Belgian death metallers Emptiness return with Nothing but the Whole which combines death/black metal intensity with the brooding ambiance of dark ambient similar to Desiderii Marginis. The result creates a dark, visceral experience.
The album exudes a deeply haunting and nightmarish feel which the band expands with its knowledge and application of melodic development. Songs unfurl in a rise-and-fall approach to intensity showing us different levels of thought and mood which develop and eventually conclude in melancholic unity.
Like similar experiment Lykathea Aflame Elvenefris, Nothing but the Whole occasionally struggles with direction which can cause a distracted and confused outcome which translates into meandering filler. There are also some unappealing “rock” riffs that do not fit well with the context of the songs.
Emptiness have attempted to add their own creative spark to the death/black metal world and have produced a decent creation albeit one that needs more focus and direction. Like many experimental albums, Nothing but the Whole is best described as a stimulating listen that will inspire others to expand upon its aesthetic ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sRmPbxk_I8
Tags: Black Metal, dark ambient, death metal, emptiness
Which songs have the “unappealing rock riffs” you decry?
Why bother mentioning this band? I ask because I see bands that I’m sure the writers and readers of this site have already forgotten getting coverage when the end result is always “it’s kind of alright” (Wormreich, Empire Auriga and Diocletian to name a few). The mention of Lykathea Aflame is worrisome because I don’t really think a happy new age Cryptopsy is something the readership seeks. I see this all as more brain clutter. I read before how these maintain a readership, but can someone elaborate how?
I discovered ANUS just by google searching for any Demilich information I can find in the early part of the last decade and was fascinated by this site understanding the metal underground and mirroring much of my own thoughts about it being assimilated/bastardized, not by a search for the what/how/whys of death metal or black metal. An old band like Mayhem getting railed in a review is a good thing that can steer an audience towards the better works of their discography. This only leaves an impression of “whatever, move along.”
Now, it seems kind of like a news site like Blabbermouth with additional commentary. The question shouldn’t be where did the good metal go, but how any of this music will benefit our lives, thinking, etc. which I think those old Prozak articles did well. Has the well been exhausted on that front?
The closing of the forum is also terrible, as the greatest thing to happen was having Nidhogg tell the story behind the latest Ildjarn release and interact with the forum. The fact that it introduced me to his rough early black metal sketch demos on youtube was more interesting than reading about this band.
I say all this without disrespect, as someone who is still in awe at the early black/death days even after all these years. Maybe I just like more quality over quantity in most things. I would like to hear a take on all of this.
Stop throwing peanuts! They burn! Stick to the plan! Change the world! Convert the masses! Success or nothing! You need discipline!
I think the correct response to these bands is silence.
I found ANUS from googling In The Nightside Eclipse when I think I barely had pubes. When I started to take a stronger interest in the communication part of the website (forums) I started to notice a trend. Every now and then there would be this big project, a whole bunch of personalities would be ready to help and then in a month or two everyone had collapsed, those people were enemies and something else was being attempted/a break was being taken.
I used to accept the cause usually given (in extremely indirect language). Lazy people. Nerds who are ready to make wikis but not do real work. Etcetera. As time went on though, I saw a lot of well meaning people with real accomplishments suffer the same end. Where is the original creator of this website for instance? Anyway, naming names will take more time and space than I have.
The thing is `no democracy` or whatever apparently also means `no fraternity`.
Basically: My way or the highway, lalalala I cant hear you. At this point the good that could come from this place has been done. I dont want to understate how grateful I and I am sure many others are for it, but well… yeah, what you said (really really politely). Copy the valuable text, save it for future generations.
Fascists have no grace, mercy or reasonableness. These are weakness to them. Normal people are the enemy, hell, normality itself is the enemy. Civilization is a cancer etc. Anyway, getting too ranty again bai d^__^
“The thing is `no democracy` or whatever apparently also means `no fraternity`.”
Not really, unless you are a liberal fag who doesn’t appreciate the value of hierarchy.
Personally, I endorse the site’s new direction.
ANUS was starting to be like the old loser who whines about how everything was better when he was young. This is an attempt to find a way out.
The problem with humanity is individual humans.
It is not government; it is not ideology; it is not Hitler or Satan. It is individual humans. They always find someone or something to blame, but that is a lie. The problem is that too many people are individualistic to the point of denying reality, a condition we call solipsism.
