Shagrath Of DIMMU BORGIR Proclaims "We Are Not Black Metal"
Hank Pearl of The Daily Rock (http://www.thedailyrock.com) chats after a performance at the House of Blues Chicago, with Shagrath, leadman for Norway's own DIMMU BORGIR. During the interview Shagrath reveals plans to tour Australia and Japan in the coming months and divulges information on recording a live album, shot in a castle, with full symphony accompaniment. He also proclaims “We [Dimmu Borgir] are not black metal".
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
ITT: another black metal band says they're not black metal
also, dimmu's new album is surprisingly good. i downloaded it at yeti's insistence and it rules.
i'm glad you gave it a chance, it's not some masterpiece by any means, but i really feel like they breathed some new life into their sound. it seems like they finally accepted that they are the running joke of "black metal" and decided to embrace the ridiculous theatrics instead of trying to reinvent something.
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
Truth
Fixed
post by aril at Jan 6,2011 12:51pm
Black metal is dead. 1994 called and wants their genre back
ITT: another black metal band says they're not black metal
also, dimmu's new album is surprisingly good. i downloaded it at yeti's insistence and it rules.
i'm glad you gave it a chance, it's not some masterpiece by any means, but i really feel like they breathed some new life into their sound. it seems like they finally accepted that they are the running joke of "black metal" and decided to embrace the ridiculous theatrics instead of trying to reinvent something.
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
so many things wrong with this
whether it's trve or not is up to you, but if a band SOUNDS like they're playing black metal, what the fuck else would you call it?
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
so many things wrong with this
whether it's trve or not is up to you, but if a band SOUNDS like they're playing black metal, what the fuck else would you call it?
Thesac always has something to say about everything but rarely is that something substantive. Then again his band is the only true band around so obviously he must know what he's talking about.
post by aril at Jan 6,2011 2:57pm
black metal has progressed as far as it possibly could. it is a dead genre (in terms of originality) but ark is right. There's no other label that describes bands that sound like it. it is what is is. metal is still progressing as a whole (in more bad ways than good ways IMHO) but black metal is black metal and can go nowhere now. that's my pessimistic opinion on it. There's no way to make it an active and innovative genre again other than to combine it with other styles, which is what bands are doing. The real black metal scene died in the 90s, back when it was fresh and new. That doesn't mean it's not a type of music anymore; it's just already been done before and beaten to death with a lot of pretentious shit.
I understand where you're coming from Aril, both here and from other similar statements I've seen you make about the state of music. I would however argue that music continues to evolve, even extreme metals and I'd like to think there are bands coming up with new and interesting ways to incorporate various influences into something different and even exciting at times. IMHO there is almost always more bad than good happening at any given time, the good just makes an impression and sticks around and is what is most easily recalled when reminiscing about "the high point" in music that probably never existed because in real time there is always more garbage than good. Pigeonholing genres leads to discussions about who's true, who's legit, who's a poseur whatever. You can say punk died by 82, hardcore by 84, thrash in 89, death metal in 93, black metal in 95, so maybe the bands that are around when a label is made are the only legit representation of those labels but really all that happened is people were influenced by the shit that came before and have gone on to create something new based on that (as you state yourself). So yes Black Metal is and has been dead, but there are some great bands (even locally [Sarcomancy, Nachzehrer etc...] that take very clear cut Black Metal roots and create something that is unique and exciting and new and legitimate.
unfortunately with black metal "evolve" means "distill".
post by aril at Jan 6,2011 3:18pm
I agree with you to an extent, I just don't think a black metal band sounds "new" when it wears their influences on its sleeve. That doesn't mean I don't like it, but it just seems harder to find more innovative/original black metal bands these days. They still exist, but are very few and far between. But the question is, when blackmetal band incorporates non-metal influences (right now it primarily is shoegaze) does that make them non-blackmetal? Shoegaze with black metal influences? Sadly it brings up the genre argument, which just about everyone hates.
I think music as a whole is running out of ideas. Everything will be rehashed with different slices of different styles. Much like art.
I was more or less making the statement of music progressing badly, rather than good. It just seems there's more bad things happening to metal, but then again i've got dysthymia so everything is always bad before good to me.
