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JJ's Bizarre Blog #66 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?
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JJ's Bizarre Blog #66 - Are You Afraid of the Dark?
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Greetings, children of the night! I hope this November has been kind to you thus far. The Bizarre One returns with yet another entry and a special number indeed. You know, I think I've been treating you all quite nicely the last few months with very fun, uplifting and party oriented blogs. So I hope you'll indulge me as we explore the inverse this time round. Just like the night always follows the day, darkness is just a fact of life. Melancholy, gloom and other negative emotions are a natural part of the human experience and they are also one of the best fuels for artistic expression. So for this entry, our topic is devilishly simple, yet boundlessly profound. Darkness, in all its shades and forms. Be not afraid, for there are magical things to be found here! So come with me my fellow nyctophiles and night owls, let us descend into the shadows!
For as long as man has drawn breath, we have strived to make sense of the unknown around us and we have faced hardships that need to be overcome. Through strife and struggle, we have persevered and grown stronger from that. As I said, darkness is something natural and inevitable. Negative emotions are an inseparable part of the human experience and feeling them is nothing to be ashamed of. Facing it all head on and overcoming it are a key part of growth and keeping your mental health in check is vital. So naturally, given everything we've all faced, these dark moments have become key inspiration for creative people throughout all of history, using dark art born of their own experiences to help both themselves and others overcome what lies before them. Some even became quite accustomed to the dark and made it their primary domain. So let us explore the darkest music across time and space and see the long shadow it has cast on us all! Bring a torch if you must and let's explore forth!
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Many might think all this dark and macabre stuff is a recent phenomenon born out of pop culture, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. Dark themes have been around since the artforms themselves. Going back to classical music, many of even the earliest composers indulged in more sinister sounds, but especially as the 19th and 20th centuries began rolling around and the more modernist movements took hold, many composers began to diversify and explore more dissonant and chaotic sounds in order to shift from the grand, epic sound of old into something more eerie, atmospheric and disturbing. The darkness has always been lurking, waiting for those brave enough to embrace it.
Even when it comes to pop music, it being usually associated with happy vibes, a party atmosphere and just having a good time, there are many exceptions that delve into deeper and darker realms. Especially in recent times, many artists have crafted a much darker sound and image with vastly more melancholic lyrics and have used this to help them stand out from the bunch. This seems to resonate with many and has brought many of them bountiful success, even spawning whole new offshoots of pop and rap with the express purpose of going for a darker and edgier sound.
On that note, I personally really have a soft spot for all manner of music that is super upbeat and fun, yet is actually very dark and twisted on closer inspection. This is done usually by contrasting a happy sounding melody with macabre, metaphorical lyrics, creating a striking juxtaposition. This proves that darkness truly comes in all shapes and sizes and such songs are an excellent way of tricking more oblivious people into paying attention to important matters.
As I've explored before, the realms of electronic music are vast and rich. And while many commonly associate electronic beats with club-worthy EDM and house, practically every subgenre has at least a few daring souls that delve into the darker side of things. Many genres like darksynth are practically built around that. Dungeon synth fits the bill even better. The cool thing is though, when you have some really talented musicians, they can make their music dark and brooding, without sacrificing any bit of the catchiness or danceability. Industrial music is a prime example of this with many songs being very twisted and grim in sound, tone and aesthetics, yet can shake a nightclub just as good as any EDM track can. I've described a lot of industrial music as a party during an apocalypse and I stand by that.
For something more specifically designed to be murky and macabre, dark ambient is an obvious choice. Just like how modernist composers replaced the grandeur of old classical music with avant-garde shadowy chaos, dark ambient sought to replace the calm tranquillity of traditional ambient with a twisted sound of creepiness and unease, crafting a much denser and enveloping atmosphere. For a more beat-driven approach to the same, downtempo or the horror-tinged trip hop are excellent choices that are sure to bring the best doom and gloom imaginable.
If none of this is dark enough for you and if you have the patience, you can explore the five part mega-album Everywhere at the End of Time by The Caretaker - one of the most twisted, haunting and gruelling, yet deeply fascinating musical experiences ever created. You won't be the same afterwards. Approach at your own peril. You have been warned.
