The Fallacy of "Orthodox Black Metal" - "Casus Luciferi" Review (0%)
The Swedish "orthodox black metal" brand - and make no mistake, it is much more of a commercial "brand" like Calvin Klein and Versace than a genuine black metal genre - arose because people wanted a label for music adorned in the style of "Reinkaos", yet composed in more basic, possibly even dumber song structures, with shorter riffs and cyclic songs like the worst of war metal, with a strong cover story of "theistic Satanism" to help obscure its vehemently Middle-Eastern, "Semitic" and Judeo-Christian positions - as opposed to the Viking and Pagan-influenced world view of the original Norwegian second wave of black metal.
Watain, with their second album "Casus Luciferi", comes to us from that mold, sounding a lot like early Antekhrist - i.e. like shit - with elements of Necrophobic, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Warkvlt and Satyricon in the mix, with all of those bands' gimmicks and none of their creativity. Individual tracks on "Casus Luciferi" sometimes feature some form or another of "expanded" format, usually either by transitioning into "atmospheric" acoustic elements - like the modern "post-black metal" of Deafheaven and Leviathan - or reverting to the basic, braindead chugga-chugga nu metal of Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold - but otherwise focus on short, fast riffs with generic melodic adornment in simple, Metallica-cover-band-rehearsal songs.
Many have pointed out that the so-called "orthodox black metal" movement is a scam run by a select few and well-known group of bands - Watain, Dark Funeral, Antekhrist, Gorgoroth and Necrophobic - and that the name of the genre is a misnomer and false advertising, as all five of these bands are widely hated within the black metal underground (save, perhaps, Antekhrist's "Fukked by God" which has its own "cult" following).
That's somewhat akin to missing the forest for the trees, so allow me to better explain.
The promoters of this type of vapid, mallcorish "muzak" - i.e. Watain and other associated clown acts - MUST call it "orthodox" black metal precisely because it is the very opposite thereof. Actual orthodox black metal would be the intricate, layered, and highly thematic compositions of Enslaved, Vermin, Neraines, Phantom, Graveland, early Emperor and Burzum - think "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss" for what's possibly the best example of this style.
Watain, on the other hand, is more like the black metal "style" applied like make-up to fast punk songs with a strong pop sensibility, courtesy of chugga-chugga nu metal and vocally-led metalcore - two likewise false metal "genres" promoted by the same people and industries who push the "orthodox black metal" scam. Really makes you think about the ludicrous "trve kvlt" designation in a different light.
The Fallacy of "Orthodox Black Metal"
Having thrown that out on the table, "Casus Luciferi" is like early Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral, Antekhrist, Aura Noir or Nifelheim, in that it is completely forgettable and has none of the troubling depth of early Norwegian black metal, or its (actual) Swedish counterparts Marduk, Sacramentum and Demonecromancy. "Orthodox black metal", like nu metal before it, simply tells you that "society is full of lies", so here is some high speed imitation Discharge "core" to LARP as a "theistic Satanic" crusader against the Christians (and Pagan) hordes who don't "understand" Satanism like you do.
Essentially, this is a religion. This "orthodox black metal"/"theistic Satanism" bullshit mirrors Judeo-Christianity in some fascinating ways. Like Christians, they believe in Apocalypse, original sin - even in a Calvinist sense of queerish, submissive, "God works in mysterious ways" hopeless fatalism - and even reject a works-based "salvation", like Calvin.
Like Christians, "orthodox" black metallers and "theistic Satanists" fills their lyrics with a rather ridiculous amount of Middle-Eastern, Hebraic and Biblical references, and constantly attack Viking and Pagan themed black metal bands - like Graveland, Enslaved and Immortal - as being "posers" who don't understand the "Left Hand Path" and "the ways of Satan". Some take a different approach, in that they call bands referencing Paganism and European mythology as "euro-centric" and sometimes even "neo Nazi" - a talking point that has since then been adopted by the mainstream media when reporting on black metal.
They get immensely triggered when you point out how positively "Semitic" their lyrics and thematic concepts sound, and some bands like Gorgoroth even flat out refuse to publish their lyrics - and threaten those who do with legal repercussions - as it would make the entire scam too obvious, that "orthodox black metal" was always just a way to strum out the problematic "euro-centric" Pagan black metal bands - like Burzum, Graveland, Neraines, Immortal, Enslaved - and replace them with the "safe", consumer-friendly, saturday-night-live mock rebelliousness of Gorgoroth and Watain.
At the end of the day, "Casus Luciferi" is - much like everything else promoted as "orthodox black metal" - about as black metal as Nightwish. "Casus Luciferi" isn't black metal. It barely even qualifies as metal, and can't even live up to the abysmally poor standards of pop-rockisation set out by one of the band's self-avowed inspirations, Dissection's last - and worst - album "Reinkaos", where angry Papa Roach vocals meet half-witted Slipknot chugs.
"Casus Luciferi" is an image that mirrors the band that created it. Like Watain, it's weak, insecure, and purports to be what it is not - and can never be - true black metal. Erik Danielsson, stop pretending you play black metal and go back to listening to "Reinkaos", "Abrahadabra", "Imaginaerum" and "The Paramour Sessions".
Much like "orthodox black metal" fails to hide its roots of Old Testament promulgated Judeo-Christian subservient "spirituality" by constantly reciting the "ways of the Left Hand Path" like a 1960s televangelism, so too do you and your band Watain fail to hide your musical roots in Roadrunner era nu metal by wearing corpse-paint themed makeup, using harsh vocals, and claiming lineage from Burzum - a lie, Varg has stated that he "doesn't know of any band [sic] called Watain" and that "theistic Satanism" is a "hoax perpetuated by the media to tarnish the image of the Norwegian [black metal] scene" (see Until the Light Takes Us or Real Satanic Black Metal).
This exchange during an interview between Watain frontman Erik Danielsson and Metal Mag tells you all you need to know about the "orthodox black metal" movement.
Q: That's badass pal! That response tore shit up. Now, this is an old argument that I'm sure you've heard many times before, but when you sing about the glory of Satan, you are admitting that there is a God, which in essence agrees with Christianity. What are your thoughts on this issue?
Erik Danielsson: Of course there is a god. [...] We oppose those who call themselves Atheists, Pagans, Wicca, Agnostics and everything else, [...] and they [who are "into European mythology"] far more often than not turn out to be Neo-Nazism peddlers and white supremacist [sic] bigots".
Fuck off, midget, and take your male escort friend "Lord" Ahriman with you, the underground doesn't want your shitty nu metal "Casus Luciferi" polluting the black metal scene.
Casus Luciferi score: 0/100.
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