By HinckleyHadAVision
red bricks come falling
and the ditch digger
with pick and shovel
trench dirt of the ancients
under these cobbles
with backs
callused in the sun
black beards
roiled in sweat
and they dig on
this line in the ground
every day
while the hungry
mouths of their
children are
hardly fed.
By Kloghole
And the whirlpool cries
with a tear in its eye
Me thinks I hear a
toot toot from yonder
poot poot!
Could it be
a hairy Marxist hippie
behind that tree?
By the smell, me guess
it could be three!
Just don’t drink his wine,
and all shall be fine.
Whiskey will do, well...
maybe two!
By Kloghole
The screamed chorus, “Countess Bathory,” fucking rocks. Venom has very hooky chants and a leaden sound that pounds your soul. Because I had come earlier to stoner, sludge metal like Trouble, Venom sounded like a speed metal version of the dark, heavy grooves that I sought in the Mushroom River Band and others.
Obviously, “Black Metal” is a signature song, defining the genre. Some of my other favorite tunes are “Manitou,” “Live Like an Angel - Die Like a Devil,” “Welcome to Hell,” “Angel Dust,” and the ultimate track, “In League with Satan.” I cannot overstate the power of the rhythm section to drive the songs forward. They rumble, bounce, drone, and crush everything in their path. The choruses demand singing along: “Eviiiil in league with satan, Eviiiil in league with satan!” The drums (boom boom boom boom-boom) and bass / guitar (doom dada doom dada doom) are pounding along. I am not doing it justice, but it is a powerful riff and rhythm driving the whole song forward.
Over the years, I have come to understand how there are some people who see themselves as Adam and Eve. They feel vulnerable to “evil” influences from outside. At the end of the semester, I dress down for finals. One year I wore a shirt with a red pentagram of forks with the phrase, “Praise Seitan.” One of the students up front looked very concerned and asked me what the shirt meant. I told her seitan (I pronounce it “satan”) is a fake meat made from wheat. The tenseness in her face receded, and she said, “Oh.”
This is not limited to religion. I have students who, when learning new, more accurate information about how the world works, reject it. They exhibit a fear of the information as if by accepting some piece of information that disagrees with their previous stereotypes and ignorance, they may lose themselves to the spell of critical thought. Accepting that Columbus was a genocidal manic is a slippery slope to becoming an atheist, commie, transsexual. For these folks, confronting information that disagrees with their ignorant, small-minded worldview is terrifying to them - as if they are being tempted by the devil himself.
What they do not know is how utterly fucking terrifying it is to have the majority of people in society believe that some magical mystery man in the sky has any influence over their daily lives. How incredible it is to think that these folks base their actions on what they perceive as an invisible force in the ether would want them to do. For me, as an atheist, I have to live with the reality that the world’s major institutions are run by people who have the same intellectual maturity of a child who still believes in Santa Claus. What is so fucking hilarious about organized religion is that the behaviors associated with it are classified as psychosis. My guess is that the DSM somehow creates exceptions for religious practice, but the definition clearly includes talking to folks who aren’t there, listening to the advice of someone who is not there, etc.
Black Metal and the genres of “satanic” musical traditions tend to poke at these contradictions and terrifying realities of religious extremism. My guess is that some satanic references in music are less informed or serious than others, but remember that, as Slayer screams, “god hates us all.”
Satan is scary. He is meant to be a warning. However, I see the story a little differently. Given the reality that we live every day, an omniscient, omnipotent entity should be able to design a reality free of daily suffering. The natural world is full of pain, suffering, death, and horror. Anyone who believes in their heart of hearts that a divine entity willingly created such tragedy as an unavoidable fact of life has got some serious mental health problems. If they “blame” the misery on satan, they still forget the fact that their “god” is all powerful, e.g., is too fucking lazy or uncaring to do anything about it.
Venom and other death metal/satanic artists wallow in this misery, rub it in your face, and celebrate it. Metal generally is the release of the dark emotions that permeate us. Black Metal allows us to resonate for a while, get some shit out, and let shit go. While I never saw Venom live, metal shows used to leave me exhausted and invigorated at the same time.
I do not know much about Cronos or the history of Venom generally, but I am saddened that we lost this artist. We always lose potential for more music or that one new song that really hits home. I would say something about looking forward to seeing him in hell, but I think the world we are living in is the closest that anyone will come to hell. However, if I am wrong, Cronos, tell satan that I am coming for the punk-ass bitch who burned my brother and sister alive.
Sweet Dreams Motherfuckers.
By HinckleyHadAVision
A friend asked, “Please tell me what you love about the Black Hills?”
The moss in Botany Canyon, the ice in Ice Cave, the pale yellow light after a thunderstorm at Ranch-A, tiger lilies, kayaking Dark Canyon, ice skating Spring Creek, the strawberries on Flag Mountain, the sunset from Warren Peak that makes a Bighorns silhouette, really ripe chokecherries, the little piece of 1868 Treaty land my family is squatting on, catching trout with your bare hands, the smell of an old cabin, coyotes howling, getting stuck in the mud with Jerry Harp, skiing Custer Peak, watching the moon rise from Railroad Buttes, lady slipper orchids, rolling a four wheeler, building an ice block castle, the colored walls of Calico Canyon, the Rock Maze as a kid in the late 1970s before it was trashed, Inyan Kara, Ryan’s Wiggle, Vern Kraemer taking off, the French Creek Narrows, skinny dipping in Cold Brook Reservoir, Moon, the view while climbing Devils Tower in autumn, a nighttime walk along Castle Creek, the old switchbacks in Vanocker Canyon, ice walking, raspberries at the Bighorn Sheep Sanctuary in the rain, What the Hell Lake in Wind Cave, the eastern most extent of aspen, the western most extent of birch, a ponderosa too big to hug, inner tubing Boxelder Creek, ice skating the Cheyenne River, sneaking in and exploring Galena Mine as a kid, the boat inside the Alabaster Mine, the wind at Jasper Cave, a motorbike over the Piedmont Fire Trail, a mountain bike ride down Tinton Trail, a unicycle ride on the Bone Collector, the knife edge meander in Elk Creek, the early spring ice in Sunday Gulch, wild plums, a full moon paddle on Deerfield Lake, Classic Crack, hunting for morels, 11th Hour Gulch, fishing on Lower Spring Creek with Grandpa Brown, Six Mile Road, Ice Climbing at Community Caves, Cold Brook Canyon, friends around a fire, the Moonshine Gulch Saloon, climbing the Conn Diagonal, getting chased into the Cheyenne River by wild horses, driving a VW bus on Castle Peak Road, an inversion that leaves only the peaks above the fog, bicycling Spearfish Canyon, cliff jumping, cutting an ice hole and polar bearing Sheridan Lake, hearing a mountain lion scream, The Sheep Mountain Table slot canyons, in fact the entire South Unit of the Badlands…and more to come…
