Cold... some people like it.
Check out Sankara and Periodeater, I've listened to Periodeater more than Sankara tbh. A little bit rawer
do you like wormlust and andavald? two cool icelandic bands that kinda fit that niche. oranssi pazuzu and jordablod too
oranssi pazuzu, i like their vibe but i don't know finnish(?). i have the feral wisdom on a list somewhere along with moonlover of things i wanted to get around to listening, i'll listen to it tomorrow... I like that drony shit.
oh. check out Kaatayra, they're doing some good releases.
Nascido Sob o Signo Incivilizatório is on that list of things i wanted to get around to listening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-YuxUsl8zY <-- from the latest album
Atmoblack is cool and good and OP is not a poser for the edit
Atmospheric black metal, post-black metal, and black-gaze are all great lmao.
"black metal needs to be black and white" the kid's confused, they're thinking of ska
hey if you like atmospheric black metal and blackgaze, check out Sadness. their album I Want To Be There is one of my favorite albums :)
glad you like it, it's really beautiful. You Dance Like the June Sky is my favorite track on that if you want to give that a listen too
My favorite song is Kvelertak, on the album Kvelertak, by the band Kvelertak
The theme of the band is good and i like violet cold
The artist is a weirdo
The person is going through a Kanye phase.
It all started when they tried to sell NFT as merch on the website where people mock them.
After there were weird ass post on their band social media something like: "looking for GF INTJ type IQ 150 and above Anarchist (...)"
This year the war kind of made the post pretty weird like saying that Musk is a Russian asset working to expand Russian imperialism because Musk said something about how we should start the peace negotiation (I know that Caucasus' political climate is weird post-USSR but still).
The last weird post was an edge post saying: "NSBM is good"
In my opinion the person is having an episode and I don't think it was the first time since the band's instagram is so scrubbed. I hope they get the help needed and maybe take some break from the internet.
As I say, I really think the person is going thru an episode.
This is pure speculation, apparently there were acquaintances of the person who said they are really going thru something and the acquaintances are saying they really need to find real help.
and I really hope they do get help. Mental illness and brain related disease are not something that should be taken with a grain of salt and I don't wish it even on people who I consider bad in real life
they're pretty fantastic, if you like symphonic black metal, you should check out limbonic art and the arcturus debut
3 months later:
Rando Black Metal fool dies from some Long COVID complication due to going to bars too much
I listen to my friends bands and they're largely terrible. Not that I could do better. At least he's supportive. :(
