Thursday, January 8, 2009

Unchained

The Antichrist bless you, United States Postal Service, for my goddamn EP finally arrived. What EP, you say? Something that none of you will like one iota, I'm sure, Deathspell Omega's single song, twenty-two minute Veritas Diaboli Manet In Aeternum: Chaining the Katechon. Not dissimilar from last year's monumental full length Fas - Ite, Maledicti, in Ignem Aeternum, though a bit more focused en dépit de blocky architecture akin to an ancient temple, the dudes from France eschew any eerie atmospheric intro and go for the jugular right from the start, ripping your goddamn throat out for more than a few minutes before shifting out of the escalating, atonal riffwork into a serpentine, diabolic yet vaguely beautiful chord progression slowed down before recapitulating in speed, everything reminiscent of a doubled-in-length Vivaldi concerto played on guitars tuned in Gehenna.

We spoke of a temple, what of it?

And what the bloody hell is a katechon?

Break out your second epistle to the Thessalonians and whatever exegetical works you feel will heighten understanding because I only attended Catholic school for thirteen years and was asleep for the first six and lusting after the girl with the long brown hair for the last seven. In short, the katechon is the delayer, the one who restrains, the preventer of the parousia; you know, when Baby Jesus comes back to fuck the bad guys' shit up. Remember, an Evil Guy® has to reign, everyone subscribes to Apostasy Weekly, then we all get soft, new togas and harps.

'It is disturbance and anxiety as absolutes/for the world is becoming/still, a temple stands and a star shines,' slathered with dissonance and a violent battery, before, nearly a dozen minutes later through a blood-soaked landscape of repudiation, debt, conflict and exceptionally-produced strings -- obscure as all good black metal should be, yet sharp and biting -- now become, not a lament, but praise for postponement, 'the temple still stands/its walls a prison/for the Katechon.'

As an atheist, theologically, the EP's source material, though historically interesting, means nothing; keep your salvation. Aesthetically, the lyrical and musical commentary is not merely a prosaic Luciferian middle finger to the status quo -- the to-be-unfulfilled reverse idealism of the angry young man, one could say -- but a celebration of freewill. And really loud guitars.

16 comments:

Dean Wormer said...

Remember, an Evil Guy® has to reign, everyone subscribes to Apostasy Weekly, then we all get soft, new togas and harps.

Which brings to mind a couple of questions-

1) Can I have a set of Highland Pipes instead of a harp and

2) Can we get drunk and dance to "Shout" once we're fitted for our toga?

MRMacrum said...

Sounds like a nice upbeat tune befitting the times we find oursleves lost in. It would seem your fine commentary will save me the trouble of listening to it as loud guitars really are the Devil's instruments. And keeping with my promise to become a more righteous man, I must not succumb to the temptation of the Stratocaster.

This is one of those shaking my head as I finish reading posts. Where the Hell do you come up with this stuff?

Unknown said...

I second Dean Wormers request to dance like no one is watching to "Shout". Because my back will be fixed in heaven right???

Randal Graves said...

dean, 1)of course. Scotland forever, dammit, and 2)I assumed that we were all going to anyway.

mrmacrum, I would most certainly say that its upbeat message of brotherhood, peace and hope is attuned to the utopia we currently find ourselves in.

Verily shall thy Strat be a beacon to demons and the works of the Morningstar. Cast it into the Sea, oh child of the Lord, Book of Clapton 2:17-18.

dusty, are you kidding? We're all going to be in perfect health, fit, tanned, rested and ready, just like Nixon!

Ubermilf said...

Does Apostasy Weekly have all those annoying subscription cards stuck in it? Because I'll take a pass.

Do you still have writer's block? Or will this piece of musical rudeness shock you back to your senses?

Because I would like to read a new book and I'm running out of patience.

Anonymous said...

I think my older brother played on that recording. He plays a really loud fucking guitar, too, which annoyed me to no end because you couldn't even hear the drum kit when he played. Musically, we're not on speaking terms.... heh.

Randal Graves said...

übermilf, that, and more and more ads with each issue, is why I stopped my subscription years ago.

I watched the Cavs' game last night, so I don't know if I do or don't.

And don't wait for mine, you'll have blue hair, your AARP card and I'll be dead.

spartacus, you can certainly hear the drums here, but I get the distinct impression that you wouldn't like these guys one bit.

La Belette Rouge said...

I love it when you write about music you love; I said it before and I will say it again if there was a God you would be getting paid to write music reviews.

susan said...

One definition of katechon links institutionalized power to evil with the proviso that to restrain it one becomes part of it. I guess it's kind of like buying a sweatshop made t-shirt with Che Guevara's image on the front.

Utah Savage said...

Susan, you made sense of this all for me. I was just going to say, WTF?

Not Dorothy Parker said...

I didn't really understand any of it until I got to the part about the middle finger, and that I knew about.

Anonymous said...

Sheesh, halfway into it, this post wore me out. Any chance you could get interested in some Booker T. and the M.G.'s, CCR, maybe the Eagles?

Admittedly, they're all short on blood-soaked landscapes and final days drama. But they make music that can get inside you and give you a lift. Deathspell Omega sounds like they're good for a grimace and a few nights of troubled sleep.

Christopher said...

I got nothing. Is it spring yet?

Randal Graves said...

LBR, since there ain't, well, here I remain?

susan, interesting. Now, what if one buys a sweatshop-made t-shirt with Chimpy? Now that's an enigmatic philosophical conundrum. Or an overdose of evil.

utah, don't worry, I said that myself.

aphrodite, the middle finger is one of the few universals our sorry species has.

SWA, I love CCR and the Eagles, but they don't have new albums out. That said, I'd wager there's a bit of underlying darkness in both of those bands, if not aurally presented via bludgeoning power chords and sore throat vocals.

christopher, thankfully not! 10° next week, ha!

Karen Zipdrive said...

Wait...what?
I'm at work listening to Rock the Casbah on my iPod. Now that I understand.

Stella by Starlight said...

Music? I lost my edge around at the dawn of Nirvana.