Leviathan / Acherontas - Sic Luceat Lux
June 17 2009 at 08:39:02 PM
So shines the light. So that we may better see? Right? I figured Leviathan’s popularity was in some way bound to Vans-clad moper, Xasthur. Not so. As the message board crew sours on Scott Conner’s stock, SF tattoo artist Jef Whitehead apparently has oodles of staying power; as he can toss off yet another split – his sixth if you’re counting – and still garner the sort of potboiling fanfare I mostly reserve for Nazareth’s
Hair of the Dog.
Work that job. Drag out the digital drum kit. Play those tremolo-picked riffs. Do the
Amityville Horror Haus vox. Ashen face. Thumbs turned down. Frown. Rack up an album side; break them into manageable bits and festoon them with Poe-via-Verlaine titles. “To a Grotesque Swollen Flesh…” Fireside tales about corpulent tattoo customers?. “Tentacle over Tentacle.” Cool new website for damaged goods with ink fetishes… “Secret Skulls [Dude].” Etc. The one-sheet may as well say Celtic Frost-meets-DJ Shadow-meets-Christian-Death-meets-“Neo-Folk!” Maybe it does; I haven’t seen it. (There’s another four songs from another band here with somewhat better titles [“Velvet Aurora” is not one of them,] but musically they are amazingly far less interesting than Whitehead’s mailed-in “Metal,” which is to say they really suck.)
A massive part of the my initial appeal for this guy’s music was the sociological conundrum I eventually figured bogus: “How can people in California possibly be making Black Metal?” The premise being one of the necessary conditions for said genre is snow. Leviathan sidesteps this by incorporating awkward blasphemy – “Liar of Nazareth;”
Howl Mockery at the Cross – and actually using the words “Black Metal” in a four-way split title, viz. the Venomesque
Black Metal Against the World. Hell, yeah… Add a few cover-art paintings depicting “DEMONS” and, voila, Black Metal. He don’t need no snow. But does anyone really need Leviathan? The question is perfectly valid considering all the e-ink spilt on the guy rationalizing his “place” in the “USBM” pantheon. It’s irrational. It’s impulsive. It’s boundless. Oh, it must be love! Cue Nazareth: “Some fools think of happiness / Blissfulness, togetherness / Some fools fool themselves I guess / They’re not foolin’ me.”
[Stewart Voegtlin]
Leviathan/Acherontas
Sic Luceat Lux
2009
Zyklon-B Productions
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Utah > California & Georgia (although I'm sure the humidity can bring on a mean depression)
Wisconsin > Utah
Norway > Wisconsin
Norway v Finland v Sweden ??????
Comments in defense of Leviathan: Zero
Comments disparging my place of residence: Two
Comments about comments: Five
Comments attacking writer's writing: One
Conclusion: You're all a bunch of fucking pussies.
I guess it's because I once witnessed Jef feeding Scott oysters from the shell in this really terrible raw bar near the bay a few years ago.
Scott was giggling like Shirley Temple and kept begging Jef to take his latex gloves off. It was loud in there and Donna Summer kept playing, but I could tell this was no friendly lunch. The horror of it all...
If your experience is any indicator maybe I'll hate them too in a few years... but I doubt it.
I mean, I guess I'm not talking about the music qua music if I'm talking about style, reputation, residence, or philosophy. That couldn't possibly mean I'm reviewing the "music qua music," could it?
While you ponder that, I'll get back to my mezcal qua mezcal... Tchus.
Besides, I'm sure you could write an essay on Wrest's tentacle obsession. What is the deal with that?
Sometimes I wonder about the necessity of harsh living conditions necessary to create effective black metal. Doesn't Wrest live in San Francisco? My initial reaction to that is 'sounds pretty nice.' But if what I've read around the internet messageboards is true, then I guess he has attempted suicide at least once and I suspect the affair was the subject for the song VI-XI-VI. The fact that lyrics for this song are omitted in the booklet suggest that it could be a particularly personal subject he does not feel comfortable speaking about so openly. If you ask me, someone who has attempted suicide is probably unhappy and that could be all the pain one would require to create black art, making regional weather patterns irrelevant at best since someone so self-absorbed couldn't appreciate sun or snow anyway.
I haven't checked out this release or wanted to but after typing up a response in Wrest's defense, I'll at least run a search.
I'm going to second your sarcasm and agree with you. I can't imagine anything more dull than reading about guitar tone.
At any rate, props to Voegtlin and company for treating metal as though it has content worth talking about. Raw sound is important, but I get enough discussion of that elsewhere, frankly, and really, how much is there to say about it? The "just about the riffs" stance that a lot of metal fans purport to subscribe to is, in my opinion, a large part of why people think this genre is exclusively for boneheads. I mean, holy shit, if you're going to be an adult who listens to songs about the devil and nazis and crap, you better have something to say about it.
As for Voegtlin's stylistic approach, it seems appropriate to me. I mean, the "meaning" of a lot of this music is kind of hard to put your finger on anyway: a certain amount of artful obscurantism seems stylistically appropriate. At least it gives the music more dignity than the Ayn Rand meets Elvira symbolic reading it tends to receive.
As for the release, eh, I'm not that interested in it. I don't have a problem with either Leviathan or Xasthur per se (I used to listen to Telepathic with the Deceased a lot to help myself fall asleep. Ha! No really, I did. It was calming). There are just enough great releases out there and I have little enough money that this would have to be pretty mind-blowing for me to throw down for it.
leviacrap, cannot think about that dude without thinking about the other guy, ksaschthuurrrrr.
whatever happened to that crebein (sp?wtf!) that
one was comical also.
F.O.A.D. !!
But please don't bring up CREBAIN ! ! ! I know LVTHN is "down" with 'im but fuckin' CRBN has a black metal ring tone. FCK FF CRBN ! ! !
"Thou Shalt Not Be Called As A Man While He'll Have One Ring Tone"
Scene: Jef asleep in his tattoo parlor. Overcome with boredom. A mysterious, dark robed figure peers through the front window, a sad expression painted on his white face. The door chime sounds...
We've contacted Triumph, the comic insult dog, to see if he'll cover it for LHP on opening night.
CREBAIN CREBAIN CREBAIN ! !!! !!
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/arts/music/21play.html?_r=2&ref=music
what most excited me was the news that YOB's new one is coming next month. Awesome!!!
Also, the authors response to Astral Zombies perfectly valid observation was so immature and devoid of humor that it has confirmed my suspicion that these reviews are written by teenagers with too much time and a thesaurus. I personally suggest you find out who's parents are out of town and enjoy your youth instead of making more vain attempts to criticize music.
Our attempts to criticize music are "vain," yet compel you to comment....