Never Enough Metal Shows & Documentaries Department

I don't want to get too in-depth into either subject, but to touch base:

I attended Pagan Fest 2 earlier this month. It rocked. We missed the first couple of bands, which sucked--I wanted to see Oakhelm!--but I really liked Blackguard, Primordial, and Korpiklaani a lot.

And since people have asked: It's called "Pagan Fest" because most of the bands on the bill are pagans. (I'm not sure about Swashbuckle, who does what they call "pirate metal", and was thus automatically the goofiest act on the bill--but they did know their thrash!) They write songs that include references to their non-Abrahamic beliefs and mythologies. This is not a new phenomenon in metal. Bathory changed mid-career from singing about Satan and evil, to singing about the Norse gods and battle. I am sure I can dig further and find older examples if you need, however. It should not be surprising that paganism in metal is prevalent, and can support its own scene.

I also got to see the documentary, Until the Light Takes Us, which is a very candid look at the roots of the Norwegian black metal scene. It pulled no punches, but it succeeded in finding the souls behind the mythology of Norwegian black metal. Fenriz, drummer for the seminal black metal band Darkthrone, comes across as a fairly thoughtful and complex character with a sense of humor and a defiant desire to remain underground even as black metal explodes into an international phenomenon. Even Varg Vikernes, whose reputation comes across as extremely evil, seems more like someone who summoned up that which he could not put down, rather than the grand master of some malevolent scheme. The story is presented in a way that by and large proves both accessible to novices and fascinating to followers of the black metal genre. I only have one objection--I didn't mind the addition of artists who were using black metal as the subject of their gallery showings, but... TAP DANCE? No, sorry, that was epic fail. The rest of the movie was too fantastic for me to care, however. Do check it out if at all possible--there are to be theatrical releases and DVDs to be announced.

Never Enough Life Updates Department

It has been a while since I posted to this blog, hasn't it?

To be brief: I think I can say now that Amber, who I mentioned in the last post, is my current love interest. :) She, too, is trans--although in more of a genderfluid sense--and we have a lot in common. It helps that she's just as much of a computer nerd and a kinkster as I, if not more so. She's also much more involved in the local geek communities, given her connection to Norwescon. It also helps that she's cute and cuddly and adorable and fun. The only real downside to our relationship is that she is married--I know Amber's wife and she's pretty awesome herself--but it's an open relationship, and as long as Amber's wife approves of me, all should be well.

Amber also runs a fetish photography studio called Bound Muse--for details, please visit http://boundmuse.com/

I've also been pretty active on Twitter nowadays, and encourage those of you who want to see short bursts of drivel from me to go there. Here you'll only see meanderings. Maybe the occasional penetrating analysis. Obviously you'd rather find out the Black Metal Of The Day (#bmotd) than read here. :)

I'm also active on Blip.FM, which is similar to Twitter only it focuses on music. You can DJ through this, and I have been:

http://blip.fm/lilithvf1998 -- For the more eclectic stuff (including, yes, black metal, but it's really all over the map! Recent blips include Captain Beefheart, DEVO, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, for example.)

http://blip.fm/femmetal -- For female-oriented metal, e.g. metal bands with at least one active woman in the band. This one has been more of a challenge, but has been all the more rewarding for it!

I also posted more recent pics--including Norwescon pics--on my Flickr account.

Finally, I'm also on FaceBook, for those who would rather follow me there. All my blog posts here are echoed there, so you won't be missing much. :)

Enjoy! I am!

Never Enough New Music Department

I've been craving new CDs for months; thanks to both Yule and my birthday (yesterday for those keeping score at home) I finally got a few:

Ludicra - Another Great Love Song: Brilliant post-black metal from San Francisco featuring two women with savage voices, needle-sharp lyrics, and a sound that forges new territory even as it remains true to its black metal roots. Extra points for the buried, distorted sample from "Tainted Love" in-between tracks "Why Conquer?" and "In The Greenest Maze".

Ulver - Blood Inside: The Norwegian black metal band that reinvented themselves as a high-brow electronica outfit continues to astound and confound expectations, with tracks that go from angelic sublimity to surprising heaviness, all without breaking stride. Ulver has always been brilliant but a little inconsistent; all the more surprising, then, that this is one of their most consistent recordings in a decade.

