Red & Anarchist Black Metal [and much more!]

Friday, November 7, 2014

Among The Rotting Trees - "The Cold, Misty Morning" (2014)

AMONG THE ROTTING TREES "The Cold, Misty Morning"

Year: 2014

Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal

Country: Poland

Track List:

Cold
Mist
Morning

DOWNLOAD

ATRT is a new project of Marek (Garden Of Sadness, Algorithm Ov Void). This debut full-length is called "The Cold, Misty Morning", and contains 3 long tracks of instrumental atmospheric BM. Most of this material was composed and recorded in 2010-2011, work was finished later in 2012-2013 and for some various reasons is released for audience only now. If some label would be interested in release it officially on CD/CD-R (small amount of copies will be sufficient), feel free to contact the author via bandcamp/facebook.

Since all the tracks are instrumental, there are no lyrics (and therefore no political agenda) on this album, but the author is definitely on the far-left side and RABM-friendly. This debut is very good for a self-produced release, and it definitely isn't boring, despite being quite lengthy and purely instrumental.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Mácula & Seeds In Barren Fields - split (2014)

MACULA / SEEDS IN BARREN FIELDS

Year: 2014

Genre: Blackened Crust, Blackened Death Metal

Country: Brazil / Sweden

Track List:

Mácula

Seguindo O Coração
Prisões
Ideias Incendiárias
Campos De Concentração Estendidos Ao Mundo Livre

Seeds In Barren Fields

Reverence
Headless/Heartless

DOWNLOAD

I think both Mácula & SIBF need no introduction - both of these bands have appeared on my blog before, and both are very good. I planned to post this split shortly after it came out, but due to large amount of other stuff to review, I forgot to do it in time. Well, better late than never...

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Ambergris - s/t (2014)

AMBERGRIS "Ambergris"

Year: 2014

Genre: Experimental Black Metal

Country: USA

Track List:

Led to a Stone Chamber
In the Royal Cemetery

DOWNLOAD

Ambergris are a duo (guitar/drums) from San Diego, which released their first EP in late September this year. If I understood it correctly, right now the project is on hiatus, and it isn't certain if they'll release any new material in the future. Even though Ambergris isn't an explicitly political band, at least one of its members is highly sympathetic to the RABM movement, and entirely unsympathetic to the right-wing/elitist tendencies that are so pervasive in the metal culture. If there's an ideology that motivates his interest in black metal in particular, then it's what's been called "pessimistic materialism":

"...It's certainly not an eco-anarchist or "pro-nature/anti-humanity" ideology - in fact it's almost an apparent inversion (anti-nature/pro-humanity) of such an ideology. But the inversion really is only apparent, since it shares with such an ideology (at least as far as I understand it) an anti-anthropocentrism (it seems to me that eco-anarchism, with its emphasis on human beings as the source of all natural ills, is actually rather closer to anthropocentrism), and the opposition of "a good nature to a corrupt civilization."

Pessimistic materialism recognizes class society as the other principal source of human unhappiness, but stresses that, were the elimination of class society to be achieved, men would still suffer from their biological limits and the knowledge of their insignificance in the universe. Through this fusion of class politics and pessimistic materialist philosophy, such an ideology aims to bring about the creation of a pessimistic culture for all. This music, I hope, is a contribution to the creation of such a culture.

Sorry if I ragged on eco-anarchism too much, but I want to stress my support for all the forces (bands, blogs, communities) associated with RABM, whatever their politico-ideological stripe, in their opposition to the rightist forces dominating metal culture!"

bandcamp

Monday, November 3, 2014

Bereft - "Lost Ages" (2014)

BEREFT "Lost Ages"

Year: 2014

Genre: Post-(Black) Metal

Country: USA

Track List:

Lost Ages
Unwelcome
The Secret Fate of All Life
Loss
For Nothing

DOWNLOAD

Line-up:

