Metal Reviews

Following on from Now Playing, what exactly is wrong with this band that all you kvltist 'hey, Krallice are quite good actually' types* are so quick to dismiss them? The treatment that the original USBM horde (Judas I, Krieg, Xasthur, etc) get around here is shocking!










* I am aware that not everyone said this

Indeed, people's taste in BM on this site fucking sucks.

Except for CoB and Goat... for most of times...

Heh, I try. Did you ever check Krieg's latest, The Isolationist out?

Nothing for me? Bah.

Judas Iscariot has some good material... nothing too earthshaking, but some of it is quite decent.
Distant in Solitary Night, The Cold Earth Slept Below..., Thy Dying Light all have good, solid material. Heaven in Flames is decent, as well.

A lot of USBM sucks, but not all of it, of course.

To answer your question Zad, I listened to a few Judas I albums back when I got into Burzum, and they seemed like a pale imitation. I distinctly remember "Heaven In Flames" being the key offender, perhaps I was wrong by not checking out the earlier albums? I have been wrong before.

As to the poor treatment for Xasthur, in particular, well I think that is a crying shame.

Xasthur is one of the only so-called depressive artists that actually captures that feeling properly.

1. I don't like Krallice.

2. J.I. is ok, just not amazing. I never said I didn't like Xasthur, Krieg or Leviathan. I find that trio more appealing.

3. The kind of BM that plays J.I. is done much better in Eastern Europe.

Black Metal in my opinion has to be either very captivating and original which Judas Iscariot is neither, or it has to be progressive and mind expanding that again Judas Iscariot doesn't even come close to by any means. I quite disagree with Skartasis because people on this site like good and original BM not just any BM act that is doing the same old thing for thousands of years. A prime example is Darkthrone. An excellent example of Great BM with originality are bands like Wolves in the Throne and Drudkh; Windir and Emperor. Bands that combine different sorts of genres into one cohesive unity to create what is called as BM. Purity these days in BM is a very rare and precious thing.

Hm. Personally, I think just as with thrash, you have to accept that a certain amount of bands will try and imitate others, and not to allow it to destroy your understanding of bands in general. I try and find reasons to like bands rather than despise them in general (apart from obvious examples of transcendental shiteness like Bullet For My Valentine, of course) which is a surprisingly controversial stance to take in metal land. If you haven't heard Judas Iscariot since getting into Burzum (which I assume was a while ago?) then I'd certainly recommend giving them another go.

And yes, about time I dug out some... Shasthoor? Kaster? Q'as't'ur? However you pronounce it. Been a while.

Define, I find JI quite captivating, although I appreciate that one man's hypnotic is another man's bored-to-death.

Obviously I disagree with much of this.

Pronounced as "kaster". From Lovercraft's Cthulu mythos.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastur

You know Zad, I haven't heard Judas Iscariot in a long time so maybe I should give it another go. Maybe I am judging too soon because I'm basically judging by my last experience and nothing recent.

Well, I'm not surprised; but could you explain why?

I'd rather not, as I've stated my POV on what constitutes worthy BM countless times. Let's just say (the very condensed version) that BM and "progressive" elements don't mix. Once it becomes a hybrid, it is no longer true BM. Elitist, I know, but that is the way I see it.
That's not say that keys, for example should never be employed. Same with melody (Drudkh, et al.)
I am quite content with tradition (in fact, it should be) being upheld in BM, as long as it has that all important ingredient...

I see. Well, obviously I don't recall your opinions on BM because I haven't been a regular on this site for a good period of time with only visiting from time to time. It's been only in the past 7-8 months that I have returned again and since then I haven't noticed anything. So evolution with time and open mindedness is not your thing (for BM at least as far as I know). I respect that and there is no further discussion.

And by purity I meant originality and tradition intertwined.

Purity is a pretty subjective and abstract concept.

True. Purity is a very abstract and metaphysical concept. How I defined purity is a portion of the definition in the ocean of meanings; the definition was very situational.

@Zad... After listening to a track off Judas Iscariot's first album I must say I find it utterly boring. I believe all his albums are very much the same thing repeated over and over again so there's no point checking out the rest of his discography. I had his first and Distant in Solitary Night and didn't really care for it. So I suppose the impression I had from his music wasn't so distant after all.