By AARON LUPTON
Okay world, we get it. A new age of darkness is officially upon us, one that is characterized by disease, social strife, and now a dang war, all while mainstream society distracts itself by curating its image of a more perfect life via social media. Hell, we probably deserve it at this point. It’s kind of hard to not be affected by it all, even more so if your day job is creating art, whether that’s writing, making movies, or writing music. So how does a genre like black metal, already focused on subverting all that is good and wholesome in the world, react to such a social climate? For Sweden’s Watain, the answer may surprise you, as the band strives to use darkness and horror as a positive force on the recently dropped full length, The Agony and the Ecstasy of Watain.
“The wording and theme of the title ultimately comes down to this simple idea that we always work with emotional extremes,” explained vocalist/bassist/lyricist Erik Danielsson. “We’ve always had two pulls on the spectrum which are kind of opposite each other; darkness and light. You’ve got this roaring savage side, you’ve got this sacred, transcendental side to it too. That’s what I think black metal means. It’s the meeting between existential horror, and the struggle for life and the magical, spiritual, God-like side of humanity.”
This isn’t the kind of approach you would expect from a band that, let’s just say, doesn’t exactly embrace political correctness. You’ve got song titles like “Black Cunt,” a recently cancelled tour called The Sanguine Sodomy of North America, and a history of angering animal rights groups through their use of blood and carcasses during live performances. Watain was even once picked up by TMZ after dousing a Brooklyn audience in animal blood, causing people to vomit! But for Watain, indulging in these excesses is less about confrontation and controversy than creating a different kind of safe space.
“We always looked at Watain as something separate from the world. We created the band because we wanted a place in the world that wasn’t like anything else, a separate reality. We take as little inspiration as possible from the world around us. We are not influenced by a pandemic or the possibilities of a war breaking out. I guess you could say Watain is a bit of a sanctuary. It can really make you go through the darkest of times if you don’t have that in your life and with Watain, we kind of made that thing the central aspect of our lives. This sanctuary. Chaos and turmoil are constant in human history.”
No such safety is apparent on the new album. Releasing April 29th on Nuclear Blast, The Agony and Ecstasy of Watain offers ten new tracks of epic, brutal, occasionally melodic black metal excursions. Baiting fans with lead single “The Howling,” a face-ripping black metal ditty with just enough groove to evoke a sense of impending doom, songs like “Serimosa” also offer a more grandiose approach, with grim vocal delivery creating an utterly depressing atmosphere. This is no straightforward barrage of noise you might expect from more traditional black metal sounds, but then again, with Watain, nothing is quite normal.
And this time, rather than serving as a battle cry for freedom or against the weakness of humankind, Watain is just here to offer us a barrier against the real wolves outside our doors.
How dark is that?
