Unlovable
I've been re-reading Esther Pearl Watson's comic series Unlovable. The series is written as a series of single panels illustrating days in a teenage girls diary. The artwork is crude and unflattering but has a compelling reality about it. There's a kind of genius under the trashy scribbles.
I've read two of the books and there's a third I've been keeping an eye out for. After my second reading I decided I had to look up the artist and find out what the deal is with this series. I found an interview where the artist says she actually found a girls diary in a Texas gas station and has been drawing pictures from entries in it. This goes a long way towards explaining why you feel so heartbroken when the girl's friend's abuse her.
Slough Feg Traveller
Since assembling a metal collection for the last post I've found a dozen more heavy metal songs I appreciate. Listening to certain metal songs really helps me concentrate and adds energy to long programming sessions. Strangely, it doesn't work for when I'm writing technical documentation or prose.
I learned the type of metal doesn't matter as much as I thought it would. I started my exploration looking for more doom metal but more frantic death metal works just as well. What's most important is the song should have a heavy bass line. Songs that revel in the lo-fi no-bass sound are just static to my ears. Intelligible lyrics are usually not as good as deep growling but it's not super important. Cattle Decapitation - We Eat Our Young works for programming and is somewhat legible, except when when Donald Duck starts singing about a minute in.
If all you're looking for is heavy instrumental music Master Boot Record fills that niche.
One thing I learned is I hate nu-metal. Bands like linkin park that have a grumbly singer and then a emo wailer drive me up the wall. That tumblr site sometimes goes into streaks of nu-metal and it's irritating having to skip through a bunch of videos.
Still, at the risk of derailing this post completely, that site has brought some hilarious music videos to my attention.
Dethklok - I Ejaculate Fire
The name of this song is hilarious and the video is similarly juvenile.
Powerwolf - Werewolves of Armenia
Be sure to stick around long enough to see the lyrics which were, I have to assume, written by a 13 year old.
For more werewolves you can watch MOONSORROW - Suden Tunti
When Disturb The Dead - Shrine of Urns landed in my feed I thought it was a joke.
This is unironically one of the worst songs I've ever heard. It was so bad I had to find out more. I was wondering if this was a stunt to make the worst metal song of all time but I only found online reviews with ridiculous praise.
This is the kind of track that can easily enchant the audience from the very start. The warmth and awesomeness presented through verses of the track are simply bliss. Each member of the group has contributed to the magnificence of the track, which is pretty evident as no fragment of the track feels incomplete. One can easily let his soul get drowned within the vast creativity of this track.
This has to be a joke but I don't get the point. I'd still rather listen to this than nu-metal.
High On Fire - The Black Plot
This a cool Kirbyesque video and the music meets my programming criteria. The same guys did High on Fire - Fertile green
BEHEMOTH - Christians to the Lions
I get it now. The silly makeup, the props, and the anti-christian imagery are necessary when you're singing about juvenilia. When similar songs are performed by middle-aged men in cargo shorts and backwards ball caps it's cringy and pathetic. The makeup is a message that everyone is in on the joke.
But back to the topic.
Slough Feg isn't music I can use as background noise when programming. The lyrics are intelligible and the melodies are tight and clean. To get a good sense of their sound start with Cauldron of Blood
Their album Traveller is based on an old RPG all about laser battles and space ships and the entire album is set up as a rock opera. I made Amanda listen to it on our drive out to Carrizo plains and we attempted to piece together the story from the lyrics. We ended up listening to the entire album three times on that trip and I've listened to it many times more. Individual songs are OK but when you listen to the whole album it's better. I appreciate songs about about alien spores and mutant hybrid canine bipeds.
A sample of the lyrics (you can read the rest here):
I am a space pirate, you know my name And rogue mining is a dangerous game Imperial navy can't keep up my pace Chasing a rock into Zhodani space
You heard about me in the frontier wars Psionic menace carrying alien spores A living legend in the asteroid mines Avoiding tariffs and imperial fines
One-thousand credits is my humble price Whether it's nickel, iron, stony, or ice Only the wayfaring patron would dare A merchant cruiser, a skyway corsair
It's not a mineral that I seek here High passage, low passage Any way I'm outta here I was born in colonies On fringe worlds of the galaxy Meanwhile in Zhodani space Imperial flagships follow me
Like most metal it's goofy and fun and I like it. Slough Feg has released a half dozen albums with good songs scattered throughout but traveller seems to be the one that's most consistently good.
