Neckbeard Deathcamp - So Much For The Tolerant Left review
| Band: | Neckbeard Deathcamp |
| Album: | So Much For The Tolerant Left |
| Style: | Black metal |
| Release date: | May 24, 2019 |
| A review by: | Auntie Sahar |
01. Cucked 2: The Phantom Menace
02. Shitpostnacht
03. Operation NEET
04. What Are The Cargo Pockets For, Lanza? Extra Mags?
05. Horseshoe Theory
06. Bricks Out For Harambe
07. Tolerance Candle
08. Unironically Calling Someone The Untermensch From A Facebook Account With An Azumanga Daioh Profile Picture
09. Conservative Crybullying
10. /r/iamverysvart
11. Pozerfaust Division
There's no denying that we live right now in a very politically volatile time period, a fact that may lead more stoic individuals to sit neutrally on the sidelines watching the carnage of the ultra partisan dynamics at play in their societies unfold before them. Neckbeard Deathcamp, however, are certainly not such individuals.
You may recall this trio of self proclaimed "Fedora crushing militant black metal" from their 2018 debut, the aptly titled White Nationalism Is For Basement Dwelling Losers. Sure enough, they're at it again this year with the follow up, So Much For The Tolerant Left. With album and track titles so deliberately over the top and devoid of any form of subtlety, it shouldn't be too difficult to discern exactly who and what draws the ire of Neckbeard Deathcamp: far right, white nationalist views as well as individuals, organizations, and bands that promote or sympathize with them. Featuring track titles such as "Conservative Crybulling" and "Pozerfaust Division," it would be easy with this album to write Neckbeard Deathcamp as merely a far left, anti Nazi black metal band, but to do so may be ignoring a level of self parody present in the music as well. With members donning pseudonyms such as "Kreigmeister Hatestorm" and "Superkommando Uberweinersnitchel," it's pretty obvious that Neckbeard Deathcamp really don't even take themselves seriously, let alone white nationalism, and that they may even be poking a bit of fun at people of far left beliefs as well with their whole approach.
Being that their lyrical and aesthetic angle is so blatant and overbearing, it's easy for the music of Neckbeard Deathcamp to become completely overshadowed by their message. Certainly, the fact that their songwriting is very one dimensional and stripped of virtually any diversity or forward momentum between its tracks does little to aid in making their music appear more relevant. As with their debut, on So Much For The Tolerant Left, Neckbeard Deathcamp go for an extremely raw and abrasive black metal approach, in which riffs are pretty much recycled from elsewhere, bass is virtually inaudible, and the vocals are guttural to the point of likely being indecipherable even with a lyrics sheet in front of you. Barring the inclusion of two interlude type tracks and "Horseshoe Theory," which dips into harsh noise territory, the music of Neckbeard Deathcamp moves very little beyond this delivery, if at all.
Much like their debut, So Much For The Tolerant offers up many reasons for listeners to dismiss Neckbeard Deathcamp altogether: bias against the band's politics and a belief in one's own as superior, a perception of the band as "cringe worthy" while ignoring the hundreds of other black metal bands worthy of cringe, and/or a view of the songwriting as garbage due to its simplicity and lack of originality while ignoring the hundreds of other black metal bands who get by on a lack of sophistication and ripping off the ideas of their predecessors. To dismiss Neckbeard Deathcamp for any of these reasons, however, would likely be missing the point of what the band are doing, that being that their delivery is ultimately a lesson in how to respond to complete bullshit (read: white nationalism) with complete bullshit. As the message of Neckbeard Deathcamp is ugly, brutish, and unsophisticated, so too is their music, and in this way the band must be applauded for this sense of symmetry between the two if for no other reason.
Realistically speaking, with So Much For The Tolerant Left Neckbeard Deathcamp probably could have conjured up a sound as dynamic and layered as Darkspace or Wolves In The Throne Room if they really put their minds to it. They also could have come up with a lyrical manifesto explaining and justifying what they're doing a mile long, in the vein of Liturgy (US-NY) or The Meads Of Asphodel. But doing so would be to imply that white nationalists are even deserving of the time and effort required for generating so sophisticated and lengthy a response in the first place, something that Neckbeard Deathcamp clearly do not believe them worthy of. Instead, their response to this often over entitled, juvenile, and altogether outdated world view is to simply raise a digital middle finger high and snarl a loud, resounding "Fuck you!" And a lot of the time that's all it takes for getting the point across.
If you're up for some fun, not taking your musical taste too seriously for once, and enjoying a band making far right sympathizers salty on the Internet, I could not recommend this album highly enough.
