Showing posts with label Goth Metal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goth Metal. Show all posts

Monday, February 23, 2009

Hottest fashion accessory of the season: The dragon bag

Not just a fashion accessory, this bag has magical powers. Embedded deep within its leather eyes, are magic crystals that keep the opposite sex at least 50 feet away at all times.


When I think back to some of the things I've worn in my lifetime I cringe. Like any other true fashion pioneer, I was fearless. At my lowest point, I was a mix between a death metal fan, and a gang-banger from the movie Blood In Blood Out. To say I was confused is an understatement.

Is it weird that I wanted to look like these guys? Most metal fans would say "yes, very weird indeed", but the guys in Excruciating Terror would surely understand.



However badly I dressed, and perhaps continue to (what do I know?) I have to say that I was truly amazed and bewildered upon finding the dragon bag that you can see above. Out of all the fashion arenas into which I dipped my toes during my youth (and there are many), I'm proud to say that I never went into any kind of a goth direction. Not the black metal/goth route, not the NIN/goth route, not the The Cure/goth route, not the Nightmare Before Christmas/goth route. I know this is not saying much, but when you've been steeped in stupidity for long periods of time (as I have) you have to take both comfort and pride in the little things.


Nice lunchbox, what's in there...your balls?


Today, perhaps more than ever before, the line between goth and metal is blurred, at least to a partial outsider like me. When I used to Tivo Headbanger's Ball a couple of years ago, I was amazed by how many bands had female singers and dudes in bondage pants. Call me an old man, but I miss the days when musical styles and the fashions that went with them were clearely defined. Bermuda shorts and skateboard? Ah...you must be an Anthrax fan, good to meet you. Leather jacket, bullet belt, Slayer shirt and black boots? You, sir, are a speed metal fan...the pleasure is all mine.

Sometime around 1995, the world went upside down. Metal guys starting wearing bigger pants (even Chris Barnes wore JNCO jeans), then came the skate shoes and fashion accessories from other subcultures. When metal dudes started shaving their heads, I knew it was all over. By the time goth started to creep in (by way of black metal usually) I knew it was all over. Today, I found the picture of the dragon bag and I began to dream. I began to dream about a simpler time. A time when metal was metal, goth was goth and you knew where people stood. A time before ICP blended metal, with pseudo hip-hop and stupdity.


Is it male or female? Does it make a difference?


Once I saw a picture of this bag/monstrosity I began to wonder just how many misguided metal fans are out there, dreaming of rocking this thing along with an oversized Craddle Of Filth shirt, maybe sweet fishnet arm things, and those big bondage pants that appear to be all the rage in that subculture. In a way, you almost have to give these people credit, they have managed to make themselves unlikable at a time when you can like metal and all kinds of stupid music and still get plenty of action while you are still in high school.


Duh, doesn't he know that gray makes you look fat?

So while the picture of the bag will no doubt depress most people who have any sense of decency, it actually cheers me up. Today I can proudly say that there is at least one horrible metal trend that never had me as an active participant. Hoooray for me!

Friday, May 23, 2008

If You Can't Eat It Or Fuck It... Then Kill It!

Would you want to have to fight these guys?

You probably know Pete Steele as the lead singer of everyone's favorite goth metal band Type O Negative. You may also know him from his popular centerfold spread in the August 1995 issue of Playgirl. But his greatest contribution to society is the criminally underappreciated post-apocalyptic proto-thrash outfit Carnivore. Formed back in 1983 by then New York Parks Department employee "Lord Petrus Steele" along with drummer Louie Beateaux and guitarist Keith Alexander. Musically, Carnivore was like if Venom was from Brooklyn and obsessed with Mad Max instead of Satan. Sloppy, loud, fast, and heavy. Carnivore's music is a muscular speed metal all their own. From the picture above it's clear their biggest fashion influences were Manowar and the Legion of Doom. Known for drenching their audiences with buckets of animal blood, entrails, and assorted body parts, Carnivore was years ahead of shitty black metal bands like Mayhem and Gorgoroth who later stole their idea.