Update 240611:
The Satanus aeturnus blog disappeared which made me sad and reiterated of the ephemeral quality of the web, but I recently discovered it again under an unfortunate new name: it is what it is.
I don't fully understand how tumblr 'works' - why blogs will disappear without warning and appear again under a different name with no explanation. Generally there's no way to search for people discussing what happened - though maybe my adblocking scripts are hiding critical information.
I only believe this is run by the same guys because it follows the same format; youtube links interspersed with album art and scantly clad women. I found this site by accident after a general search for tumblr death metal content.
Introduction to metal
A tumblr site has fostered my appreciation of metal. I've been listening to more metal these days. I'm not sure if my tastes have changed or if I've finally come to understand the genre and what I like. I don't like screechy hair bands, leopard skin tights, and interminable electric guitar noodling or excessive cymbals and for a long time that and metallica were all I thought existed in the metal space. Now I'm beginning to understand metal, like professional wrestling, is inherently silly and should be viewed in this light. The makeup, fake blood, dark and spooky or hot and angry atmosphere is all part of the aesthetic.
So I ignored the genre until I discovered death is the mother of beauty. This instrumental album is slow, heavy, and a perfect background for when I'm deep in work. It got me looking for more of this type of metal and I floundered. There are tons of metal subgenres. The album I liked was loosely considered 'doom metal' but I'm not sure how descriptive this was because other bands labeling themselves as doom metal didn't sound the same.
Now I've found a tumblr blog that feeds me a continuous stream of scantly clad goth girls and metal videos I have the means of disambiguating my metal feelings. Hopefully this post will serve as a signpost for others.
As I go through this site's RSS feed I've been copying the name of the band and the song, looking up the musical genre (from rateyourmusic.com), and perhaps least useful, making a note of whether I like it or not. I realized afterwards I should have saved the album covers too.
Before I start here's a list of genres.
- Heavy Metal - Heavier outgrowth of Hard Rock featuring greater distortion and intensity along with lesser Blues influences.
- Black Metal - Typified by highly distorted, trebly, tremolo-picked guitars, blast beats, double kick drumming, shrieked vocals, and raw, underproduced sound that often favors atmosphere over technical skills and melody.
- Death Metal - Features distorted, commonly down-tuned guitars; palm-muted and tremolo-picked riffs; aggressive, double-kicked percussion that utilizes various blast beats techniques; abrupt changes in tempo and time signatures; and guttural vocal styles.
- Thrash Metal - Features fast tempos; rhythmically focused, frequently palm-muted riffs; shredding solos; aggressive, often double-kicked drumming; skank beats; and vocal styles ranging from shouts to melodic singing.
- Metalcore - Combination of Hardcore [Punk] and Metal that began to take shape during the mid 1990s, emphasizing breakdowns and greater use of dissonance.
- Post-Rock - Emphasis on timbre, texture, and atmosphere over traditional conventions while often embracing influences from genres not usually associated with Rock.
- Doom Metal - Plodding tempos, repeated chords, and thick, distorted, down-tuned guitars in a style focused on foreboding, atmosphere, and tension.
- Sludge Metal - Combines the slow, dark instrumentals and atmosphere of Doom Metal with the aggressive, harsh screams and shouts credited to Hardcore Punk.
- Deathcore - Fusion of Death Metal and Metalcore.
- Stoner Metal - Combines elements of Doom Metal with elements of Psychedelic Rock and Blues Rock to create a melodic yet heavy sound.
- Gothic Metal - Features heavy, low-mid tempo riffs, somber, gloomy atmosphere accentuated by ethereal keyboards and synthesizer layers, and vocal styles ranging from raspy growls to female operatic singing.
- Folk Metal - Features influences from various types of Traditional Folk Music expressed through melodies and/or traditional instrumentation, notably having a large scene in Europe.
- Djent - Syncopated rhythmic structures, angular melodies, and dissonant chords.
- Pagan Black Metal - Incorporates acoustic guitar and traditional instrument passages, cleanly sung vocals, folk songs' melodies, and paganistic themes.
