It’s been a while since I’ve heard something in the realm of black metal that’s excited me. While dark ambient and noise has had its day in the sun, much of the genre’s experimental faction has soured. The only two things I’ve heard as of late that have given me pause are Xasthur’s Portal of Sorrow and Botanist’s III: […]

One mark of a strong nation state is the existence of a pleasing anthem. This rings true for empires like the United States, England, France, etc. While with fleeting nations, one always gets hymnal detritus, e.g., the Third Reich, the Soviet Union, Poland, Neue Slowenische Kunst, etc. This Blood Axis album is fortunately full of […]

It’s been so nice to see black noise evolve over the years. It has really grown into quite the variegated, multi-limbed monster. Please allow me to describe what this love of mine is looking like nowadays. Many wish to preserve black metal influences and remain heavily steeped in guitars, drums, and bass albeit played at […]

I usually don’t care about artwork. For art that’s built with sound, noise music should probably have absolutely no regard for whatever’s wrapped around a CDr or cassette. But the first thing I noticed about “Obsession” was its imagery. The literal first thing you see when you look at it is this ass. It’s a […]

Electronic music follows a very vicious cycle. Whenever a new technology or movement surfaces, there’s about a three to five year window before it becomes tawdry and embarrassing. A decade ago, when IDM and drum n’ bass were fads, it was new wave. Anything remotely resembling a Casio or Depeche Mode dancefloor hit was off […]

There should be some sort of history lesson to accompany my review. A lesson centered upon noise would be nice. A lot of people who are art historians, art students, or avid readers at Barnes & Noble say that Luigi Russolo inaugurated noise music when he performed his first machine concerts in 1913. But the […]

Over the years, it’s become abundantly clear that black metal began as a movement for paganism. The more history that comes to light, i.e., the more Varg Vikernes gives interviews, the more black metal emerges as a right-wing neo-heathen response to European neo-liberalism – despite the satanic obsessions of Euronymous and everyone who came after […]

It’s taken me a long time to warm up to it, but noise rock has finally found a place in my heart. I imagine other people have similar misgivings. It’s not that the subgenre is without talent, no not at all. It’s just tough when experimental music has built an insular culture around specific equipment […]

There is nothing pure about black metal. Its endless violence, endless darkness, misanthropy, and death will forever keep the genre and all its offspring tainted and cursed. It’s also racist, nihilistic, far right, murderously violent, and occasionally existential. It is everything pubescent and energetic rolled up into one and made alive through some sort of […]

I remember the exact song playing when I pulled up to buy my first pair of Doc Martens. It was Genocide Organ’s “Conditio Humana,” of course; it’s quite impossible to imagine any other song making more sense. While the rest of In Konflict played in the car on the way back, an astounding amount of […]