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Many of you have probably not read the book Feed by Matthew Tobin Anderson. It's okay; it's not the best. I mean, it's fine, but like, do you really NEED to read it? "No," is the answer.

Anyway, the book is about a future where people basically have the internet installed in their brains and mainly centers around a small group of teenagers living in this world. It has various comments on economic class, societies obsession with social media, and of course, since it was written in 2002, there's a whole "young adult" love subplot.
 
But the most interest concept presented in the book, and the part that still sticks with me is the following:

"Then later there was this thing that hit hipsters. People were just stopping in their tracks frozen. At first, people thought it was another virus, and they were looking for groups like the Coalition of Pity, but it turned out that it was something called Nostalgia Feedback. People had been getting nostalgia for fashions that were closer and closer to their own time, until finally people became nostalgic for the moment they were actually living in, and the feedback completely froze them."

An interesting concept, right? The idea that eventually nostalgia will become so close to our lives that we'll experience it for a time that we literally just had.
 
Well, having nothing to do with anything, here's a review of Stabbing Westward’s latest record Chasing Ghosts.

For those unfamiliar, AKA those below the age of 35, Stabbing Westward was an industrial goth rock band that released a handful of records from 1992 - 2001 and then broke up. In addition to having either the dumbest awesome name ever or the most awesome dumb name ever, Stabbing Westward was able to carve out a pretty solid niche for themselves among such other bands as Static-X and Gravity Kills as the darker industrial tinged side of mainstream rock radio. You see, back then, bands could actually make it to radio that DIDN'T sound exactly the same and occasionally a real outlier could even make it onto top 40 radio (see Nine Inch Nails with "Closer"). I know, wild right?

Anyway, for some reason, that probably relates to wanting money, they officially reformed in 2016, released two EPs in 2020 (one strictly of covers), and now, twenty-one years after their last and worst record, have released a new album.

Now to say that I've been following this band for some time is a bit of an underrepresentation of the truth. Though their past efforts, namely 1996's Wither Blister Burn & Peel didn't really speak to me, Darkest Days was probably one of my favourite albums when it came out in 1998 along with Monster Magnet's Powertrip, Local H's Pack Up the Cats, Finger Eleven's Tip, and three nu-metal genre defining albums that came out the SAME DAY (August 18th): Orgy's Candyass, Kid Rock's Devil Without a Cause, and Korn's Follow the Leader. And no, I will not be apologizing for liking these albums or putting some "Please don't judge me" sentence because obviously the music you like when you're young encapsulates a specific moment in time and fuck you I liked something and I won't be shamed for it.
 
So, I was very sad when Stabbing Westward broke up, especially since they went out on such a musically low note. I was excited to listen to lead singer Christopher Hall's new project The Dreaming, even though it was basically just a more straight-forward version of Stabbing Westward. I even listened to the two EPs, so now that I've laid all this out, I guess I should talk about the new album.

In basically every aspect, this is exactly what someone who listened to Stabbing Westward would expect this album to be. Musically it's like if a cover band (or The Dreaming) came in and reworked various songs from Stabbing Westward's previous records. Tracks like "Crawl," "Push," and "The End" sound like B-sides from the self-titled record, while other tracks like "Dead & Gone" and "I Am Nothing" don't feel like they'd be too out of place from Darkest Days.  Even "Wasteland" seems like a current day recording of something that existed since Wither Blister Burn & Peel. So, no, this record does nothing really to add to the music scene it is a part of or advance Stabbing Westward into a new position, which would make me say that this album is therefore bad. After all, what is the point of music if it doesn't somehow advance the band or music in general?

And if you assumed this point, you would be incredibly wrong.
 
PLOT TWIST!

In many respects this record is a product of a bygone era; a period that lasted from the late 90s to the mid 00s and does not continue to today. With this fact in place, it could be argued that doing anything that even approximates a record from that time is in itself pushing music forward, just by trying to remind us of what a specific moment in time was like. It's like reading through something you wrote when you were younger and probably filled with a more youthful optimism and, for a brief, shining moment, vaguely remembering what that was like, but then realizing that moment is gone and will never truly be able to be recaptured and even if you tried it will never be the same. And the band must be aware of this - hell, they literally called the album "Chasing Ghosts." 