- Funeral Doom Metal - Features exceptionally slow, funeral dirge-like tempos, heavily distorted, sluggish guitars, mournful atmosphere, and distant, hushed growls and grunts.
- US Power Metal - American style influenced by NWOBHM that features heavily distorted guitars paired with more aggressive riffs, mid-tempo Heavy Metal rhythms, and over-the-top theatrical vocals with fantasy or conceptual themes.
- Death 'n' Roll - Incorporates elements of Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, and Blues Rock while retaining the typical heavily distorted rhythm guitars and gruff vocals.
| Song | Genre | Comment | Rating |
| Disfiguring the Goddess Keeper | Slam Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal, Deathcore | Very complex rhythm, very silly voice. Maybe? |  |
| You don't want to meet us | (couldn't find it on rate your music) | No, the rhythm is complex but the lyrical melody is playschool |  |
| Oni Alone | Progressive Metal, Djent Groove Metal | Technical, Melodic, Nope | |
| Annihilator Armed to the teeth | Thrash Metal, Technical Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Groove Metal | Very conventional - sounds like metallica, Nope. | |
| Vreid Arche | Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal, Black 'n' Roll | Frantic - almost punk, no. | |
| Vreid Disciplined | Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal, Black 'n' Roll | Still some complexity, maybe? | |
| Hooded Menace Elysium of dripping death | Death Doom Metal | No - I dislike noodling and bent guitar | |
| King Parrot need no saviour | Grindcore, Thrash Metal | A bit too frantic and high pitched for my taste but I like I can recognize the lyrics | |
| Evoken Embrace the Emptyness | Funeral Doom Metal, Death Doom Metal | OK |  |
| Evoken Descent into chaotic dream | Funeral Doom Metal, Death Doom Metal | OK | |
| Evoken Too Feign Ebullience | Funeral Doom Metal, Death Doom Metal | Yep, slow complex, melodic. I might get sick of this after a few more listens but I think it's a winner | |
| God Dethroned Illuminati | Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal | No. | |
| Shadow of Intent Melancholy (Instrumental) | Melodic Death Metal, Deathcore | Sounds like boss battle fight music. Not bad. | |
| Crest of darkness god of flesh | Black Metal, Death Metal, Industrial Metal | Not heavy enough? Too fast or frenetic with almost no melody. | |
| BELPHEGOR - Necrodaemon Terrorsathan | Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal | Cool, heavy, fast, with humorous grunting. Basically metal. | |
| Oath of Cruelty - Pounding Hooves of Shrapnel | Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal | I thought this was OK and then it got to guitar twiddling and I lost interest | |
| Father, You’re Not A Father - Immolation | Death Metal | This has the machine gun tempo and crazy rhythm but it's not my cup of tea | |
| Malevolent Creation - Condemned | Death Metal, Thrash Metal | Awesome, I like the energy | |
| ABRAHMA - Lost Forever | Stoner Rock | Not metal | |
| Black Math Horseman - Deerslayer | Doom Metal | This is alright - it doesn't include any grumbling men. It makes me wonder if my appreciation mainly rests on the tempo and how hard the bass hits. | |
| Zoroaster - Firewater | Sludge Metal, Doom Metal, Stoner Metal | No bass, full of high hat noise, and feedback. This isn't metal, it's noise. | |
| Anciients - The Longest River | Progressive Metal | 8:13 has the bass but also guitar noodling - it's not for me. | |
| THE FUCKING WRATH “The Question” | Stoner Metal | This is just punk and thus out of scope. | |
| SKELETONWITCH - FEN OF SHADOWS | Thrash Metal | maybe | |
| Dead Witches - Dead | Stoner Metal, Doom Metal | This has the tempo, and some of the bass but the melody seems simplistic and I'm not keen on the vocals. I'll pass. | |
| Pestilent Death - Pulsating Entrails | Death Metal | Cool name. This is frantic, grumbly, and has lots of high hat. I wish them well but it's not for me. | |
| Eternal Misanthropy of the Black Cosmos - Luciferian Rites | Black Metal | Humorous screeching but not for me. | |
| Luciferian Rites : Conviction of the Nocturnal Raven | Black Metal | More screeching. Somehow I liked this one better than the last. | |
| dreamer - lucifer’s hammer | Death Metal, Symphonic Black Metal, Black Metal | Just a hair band | |