Zach Johnson (guitars/vocals)
Alex Linden (guitars/vocals)
Neil Weiss (drums)
Cade Gentry (bass)

Bereft are a post-metal band from Madison, WI, formed in the summer of 2011 by Alex Linden & Zach Jonson. Their style can be described as a blend of BM, post-metal, and doom metal. They're currently signed to an independent label called Silent Pendulum Productions. The owner of SPP is a professional drummer for such bands as Black Table and Downfall Of Gaia, so I think the fans of these bands might be interested in Bereft and other bands on SP Productions as well.

bandcamp / facebook / twitter / official blog

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Capgrass - "Reflections" (2014)

CAPGRASS "Reflections"

Year: 2014

Genre: Black Metal

Country: Argentina

Track List:

Intro
Dead In The Crowd
Disruption Of The Deepest Dreams
Material Agony
Shade
Voice Of Perdition

DOWNLOAD

Line-up:

Martin Alexis Franco Santillan - drums

Julian Corbera - guitar

Isaias Daniel Cañete Lucena - voice

Gabriel Ruiz Diaz - bass

Capgrass started in 2010 and released their first EP "Reflections" in June this year. The lyrics on this EP contain some social criticism, as well as the topics of psychology/psychopathology, but in general it's apolitical. However, at least one of the band members considers himself an anarchist, and in the future they plan to release more material that may be considered a statement against fascism, etc.

bandcamp / facebook

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Reek - "Necrogenesis" (2014)

REEK "Necrogenesis"

Year: 2014

Genre: Technical Thrash Metal

Country: Spain

Track List:

The Sound of Decadence
Violent Winterlight
Hypochondriac
Ethereal Shadows
Landscapes of Elysium
Human Condition
Pernicious Gerontophiliac Commitment
Babidi Resurrection
Scions of the Void

DOWNLOAD

Not black metal, yet very good. Reek are a Catalan progressive thrash metal band which released their debut full-length "Necrogenesis" this year, with help of several quite well-known musicians: "“Necrogenesis” has been mastered by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna) and its artwork has been designed by Ideophony (Ihsahn, Leprous)". If I'm not mistaken, they're also acquainted with Obsidian Kingdom (who, by the way, have released their new video not so long ago, and currently are on a European tour w/ Sólstafir, Sahg, and Esben & the Witch).

bandcamp / facebook / twitter / youtube / press kit

About the blog

After many years of activity, this blog is now put on hold since the majority of contributors have a lot of other important stuff going on in their lives. New music submissions should go to /r/RABM/ (note that the mods of /r/RABM/ don't have anything to do with this blog).

Most of the uploads here are band sanctioned. Anyway, if you for some reason don't want to see your music here, contact us using rabm (AT) gmx (DOT) com, and we'll consider taking it down.

Bottom note: there's probably a lot of broken English on this blog, since English isn't the first language for many of the contributors.

FAQ

Q.: Which kinds of music are featured on this blog?

A.: - (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; we have 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 some RABM-friendly ideology;

- regular punk/hardcore/crust, post-rock, conscious hip-hop, etc. - but only as a rare exception (so if you want to send us a demo in one of these genres, you're probably in the wrong place).

Q.: What are some RABM/blackened crust bands to start listening from?

A.: Here's an old compilation which I (B.K.) made in late 2009. Doesn't include a lot of good RABM bands that I didn't know of back then, but still recommended if you're new to RABM:

Check out this list as well, or this one.

Q.: How can I support a particular RABM band with my money?

A.: Most bands nowadays have a bandcamp page, where you can but their stuff online (usually for an arbitrary price). It's the most convinient way to support the band. If your favourite band don't have a bandcamp or bigcartel page, try to find out in which distro you can find their albums/merch. Of course, go to concerts if you have such opportunity.

Q.: How can I offer my financial support to this blog, or the RABM movement in general?

A.: Unfortunately right we don't have an opportunity to accept donations, but we hope we'll be able to set it up soon.

