Less than a hour left until the end of 2010 (at least by Moscow time), and I want to say a few words.
First of all, good to see the RABM and blackened crust movement growing more and more, and I hope we'll have our own gigs, labels/distros, and print zines in the next few years. We also started to establish contacts with political organizations like Red & Anarchist Action Network, which is important too. More details will come later. Speaking of political situation, 2010 was very hard for ex-USSR, and the protests against the reign of kleptocrats there still are like trying to break a stone wall with a fist... but we wouldn't give up hope.
Wish you all a lot of good music in the new year! Stay tuned!
Year: 2010 Genre: RABM Country: USA Label: Lundr Records
Track List:
Living In The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
Living Eulogy
To Make In Idol Of Our Fear And Call It God
A Message To The Missionary
...Seeing
Watching You
DOWNLOAD (currently not available due to some copyright problems, sorry)
And finally, a long-awaited new album of Panopticon, received directly from A.Lundr! The first three tracks were also released on a split w/ WBSS, and the last three - on a split w/ Skagos. In comparison with two previous albums, "On The Subject Of Mortality" is less aggressive, more melodic, atmospheric, and "post-rockish". As for the lyrical concept, the title of the release says it all (yes, this time it's more philosophical than political).
What else can I say? Feel free to download it! And if you want to buy it, see the myspace for more information.
Year: 2010 Genre: Cascadian Black Metal Country: USA Label: Flenser Records
Track List:
Smoldering Embers
Anamnesis II: A Dry, Sterile Thunder, Without Rain
DOWNLOAD (currently not available due to some copyright problems, sorry)
Like in the case of my previous post, I've uploaded only Skagos' side of the split. In my opinion, it isn't much different from "Ast": atmospheric black metal with long acoustic parts and harsh vocals. Skagos' sound goes far beyond the boundaries of traditional black metal, but it's typical for the majority of Cascadian BM bands.
I wouldn't post the Panopticon side of the split, because all these tracks are included in "On the Subject of Mortality" LP, which I'll post a little later. As for WBSS, they're a duo from Cedar Rapids (Iowa), playing very atmospheric and melodic kind of black metal with lots of clean vocals. According to Metal Archives, their primary lyrical theme is: "Respect and Honor to Mother Nature", so I guess it's safe to post their tracks under the "green anarchist black metal" label.
P.S. Members of WBSS use the monikers "Lord Sardonyx" & "Syntax Function A", and their previous BM project had an absolutely brilliant name: "Satan's Allmighty Penis".
In The Sea Of Trees is an one-man project from Los Angeles, playing acoustic folk music heavily inspired by (post) folk/black metal and traditional folk (bluegrass, gypsy, celtic, etc.) The name of the project refers to the Aokigahara forest of Mt.Fuji, which has a historic association with demons in Japanese mythology, and is a popular place for suicides. While the music is completely instrumental, its creator holds the same anarcho-environmentalist views which are common in Cascadian BM scene, and he's very open about it.
Here's a promotional EP I received not so long ago by e-mail. Even though it isn't overtly political and (in my opinion) more suitable for Critical Rupture than for my blog, I think I can post it here - especially taking in account my previous posts about Native American and oriental black metal. Naakhum is an one-man project of Naakhurz, who lives in Igualada (somewhere near Barcelona). He plays guitar, bass, keyboards and more exotic instruments like diyiridú and yembe. The music of Naakhum strongly reminds me of Senmuth; while it's mostly dark/tribal ambient, it has a lot of black metal elements. The main topic of this EP is Sumerian mythology (see also Melechesh, Al-Namrood and other "mesopotamian metal" bands).
"Hail Wind and Hewn Oak"(including the earlier 2-track demo, "Of Stone and the Stars in the Sky") is the second full-length release by Falls of Rauros, and the quality of recording was significantly improved in comparison to their earlier releases. Now they work with Austin "Lundr" of Panopticon, who would be a session musician on their future albums. P.S. A new LP by Panopticon coming very soon!
Falls Of Rauros is a band from Maine (US), whose members don't disclose much about their identities. However, it's known that initially FoR was a duo, and now it has 4 members. Accoriding to Encyclopedia Metallium: "The band describes their music as "North Appalachian Heathen Black Folk Metal," exhibited by their firm beliefs in returning the world to a pre-Christian time, as well as their appreciation for nature", and their lyrical themes are: "Nature, Misanthropy, Anarchism". And according to their interview, the lyrics are quite focused on personal subjects. But taking in account their answer to the question about Christianity, I think they have very simular ideology to other nature-inspired and green anarchist black metal bands from North America.
As for the music, they call their style "blackened neofolk". Yes, it's not pure black metal, but it doesn't make their music bad, of course. The only weak point of this release is the quality of production, which definitely could be better. BTW, this album is officially available for free, as well as both of their demos.
This live album is the most recent release by Aztra. It consists mostly of acoustic versions of their older songs, but there also are a few new tracks, and a cover version of "Manisfesto" by Victor Jara. Track #5 has female vocals, and its name is a reference to the infamous events of 10 October 1977 on the sugar factory "AZTRA" (hence the name of the band), when the striking workers were massacred by the government forces.