| BELPHEGOR - "Virtus Asinaria - Prayer" | Death Metal, Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal | Kind of slow and simple | |
| ELUVEITIE - Exile Of The Gods | Celtic Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Celtic Folk Music, Celtic Rock, Folk Metal, Neo-Pagan Folk | Too poppy. Is this even metal? | |
| Inside the Serpent’s “I” - Lucifericon | Black Metal, Death Metal | This isn't flashy but it works for me as background drone | |
| Black Sea of Trees - The Spiritual Beast | Post-Rock, Ambient, Atmospheric Sludge Metal | This has high production value but I don't find it very compelling. | |
| Nagelfar | Black Metal, Pagan Black Metal, Melodic Black Metal | Singing in german is extra metal. I dig it. | |
| Aeon of Awareness - Rise of Täne | Black Metal | Heavy bass, sparing use of the high-hat, grumbly men, I think this works. | |
| Chthonic Deity - Drained | Death Metal | could use more bass but otherwise fine | |
| Luciferian - Satanist Victory | Black Metal | not very heavy bass, a frantic tempo, not to be confused with Lucifericon or Luciferian Rites, I think I'll pass | |
| Luciferian - The Path of the Burning Serpent | Black Metal | again missing the bass - leaves me meh | |
| Lux Luciferi - Voice From Dark Ages | Black Metal | Also missing bass - maybe they play too loud for the mics to pick it up? I could get into this otherwise. | |
| Luciferian Insectus - Rule ov Truth | Death Metal | I was liking it until it got to the guitar twiddling bit. | |
| Dark Princess - Topic | Gothic Metal | No. This is fine but it's not what I'm looking for. | |
| Dark Fortress - Twilight | Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal | Meh. Maybe it's too melodic? I liked the bridge but the vocals seem sloppy. Oh here comes the guitar twiddling - that's a nope. | |
| Dark Fortress - Requiem Grotesque | Melodic Black Metal, Black Metal | OK also a no, maybe I just don't like this particular pitch of throaty groaning. The bass and tempo is there. | |
| LACUNA COIL - Swamped XX | Alternative Metal, Gothic Metal, Nu Metal | NO. I see a clear delineation between angst and silliness. This is teenage angst. | |
| BEYOND THE BLACK - Free Me | Symphonic Metal | Definitely silly. I just hope the performer agrees. I can't listen to this ironically. | |
| Slough Feg - Warriors Dawn | Heavy Metal, US Power Metal | This isn't screechy or grumbly and in comparison to everything else in this list I wouldn't consider it metal but I dig this song and I want to know more about this artist. OK, back from the rabbit hole: their songs are almost all about space travel and laser guns and their lyrics are clear. It's possible I'll get tired of this shtick but it's like a collection of songs describing cheesy 1970's sci-fi movies. | |
| HIM - Poison Girl | Alternative Rock, Hard Rock, Acoustic Rock | Not metal. | |
| SKINLESS - Skull Session | Brutal Death Metal, Death Metal | Silly video I would encourage young boys to watch. The music isn't bad though I heard some twiddling. | |
| Armored Saint - Standing on the Shoulders of Giants | Heavy Metal, US Power Metal | No. This is alternative rock. The lyrics are stupid - of they just started guitar twiddling. I don't know why this music makes me so angry (in a bad way). | |
| Stasis - Pallbearer | Alternative Rock | No. This is labelled with the correct genre. I'm still angry about armored saint. | |
| Riverbed - Pallbearer | Doom Metal, Traditional Doom Metal | Doom Metal? No, At best this is alternative rock. | |
| Sleep Token - The Summoning | Alternative Metal, Progressive Metal, Art Pop | More alternative rock. I'm going to start skipping these songs, in a list dedicated to metal they just make me angry | |
| Beyond the Black - Is There Anybody Out There? | Symphonic Metal | No. Kind of stretches the genre term. | |
| Korpse - Genocidal Bloodbath | Death Metal, Death 'n' Roll | Ha, OK, we're out of the alternative woods. This is metal. It's not my cup of tea, but it's undeniable. | |
| Humanity’s Last Breath - Glutton | Deathcore, Progressive Metal, Djent | This is very heavy. I kind of dig it. I liked it more the longer I listened. | |
| Drako US - Pale Tongue | Deathcore, Djent | Too frantic for me. The bridge is a bit alternative. If the lyrics are inane I prefer them to be unintelligible. | |
