tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post8481127183573462015..comments2023-10-24T00:24:11.707-07:00Comments on Poetry of Subculture: Burzum - Hvis Lyset Tar OssHelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00584102280299430293noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-83101020151142682802011-06-30T00:36:48.195-07:002011-06-30T00:36:48.195-07:00Naturally, I don't mind.Naturally, I don't mind.Helmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00584102280299430293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-76457426924659040392011-06-29T21:06:11.205-07:002011-06-29T21:06:11.205-07:00"What is Heavy Metal to you? This is what it ..."What is Heavy Metal to you? This is what it is to me. Please let me know. That's what this blog is here for."<br /><br />Interesting question. Mind if I answer it with a blog post? That way I'll be able to hopefully spark some kind of discussion. I'll link to it by editing this comment, of course.Alex_Phttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16640547412949387859noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-16512284858924374482011-06-29T13:54:46.961-07:002011-06-29T13:54:46.961-07:00There may be no wisdom in the discussion of these ...There may be no wisdom in the discussion of these products, but at least there is community, in the confirmation that others are also driven to reflect on music, and how and why it commands us.Matt Vogthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03701078754673672928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-7046249725435685282011-06-26T11:46:09.736-07:002011-06-26T11:46:09.736-07:00Having tried my hand at making art 'as it is I...Having tried my hand at making art 'as it is I intend it to be consciously' and also less restricted variants, the end result seems to me more or less the same. The function of it is that it exists, whereas I do not (as I change constantly, and I have doubts and reservations as to what exactly it would entail for me to exist for even a single second). I am obligated to look at the art item I have created and when I've done a good job, the art itself makes allowances to mean something, which is vague and allows for dialogue. Different art I've done has meant different things at different times. I, at some cases, have forgotten what the direct intent (or facade of an intent, let's allow) was that served as the onset of creation in this or that case. However the art remains relevant to me.<br /><br />It is so I have stopped being so interested in how much exactly artists can say they intentionally achieved this or that effect. I know I wouldn't get a straight answer out of them even if they were my dearest friends (or perhaps, exactly then I should distrust them the most?) because I honestly can't give that straight answer about my own art either. What I do find in art I attribute to noone in particular, perhaps to a universal unconsciousness, perhaps to rocks and trees, it doesn't matter to me much.<br /><br />The stronger the Heavy Metal of course, the more it tends to sound like some god made it, crystal logic in appliance and form. That's the point of it, that's where the power comes from for the imperfect beings that summon that entity and fear it just as well. I do not confuse the person behind Burzum with this 'Varg' entity, nor do I really want to ask him anything about it. What could he tell me about it that I can't figure out on my own, imagination and willpower allowing?Helmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00584102280299430293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-29255057705470043392011-06-26T11:40:28.859-07:002011-06-26T11:40:28.859-07:00I am bewee - eetched.
I too notice this graduati...I am bewee - eetched. <br /><br />I too notice this graduation 'further away' from something and towards something else, though I pay it no mind. I do not think it is a movement, actually, I think it's... imagine an accordeon, stretching, its facets unfolding. All that, all at once, I am not coming from anywhere, nor am I going anywhere. I don't exist.<br /><br />I try to think very little before I sit down to write for Poetry of Subculture. I listen to the record a few times and I read the lyrics, I try to remember emotions I might have perhaps hidden away from when I first heard the music (for example did you know that Blind Guardian sound many times more savage than a generic death metal band if you open up to them with the ears and heart of a person-that-doesn't-know-much-about-metal? It was startling to remember, hence the tone of that piece) and what it has meant to me over the years and then I write.<br /><br />I do not write very well, but at least the words come to me without too much difficulty. Perhaps that is why I do not write very well? In any case, I do not mind, my arts of choice are different, writing is useful to me as a mostly craftless thing. I wonder how long it'll be before nobody at all reads a whole post anymore.<br /><br />Some earlier posts are more concerned with nuts and bolts than others, true. The Anacrusis one is the extreme of that, I think. I can't really predict myself but I think there'll be more of that coming, especially for records where I've always felt there was bright, very apparent and easy to discern mechanistic continuation between lyric, theme and composition (think perhaps of "Atropos cuts the string with her sears" + reverse cymbal for an example in common terms between us). Needless to say, Burzum are not technothrash. There isn't any storytelling in Hvis Lyset Tar Oss in the comic-book sense, there is no fast flip through panels, there are only four main images and their journey is, what is that word the internet likes? Primordial. I feel I've adequately commented on that journey in the piece even if I don't directly describe it.<br /><br />And why do I not describe? There are some cases yes, where the reader's familiarization with the media is such a burden that it makes more sense to me to not even address the obvious history.<br /><br />Follows a second comment on the issue of intention and actualization.Helmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00584102280299430293noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-355108483588914160.post-50407194672076200692011-06-26T09:23:30.010-07:002011-06-26T09:23:30.010-07:00That certainly lived up to its promise of not bein...That certainly lived up to its promise of not being a review of a record. In fact, since the beginning of this blog you seem to have been moving further away from anything reminiscent of a 'review' format, at least as a general trend (for example, comparing the Agnes Vein and Atheist posts with the Blind Guardian and Black Sabbath ones). I suppose that this isn't necessarily a pattern, though, and it may simply have to do with the nature of the albums covered, for example their popularity, but it's still interesting. Do you think that there's any reason for this, or is it more or less coincidental?<br /><br />When it comes to artists, there are some who know more or less exactly what they're doing, and these can be either very good or profoundly dull, depending on how well they are able to execute it. They may want to express exactly a specific moment in their lives, and that's what they do. On the other hand, there are some artists who may well have no idea, or only a vague or misleading image, of what they're trying to do, who nonetheless come up with something which does a lot more than they intend. They may wish to write a love song to a person, and end up writing it to a god by mistake. Most bands probably fall somewhere between the two sides.<br /><br />I suppose that Varg could to some extent fall closer to the latter group. Of course, I can only speak of what I know of the record, and what little I know of the person (I can't claim to be all that concerned about his controversial statements and issues and maybe-or-maybe-not-Nazism, although when enough metalheads congregate one can be quite sure that August 10th, 1993, will come up at some point), but that is at least the impression which I get. You perhaps express one of the reasons for this view in the discussion of the vocals; did Varg intend them to fossilize? Perhaps, but I wouldn't count on it. While this isn't really an issue which I focus on per se in listening to music, it's nonetheless an impression which takes place for some bands. I suppose that for these kinds of albums, one can only ultimately understand them as music through listening to them; of course, one may try to explain what there is in them, and may even succeed to some level, but nonetheless in describing the parts of the music which were probably intentional and trying to work out what is being attempted, one can't really approach their significance. At best, one can just tell somebody to listen to it, and point out that some elements don't do what one would think.<br /><br />That said, thank you for this piece, it was worth reading. I shall continue flocking to this blog, for what it's worth.Zerohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12844491189333592401noreply@blogger.com