But context is important, and the fact that this album is them reasserting themselves after a twenty-one year album hiatus I would argue is probably the best move. In addition to having to re-solidify themselves with the audience they had, they have to introduce themselves to a new audience. The easiest way to do that is basically to take what you believe to be the best parts of what you've done in your past and increment them just that liiiiitle bit to modernize them.

Overall, the record is pretty okay with a couple of more mundane tracks. If you have never heard this band before, this isn't the worst record you could start off with as an introduction, mainly because the rest of the discography is more raw versions of this. If, instead, you are like me and you too have been waiting for new Stabbing Westward, this album may actually catch some of those ghosts mentioned in the album title.
 
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get my best black clothes ready for the new goth revival which is DEFINITELY GOING TO HAPPEN!

I think we're going to start this review with me talking about my favourite vodka. I think it will be clear as to why as we go on, but just bear with me for a moment.

At this point in history, I'm mainly a rum drinker, but when I first started drinking, my liquor of choice was vodka. I tried a lot of different brands and types of vodka. Pro tip: vanilla vodka and Pepsi or Coke makes a pretty delicious combo for when you want to add a sweet flavour to your drinking.

Oh, I should probably also take this point to say this is not sponsored content, though, if anything I'm about to mention wants to get in touch... You know...

Anyway, of these vodkas, I was partial to Grey Goose because I found it to be the smoothest of all the vodkas. Very little burn, very tasty; 5 on 5, would drink again. The problem with Grey Goose is it was, and to some extent, still is, pretty pricey, and as a college age drinker, I didn't have tons of money to throw around, so I needed to find an alternative.

So, one day, I was looking to replenish my alcohol supply when I came across a vodka I had never seen before. It is, and I guess still is, called Blavod. So, what was it that made me see this bottle and actually take the time to check it out among the sea of clear bottles at the liquor store? It was black.

I know, very cliche for someone that likes metal.

After I picked it up to examine this anomaly, I discovered it wasn't the bottle that was black, but the actual vodka itself. Why? Well, it has something to do with an extract from an Acacia tree... you can look it up if you're interested. I'm not an alcohol scientist.

As I looked at it, I of course had the thought, "This can't be good. First off, it's not super expensive. Second, vodka is supposed to be clear; this is the opposite. It must be awful," followed basically immediately by, "... buuuuutttt it's black, so I guess I have no choice."

I know, very cliche for someone that likes metal.

So I walked out of the store with my Blavod and can you imagine my surprise when I tasted it and found this cheaper, non-regular coloured vodka was just as good, if not more smooth and tasty than the higher shelf Grey Goose that I had been buying. And that is the appeal and joy that sometimes comes from gimmick products. On the very rare occasion, they can be as good or better than other "more traditional" offerings.

And so, with that, we land on a band that has taken their gimmick and run with it to levels only rivaled by KISS, that being Sweden's Ghost, formerly Ghost BC, formerly just Ghost.

Yes, the band has returned, with all the regalia and imagery intact, after their last ‘80s, stadium rock album, Prequelle, with a new record, IMPERA. But of course, it's still holding true to "Catholicism but all about Satan."

I know, very cliche for someone that likes metal.

Apparently set "thousands of years after the last record," whatever the hell that means. Were you too also under the impression that Ghost was copying the Catholic church of today? Well, it turns out we're the idiots and this was set in the past... Or maybe the new record is set in the future? Doesn't matter; the point is the concept is still going and apparently there's some story here and all of this is to highlight that I won't be talking about any of it. Instead, I will make the bold, and might I add, brave, stance of looking at just the music experience of this record, especially since the jump in time has affected that said music in basically no way.

Returning is the same ‘80s influenced stadium rock from the last record. Ghost seems to have landed on a formula that works for them with the notable exception of main mastermind Tobias Forge looking at the "prog" knob on the mixer and turning that up to mid levels.

This is pretty apparent as the record starts off with the particularly soaring "Kaisarion" that sounds like the band trying to formulate a track which has all the weirdo guitar passages of an ‘80s prog band, but with some sing along parts to really "get the audience involved,” and it pretty much pulls it off.

Though, he does manage to reel this in on tracks like "Spillways," which starts with the beginning of "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" and ends with every soaring guitar solo the ‘80s ever made.

That's not to say that older, let's go with "pre-’80s" Ghost is not present here. Most of "Watcher In The Sky," and "Twenties" have that weird "Mercyful Fate but at a circus" type of vibe you can imagine from Meliora.

