Welcome fellow infidels!
Today marks the start of a journey to connect with fellow metalheads all over the world. Prior to the creation of this blog, I had only my closest group of friends to discuss our love of metal with. I had only Facebook to post full album links via YouTube and express my thoughts about them... to a hopelessly uninterested audience. I hope this blog will be successful in focusing my expressions and interests to an audience whom at least shares with me my love of metal as well as entertaining you.
To me, extreme metal is more than just a preferred music genre, it constitutes a central part of my identity. I tell people, regardless if they understand, that I take music as seriously as I do my college studies in engineering. I don't consider myself a thorough expert or veteran to the genres, but I have covered an expansive amount of material; releases from the early 80s to today, genres ranging from folk to brutal death metal. More on that soon.
I have several years of experience playing guitar and bass, though I do not proclaim to be exceptional at them. I play various genres when I'm jamming with these instruments, though mostly metal of course. Be on the lookout for audio/video clips of riffs or songs I compose, since I will begin working on a metal project when I return from Minneapolis.
Okay, why is the blog's name "Lichened"? (pronounced the same as likened). First off, it may very well be the name of this metal project of mine that is in construction...Okay Nick, why the name? Well lichen, as I see it defined, is basically fungus. To be "lichened", therefore, is to be covered, consumed, or what have you, in fungus. Okay, that's a decent cliche metal band name / alias. But beyond that, I found a symbolic connection between its literal definition and how I view the public world. Corruption is everywhere. Beneath every corporation or government is an underbelly of shit and twisted motives. Now these things don't interest me much; I'm not political and I care little for these affairs. Basically, I wanted the name to sound cool, have some sort of figurative meaning, and include the word "lich". Why? I don't know, I fucking love the word lich, although that definition is unrelated to mine.
So by now, you're probably all wondering when I'm going to stop with the bullshit and get down to what the content of this blog is going to consist of. Most often, I'll be posting a casual review and personal opinion on any albums I discover via YouTube, etc. I'll probably start off with some of my favorite albums or bands to get the ball rolling. To get an idea of whether or not this blog will be worth your time, here are some of my favorite bands and genres:
Bands (in no particular order)
•Carcass
•The Black Dahlia Murder
•Death
•Napalm Death
•Necrophagist
•Suffocation
•Darkthrone
•Decapitated
•Cannibal Corpse
•Deicide
•The Ghost Inside
•The Funeral Pyre
•Volumes
•Kalmah
•Celtic Frost
•Entombed
•Hate
and obviously way more
Genres (in a somewhat particular order)
•Death Metal
•Blackened Death Metal
•Black
•Melodic
•Grindcore
•Progressive
•Brutal
•Technical
•Viking
•[some] Deathcore•Death'n'roll (Need to find more of this stuff!)
...
•[just plain ol' fucking] Metal
At any one time I may be fixated on a select few genres and/or bands, but my tastes are dynamic. Although generally, I prefer older bands. Only being 20 years old, I missed the opportunity to see a lot of the first and second wave bands that were around in the 80s and 90s. But I also like some of the new material that bands with potential are putting out. If you have a taste for diversity as I do, you should find this blog's entries to be enticing and exciting. If you're a stubborn old fuck or one of these deathcore "br00tal, 1-string, breakdown-obsessed" kids, you can give it a shot, but I doubt you'll appreciate the vast forms of talent I'll be presenting here.
At times, I'll also be giving my two cents on any upcoming tours or festivals as well as giving a detailed review of the ones I personally attend.
Another immediate plan is to post an in-depth analysis of the metal community's take on "genre labeling" as well as acceptance toward other's preferences on sub-genres. Like I'm one to talk, bashing some of the deathcore bands! Whatever, I don't care. Anyway, these are two very big issues that cause dissonance within the community.
That's it for now. If I have time later this afternoon, I'll post a couple album reviews. In the meantime, send me some feedback and suggestions! I'm totally new to this.
Have a \m/ day
-Ondai
