Metal Reviews

I didn't say he wasn't. Yet not listening to extreme metal bands because of crimes their members have committed will cut your listening pool down by quite a bit.

Agreed, just throwing it out there for those that might not know.

Back in 2000-2001, I actually spoke with him a few times on the Century Media Forum; at the very least he said all of the right things. And I haven't heard a word otherwise since. Much like Tchort of Green Carnation, the Nightside Eclipse Emperor dudes seem fully rehabilitated.

Murder and atrocities do not really bother me in metal. But reading the description of what Wrest did to a WOMAN is fucked up and cowardly. That lady will never be the same.

It would have been better if he did it to a man?

I hope he gets viciously and repeatedly raped in prison. A bit of his own medicine.

Yeah, they all sound ******* good!

Twilight is good enough, but it has Blake Judd in it, and he sucks. And their last album was too long-winded. Much prefer the new Krieg for recent USBM.

There is no real way to compare Twilight to Leviathan, Twilight played straightup black metal on their first and then play atmospheric metal now, and I only like one album by Xasthur so you're probably right.

Don't ruin ITNS for me. But seriously if Wrest had just stabbed the lady it wouldn't have bothered me so much but choking someone like looking into their eyes as they struggle then busting their head and getting out your tattoo equipment and shoving it up her snatch is just too grotesque. Maybe if the church Samoth burnt down had people in it I'd write off ITNS but it's just not the same what Faust did.

That dude from Dissection I think did some awful things as well.

Yeah, like writing music.

Agreed. But the current Twilight is still poop.

I wish I hadn't just bought that Leviathan album now.

Stopping this train in its tracks...

Remember: Emperor was essentially Ihsahn's band, and he has become a sort of folk hero in the sleepy Norwegian town of Notodden.

Ihsahn's music is kid-friendly

Trying to think of other musicians who have committed nasty crimes to mention to Trapt - Led Zep's considerably underage groupies and Judas P. drummer Dave Paedo Holland are all that come to mind at the moment. I don't mind someone making a moral choice not to listen to the work of criminals, but considering how many artists have done things which 'normal' people would be vilified for, it does seem that it would shut off a good deal of music, let alone all the ancient Greek philosopher-pederasts if we open it up to 'art' as a whole, and so on.

Paedo Holland didn't write a single note for Priest and he was never an important part of the band. So even for someone who decides to listen only to bands selected by the noncriminal criteria, Priest is a pretty safe choice. Holland does not equal Priest in any way, shape or form.

But even with the above exemples, I think the procentage of metal musicians turning into serious offenders is insignificant, definitely far away from "shuting off a good deal of music".

As for the great greek philosophers, I don't recall any major crimes comitted by any of them, so I don't see the point of bringing them into this. Unless you think homosexuality is or should be considered a crime, which I'm pretty sure you don't.

He was a part of the band for what, ten years? People who find things to complain about should certainly kick up at it, if they're being consistent. But yes, you're right that it's a minuscule minority, hence my trouble finding examples. As far as the Greek philosophers, was there not a significant (NA)MBLA aspect to what they got up to?

Spartan soldiers had sex with males at the age of 13. There are cultural paradigms where mores and values shift. Greece had slaves which is a repulsive thing but I'm not going to kick up dirt at it. I'm not going to ignore all intellectual work from 1700s America because of its slavery. Wrest is within the cultural paradigm of our time and he did a rat bastard thing no matter what time period you live within. As for the Holland stuff, I wouldn't consider him the mastermind of Judas Priest's sound unlike Wrest who is either in one-man acts or a strong contributor like in Twilight. Maybe I'll just have to zone the drums out of my listening to ol' JP