I got a bit bored tonight and decided to read the post by the dude who wrote the opening post of "the Problem with Perth Metal". I had forgotten what he had said and was a bit suprised to read it all again and see the spew of black hate that came out of him. I figured that if HE can write a manifesto, then so can I.
Perth Metal
The Perth Metal scene may be small and insignificant to those who look at it from the outside, but to us it is a great thing. It isn't large, comprising of probably not much more than 60 bands, and most don't have a huge following, but that is the norm for most of the World's metal scenes. I am told that if you compare Perth to other places, we actually stack up really well in fact, that wherever you go it is the same small tight Metal scenes. Y'know, that underground sub-culture thing is just fine with me, but it seems to me that metal in this city and this country is less frowned upon than elsewhere. I suspect that the big hardrock bands in Australia's past have created an acceptance of heavier music that smooths the transition for many from that form to metal, it isn't unusual to see dudes in Angels or ACDC shirts headbanging next to the guys in Cradle of Filth shirts. Its all juat different shades of black after all.
The topic slighting our scene mentioned that we are not a subculture, just a parody, a cliche, a joke. Not so. What exactly IS a metal subculture supposed to look like anyway? I see it as being a group of very different people from very different backgrounds united by a fascination of the darker aspects of life, a refusal to accept the faults of society without questioning, a love of metal in all its energy and inglory, and a wish to be hanging with other people who feel the same way. Is it a subculture in the strictest sense? Who gives a fuck!! We are able to come together because we all FEEL the metal, and damn it but it is a good feeling to me, a feeling of superiority over the masses who listen to the music that they are told to.
We are the proud few!! We don't need a cocktail of illegal poisons to make OUR music mean something, give us a beer and point us at the wall of flying hair and we have our drug of choice right there. So what if some of us are into other music, or other lifestyles, we take anyone who hears the Metal and understands, even if it is just for a short while. I get a buzz from watching a couple of metro queers taken by the Metal and banging their product-coated heads down the front with the metal rabble, tomorrow their necks will cane and they will feel like they got mugged, but for a bit they understood. We don't know these guys, but we know each other and due to the years we have shared the metal, we know each other pretty fucking well. The working class despair that spawned the roots of Metal may be long gone, but its spirit lives on in the music and in every one of us who hears and believes. No, maybe we aren't a true subculture, all sitting in dark candlelit rooms drinking blood and listening to Dark Throne, but I don't see that that lessens us in any way. The world has changed and Metal is not as much of a lifestyle choice as it once was, these days it is more about the music itself rather than the feeling of rebellion and isolation from the world. We are accepted now, Metalheads don't have to sequester outselves away any more, we are here and we are shameless. In Iran a headbanger may have to hide himself away, but here in Perth we are loud and proud.
Our bands in this small scene are a wonder. There is a diversity here that is astonishing. If you want a European Melodic Death flavour there is Vesper's Descent, Red Descending, Pathogen and more. Not heavy enough for you? Maybe the Brutal Deathmetal Stylings of Grotesque, Nails of Imposition, AH or DFC is your thing. Prefer it black? Ok, Wardaemonic, Uncreation, Naetu, Bereavement and Mhorgl are just a few of the bands in the city that might appeal to you. Too black, want something a bit less evil sounding? Try Khariot, Malignant Monster or Wrath of Fenhir to name just a few. Still too black? The Ascent, Ides of March, Empires Laid Waste, Arch Rival or Archaic might be what you had in mind. Want it more symphonic or melodic and less angry? Voyager, Noctis, Trident Winter, Claim the Throne, Lacrymae and Advent Sorrow can help you there. Want it more hardcore or commercial? Dyscord, Fool the World, Pale as Ashes, Chaos Divine, Desolate and more are there to entertain you. Thrashy or oldschool stuff your thing? Enforce, Psychonaut, Arkarion, Sins of the Father, Dethlehem, Shrapnel and GF are a few of that genre. Prefer heavy progressive, industrial or just generally fucked up? Nexus, Neverborn, Combined Deathtoll, Cuntscape and UTI are there to help. There are more, and more and more. And more.
We have it all here, we can provide no matter what you want. Bands come and go, new sounds are being worked on every second. There is an adage that springs to mind to do with Perth Metal: "if you can't find a metal band in Perth that is your thing, wait five minutes."
Here in Perth we are isolated from the world at large by vast distance, you only have to fly across the country to realise exactly how far from the rest of the world we are. For a long time we didn't get Metal bands touring here and so we turned inwards and created our own metal. We have been accused of being trend driven and trying to sound like bands who are on the other side of the world. In some cases that is true, there are a lot of bands who seem to follow that doctrine, but they do it because that is the music that reaches them, not for the promise of success. Hey, we all know that success from Perth is hard beyond measure, we don't do it because of that.
There is a complaint that we don't sound "Aussie", that we sound American, European or whatever. Maybe that is true, because other than having Aboriginal instruments in the mix I can't think what exactly you DO make it sound more Australian. Look, I love being Aussie and I am constantly comparing everything we do to the rest of the world, and I think that we DO have an aussie flavour. The thing that I believe defines us as Aussie sounding is so minor that it is almost unnoticable. It is that rap and hiphop never got a hold of our metal over here, that we rejected those influences, have prospered in our segregation from Euro and yank pop music and consistently gotten heavier throughout the years while other countries lost their way in the machinery of the music biz. We have been largely ignored by the world around us and we have learned to find our own way, and it is only in the last few years that the world has started coming to us and us to them. We are an independant metal scene and we should be proud.
Since the early 90s when I staggered into this scene, times have changed so much I barely recognise Perth Metal at all. Times are changing and they are gonna change a lot more, the transition seems to be excellerating. As technology reaches the point where distance is irrelevant and we become more of a global society, we will lose more of our own unique identity. But we will always have our roots here in Perth Metal, and I can think of worse ways to live.
Jez.
I welcome debate on this and I expect that there will be some vastly different viewpoints.