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
so many things wrong with this
whether it's trve or not is up to you, but if a band SOUNDS like they're playing black metal, what the fuck else would you call it?
Thesac always has something to say about everything but rarely is that something substantive. Then again his band is the only true band around so obviously he must know what he's talking about.
I think music as a whole is running out of ideas. Everything will be rehashed with different slices of different styles. Much like art.
I think that that is just how art evolves. When's the last time something completely original and spontaneous happened in art? Evolution in any sense is the blending os existent traits, and the best blends succeed.
I agree with you in many ways, but want to make the case for optimism. There's enough pessimism in the world today and it's worth pointing out that there are awesome things out there!
I think music as a whole is running out of ideas. Everything will be rehashed with different slices of different styles. Much like art.
I think that that is just how art evolves. When's the last time something completely original and spontaneous happened in art? Evolution in any sense is the blending os existent traits, and the best blends succeed.
I agree with you in many ways, but want to make the case for optimism. There's enough pessimism in the world today and it's worth pointing out that there are awesome things out there!
...I would however argue that music continues to evolve... there is almost always more bad than good happening at any given time, the good just makes an impression and sticks around... so maybe the bands that are around when a label is made are the only legit representation of those labels but really all that happened is people were influenced by the shit that came before and have gone on to create something new based on that...
Like I said, I agree. I guess my main point is that crossing different genres is the only way to "evolve" what black metal already is. But at the same time, is that evolution?
Outside of cross-genre music, I'd like for someone to tell me a new sound of music, something that hasn't been for before. It's nearly impossible.
post by aril at Jan 6,2011 6:25pm
done before*
post by aril at Jan 6,2011 6:28pm
But I guess that's I've analyzing it. I agree with everything you've stated other than your optimistic POV :P. My biggest complaint about metal today is how the "mainstream" part of it has evolved. There's always great stuff in the underground. That goes for any kind of music. But, in the end, like pop music is, I think the mainstreamers like simple, straightforward stuff. I also think there's way too much over produced garbage today. That's why I've always preferred UG music to MS.
HATED also enjoys that title. you're black metal if you sound like black metal. it doesn't matter if your chinese or christian, or if you use keyboards or disney soundtrack samples.
so many things wrong with this
whether it's trve or not is up to you, but if a band SOUNDS like they're playing black metal, what the fuck else would you call it?
Thesac always has something to say about everything but rarely is that something substantive. Then again his band is the only true band around so obviously he must know what he's talking about.
cry it up poser
PS: arks not a poser. I'm hoping you're not serious.
just realized he was probably talking about hugo dong. either way, it's always good to have these discussions. i wish more of rttp got SRS and posted about the state of music. i've always felt like an outspoken asshole on this site. i listen to a lot of music, and i think we mainly agree that the only way to move forward is to cross-genres.
the conservative approach is to stick to the roots, which i also love. it's an interesting time we live in here, both socially, artistically, and musically.
I had never listened to Dimmu before like 4 months ago, and now I dig a lot of their stuff. It's definetely more accessible than what most would call black metal.
Still dunno what to think of the new album though. It feels too symphonic to me, to the point of losing all teeth, the metal takes a backseat. Maybe that's what they were going for, but I'm not sure it works. I find a lot of passages in it more irritating than catchy. Maybe it's one of those things that I'm so not used to that it will take many listens to appreciate.
post by Randy_Marsh at Jan 7,2011 4:14am edited Jan 7,2011 4:15am
the genre in its originality is totally dead but bands can still take cues from its "sound". its never going to form as big of an impact as it did before obviously.
I give up, I just saw this on a popular social networking site and have lost the optimism
"Sam Crust-GrindPowerviolence Morton
Got a black denim jacket, with pins for Nausea, Aus Rotten, Extreme Noise Terror, and Napalm Death already on it, plus a backpatch for Carcass and patches for Discharge, Doom, Assuck, Capitalist Casualties, Dropdead, Disrupt, Neurosis, Infest, and His hero Is Gone ready to get sewn on over the next few days (I'm also going to have patches for Dystopia and Grief, and maybe some others, shortly),"
WTF 
