I’ve made no secret of my general distaste for black metal, going so far as to call for a boycott of one of the sound’s most celebrated and influential figures. Without question, I’m not the ideal person to defend any aspect of a subgenre that I consider an eye-rolling, oft-racist joke. And yet, Tim Hunter at Invisible Oranges has driven me to stand up for it (sorta) thanks to his scathing and shoddy article lambasting the sub-subgenre “Cascadian black metal” and those journalists who dare to use the term in their pieces.

I’m not saying the music itself is bullshit – that’s more of a personal taste thing – but I think the sub-genre as a concept is bullshit. Ever since Wolves in the Throne Room garnered a more significant share of the music spotlight (chiefly by playing a corporate-sponsored festival, I’ve seen the term “Cascadian black metal” tossed around in more articles recently. Some of these have been from outside the metal world (the New Yorker, The Guardian), while others are more in tune with the underground. But I’m skeptical by default of any attempt by music media to create new pigeonholes for the music they cover. In some cases, it’s merely lazy journalism; in other cases (I’m looking at you, New Yorker dude), it’s just a way to make it seem like you know more than you really do about your topic.

Here’s why Hunter’s argument is (to reclaim the epithet) bullshit.

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Cosmo at Invisible Oranges, whose pieces are becoming ever more introspective in his last days running the blog, posted a really interesting article last week. “I don’t keep up with new music anymore.” How many times have you heard this from old friends of yours, many of whom you grew up listening to music with? Cosmo wants to know why people tend to lose interest in new music as they age; is it the loss of the teenage need to rebel? the presence of other obligations in life? the feeling that new music just doesn’t carry the same rush it used to? Here are two quotes from the editorial:

This phenomenon has bothered me for years. A good number of friends with whom I first bonded with through music don’t share that passion anymore. They always cite things like family, work, and time. But that doesn’t stop them from watching movies or TV. That makes sense. Watching movies or TV is often more passive than listening to music. Movies and TV come at you through your television set (and, increasingly, your computer screen). Outside of radio, one has to go to music. Music also doesn’t hand people visuals like movies and TV do.

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Cosmo Lee is leaving Invisible Oranges.

For the uninitiated, that’s something akin to Varg Vikernes saying he’s leaving Burzum. No disrespect meant to the other fine writers who contribute to IO, but that site lives, bleeds and IS Cosmo.

But then I read Cosmo’s statement on the matter and I immediately got it. It might not seem like it, but this here blogging thing is a lot of work, especially when it’s not your full-time job (but even when it is). Sez Cosmo:

I’ve done Invisible Oranges for four and a half years, putting in 30- to 40-hour weeks on it, seven days a week. (I can count on two hands the number of days I’ve taken off from the site.) This is my 1400th post for Invisible Oranges. Given that each post typically takes over three hours of work (a typical album review requires weeks (if not months) of listening, an hour to write, and an hour to edit and lay out), and an interview typically takes over five hours to transcribe, edit, and lay out, I’ve put in well over 5000 unpaid hours on this site. (Our advertising this year might have us breaking even in terms of server and other costs.) I’ve sunk thousands of dollars into this site, and I wouldn’t take a single one back. But eventually it will be time for me to move on.

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Our friend Whitney Hess, who runs her own awesome blog that has absolutely nothing to do with metal, sent us the below poster this morning, and it more or less perfectly illustrates my feelings about throwing horns in 2010 (or I guess 2011… might as well get used to typing that now). I mean, we all know that invisible oranges are where it’s at now, right?

Unfortunately, the poster is $75, ’cause, uh, I dunno why. I don’t know who would ever pay that much money for such a thing — probably the same people who’d pay $315 for a candle shaped like a church. This poster is cheaper and even cooler, and for the next twenty-four hours, you still have a chance to win one from us. So get on that.

-AR

In 2010, nobody in music captured my attention more than Watain frontman Erik Danielsson, tireless interviewee and totally sharp dude. In Q&As for Decibel Magazine and Cosmo Lee’s Invisible Oranges, Danielsson set about the thankless task of contextualizing Watain philosophy and music with a gusto exclusive to the singular, intelligent, and enthusiastic. And he seems to have mastered the correct tone needed for discussions of black metal and Satanism, whereas I rarely can avoid notes of defensiveness and debate, a result of my perception that “evil” music is too often viewed as cartoonish and absurd. And it is. Except when it’s not.

