Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 13:46

Not but seriously, I don't get it. It's not even that dark. Maybe if he could slow down and stop shrieking a bit, he might develop some atmosphere.

Am I going to die for this?

I don't really consider it "dark" in the Darkthrone / generica black metal type of darkness. This is a more bad-trippy, mind-bending kind of atmosphere. I've heard very few black metal bands that really drop that whole standard riff structure in their approach to their music and adopt something as freeform and totally predicated on dissonance as this. The vocals are spot on too as they're buried nicely in the music and just become instrumental. You won't die for your comments, but your life will be shortened through karma

Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 13:46
Am I going to die for this?

Nah, last time I checked no one has died of being boring.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 08.06.2014 at 13:54

Nah, last time I checked no one has died of being boring.

Ha!

:/

I'm still more boggled by people that don't find it psychedelic to be honest. To me this is like being swept down whitewater rapids made of psychoactive chemicals. It does it without the need for poncy keyboards or cheesy delay effects either.

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 14:05

I'm still more boggled by people that don't find it psychedelic to be honest. To me this is like being swept down whitewater rapids made of psychoactive chemicals. It does it without the need for poncy keyboards or cheesy delay effects either.

I read your discussion with Che the other day and I agree with you. It seems like if the album doesn't have a mushroom theme in the lyrics and artwork, doesn't have old school keyboards then it just can't be psychedelic. The way the riffs just flow and roll is psychedelic without a doubt.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 08.06.2014 at 14:07

I read your discussion with Che the other day and I agree with you. It seems like if the album doesn't have a mushroom theme in the lyrics and artwork, doesn't have old school keyboards then it just can't be psychedelic. The way the riffs just flow and roll is definitely psychedelic without a doubt.

Totally. Just like I find Skullflower, on certain records, more psychedelic than 95% of "psychedelic" bands Arizmenda manage to do it as well, in a similar manner.

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 14:09
Totally. Just like I find Skullflower, on certain records, more psychedelic than 95% of "psychedelic" bands Arizmenda manage to do it as well, in a similar manner.

Are there people that don't think Skullflower is psychedelic?!?!? Dude, like... Orange Canyon Mind... IIIrd Gatekeeper. That is all. Game over, man. D:

Yeah I think that psychedelic feeling is achieved by the overlapping guitars, thanks to the great productions.

Written by X-Ray Rod on 08.06.2014 at 14:07


I read your discussion with Che the other day and I agree with you. It seems like if the album doesn't have a mushroom theme in the lyrics and artwork, doesn't have old school keyboards then it just can't be psychedelic. The way the riffs just flow and roll is psychedelic without a doubt.

Not to take this off-topic even further, but there's a user-summary on the Skullflower page on Discogs.com which always summed them up perfectly for me.

"Despite the fact that it has recently turned into more or less a different incarnation of Hototogisu (not a bad thing really, but it isn't really Skullflower either), Skullflower in its early days was a glorious antecedent to everything people thought noise, psychedelia, and punk were supposed to be. It combines everything that sounds perfect on paper (and it's perfect in real life too), stomping doom-garage riffs, harsh layers of hallucinatory feedback, open but dark isolationistic ambience, a power electronics derived (considering the resume of its members) obsession with death and deviancy, a tendency to break open into extended, unstructured improvisation, but return to form just when it gets excessive enough (that doesn't mean any god damn fade offs once everyone starts soloing, to half quote Steven Stapleton). This is noise and this is rock, but this ain't goofy mathcore made by college students. It's everything hard psychedelic music ever wanted to be (I think of how much territory Skullflower covers that stoner rock is supposed to but fails miserably)."

I do think the feeling (though not the style so much) described here applies to this album too in many ways, in the way one can create truly psychedelic music.

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 13:53

I don't really consider it "dark" in the Darkthrone / generica black metal type of darkness. This is a more bad-trippy, mind-bending kind of atmosphere. I've heard very few black metal bands that really drop that whole standard riff structure in their approach to their music and adopt something as freeform and totally predicated on dissonance as this. The vocals are spot on too as they're buried nicely in the music and just become instrumental. You won't die for your comments, but your life will be shortened through karma

Gave it a third go. In less than 24 hours. I'm not one to be annoyed because I can't find consensus, but this puzzles me. What you are describing is what I meant by dark. And I don't feel it. I think that trippy vibe cancels it. The vocals are too far in the distance for me, even if I usually don't mind them being used as a simple vector for atmosphere. I just think it lacks something that doesn't make it haunting at all. Doesn't make me question my own existence.

But then again, I'm commenting to talk about the music, not to be called boring because it didn't instantly mark it 10/10 .

Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 16:07

Gave it a third go. In less than 24 hours. I'm not one to be annoyed because I can't find consensus, but this puzzles me. What you are describing is what I meant by dark. And I don't feel it. I think that trippy vibe cancels it. The vocals are too far in the distance for me, even if I usually don't mind them being used as a simple vector for atmosphere. I just think it lacks something that doesn't make it haunting at all. Doesn't make me question my own existence.

But then again, I'm commenting to talk about the music, not to be called boring because it didn't instantly mark it 10/10 .

I'd listened to this album a good 50 times before it appeared on MS, so it wasn't a rush decision =P I do think it's the best black metal album to be released in the last half a decade.

I know I keep bringing it up recently but what this album gives me is effectively identical to [url=IcEVKOdBWb8]this[/url]. I don't really think of either in terms of darkness to be honest (because I don't find it dark, or evil or kvlt or anything like that), but both albums are more or less catered to my taste down to a femtometre.

