ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE? MORE LIKE ABSOLUTELY, TAKE YOUR ATTENTION ELSEWHERE!
Presenting, Two Albums From 2024 You Should Listen To Instead Of Blood Incantation
Like last year, I am going to avoid the exhausted format of the “album of the year” list. The tradition at Elitist Tendency, it seems, is to write about the two albums released in the past year that left the biggest impact. They are the “best” albums released in 2024 from my perspective, but do not interpret this article as a part of the “album of the year” consensus. I listened to more new albums in 2024 than I normally do, but the high-speed treadmill of new music hype and the subsequent repetitive review cycles are exhausting and not something I want to participate in. These two albums are well worth your time, and represent two interesting focal points on the cultural landscape of extreme music.
I have written more about Skinhead music and culture in the past month than I ever have before. So, it feels only natural I would include Slugger’s debut full-length album, Dead State. This album arrived as a surprise, dropping in early November online with subsequent physical releases selling out in hours. Slugger is a California Oi band that began putting out music in early 2022, fronting a more traditional skinhead image. While I have enjoyed their previous demos and EPs, Slugger was a band that I felt was always missing something. The songs were always solid… but a combination of subtle factors in the production and delivery always kept me from loving the music. I know from social media Slugger has spent a lot of time and energy playing concerts in their local scene. Any amount of research online will reveal the respect they have earned from concert goers and the boost the band has given the skinhead scene on the West Coast. Any punk rock group that pulls off a cover of “Fortunate Son” without sounding corny or clichéd (check out the Rabid Dogs EP for that) is deserving of respect. I appreciate that a lot of these Oi revival bands are putting more energy into making the music “real” and playing live shows instead of cranking out studio albums for streaming. But, there is a certain amount of credibility that bands demonstrate when they cut a solid full-length album. Slugger has managed to translate their success on the road into a studio album, and Dead State is a clear demonstration of the band's credibility going forward.
Dead State is more than just a solid record, I believe Slugger has put out the best record to date in this on-going nationwide Oi revival. Dead State is the quintessential “all-killer-no-filler” record, totally devoid of uninspired moments. I want to hear every song, there are few Oi records where I want to take in each riff hit-by-hit like this. It is also rare to find an Oi record that is so refined and well-balanced, evidence of Slugger’s hard work on the road hammering out issues and ensuring they had a run of songs that were worth listening to. The best example of this is their song featured towards the end of Dead State, “No. 1 Crop.” Slugger featured a recording of this song on a Split album they contributed to in March of this year. I listened to the split and it was obvious “No. 1 Crop” was a good song, but like previous Slugger releases there was something missing. The version of “No. 1 Crop” on Dead State will rip your face off. With scientific precision, Slugger cut all the fat off “No. 1 Crop” and turned it into an anthem. The band sounds more practiced on Dead State. Most of the songs included on the record debuted on previous EPs and demos. But the band pulled everything together and took Dead State to a whole new level. The tracks are uniformly better on this full-length release. Dead State is faster, harder, and more confident. This is my favorite kind of subtle improvement across subsequent releases.
