Servile Sect: Black Metal Has Come A Long Way From Mayhem...

Oh black metal. On one hand, it's music so grim, ugly, dark, and powerful that taking it in aurually can almost be seen as a form of meditation or ritual. When paired with the right aesthetics (sonically and visually), and listened or seen live in the right venue, it can really be an outerworldly experience. Even though it has been embraced and created in all parts of the world, black metal's Norwegian roots, be it the haunting landscapes, frigid climate, and a native culture with close ties to the natural and supernatural worlds, are always something that shines through on greatest and truest black metal records. When done right, even corpse paint, wrist gaunlets, and black leather can bring a band's music and performance to an entirely new level. As far as metal in general goes, black metal is one of the rawest forms of expression that exists within the genre at large.

But on the other hand, there's this:



Oh...and this too:



For as raw and unbridled as one side of the black metal spectrum is, it is a genre often misrepresented by corny bands with drama nerd antics and Guitar Center employee-style musical wankery. For as haunting and uncomfortable corpse paint can look, the idiots in the two previous videos make it look fucking hysterical and complete and total bullshit. I don't hear or feel any raw emotion in that. I don't see that as evil. I see a bunch fucking clowns with instruments doing their best "METAL" faces to the camera. I am far from a black metal purist. Shit, I'm probably a "casual" fan at best, but its impossible not to be baffled at that gap of artistic and ideological integrity between both ends of the spectrum of black metal in general.



Enter Servile Sect, a two-piece black metal outfit originating from Phoenix, AZ, but have since moved to Humboldt, CA and New York, NY (probably because it's hot as fucking misery in Arizona, Humboldt has the bomb weed, and some people really, really like New York). Having already released record's on Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth fame's record label, Ecstatic Peace (I know, it doesn't sound very evil to me either), Servile Sect are releasing their third full length release, Trvth on Handmade Birds Records, a label run by R. Loren of Sailors With Wax Wings notoriety (I know, Handmade Birds doesn't sound any more evil that Ecstatic Peace does. Maybe they know something we don't). If you are expecting rehashed mosh parts, corny orchestral synthesizers, and Kiss-esque onstage theatrics, I'm sure there's a Hot Topic not far from where you live. I'm sure there's a wide array of shitty Cradle of Filth merch there (and its probably on sale).

Servile Sect not only thrive at the raw, ugly, and brutal side of black metal, they set a new standard in it.Trvth is forty-nine minutes of twisted, darkened black metal that has just the right amount of machine-like, blackened, ambient noise strewn between some of the most haunting, evil, punishing black metal ever put to tape. In a move I appreciate as a listener, Servile Sect opted to go for decent recording sound instead of putting out an lp that sounds like it was recorded in an aluminum trash can. They blend psychedelic guitar and sound elements, not unlike Nachtmystium's earlier work, but Servile Sect put a much darker, sinsister spin on the non-conventional elements of their black metal assault. Their use of dynamics and ability to deconstruct and rebuild a genre often bogged down in unofficial "rules" and so concerned with "trends" and "being extreme" is testimony to why a musical heavyweight such as Thurston Moore would take interest in putting their records out. In a complicated genre, where finding the cream of the crop is honestly harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Trvth dropped yesterday on Handmade Birds. If you like your black metal well recorded, forward-thinking, and without corny rockstar bullshit, Servile Sect is a must listen to band. Get your kvlt on, bro.