I used to like lengthy conversations about music when I was younger. I cannot remember when exactly such conversations started to bore me to death, but these days I can rarely stand debating more than five minutes. When you are approaching your fifth decade in life all you have to offer in such discussions is worthless trivia and there's always the danger to make yourself look like a smartass that tries to show his supposed knowledge off. Besides after 28 or so years of heavy involvement with music I don't feel there's anything new to be said.
Is there anything new to be offered in the general field of conventional 'rock' music? I think not...and the 2 or 3 extraordinary bands that come to the forefront of any sub-genre every year or two, does not change it. Everything has been played to the point of exhaustion and music repeats itself in circles. It seems only natural that certain metal genres resurface after a period of times and I guess this is the way it's going to be. I don't claim that new blood is unnecessary. On the contrary, new bands are always needed (even if they don't reach the standards of the ones whose footprints they follow) in order for every new generation to discover its heroes. I'm not certain if I'm right but I guess this is one of the reasons of the constant recycling of music. A certain sub-genre reappears when there is a new 'breed' of kids that their first encounter with, say, death metal is enough to catch their attention without causing any association to anything that is known to them. The relation with the previous waves of death metal will be revealed in time until they reach the forefathers of the genre, but the bands a kid hears first, will always be its 'heroes'. This is more or less the way we all discover the roots of music...after quite a long time and a lengthy travel. Except of course you are Fenriz and you discovered prog rock, punk and metal from your cradle but you were good at keeping secrets so in the late 80s-early 90s you were saying around that you only listen to death and black metal and you grew up on those.
Is there anything about the norwegian black metal scene of the early 90s that hasn't been already said and said again? Hardly. Or better no, I'm sure that everything has been said many many times so far. So what the fuck is the purpose of one more documentary about those days? Films like Until the Light Takes us are nothing more than failed attempts to rekindle a flame long dead. Twenty years later those events are completely out of date and at least to me this is a very old and tired subject. But the hipsters beg to differ.
A couple of months ago the second black metal symposium took place (somewhere in england if I'm not mistaken). Melancology. Really. If it doesn't ring any bell is because you are not academics. Which means that you cannot speak for hours about (what you perceive as) black metal in a manner that none will understand you. A look at the list of subjects that were presented at both the first and second symposia, makes me feel that this is an idea of american origin. There's a hipster aura to the thing and a view on black metal that shouts america. Geographical bullshit aside, what's obvious is that this thing is out of focus and surely totaly unnecessary. Which is the least I can say about an event that its organizers find appropriate to close with a live performance by a clown band (Abgott is the name). Hats off to the hosts for their sense of humor, if that's the case. But in the case the organizers think that this is black metal I think we have a serious problem.
I leave you with a funny note. The link here will take you to an Abgott video. Comedy starts before you even see the fist picture, as you will find yourself reading words of great wisdom by the supposed leader of the band. Fuck off you imbeciles...