Comments
Comments: 90
Visited by: 246 users
| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9030  |
So much for a civilized discussion
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Lanthros Posts: 584 |
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| Starvynth i c deaf people Staff Posts: 3168  |
Thanks for this interesting and quite entertaining review! Yet I believe that this is a terribly pointless band. Opposing serious problems like fascism and racism with musical dilettantism, ridiculous lyrics and a hopelessly exaggerated moralising approach is like fighting AIDS by spreading cancer. In other words: fighting bullshit with bullshit is bullshit. Just as an aside: according to some old tweet, guitarist "Superkommando Uberweinerschnitzel" had to leave his comrades already back in 2018. It seems he was too much into some patriotic black metal from the Ukraine...
---- signatures = SPAM
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989  |
Written by Starvynth on 26.05.2019 at 20:38 Don't necessarily disagree with you on the first point, I mean in the long term it doesn't do as much to combat fascism and racism as, say, some grassroots organization aimed at combating those things in one's own neighborhood or city probably would. But I can at least appreciate the idea behind it, this thought of "you know what? This ideology is just one big enormous joke, so we're gonna treat it like one big enormous joke and just sarcastically shit all over it." Not every ridiculous argument that comes from a white supremacist is worth putting in a serious amount of effort in responding to, ya know? Regarding the Tweet and "patriotic black metal band from the Ukraine"... it wasn't Nokturnal Mortum, was it? Because that's one NSBM band I'm actually quite a fan of, would be a bit disappointing if it was them.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| RaduP CertifiedHipster Staff Posts: 9030 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 26.05.2019 at 21:23 Nah it was Hate Forest
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by RaduP on 26.05.2019 at 21:33 Never even heard of that band before. Shows how little I really know of and care about NSBM, but then that's not exactly something to be ashamed of.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Rulatore Posts: 1108  |
Written by Starvynth on 26.05.2019 at 20:38 I think you're taking these guys too seriously. It's not like they are trying to solve racism and facism with their music, I feel like it's more like comedy here and it's up for each person to like it or not. Nothing wrong not liking it, (because of the sound, because of the lyrics, their political views) but saying it's not good because they arent being polite or serious about it, I feel like it's taking them too seriously
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| VIG Account deleted |
VIG
Account deleted Written by Starvynth on 26.05.2019 at 20:38 I would definitely agree with this. Although, I wouldn't compare it to fighting AIDS by spreading cancer, more like fighting AIDS by just constantly yelling about it and coming off extremely annoying while doing so. Sure, they are just trying to be politically active and fighting for changes, just like most people do, but it seems like the fact that they start a band based off of all this and tweeting all the time means they think they are actually doing something and making change when really they are not at all (unless maybe they are somehow in a way I am totally unaware of). Plus, I do agree with their politics for the most part as a matter of fact, but the way that they spread their message is just stupid. Tweeting in all caps all the time and making ridiculous music doesn't make anyone want to listen to your points. But I could never get into this band anyway because I find the music to be absolutely terrible. I know someone is going to be up in arms about this, probably because everyone who wants to share a political opinion will do it in a similar way that this band does, share stuff on social media, spread the word, which is a good thing to do, but I just think this band (most likely) thinks that they are really making change while they actually aren't. I don't know, maybe I'm just annoyed because they are so annoying about this stuff, or perhaps because I hate the music.. I apologize for the repetitive post 
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Rulatore on 26.05.2019 at 23:25 This is basically what I was trying to get at in the review. These guys don't go at their approach in a polite or serious way because, well.... white supremacy is far from a polite ideology that ought to be taken seriously. I guess you could criticize that because it is, as Starvynth said, a bit of the "fight fire with fire" mentality, which never really solves anything but hey... as long as it's confined to mere art and not literally going out and attacking people, no harm done right?
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by [user id=159927] on 27.05.2019 at 02:51 Assuming they're actually serious about resisting far right, white nationalist ideology and are hardcore leftists, they just might be making a difference. Leftist black metal is way less of a thing than the far right, nationalist type black metal is, so if Neckbeard Deathcamp help contribute to more of an emergence of it, good for them in my book. Honestly lefty black metal is something I'd really like to see gain more ground in the scene, just for the sake of balancing out the scales a bit more between it and the NSBM type bands.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| SatanicBlood Posts: 185 |
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by SatanicBlood on 27.05.2019 at 05:12 I believe that the band in the Tweet Starvynth was referring to was actually Hate Forest, who I can't really comment on as I've actually never listened to them. Nokturnal Mortum are cool though, and I do indeed remember their "renunciation" of sorts of the NS ideology a few years back. In my experience NSBM bands usually come with pretty terrible music, but they always struck me as an exception to that, so I dig them a lot. Find myself coming back to Goat Horns every now and then.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| no one Posts: 652  |
More of a hateforest fan. As for nbdc, I thought punk taught us that fighting fire with fire doesn't really work.