The riffs are great, but the reason Dead State stands above all the other new punk records I listened to this year is the lyrical content and aesthetic of the record. Oi is great because it shifts the original formula of punk away from nihilism. Oi believes in something. Dead State is a perfect example of this attitude that attracted me to skinhead music in the first place; righteous populist indignation, tempered by optimism and a positive vision and hope for the future. Dead State does not, however, feel like a fleeting one-off experience in the vein of countless other punk outfits. Unlike a lot of more “traditional” punk, Oi has a degree of maturity and stability that contrasts bands like Sex Pistols or Germs. Slugger still has plenty of gas in their tank to follow up on this moment. Riding on the back of the album’s rugged cultural optimism, I feel that Slugger could produce an album to rival this one. The lyrics are evidence of this, and a counterpoint against my drawn conclusions on the stuck nature of Oi and skinhead culture. A huge reason why Black Metal is so dynamic and relevant in the current moment is because it is simultaneously forward and backward-facing as an artform. Black Metal has an acute awareness of its history while exhibiting vision for the future of its aesthetics. Oi, on the contrary, is entirely backwards facing and stuck in a cultural moment between the early-80’s and mid-90’s. Dead State is an album that bolsters the idea that this Oi revival is capable of producing a new aesthetic to carry the momentum forward. “Humboldt Ave” is the best example, lyrically, of this. My favorite line on the album arrives immediately before the second chorus: “I can tell you stories ‘bout the ghosts on Humboldt Avenue, and as the years go by I’m wondering if I am one too…” This line casts skinheads and the subculture Slugger represents in a new light. The band carries the torch of a tradition through their image and attitude. Skinheads haunt their scenes, they are ghosts haunting a Dead State… playing out this ritual of Oi while trying to correct the shortcomings of the culture they experienced as younger men and the “legacy bands” they grew to despise. If you watch the videos posted online of Slugger performing, it is easy to get an impression of Tommy’s mindset as an artist. Tommy hammers on the need for young people to get heavily involved in the production of culture again, which is something I appreciate. The track off Dead State, “New Generation” is the band’s mission statement in this regard. There is no ideology or ham-fisted moral message though, simply a call to “break the mold.” This is why Slugger’s Dead State won out against Violent Way’s Oi! This Is Violent Way in terms of “impact.” Dead State matches Violent Way in providing a hardlined tough and masculine image glorifying working class America, but ups the ante by providing this additional positive aesthetic vision for skinheads and related subcultures. Slugger has proven themselves as a band that consistently ups the ante, and if you like the music coming out of this Oi revival Dead State is now required listening. Slugger is leading the vanguard at present. This is the kind of anti-nihilistic, relatable, and tough aesthetic that will
Nachtmystium is a band I have always been aware of, but only recently became familiar with. In terms of the original US Black Metal scene, I believe Nachtmystium is the “true” heir to the title the American Burzum. The comparison is cumbersome, since the cultural conditions that produced Burzum in Norway were very different from the American cultural moment that produced Nachtmystium. But I believe the two bands share a similar mindset of individualism, innovation, and challenging the conventions of extreme culture. Nachtmystium is a band that was rooted in an ultra-traditional Black Metal aesthetic, but grew to embody a sound and aesthetic that influenced culture far outside the realms of Black Metal. While many hate the bands that Nachtmystium irrefutably influenced, including myself, no one can deny the credibility of Blake Judd and the original Nachtmytsium lineup. They are, along with several others, the progenitors of US Black Metal. They played an instrumental part in developing the unique identity of the American scene, regardless of the stinking bombs they may have dropped during the height of Blake Judd’s addiction. The later albums, in addition to the band’s track-record of exposing a hipster-tourist crowd to Black Metal have not sullied my experience of the band’s earlier material. Blake Judd has, for a long time, been a proponent of pushing-boundaries in the genre. It should come as no surprise that innovative attitude, mixed with a cocktail of hard drugs, would invariably result in a couple bad albums.
The reemergence of Nachtmystium is something that came as a complete surprise to me. The realization that it was Blake Judd leaving comments under my posts on X, and the cycle of publicity by Prophecy Productions alluding to a new album were things I watched with great interest. I was sent a couple tracks by the band months before the release of Blight Privilege, and I immediately recognized and enjoyed the new direction the band was taking. Recalling my earliest impressions, Blight Privilege did not feel like a revolutionary effort of innovation; but a triumphant return. The three sample tracks I was sent all bled wisdom, vision, and tempered aggression. When the album was released in early November, I saw Blight Privilege come to fruition as a triumphant return for an infamous Black Metal band. While it is not revolutionary in its sound, it is somewhat revolutionary in its concept and aesthetic. This is a real album, and it is refreshing digging into Black Metal that takes the art to a more personal and introspective level. I have a deep interest in the lyrics of Blight Privilege… which is exceedingly rare, considering it is a new Black Metal record. I am tired of bands rehashing the same motifs of SATAN!! and EVIL!! over-and-over again. I believe Black Metal is deserving of a scope that goes beyond the singular note of devil-worship. That is why Nachtmystium ultimately won out over the likes of Satanic Warmaster and Auld Ridge, Blight Privilege is a relatable album to many of us. This is the kind of Black Metal I find meaningful…
I know you’re tough anon, but are you tough enough… to feel?