| Enslaved - Fires in the Dark | Progressive Metal, Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal | No. This is silly but I personally find no value in it. | |
| Infernal Legion - In Hell We Reign | Death Metal | Very simplistic lyrical melody. No. | |
| Serpentine Dominion - Sovereign Hate | Death Metal, Deathcore | It starts interesting but the evanescence/linkin park cut over to a melodic singer is where I draw a line. | |
| Rezurrection - REZN | Doom Metal, Stoner Metal | No. I don't like heavy vocal echo like someone is standing at the back of the stage. Beach house does this almost exclusively. | |
| For a Dead Race - Sauron | Black Metal | Frantic, not enough bass. I'm giving it a pass. | |
| This Plan - Unsane | Post-Hardcore, Noise Rock | No, this skirts the line between alternative and metal. The genre tags are appropriate | |
| WOLFHEART - The Saw | either Black Metal or Melodic Black Metal depending on which wolfheart you're talking about | I was on the fence about this one but when they got to guitar twiddling it cinched it. | |
| Imbroglio - The Drought | Mathcore, Sludge Metal | On the fence with this one. It's heavy and frantic and the audio is a bit too blown out for me? | |
| Goatsnake - Innocent | Stoner Metal, Doom Metal | It has a 1970s aesthetic. It's a bit lightweight after most of the other entries in this list. I'm leaning against it. | |
| Dying of The Light - SION | Metalcore | No. It starts strong but moves into alternative melodies with eye rolling lyrics. It redeems itself at the end with some cool kickdrum but still a pass. | |
| Wage War - Low | Melodic Metalcore, Metalcore, Alternative Metal | No. This is alternative with the same linkin park dip into melody. I'm including it here after I said I'd drop alternative music because of the genre tags. | |
| Grave Desecrator - Sign of Doom | Black Metal, Thrash Metal, Death Metal | Not enough bass and the tempo is a bit frantic. | |
| Nocturnal Graves - The Conqueror’s Flame | Black Metal, Death Metal, Thrash Metal | Again, not enough bass. Maybe this is signature of thrash metal? | |
| Hellishthrone - Through Everlasting War | Black Metal | Very amusing vocals. Missing bass. This is not what I'm looking for. | |
| Spiritbox - Belcarra | Alternative Metal, Metalcore, Progressive Metal | Maybe? This seems to have all the wrong genre tags but I still don't mind. Maybe I'll get sick of it but I think the melody is pleasingly complex | |
| Chained to the Dead - Beheaded by Berryman | Death Metal | The vocals made me laugh. Overall a bit too frantic for me. I'm looking for background noise - this is too much of a distraction. | |
| Ministry - Stigmata | Industrial Rock, Industrial Metal, Electro-Industrial, Post-Punk | This is an old band right? I dig this. | |
| The Poison of Manasseh - Bestia Arcana | Black Metal | The lyrics are slow but the tempo is frantic and the result is barely distinct from noise. I still almost labeled it as a maybe. I don't know what that says. Is this actually good? | |
| Bestia Arcana - To Anabainon Ek Tes Abyssu | Black Metal | This started automatically while I was trying to decide how I felt about the last Bestia Arcana song. The beginning of this one is frightening. For a black metal band they've got a very authentic sound. After 10 minutes of listening I put it in the maybe box. I'm still confused. | |
| Tombs - Once Falls the Guillotine | Sludge Metal | Too frantic for my taste. | |
| Intronaut - Iceblocks | Progressive Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Sludge Metal | Too complex and jarring to have running in the background. I heard another song which was more melodic but definitely alternative. | |
| Intronaut - Fast Worms | Progressive Metal, Atmospheric Sludge Metal, Sludge Metal | This is different from the previous example but still not something I want in my playlist | |
If you're at all interested in discovering metal, satanasaeternus is still posting 5-10 videos a day. I found a few new songs and artists that will go into regular rotation with the rest of my music but can I draw any conclusions from this research? Not really. Doom still seems to be the genre I'm looking for but now I know my tastes are more subtle than the genre categories.
The infrequently updated blog.