I admired your light green wings as you transformed from leaf to butterfly. I watched you watching me from the shining hazel eyes of a wild rabbit in the brambles and in the darting figure of the red fox in pursuit of your dinner. Your sun sets and rises and you bathe in a mist of morning rain. I know you as you know me. The acknowledgment of our symmetry and our oddities glimmers in the darkness of my sadness, showing me the way to freedom.
Tuesday, June 5, 2018
Poem: 'Whitechapel' by Kay Irvin
Whitechapel
Blood on the streets, stench in the air
1888, Butcher's Row, despair
Slaughterhouses spill the shuffle
The pubs hustle to some lamplight scuffle
Bobby whistles scream but the Ripper is no where
East end fog licks a dirty gem
Velvet bonnet and tattered hem
I'll do such things, such crafty things
Inside out and a few pence spread
I'll cut the sin right out of them
It may be 'neath a harlot's moon
But I'm going to paint it red
They will beg my blade and wish they were dead
A night's lodging, bread square and sleep
- Be the highest hope, if four pence will keep
Wipe a tear, smile and show some skirt
There's your lady, say how no one gets hurt
Raise the flounce, collect, sow and so soon shall you reap
'Jack' is the name on frightened lips
Eluding, he's a caper, always slips
God save the Queen and us as well
London mist has become his home from Hell
- Phantom with a lust to kill sure as more flesh rips
East end fog licks a dirty gem
Velvet bonnet and tattered hem
I'll do such things, such crafty things
Inside out and a few pence spread
I'll cut the sin right out of them
It may be 'neath a harlot's moon
But I'm going to paint it red
They will beg my blade and wish they were dead
Poem: 'Nothing in the Bag.' by M Teresa Clayton
Nothing in the Bag.
The day is falling, and I will not open my arms to catch it or break its fall.
No, this time I know I cannot stop the inevitable, cannot change it at all...
The darkness is crawling up and over the hillside looking for me;
I will keep my eyes open, so they can adjust to the blackness and I can see.
I watch, helplessly, as my memories evaporate into the cold night air,
Like visions of alabaster orbs balancing on droplets of pearls up there.
Feelings I once held dear are escaping like frightened flocks of birds;
as if there had been a shot fired in the distance, my ears never heard.
Emptiness, a shell of a man, standing naked inside of the void of black,
Aware of all he is has gambled, all he has lost, the scars across his back,
Watching in a morbid awestruck stare - pieces of his mortal shell disappear -
evaporate along with the ether, he has nothing to concern him; nothing to fear.
Finally, the weight carried; the emptiness that became to heavy to bear -
He placed his knapsack upon the ground and opened it - there was nothing there.
"Why am I feeling what does not exist?" Why do I carry this empty load?"
"Why carry the sins of the past, when I was young, into a place where I've grown old?"
There is nothing there inside the bag that I can see with my eyes
Yet, feeling so much of nothing and everything - has all been lies
I've chosen to believe, and I am clinging to these hoping for more
Hoping they were truths, hoping they were everything I was living for.
Time now, to stand up and take account of who I am and who I'll be
'fore I am not empty standing here and, with eyes opened, I see.
Nothing is nothing and has no value and nothing can be lost
l am the Seeker and I have paid with my soul - the ultimate cost.
Poem: 'Vampire King' by Natasa Nikolic
Vampire King
I’ll laugh with insanity
Standing on the edge
Eyes of cold wash over
The king’s gaze pierces through
This time it’s different
I feel the layers of ice
I can’t contain what’s savage
My time will come
The mountains of snow...
We’ve been here before
He sold his soul (got much more)
amidst cold ore (free of old chains)
On this silvery night,
prepare for the feast
A sliver of light,
let me guide you down
Pulling a string, wrapping it tight
All around the sturdy oak
To collect memories from the lead
With a push, a gentle stroke
Your eyes become the ice
On which I walk
In the home of frozen faces
One long path to craving
You are the King I long
To serve with all I feel
Let me be the one
to close your eyes
Poem: 'Descartes à la Carte!' by Sarah McKellar & Rich Orth
Descartes à la Carte!
© Sarah McKellar & Rich Orth 03/20/2018
What is happening,
What is sane?
Am I still here,
Or has the madness started again?
I walk these halls
Accompanied by voices
Of thee and those...
Indiscriminate choices
Twisting and turning,
I ache with the yearning,
Of memories burning,
Voices concerning- deep into the night.
