Fallen

Who am I talking about? About those who refuse the shackles of a conception of life (now the only possible one in society) that wants everything controlled, MEDIATED and still, peaceful and measured, BECAUSE they live EXTREMELY that thing called TRUE PASSION, and they feed only on the feverish and intoxicating sensations that this passion entails: a passion that does not come from ideals, but from ANIMAL INSTINCT. Primal drives linked to the animal sphere, deeply asleep in most people, awaken in certain individuals with extreme violence, pushing them in various directions. There are those who lead a wandering people and turn it into a power capable of shaking the entire earth for years, making their name synonymous with terror in the hearts of ordinary people. There are those who, alone, stand against a vastly superior power, bending it with the strength of their will. There are also those who, putting art at the service of this passion, this instinct, create visions capable of conveying the same sensations they themselves experience. From this can arise something that can be the classical music of Wagner or true black metal.
Thus, the true meaning of black metal should be understood: as the artistic sublimation of this blazing passion. In this sense, black is something elite, esoteric. Only in this understanding does it become a genuine mystic cult, a quest for SENSATIONS that, for some, are the only ones that can bring satisfaction. This is the IDEA.

I used to be a blackster just like you describe: upside-down crosses, shitty t-shirts, metal everywhere, long hair, a desire to be different without any serious motivation behind it. [Then, luckily for me, I realized how different I truly was, how alien all of that was to me.] And I admit that most of the people who listen to black metal share the same senseless desire for diversity and provocation. Better yet: let’s say that the TOTALITY of the people you SEE on the street wearing shitty t-shirts, studs, and upside-down crosses falls into the category just described. It’s an adolescent phase that passes with time. In fact, this is black metal in its darkfuneralian, childish sense, now the only applicable definition for a term like BLACK METAL. But be careful, because this is only what YOU CAN SEE, only what a normal person can grasp when looking around. What is the driving force behind understanding fundamental values, seeing things, and tackling the world has survived, silently, for centuries, barely touched by those childish excesses (which HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT) in many people you see on the street and consider more or less normal.

I read the entire dialogue and feel obliged to clarify a few points, especially in response to Stoney's reasoning. Below is a very long comment that I fear I must divide into several parts. I hope that everyone, Stoney in particular, has the patience to read it all the way through.

Miss Climaxia weighs around 200 kg. I saw her live with Absentia Lunae while they were opening for Antaeus and Secrets Of The Moon, and I was impressed: she alone occupied three-quarters of the stage. What she does with Absentia doesn't excite me, but I need to hear Melancolia Estatica better; so far, they haven't impressed me in any particular way.

One moment, one moment... It's true that Dark Funeral are four silly idiots, it's indisputable that their lyrics are simply ridiculous, it's undeniable that they adopt a full cliché image to attract the easy audience, and it's certain that sometimes they get on your nerves for the above reasons, but to say that this album is musically bad and does not honor Dark Funeral's reputation as great composers is a colossal load of crap. We are facing drumming that is practically brutal, monstrously technical, and terrifyingly fast. The guitar riffs are grandiloquent and powerful, and the chosen sound is perfect. Caligula may be the biggest show-off of the group, but he always makes a hell of an impression.
Certainly, it doesn't reach the malice of Diabolis Interium or Vobiscum Sathanas, but in return, it steps up in terms of structural complexity. The band has evolved towards a black metal that is many things except predictable and unoriginal, incorporating death influences that make the album noteworthy within the scene. I find it absurd to criticize a group like this because it's stupid: it's always been stupid, it was conceived as stupid (go check out their demos, there's one called "teach children to worship satan," with a cover featuring a devilish teacher in a thong writing SATAN on the blackboard... does that seem like something with pretensions of intelligence to you?), it was founded by two excellent musicians who wanted to get their hands dirty and make scary grimaces on stage, and for what it's worth, you are the first who chastises them as if they were a serious band rather than just the jesters of BM. This is an album to listen to in the summer, while eating ice cream, while working out, when you feel like goofing off, or when you don't know what to play after you've died laughing listening to Suomi Finland Perkele by Impaled Nazarene or Blackthrone. If you feel like deep thoughts and serious stuff, I don't know, dive into Deathspell Omega, Dissection, or Negura Bunget... but not Dark Funeral!

But you know I've had it for years in a promotional edition (the one reserved for zines, inside a cardboard CD holder) and I've never listened to it? The guy from a record booth at a 1349 concert gave it to me as a gift for having funded his son's university studies with my purchases... I think I’ll let it have a spin in the player now...

To call Gestapo666 buffoonish, one of the cornerstones of the black legion, seems a bit reckless to me. I really like Celestia, and this work in particular, even though I haven't listened to them in a while. Noktu defines the themes addressed and the atmospheres created as necroromanticism, but I believe that, in common parlance, it’s more than appropriate to speak of apocalyptic two of spades ;-)

I haven't read all the comments, but I find the comparison between the evolution of white music and the evolution of black music to be sterile. I also find the subtle insinuation of the qualitative superiority of the latter to be nonsensical. These are two realms that cannot be compared due to theoretical motivations: the evolution of the black musical panorama, having occurred much later, has been able to benefit from all the innovations (both technological and in music theory) that were lacking for the great European classical music composers. Personally, I believe that if we had put an electric guitar in Wagner's hands... well, it's another story entirely compared to black music...

Actually, you are so nice that now I'm going to love you.

Uhm, you know I had never thought of wrapping artichokes with the Bible? Yet believe me, I’ve seen so much... The review is hilarious :-D