Various Artists - Neurot Recordings I: This is a sampler of recordings from the label that brought Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot to the world--a label dedicated to the exploration of sounds from a post-hardcore, post-metal direction. From the bass harmonics of Vitriol to the distinctly Asian cacophony of Zeni Geva, you are practically guaranteed an exposure to new sounds regardless of how broad your tastes.

Blut Aus Nord - Ultima Thulee: A solid but not quite distinguished first-time effort leaves the barest hint of their later experimentation with Godflesh-inspired ambient discordance. A worthwhile historical addition to my collection, but not necessarily for others....

Samael - Reign of Light: It'd be tempting to compare Samael to Rammstein, except (a) Samael's been around much longer; (b) they write much better music; and (c) their lyrics appeal to the mystic at heart. After some of the disappointment of Eternal, it's a joy to hear Samael put some backbone back into their music. Reign of Light may not exceed Passages as their greatest album, but it gives me hope that they're still striving to excel.

Peccatum - The Moribund People: An EP of three mere songs makes for more interesting listening than most LPs. Peccatum sticks with their moody and sophisticated sound for this album, and they don't disappoint. The only problem: This EP should've had more songs on it! But at least the EP comes with a video for the title track, so all is well. HIGHLY accessible.

Opeth - Ghost Reveries: Simply the most brilliant album from the most brilliant band ever to come out of Sweden. Honest. To call them a death metal band is to disregard the purity of the singing, the smoothness of the mourning guitars, the profound influence of prog-rock, the touches of folk and classical music, and the amazing ability to draw non-metal fans into their circle. But to ignore the death metal elements is to commit a grave disservice: The metal elements, seemingly sparse, have so much more impact as a result.

Never Enough Screwed Up Band Names Department

Based off Mega's Metal List

3D House Of Beef
Acid Mud Flower
Beanflipper
Betrayed Petroleum
Bitchcock
Bozeman's Simplex
Brothering
Candy Striper Death Orgy
Chagrin Devout
Cumchrist
Dick Delicious & The Tasty Testicles
Dissolving of Prodigy
Explosive Rage Disorder
Functional Idiots
Hellboozer Union
JellyNutz Syndicate
John Wayne Transplant
Lollypop Must Kill
The Lord Weird Slough Feg
Masticated Entrails
MungBeanDemon
My Habits People
My Minds Mine
Nauseous Surgery
Nice To Meat You
Northwood Ice Pentagrams
Overmars
Pickles & Douche
Pissing Razors
Pseudo-Plotinos & The Total Hero Worship
Purple Fog Side
Science & Horror
Second Shave
Silent Scream Of Godless Elegy
The Sleepfarmers
Slightly Miffed
Snailbooster
Something Shiva
Testicle Bomb
Twelve After Elf
Wineshower
Zimmers Hole

Never Enough Streaming Metal Radio

Lilith's Hymns Of The Dark is up and streaming most of the time, 24Kbps for the slower modems....

Main show right now is women in extreme metal. Enjoy.

Never Enough Imperial Bombast Department

So the new and final Emperor album, Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire And Demise, has been delayed until the end of the month. I still got a chance to listen to a preview of the album, and I've been meditating on the common criticism by many that this album is more like Peccatum, one of frontman Ishahn's bands, than Emperor.

I think it would be more accurate to say that Prometheus is more like Peccatum fused with Zyklon, the band featuring Emperor members Zammoth (formerly Samoth) and Trym. And I think this statement better underscores the reasons why Emperor is calling it quits: Musically, the team of Ishahn and Zammoth has begun to grow apart from one another. This isn't anyone's fault, but rather stems from the fact that the Ishahn and Zammoth of today are radically different from the two young men who brashly unleashed Wrath Of The Tyrants so long ago. They grew up, refined their musical visions, and found that those visions aren't as compatible as they used to be.

However, that is not to say that Prometheus is a fragmented album. Far from it; my take is that this album does more to re-establish the epic coherence that shone so obviously throughout Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk and which was conspicuously absent from IX Equilibrium. Although there are brief moments in which it seems to wander briefly, it all snaps back with the viciousness of a military grade bungee cord, once holding a tank aloft, suddenly breaking free and slamming into the transport helicopter with several tons of force.

When Prometheus finally makes it out to stores, I will snap up a copy as quickly as I can. You may have hesitations, but hearing what I have heard, I am completely eager to own the final release.

