Flat Black which was is Jason Hook, old guitarist from FFDP, started a new band a couple years ago. This is a song called “A Little Bit of Lightning.” th-cam.com/video/Du05OPqP4M8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hJO2b8by6rOSCU
I think it's very surface-level to suggest that, in this sort of black metal, atmosphere trumps everything else and therefore the composition and lyrics are less important elements. I do sometimes hear fans of this stuff suggest that that is the case, but to me that is a very superficial level of enjoyment. I think people who really, really love this stuff, who spend lots of time seeking out obscure tapes by anonymous musicians and who often make projects along these lines themselves, get into it on a deeper level than "it's all about the atmosphere, dude." You suggested that the way the reverberations were layering melodies and sometimes creating dissonance was interesting but suggested that could be accidental. Why would it be? This was recorded in 2017, a time where having a clear production is probably a hundred times easier than having a rough, analogue sound like you'd hear with typical home recording setups from the 80s or early 90s, i.e. a 4-track tape recorder with a single cheap mic set up somewhere in the middle of the room. Production choices like these in the modern era are absolutely intentional and used not only to evoke the nostalgia of that DIY spirit but also for important reasons in the sound of the recording itself. Why is there heavy reverberation? As a listener, we are meant to envision night spirits howling away in some vast cave or crumbling cathedral, not some *person* intimately articulating their thoughts into a crystal clear condenser mic in a pristine recording studio. I've mentioned it before but one of the most central elements of enjoying music like this is that the elements of beauty, simple as they may be, are intentionally obscured behind sheets of white noise and compression, recording setups that drop out the low end, mixing that folds instruments and vocals in on one another, drumming techniques that obfuscate the beat (which could be the most basic type of enjoyment a lot of people get out of music), guitar playing that renders single notes or chords into washes of sound further hidden by distortion, inhuman vocals that make the lyrics harder to pin down...the list goes on. You could say this is all a lot of pretentious smoke and mirrors and maybe it is, but this is pure intention. For the themes being explored in this kind of music, what little light there is remains hidden far beyond the depths of darkness, and it's there for us to find either as some light at the end of the tunnel or as a dwindling candle far behind us as we make the plunge into the abyss. Removal of that obfuscation to lay the simple melodies and lyrics bare would be entirely missing the point. This is countercultural art that expresses the darkest elements of the human experience, so pushing it closer to pop music through clearer production and more varied compositions that do not reflect the purgatory of depression or despair makes zero sense.
Definitely interesting listen. Unusual production for the genre, raw black metal tends to be tinny instead of reverb-heavy. Seemed less draining than other black metal?
A interesting listen, but even as a black metal listener, I find this a bit too repetitive. An unusual request as it is technically 4 songs plus an intro, but have to be listened as 1 song: Fields of the Nephilim - Intro / (Dead But Dreaming) / For Her Light / At The Gates Of Silent Memory / (Paradise Regained)
"I wish it sounded like anything else" is so funny to me for some reason
Respect to the person who picked black cilice. One of the kings of truly lo-fi raw black metal.
Flat Black which was is Jason Hook, old guitarist from FFDP, started a new band a couple years ago. This is a song called “A Little Bit of Lightning.”
th-cam.com/video/Du05OPqP4M8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hJO2b8by6rOSCU
I think it's very surface-level to suggest that, in this sort of black metal, atmosphere trumps everything else and therefore the composition and lyrics are less important elements. I do sometimes hear fans of this stuff suggest that that is the case, but to me that is a very superficial level of enjoyment.
I think people who really, really love this stuff, who spend lots of time seeking out obscure tapes by anonymous musicians and who often make projects along these lines themselves, get into it on a deeper level than "it's all about the atmosphere, dude." You suggested that the way the reverberations were layering melodies and sometimes creating dissonance was interesting but suggested that could be accidental. Why would it be? This was recorded in 2017, a time where having a clear production is probably a hundred times easier than having a rough, analogue sound like you'd hear with typical home recording setups from the 80s or early 90s, i.e. a 4-track tape recorder with a single cheap mic set up somewhere in the middle of the room. Production choices like these in the modern era are absolutely intentional and used not only to evoke the nostalgia of that DIY spirit but also for important reasons in the sound of the recording itself. Why is there heavy reverberation? As a listener, we are meant to envision night spirits howling away in some vast cave or crumbling cathedral, not some *person* intimately articulating their thoughts into a crystal clear condenser mic in a pristine recording studio.
I've mentioned it before but one of the most central elements of enjoying music like this is that the elements of beauty, simple as they may be, are intentionally obscured behind sheets of white noise and compression, recording setups that drop out the low end, mixing that folds instruments and vocals in on one another, drumming techniques that obfuscate the beat (which could be the most basic type of enjoyment a lot of people get out of music), guitar playing that renders single notes or chords into washes of sound further hidden by distortion, inhuman vocals that make the lyrics harder to pin down...the list goes on. You could say this is all a lot of pretentious smoke and mirrors and maybe it is, but this is pure intention. For the themes being explored in this kind of music, what little light there is remains hidden far beyond the depths of darkness, and it's there for us to find either as some light at the end of the tunnel or as a dwindling candle far behind us as we make the plunge into the abyss.
Removal of that obfuscation to lay the simple melodies and lyrics bare would be entirely missing the point. This is countercultural art that expresses the darkest elements of the human experience, so pushing it closer to pop music through clearer production and more varied compositions that do not reflect the purgatory of depression or despair makes zero sense.
Amen.
Definitely interesting listen. Unusual production for the genre, raw black metal tends to be tinny instead of reverb-heavy. Seemed less draining than other black metal?
Check out Revorum ib malacht Catholic black metal from Sweden walls and walls of sound.
Amazing band, they truly plough their own furrow.
if anyone wants to check out what melodic black metal with this kind of reverb-soaked production looks like, give Koldovstvo - Ни царя, ни бога a shot
That’s a great shout!
When you know after .5seconds
A interesting listen, but even as a black metal listener, I find this a bit too repetitive.
An unusual request as it is technically 4 songs plus an intro, but have to be listened as 1 song: Fields of the Nephilim - Intro / (Dead But Dreaming) / For Her Light / At The Gates Of Silent Memory / (Paradise Regained)
Portugal 🤘
0:24 wow he was so hyped for it he even started attuning to the roar of it immediately even before track started! 🥰
Black cilice dope af truly lo-fi. 1st comment
Good song, the vocals could be slightly more distorted.
please react to best finnish prog-rock band : kingston wall : iii tri-logy, track : "The Real Thing"
You should try Seeds by Exotic Animal Petting Zoo
Raw bm