Metal Reviews

Show me one country where communism has not lead to gross violations of human rights.

I didn't know such a thing as communist metal existed. What would be the main bands?

I'm not sure how developed out and out 'red metal' is at is this point, OldSchool.

Rio reviewed the ep of this interesting band: http://www.myspace.com/jarostmarksa

I don't have access to their lyrics, but it appears that within their tributes to the Great Patriotic War, there is a strong strand of Soviet Nationalism in the Marxism.

It bears mentioning that Stalin directed specifically ethnic persecutions against Jews, Ukrainians, Poles, and others when it suited him to do so. The man sure was fond of killing.

Indeed, not a chance, which makes the lyrics to NM's awesome WWII tribute, 'The Taste of Victory' all the more fascinating.

Trapt's defense would obviously be that Stalin was just a man and that an ideology in itself cannot be harmful until it is exploited by one man to hurt another.

Which would also be a good argument pro NSBM being reviewed here, wouldn't it?

The site's red line in these matters involves actual hateful speech/direct intolerance against a minority ethnic group. Personally, I find it a pity that a minority belief system such as National Socialism commands so much valuable metalhead debate time, and that it has such loud advocates in direct contrast to the actual musical value - but, well, such is life.

Ultimately, as a site with a large and varied readership we would have to be mad not to cater to them. Since the vast, vast majority of people out there think National Socialism is dangerous and bonkers, it would hardly be sensible to start reporting on it in real depth, even if a majority of the site leadership agreed with its aims - and as far as I know, there's not a one of us who isn't utterly opposed to everything it stands for.

Or you could just review an album for musical content, as opposed to commenting on their lyrics even when said band is self-described as an NS band. I find nationalistic and extreme right philosophies such as National socialism as repugnant as any other metalhead, however to not review a release simply because the ideology behind the band which may or may not overtly influence the music comes across as oxymoronic, especially on a metal reviews site. I don't think anyone would lose any sleep over a few Veles or Lord Wind reviews, so long as the reviewer stuck to the music solely as opposed to pedantic and long-winded statements about site standards and MR'S commitment to 'cater' to it's wide audience

It's all very well saying that, but consider what we look like to the outside world. The majority of metal listeners are going to be put off going to a site which deliberately ignores Nazi elements in what is basically Nazi music - they could quite realistically ask serious questions about the mindset of the people behind the site. Besides, we have quite enough major metal releases to do without focusing on Lord fucking Wind, and yes, shut up, I know the same argument applies for Little Richard.

To use another example and while this reader's consumer base is quite extensive, our friends at MA regularly delve and write about NS bands and unless a steep decline in readers for this site would be readily apparent, it's not too hard to understand that one can be objective enough even to the furthest extremes of tolerance to mediate between the odious philosophy of Nationalism and still be able to write a review about music SOLELY. Or to look from another perspective as one did with another review, if you're that concerned with offening someone's sensibilities, perhaps a disclaimer? To relegate something to the backburner due to pressing issues of constantly tearing through new albums is understandable, yet deliberately disavowing any sort of commentary on the music due to pious political correctness or a simple aversion due to the band member's philosophy is something not befitting of this website.

But we do review NSBM! Kroda, Hate Forest, and Graveland, to give three examples, have all been covered and given high scores where appropriate. I don't think that declining to give the likes of Jewicide any coverage is really going to make the site suffer - we really only reject music that is actually incitement to hatred, which I can't see as being a problem. Metal Archives are a different site, and operate under a different philosophy - one much more comprehensive and encyclopaedic than Metal Reviews'.

We can debate political correctness all day, but if an aim of this site is telling people about how great metal can be, I don't see how that will be helped by reviewing a bunch of hateful loons like Nokturnal Mortum and not telling the reader about their beliefs - consider that if I buy a television, I don't want to buy it from a company that funds far-right hate groups, whether the television has nazi insignia all over it or not. This is a perfectly valid choice of mine, one shared by many, and if people want to apply that to the music they listen to (also a perfectly valid choice, also of a majority) then we as reviewers have a duty to say that yes, this band makes cool metals, but by the way, the drummer hates black people and thinks all Jews should be gassed.

In any case, I pride myself that we have a good enough team of writers at this site to ensure even reviews like this which feature piss-takery still have more than enough information on the music itself for even the most (b)anal of readers. If you can't cope with a review that takes a smidgeon of piss out of Rob Darken, the problem is yours.

You could have included this too


The near constant reminder of Varg's ideals in Burzum reviews got pretty old IMO,mainly because theres nothing pertaining to his political/racial views in his music.

Hmmm...Italy, Germany, and Bolivia have all had radical worker's party movements without any violations of human rights on their behalf. Italy's worker's party voted against violent revolution prior to or maybe after the rise of Mussolini. The SPD in Germany was dissolved during WWI. Bolivia with it's riots against water privatization and the election of Evo Morales in no way have violated human rights. I'm not going to play your game of pigeonholing my beliefs into this evil word, communism, just so you can point to Cambodia, Vietnam, N. Korea, U.S.S.R., etc. in order to say how my beliefs and the beliefs that bands like Panopticon represent fail when in fact much of the hatred I feel for patriarchial white-supremacist capitalist culture was neither enacted or even given mouth service by corrupt regimes who sought to manipulate the masses desires in order to establish and legitimize their reign. I have more in common with vegan straight-edge hardcore bands then the genocidal practices of a deposed state who manipulated entire peoples for their own benefit.

Panopticon is the quintessential leftist black metal band. So sick. Jarost Marksa is kinda a bunch of Stalinists from what I hear. The PCF's doctrine in France kinda explains the French guy hooking up with the Muscovites. I'm not a Stalinist and I really don't buy the bogus line that Zizek is one either; Leninist in poltical philosophy only really he is though.

To shed light on the question I put forth: I wanted to know if Ukrainian NSBM would be reviewable since they are simple nationalists for the most part and so many bands do not harbor pro-Holocaust beliefs. Zad is right that too much focus is put on NSBM everywhere but with so many excellent bands (Ukrainian mostly) proclaiming at one point or the other that they're NSBM leaves a lot out that the readers could learn about/enjoy. And to Trapt's argument about the harmlessness of Communism: Did any of those aforementioned nations have those Communist movements succeed? I guarantee you if the commies took power in any of those place there would be a different story. All that Communism ever brought to the Earth (that history has shown us so far) is famine, murder, genocide, poverty, dictatorship, and warfare. I live 90 miles from Cuba. We have to deal with the Cuban news everyday, and it is always something about one of the Castro's being a dick.

I think the site should review all metal and leave politics out of it.

What has capitalism brought us but famine, murder, genocide, poverty, dictatorship and warfare. Oh wait we don't talk about that.

That's exactly what we have today. Oh wait we have shiny toys and mcdonalds I guess capitalism is kinda better as long as it's not us dying of starvation and plague.

Let's be fair, people starved each other, killed each other, stole from each other, enslaved each other and fought each other long before either capitalism or communism came around.

The only difference I make is that capitalism exacerbates those problems while communism seeks to alleviate the tensions. It's a cause worth trying to make work.

As for the NSBM, if it's a classic album review it, explain why it's not a bunch of raving racists, but the desire to see 3 reviews of weak NSBM albums a week is just not there. I honestly just think there aren't that many bands that make good music in that scene minus a few exceptions.

@ Zad: True but Communists made an art form of it.