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When talking about dark music, it was inevitable we would arrive at the gates of heavy metal! It was practically the genre's calling card from the start that it sought to sound heavier and darker than anything that preceded it and steered away from the common lyrical themes of the rock music it spawned from and veered instead into the dark, the occult, the macabre, the taboo. The Godfathers Black Sabbath were the most sinister thing ever recorded when they first entered the scene and honestly, they stack up pretty well even today. The entire heavy metal movement was defined by extreme visuals, grim lyrics and a love of all things horror and terror. Few genres feel so at home in the dark as metal and its extended family do.
From the very first note, Sabbath birthed not just heavy metal, but its eldest son too - the creepy and gloomy doom metal. Defined by its incredibly slow tempo, low deep sound and lyrics about depression, nihilism, despair, dread and the occult, it's a genre that blooms in the darkest of places. These bands have firmly chosen the path less travelled and even as metal has grown faster and more aggressive over the years, doom metal has remained the slow, trudging, mercilessly heavy behemoth that nothing else can compare to! While many other metal subgenres boldly proclaimed how they shall build their empire of darkness, doom was the soundtrack to that empire falling to pieces. But such a sound is so oddly cathartic, even comforting.
Despite being very set in its ways and oldschool, doom doesn't shy away from hanging out with its younger siblings and one of the best partnerships was with the relentless massacre that is death metal! The resulting death/doom is even slower, heavier and bleaker than before, extreme and enchanting at the same time. And if standard death/doom is still not enough, then the darkest of them all is funeral doom. Created with the express purpose of slowing down the music to the absolute limit of human ability and to boldly explore the deepest depths of the soul, funeral doom is like nothing else. But don't let this fool you, we're not here to just wallow in self-pity. We're here to face the darkness head on and prove ourselves stronger than it!
An important offshoot of the doom scene are the ever mystical gothic rock and gothic metal. Renowned for their frightful fashion choices, gloomy aesthetic and necromantic artistry, the entire goth scene has long been a safe haven for outcasts to explore and share their melancholy and sorrows. It's very productive therapy really and I bet no other treatment comes with such awesome guitar riffs, haunting keyboard melodies and magical singing. These tales of love and loss are like nothing else and are the best remedy to mend a broken heart.
Among the extremophiles that revel in darkness, there is one that stands above the rest - black metal! With monolithic blast beats, relentless tremolo and tortured voices, these disciples of the dark arts strive to create the densest and most potent atmosphere of gloom and evil ever conjured. Simultaneously heavy and melodic, powerful and melancholic, black metal is like nothing else out there. Not just exploring the darkness but taming it and thriving in it! Combine this with the distinctly Northern approach of many bands, adding a kind of cold and desolate vibe to their sound, and you have the perfect shadowy soundtrack for your own dark explorations.
While black metal is still quite varied in terms of lyrical and aesthetic themes, many modern bands have chosen to hone in on that darkness and nihility and craft a more introspective approach to the genre. Chief among them are the Polish legends Mgła, who have risen to become one of the standard bearers of black metal. Their dark and enveloping sound, driven by potent riffs and ferocious drumming, has gone on to inspire an entire generation and has even pushed many new bands to substitute the corpsepaint for hoods. They have created some of the bleakest, yet most fascinating records ever made and their philosophical, deeply personal lyrics have resonated with many. This fog has cast a wide blanket and many have been caught in its spell!
One such captive is from all the way across the Atlantic - the young American titans Uada! Similar in aesthetic and sound to Mgła, these lads nonetheless stand firmly on their own feet! Their lyrics and visual style are much more mystical and esoteric and their sound is much much more melodic. In terms of combining infectious melody that is almost danceable and catchy dual guitar hooks with the classic tremolo-driven wall of sound and relentless darkness black metal is known for, Uada are unmatched. They are easily the band that perfected melodic black metal and have thus cemented themselves as a key leader in the genre's ongoing dark crusade!
