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Thanks for the review, Charles.

You know how to push the 'listen to me' button, with the Opeth reference. And heck, the WWII historical reference has me intrigued too--"Soviet Black Metal" appeals to me more naturally than ''Marxist Black Metal' would.

The drumming is so good on this. The vocals are the weakest part like Charles and I have discussed but by no means are they bad. The riffing can hold it's own but the rhythm section is where this band stands out.

Great. I will fully check this out.

Alright, after scanning their myspace I see that they are very good.

The drumming is excellent, and I love the production. Plus they are from Москва, Россия and that greatly predisposes me to like them. Spot on pick up on the 'Night and the Silent Water' Opeth moment too Charles. It hit me immediately.

Will I be able to take them serious, seeing as how I am ideologically at odds with their thematics?

I just try not to think about it; the music is worth it, IMO. But if you pull a Rio and Drudkh I could hardly blame you.

The Opeth reference got me interested in this too. Will check this out.

I think that people can listen to bands without agreeing with their ideology. I'm sure most of Eldrig's listeners don't hear their music and go 'hell yeah, magic Nazis!' (at least, I hope not) - for me, the magic Nazi part adds to the whole spinechilling effect of the music. Doubtless I'll listen to this and go 'bloody hell, I hope this lot never get in again' but it won't affect the atmospheric/whatever effect of the music. Actually, the emotional and intellectual repulsion will make the whole experience more nihilistic and Black Metal.

Of course, ALL politics in Black Metal is 'tiresome point-missing'.

Well, if you were to ask trapt or Goat, the answer would probably be yes seeing as how they listen to far right nonsense regularly and it doesn't seem to bother them. If you were to ask me I'd say no cos I have problems enjoying bands that I am very opposed to ideologically.

Re: Milan and the Opeth references. Definitely check it out but the Opeth ref is one very specific part so don't go expecting anything like Morningrise. It's extremely raw black metal.

Emperor: Glad you like this. Ideologically it's a bit confusing- the cover art and the cover version on here sort of implies it's a Soviet black metal band (in the spirit of Euronymous's Hoxha appreciation, I guess). But looking at some of the background and interviews with band members they are very anti-Soviet. Bakuninists, perhaps. In fact, the following seems to imply that they're more about being a counterweight to nsbm than anything else.

http://siyobik.info/bellum_gerite/index.php?interview=1

So, I guess what they are doing is using the Soviet imagery as a means of adding potency to their music, they don't seem to support it themselves.

You completely misunderstand my position on this. As I said above, the Nazi likes of Eldrig do bother me, but I see that as part of the musical experience than some principled 'I won't listen to this because of that' stance. You could construct reasons not to listen to pretty much any band ever if you wanted - as music fans, I think we should look for reasons to listen to music rather than reasons not to. That is, until your perfect world arises where there are enough bands to listen to that fit in perfectly with your individual views.

Bakunin and Babeuf I saw from myspace. Very interesting, to say the least, from a historical perspective. Anyroad, this stuff sounds European (rather Nordic, in fact) and not Cascadian, so it isn't really that hard for me to like it.

Bullshit, ass.

I'm thinking their rejection of Stalinism while reappropriating The Sacred War as bm is really interesting insofar as Stalinism as commonly been criticized for its assumed humanism by people like Derrida, Foucault and Althusser. To redo a work of the USSR in a historically misanthropic genre with an emphasis on a pagan return to nature is a cool way of rejecting the primacy of man which Stalinism so highly touted. bm is a way of applying a Heideggerian criticism to the USSR in a nutshell.

You also misunderstand my position on this. I don't have a checklist of opinions bands need to have... And "fit in perfectly with my individual views"? Come off it- if I actually did that I would just sit in silence all day maybe occasionally putting a couple of Propagandhi tracks on repeat.

But yes, you do hit on the point, as I have tried to express it in the past. You see Eldrig's far-right nonsense as "part of the musical experience" which you can appreciate so long as they don't stage a political coup. I agree that political/social beliefs when expressed through music can be a very powerful part of the experience. Which is why they add greatly to my enjoyment of some bands, and detract from my enjoyment of others. The message to Rock for Sustainable Capitalism will make me go "yyeeeeaaahhhhh" because it speaks to me. The message to some nsbm or whatever will make me go "er, put a sock in it, thanks, cheerio". There's no "construction" of anything, whatsoever.

There is insofar that you refuse to listen to them. The only difference between us, really, is that said difference in belief is a barrier to your enjoyment, whilst it isn't for me. Nothing really wrong with your view, except I can't see why you're drawing the line where you (presumably) do.

Lawks, take a chill pill, trapt. I'm exagerrating, for sure, but it's not exactly rare for you to sing the praises of Drudkh or Arghoslent.



I suppose so. I've never reeally understood where this Althusserian critique of Stalinism as "humanist" comes from, though. Because it places to much primacy on human agency, or something? But how precisely does that apply... where are the situations where Soviet Communism would have been better had it been less humanist....

I don't refuse to listen to them, at all. I listen to what I want to listen to and what I will get enjoyment from the sound of. Because in some bands there is some kind of message that becomes an integral part of what they are trying to communicate, that then in turn impacts on my interpretation of the sound. That can be either negative, or extremely positive. I'm not depriving myself of anything. I would enjoy, say, John Coltrane's Alabama far less if I wasn't sensitised to the message. I would enjoy Hate Forest far more. Coltrane is better than Hate Forest, so I seem to come out on top there.

Communist Black Metal ? Next week: NS Reggae !

Heh, I suppose. Your 'system' there just seems rather illogical, is all.