New Music Friday (Saturday)

I was out last night gaming with some of my hometown friends. One of their friends was in town, and they invited me along for an xbox night.

I didn't want to go. Even though I've known these friends for years and still am in regular contact, I was anxious about it. Not rational.

Plus, I knew it was just going to be shooter games. Halo, Call of Duty. I'm not great at such games, and don't really enjoy them.

I went anyway, because I didn't have a good excuse, and I knew my fucking therapist would want me to.

It was just as lame as I expected, but I was able to "zone out" and socialize on autopilot. I was uncomfortable beforehand and afterward, but the time itself was a blank, emotionally. I remember images and sounds, but "I" was a degree removed from the situation.

I left early because my friends' friends were disengaging into their phones and killing the vibe, and I wanted to be asleep by midnight.

So, here's my New Music Friday roundup a day late. Hopefully with more effective formatting than last time.

Blut aus Nord - "Hallucinogen" (black metal)
I haven't really gotten into Blut aus Nord's previous stuff, but the singles I wandered into a few weeks ago were promising. Promise fulfilled! This is a very good album. I like how the vocals, whether choral or coarse, take a back seat to some trippy/melodic lead guitar work. The occasional blast-beats are not obnoxious, and the ambiance of the album ends up being almost more prog-rock than black metal.

Varials - "In Darkness" (hardcore)
The songwriting and atmosphere are a step up from "Pain Again" (2017), but I disliked how the vocals were produced and executed. The mix adds grain and crackle (or loses fidelity), but it accentuates rather than masks the fact that it's just a guy shouting into the microphone. Not proper coarse vocals (growl, scream, etc.). Vocabulary is rather limited, too, with a lot of "fuck" "fucking" "fuck" that metallic hardcore bands tend to find their rut in. The instrumental parts were really tight, groovy, and well-produced, though, so it still ends up being a pretty good album on the balance.

Eye of the Enemy - "Titan" (melodic death metal/metalcore)
Eh. I can't tell if it's a carbon copy of their previous "The Vengeance Paradox" (2014), or a slightly worse attempt at recapitulation. Everything seems a bit muddier and uninteresting. Just like TVP, it features a token longer, more melodic song, "Stress and Colours," in the vein of "The Shift," both of which are very good songs. I wish the rest of the songs of the album had similar variety and ambition, rather than trying to be generic groove metal. Maybe a second listen will change my mind on this one - it happens - but my first didn't impress me.

Blurstem - "Among the Oaks" (neoclassical/ambient)
Made me sleepy, but not in a good way. There was some fine handling of ambiance and tone, but the album severely lacked dynamism or emotion beyond a sort of quiet contentedness. No joy, no sorrow. Again, maybe I need to do a second listen.

Gideon - "Out of Control" (hardcore, metalcore)
Laughable. Some context: Gideon used to be a "Christian band," but they always stuck out to me as being particularly noncommittal on that front. Naturally, in the lead-up to this release, they make a big deal of renouncing their Christian faith, without giving any logical reasons, just a lot of bravado, bluster, and aggression. Don't get me wrong - somewhere in the same time that Gideon's members did, I also went from being a committed Christian to agnostic/atheist - but Gideon's handling of that move is apish. "Out of Control" is full of bullshit swagger and gratuitous cursing with no artistic merit. Again, I have no problem saying four letter words - there's some above - but most of the time I use them for humor, not as some misguided attempt to look tough. They're just words. Gideon seems to be trying to prove themselves so "badass" and "hardcore" by delinquent quantities of profanity, which is really a more likely indicator of immaturity and insecurity. C'mon, quit acting like you've got something to prove, drop the bluster, and be real here. I'm glad you're not hiding behind a set of beliefs that got you nowhere, but don't think you're still out to save the world (from Christianity, now) by acting like douchey pissants. (Any small irony in me saying that is recognized.)
Anyway, that's all a pity, because the basslines and drumming were pretty dang groovy. (I understand they acquired a new bassist. He seems to have had some real positive musical input.)