The Rock Blogger

CopyBlogger.com, one of the most respected copywriting/blog development sites online accepted my article “10 Questions Every Blogger Should Ask Themselves Before Posting” for a guest post submission! Since I am a big fan of the site and read it almost everyday, I am honored to be a featured writer. Big thanks to Copyblogger’s Brian Clark for choosing my post and to Stephanie Miller at livelighter.org for pitching my work to him in the first place. Thanks guys!

Trekking into the woods in search of some clarity, some peace of mind.

The air is clean here and the scenes are tranquil.

The streams have frozen over and snow is crashing down from the branches high above.

Long shadows stretch across the forest floor as the sun slowly climbs above the trees.

We close our eyes and let the path guide us through.

Nine Inch Nails. Ghosts I-IV. 2008. 4.5 stars.

Holy crap, this one came out of nowhere. Less than a year after Trent Reznor released the politically charged Year Zero (and its the satisfying remix counterpart), another NIN album is upon us and it is easily one of the band’s most ambitious projects to date.

Following the lead of Radiohead’s In Rainbows, Reznor left his major label (Interscope/Universal) the pursue his own online business model (free downloads, expensive box set) and escape the creative boundaries associated with conventional distribution. The result is a four disc, 36 track instrumental album that sees Reznor laying down moody ambient pieces, melancholic piano compositions and full throttle industrial jams, experimenting beyond the traditional NIN sound and showcasing Reznor’s artistic maturity.

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photo by Damien Van Vroenhoven 2008.

against-grey-walls.mp3

A demo I recorded for The War Upstairs a while ago.

Let me know what you think.

***Update: The War Upstairs now has a Myspace Page* Follow the link above.

The Gutter Twins. Saturnalia. 2008. 4.5 stars.

This stunning alternative album is a collaboration between grunge legend Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) who have been working together on this project for over three years. The result is a refined, post-grunge masterpiece that boasts stellar songwriting, strong vocals and powerful rock hooks, drawing you into a murky and blues-inspired emotional trip.

Saturnalia has a gritty, dark gospel feel to it, touching similar nerves as Tom Waits and The National’s Boxer, with Lanegan’s moody baritone moaning over “being the devil’s plaything” and lamenting his eventual journey “seven stories underground”. With lamentations over sin, lost love and a general lack of options, the lyrics here are poignant, clever and reveal the duo’s sharpened writing abilities, coming from their years of experience in the underground.

The musicianship is also impressive, with slithering baselines, fiery guitar solos and impassioned vocal harmonies. The second half of the album moves beyond expectations, incorporating subtle electronic effects and piano lines to add to the album’s sonic palette. The sound of The Gutter Twins, while dark and bluesy, is not despairing, but rather plays sorrow with a cool and refined swagger rarely scene in alternative rock. Leagues ahead of the decaying grunge corpses that have dominated the mainstream since the main players faded away, The Gutter Twins return to that genre’s emotional core and revitalize it with intelligent songwriting, diverse sounds and a cathartic delivery that feels genuine, as if coming from real, desolate places.

Well this is it, my 100th post… It’s been a fun ride so far, and things are just starting to heat up on The Rock Blogger, with more readers joining us everyday. And with guest posts on other blogs coming up (more details on that later), we’re bound to be getting even more attention.

While it has been a harsh winter, it has also been a fine season for discovering and appreciating new music from all around the world. Below is a list of some of my favorite Black Metal albums I’ve come across in the last few months, some of which I’ve reviewed already on this site, others which I have yet to write about.

So I hope you take the time to explore some of these works and maybe come to a different understanding of what metal can be about. Rather than just being harsh noise and screaming, albums such as these are steeped in atmosphere and emotive intensity, some drawing on ancient myths and folklore to offer new insight into the respective cultures these bands derive from.

#10. Ulver. Nattens Madrigal. 1996. 4 stars.

The final installment in Ulver’s black metal trilogy, Nattens Madrigal is one of the rawest metal records ever recorded. Rumored to have been recorded deep in some Norwegian forest, this record features impossibly fast, tremolo fueled ‘hymns’ dedicated to lycanthropic urges, using the lo-fi production as another element to its bestial atmosphere.

#9. Paysage d’Hiver. S/T 2000. 4 stars.

Incredible use of the violin, keyboards and classical arrangements matched with despairing, existential roars and primal drumming. Sweeping in its atmosphere and unflinching, depressive drama.

#8. Drudkh. Estrangement. 2007 4 stars.

Ukranian forest metal that celebrates the trails set by nomadic ancestors with its folkish elements and stunning guitar and bass solos. This is mid-tempo black metal full of somber riffs and hypnotic drumming.

#7. Windir. 1184. 2001. 4 stars.