Never Enough Anti-Hysteria Department

A Malaysian reporter weighs in on the ban against black metal currently enforced by the Malay government.

C O L U M N S - Gov't blues, Black Metal and a red herring

I suppose I can take the anti-Black Metal campaign a mite more seriously if the timing hadn't been too convenient for comfort. But at a time when students are being detained under the ISA for daring to express views that differ from those professed at the recent Umno general assembly, and when the government itself is hell-bent on proving its religious credentials against the intransigent orthodoxies of the dominant opposition party, rounding up and detaining scores of kids in shopping malls just because they happen to be wearing black T-shirts with symbols even they probably didn't give any thought to seems too propitious.

Never Enough German Black Metal Department

"Ship of nails" is the meaning of the name of one of my favorite German black metal bands of all time, Nagelfar. It refers to a Germanic belief that Ragnarokr will start when all the fingernails and toenails of the dead are used to construct a ship on which their souls will sail. From this grim mythological basis Nagelfar performs atmospheric black metal that transcends all trends, focusing instead on lengthy movements which are widely melodic and extremely varied, going from breakneck riffing to slow, ponderous passages, to classical guitar, violin, darkwave synths--in short, musical expression of grand epic scope.

There are both full-length and partial MP3s--all legal--at the Kettenhund Records site, Nagelfar's home before Kettenhund decided to suspend operations. Sorry for the linkdeath....

Never Enough Sleep Department

It's one of those nights. Mornings. Whatever. I managed to get maybe three hours' sleep in before my stomach started giving me problems. In the end I realized there was nothing more I could do but stay up, apply some medicinal 'frop to my exit wound, and browse the web.

And, in the process, stumbled across rumors on metal web sites. Emperor is releasing a new album, Prometheus: The Discipline Of Fire And Demise, which is being hyped as a culmination of this seminal and ground-breaking black metal band's work. And then... farewell. No tour. The band website verifies the story. Better to die young and still vital, and all that. Go out with a bang. Ishahn is busy with Peccatum and Thou Shalt Suffer; Samoth and Trym are exploring more of a death metal sound with Zyklon.

I think this is sad news but I am glad to know of this before buying the album. Emperor is among my favorite bands; there have been days when listening to Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk kept me sane, when the lyrics hit home and provided the key to the glorious catharsis of prideful rage mixed with many, many intensely mosh-worthy moments. Make no mistake, they don't hide their pretentions at all, but for the most part they live up to them nicely. I expect the new album, without the constraints of having to perform songs live, will be the most over the top Emperor yet.

It's got me thinking about music again. I used to play 'cello in local symphonies and stopped when I changed colleges because I couldn't afford the time or money. And with Apocalyptica proving that metal can be played on 'cellos without sacrificing brutality or beauty, I want to start putting some of my feverish visions to practice. I've even been thinking about the best way to approach experimentation with the instrument. Details from the best place to place the bow on the strings to tunings to fingerings, even how much rosin to use, have occurred to me. I'm even thinking about using some sort of metal drum as a platform for the instrument, to give more of the "raw black metal" sound to the instrument.

And while we're being avant-garde, we may as well be practical. A traditional style 'cello is BEEG. It's awkward. And a protected case for it is usually heavier than the instrument. Fortunately, electric 'cellos can have smaller bodies, as long as there are places to clamp one's knees to the bottom of the instrument (for stability) and a place for it to rest against your chest.

Candidate #1 is a conservative model as far as electric 'cellos go, and is actually reasonably priced, compared to

Candidate #2 has the most potential, in that its sheer compactness makes it a perfect travel instrument. It's relatively inexpensive at the get-go. By the time one adds a good tranducer pickup bridge, it costs about as much as #1 above. The luthier who makes this instrument is willing to give it a black stain for me for a bit extra, as well. So it's VERY tempting indeed!

Candidate #3 is a pipe dream, but if I ever had the money, I'd go for it. Now that is metal.

And now that the sun is up, I'm ready to crash. Just in time to wake up for work, too. WHEE!!!

Dobbs' Long March is only three days off now. Just gotta hang in there....

Never Enough Ulver Redux Department

In yesterday's entry regarding Ulver, I was remiss not to include Lost In Moments, the official Ulver site, which includes many more MP3s from their whole history. HNEE and all that.

