Ipsa’s Reviews > Helvete: A Journal of Black Metal Theory: Issue 3: Bleeding Black Noise > Status Update

The objective of harsh vocals and vocal distortions is not the mechanisation of the human, but the distortion or deletion of the human's traditional manifestation.

Attila Csihar’s use of overtone / throat singing through out Mayhem’s album Esoteric Warfare, indicate that this distortion of the signal can at
the same time hint at a second, hidden reality that lies behind the one readily accessible. The consequent next step in informational distortion is outright negation, the eradication of the (arbitrary) symbolic aspect of communication.

“[t]he black metal event is a confession without need
of absolution, redemption.” i thought the point of black metal was corniness (thanks to the second wave) but i guess this is okay too. it works.

There was a picture of some kid smashing the Nike sign, but zoom in, He’s wearing Nike sneakers! I say, who fucking cares? Catharsis is our objective, not a lilly-white and guilt-free existence. We are all hypocrites and failures. Rather than transcendence or redemption, catharsis can point towards the filtering where noise becomes an empirical grounding in contradictions, bringing forward repressed emotions.

i would like to take this update as an opportunity to recommend this reedy post-punk, noise rock album that I have been listening to lately and losing my mind over because of how hard it goes. it's Attempted Martyr by Prostitute. reminds me of a young Michael Gira with hints of Slint. it's politically charged, has middle-eastern influences, and is very different from the usual western noise music. just listen!!!!!!!

If sound at heart is nothing but a commotion of air,
what happens to hearing when all is upended, in despair?