I’ve been in a state of Seahawks-inspired delirium since Sunday morning. Apart from my own ridiculous heights of excitement, the city I call home as been completely engulfed in a similar type of out-of-body experience. Everyone wants to talk about Sunday’s win and the impending Super Bowl trip, even the people who are still trying to figure out how many innings it takes to complete a football game. You can’t listen to radio or watch any kind of sports-related TV without being engulfed in Seahawks talk (although much of it has consisted of uninformed yammering about Richard Sherman). Some of you have probably found yourselves in a similar environment in past years, but it hasn’t happened here in Seattle in a long, long time.
One result of all this is that I’m way behind on my usual search for metal news and new metal. This morning I did tear myself away from Seahawks mania long enough to check out a few things and put this post together.
HANGING GARDEN
If you haven’t heard the 2013 EP by Finland’s Hanging Garden, stop wasting time and go find it. I don’t want to have to tell you twice. I Was A Soldier (Lifeforce records) is worth your 15 minutes, and all the other minutes you’ll spend with it after the first listen. To give you some evidence of why the EP is so worthwhile, allow me to show you a video that premiered today for its final track, “Will You Share This Ending With Me?”
The song is bleak, bereft, and beautiful — and plenty heavy — and the lyrics are great. The mysterious video is an ingenious accompaniment to this offering of melodic doom. Congratulations to director/screenwriter/editor Ristomatti Rinne and his crew on a very fine job.
https://www.facebook.com/HangingGardenOfficial
DRUG HONKEY
Let’s stay on the doom side of the metal landscape, but the part that’s collapsing into a sinkhole.
When I reviewed Drug Honkey’s most recent album, Ghost In the Fire, back in 2012, this thought occurred to me: “What they do is manufacture atmosphere — blasted, burned, and black. They suck all the air out of the room and fill the void with a psychoactive fog that’s the stuff of nightmares.”
Yesterday, Drug Honkey reminded us of their existence with a new video for “Five Years Up”, one of the songs from Ghost In the Fire. It’s creepy, disturbing, and hypnotic, just like the song. And it will tide us over until the band releases a new EP this summer (which will be welcome, and no doubt unsettling).
http://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp.com/album/ghost-in-the-fire
https://www.facebook.com/drughonkey
VALLENFYRE
Still on the doomy side of life — death/doomy, to be precise…
Speaking of albums that have been out for a while, A Fragile King by Vallenfyre is another one you NEED to hear if you haven’t. There might be a release I’ve written more frequently about than A Fragile King, but I’m damned if I can remember what it might be (all those words collected here). And so you might imagine my pleasure at seeing this news from a couple of days ago (which I am late reporting because of that Seahawks delirium I mentioned):
U.K.’s Vallenfyre, featuring Paradise Lost’s Gregor Mackintosh, has officially entered the studio to record their second full-length album entitled Splinters. The album is expected for release in May 2014 via Century Media Records.
Mackintosh (vocals and lead guitars) commented: “We have now arrived in a very cold Salem, MA and are currently holed up in Godcity Studio with producer Kurt Ballou tracking drums for our second album, Splinters. We are really digging Kurt’s honest, old-fashioned approach to recording. No triggers or samples. Just a good drum kit, good mics and a good drummer.”
Hell yes.
https://www.facebook.com/Vallenfyre
VETUR
Moving away from the territory of doom, but staying with things that begin with “V”…
This morning I saw a Facebook post by the magnificent Icelandic band Solstafir recommending a song by another Icelandic band named Vetur. I hadn’t heard that name before, but I don’t ignore Solstafir recommendations, so I listened to the song. Its name is “Bálför”, and it’s really good.
It transitions from mid-paced, rocking melodic black metal with a bounding bass line into a thrashing, blasting rush of energy, and back again. The jittery tremolo melody that rears its head here and there stitches its notes into the mind with needle-like precision, and the drumming is damned impressive, too. A very promising, dynamic piece of work that makes me interested in finding out what else Vetur are up to.
29 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: HANGING GARDEN, DRUG HONKEY, VALLENFYRE, VETUR”
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1. Richard Sherman’s 20 second rant collectively turned 49’er fans into a bunch of hysterical and hormonal women. This is why I’m a Raiders fan. Yes I know my team sucks but they are also used to having bitter rivalries where this kind of stuff is common practice. Grow a pair San Fran.