The music is also strongly influenced by indigenous American folklore and mythology. Interesting enough, many of South American leftist rebel groups pay much homage to Native American beliefs too. For example, there was a guerilla movement in Peru called Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (MRTA), whose name is a reference to a legendary indigenous Peruvian freedom fighter Túpac Amaru II. Revolutionary groups like Partido Comunista de Ecuador - Sol Rojo ("Communist Party of Ecuador – Red Sun") and Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") are also known for assuming their ideological leader, Abimael Guzman, to be an incarnation of Red Sun god ("Puka Inti" in Quechua). It's worth noting that PCE-SR and Sendero Luminoso are far more authoritarian than MRTA, and SL have got a very bad name in Peru because of their brutality. There was also a rebel group in Ecuador called "Alfaro Vive, Carajo!", whose name can be translated as "Alfaro Lives, Dammit!", and refers to Eloy Alfaro, a progressive Ecuadorian president murdered by religious fanatics in early 1912. In the popular imagination of Ecuadorians, the name Alfaro is synonymous with rebellion (though Alfaro himself wasn't a socialist, just a radical liberal and a strong opponent of the church). The first action of AVC, when they broke into a museum and stole swords which had been used by Eloy Alfaro, was rather a symbolic magical action than a political one.
A newly released 5-track demo by D.H., an anarchist musician from Chicago. Not so long ago he wrote an article about RABM for Chicago Reader in cooperation with me, but unfortunately it wasn't published. However, he promised to let me know if it would be published in another magazine.
As for the album, it's experimental stuff consisting mostly of bass solos with heavily distorted vocals over it. Don't know if black metal fans would like it, but I'd certainly recommend it for sludge or drone fans. And don't you think that Luciferianism is more compatible with anarchist ideology than any of other sets of beliefs under the umbrella term "Satanism"?..
P.S. The album is available for download from Bandcamp either for free (just type "0" in "Name your price" field), or for a donation (just name your value).
And finally, I've received the B side of Æsahættr's demo from Media Tree Records. It's called Teleutaia Makhaira, and it's definitely the best track on the whole demo!
First of all, I don't believe in nationalist takeover in Russia (at least in next few years). These few thousands of hooligans, whom you can see on the video, cannot defeat the army and the police forces (remember the October of 1993, when much larger protests in Moscow were shut down). The nationalist organizations also don't have enough influence on the army to start a military coup, or on the workers to start a general strike. And of course, after all what's happened, they can forget about entering the parliament as a legal party. However, the situation is still very dangerous, and even more serious incidents (like Sumgait '88 or Osh '90) are very likely to occur.
What's the worst - the government is doing nothing to eliminate the causes of such pogroms. They don't want to change their politics in North Caucasus, they don't want to enforce sanctions on corporations which exploit the labour of illegal immigrants, they have no interest in eliminating the corruption in police forces. But I'm sure they'll use the situation to increase the pressure on every kind of opposition (non-loyalist nationalists, leftists, pro-Western liberals) even more. There's a lot of evidence that all these pogroms were a provocation planned by officials, but I don't want to come out as a conspiracy theorist.
Actually, a strong socialist opposition party would be a great threat to Putin/Medvedev's government. Almost everyone here is a socialist of some sort, and most of people here would like to see all the tycoons and corrupt officials put against the wall for all their crimes. But all the proper leftist opposition is still paralyzed and uncapable for any serious actions, and the people don't want liberals any more, so the nationalists remain the only real opposition here. Though a lot of people here still aren't as right wing as you may thought, and religious extremists of any kind have near zero support in most parts of Russia. So, people like these won't get much popularity - if they come to power, they'll establish a Khomeini-like regime, and it's hard not to understand:
As for the "left" side, we still don't have any significant leftist coalition... even the Left Front can't gather more than ~500 activists on their rallies. Of course, there's KPRF... but KPRF AREN'T COMMUNISTS! Maybe there are some honest people in KPRF who are just deluded, but in general they're authoritarian, conservative, religious, nationalist assholes who want more and more money. What's worse, in popular opinion only an authoritarian (if not totalitarian) state can ensure the economic growth and social security - and it would take a lot of time and efforts to dispel that myth.
So, what I propose to do? There's not much that could be done right now - the oil prices are high, so the government has enough money to keep everything under control. But the new ideology should be developed right now, and in my opinion it should be simular to Bolivarianism, which is currently popular in Latin America. It includes:
economic and political sovereignty (anti-imperialism), anti-neoliberalism;
grassroots political participation of the population via popular votes and referendums (direct democracy, one of the basic parts of anarchism as well);
allowing people to create self-defense units in order to combat crime;
equitable distribution of oil revenues;
eliminating corruption.
Though I'm not sure if all of it can be implemented correctly. Hugo Chavez' regime in Venezuela claims to be Bolivarian, but it doesn't look very sympathetic to me. FARC-EP of Colombia also claim to be Bolivarian, but as far as I know, they're very unpopular in Colombia. No, FARC aren't our heroes, but EZLN are!