Sifting...discerning
Where truth and mystery part
In life's spiral sojourning
In quest of Descartes
I think therefore I am…Am I all that I think?
A soul of enlightenment or one at the brink.
Truth seeker, truth seeker- what do you see?
Have you seen all that is and what could possibly be.
In past ages of enlightenment
I..we.. were unafraid...undeterred
Truthsayer...lie slayer...what do you see?
Have you seen all that is and what is plausibly me....
Poem: 'The Key' by S.C.C.
The Key
S.C.C.
To see you there...
So calm, so collected, so full of confidence and that protective aura...
To trust you.
To give you t he key to the deepest corners of my being.
Sometimes it seems so far away when we met.
1 day...
2 days...
3 days...
It doesn't matter how long.
In all the moments I feel...
Safe,understood, cared for.
The Key to my lock is in your hands...
I trust you as you trust me.
If we stand, we stand, together...
If we fall, we fall, together...
Don't leave, I'll stay as long as you want me around.
Without you I'm just half...
Without me, you're a half too...
Let's join... and be whole...
Poem: 'Generation Despair' by Steven Michael Pape
Generation Despair
[C] Steven Michael Pape 2018
You can sense it on the streets,
You can smell it in the air,
You can see it in the faces,
Generation despair.
No one wants the factory,
No one wants to be there,
No one can escape,
Generation despair.
And those in the dole queue,
And those that don't care,
And those red-tape liberals,
Generation despair.
Can you see the interrogation?
Can you see the chair?
Can you see the questions??
Generation despair.
Poverty for the homeless,
Poverty for souls laid bare,
Poverty for the working,
Generation despair.
Hope in those desperate,
Hope in those with flair,
Hope in those hopeless,
Generation despair.
Those that continue fighting,
Those that even dare,
Those that question everything,
Fucking Generation despair!.
Monday, June 4, 2018
Lyric Video Review: SHALLOWPOINT Haze by Dave Wolff
Haze (Official lyric video)
From their 2013 full length Infringement
Place of origin: Lenoir City, Tennessee, USA
Genre: Rock/nu-metal
Produced by Heather Shallowpoint for Shallowpoint Productions
Release date: January 24, 2018
Their latest album is four years old, and it’s been a while since I wrote about them, but it’s good to see Shallowpoint still plugging away and making a name for themselves. They are among the most covered bands in Autoeroticasphyxium zine, and among the first bands I contacted after discovering the Tennessee rock and metal underground. I have social media to thank for this; if not for Myspace and Youtube and Facebook I may not have come across so many musicians from that part of the world so quickly. There is still a lot that’s happening in Tennessee, and Shallowpoint is still part of it. Most nu-metal I don’t find much inspired, but this band has always given it more feeling than usual. Going by their recent string of live performances, people are still responding to their heaviness, depth, drive and honesty. In 2018 they released two lyric videos to promote Infringement; besides selling the full length on Bandcamp and working on new material they have new live videos on Youtube, filmed at local Knoxville, Tennessee clubs International and Open Chord. For an independently made promotional video the graphics and text crawls are displayed with top notch professionalism, just as good as the sound quality. As with their promotional videos, the band produced this clip with their own resources, substantiating the notion that expensive graphic companies are not a necessity for struggling bands. The animations of the entire world burning in a monstrous lake of hellfire fit the lyrics as they crawl across the screen. The lyrics themselves are all the more profound when read along with the song, being a painfully outright presentment of deeply downhearted internal emptiness. This is plausible right from the beginning; the sense of loss and longing is quite real, depicting a search for the light at the tunnel’s end without the knowledge of what waits at this journey’s end. It’s the kind of lyric that many feel but lack the daring to even acknowledge. This should hit home with a great many listeners and should prove to be a cathartic experience before the song ends. -Dave Wolff
Band lineup:
Chuck Shallowpoint: Vocals, Guitar
Heather Shallowpoint: Bass
Heath Devine: Guitar
Jason Drake: Drums
Video Review: INTROSPECTION The Nihilist by Dave Wolff
The Nihilist (Official Lyric Video)
Taken from their upcoming full length Nihilistic Hatred
Place of origin: Brazil
Genre: Black/death metal
Produced by Virghon & Empirical Lab Productions
Release date: June 3, 2018