Crazy, symphonic black metal that employs complex keyboard compositions and searing layers of guitar noise to convey the conquest of vast landscapes .

#6. Negura Bunget. OM 2006. 4 stars.

Fascinating and incredibly dark black metal from Romania, Negura Bunget takes folklore from his country’s Wiccan and Pagan ancestries and crafts an album of incredible scope and musical virtuosity.

#5. Ulver. Kveldssanger. 1995. 4.5 stars.

The second and most melodic entry in Ulver’s black metal trilogy. This is a haunting and gorgeous collection of Norwegian folk songs tinged by sinister tones and acoustic chanting. Their incorporation (and focus) on acoustic and neo-folk elements would influence many American bands in their wake.

#4. Emperor. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. 1997. 4.5 stars

Symphonic black metal from Norway. These guys were pioneers in the genre and played their black opuses with brutality and searing complexity. The musicianship, especially the drumming, is impenetrably fast.

#3. Wolves in the Throne Room. Diadem of 12 Stars. 2006. 4.5 stars.

Dense, experimental and downright insane music coming one of America’s premier black metal bands. Their sound is like a tornado, terrifying in its speed and blurry, destruction that that comes from unstoppable forces of nature. The musical equivalent to a hail storm - unusual, painful and beautiful to listen to.

#2. Agalloch. Ashes Against the Grain. 2006. 5 stars.

Oregon’s Agalloch is a band that likes taking journeys with their music, moving from haunting acoustic passages, to hair raising riffs, to peaceful melodies, all the course of a single song. Ashes Against the Grain is a meditative listen, providing stark yet beautiful moments that remind you of nature and isolation.

#1. Ulver. Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr i 5 Capitler. 1994. 5 stars.

Easily one of the most melodic black metal albums to ever be recorded, Ulver’s majestic debut is an amalgamation of folk guitar, savage drumming and wicked tremolo riffs. There is an almost mythic quality to these songs, especially the album opener “Troldskog faren vild” that draws you straight into strange, ancient forests, with its Gregorian style chanting and epic guitar rhythms that carry the same urgency as some ancient battle.

As regular readers of this blog already know, I’ve spent a good deal of this winter listening to atmospheric black metal, tracking down the most celebrated works within this often misunderstood genre. What attracted me to most of this music was its natural and frigid imagery, evoking vast mental landscapes like the ones in this video: snow covered pines, isolated hilltops, frozen streams and dark passageways. As Toronto has been hit repeatedly by massive snow storms, the bleak sounds of bands like Switzerland’s Paysage d’Hiver seem more than appropriate when trudging through the cold.

Since my one hundredth post is coming up, I’d thought I would do a post dedicated to the genre that has captivated my interests and captured my mood over this blog’s first three months. Stay tuned for a comprehensive list of the best black metal albums I’ve come across as well as some winter images I’ve taken myself (if I can find my damned USB chord).
In the meantime, enjoy the video.

The Angelic Process. Weighing Souls With Sand. 2007. 3.5 stars.

Before disbanding at the end of 2007, Georgia’s The Angelic Process crafted this final epic, merging ambient and metal styles into a grand and mournful vision. Weighing Souls With Sand is best described as a massive wall of sound, reverberating with druggy shoegazing riffs and martial drumming, playing in the same league as post-metal bands like Jesu and newcomers Have a Nice Life.

While those other acts punctuate their sound with punk or industrial touches, The Angelic Process pushes more towards dark ambiance and experimentation, creating long emotive tracks that slowly unfold into fuzzed out and noisy climaxes, immersing you in their hazy atmosphere. Weighing Souls With Sand is a majestic accomplishment, with its hypnotic drones, ethereal and distant vocals and the sheer depth of its sound, the transcendental aspirations of the band are immediately fulfilled.

The only major criticism I can throw at this album is that the band far more concentrated on atmosphere than producing distinctive song structures, letting all the tracks bleed into each other with little variation between them. Whereas Jesu for instance will add to the variety on their releases by emphasizing different melodic elements, tones and vocal styles, The Angelic Process seem entranced by their own beauty and can’t avoid the sameness that falls across this otherwise fantastic record. However, if Weighing Souls is taken as a cohesive and psychedelic sonic experiment, rather than a collection of songs, than the listener is sure to find the whole experience rewarding. While the band is no longer creating music, as an unfortunate injury has left the guitarist unable to play fully, this release is a satisfying summation of an interesting trend in underground metal.

I had a pretty shitty day, so I’m not really up to writing anything noteworthy or original. A nice, depressing song from Joy Division always seems to cheer me up. Enjoy my friends.

Intense video of footage from King Arthur set to Wolven Ancestry, a Black Metal band from Sudbury. I have to find the album this is on. Its about time we had some black metal blaring out of the Algonquin forests. Has anyone else heard of this band?