(Link doesn't seem to work on my end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcEVKOdBWb8 )

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 16:13

I'd listened to this album a good 50 times before it appeared on MS, so it wasn't a rush decision =P I do think it's the best black metal album to be released in the last half a decade.

I know I keep bringing it up recently but what this album gives me is effectively identical to [url=IcEVKOdBWb8]this[/url]. I don't really think of either in terms of darkness to be honest (because I don't find it dark, or evil or kvlt or anything like that), but both albums are more or less catered to my taste down to a femtometre.

(Link doesn't seem to work on my end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcEVKOdBWb8 )

That was about Rod.

I don't think you understand what I mean by dark. It is not something I say to sound cool. It is to describe what kind of emotions it provokes. I can find something extremely dark when it's just a sad song by a pop artist. I really can't find another word to explain. Nevermind.
That track to which you gave a link, that, that is what I call tormenting. Not this album. I can't see how you can compare both.
Again, Arizmenda's not bad, but for me it just doesn't go beyond what it sounds like, a guy shrieking in the woods and freestyle dissonance. All very well done, but doesn't transport me anywhere.

This could read as if I were irritated. I'm not at all.

Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 16:29

That was about Rod.

I don't think you understand what I mean by dark. It is not something I say to sound cool. It is to describe what kind of emotions it provokes. I can find something extremely dark when it's just a sad song by a pop artist. I really can't find another word to explain. Nevermind.
That track to which you gave a link, that, that is what I call tormenting. Not this album. I can't see how you can compare both.
Again, Arizmenda's not bad, but for me it just doesn't go beyond what it sounds like, a guy shrieking in the woods and freestyle dissonance. All very well done, but doesn't transport me anywhere.

This could read as if I were irritated. I'm not at all.

I highly recommend not bothering with the rest of the whole Black Twilight Circle then more or less a similar approach with minor variations.

Have you tried Negative Plane? They're not too dissimilar in some respects, but you might like them more.

But yeah, the whole darkness thing, I guess it's not something I really think about or necessarily relate to in music.

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 16:35

Have you tried Negative Plane? They're not too dissimilar in some respects, but you might like them more.

If they're still doing the same fast, raw, rather traditional and scruffy stuff I listened to in 2007 or something, I still won't like them .

Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 16:45

If they're still doing the same fast, raw, rather traditional and scruffy stuff I listened to in 2007 or something, I still won't like them .

Well I wouldn't call Arizmenda raw or traditional =P but not really, Negative Plane are a bit more "organised" sounding and possibly more stylised.

Written by [user id=4365] on 08.06.2014 at 16:47

Well I wouldn't call Arizmenda raw or traditional =P but not really, Negative Plane are a bit more "organise" sounding and possibly more stylised.

That was for Negative Plane. This is a new album I suppose. I remember them having a lot less theatrical intros and worse production. Yes, it's more "organised", but that's not something I'm necessarily looking for. This Negative Plane is a little more positive than before . I think this kind of BM doesn't appeal much to me anymore. Soz!

Written by Ilham on 08.06.2014 at 16:56

That was for Negative Plane. This is a new album I suppose. I remember them having a lot less theatrical intros and worse production. Yes, it's more "organised", but that's not something I'm necessarily looking for. This Negative Plane is a little more positive than before . I think this kind of BM doesn't appeal much to me anymore. Soz!

That's ai'ght. I can see why this wouldn't be for some. My music taste is generally heading toward a non-structure aesthetic, coz I'm a pretentious cunt, so dissonant, free-form and psychedelic black metal is pretty much what I listen to these days. In terms of (black) metal anyway.

Hey arizmenda. You deserve to enter mz's all time hall of the fame.
The more I listen to this, the more I feel shocked because of the absolute majesty.

Written by mz on 20.07.2014 at 15:50

Hey arizmenda. You deserve to enter mz's all time hall of the fame.
The more I listen to this, the more I feel shocked because of the absolute majesty.

Welcome to the club

Written by [user id=4365] on 20.07.2014 at 16:00

Welcome to the club

More like a nightmarish ritualistic party, and I love it

Written by mz on 20.07.2014 at 16:08

More like a nightmarish ritualistic party, and I love it

There will be goats and wine. Oh wait, I hate wine. There will be goats and milkshake.

Written by [user id=4365] on 20.07.2014 at 16:10

Oh wait, I hate wine.

You would changed your mind, if tried to Polish low-budget classic named "Leśny Dzban" ("The Forest Pitcher" translating into English) in a fucking bag Sadly no longer available.

Written by Paz on 20.07.2014 at 22:31

You would changed your mind, if tried to Polish low-budget classic named "Leśny Dzban" ("The Forest Pitcher" translating into English) in a fucking bag Sadly no longer available.

That sounds like the nectar of the Gods! I'm guessing people died from it or something?

Written by [user id=4365] on 20.07.2014 at 22:32

That sounds like the nectar of the Gods! I'm guessing people died from it or something?

Cheers!

Written by Paz on 20.07.2014 at 22:47

Cheers!

Pure class in a bag

Room for one more?

Also, that wine in a bag is making my mouth water, and I don't even drink alcohol.

Holy shit, this album is so fucking good

But why is this considered Psychedelic Black?

Written by [user id=135634] on 04.11.2014 at 21:46


But why is this considered Psychedelic Black?

Read through the comments on the first page. The reasoning is hardly conclusive but I still think it fits the music (and the collective they belong to). Ultimately "psychedelic" black metal is not something that is easy to identify, not in my view anyway as i don't think psychedelic music is incumbent on having plinky-plonky melotrons and keyboards (which this album obviously has none of).

Wow this is phenomenal. Thanks to the shoutbox for directing me here.