Song of the Week #9
I’ll be the first person to admit that I’ve never truly been sold on black metal. That being said, I fully understand the natural progression brought about from keeping what Black Sabbath started heading in an even more tangential direction, and some fantastic songs and bands have emerged from this style of music. However, I am well and truly a novice in terms of being acquainted with the lyrical stylings, thudding drums and chugging rhythm of Black metal. This is entirely my own fault - I can’t say I’ve ever once thought about sticking a full-length Satyricon album on during a drive down the M62 motorway, and I immediately associate the term Marduk with a latter generation Tekken character rather than the veteran Swedish outfit. Who knows, maybe I’m in the wrong (and, lets face it, I probably am.)
However, I will attest to festivals being a fantastic gateway to opening up your mind and expanding your taste in music - the first time I attended Manchester’s Parklife festival, it showed me that actually sunshine and house music are very well acquainted friends, and I have been a fan of the genre ever since. I had a similar experience the first (and currently only) time I saw Behemoth in a soggy field at Donington Castle. As yet I haven’t done a deep dive into Black Metal, but it was an impressive display nonetheless, and I can see why their legions of fans around the globe follow them with a near-cult enthusiasm. Perhaps if I had accompanied one of my dear friends to Bloodstock festival in the UK on one of the many opportunities that he offered, I might already be more swayed by all the music that the deep, dark regions of Scandinavia and the US have to offer.
The song is a 2018 release by Behemoth called Bartzabel, and is one that I really remember vividly from that dreary day. I’m sure that the dry ice, face paint and light show all work much better indoors, but the theatre of the entire performance I feel really won over the entire crowd (or the few that weren’t there to specifically see the band, myself included). Who knows, give it a listen and you might be persuaded to head down your own Black Metal rabbit hole from here on in.