Quote from: I. Rex on November 21, 2024, 06:50:17 PMIf we talk about Noise\Industrial in general, then, as a rule, everything depends on the context in which the author puts his work and on the perception of a particular person.
Harsh Noise, as mentioned above, is quite flexible in this aspect and often you can change the cover, change the track names and get a completely different impression of the same material. Often, but of course not always. There are projects, in which the author uses nature sounds, such as grass rustling, wind sounds, etc., which are distorted later to unrecognizable extent. And what supposedly should sound like something life-affirming sounds aggressive for an unprepared listener, despite the fact that the source material is field recordings of nature, and on the cover instead of corpses and blood, for example, the same nature elements or a nice photo of the author. On the contrary - some Industrial, which is quite soft sounding, can be perceived as something sinister, due to the relevant design or concept.
In Death/Black metal you are still limited to certain themes, usually related to the dark aspects of the human psyche, or reality in general. But not always performers working in such genres pursue the purpose to glorify death in any of its manifestations, for example NSBM carries a "positive" message that death, destruction, etc. are necessary to achieve the "higher purpose", whatever it is expressed in. That is, all "negative" aspects serve to achieve a "good" for a certain type of people. Grindcore is not always about bursting skulls and guts, you can find a lot of politicized bands that are "positive" in that they highlight the problems of social inequality, fight, as they believe, for someone's rights, etc. But for a person who is not in the subject, it's all just a lot of noise with crazy screams that he want to stay away from :) And in that respect, all of the above genres are, of course, inherently negative.
Interesting observation/perspective on death and black metal. I've always thought of death metal as simply just as an observation of "death", as if the band and or authors of genre are simply just putting fourth the grim details on display for the listener under the extreme imaginary or even sometimes stark realities of death as a whole down to the nitty gritty details of the entire scope of death and even sounds of a more extreme version of thrash metal, so it still lives within those confines of that type of counter culture. Black metal on the other hand feels more cathartic, especially when it comes to feelings of general misanthropy, I personally have always felt black metal to be a place of sanctification when it comes to such ideals. Growing up in Christian school until 6th grade and having Jesus be the prerequisite of every day mundane "life" got an instant backlash from me even as a child and in those days, which in turn would come with some unjust consequences for having such opinions, so black metal for me personally is a bit of sanctuary in anti religious thought, that I felt comforted in a way that I can trust, because all of my own feelings are invested with such notions against religion and it also gives the confidence to know that we are not alone, but we are a "legion" satanic pun intended, haha...I think there is some gratitude to be found for certain types of blasphemous expressions, it feels right and it feels just at times to a point of ecstasy. Putting goats heads upon stakes for live performance, giving an ode to everything against Christ...that feels exhilarating and very positive! There is a sense of positivity in what some those would call "evil" or "negative" that which only feeds more enlightenment to ingrained ideals that are commonly against organized religion. Religion in general has always felt to me like a form of terror and the only way to extinguish such terror is to override it with more terror. Satan metaphorical or metaphysical for some, never the less has been a great tool for black metal and for me personally has been merely just a weapon of blasphemous justification.
On another note I'd like for anyone who is remotely into black metal to do themselves a favor and to throughly check out Clandestine Blaze - Tranquility Of Death album, in my opinion and for whatever it's worth is a prime modern example of how black metal can be examined in a much more magnified, refined and matured version of maybe more modern ideas of misanthropy that relate more philosophically and really need more proper recognizing, maybe more than ever before and not to even mention the great music aside, because for me that album alone stands as an emotional testament within my own feelings inside of me and almost comes as a final conclusion or full circle in such a cathartic way. It brings almost a peace to a resolve in dealing with life, perhaps for those who's view of world and life in likeminded when it comes to the "end", perhaps that is my own interpretation of it, but think all black metal folk should give a listen and gather their own opinions, would be interesting to hear what other feelings on the matter and what they think. Thus, why I love black metal so much, it's the one genre where the world by and large could label it as "negative", but to the listener of such music, I'd say more often than not is the only true and real expression of freedom and sanctity from this world laid out in religious moral order that has influence even today still lingering.
