As mentioned in the last installment, I recently received a cache of albums from my friend Sam with explicit instructions to review them on this page. Of course, Sam has always been something of a subverter, and enjoys art which tends to question or go against the establishment. Because he’s a joker at heart, I was not surprised when I found out the three records he sent me were attributed to the National Socialist black metal movement. Sam is something of a savant, so his gift ideas make perfect sense: send the Jew albums which were recorded by bands who sympathize with Nazi ideology, and ask him to review them! Two weeks ago I listened to Nokturnal Mortum, and you can read my review by clicking here. Today I’ve had an opportunity to listen Fire Chariot of Destruction by Graveland.
Originally a solo project inspired by the grim, genre-defining works of Burzum, Robert Fudali (aka Rob Darken) formed Graveland in 1992. According to online sources, the band’s early albums featured a strong folk themes, but then the band released several records that were categorized as Viking Metal before returning to their roots with Fire Chariot of Destruction.
The band offers by far the most lo-fi musical approach I’ve heard from a black metal band, but the production is fantastic. By that I mean the compositions are all quite simple, with songs usually just repeating two halves, but the overall quality of the recording is rather impressive. I listened to a track from Fire Chariot of Destruction and then returned to Nokturnal Mortum’s NeChrist and the differences were startling. Whereas NeChrist now sounds distant and harmless, this album is a huge, throttling aural assault.
For a band cited as having major folk influences, Graveland includes only a small number of acoustic-tinged breaks or operatic chants into these songs. They are largely intense and unrelenting orchestrations fueled by precise musicianship and Darken’s seething anger. The bellicose war drums are cold and unconscious. Upon first listen I could have sworn it was the work of a machine. The rhythms are precise and never approach the overblown flowery drumming that is usually the hallmark of metal records. On the titled track, the guitar and bass rarely waver from speedy single-or-dual stringed strums. Only occasionally do they creep up or down the fret-board in marginal half or full steps. The melodies are minimalist, always fuzzed out, and always brutal. The sound of these power-driven rhythms and repetitive, simplistic melodies create a rather powerful, gloomy atmosphere.
At first I could not tell if the lyrics were ideologically similar to to the hate espoused by other NSBM bands. There’s a lot of war imagery, and pagan imagery, but I didn’t notice any overt references to Aryans, anti-semitism or other racially-fueled language. I figured maybe the band’s ideals are more likely to surface in public appearances or interviews than on albums. Then I noticed “Creator and Destroyer” features calls to Wotan and his followers to ensure the heads of enemies will “turn lands to red”. If you didn’t take any psychology classes in school, or haven’t read the writings of Carl Jung, you might just figure this “Wotan” thing is just another stupid mythical folk creature in Poland who ate farmers in the middle ages. Not true. Wotanism is an old Norse religion (I think? Norse? German?) whose modern followers usually preach white supremacy. So, when Darken growls for “Wotan! Bring destruction” he’s actually calling for the Will Of The Aryan Nation to bring destruction to anyone who is different. Hmm, all this Nazi mysticism bullshit, plus Graveland’s upcoming split LP with Nokturnal Mortum and Temnozor (whose Folkstorm Of The Azure Nights will be the final NSBM album I review for this series) sure do oppose to the theory that Graveland isn’t an NSBM band, which is written on their Wikipedia page. Someone should go in there and edit that shit before one of those do-nothing Jewish soccer moms from the suburbs accidentally buys her goth son a Graveland CD and turns him into a neo-Nazi.
Graveland – Fire Chariot of Destruction
Graveland – Motherland
and, for the non-NSBM fans, here’s some happier music:
Keiji Haino & Boris – Wonder What Colour Would Be Suitable For The Dwelling – Keiji hails from Chiba, Japan. The members of Boris reside in Tokyo, Japan. The fact that they battled the United States during World War II was more closely related to the embargo we placed on their nation for trying to conquer and unify all of Asia under Japanese rule. I don’t think their attack on Pearl Harbor had anything to do with the Japanese people being Nazi sympathizers. I don’t even know if Jews live in Hawaii. Plus, they’re Japanese. They’re not Aryan. Unless they’re being ironic.
Jeff Buckley – Eternal Life [live on WFMU, 10-11-1992] – Jeff Buckley was a huge fan of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who is not white, so it is impossible for Jeff Buckley to have been a Nazi sympathizer. Unless he was being ironic.
Stephen Malkmus – Black Book – Stephen played on a Silver Jews record with noted Jewish guy David Berman. Unless he was using his close ties with Berman to infiltrate the Jewish community and destroy them from the inside, I’m pretty sure Malkmus is not a Nazi sympathizer. Unless he’s being ironic.
