(Guest writer Mike Yost returns to NCS with this reflection on his introduction to metal.)

It was a small music store tucked into the side of an outdoor mall just south of Hill Air Force Base, Utah.  I was flipping through a stack of used CDs (remember CDs?) and found this subtle yet intriguing album cover.  It had a hand-drawn picture of a solar eclipse with a diagram of our solar system labeled in Latin.

I sat on a small stool near the cashier, sticking the disk into their CD player.  I pulled the headphones over my head and pushed play.  A sense of gloom coiled itself tightly around my body, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Listening to Morgion’s Solinari is a bit like being dragged slowly out of a bog just before you’re pulled under.  As you lay on the ground gasping for air, your faceless rescuer comforts you with sluggish tempos, mournful whispers and haunting keys.

Then the tempo quickens.  Guitars grow loud and angry.  The whispers mutate into indignant growls.  You watch helplessly as your rescuer picks up a large rock with both hands.  The music surges to its apex, and the rock comes crashing down on your chest over and over until it breaks through your ribcage.

The music then subsides.  Acoustic guitars fill the void, and your rescuer tosses your broken body back into the bog, watching silently as it sinks beneath the surface.

It was the first time I heard doom/death metal.  I found a bastion.  A medium to purge the past. Continue reading »