Metal Reviews

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Excellent, been missing the editorials.

Agreed excellent editorial !

"There's only so long you can delude yourself, however, and making excuses for any form of bigotry in music because the socially transgressive nature makes the music darker and more interesting is just moronic"

This actually could have been a good review, especially with a negative score. Agreed on whole points. That kind of thing is going to have me moving away from metal someday.

It has been reported that he was exonerated by his girlfriend's testimony.

Just to get a disclaimer out of the way, I really enjoy Goat's reviews as they are just about always well written and do (I think) what a review should do. This editorial? Not so much...

While I can't really comment on the Leviathan aspect, I can't help but notice yet another time when people like Varg or Knjaz are brought into the fold in the exact manner that is supposedly being condemned.

"I find both Varg and Knjaz Varggoth ridiculous and unthreatening characters"

"Declaring oneself to have moral standards when one is talking about an artform often dedicated to the shredding of that very thing is eyebrow-raising these days."

"If all you're doing is attacking people with your music, then you've become the equivalent of the worst kinds of NSBM; making music written to carry a personal message, with no merit of its own. That isn't something I want to associate myself with, whoever the target."

But you do, you just do it here with an editorial instead of music. Insults and digs with no real substance behind it - "I don't like them and this is my place to say so."

If your issue is really with Leviathan, then leave it with Leviathan. You don't do yourself or your writing any favors by taking jabs at cardboard caricatures.

At least Varg and Knjaz have something to say and aren't afraid or bashful in putting forth their ideas and the reasons they have/express them.

"I fully believe in free speech, in allowing any moron with their idiotic beliefs to have their say, but that doesn't mean it has to be accepted and even glamorised."

Indeed.

Solution: Don't listen to musicians who are assholes. :-)

I pretty well agree with this editorial, though I tend to simply not listen to albums that I know will offend me (like Burzum). It is easy to tune out the message of many metal albums because many times it is indecipherable anyways, but we also have a responsibility to identify and call bullshit when we hear it, especially when it comes to people like Varg or Leviathan. Sure you can just look the other way, or turn the other ear in this case, but doing so really isn't that much different than ignoring a hate group that says they are going to kill someone or rape someone. It is harmless bullshit until it becomes action, then those that supported the music hold some level of guilt, however small.

This is a broad opinion, and I don't believe it is applicable to every situation, but the overall gist of it I think is true to the topic.

Dude come on. Just because you support someone's music does not mean you are responsible for them acting out their irrational fantasies.

If I write a book that has a ton of violent and sadistic imagery in it, does that mean I am responsible for someone acting out what was in my book? Or if I act out the things I have written, does that make the buyers of said book responsible for my actions? No. Everyone has a choice to make, whether people support that choice or not makes no difference. People are responsible for their own actions.

True, people are responsible for their own actions. My point might be a bit far fetched when it comes to music, but it still stands when weighed against history. Humanity as a whole is one example after another of willful ignorance to what is right before our eyes. Sure, you can enjoy the music and ignore the message, no matter how horrible that message might be, but in the event that message is carried out, and the family of the victims ask why so many enjoyed and supported such hate filled music, what are we going to do, tell them "hey, they acted out their own irrational fantasies, I was just enjoying the music where they were talking about it?" Hitler was responsible for his own actions, but people that ignored his hate filled messages and simply pressed on with the status quo, despite what was occuring before their eyes, still bore some of the guilt and shame. That is an extreme example, but morally speaking it is not that different.

You mention an author writing a book about these things, and I agree with you on that point. However you have to take into account context. An author writing a murder mystery for entertainment value is different than someone writing lyrics with a hate message or lyrics about murder, rape, and so on. There are plenty of artists that use these same themes with a message, such as the evil's of war, the horror of rape, and so on.... Yet my understanding of Zad's editorial is that we are talking about band's whose sole message is pure hate and violence, without any context, which no matter how you look at it is without defense.

The point I am trying to make is that while everyone is responsible for their own actions, we as the audience also bear some level of responsiblity for what we choose to support with our time and attention. Listen to whatever you want of course, but do not do so blindly. Just because we have become desensitized to 98% of what can be thrown our way, no matter how deranged or grotesque, does not mean we have removed ourselves from ethical standards altogether. By doing so, you remove your humanity from the mix, which in my opinion defeats the purpose of listening to music in the first place.