There is another difference in this record, which may be a prequel (ha... see what I did there?) to Ghost going in an even more poppy direction with the last third of the record sounding like tracks that could easily sit as a "rock entry" in Eurovision, barring of course the length of the last track, "Respite On The Spitalfields."

So I guess if I have to rate this record on the scale of Ghost records, I'd say we're at a solid mid tier. It's not as smooth as the Grey Goose that is Meliora, but I'd say it sits around a SKYY or a Stoli level; not quite reaching the popularity of Smirnoff, but always looking to try to take the spot, especially now that Russian vodkas are being banned at liquor stores. Oooh look, a topical reference!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go run my Crystal Head Vodka through a Brita filter a bunch of times to try to make it palatable enough to drink.

I know, very cliche for someone that likes metal.

Boy, the new Zeal & Ardor album is good.

Oh, that's probably bad. I shouldn't start out with the direct opinion, right? It defeats the purpose of you reading the rest of the article. But, then again, I can't be accused of burying the lead. Maybe what I should do is act like I didn't start with any of this. I could edit it out I guess, but... no, that seems like work.

Anyway, Zeal & Ardor is basically a one man show from the brain of American/Swiss genius Manuel Gagneux. He started the band when he went on 4Chan and asked people to post two genres and he'd make a song about it. Since it’s 4Chan, black metal came up and was immediately followed by a racial slur. Rather than quit the endeavour he was on, he decided to take up the challenge and created a track with black metal elements and Southern Black spirituals; and thus we now have Zeal & Ardor. 

Now those that know me are not shocked to learn that both Devil is Fine and Stranger Fruit, the 2017 and 2018 releases respectively, were both high on my albums of the year, and though the Wake of a Nation EP didn't quite hit me like the others, the track "Vigil" is probably the most powerful song of protest that cropped up around the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the fact that more people aren't aware of it is really a disservice. Go listen to it right now and then come back to this article. The great thing about reading something is you don't even need to hit pause to do something else.

Welcome back. How was the rabbit hole you went down about baseball cards? Good. Great; let's get back to this.

So here we are in 2022 and he comes out with a new self-titled album, a move that I never understand why bands do once the first record is released. That's your chance! Take advantage of it.

On first listen, I was met with a feeling that the album was more of the same; that essentially the band was staying in place and not really moving too far out of it, but upon further listens, I think I have changed that opinion a bit.

Yes, this is still a combo of metal elements with spirituals, the most "traditional" of which is probably "Death to the Holy," which contains all the elements one would expect from a typical Zeal & Ardor track. But the band has branched out of the black metal realm and is now drawing on other metal elements to add to their sound. In particular there's a lot of different styles that are being drawn from, to some straight thrash guitar passages to occasional groove metal elements that are cropping up on this record, "Götterdämmerung" being the chief example of the latter with its chunky guitar riffs. But, all of these extra elements are fairly short and I think really only stand out upon at least a second listen. So, while the record seems to be a standard record, it's actually doing subtle expansion of its genre reach.

It is not, however, a perfect record. Chiefly it has some filler content that I'm not sure does much except to lengthen the run time. In particular the final two tracks, "J-M-B" and "A-H-I-L," don't really add a whole lot, which is supremely disappointing especially given the strong ender to Stranger Fruit, "Built On Ashes," which wrapped the album pretty nicely. 

In this same vein, I could also lump the self-titled intro track into this discussion, but intro tracks or passages to records are so common at this point it almost seems like required material. I suppose "Emersion" could also fit into this filler since it sounds like a mashup of an Owl City and old Emperor track, but the sheer novelty of writing that sentence automatically gives it a pass.

So, this isn't my favourite Zeal & Ardor record, though I do find I enjoy it the more I listen. The fact that Manuel is still putting in the effort of adding elements and reinventing what the band can do is probably going to make it a record of the year. If you haven't been on the train before now, it's probably time to check out what this madman has gifted us all.

In 2019 and 2020, Pest Productions, A black metal label from China, released two compilations of emerging Chinese black metal on Bandcamp. New bands with a diverse range of black metal subgenres were introduced in the compilations, including old school bm, blackened death, dsbm, nihilist bm, black/thrash, post bm/blackgaze, symphonic bm, as well as folk bm, which gave birth to the New Wave of Chinese Black Metal. This year in January, Pest Productions have returned with the third compilation, bringing more talented Chinese black metal bands to overseas metal fans (I posted links at the bottom of the article of the three compilations which are free to download on Bandcamp). Based on this new extreme trend, I conducted this interview with two of my friends, AymParch and Dyingflames, who have been playing very active and important roles in Chinese underground metal communities.

