Report: There Is No Black Metal Scene In New York

April 23, 2009

Adam Wisnieski of the New York Press has penned an article about the New York black metal scene. An excerpt follows below.

"Black metal is different from other forms of metal, in both sound and content. Think of SLAYER, only scarier and lo-fi.The guitars sound like phonebooks being continuously ripped in half, the drums are fast-blast beats and the vocals are shrieking. Songs are built on intricate harmonies with chord progressions that defy common metal logic. Many New York bands, with the freedom of a nonexistent scene, have tinkered with these styles, unafraid to apply their own American influences.There are even fewer boundaries in content.The famed Norwegian black metal scene in the early 1990s was mainly anti-Christian, but today's bands have lyrics ranging from astronomy musings to confessions of self-hatred.

"So what's the problem?

"The most blatant reason is because black metal is fundamentally anti-social. Not every style of music is looking for unity. They know the downside. Scenes breed conformity. Recently, we saw the release of 'Immortal Life by Liturgy', the self-titled debut from KRALLICE, 'Time Insults the Mind' by BLACK ANVIL and ASH POOL's 'Saturn's Slave' 7-inch. Each record defines black metal in a different way, pushing the definition of 'black' farther than ever.

"As I dug into the city's black metal, I realized the main problem is the debate of Content vs. Sound. I was in Hospital Productions, the best record store in the city for noise/black metal, when Dominick Fernow, the owner, repeated to me: 'It's more than music.' Fernow believes black metal is about ideas rather than sound. Whether it's rooted in Satanism, death, pain, destruction or the selfish desire to impose your feelings on the world, it must come wholeblackheartedly before the music. When I asked Fernow what bands in New York he thought were black metal, he named ASH POOL, his own band, and NEGATIVE PLANE, which recently relocated from Florida.

Read the entire article from the New York Press.

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