Fantano Should Stay Away From Black Metal

... and this article gets a perfect 7/7

This article is a quick shot and a bit of a waste of time. But this piece will shed light on my process of listening to albums and give insights into how I think about art and music. It also may prove useful in the future, since this article should provide context in a way that would be easy to direct people towards if they have any questions.

This article was inspired by a video discussing the popular videogame website IGN and their irrational, chaotic, yet mind-numbingly consistent review process for videogames. The author of the video’s script, mrixrt (watch the video here) raised several salient and interesting points that highlighted why I made the deliberate decision to move away from the method of “good reviewing” I was taught at university. Obviously, many conventions still remain, just with important differences.

The first thing I need to refute is why analysts review art. Despite what many say online, it is not to inform consumers and help them decide what to support with their hard-earned money. When it comes to things like cars, televisions, and guns… product reviews serve to inform consumers. Reviews of art are a means by which an elite inside an art scene or subculture establish standards. Reviews are an important part of forming the rules that guide an artform. Black Metal complicates this a bit, since naturally it follows an iconoclastic and reactionary impulse. Through the decentralized network of respected artists and zines, intense scrutiny has been an essential part of the scene since its creation in the mid-80’s. The internet has continued this tradition of gatekeeping. Reviews and album discussions across social media are the latest decentralized mechanism for building consensus. Justin Horval is a perfect example of what needs to happen with music discourse. In a top-down fashion, Horval drives discussion that sets rules and standards for certain groups within the metal scene. I am not suggesting everyone listen to Horval and accept everything he says. But one must acknowledge that he is an “elite” within online metal discourse and his YouTube videos drive discussions about what good metal bands look and sound like. This is value of reviews and discussion in the metal ecosystem.

Generally, the main things I think about when running through a Black Metal album are:

The artist’s intent; made apparent through the presentation of an album, the style of the music, and any other context available. A great Black Metal album should demonstrate an artist’s commitment to the promises of Black Metal, and clearly communicate an artistic vision or concept behind the art. Generally, I believe a solid concept and set of guidelines   

Related to this is what I will describe as “atmosphere.” I understand there are specific academic connotations that relate back to music theory, but I cannot think of another word to use besides atmosphere. As I use the phrase, atmosphere refers to an album’s ability to immerse a listener and transmit emotions, moods, spaces, and ideas. Good Black Metal has atmosphere, it is something that arises from an artist’s intent and clarity of vision. Fallen Angel Of Doom, Transylvanian Hunger, and (not black metal but) Toxic Holocaust’s Primal Future: 2019 all have great atmosphere. A great album is like a pool. It has depth. It is something that listeners can immerse themselves in, and when they do it changes the mood and temperature of the room… Lazy, minimalistic, and gimmicky “atmospheric black metal” actually has no atmosphere. Which leads into my second point of analysis…

Black Metal is unique among music genres in the way that it’s backward-facing. As a result, the purity of an artist’s intent and their understanding of the genre and where it comes from is of key importance. Lord Humongous is a great new Black/thrash Metal project because the band has an intimate understanding of American Black Metal, paying homage to the history of the genre while simultaneously building upon that foundation. Black Metal bands must be self-aware. They must have an understanding that the artform is about more than just music, or a sound. This is why bands like Deafheaven and Liturgy (Litvrgy..?) suck. They exist outside the history of the genre they are supposedly a part of, and they break the original promises of Black Metal by using the sound as a means of mundane genre-fusion to generate attention from hipsters. It is a huge reason why I am opposed to the excessive categorization of “subgenres” online. The phrases “blackgaze” and “avant-garde black metal” were created expressly so pretentious hipsters could more easily find stupid, gimmicky bands. An artist that fulfills the requirement of pure intent, and demonstrates an understanding of the roots of the music will immediately rank higher than hipster-wank that apes the Black Metal aesthetic. Black Metal loses all its iconoclastic, reactionary edge when it becomes nothing more than a sound used by bands to sell digital downloads.

Speaking of hipster wank, I do not like Anthony Fantano. In many ways, I believe he represents the antithesis of my mindset when approaching albums. Innovation is a word he throws around a lot, and in his reviews, it always carries a positive connotation. Innovation in Black Metal is a complicated subject, since it is usually a negative thing. As I have mentioned, Black Metal is a backward-facing genre. As a result, adherence to the “rules” of the scene is generally more important than pure innovation. Also, most of the Black Metal bands actively trying to innovate end up creating a gimmicky, trite product worth little more than cheap novelty. Like Picasso, in order to positively innovate, an artist must have an incredibly deep understanding of the artform itself. Peste Noire is an example of a great, innovative Black Metal band. Famine understands Black Metal intimately, and everything he does with KPN stems from a desire to incorporate new high-concepts and artistic influences into his records. KPN is a textbook example really, since the debut record, La Sanie Des Siècles… was a well-executed and highly-regarded albeit traditional French Black Metal record. When his debut album began to catch on with hipsters in the scene, Famine resolved to make Folkfuck Folie. It was his attempt to alienate his new fans by rejecting more traditional forms of Black Metal. Instead, Famine opted to double-down on the stranger, more experimental elements of the debut album to create the follow-up record. This is an example of good innovation, and it is rare to find such a well-executed and unique sounding album in the contemporary scene. Often, innovation is a requirement for an album to be considered truly great. Many (like Fantano) would discount an incredible band like Judas Iscariot for not being as innovative as possible. From my perspective, innovation is one of the last things that should be taken into consideration when listening to a Black Metal album. Judas Iscariot is a great project because Akhenaten demonstrates a well-developed understanding of Black Metal that shines through the rough, at times amateurish instrumentation on The Cold Earth Slept Below… While I do believe many of Black Metal’s best albums innovate in one way or another, innovation is usually something that arises as a natural consequence of a band’s process. The riffs and sound present on Transylvanian Hunger did not necessarily come about as a deliberate attempt to create a new sound. A huge number of great Black Metal projects are not innovative at all, intentionally so. They deserve the same level of respect and credit given to a band like Peste Noire that is on the bleeding edge of extreme musical innovation.

A numerical rating scale is important for reviews, and I deliberately choose to rate things on a scale of zero-to-seven. The X/10 “traditional” online review scale is something I have grown to dislike due to the implicit expectations that tend to influence the scale. Rating things “out of ten” is inflated and unnecessary since in reality most reviewers are only going to score an album between five and nine. To avoid any confusion, I opt to use a different numbered scale. That way, when I give an album a “perfect 7/7” it invites conversation instead of the usual complaining about how there “are no perfect albums.” Perfect albums do exist, but that is an entirely separate issue. For me personally, it tends to invite a bit more reflection when I think about the experience of a record.

This ended up being much longer than I initially intended, but I felt motivated to finish it since it became an intellectual exercise for me. I also do see a potential utility in the future if anyone is curious about how I listen to Black Metal and why I put certain albums on up pedestals.

Hail the Underground