monstersinthecosmos:

HEY KIDS let’s talk about metal okay.

Anyway so I shout into the void about metal sometimes, even though I fully realize I’m like the lone fandom metalhead LOL. I mean @finnishdoomster is around too LOL there’s a couple of us but it’s mostly pretty lonely.

but like fuckit I do what I want TODAY I’M GONNA TALK ABOUT:

BLACK METAL SONGS THAT REMIND ME OF MARIUS DE ROMANUS.

The thing about Marius + metal whenever I think about it is that I’m always thinking about how butthurt he was that Botticelli went dark, how disappointed he was. I’m of the opinion that Marius white-knuckles his way through immortality; that he represses his own anger until it reaches boiling points and he does stupid shit, and I think part of it was his refusal to admit to his own flaws, his own loneliness, his own desperation.

So like, on one hand I think he would see the subculture and find the metalheads adorable, like cute little humans acting all tough and scary. but I think he’d also appreciate that metal subculture is built around the idea of feeling alienated, being different, and embracing all the things that make us weird because we aren’t buying into all the bullshit that’s fed to us. Metalheads are philosophers and outsiders and are, by nature, creative people. They think differently and don’t try to deny it. And you don’t become a metalhead without being passionate, without caring about metal, because all the good metal is hiding from you and it’s a process to find it.

On the other hand I imagine that this music might be too much, too raw, too painful to listen to, just too fucking real. I can’t imagine him or any other ancient hearing some of these albums and not being totally traumatized.

I think black metal is an acquired taste for some—not everyone is gonna get it right away—but the thing about it is that it’s so cerebral to listen to, it’s such an experience, and when you click with it you just connect on such a deep level, and it just shreds you. 

I listen to a lot of fucking music, okay? And I just. I don’t think anything really captures the darkness the way black metal does. Especially the more melodic black metal, especially when it gets a little epic, maybe has some orchestral parts. It’s such an incredible blend of being worldly and majestic with the emptiness and the desperation. There’s really nothing like it.

And I tend to feel, out of all the metal vocal styles, that the signature black metal vocal style sounds so much more like genuine pain than any other subgenre. Like death metal styles sound so much more aggressive and black metal just always strikes me as really meaning it. 

And it specifically reminds me of Marius more than anyone else. It’s partly because I’m a fangirl (oops) but also just the very nature of his life, and I find B&G so haunting. He’s the only ancient we’ve really gotten to spend so much time with and it’s so chilling to hear him really own his age, discuss how much he’s seen, the eras he’s lived through. And his book is characterized by loss, time and time again, of people in his life, cities he’s loved, his sense of belonging anywhere. I just feel it heavily and poignantly in a lot of this music.

It’s not just the loss and pain, though, but in black metal that you can hear the abject evil and idk about you guys but it’s something that just inflames everything in me that is capable of feeling passion. It’s so incredibly dark and terrifying and seductive to me and if that doesn’t click into place with how I feel about these goddamn vampires, idk what.

There’s also the trend in black metal, especially blackened folk metal and melodic black metal, for the bands to incorporate traditional instruments from their heritage. It’s such an interesting blend of sounds but also, in this instance!, adds sort of a historical texture to the music in a lot of ways, which makes it an easy motif for me to hang onto.

And I can’t speak for the authenticity of the use of any of these instruments but again I find myself thinking: If Marius heard this, would he be totally shook? Imagine this brutally raw, pained music brought to life with an instrument he hasn’t heard in hundreds of years.

What was the music like at the grove?

(BONUS SONG:  Krigsgaldr by Heilung! I will concede that Heilung isn’t metal but black metal fans jizz their pants over this shit and like he’s got that scratchy black metal thing going on and this is just too good not to include cause it fits right in. FUN FACT, since I already talk about Wardruna + VC too much I’ll just casually remind you that Wardruna is black metal dudes. But check out HEILUNG also cause this is like all the spooky folk sounds without the obvious metal. METALHEADS LOVE THIS LOL.)

One of my favorite lines in the entire series is when Marius refers to “the cold and fatal domain” of his soul. Just. Fuck dude.

IS THERE ANYTHING MORE COLD AND FATAL THAN FUCKIN BLACK METAL???? Like “Cold and Fatal Domain” legit sounds like it should be the name of someone’s album.

LIKE, DID U KNO? One of the popular lyrical themes in black metal is the chaos of nature? SORTA LIKE THE SAVAGE GARDEN? Immortal, for example? Half their fuckin songs are just about snowy dark icy mountains and how cold it is in Norway. They have a song called Grim & Frostbitten Kingdoms! Sounds like some Cold & Fatal Domains! (Also LMAO they’re called Immortal. Appropriate.)

(AT THIS POINT I TRIED TO EMBED ANTARCTICA BY IMMORTAL BUT TUMBLR TOLD ME I WAS GETTING TOO WILD.)

I don’t really know where I’m going with any of this and I don’t have a graceful way to exit but. I just wanted to share that with you. If you’re feeling adventurous and want to give a new genre a try, do it. 😀 I didn’t pick any SUPER intense songs, these are good beginner songs, so if you want some icy dark vampire pain knock yaself out. 

Sigh, I’m so weepy now LMAO.