Never Enough Ulver Department

Ulver is a band that stemmed from the Norwegian black metal scene and which established itself early on as one of the most unique musical acts to come from Norway in a while. Their albums cover folk, raw black metal, and lately, electronica. In terms of both musical diversity and talent, Ulver confounds expectations to provide a far richer experience.

Listen to one of their later, electronica-based songs, based on William Blake's Proverbs Of Hell (AKA Plates 7-10 of Blake's work The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell). The fully legal MP3 for this inspirational song can be found here. It's HIGHLY recommended.

Never Enough Metal Department

I've spent the past several days listening to Voivod's fourth album, Dimension Hatröss, a weird otherworldly concept album based in essence on a scientist opening a hole into another universe and jumping in, finding himself in a twisted dystopian universe where primitives consider him a god and yet he is readily captured and manipulated and psychically invaded by "Technocratic Manipuators". In the end, he manages to steal their psychic abilities, cast the parasites out of his mind, and bring forth a quasar to destroy their world. The music was absolutely avant-garde for thrash metal; in many places you can even hear riffing techniques later used by later black and death metal avant-gardists. Technically precise and yet still raw and almost punk-like, it isn't necessarily their most accessible album, but it's really rewarding if you give it a chance.

Anyhow, this is one of the albums that blew my mind the most, while growing up, and it feels good listening to it again. It still manages to tickle that spot.

Soon I will need to write a press release announcing the project of assembling the most extreme female metal musicians onto one compilation. We don't have a name for it yet, but we have an idea who we would like to see on the CD, and we have interest from a few bands as well. More later....

Never Enough Slack Department

September is going to be insane with SubGenius events for me, and it's all slack as far as I am concerned. First, there is Dobbs' Long March SubGenius Retreat, Sept. 14-16, when I will be camping with a couple dozen fellow SubGeniuses from all over the country. And right in the middle of West Seattle, with all Conspiracy comforts a short ride away. Sick, huh?

Then there is the Tampa Bay Devival complete with beach house and some of the best damn preachers in all SubGeniusdom. And my rant this year is guaranteed to be the best goddamn rant you ever heard. If you're within driving distance of Tampa, check it out or kill me.

Never Enough Boots Department

My boot collection continues its mad surge forward, claiming closet space and seeking additional locations to over-run. The most recent attack was most formidable. First, a pair of Brasilian boots in well polished smooth-grained black leather, styled similar to riding boots but without bootstraps due to the placement of a zipper... rather neat and even "fascist" looking... made, appropriately enough, by Coup d'État Ltd. Second, a pair of black rough-grained garment leather thigh-highs with a nearly flat sole, zips at the ankle to facilitate their pulling on and off, and a nice nylon lining to boot. Absolutely comfortable to wear, if a bit big of foot--I had to order a 13 M to ensure it'd be wide enough for my foot. EEP.

Including my paratrooper boots w/ side zip, my stilletto bitch goddess boots, my knee-high flat-soled "pirate" boots, my granny boots, and my day-to-day ankle boots, that brings the leather boots up to seven. Then there's the couple pairs of vinyl ones, the fake suede ones, etc. Those don't count.

Never Enough Love Department

Funny how popular one gets if one posts a picture wearing a pair of boots and a lacy black dress on Yahoo! And it doesn't seem to matter if I make fairly clear I'm almost entirely into women, as most of the instant messages I get are from horny guys wanting me to... to do things to them.

Don't get me wrong. I like things. Things are stuff, and stuff is good, and stuff.

It's mainly that I prefer the shape and smell of a woman. I like where and how they are turned on, which is not always near their crotch. I like the softness of their body hair and the sound of their voices when aroused. Men almost never appeal to me on these sorts of levels. There are exceptions, especially if the exceptions look exceptionally cute crossdressed, but I'm not seeking a guy to make into a forced-feminized sissy slave, HONEST. I don't have the closet space anyhow; I collect boots, remember?

And besides, I have a girlfriend. A wonderful girlfriend, indeed, that shall soon wear my collar.

For the uninitiated, I should state there's a monosyllabic interjection I like to use now and then: "HNEE". It's the nasal sound a pervert makes, and it's pronounced "hneeeeee". Think Peter Lorre having a brain spasm over Lauren Bacall's rear view. Think phone calls late at night from asthmatic insomniacs with an obsession for bedsheet stains. Think hnee. Then knock it off, you're starting to creep me out.

FIN