If you’ve been keeping up with this Brazilian band on Facebook you’ll have read their recent announcement that recording, mixing and mastering for their new full length Nihilistic Hatred has been completed. The new album's title is based on Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Demons; the cover art is based on the latter novel. The cover art (designed by Alexander Agantaev under the direction of Introspection founding member Virghon) has been posted at the band's Facebook profile, though as far as I know no official release date has been disclosed yet. The Nihilist is the second of two clips released on Youtube to promote the new album; the first is the title track. These two songs are more straightforward than I remember them last, besides being much rawer and much more extreme. Would it be too bold a statement to mention Swedish black metal in the same breath as Introspection? The raw quality is similar, as is the sacrilegious theme of the lyrics. There is the appropriate amount of distortion here, but the riffs and vocals are not affected to where everything is a blur. A seasoned ear can make it all out without much effort. If this is your first time hearing of Introspection, it would be too easy to take their irreverent message at face value. Still, you may want to read their 2015 interview and read reviews of their album Anthropophagic Father and song Cultural War before you decide what to make of this track. Those articles would give you a complete view of their position on organized religion, given Brazil’s current economic and political climate. The country has been in turmoil for years; and the metal and punk scenes have been a by-product of said turmoil. From what I gather things are so intense it makes the social, economic, political and religious unrest in the States seem like a walk in the park. The Nihilist reflects their environment in a manner people would consider harsh and unforgiving, but after corresponding with them I’m convinced it comes from a real desire to overcome oppression, and change their society for the better. Not to offend or show how blasphemous they can be. This being said, take into consideration what fuels the band’s nihilism as they reject the imposition of religious values from without in favor of accepting their own individuality. Of course, from a fan’s viewpoint the song is caustic and crushing, and appeals to the listener on a primal level. It aims for the jugular and doesn’t quit until the walls and floor are drenched in blood. -Dave Wolff
Band lineup
Virghon: All vocals, guitars and bass
P. Wilard: Session drummer
Saturday, June 2, 2018
Full Length Review: ISENORDAL Spectral Embrace (Eternal Warfare Records) by Dave Wolff
Place of origin: Seattle, Washington, USA
Genre: Black funeral doom, dark folk
Available in digital and streaming format
Release date: June 1, 2018
Isenordal have been active since 2013 and have two demos, two full length albums and a split release with Void Omnia to their name. I randomly chose Spectral Embrace for my next writeup, and was greeted by a departure from extreme metal fare as I am often prone to be. With a name like Isenordal you might expect Spectral Embrace to be blistering black metal. If so you’re bound for a surprise as the material here is tranquil, with melodic vocals, string instruments and keyboard instruments tastefully written into compositions that fans of black metal, folk and goth should be able to appreciate. Spectral Embrace was released a year after their last full length Shores Of Mourning. I took the time to listen to that album again before checking out their new release in its entirety. The music was closer to black metal and the title fit the disconsolate essence of the songs. While being more direct and single minded than its predecessor, Spectral Embrace boasts a sound that is more all-encompassing, more opiate than grief-stricken, with greater emphasis on singing as opposed to the raspy vocals of their 2017 album. As the Bandcamp link provided by Earsplit included the lyrics, I could read along but you don’t really need an accompanying lyric sheet. Kerry Hall and Marisa Kaye Janke are so mesmerizing and bewitching as vocalist you cannot help but take in the lyrics. Again Isenordal is a band that elected to grow, bloom and metamorphose on their terms, without trying too hard to convince you of how versatile they are from album to album. This recording is honest and expresses how the band felt as they worked on it, aiming to please themselves first and seeing if their message would be heeded when the time came. The songs are sad and bereaved without forcing the listener to despair. Rather it gently invites you inside to find comfort and respite from a world that is far more unpleasant and destructive on the outside. You may even decide you want to spend more time there with repeated listens. I suspect it would be good for most in the long haul. -Dave Wolff
Band lineup:
Kerry Hall - Guitar, Vocals
G. G. - Guitar
Jeff King - Bass, Cello
Marisa Kaye Janke - Viola, Vocals
Brian Hazard Spenser - Drums, Percussion
Lieu Wolfe - Piano, Organ, Keyboards, Vocals
Track list
1. The Sorrow of a Shadowed World
2. Inevitable Product of the Foretold
3. Despondent Longing and Phantasmal Communion
4. An Entrancing Dream
5. Dissolution into the Earth
6. To Turn thy Thoughts from the Tree of Life
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