2. Hell yes to new Vallenfyre. I just hope the new album is just as a good as Fragile King was. This band is the new Bolt Thrower
3. Speaking of BT, that is another band like At the Gates that should be on the list of anticipated reunions.
Bolt Thrower is just unbelievably picky about their music and wont release anything they dont think is as good as their previous material..I kind of wonder if theyre stuck in a perpetual writers block after the follow up to “Those Once Loyal” fell through
Your #1 is so damned right. And I’m also damned glad that old-school Raiders fans still exist. If I could snap my fingers and turn the Raiders into the team they used to be under Al Davis, I would. And by the way, somehow this sentence has survived as the very first sentence in the Wikipedia entry for the Raiders:
“The Oakland Raiders are a D3 Women’s chess squad based in Oakland, California.”
I don’t think we will ever see another new Bolt Thrower album.
The amount of backtracking Richard Sherman has done since then is hilarious. If he doesn’t want to be seen as a thug, then he should stop acting like one.
Dude, watch these:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU-px_wtkjM
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-presents/0ap2000000254372/NFL-Films-Presents-The-trash-talking-cornerback
I realize that he’s a smart guy… he got a degree from Stanford. That doesn’t mean that he doesn’t act like a thug on the field. He’s arrogant and has no class, and he finally showed that on a larger stage. Now, suddenly, all that attention is on him and he’s in full damage control mode.
I’ve figured out, which should have been obvious from the beginning to people not as slow as I am, that what you think of Richard Sherman depends on whether you’re a Seahawks fan or a 49ers fan. I’m sure there’s an objective point of view, but you don’t have one, and neither do I.
As a somewhat objective viewer here (I’m no football fanatic, and my Chargers already got their asses handed to them), I’d say there’s legitimacy on both sides. Sherman was indeed a bit overbearing with his interview, but seeing the recent and long-term history between him and Crabtree, and the magnitude of that play, and the subsequent immature Twitter battle (both sides culpable on this one), there’s definitely more to it than the 30-second sound bite that is that interview. But knowing our media, the backstory will be ignored by those who need to know it, and overanalyzed by the rest.
Like almost everything the media does with a n event like this one, most of the stories simply ignore the nuances. I don’t expect anything more than that. So it’s probably ridiculous that I try to point to the nuances. It won’t change most people’s minds.
This is definitely true. If he were a Niner, I’d probably be more inclined to let it go. But I am heavily biased, and I plan to exercise my right to be biased.
Vernon Davis had it right, though… Sherman needs to learn some humility and grace:
“He talks a lot,” Davis said of Sherman. “Sometimes, you just need to shut your mouth. Be humble, be gracious and just accept it. We saw you made a good play. There’s no need for you to talk about Crabtree. …
“Maybe (Sherman) can learn from other people around the league who know how to be a true gentleman and show good sportsmanship.”
I should add this, in a rare moment of introspection. I grew up in Texas, where people tend to be extroverted, gregarious, brash, and speak exactly what’s on their mind, even when they shouldn’t. In Texas, it’s okay to talk the talk if you can walk the walk. For more than 15 years, I’ve lived in Seattle, where people tend to be reserved, understated, civil, and maybe even a bit passive-aggressive. I love both places, but one reason I’m so in love with the Seahawks team is that they’re so different from the culture of Seattle. They seem like they should be playing in Texas — or Ohio. And Richard Sherman sort of epitomizes what the team is all about. It’s refreshing.
I wish people would stop using the word thug. From around my parts a thug is someone who is in a gang and shoots and robs people for dope. That isn’t what happened in this game. Sherman knocked the ball away to get intercepted against his hated rival and was pumped because that play sent his team to the Super Bowl. Come on now. He didn’t cuss, he was caught up in the moment and probably would have collected his thoughts better if Erin Andrews wasn’t so quick to jam a mic in his face.
And the 49’ers have had their share of loudmouth arrogant show offs. Merton Hanks, Terrell Owens, Deion Sanders and Ricky Watters come to mind. Now all of a sudden the Niners can’t be punked by someone else? Mmmm hmmm. Whiners is and has always been an appropriate nickname for those latte drinkers across the bay:P
I don’t drink lattes. And I’m not saying that the Niners didn’t have any loudmouths of their own. I’m simply calling Sherman out for what he is, which is a player with no class.
hell yes, new Vallenfyre is definitely a very, very, very good thing!!
I dig Vetur and Hanging Garden. Hadn’t gotten around to the latter ’til now.
I do not understand why people enjoy watching team sports. Sure, playing might be fun, but i dont understand sports fans. At all. Here in norway its all about “soccer” and for some mystrious reason, mostly english soccer. It always baffles me when people talk about how THEY won or lost “we should have had that, we are going to that and that championship”etc, When in reality they are talking about an international team , owned by Russians, who practices in some english town they couldn’t even place on a map.