Q.: What is the connection between black metal and hardcore/punk/crust?

A.: It's a well-established fact that the connection between black metal and punk scenes existed since the 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.

Q.: What's your main ideology?

A.: This blog is generally written from a position of anarchism without adjectives; however, the RABM scene is very diverse ideologically. Let us end on this, as this blog isn't quite a right place for purely political debates; if you want to learn or argue about anarchism/other ideologies, there's a lot of specialized FAQs/blogs/forums for you.

Q.: Isn't black metal supposed to be apolitical?

A.: Supposed by whom? I personally don't think so, but if you think that political awareness should have no place in "true" black metal, you can feel free to call the bands featured on here "blackened punk" or whatever you want. It should be noted, though, that a lot of these bands doesn't openly talk about politics in their lyrics, exactly because they think it wouldn't be suitable for black metal. - B.K.

Q.: Isn't RABM just an "answer" to NSBM?

A.: 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).

Q.: What's your opinion on Satanism?

A.: The so-called "Hollywood Satanism", which is often found in black metal, is, in our opinion, nothing more than inverted Christianity, so we aren't big on it. Many of us are simply atheists, pagans of all kinds, gnostics, etc. We also don't share the notion that only genuine theistic Satanists / Devil-worshippers can play "real" black metal (this would exclude such bands as Venom, Bathory, Immortal, Summoning, and many many others). Additionally, the very term "Satanism" is quite vague, and can't be narrowed down to LaVeyan Satanism (which is heavily disliked by many black metallers), or whatever else. LaVey had some good points, but in general his philosophy can be described just as "Ayn Rand with some occult tinge".

Q.: What about misanthropy and nihilism?

A.: To put it in short: we don't hate everyone and everything (and we don't think there's anyone who truly does). We just hate these traits of humanity which make true anarchist society most likely infeasible in the foreseeable future.

Q.: Collectivism or individualism?

A.: There actually is no "hard" contradiction between these two terms. Individualism is simply an outlook emphasizes the moral worth of the individual and its right not to be oppressed by the state or some social group. It doesn't contradict at all with standing up for your rights along with a group of like-minded individuals. It also worth noting that the early black metal scene didn't promote individualism that much (see "black metal circles").

Q.: Who coined the term "RABM"?

A.: Hard to say, but there's an apparent similarity to RASH ("Red & Anarchist Skinheads"). Here's the very first mention of "RABM" we could find (August 2005). The term was popularized by our last.fm group (and later - by this blog) since 2009.

Q.: Do you know the ideology of the band X? It isn't obvious if they're NSBM or not...

A.: Sorry, we don't know, do your own research. It's often hard to say anything certain about a band's views, if the members themselves aren't open about it. We also don't advice using various "lists of nazi bands" etc. as a reference, as most of them are full of bullshit. Similarly, forum posts or blog comments (especially anonymous ones) generally aren't a reliable source for anything. In one particular case, we had an anonymous comment claiming that the members of Timebomb are now playing in a fascist band called SPQR. Later it turned out that it were members of a completely other Italian band with a similar name (Timebombs). Hopefully that'd be a good example of how important fact-checking is.

Q.: I've seen some of the albums posted here in the same distro with some albums by right-leaning bands...

A.: Unfortunately it's often the case with distros and labels that distribute stuff regardless of its political affiliation. Even Austin Lunn of Panopticon complained about Pagan Flames (the label which released his "Collapse" and "Social Disservices" LPs) having NSBM in their distro, so things like these are just unavoidable.

Q.: Some bands on this blog have Burzum on their list on influences. Isn't Varg Vikernes a nazi?

A.: See a good comment on this matter here.

Q.: Can I use some materials from this blog on my site?

A.: Of course you're welcome to do so (unless otherwise is specified), as we're against copyrights.

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Friday, November 7, 2014

Among The Rotting Trees - "The Cold, Misty Morning" (2014)

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Mácula & Seeds In Barren Fields - split (2014)