Dragged Into Sunlight
In this month’s column, Getintothis’ partially-tamed metalhead Mark Greenwood finds himself dwelling on all things dark, dangerous and obscenely biological.
The ‘Viscera’ is a peculiar term referring to the internal organs of the body and how they may be affected by external stimuli. It is a useful adjective, especially when linked to the guts and bowels, therefore registering itself as appropriate to ideas of carnivalesque and abjection. Metal’s fascination with the visceral has never been downplayed (I vaguely remember my mate puking up and shitting himself simultaneously, half-way through an early Godflesh gig many moons ago). Our reactions to the visceral are often of disgust and horror. Only those who delight in the nasty and grotesque are attracted to the visceral and its many manifestations, including gruesome murder, debauchery and torture.
Dragged into Sunlight push violent extremes to their limits. Their new collaboration with Gnaw Their Tongues, entitled NV could be described as portrait of abomination, skilfully crafted as a bloody montage ripe with malevolence and gore. The track Visceral Repulsion opens with murderous confessions and the sounds of a De-Sadean torture machine, persistently pounding anguished victims to death. Behind a shit shower of extreme noise and fevered blast beats lurk layers of dark and disturbing field recordings… I dread to think of their source. The track’s finale is spectacular and I look forward to the E.P which will be released by Prosthetic Records on the 13th November. Treat yourself here:
Another Liverpool band currently experimenting with fear, decapitation and black magic are Ninkharsag. I was fortunate to catch these evil harbingers of pestilence at The Pilgrim a few nights ago and I was deeply impressed with a their precise evocations of demons and apparitions more than capable of grinding bones to dust in the dank incense of a darkened venue. Ninkharsag’s black art is nuanced and vampiric, fusing Nordic black metal with old school aggression. Their latest album The Blood of Celestial Kings, is frightening and unrepentant, sending plenty of shivers up and down the spine. Check out the brilliant The Essential Salts of Human Dust:
It’s quite good to drive around listening to a lot of stoner/doom bands who find fascination with space and its heavy gravitational pulls which place the visceral body in a state of slow and steady atrophy. I like to imagine my car as some kind of decommissioned Soviet pot pod, doomed to spin endlessly out of control on some mysterious orbit and Temple by Swedish doom monsters Creedsmen Arise is the perfect soundtrack. Though not specifically space-themed, there’s plenty of Sleep/Sabbath riffing to keep veterans of doom suspended in rituals of stoning and self-sacrifice to the eternal void:
Meanwhile, Space Wax’s Intergalactic Caravan Party unashamedly grooves on a cosmic vibe. Hailing from San Diego these space psychotics seem destined to wander dusty alien landscapes cluttered with metal wreckage and scare oxygen. In fact it appears that these chaps have constructed special bong packs to ensure their internal organs are suspended in permanent dope bliss. Make sure you pre-order their latest vinyl in order to receive your special full colour, embroidered patch if you need to repair and secure your space suit:
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