Unfortunately we don't have anything like that. Even the struggle for the Khimki Forest finally turned to be futile - the government of Russia and the French company "Vinchi" decided to continue the construction of highway through the forest despite all the protests. But we wouldn't lay down your hands, and the protests against the rule of corporations will continue:
Such are the news from the Eastern Front, which of course aren't very good. I'll write about the situation in other Eastern European countries right after I'd gather enough information. Generally I don't have much time to write here, but I'll try to update my blog as often as possible. Stay tuned!
Дно/Dno is an one-man project started no so long ago by Max, one of the members of our vkontakte.ru RABM community. As it was said in release notes: "It's my first attempt in creating such kind of music. The quality of recording is lame, instruments are cheap, but I put a lot of soul and efforts in this work, so I hope someone would like it. Thanks to all supporters and like-minded persons!"
There isn't much black metal on this release, it's mostly neofolk and nature-inspired ambient with elements of atmospheric BM. It's nature-inspired music, and it has a heavy influence from Eastern Asian (particularly Tibetan) philosophy. BTW, the black metal parts remind me of Zuriaake and other Chinese atmospheric BM bands.
First of all, excuse me for my possibly poor English (but at least I'm trying to do my best). Second, if you're playing in a band and want to see your music featured on my blog - send a download link of your demo to b_k(@)hush.com. Make sure to include the following information:
- band name, release name/year, country of origin, album cover image (or at least band photo or logo);
- track listing (properly numbered);
- preferably a full release (not samples or streaming) in mp3/m4a/ogg (128kbps or higher bitrate). You may use any free filesharing site (preferably Mediafire) to host your files; or you can use Bandcamp (but then make sure your release is available for free download). Please don't send me large files as attachments;
- any other info about you and your release (links to any sites related to your band, release notes, etc.);
- reason why you want your music to be featured on my blog (note that it's not just another metal blog, and even if your band is apolitical, it still should be somehow in the spirit of RABM movement).
Unfortunately I often have not so much free time, so don't expect me to review your release immediately. Of course you're free to ask me how soon will I do it, if you really want to know.
Kinds of music featured in this blog:
- (primarily) RABM or Red & Anarchist Black Metal: all kinds of black metal-related music charged with radical leftist (anarchist, libertarian socialist, eco-anarchist, etc.) political views. Some of the bands featured here may be not openly political, but all of them are RABM-friendly;
- blackened crust/hardcore/punk (only if it's openly RABM-friendly, or if it's just very good music; I've no intention to collect here all the blackened punk in existence);
- other kinds of political (anarchist, socialist, etc.) metal - death, thrash, post-metal, etc.;
- dark ambient, neofolk, industrial, dark electro, etc. - but only if it has RABM-friendly ideology;
- regular punk/hardcore/crust, post-rock, conscious hip-hop, etc. - but only as a rare exception (so if you want me to send a demo in one of these genres, you're probably in the wrong place).
Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, send me a message and I'll consider taking it down.
The main idea of this blog is to keep alive the connection (both musical and ideological) between black metal and punk scenes, which existed since early days of BM (think Venom, early Bathory, early Mayhem and early Sodom on one side, and Amebix, Discharge and Axegrinder on another). Recently this mix of BM and hardcore punk got a new life in the form of blackened crust (thanks to Black Kronstadt / Iskra in first place). And don't forget about Cascadian black metal bands with their radical environmentalist ideology, often to the extent of radical eco-anarchism or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideas.
While RABM is definitely against NSBM and any other kind of far-right crap in metal scene, it's most emphatically a self-sufficient movement and not any kind of "answer to NSBM". Similarly, while RABM is 100% pro liberation from any kinds of religious tyranny, it isn't a movement against any particular religion (Christianity, Islam, or any other).
"Metal/Punk = rejection of mundane authority; anarchy. Black Metal = rejection of spiritual authority; metaphysical anarchy. NSBM = crap that follows an authority" (c)
But of course, if you still think that all these ideologies should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call it "blackened punk" or whatever you want, and leave my blog. And in case if you if you find any content of this blog offensive for political, religious or whatever else reasons - fill out this form and GTFO here.
Any kind of ideological hostility within RABM movement is also not welcome here. RABM is open to various opinions, we do not endorse any kind of division of the RABM scene - "Anarchism vs. Marxism", "Trotskyism vs. Anti-Revisionism", "Primitivism vs. Transhumanism" (for me, both are way too radical...) or whatever else. However, we definitely don't support unabashedly totalitarian ideologies like Juche/Baathism/Polpotism/any other kind of monarchism or nationalism disguised as Stalinism, Marxism or even Anarchism. The only kind of "national liberation" movements that we can support are the ones which seek for individual freedoms and social justice, progress of the society and liberation from authoritarian prejudices and religious fundamentalism. Examples of such movements include:
![Red & Anarchist Black Metal [and much more!]](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FFOtCieN9_c/TwXO3c3hcaI/AAAAAAAAB8s/aIfBnwfs-uw/s1600/rabm.jpg)
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