DY: Can you tell us what are your roles in Chinese underground black and death metal communities and when did you both get involved?

AP: First of all, thanks for inviting us, really appreciate that. I’m currently working for Pest Productions (PR & promotion) and Dienysian Records (co-editor). Dyingflames and I got in touch and quickly became friends over a decade ago via some online forums. In 2015 we were invited by Zquagmire (another old friend and a very prolific artist in the Chinese extreme underground) to start a raw black metal project, together with Huai Wei (bassist for Black Kirin and Skeleton Augury). That project eventually turned into R.N.V. in 2017 when Dyingflames and I decided to start playing live shows. Right now R.N.V. is the main band I’m working on, with Nanjing-based bm veteran Lv Bo (复活 (Resurrection), Holokastrial, ex-Delirious) behind drums. There’s another side project I’m working on with Lv and that’s about it.

I was one of those close friends who joined Dienysian as co-editors after Dyingflames founded it around 2016. We have been long fans of Pest Productions and their music since we first got into the Chinese black/death scene. I met Deng, the owner, in 2016 at their 10 years anniversary show in Shanghai. Since then, I’d been helping Pest with some trivia like translating and writing promos, and eventually became an official member in late 2019.

DF: Thanks a lot for the opportunity here. I work for a venue and manage the shows every day, nearly half of the underground metal and punk shows took place at the club. AP and I are both in Dienysian Records and R.N.V. There is another band I’m in, Holokostrial, a Shanghai-based death metal band formed by guitarist Mammoth and me in 2014, also one of very few active death metal bands in eastern China. As for Dienysian, it is long time ago that I run a website page, maybe 2011 or earlier, we share metal album reviews (sometimes illegal download resources, I’m sorry) and recommend good bands from all over the world to our followers in China, then I changed name to Dienysian Records in 2016, and begin to hold some shows and release some music work. 

It is the same time I met Deng Zhang, just like AP. The Pest 10 years anniversary show was really awesome, almost everyone was there. Deng really helps me a lot on label working, and Dienysian posted many reviews and interviews for bands and releases from Pest, during 2018-2020 we worked closely, then I shifted focus on shows.  

DY: How does Chinese black metal distinguish itself from European or North American black metal? There are quite a few Chinese BM bands that have sort of Chinese traditional elements, and they also gained attention from overseas. But are the themes, or techniques different too?

AP: Music-wise, I don’t really see many differences to be honest, aside from those bands who manage to incorporate traditional Chinese elements into their music. One main reason is, after all, black metal is still a European genre, and we were more or less influenced by those classics and legends and their magnum opuses in the global scene. Also, Chinese BM is really diverse when it comes to writing styles and lyrics themes, so I don’t think there’s a distinct “Chinese sound” like that of Finnish/French/Icelandic BM – on that note, the situation here is somewhat similar to the North American BM scene.

DY: Since you’ve stayed in America and Canada, how do you find the black metal or death metal ambiances in North America different from those in China? 

AP: Personally speaking, I think 2015 marks a turning point for the Chinese underground music scene (including the indie and punk ones), more bands and resources have been introduced to China due to the globalization of the music industry in general and the amount of efforts made by many great underground labels. But they still differ from those in North America since Chinese underground music, in general, is still a niche subculture, compared to the popularity of its NA/EU counterparts. In terms of audiences at shows, it’s really hard to pinpoint their exact characteristics either (China or NA/EU). I do think that the Japanese scene (audiences, livehouses’ general ambiance, etc) stands out as some of the craziest. We had a great time three years ago over there during our Japan tour in support of Cult Of Fire and Zurriake.

DF: Actually, big cities are pretty good, many famous or underground death metal and black bands toured in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou in last 20 years. There are at least thousands of fans willing to pay for the show and other merches. When we took shows in other cities, things changed a lot, unlike NA, it is usual to find metalheads in almost every town or cities, fans are too concentrated in China. 

DY: What are obstacles you met or black/death metal might meet in Chinese mainland? Back to few years ago, shows were sometimes cancelled due to “unseeable reasons.” How is the situation nowadays? 

