|
As much I wanted to hate this band for various reasons, most of them already discussed, I rated the album in the decent range of the low 60s. I like the first two full length tracks, with, as Zad noted, the title track being especially strong. Then I get bored by the end of the album.
Zad asks why Drudkh and Alcest retain relative immunity whilst Deafheaven does not? Well, stuff like the internet radio hype and link that trapt posted certainly don't help, but I think there are a few other reasons.
USBM makes certain people, myself semi-included, gag reflexively. Largely because I felt Weakling was terrible, and bands that praised at its altar were bound to exhibit the same tendencies to suck. Obviously, USBM is far more diverse and dynamic than Weakling worship, I'm just offering this as a possible reason for my own initial distaste, and some people's desire to reject this material out of hand.
A better, and more generalized reason is that Alcest and (especially) Drudkh have the traditional crowd's respect for past recordings. If Drudkh wishes to experiment with shoegazey stuff, so what? Forgotten Legends and Autumn Aurora are always there to listen to instead. Traditional metal guys might have disapproved with the sorrowful crooning of Alcest, but also noted Neige's participation through metal-archives in very kosher metal bands like Pest Noire and Forgotten Woods. Old Silver Key was underwhelming musically, as Zad observed, but Roman Saenko and Neige were coming from within the underground metal world to try something currently popular with the non-metal crowd's image of metal. And I do think Drudkh was significantly criticized for their directional change, certainly enough to quickly return to a more traditional Drudkh sound.
Several people on this forum over the years have registered their distaste, or at least disinterest, in Emperor's later direction (thinking of Valefor in particular, but several others long since inactive), but very few of them rejected Emperor's pre-Anthems material out of hand. Perhaps that criticism is muted because Emperor emerged from an identifiable, unquestionably metal background.
Deafheaven as a 'metal band' seems appropriated to enhance its own credibility. I don't think they are frauds, or bad musicians, just somewhat contrived.
|
