Sunday, February 6, 2011

Black Metal Opera

A persistent sound attracts to me,
organic in revelry, eerily attaching

With each step, volume shakes and treble punches,
guitars are the first upon the scene,
a pitter-patter, hum-drumming of a creeping tune,
its beat expires, then renews,
joined by drums and then by symbol, shriek and violent boom,

Finally, the piercing bass arrives,
force-feeding adrenaline through ill-equiped veins,
quicken and it shall too, 
into a chilling, sudden flash of chasing inquisition,
heartbeats explode in silent deprivation,
from the steady flow of racing blood
to the shallow breathing-
paced tenuously throughout the lungs,


Crescendo to diminuendo to crescendo again

This internal melody is haunting in all it's many ways,
 unearthing nostalgia from the childhood, 
where a refusal to listen reigned above,


Soundtrack and soul have merged,
to where the language of song flourishes its deadly plumes,
entrenching its very coils deep within tissue, pliable to mold


Upon ascension the senses quiver 
then swell,
like thunder issuing warning,
prior to lightning strike,


 A Black Metal opera shadows-encloaks
protecting, attracting, the flesh 
from all things unknown 




Stu McPherson is hosting Poetics over at D'Verse tonight and has issued a musical decree.  I've written many different pieces about music and song over the years. From what I've read so far, there are many directions one could go with this prompt.  I thought about going the route where you list the names and or song titles of artists, which I've done a few of, but after reading Claudia's piece today, who took the prompt in a way I hadn't considered before, I thought I'd go in a different direction myself.  And so, there's the backstory for why I chose this particular piece, which appropriately enough, tonight, is being raised from the archives to sing it's metal song once more.   

23 comments:

  1. wow...love how you capture the intensity..the becoming one with the music..the power and attraction, felt in the blood and each part of the flesh..love it fred.. strong and intense write....Soundtrack and soul have merged...that's what happens...that's why i love music so much

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    1. Thanks Claudia, the intensity is really what I love about metal music. Actually you've got a few good ones from your neck of the woods, Accept and Rammstein being two of my favorites from Germany. Love what you took from the piece. Thanks

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  2. ok first...black metal opera makes me think of the rock operas or broadway shows about rock music that are becoming more popular...i saw american idiot last year and loved it...but there are others out now too...really cool how you built this as well bringing in each of the instruments...did you ever hear the metallica disc with the symphony? really cool layering of sound in that...anyway...loved this man...

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    1. Brian, yeah I could see how you could make that connection. Black Metal is like death metal but more evil, if you believe in the whole connection thing. I don't, I just like the music. The opera refers to the dramatic effect Metal music, or any music really, can have on a person. In reality I don't listen to too much technical Black Metal, but Death Metal nonetheless, which, it's a fine, fine line between the too. Most of the bands I like in this style, well, almost all of them really, are from Sweden. Oh, yeah I have everything of Metallica's one of those bands that despite a couple bumps in the road have always remained a staple in my collection, Maiden, AC/DC, Sabbath and all it's offshoots are some others. Glad you enjoyed the piece, and yeah, poetry is cool like that, can really be whatever some one gets out of it. Great response. Thanks

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  3. Ah...I know well this feeling you speak of. I used to play Slayer's South of Heaven while trying to sleep...this caused the parents of this one great concern...I think boys have it much easier when it comes to an appreciation of the hard core crunch. And I still have to hear about the t-shirts I "used" to wear.But soundtracks and souls DO merge best in the dark...and I will not deny the therapy or the poetry that's found within. Love where you took it, and looking forward to what is about to re-emerge!

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    1. Yeah, Slayer, funny you should mention them. They were one of the bands I would have to hide the cassettes and play them in my walkman at night, because that music was not allowed in the house. lol Glad you enjoyed the write.

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  4. A friend once told me I have music in my soul. Can't ever imagine writing without it playing in the background. Sounds as if you have music in yours too Fred but then, I imagine most writers do.
    Lovely write once again.

