Stroszek - Songs of Remorse
Whenver electronic/pop music writer Simon Reynolds weighs in on metal, it's always interesting. I've been chewing on a recent post of his: "metal has just swallowed whole goth (especially 4AD goth-lite), industrial, post-rock, shoegaze, techno, isolationism, folk....to the point where what defines metal as metal these days is nothing sonic but really just the bombastic and verbose band names/song titles (and also contextual/institutional stuff like where you're likely to read about it) (and perhaps the clothes the bands wear)."The House Told MeThe Night Porter
Such sweeping statements are glib, but Reynolds is onto something. Earlier in the post, he comments on the "label cloud" of Icelandic blog Blodvargr. It's something I've wondered about for a while, too. What is the connection among black metal, dark ambient, folk music, shoegaze, drone, and noise, other than it's somehow completely logical for those who are into the stuff?
Remember that we started the week with straight black metal band Hiems, which connected to half-black metal, half-acoustic outfit Frostmoon Eclipse. Now, Frostmoon Eclipse guitarist Claudio Alcara has a solo project, Stroszek, presumably named for the Werner Herzog film (speaking of Herzog, CineFile Video has printed some sweet t-shirts that recast directors' names in metal band fonts).
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Stroszek slightly recalls Opeth's Damnation - mostly acoustic, with some electric guitar. While the electrics are highly distorted, they're also fairly low in the mix, so that even the rocking moments feel restrained. This is fine, as Songs of Remorse (God Is Myth, 2007) is decidedly melancholy. I'm not familiar with goth's subdivisions, but perhaps this could fall into one of them - 4AD, Mazzy Star, etc.
Pleasingly, the record is often just Alcara and his acoustic; more pleasingly, it's often just his acoustic. His voice is pleasant enough, but he mostly, and wisely, stays out of the way of his picking. I'm a big fan of flatpicked (as opposed to strummed) acoustics, and this record is full of them. The moody tritones in "The Night Porter" are like an old Metallica acoustic intro becoming a song in its own right; dig the tasty blue notes near the end.
Even though this record is mostly mellow, something about it is very metal. Perhaps it's the precision of the picking, or the overall darkness. Whatever the case, it's a lovely listen. Stroszek shares an upcoming split on a label TBD with ambient/modern classical project Godheadscope, which should be a very interesting pairing. Interestingly, God Is Myth is offering albums from both as a cut-rate package deal (I reviewed the Godheadscope one here). Otherwise, Songs of Remorse is available from God Is Myth's fine webstore.
Labels: black metal, clee, italy
8 Comments:
he's right. 'metal' is highly recontextualised. Heavy Metal, on the other hand.
You might find the distinction strange, but I ask you, do you find this 'Stroszek' to be as Heavy Metal as you find them to be 'metal'?
'metal' is just a synonim for 'like, totally intense, dude' on any level, be it stylistic or aesthetic. A person likely to be into Heavy Metal is also likely to be into various 'metal' recontextualizations. The face of modern 'metal' however is not the same as the face of Heavy Metal.
I think I understand what you're getting at. However, I'm not interested in erecting walls, but knocking them down and looking for connections. I'm also not interested in capitalizing heavy metal, black metal, death metal, or any other entity that arose in the last few seconds of human existence, relatively speaking, like a religion. As I stated, Stroszek sometimes feels to me like an extension of old Metallica. Old grows into new, yet retains its roots. It may not be metal in a conventional sense, but it fits within the music's extremely broad scope - which is why I love it.
I think I understand how you see metal in general, having been reading your blog from the beginning.
The reasons I capitalise HM are to denote personal importance to it which carries no metaphysical weight. Sure it's a fleeting thing in geographical time, HM, but so am I and I don't really think the important things in my life should be considered less important just because I will be alive for a blink of the universe's eye. Just as I capitalize my father's name and my country's name I capitalise HM. All these things will be dead and gone soon.
About erecting walls, I am not championing any TRVE METAL cause either. I don't think a wall is needed or in order, I think a distinction between HM and 'metal' is useful for understanding the why and the how, which as I understand, interests you also. So in short, don't take what I say to mean more (and potentially dangerous or idiotic more) than it does :)
Fair enough. And I suppose that if we waste this much time making and reading this site, respectively, we are often literally on the same page ;) May your father and Greece live long. Metal, on the other hand, must keep proving itself.
"What is the connection among black metal, dark ambient, folk music, shoegaze, drone, and noise, other than it's somehow completely logical for those who are into the stuff?"
Hi, I just stumbled across your blog. And very easily I can answer your question. at least concerning my blog: The connection is "my taste".
And speaking for the wider mass: You find a quite logical connection between all those genres. Take a look what early BM artists developed to: Burzum, Ildjarn, Wongraven, Fenriz - they went from harsh BM to Dark Ambient. Or Folk Metal. Or Neofolk. Black Metal artists and fans always were deeply interested in their roots. Thus in Northern European Mythology (BM was born in Norway). Music who also connects with these topics are of course interesting for those people, too. You would also read books of two different authors if you would be interested in the topic they're dealing with, wouldn't you?
See. Same goes for the music.
But of course in the end it's just a question of taste. I know enough BM fans who would never ever listen to Industrial for example.
Pleased to make your acquaintance, Blodvargr, and thank you for the thoughtful comment.
What I'm getting it is *why* did those artists make the digressions they did? As for roots, they differ by person and nation. Why would church-burning black metal go to dark ambient in one direction, and neofolk in the other? That's not obvious to me. Folk music, of course, is "roots," but few people have roots in ambient music. Maybe a few pioneers (Burzum, etc.) showed the way, and others simply followed. Or maybe there is some deeper sonic or spiritual connection.
1. Not all BM artists burnt churches.
2. Burning churches was rebellion towards christianity and being pro towards the pagan faith.
3. Dark Ambient tries to imitate / is inspired by the sounds of nature.
4. Most dark ambient is "pro nature" (nature worship?) -> Northaunt, Vinterriket etc.; Burzum's dark ambient was pagan.
5. Nature Worship is pagan.
6. Neofolk is "new folk"
7. Folk is roots
The way Jazz developed to New Jazz, Cold Electronic developed to Techno, etc. (or better not "developed to", but "created"), so the BM artists searched for new ways of expressing. If they didn't stayed with their old sounds (hardly anyone did; look at the new Darkthrone or Immortal (resp. "I") releases!), they developed something new. Which ended up in Dark Ambient. Dark Ambient is as cold as black metal, as dark as black metal, and so even a quite logical step forwards.
Some bands, by the way, still connect black metal and dark ambient (Vinterriket, Payssage d'Hiver...)
Of course, not all black metal artists burnt churches. I was pointing out an impulse that didn't seem to square readily with these digressions. The dark ambience as pagan worship idea is interesting. But there's plenty of dark ambience that comes from academic/avant-garde or electronic/industrial angles. And, "pagan" doesn't have to lead to dark ambience - it could lead to, say, Viking metal. So in addition to spiritual threads, perhaps the continuity needs sonic threads as well - emphasis on atmospheric over the rhythmic, perhaps a preference for certain frequencies - e.g., high midrange over the low midrange of conventional metal guitars, etc. And, perhaps aesthetic threads as well - greater allowance for chaos/randomness, less emphasis on man-made structure, etc.
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