Hanging Garden is nice tho.
For some of the more violent sports, it provides a channel to displace aggression and stress in a socially acceptable manner. It also heeds to the defense mechanism of identification.
As for some of the slower sports (golf), I haven’t the foggiest.
I get that, and I myself enjoy both watching and practicing fighting/martial arts. What I dont get is feeling allegiance to, and cheering on a team, not the individuals.
I have freinds who have been Manchester United supporters as long as i can remeber, 20+ years. Now i understand that there was probably something about the team that initially made them like them, but where does this undyeing support come from? The team changes players coaches owners, sponsors and even colours every now and then, so its not really the same team anymore. its just a brand name. Its like when the only original thing left in a band is the logo.
As for golf, i dont enjoy it, but understand why people follow it. You might admire one individuals particular style, skill or attitude towards the game. You might like the player for some absurd reason , thus want them to win.
I can’t really explain the phenomenon with respect to American football. And I sure as hell can’t explain the attraction of soccer. Strangely, Seattle has a pro soccer team that also sells out the same stadium where the Seahawks play. To me, it looks like a big ant swarm for an hour with a point or two scored if you’re lucky and then players take their shirts off and swarm some more.
Kjekt å se at det er flere nordmenn her.
I understand how people can go wild when bringing home unexpected victorys, like when we norwegians beat Brazil in soccer back in 98, but I’m not a big sports-fan myself. I do agree vith Leperkahn underneath, thoug. Good old WWF with Hulk Hogan was fun, soccer and boxing can be exciting, but tennis, snooker and curling is about as boring as watching the laundry machine.
Vallenfyres 2011 release was a positive surprise, so I’m looking foreward to the sequel.
Vetur’s track Bálför was awesome. Really looking foreward to their first full length.
Curling!!! I can’t wait for Olympic curling to resume next month!! I will say immediately that I have no idea why it fascinates me.
curling takes too long for me to watch, but it is hella fun, and hella difficult to play!
For me, it’s a placeholder for religion. You join with a group of likeminded people and pit your “beliefs” against those of rival groups. The difference here is that, unlike the various deities out there, athletes are real people that you can meet.
I can’t explain it for any sport other than (gridiron) football. Football has this amazing and complex blend of action, athleticism, strategy, and drama that is a nearer analog to warfare than any other peaceful activity. Every other sport lacks some element of that. Baseball and soccer are just interminable, tiresome events, while basketball is just a grueling back-and-forth without the beautiful strategy and drama created by the pauses between the plays.
Of course, it helps A LOT if you pick a side. If you don’t pick a side to root for, you have to have a pretty strong understanding and appreciation for the game itself to enjoy watching it.
With that out of the way, I just want to say, go Broncos! They’ve been my team since I picked one 15 years ago. Since we don’t have our own pro team in Nebraska, we mostly have Broncos fans and Chiefs fans, but the Chiefs are lame.
Still, as far as I’m concerned, *real* football has been over since January 6.
And to add one more thing, it’s a lot easier to understand loyalty when you’re talking about the college game. College teams have less stability in terms of the players (sometimes, although when you look at certain pro players that rule can break down), but there tends to be more stability in terms of the coaching staff and the personality that the coaches and the university itself can give to the team. For college football fans it’s really easy to point out the differences between the personality of an obnoxious Florida State team and a more reserved and down-to-business team like Nebraska or Michigan. Mostly it comes from the head coach, who serves as the surrogate for the individual player that you like in individual sports. Or, people will have loyalty because they went to the school.
I was a baseball fan before I was a football fan, and I still really love baseball. But over time, I’ve come to enjoy football much more than baseball (even though they’re very difficult to compare) I’ve come to appreciate how incredibly difficult the sport is to play well at just about any position, and it’s just tremendously exciting (particularly at the speed of the NFL). What really cinched it for me was the chance to regularly see live NFL games after I moved to Seattle. It’s such a total rush being in a really loud stadium with almost 70,000 other people, most of whom are explosively passionate about the team.
Love me some baseball. I’m about to start my senior season, my last one (before beer league inevitably happens, at least). I think it’s incredibly underrated these days, especially since its pacing is more similar to football than most would think: a short, 10-second burst of action, followed by some waiting around (which builds tension). I suppose it’s hard to like unless you’re heavily invested in a team or in the sport, though.
Good to see others are picking up on I Was A Soldier! I honestly think it’s one of the best things that came out
last year, and if it would’ve been a LP with 5 more tracks of that quality I would’ve preferred it over At Every Door (which I thought was pure brilliance for the record).