Beyond them, over the years and all around the world, there have been many artists that have rejected the mystical and mythological themes that early black metal often embraced and sought to focus on a gloomier, more personal exploration of emotional states and inner turmoil, in a vain quite similar to doom metal. This is often combined with a musical sound that is even more atmospheric and enveloping, leading to a truly haunting experience. These tunes are not for the faint of heart, but if you're not afraid of true darkness, then step forth and see for yourself!
But now for something quite different. While death metal is known as the more fun loving of the two major extreme metal subgenres, it's speed and aggression lending selves particularly well to letting loose and having a good time, their horror movie inspirations and long standing love of the occult certainly lend themselves to a journey into the shadows! In fact, almost from the very start, many bands have swerved towards a more personal and philosophical exploration, using their brutality as the fuel to fight back against the demons that stand against us and come out on top. As the genre has evolved, the themes have diversified too and death metal has become a vehicle for far more than just slasher movie scenes. While never as dark as black metal, many even here have devoted themselves to this ongoing battle against negative forces. What comes after, that's up to you.
In particular, it's the offspring that is melodic death metal that proves most suitable to our needs. From the beginning many pioneers of the genre differentiated themselves by swapping out the horror movie brutality for deep introspections, inner turmoil and quests of personal growth. The beautiful melodies that the genre included amongst their death growls, tremolo and low tunings weren't just a stroke of musical genius, they represented the vulnerability to the dark, but also the strength we all have to fight back. Proving surprisingly adept at navigating in the shadows, melodeath has transformed a wholly different beast from its progenitor, becoming the violent yet graceful anthem to facing the darkness within us all head on and overcoming everything that stands before us! It's no shocker these potent tracks have become the blueprint for basically all of modern metal to this day. We really needed the spark.
As you've learned thus far, there are specific subgenres within metal that are particularly well suited and adapted to the dark. But this isn't to say that other styles usually associated with being upbeat and fun don't delve into this either. Remember, darker themes are a core foundation of metal as a whole, so even nu metal for example with its abundant party anthems and satirical tunes has many incredible gruesome compositions up its sleeve to shock those unprepared. Honest exploration of everything that's in the heart and mind is a calling card for all of metal, so don't be surprised when these confessions prove most dark indeed. Just remember, dark metal is not a genre.
Don't let all this metal talk give you the wrong idea, just because rock was originally known for being party-going, danceable and uplifting, doesn't mean that there aren't many gloomy tracks there too. In fact, as far back as the 70s there have been many stylistics born specifically to explore this inner darkness and delve into a more melancholic sound. Classic and progressive rock have never shied away from exploring the inner workings of the mind and the consequences that brings. The ambiguous post punk movement was built upon juxtaposing the brutal honesty of punk rock with metaphorical musings and introspective explorations, which often end up in the darkest corners of the soul. Alternative rock and emo have been the angsty anthems that defined generations and helped countless teenagers all over the world overcome their demons, but also embrace some creepier fashion. And neither of those would've existed without the mighty grunge movement, another punk-derived genre that openly laid out the deepest struggles of the brilliant artists that made it and helped popularize darker, gloomier rock within the greater mainstream, inspiring greater honesty in countless rock artists to come after.
And there you have it, we emerge from the shadows different than how we went in. I thoroughly hope you enjoyed this journey and that you've come away with new insight and strength. A lot of times, many people may scoff at dark music like this, wondering why anyone would listen to it. Won't it just sully your mood and keep you in a state of perpetual self-doubt? No, quite the opposite! As I said, we all face our hardships and we all go through dark times in our lives. In such moments, it's quite comforting to know that there is someone else that has faced the same, even more so when they've come out on top. Likewise, ignoring one's troubles only makes them grow worse and worse. So gaining the courage to face the darkness head on is something vitally important to staying in control of your life and not surrendering to the shadows. In this sense, dark music has been an irreplaceable lifesaver for many (myself included) and is a vital tool in keeping your head on straight and your heart in a good place. Not to mention that the dark corners of the soul have long been a bountiful well of inspiration for all manner of creative people throughout all of human history. And if nothing else, the atmosphere and the vibes remain immaculate. So don't be afraid, journey on and embrace the eternal darkness! Don't be its slave, be its master! Stay safe out there, take care of yourselves, take care of each other and see you again soon!