Photos by me.

I may have mentioned that I’m on vacation. “Active” is not the word for my vacations. More like “slothful”. I sleep like I’m in hibernation, eat a little, drink a lot, and talk with people unlike any I know at home. I swim with fish that make rainbows look drab, stare at turquoise vistas, and photograph dramatic clouds that leave me silent in awe (yes, silent, it’s a miracle!), every vision unlike any other, never to be repeated.

And I read a lot. I’ve read a few things during my trip that made me think about metal, even though I haven’t been listening much since this vacation began. For example, I read this final sentence from a movie review by David Denby:

“It’s a film devoted to inanition, made with considerable artistry, but it’s far from a work of art.”

My first thought was, “What the fuck does ‘inanition’ mean?” But even before finding the answer, I was thinking about whether the statement was relevant to metal. Probably a poor allocation of limited brainpower, because over-analyzing the things you enjoy is usually a mistake. But I decided yes, it might be relevant, perhaps especially at this time of year when people are compiling their Best of 2013 lists. Continue reading »

(Andy Synn wrote these thoughts. Your humble editor selected the accompanying images.)

Ok, so it’s time for another one of my stream-of-consciousness pieces of rambling thoughts and ill-defined points. I’ve had this one on my mind for a while now, and finally got round to putting [metaphorical] pen to paper today. I wrote this all in one go, and have tried not to over-think or self-censor too much. Hopefully that way you’ll get more of a grasp of the thought processes behind things.

Ready? Then I’ll begin…

“Evil” is definitely one of those words that crops up pretty frequently in regards to Metal. Whether it’s coming from the fearful/ignorant majority who (let’s be honest, sometimes understandably) view the varied collection of beards, pentagrams, and profanity with more than a certain amount of trepidation — or from the deluded “kvlt” types who somehow think that their pretensions to “evil” make up for their complete lack of personality – it’s a word that’s often synonymous with the aesthetic (both musical and visual) that our favourite bands cultivate.

Metal is, for me, one of the few genres where many [of the more intelligent] artists are actually able to confront some of the darker, grimmer realities of the world. Few other forms of “popular” (and I use the term loosely) music deal with genocide, murder, cannibalism, political strife and oppression, loss of faith, occult philosophy… in quite the same way. Continue reading »

(A long-time NCS supporter who calls himself Utmu has written a paper for a college course about metal. We’re already somewhat involved, having published three previous pieces by Utmu that were sort of groundwork for the paper (here, here, and here). So we’ve decided to post the pay-off, especially because it’s likely to be controversial. Please do give us and Utmu  your reactions in the comments.)

I’ve been excited about this for some time now, as my Facebook friends can attest (just ask them, I wouldn’t shut up about it for a week or two). I realize that this paper tends to go against what NCS is about in that it is somewhat bleak, but I think this needs to be said, and discussion is always important.

I’m not sure how much context I put in this paper, but if any of you have any questions about anything in this I’ll do my best at answering them. I also realize that this is a pretty divisive topic insofar that I’m on one side and virtually everyone else is on the other. But it’ll be interesting hearing your comments and concerns.

It should be noted that this is my informed opinion, and although I believe that there could be some objectivity to art, I’m skeptical of objectivity in relation to some of the topics discussed in my paper.

I will ask one thing of you all, I’d like to try an uncommon form of argumentation (if any of you feel like debating this). Try to use argumentation in the form of proofs. For more information on this form of argumentation, please listen to Daniel “Awesomebeard” Cohen at 2:32: Continue reading »

The NCS Staff Confab continues, with yesterday’s convocation ending in the wee hours of this morning on the outdoor deck of Captain Black’s in Seattle, the view from which is shown above in a photo snapped by Andy Synn and whose motto is “Eat. Drink. Pillage.” There was no eating there, for reasons I will come to. There may have been pillaging, though your humble editor cannot say with certainty because he left to go home at a reasonable hour because his fucking day job is forcing him to leave Seattle on an early flight this morning. However, because I am now seeing Facebook posts by my cohorts that went up between 2:45 a.m. and 3:45 a.m., pillaging may have ensued. There was definitely drinking.

Before I left the comfy confines of Captain Black’s, I did witness one of the trip’s high points, as we were introduced to a dude named Gerald who just happened to be on the premises enjoying a few brews. He is not only an NCS reader, but also someone for whom NCS is his primary online portal to metal. Damned cool.

Captain Black’s is how the day ended. It began with a trip to Beth’s Cafe, ranked #3 on the Travel Channel’s list of World’s Best Places To Pig Out, #2 on the Food Channel’s list of Top 5 Big Breakfasts, and featured in the Man vs. Food TV series (in which the man lost). There, our own Andy Synn locked himself in mortal combat with the 12-Egg Triple By-Pass Omelet, which was approximately the size of a wedding cake, stuffed with bacon, sausage, and double layers of Swiss and cheddar, laid out on a bed of hash browns deep enough to drown in, and weighing approximately as much as a newborn elephant. Continue reading »