September 03, 2016

Death Metal and Black Metal: Themes

So what's death metal about? Usually, answers tend towards aggression and anger, with perhaps the occasional band looking at things from a slightly angsty perspective. Aggression and anger presuppose an obstacle, which is to be got past.

Alright, but aggression and anger at what? This is usually important - it conditions the form in which the anger is expressed. If aggression is central to a musical form, generally, then an obstacle is also central to this musical form - if this musical genre is to be fairly unified despite this, the obstacle hence has to be also fairly uniform.

So what about black metal? Well, usually it's held to be more atmospheric in inclination. This atmosphere can be variable, but it frequently involves more occult themes or landscapes, or if you wish to be brief zones which drift somewhat far from the norm. Alright - but even indie pop can do this. However, indie music about the countryside might take the countryside and write a song about how they went on a visit there and it was nice, but black metal generally speaking takes this location - Satanic or otherwise - and turns it against something else which is prevalent where the music is made. Hence, it is so to speak an invocation: something far away is conjured and tries to make its way into the place the music is made.

So then both of these genres seem to confront obstacles directly - death metal is generally against a certain obstacle, while black metal draws on something which is generally disliked or which is far away, and attempts to import this into a different place. Music doing this tends to fall within these musical styles. This is in some ways different from other styles of metal, which if they do deal with these subjects tend to have to get over their rock elements first, and the encouragement provided by their music. Iron Maiden, for instance, could try to express anger in a similar sense to black metal, but would have to avoid the fact that their music is trying really hard to turn this into a rousing song about albatrosses. In a sense, black and death metal can use rock elements, but they tend to assume this lack of rock elements rather than necessarily enacting it - as such, listeners of these genres are expected to presume that the music isn't rock-oriented because the rest of metal can eschew these, but nonetheless it can wheedle its way in through the back-door in a way which makes black metal seem more respectable as a genre to people more used to rock. In general, a lot of metal can vary between an honest effect, and an effect which is just assumed because it's in a certain genre.

If music is in a metal genre, you might assume that notes which counter the image associated with this - with more pop or rock tendencies - are somehow in harmony with this genre or are more critical of these other genres than they actually are. This usually helps the metal in question. However, in some cases, it can avoid certain things which would actually make things more appealing for the pop cultural environment they were in, as for instance with Candlemass' 'Seven Silver Keys':



While the album was generally touted as highly 'retro,' albeit in a limited manner, this song is slightly more 'current' than one might suspect. If one observes the initial riff in terms of its rock elements as well as the doom 'atmosphere,' it actually resembles in some ways a doom and undercutting version of Paramore's 'Misery Business' opening, to give an example of some of the pop music current at the time. In this sense, it's quite an effective counter to such musical tendencies, and in general the contrast makes the doom metal elements stand out. Instead of just automatic positivity, it takes its more negative approach to offer up an image of hope from a dark situation, which is in a way more powerful but due to its critical premises - images of darkness are generally critical of something, in this case of more than people are comfortable with - it is unlikely to catch on.

Of course, Candlemass could also use rock elements in a way which was far more likely to get in the way of their 'doom' aesthetic, as occurs at times on 'Assassin of the Light' or 'Dark are the Veils of Death.' In these scenarios, while their identification as 'doom metal' can obscure these tendencies in the music, this is ultimately misleading. Past a certain point, a form of music being part of a 'genre' means that listeners are also constructing an artificial version of the album which is in harmony with this genre or sub-genre's associations, rather than listening the music with its many issues and so on.

Ultimately, death and black metal can be quite obscure, because to produce an atmosphere involving an obstacle of some sort involves continually relying on this object or renewing it, and hence this becomes disruptive towards the music if it becomes their 'thing' over time. While there are many popular forms which use death metal trappings, this is in a sense something that death metal doesn't do much to avoid, because in a way bands are attempting to prop up things which oppose it, which does lead to compromised tendencies which less metal bands can easily latch onto. While death metal opposes various things, pop music will generally tend to be the form in which these are glorified, and hence forms like melodic death metal are possible in some way due to tracing this conflict in a way which suits the forms.  It can very easily come across as slightly stilted in its treatment of each form, however, and makes more sense as a result of death metal than something which exists elsewhere.

Bands in death metal can also use this general format of opposing an obstacle to offer general reflections on suffering, etc. This kind of thing generally tends to be slightly slower than other death metal bands, and tries to leave more space for the topics to be conveyed. It also tends to be atheistic in tone, as with Immolation, because God offers up a general and all-pervading image of an obstacle which can therefore easily be opposed. These bands are, so to speak, adversaries, not typically flag-bearers for some religion's 'God.' Black metal is slightly more constrained to what is found in a given location, and hence bands there which go in this kind of direction tend more towards the image of this location - satirically or not - than otherwise. Death metal is generally more compatible with lyrics-based music - it is somewhat textual in nature. Black metal can be lacking for musicians who wish to convey some sort of message or view in detail, like Varg Vikernes - nonethless, lyrics-based black metal would be a fairly impressive feat if carried on coherently, and not falling into being primarily death metal in the process.

In general, then, an image of these genres could be formed in terms of obstacles which are both part of the music, and which are also tackled or cleared out of the way in some form. The genres offer different takes on this general format. Hence, black metal tends towards the occult and pagan or things like NSBM, while death metal can often incorporate horror elements and so on. However, what is the nature of the obstacles faced by each genre? While death metal can default to anti-religious themes, it needn't always do so. In general, then, death metal involves themes of an obstacle to be faced, which is the general thematic basis of the genre, but the nature of this varies. It is something that can be taken on directly, and is hence something which appears, but it needn't be a single thing and must present itself directly if the music is to portray it as well, and hence death metal can be summarised as opposing itself to an image, albeit not a static or silent one. The images are something protected, or something which must be attacked and taken on, and likewise something which does not simply stay still be impinges on their space. Conversely, black metal, as we've noted, opposes itself to a landscape or area - but which one? Generally, it is a Christian form, but nonetheless this Christianity is something diffused rather than being kept within a specialised format - it is hence a Christian city rather than a church, a place where Christianity of some form is the predominant religion in a not specifically religious area. Hence, black metal generally seeks a 'religious' view if it needs one which is far from this area, set in natural places, but this could mislead - to make nature an object of religion is not necessarily to view it as more than exotic. Of course, these places are in a sense Christian by accident rather than inherently, and as such black metal's ties to the Satanic aren't always strict.

In general, then, while the choler the leads unto death metal is one of being impinged upon by some or other aesthetic object, or something which is straightforwardly presented and forces a response, black metal is a genre which attempts to find some form of shelter among the intrusive aspects of city culture. Different bands can integrate elements of both, as they are similar genres. Nonetheless, in a sense black metal is also a genre which is highly vulnerable to incursions of rock tendencies, and in a sense is similar to ambient sound, but played in the form of a song. If you attempted to play an old vinyl record in a similar pattern to an ambient or dark ambient record, you would probably end up with something resembling black metal.

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