This is a revolutionary album, in my mind, because Nachtmystium has created something antithetical to a lot of the new Black Metal releases that come across my radar. I dislike using the word “fake,” but recently there has been a glut of bands creating an image and aesthetic ex-nihilo. There are no gimmicks on Blight Privilege, just artistic exploration leading into Nachtmystium’s revival. The title track of Blight Privilege is the realest Black Metal song I heard in 2024, in large part due to the lyrical content. Additionally the opening tracks, “Survivor’s Remorse” and “Predator Phoenix,” serve as a cathartic fuck you to the Neill Jamesons of the world. Blight Privilege has more than just meaningful lyrics and vocal delivery. The guitar work and drumming across the record, in addition to the subtle synth-work and goddamn steel guitar (track 3 is incredible) demonstrates Nachtmystium’s experience and ability composing satisfying tracks with solid riffs. Maximum-Nacht-Kommander Judd did a great job layering the leading melodic guitars. They weave the songs together, building tension and resolving in a way that reminds me of Taake’s guitar work. At the same time, tracks like “Conquistador” (my second favorite behind “Blight Privilege”) strip these more melodic elements away to demonstrate the band’s ability to compose incredibly solid old school Black Metal riffs. The first time I heard “Conquistador,” I was surprised with how effortlessly Nachtmystium changed gears from moody melodicism to punchy D-beats. I love the style of this song, it feels like a cutaway historical reference Iron Maiden or Saxon would make on an album. The drumming on “Conquistador” is also a beautiful demonstration of Black Metal’s rhythmic roots and I was struck by Francesco Miatto’s acumen and understanding of how to execute something besides blast-beats on a Black Metal record. Reflecting on the music as I write this, I believe I enjoy Blight Privilege so much because it reminds me of 90’s Burzum and Darkthrone releases. Nachtmystium sounds auteur here in the vein of early Darkthrone and Burzum. The songs on the record are varied in terms of sound, pace, and energy. Blight Privilege does not reach the highest heights of Under A Funeral Moon or Hvis Lyset Tar Oss obviously… But Nachtmystium demonstrates a more traditional philosophy of how a Black Metal record should come together. The jump from “Predator Phoenix” to “A Slow Decay” in particular reminded me of Darkthrone’s well-known method of following faster tracks with slow ones. I do appreciate when bands cobble together an incredibly focused aesthetic and manage an immersive album experience (Fanisk is the first band that comes to mind), but the glut of new bands striving for deeply immersive experiences have me burned out. It makes Blight Privilege a refreshing return to the classic formula of album-building. Blight Privilege’s production is far from necro, but I found the more modern “wall of sound” style fitting for the types of songs the band was putting together. Traditional corpse-sound does not work when you have steel guitars layered over multiple instruments. I do not know if Blight Privilege was the “best” Black Metal album of 2024, but it was the album that delivered the most engaging experience. I want to hear more from Nachtmystium, Blight Privilege feels like the beginning of a new era for the band. I resonate with this style of introspective Black Metal. The album represents the best of the genre’s anti-nihilistic edge and capacity to address modernity. At least, that is what Blight Privilege means to me. Whether or not one is interested in the overarching ideas associated with the lyrics of the album is, to an extent, irrelevant. Musically, I believe Blight Privilege also delivers. It is an album firmly rooted in the best of the second-wave, and subtly innovates in a way that respects Black Metal’s history and demonstrates Nachtmystium’s understanding of the genre in the best way. I believe Blight Privilege is well worth your time. Real US Black Metal, with ties back to year zero of Black Metal around the Chicago area. Nachtmystium is back, and I appreciate that the band did not perform a forced, lame-ass apology tour in the leadup to the album’s release. Countless other bands would have waxed-apologetic to the music journalists and moralists, and a vast majority of online critics could not have handled hitting rock-bottom in such a public way. Blake Judd did a lot of people dirty in previous years, but I know a lot of us find his return a point of inspiration. I think it is really fuckin’ cool he managed to turn such a shitty situation into a great piece of art.
There was a lot of great music released in 2024, Emika’s two new records come to mind… But these two records stood out in my mind as definitive moments in my year. Go listen to these two albums if you have not heard them already, I immensely enjoyed revisiting them for the purposes of writing this article. They both stand as stark examples of real music being made in the current year by true believers in their respective genres. Nachtmystium and Slugger are beautifully anti-pretentious and I look forward to their future output as artists. I have been given a few sneak peeks at Nachtmystium’s upcoming album, Street Sweeper, and I believe I will be writing about it too following its release. I seriously hope I can catch both Nachtmystium and Slugger live in the near future, they are two bands I would be willing to travel for…
Happy New Year, and Hail The Underground.