Simple, yet effective cover art

Carnivore's self-titled debut album is probably the manliest, most macho metal record ever made (sorry, Manowar). If you don't have a penis, you probably won't "get" this record, but that's okay. It's pure testosterone, with a healthy dose of sarcasm and cynicism. The album's lyrical concept revolves around life after a thermonuclear war. Roving gangs of neo-barbarians rule the streets where rape, murder, and cannibalism are accepted forms of self-expression. It's the soundtrack to the greatest 80s action movie that was never made. The album kicks off with "Predator," a song about the people living in the subways beneath the ruined city coming out and being eaten by Carnivore. "I sense that living human beings dwell below my feet/An important source of protein/You are what you eat!" Next up is the band's theme song and it contains all of Carnivore's favorite themes--sex, violence, and cannibalism. "Drool dripping out/My tongue hanging south/Saliva flowing free/My eyes full of lust/My balls gonna bust/Give yourself to me/Thirst I can't quench/C'mere you wench/There's something that I need." "Male Supremacy" is an epic worthy of its title that's sure to get any feminist's blood boiling with its hilarious shouted chorus of "MALE SUPREMACY!" Memorable lines include "Between my legs I've got what it takes to be called a man/Fighting/Feasting/Fucking all I can." As if the song weren't already over-the-top enough it features an extended acoustic breakdown where Steele romantically croons the sort of lines he'd later make a living from with Type O Negative. Alternating between a slow stomp and fast chugging, "Armageddon" is one of the catchiest songs on the album. Never before has the end of the world sounded this good.


Look at those fucking bass drums!!!

Coincidentally enough, side two of Carnivore starts off with the song "Legion of Doom" about a biker gang who's motto is "Live your life by your will/Learn to be an animal/By the light of the moon beware the legion of doom!" "God is Dead," featuring a killer cowbell-heavy chorus, is about God committing suicide because he's so depressed by what mankind has become. "You gang raped mother nature/I love a virgins cry/Blood poured from the earth/She suffered and she died/Rusty scissors still in hand you castrated father time/Feed his balls to the hounds that drink his cum like wine." "Thermonuclear Warrior" is one of the most raging, balls out tracks on the album advocating eugenics via homicide. The album closes with the ten minute epic to end all epics "World Wars III and IV." Riffs, dive-bombs, solos, explosions, and drum solos for days. You couldn't ask for a more fitting end to one of the greatest metal albums ever made.

Classic 80s shitty metal album cover art

Carnivore's second and final album, Retaliation, is also worth seeking out. The musicianship is tighter, the production is cleaner, and there's more of a hardcore/crossover vibe, but it's still very much a metal record. By this point they'd stopped wearing costumes and the lyrics are slightly more "serious," but still just as hilarious. The album starts off with the sound of someone puking their brains out and then launches into the scathing social commentary of "Angry Neurotic Catholics" followed by the anthemic "Suck My Dick." The controversial nature of this album mostly stems from the ridiculously over-the-top lyrics to "Race War." Lines like "Don't call me your brother 'cause I ain't your fuckin' brother/We fell from different cunts and your skin's an ugly color" tend to get people all worked up. Personally, I think it's tongue-in-cheek. How can anyone actually take what these guys sing about seriously after looking at these photos? Some people have no sense of humor.

Carnivores love meat

"Inner Conflict" is an epic suicide lament with extremely descriptive lyrics like "Large two inches maggots decorate my vomit/Infected eyes oozing puss/Acknowledge the stench of human excrement/Swamps of mucus prevalent/Every hole in my body drips blood." "Jesus Hitler" is the story of a mysterious figure born of a nun raped by a Nazi at the end of World War II. Jesus Hitler or Aldolf Christ? Torn between good and evil, has he come to save the Jews or destroy them? Brilliant Stuff. "Technophobia" is filled with more pro-technology, anti-religion rhetoric like "You worship a dead man hung with nails/Only a fool would die for the sins of humanity/On your knees before electronics." This is followed by a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Manic Depression" that rivals the original. "USA for USA" is like when Agnostic Front makes the crowd say the Pledge of Allegiance before playing "Liberty and Justice" on Live at CBGB, but better. "All the bullshit countries who think they'll beat the giant/World peace is upheaval/We'll nuke'em to the stoneage/Send the message clear/'Ya don't fuck with the eagle." If I were an Army general in Iraq, this is what I'd want my troops listening to! Retaliation closes with the Clockwork Orange inspired "Sex and Violence." I leave you with its timeless lyrics...

Monkey wrench in my hand
In my groin a swollen gland
Tonight perform brain surgery
Or some gynecology
Clockwork orange fast be comming
Rampant sreets gangs overrunning
After darkness waging war
What do they keep living for?
Sex and violence
I love to hear you scream in vain
Splattered blood and semen stains
Rape and murder lesson learned
Meeting of my pain and sperm
Prey upon the old and helpless
Reconditioning is useless
Ultraviolent offsprings of gore
What do they keep living for?
Sex and violence
If you can't eat it or fuck it
Then kill it
Sexual deviation
Religious desecration
Civil mutilation
Violent procreation
Bleed for me