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    1. Oh, I agree, I think most of us have music in our souls at birth, but there comes a time when we have to choose to embrace it, I think that's the key. Love the response. Thanks

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  5. i like how in the beginning you talk about the music coming in and you have the high frequency coming in first, then you talk about volume, which would be amplification of the sound wave, and the long waves, the bass waves, you have them coming in last. of course, they all travel at the same speed in the same medium, but you give a heaviness to the bass, and make it slower, so i like that poetry that you give the physics.

    hey, i finally figured out who you are...DUH!!

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    1. hahaha, that's great. But don't feel too bad, with Hobgoblin on the WP sites and Poetical Psyche on the others, then with the name on Twitter know, lol Love your reading of the piece. I just love it when someone catches on to a part or piece of a poem I wasn't ever expecting anyone to get. As I typically layer my pieces in numerous ways, from the mathematic to the scientific to the heavily symbolic- heck, if I wait months after writing the piece, and then read it again, I even forgot my cleverness lol So it's refreshing to see you caught some of that groundwork. Thanks

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  6. Hi Fred, I was never one that was into heavy metal, but reading your poem (which makes me feel it) I can feel the attraction.

    " Crescendo to diminuendo to crescendo again " -- definitely gives me the picture! I enjoyed your poem!

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  7. Hiya Fred,
    Fabulous description of your reaction to that music. Not going through anything like this myself, I find it fascinating to be made aware of how others react. So well done.

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  8. So are talking like Darkthrone? Watain? Gorgoroth? Mayhem? Love your description of this musical genre....I have to say....whilst I'm more of a punk rock/hardcore fan- I do like my metal- the lines are always blurred. This was great.....the build up of the music, the rumble of the bass, the physical feeling as it all gathers pace and kicks in.....man... Can feel that blastbeat- there is something about this music that is pure evil , makes you want to destroy stuff!!! So of course! I loved this!

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    1. Thanks. Yeah, I've heard stuff from each of those bands, not a huge Watain fan but Darkthrone's ok, and Gorgoroth's not bad. I like Dimmu Borgir, Destruction, Cradle of Filth, Celtic Frost, Kvelertak, Impending Doom but I mainly listen to stuff like Six Inches of Blood, Between the Buried and Me, skeletonwitch, slipknot Etc… which aren't technically Black metal or some would argue against Death. Lines blur. I have a huge collection of stuff. Amon Amarth, Lamb of God and In Flames are my favorite favorites though. There definitely is a draw from hardcore to metal and vice versa, I have tons of hardcore bans I'm into as well. ETID and Snapcase are both from Buffalo
      Thanks. Anytime you want to talk music, let me know. Thanks

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  9. Love how you built up the actual components of music in this in a verbal onslaught.You don't describe the effect or motivation, but the process, and the emotional/physical reactions involved, as well as that sense at the end of the reversible cloak of music protecting on the inside, concealing on the outside. Very subtle the way you insinuate the *idea* of sound as rebellion and also identity, which of course, it is. Liked it much, Fred.

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  10. music can be so intense sometimes, nice write

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  11. Intense, smooth, flowing read. Good work!

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  12. Bravo I could feel and almost here the music your were writing about. This was a super well read.
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  13. I just saw a moving documentary on Anvil, do you know them? Of course, this is so well written but what I really connected with was the sense of being inside the music. Ever since I was little I wanted to be engulfed by music, see its secrets, and wield its power. To experience the intimacy of communication that comes through it. Must be why I compose. The music in my multimedia piece put a 3 year old boy from Mangalore, India to sleep a few days ago. Something about that, reaching through time and space to make him happy and content was so gratifying. I think you capture the enormity and the importance of music here.

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  14. Oh you describe this so well. The way music touches and takes over.

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  15. There is a lot of intensity from your words...much like the music builds up and pours over your skin and blurs your reality. Very effective in moving the words into the song in your veins ~ I can hear this ~

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  16. Fred- I agree with Anna in that I feel as if I'm in the music here. I especially like-

    Upon ascension the senses quiver
    then swell,
    like thunder issuing warning,
    prior to lightning strike,

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  17. Black Metal was one of the first genres I glommed on to as an adolescent, mostly Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper. I enjoyed the drama of the music, its gothic darkness as much as the simple chords that seemed to kill reality and open up the possibility of other eery worlds. Your poem captures beautifully the waybthe music grabs you by the throat and pulls you in.

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