In a ritual of hatred and disdain at Crown Hotel last night, Methchrist unleashed full-length album Nomadic War Machine upon its true followers. If you’re not a member of the cult elite you can still experience the desecration by checking it out on Bandcamp or picking up a cassette.
The album was recorded by Nathan Forbes, of Carpet Dungeon, a legend in the community who has recorded many other fantastic albums from the likes of Slitzkrieg and Knee Splitter. Commanding the Nomadic War Machine on its path towards virulent eradication is Ollie Trainor (vocals and guitar), Daniel Bloxham (drums) and Benjamin Cochrane (bass).
As the band explains, the recording process was a pleasure.
‘‘It was pretty easy-going and Nathan understands what we are trying to achieve, so the process was very straight-forward. The recording desk was a bass cabinet.
‘‘We were working with someone who actually understood what we are about, what we are doing, and didn’t give a [expletive] for convention, or trying to make a ‘listenable’ release. His work is amazing.’’
The resulting product perfectly encapsulates what war metal is about: it’s harsh, relentless, unpleasant, and probably not for you. This is not your hipster friend’s ‘‘black metal’’.
War metal arose in the early 1990s, pioneered by bands such as Blasphemy (Canada) and Beherit (Finland). According to Daniel it’s an ‘‘aggressive, primitive hellstorm mixture of death metal and black metal’’ and, as Ollie explains, it gets back to the roots of what black metal is supposed to be about.
‘‘Beastial. Disgusting. Intolerable. It’s aggressive and chaotic. Visceral. None of that over-produced poser s**t.
‘‘Black metal barely means anything anymore in its current use. It’s slapped on any group of puppets who wear corpse paint and sing songs about the almighty Satan.’’
For Methchrist it’s not about success or enjoyment, it’s about ‘‘producing something so pure in hate and repulsiveness while paying respects to those in the genre that came before’’.
‘‘I/we are motivated by the uncontrollable urge/pulse of the black sun/solar anus. The urge to reject, defy, and desecrate everything our daily lives are filled with.’’
I can attest through my own experience that as far as Dunedin music goes there isn’t really anyone else doing what Methchrist does right now. Local metal generally falls into one or two categories, mostly death metal or the occasional breakdown-laden metalcore band.
Methchrist is completely unique in the extreme music scene, but don’t believe they’re part of any ‘‘extreme music scene’’.
‘‘Live music in Dunedin is very bizarre, very small geographically, lots of live bands, lots of gigs, lots of intermingling. Lots of little groups forming exclusive, hip, superficial ‘scenes’. [Expletive] that. There are a few amazing bands down here. Some may be considered extreme, others not.’’
Either way, I hail the beasts that desecrate purity and Methchrist recommends you do too.
‘‘Maybe, take a moment out of your day to not be sucked into the perpetual degeneracy of contemporary life.’’
The music
• Listen to Nomadic War Machine or buy the cassette at methchrist.bandcamp.com
- Fraser Thompson
