Weapon - Drakonian Paradigm
July 22 2009 at 06:42:30 AM
Go ahead and move the stylus to the third song; you can always go back and it’s necessary you begin here so as to make no mistake. “Serpentine Ayat,” besides its title, which commingles the Edenic representation of Satan and an Arabic word, “Ayat,” literally meaning, “sign,” but also connoting each Qur’anic “verse,” fuses the separate approaches of early Mortuary Drape and Dissection into an overwhelmingly ritualistic and narcotic music. Kali Ma invoked…. The lyrics are rendered as they should be: Incantatory, each word a fitting segment for the song’s geometry. “Lucifer – The Fallen Angel / Belial, a Prince condemned / Beelzebub, the Lord of Flies / Satan! The Emperor awaits!” Vetis Monarch’s vocal delivery is part possession part procession. Words appear automatic, sometimes even as afterthoughts torn up and tossed aside in favor of the moment’s moving spirit.
Instrumentation, conversely, is presented without veil. The recording quality is not crystalline but simply virtual (perhaps, yeah, in a Deleuzean sense). It appears – or “sounds” – unadorned, without artifice or inorganic tweaking. Overdubs – acoustic guitar, etc. – of course lend a fuckload of atmosphere (only thing missing here is a set of Remo roto-toms), the sort of vibe that does little to disconnect Weapon from the aforementioned Drape/Dissection standard. But Weapon’s lyricism, it’s unabashed and fervent invocation of the wholly Satanic essence of Black Metal, sets it leagues apart from the cheap, lip-sticked lot preening behind Adobe Illustrator “art.” VM’s lyrics are alternately carnal and immaterial; the whole grounded in a pan-religious tradition spanning Eastern thought and mysticism to more grizzled Western traditions, with Satanism providing the fundament from which all exegetical remarks spring forth. The lone piece in which Satan’s name does not appear either literally or in metaphorical guise is the opening instrumental, “Weapon.” And, folks, you’ve got to raise the stein to any band willing to – gang-like – wax poetic upon its own moniker.
Weapon use everything at its disposal: Aesthetics, atmosphere, religious lyrics, instrumental prowess, etc. The yield is truly a sort of perfect storm, with each piece standing tall, firm – as able as the whole they are wrested from; the title track practically serving as an EP, unleashing the not so subliminal command bit of suburban crime scene ilk: The shotgun-to-the-family-and-then-turned-loose-under-my-own-chin showstopper. “How. Far. Will. You. Go?” (I don’t know. I’ve got the gun and the gumption.) Indeed, bliss is certainly not Weapon’s aim. But, man, I have nothing but happiness for a band that refuses to kowtow to plastic and disingenuous guises of the genre it works from. Yes, for fuck’s sake: Black Metal is Satanic. Weapon is Black Metal. And Weapon is Satanic. That just may be the only the categorical syllogism you ever need to know. While you’re arguing amongst your selves about whether or not I actually “reviewed”
Drakonian Paradigm, I may just sit here and listen to this until my teeth fall out. “Read the scripture / Of death and woe / Evil triumphs / My word is law.”
[Stewart Voegtlin]
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Last I heard it was set for an August release.
@evanz: Even if you don't have a turntable, the poster and booklet are worth the price of the LP.