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| Starvynth i c deaf people Staff Posts: 3168 |
Written by Rulatore on 26.05.2019 at 23:25 You certainly do have a point here, but yet, you got me wrong: my major criticism was that you can not take them seriously. I really wished there was at least one sincere band playing some decent black metal but bearing a strong message against racism and fascism. Well, we do have Chigago based Arid and Hreinn from Portland - but who even knows these bands and why are there literally no bands of this kind hailing from Europe, the breeding ground of fascism and NSBM? My further complaint is that Neckbeard Deathcamp have no musical substance, they don't even try to be good. They are just too generic and too amateurish to be heard and to sell some records outside of their limited fanbase. But an already established and well-known black metal act having the guts to finally step out of the bell jar of BM stereotypes - that would be some major achievement. I believe that bands like NBDC will never progress beyond their status quo of a pure parody band. Basically, it's just a waste of energy and thus - as already stated - pointless. As long as you need a brain to understand humour, backyard parody is doomed to be one of the bluntest weapons to fight fascism.
---- signatures = SPAM
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by no one on 27.05.2019 at 08:27 I am honored that a comment on a review of mine was one of your first thoughts upon your return to the site, One With No Name 
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by [user id=159927] on 27.05.2019 at 15:51 Botanist? I dunno, it's not like the project is overtly political in nature, but just given the overall theme and message conveyed in some of the album covers and track titles and the vibe they give off, I always kinda got the impression that that guy's some sort of green anarchist or something.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Uh oh, here come the downvotes on the album now that it has a review front and center on the home page for all to see. I expected no less, but can you naughty boys and girls downvote this piece of filth to the point of it cracking our 20 worst albums? Let's see what you've got 
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 5925  |
I enjoy Neckbeard Deathcamp on a musical level, but I came here to talk about Azumanga Daioh.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by ScreamingSteelUS on 27.05.2019 at 17:54 I honestly didn't even know what that was until crossing paths with this album. Now I see it's some cutesy girl type anime though... I normally ignore those, but is it any good?
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| ScreamingSteelUS Editor-in-Chief Admin Posts: 5925 |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 27.05.2019 at 18:24 Knowing the genres that you're into, I probably wouldn't recommend it, but Azumanga Daioh is about as good as slice-of-life gets. Great characters, very entertaining, and not nearly as devoid of merit as most of the shows that followed in its wake. 9/10, would reference on my politically charged black metal album.
---- "Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader I'm the Agent of Steel.
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| Karlabos Posts: 5736  |
Azumanga Daioh is pretty good tho...
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Karlabos Posts: 5736 |
Written by no one on 27.05.2019 at 08:27 Wut? You're alive!
---- "Aah! The cat turned into a cat!" - Reimu Hakurei
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by Karlabos on 27.05.2019 at 19:14 I think they're taking a shot at the irony of far righty types tending to be fans of anime and fantasizing over waifus while still talking all this racial supremacy, glorious white race nonsense at the same time. ....something that Neckbeard Deathcamp already poked fun at on the much lauded track on their debut album, "The Fetishization Ov Asian Women Despite A Demand For A Pure White Race."
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| nikarg Staff Posts: 7351  |
Written by Auntie Sahar on 27.05.2019 at 17:07 Musically, it's not godawful enough to be in the bottom-20 albums here, but it certainly isn't worth anything more than 5 I think, and I'm being lenient. The music is pretty bad, the song titles and lyrics are sometimes funny but the thing is that Nazi-loving idiots are so ridiculous themselves that no parody can actually be funnier than them. That makes NBDC conceptually pointless as Starvynth said above, and since the music (which is the most important part for me when I listen to music) is more or less shite, I can't see why this deserves a good or even average rating.
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| no one Posts: 652 |
Written by Karlabos on 27.05.2019 at 19:31 I hope so, otherwise I'd be a dead one, and no one wants another dead one.
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| no one Posts: 652 |
Written by [user id=159927] on 27.05.2019 at 15:51 Panopticon are fucking amazing, obviously not as blatant as neckbeard but
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| Auntie Sahar Drone Empress Posts: 5989 |
Written by no one on 28.05.2019 at 06:35 Yeah that's another good example, probably quite leftist even if the guy doesn't really go out of his way to promote such ideology in the music itself. I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to regard WITTR in such a light either.
---- I am the Magician and the Exorcist. I am the axle of the wheel, and the cube in the circle. “Come unto me” is a foolish word: for it is I that go. ~ II. VII
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| flightoficarus Stamp Tramp Posts: 1118  |
I don't personally see any redeeming quality of this band. There are just so many others out there for every potential facet of why you might listen. If you want a band that is funny, there are way funnier bands out there. If you want good black metal, you're not gonna find it here. If you want an anti-fascist message, there are dozens if not hundreds of bands doing that better as well. I mean at base I was willing to give these guys a chance as much as they make me cringe, but I just don't see the point. And maybe this is taking it too much into the realm of seriousness, but for all of the socialist imagery, they sure love to shill their merch at every opportunity. On a side note, I do love that Banger TV did a max level troll including only this and the new Deathspell Omega album as the only two shout outs this week XD
---- Daily underground metal recommendations at Metal Trenches. Watch metal content on the Metal Trenches YouTube Channel.
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