Let’s face it, there isn’t a lot to be happy about these days. The future for a lot of us looks like a gold plated jack boot heel stomping down on our neck waving flags around and chanting slogans about returning to the past. I’m not just talking about ‘Merikuh either, many of the countries we think as stable are on the brink of crumbling into dust on the pages of history. Men who are proud and vain enough to call themselves our leaders have slowly sucked the marrow out of our basic human rights, while they proclaim that we rest at the pinnacle of liberty.
We are shackled by the politician, the pundit and the pulpit. They lord over us with the media and dictate what we are allowed to feel and think. Most of us grasp to fairy tales and myths, or put our minds in the cages of superstition and pseudoscience. While we squabble over which god has the bigger cock, the powerful and wealthy continue to rob us of our education, rape our planet, hinder our children and steal them of their future. You would think that an outlook as bleak and brutal as this would be a dream for a lover of all things metal, but the darkened fantasy of black metal has creeped into the real world. Maybe it’s time to paint my face black and laugh at the falling embers of an Earth put to the torch. At least I will know what will be playing on my iPod, as it slowly dies, and things like electricity and gasoline become ancient relics of a time long forgotten.
(How most of us feel when we can’t find a phone charger and the battery has almost gone out)
Norwegian black metal band Kampfar seems to have prophesied our world to come in their latest album, Profan, which dropped back in November and it really is a tour de force. The members of Kampfar don’t waste any time on having useless trivialities like names, Dolk (Vocals), Ask (percussion) , Ole (guitar), and Jon (Bass) are enough labels to tell them apart before they swing a giant metal axe in your face. They really bring the spirit of black metal to life and then sacrifice it on the altar to the dark lord. Just a few days ago they released the video for the last track of that same album. The track is called Tornekratt and the video that accompanies it paints the most dismal portrait of pain and suffering. It’s beautiful and terrifying.
(A lot like how I imagine life in Norway actually is)
The amazing thing about Kampfar is that they are brutal and innovative yet remain true to their black Norwegian metal roots. Kampfar’s latest masterpiece is straightforward carnage mixed with creepy sounds and riffs and the songs average a solid 5 minutes each with tempo changes and mood altering wickedness. Throughout the whole album, there is a blight of hopelessness in a entire world coated in tar and fire. The instruments experimented with give the album that sense that the whole world is in danger of becoming a barren wasteland. The best example is with the 5th track Daimon, which mixes in a simple piano layer. It creates a very haunting song. It makes you feel that no matter where you are, you are fucked.
Take a look at the Kampfar video which shows us our future when our leaders finaly show their true natures.