I don't care if musicians are assholes, murderers, rapers, or anything, as long as they make good music.

The new Leviathan is really good, sounds like Deathspell Omega at times. Very... disturbing.



If I forgave Halford for being gay and take it up the ass, I can forgive Wrest for (allegedly) raping someone.

Why should I care about what the family says? There is a huge difference between enjoying the art of an insane/irrational person and supporting the goals and actions of that person in the real world.

Supporting/enjoying someone's art is not the same as supporting the goals and actions of that person. A book or violent video game could be created by the same type of irrational person that ends up doing something really harmful and insane, just because you enjoy the art does not mean you support the actions of the person.

Couldn't agree more.

Art can reveal itself in infinite forms. The myth (or the reality) of Jack the Ripper was an announcement of the mirror of nature and man meeting with his primordial inner most darkness of the soul in its absolute purity. Absolute truths do not exist and even if we create them as those that must be regulated as absolute and timeless truths there will be a point where they will conflict with each other and will also contradict each other. Looking at the most profound lyrics of bands like Deathspell Omega and their content is rationalized with quoting the bible as the most dark aspects of human nature that is revealed in the ancient texts like the bible. In their lyrics there has been statements that is darkness the absolute truth that exists or is there more to death than the darkness that creeps unto to us in another (metaphysical) aspect of "being", with the question being posed. It is a deep ethical dilemma that haunts us as to can there be a distant between the "unethical" aspect of say bands in the DM genre with the most obvious and aforementioned Cannibal Corpse, which I'm sure holds no real message inside their lyrics anyway, or is it really the distant that a professional listener can create for oneself in listening to the music for the sake of merely the music itself?

It is always perceiving from Darkness into Light.

I don't know True Traitor, True Whore's lyrics. I like the album. I think it is the best thing that he has ever put out in terms of my interests. I know about the sexual assault accusations. I know he denied them. I know his friends have come out to say that they knew the girl and don't believe the accusations. I don't know what to make of that. In the end, though, I dig the album as music. After I first heard about the accusations, I didn't have a desire to listen to old Leviathan albums anymore but this one for some reason clicked with me. Maybe it wouldn't if I looked into the lyrics. I don't know what to say about misogyny in metal but I don't seek to condone it. I don't know what condoning it would exactly entail but for now I dig the tracks and can't say anything else beyond that.

Wow.
Really?
So being gay is a criminal act to you?

I'm glad you forgave him, and took it up the ass, though.
Goes to show that elitist metalheads are an inclusive group.

-_-

I think morals and values are something personal. I enjoy good music made by people with a variety of beliefs and interests. I definitely believe the fact that someone truly believes horrible things and is a horrible person does make their music darker and more disturbing. They only seem warped by perspective and significance in our culture. If their views were more popular they would be viewed as normal and not dark at all. I'm a moral and existential nihlist and I believe that your environment dictates your feelings and behavior. We are taught to feel bad about certain things and good about others. It is not inherent. Conscience is a myth and we learn what to accept and how to feel about things as we grow in society. Do you think cannibals feel bad about eating people? No, they actually feel good about it because they feel they gain power and honor the dead by doing so. This is their culture and they learn these feelings and behavior. Right and wrong, good and evil, are just words that represent popular belief. Different cultures and societies all over the world have different viewpoints about these things. Many cultures still marry very young girls to old men in their cultures and it is viewed no different than anything else. In our country it's pedophilia and they would be arrested and shunned by society. I grew up in America so obviously I have learned a more humane way of life, but being humane is only right by our learned perceptions. Life is without meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value except for those which we create for ourselves. Morality does not inherently exist, and any established moral values are abstractly contrived. Sorry, that's just the reality of life. When everyone dies and the earth becomes a barren planet, nothing you or anyone else ever did, or felt, or believed will matter. I should end by saying these are my opinions which I believe to be fact. I do not condemn the beliefs of others I only want to share my perspective.

Yes, being gay is a criminal act, they all should be executed.

It's obvious you don't know my sense of humor.

Not when I use them! I ground my views of right and wrong in the Principle of Utility :-)