Anyhow, Danielsson’s style contributes to the lasting ear-boner I have for his Watain, as well as my certainty that those fuckers are Not Fucking Around. There’s a belief system at the root of Watain art — love of evil, to paraphrase — and with the aid of good interviewers like Lee and Decibel‘s J. Bennett, Danielsson can expound on its nuances and, in doing so, enhance the already face-fucking Watain listening experience by like exponential measures. Does that make sense? Let’s analogize this: There’s that great scene in Heat where Val Kilmer unhesitantly raises his machine gun to fire at Al Pacino’s troops before they can impede his team’s escape from a ill-fated bank robbery, right? The moment is amazing all by itself, but it rises to mind-fucking awesomeness when taken in the context of the story’s preceding ninety minutes. The viewer ends up totally immersed, screaming “Jesus! Get out of there! Use those bystanders as shields! Destroy those cops! RUN!” Likewise, Watain’s 2010 jam Lawless Darkness is the “what” (the shoot-out); Danielsson’s careful and friendly-seeming discourse is the “why” (the backstory). And just as loudly, I’m cheering for Watain to shoot to kill.

-ADF

Watain concluded their Lawless Darkness North American tour this week in Toronto. Get Lawless Darkness here.

Invisible Oranges’ Cosmo Lee posted another YouTube video of a chick shredding yesterday ’cause he’s a smart man and knows that videos/pictures/posts of chicks having anything to do with metal fetch lots of comments and spark controversy from our male-driven Interhole portals. This chick is hella talented — in all my years of making a serious go of being in bands I never got to that level of dexterity — but the best part about this video is obviously her mom making the bed in the background. A+++ would do business with again! But then Cosmo takes a swipe at The Faceless, whose song “Meghan The Metal Queen” is covering in the vid, and you know that ain’t gonna go over well with yer Uncles Vince and Axl:

Evidently the song she is covering is The Faceless’ “Prison Born”, which is new to me, and hopefully will remain that way forever.

But holy moly, do the kids love that song. On YouTube, they’re covering it on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Actually, they’re covering pretty much every technical death metal band on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. I kind of want these kids to get off YouTube and to form bands with actual people. But then they’ll probably just form more technical death metal bands, which would just spawn even more YouTube videos, until YouTube becomes an incomprehensible mush of sweep picking and blastbeats. Remember when metal bands wrote songs?

Them’s is fightin’ words.

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Cosmo Lee of Invisible Oranges has written up a thought-provoking editorial (inspired by Metal As Fuck) that takes a look at the differences between metal culture in the U.S. and in Europe. We’ve touched on this topic before here, but never really delved into it.

Take a look at Sammy O’Hagar’s recent review of Skyfire, Satan Rosenbloom’s interview with Kellhaul drummer Will Scharf (in which Scharf laments, “I don’t know if it’s a cultural difference or there’s less Clear Channel over there so people actually have to seek out shit for themselves, but it seems like Europe embraces weird bands like us more than the States.”) or my writeup of unsigned band Dynahead (from Brazil, but the point stands); there is a tangible difference between metal culture in U.S. and the rest of the world. When Axl and I went to Download Festival in 2006 is was readily apparent; any local metalhead we talked to was likely to be a big fan of both Korn and Opeth and think nothing of it.

Here’s a sample from Cosmo Lee’s breakdown of the differences:

Epicness/tolerance for cheese

Bands like Sonata Arctica and Hammerfall don’t come from the States. Being a secondhand culture, US metal is too self-conscious to engage in the unabashed frilly shirt-ery that pegs bands as “European, probably on Nuclear Blast.” American bands like Pharaoh and Symphony X that have a European sound are usually more serious. This doesn’t just apply to happy power metal. Even a “death metal” band like Arch Enemy has blatant “billowing hair/wind machine on 11″ moments that are patently European. Americans are too busy grinding on one note and cursing their lack of health care.

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Cosmo Lee, who runs the blog Invisible Oranges and has written reviews for Metal Injection, Decibel, and just about every other publication known to man, was recently burglarized. Amongst the stolen items were his computer and hard drive, which we imagine will put a serious dent in his work schedule.

Cosmo is now looking for donations to help him get back on his feet. If ever there was a good cause, this is it. Cosmo is a nice dude and long time member of the  metal community; I’m guessing you’ve all read his writing whether you realized it or not. So if you’ve got some cash to spare, help the guy out!

Info on how to donate is here.