A Certain Taste

A lot is made of the idea that metal, specifically black metal, should be dangerous. Those who talk the talk but shy away from walking the walk are branded as posers, merely adopting the aesthetic and notoriety of others; the true believers, the church burners, the blasphemers. The kvlt. After that first wave, not much has been truly dangerous in black metal. Sure, you might see Adam from Behemoth accused of blasphemy in deeply Catholic Poland (does this coincide with Behemoth announcements?), and then there are those who flirt with or fully believe in neo-Nazi or fascist ideology who see this as forbidden knowledge and thus dangerous. But being told to stop saying stupid shit isn't the same thing as being dangerous. Back in September I bought an album titled Eternal War on Bandcamp by an Iranian blackened death band, Death Squad. Yes, the same Iran that sees musical instruments as haram - banned. Metal musicians have previously faced blasphemy charges in Iran, for which one of the...

I've been thinking a lot about this recently, reflecting on my own choices and decisions and that of others I look up to. I've tried to structure this so that my incoherent thoughts are a bit more coherent or structured. I'm not an expert here, so I'm more than happy to hear what others think. Things that happen on Twitter are often blown way out of proportion by those for whom tweeting is like a sport. I know a lot of people who spend a lot of time on social media and don't have a Twitter account. At the same time, I think it's also fair to say that Twitter does influence other aspects of our culture. An example of this is the recent furore where the "Nazis in metal" debate came to somewhat of a head. I'm sorry (not sorry) that this will be a bit of a deeper dive into group psychology to understand why I don't think certain tactics are desirable, and what we should do instead. This article by the fantastic Kim Kelly covered how to spot Nazis ...

Oh man, Brexit really kills any chance I have of buying a lot of the vinyl I want. The shipping costs are now eyewatering where you can find someone willing to ship. A number of places have simply suspended sales to the UK instead. Love Brexit. Glad I voted for it. Wait, I didn't. My country voted massively against it. But it doesn't matter what the Jocks think eh. There should be way more Scottish black metal coming out, it's pretty depressing up here at the best of times, never mind during the winter in the second lockdown of a global pandemic, and after being dragged out the European Union with little to no plan on how to proceed. This time last year I wrote about how the year had got off to a dreadful start and here we are again. The '20's are gearing up to be mega shit, but look on the bright side, the music is straight fire! I have been really impressed with January's releases, I even bought a physical copy of the first album on this month's top picks....