AP: Yes, censorship is definitely the biggest obstacle that show organizers and bands had to face prior to the global pandemic. We were once targeted by the local police and had to cancel our set. Fortunately, that didn’t affect the entire festival eventually. Great thing is, over the years, organizers have learned to cope with all the procedures, paperwork, and other nonsenses associated with live show censorship. I think Dyingflames can give you more detail since he’s super familiar with that.

DF: Obviously, censorship troubles us. In early days, 2012 or earlier, we can easily book shows we want without worrying about the date or place as long as it is not against government. My first band even played on a 400 people show at those years, our local newspaper posted it for promoting young culture. However, now we need to prepare the paperwork (ID, lyrics of course and more) plus lots of other sh*t, like audio or video of the songs we plan to play on stage, we send these materials to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and then wait one or two weeks for their opinions. Sometimes they don’t like the lyrics, though the lyrics has been “improved” and deleted all negative words. And sometimes they don’t like our dress, they want us to dress normal and keep our face and body clean. 

The worst thing is “report.” Even though we have permission to hold shows, shows could be reported to police office or the Ministry I mentioned. It is not possible that every show we strictly follow the rules, so if someone is not pleased with us, we metalheads, or the loud music, etc, these can be reasons for them to shut down the whole show. Today we meet the challenge from pandemic and policy control as well, increasing the risk of cancellation, every show during these years is under this uncertainty. 

DY: Did you collaborate with overseas bands? And can you tell us about the transnational practice of Chinese black metal or death metal in North America? 

AP: Yes, Pest Productions has been working with tons of overseas bands since the beginning. You can check them out on our official webpage, or do a quick little search on Metal Archives. Some of my personal favorites among our recent foreign releases are the Canadian-based Nordicwinter and his side project Autumn’s Tomb, the Brazilian folk/black metal genius Kaatayra and his other project Vauruvã. We will soon release Kostnatění’s latest EP in collaboration with US-based Dissociative Visions (Mystískaos).

I think a good chunk of the younger generation is represented by some promising acts either living overseas or making music in a transnational way. Such as some of our most recent signings like Merrow, Tomblord, and Golden Cat Pagoda. In terms of overseas labels, Under the Dark Soil (based in U.K.) and WV Sorcerer Productions (based in Paris) are two of our long-time collaborators, both were founded by diasporic Chinese. Go check them out. From my own experiences, it’s much easier right now to compose, record, and share demos with bandmates over the internet than 10 years or 15 years ago. Only bad thing is, you don’t get to enjoy the cathartic fun of regular rehearsal and post-rehearsal drinking bouts that often right now. 

DF: We interviewed and translated many classic articles of NA death metal bands in Weibo (Chinese Twitter), including some of the killer bands like Incantation, spreading seeds of pure darkness. It is more likely in the future we can see Chinese death metal bands working or touring in NA.

DY: How did bands and record labels tackle the pandemic in China? Are shows back?

AP: It’s the most difficult and the most annoying thing right now. Shows have already been back around late 2020, but right now everything’s so uncertain – many shows scheduled ahead could be canceled or forced to change lineups a couple of days before their scheduled date. We have had to already rearrange two major fests since 2022 because of last-minute imposed COVID restrictions.

DF: The shock does not take severely as we imagine, except the uncertainty of some shows, we are quite good. After all, the pandemic cannot make the censorship worse. 

DY: By the end, can you share or give us a list of bands that we can listen to.

AP: I will mostly talk about bands under Pest’s own banner: Zurriake/Yngizarm, Black Kirin, Deep Mountains, Be Persecuted, Vengeful Spectre, Dark Fount (new album coming next month), E.D.I.E.H., Screaming Savior, Urizen Society, Holyarrow. Two young projects I think deserve more overseas attention are Vitriolic Sage and 景湖白 (Scenery of Pale Lake) – highly recommended.

DF: Mvltifission, Globularcyst, 毒蛊 (Dugu), Chaotic Aeon, Ululate, The Dark Prison Massacre, also The Illusion of Dawn, Suriel, Skeletal Augury from Pest Productions.

Links to the Pest Productions Chinese black metal compilations:

- Death Kult Over Black Congregation I

- Death Kult Over Black Congregation II

- Death Kult Over Black Congregation III