ok, i've listened to this a few times.
i don't know or care about what "black metal" is. satan shmatan. GREAT GOOGLY MOOGLY.
comparing this to mbv, however, is highly degrading to mbv. the songwriting here is totally bland, and at no point do i ever want to float off to another planet. i don't want to turn the tables too strongly, but if you're ignorant enough to compare this to mbv then you should probably, honestly, just shut the fuck up. or maybe go listen to some mbv.
as mentioned in another comment, the best comparison is to isis: it's long, drawn out and ultimately kind of boring.
ProfessionalMemeMaker
sounds more like if slowdive and ulver had a baby
numba1netsfan
It's a legitimate comparison though.... its influenced by shoegaze. Maybe you should learn the production techniques behind the different genres of music you claim to have so much knowledge about. If you can't hear the thick wall of sound on this albumn, then you're ears are shit. It's called blackGAZE for a reason.
deathtokoalas
is there a group of people following me around the internet or something? nor do i know why i'm getting this strange characterization as being a genre freak.
i'm not denying it's shoegaze. i don't care if it's shoegaze. what i'm saying is that, as ambient music, it SUCKS. it's some of the most watered down, unemotional, dry ambient music that i've ever heard.
i can't speak to it's quality as metal because i don't listen to metal, but i do listen to ambient music and, as ambient music, it is entirely unremarkable. mbv, on the other hand, is one of the most interesting acts in the genre.
it's like comparing every band with a riff to slayer. now, i don't think i've ever even heard an entire slayer record from start to finish. i've just never had a desire to shoot up a post office, or ever wanted to work that out through sound. but i think slayer fans would get fucking pissed after a while if every time somebody heard a distorted guitar they said "gee, that sounds like slayer". it would be really negating the artistry underlying slayer.
as mentioned, this sounds more like isis. the mbv comparisons (and if it's not obvious, i checked this out because it was being compared to mbv, not because it's some kind of spooky ghoul music) are just incredibly lazy journalism - if they're not delusions of grandeur. these guys don't have the talent, as songwriters, to be compared to a band like that...
what that means is that people that feel to need to be like "man, this is black metal for shoegaze fans" or "mbv fans should check this out" really ought to shut the fuck up. it's meant as an implicit, really head-scratching insult. nothing says "ignorant metal hick" like insulting something by comparing it to mbv.
but in this case it's a horrendous comparison. mbv fans that can handle drudging through all the pointless screaming are generally not going to react well to the watered down and totally boring ambient sections that are pasted in between the "songs" on this record. fans of boring third wave post-rock might be more likely to dig it. but...again...
THIS SHOULD BE MARKETED DIRECTLY TO ISIS FANS.
numba1netsfan
Uhh you're posting stupid shit on the internet, of course people are going to reply. We get that you don't like this, its being compared to MBV and post-rock because fans of those genres will most likely like this because it has shoegaze and post-rock elements. I know many fans of Loveless that liked this albumn, and had never heard of black metal. Post your own music, or shut the fuck up.
deathtokoalas
you're a liar.
there's some far more interesting music than this on my youtube channel.
numba1netsfan
rofl everybody listen to this guys music, its aimless bleeps and bloops that wouldnt even make sense on a 3rd plat robotrip. dude just shut the fuck up and move on, we get that this album is causing you asspain,
deathtokoalas
this album couldn't afford to fuck me.
you listened for what, thirty seconds? i'm sorry that you lack the attention span and intelligence to enjoy something more developed than this watered down corporate garbage.
numba1netsfan
Judging by the titles of your tracks and your face, i dont think anybody would fuck you for free. Also I listen to Psykovsky and Autechre on the reg, I like complex bleep bloop music but your shit just sounds like shit. I'm sorry you dont have the attention span or intelligence to produce good music.
deathtokoalas
it's more like pink floyd than autechre. it's psychedelic or space rock. you're just demonstrating you haven't listened to it.
numba1netsfan
apparently you dont even know what you upload to your own channel, jesus does robotiussin
deathtokoalas
there's a definite coil influence on the track, but it doesn't contain any sequencing (blips or bloops) and it's hardly trying to be autechre. there's not even a drum part in the track. it's just some looped guitar parts and a simple piano part (played live, fwiw).
if you're going to bother listening to any more of it, you should realize that up front: it's almost all processed guitars. there are some electronic aspects, but it's not electronic music. it's psychedelic rock.
Ricky X
I love M B V but I also love black metal, so deal with it.
deathtokoalas
surely, as ambient music, you don't wish to suggest that this is on the same level as mbv? surely, you'd realize that a homogenous, watered down third or fourth gen post-rock act like 'and i watch you from afar' is a better analog to the dry, repetitive, musically unadventurous "melodies" on display?
Ricky X
I mean I don't like this as much as Isn't Anything or Loveless, but this really is incomparable, I can understand how a MBV fan wouldn't like this since this is intense, screeching vocals and MBV is a dreamy pop band, I don't view this as "watered down" though, seems to be on the breaking point of something new to me. Also, you can imply that they are a watered down post-rock band but by saying this you are also saying that M B V is a watered down version of Jesus and Mary Chain, bauhaus, Joy Division and The Velvet Underground
deathtokoalas
i'm still not sure you're getting the point. whereas mbv wrote starkly original and deeply melodic songs, the ambient sections on this record are amelodic, rambling and highly derivative of a post-rock formula that's been recreated hundreds of times. the sense that this is comparable to mbv is similar to the sense that the beatles are comparable to hall & oates. hall & oates wrote pop music - just like the beatles. but, one was highly original and groundbreaking and compelling and the other was at the end of a decade of prog being dumbed down for the masses until there was nothing left to jettison.
that has nothing to do with the volume of the record. it has to do with the crappiness of the ambient portions of the disc. you'd find better ambient music in the box of demoes kranky records never bothered sorting through. it's subpar.
now, i'm not sure i'd concede that mbv was even influenced by any of those bands, especially not joy division. but, stating that this is watered down post-rock (and consequently not genetically connected to mbv) in no way suggests anything to do with mbv's influences. the better and more standard argument, fwiw, would be that mbv began with a sound that was pioneered by the cocteau twins, u2 and the cure and slowly made it their own. but this isn't relevant to the very bad and horribly lazy comparison that the music press is making on this disc.
Ricky X
enough with the classifications, lets just enjoy the music we like lol.
COSMIC666
degrading to mbv hahah your funny bro mbv are my favourite band ever and i also think that this is an amazing album and it did make me think of loveless the first time i heard it and you think its degrading to mbv that i thought that? that is hilarious. FUCK GENRES LISTEN TO THE MUSIC WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT BOXES
deathtokoalas
well, i can't speak to your thought processes. i don't know you, or why x triggers y in your brain. that's a complicated, non-linear thing that could very well reduce to that time you caught your mom making out with your sister or something.
but, the comparison simply isn't grounded, for the myriad of reasons i've stated.
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deathtokoalas
as an aside, if you'd be interested in starting a queer-positive activist group to crash black metal and metalcore shows and just hang out and look queer, let me know. i'm not blaming the bands. i'm reminded of kurt cobain's plea. but the high volume of homophobic comments on the internet as they are connected to metal culture indicates that there's a problem that requires some activism.