The forum exemplified this. For every one quality post, there were a dozen people acting in illogical and frankly stupid ways, generally posing and being antagonistic, creating a mess for me or others to clean up.
When crow was appointed admin, no secret was made of the fact that this was a last-ditch effort to rein in the bratty behavior, selfishness, grandstanding and other idiocy.
With the end of that era, we were out of people to admin the forum. We gave the forum users two weeks to get it together and stop being shitheads and start posting interesting stuff. The response was 100% brat: “entertain me.” So we closed the forum.
You were warned, you were given a chance, and you failed it.
You failed this. The fault here is with the users, not admins.
My patience has ended with this topic, as I am sure yours has long ended before. This is plain BS. You attracted and then appointed crow for some esoteric reason I cant fathom (I assume you wanted his spiritual outlook for your New Right project), but a person who admits to not being able to get along with human beings in real life, certainly cant rein in jack shit.
No one was being a shithead except crow (okay maaayyybe one or two people but I didnt see it) and, as a result, to crow. The forum archives still exist and this can be easily shown. Conclusions: 1) You saw what you wanted to see or 2) Others gave you secondhand information from their skewed perspective.
Brattiness etc. are your weasel words for people apparently doing anything but lauding you as discussions rarely ever got out of hand to the point that admin input would be required. Also, quality of discourse remained high. Once again, evidence is available.
You didnt give anyone anything (except space), but even if you did, two weeks is a bit of a strange deadline for a forum where you might see one thread (not made by crow that is), maybe once in two weeks.
Warned? You never directly say anything. Crow does, and well, what he said had the response you would expect from reasonable people. As always I am not referring to myself. I also will not discuss this feathered individual again.
Read the (second to?) last post of user humanicide for the truth. Certainly he was never bratty, criticized the site, fought with users etc. so I hope his input is impartial enough. Please do this before any further action re: this topic. Its a short post.
Of course the fault is with the users, when have you ever admitted fault?
For the sake of good will, I will now be silent.
Yeah. Because I like crow and think he’s a gifted thinker. He and I don’t agree with much of anything.
I disagree, but the old topics are removed so I can’t find or link them.
Before we venture into character attacks let’s look at the situation at hand.
The users had many chances to keep the forum going, and instead made work for other people. Thus it died.
“Brett” or whomever, please let this go through…
Why is anyone surprised by the direction this site has taken? “Brett Stevens” has told you what “he” was from the beginning, a Nihilist…You think “he” or “the staff” care about the complaints? I knew “he” was this way when “he” talks shit about christians on ANUS but “he” was teaming up and writing articles for some christian group to stop multiculturalism, plus “he” talks about o9a stuff, I see you “Brett”, I know how “you” operate…
The lesson from all this is that you *have* to think for yourself, not one source has all the answers…Everyone has an agenda and everyone has their own views and everyone has their own wyrd and they may or may not jive up with yours…Take what is useful to you and reject what isn’t, and when you feel like something isn’t working anymore, ditch it…
The old articles, review archives, audiophile and old forum posts are all you really need…Metal dies just like anything else just like this website…The site is still going just to push an agenda, just like Metal is still around to push an agenda…
Only Death is Real
Nature is Hell, Hell is Nature
Hail Satan
There’s also another lesson: Sometimes you have to team up with people with whom you don’t agree in everything, towards a common goal.
Most of the complaints here stem from insecurity. Actually, complaining and insecurity go hand in hand, always.
About complaints:
1) They would never be heeded
2) No one is even complaining
3) Why insecurity? About what?
4) Four is a nice number I like it ^_____^
COMPLAINING IS SUPPORTING
PASSIVITY IS AGGRESSION
STUPIDITY IS INTELLIGENCE
VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!!!!
No one is trying to change shit here is what I mean Wild. You know it (I hope). This is resignation, not aggression. Why isnt it (i.e. these naggers) gone yet? It will be, dont worry, you will have your peace and there will be no need to enforce it.
I told you before, I have no illusions, but apparently these words bother you somehow and you seem like you would rather fight people than make friends. You have lumped people into convenient categories in a very unfortunate way; how quick were you to judge me as some kind of regular recreational drug user. I dont need to defend myself there but you are turning into a monster man. Do these previous sentences sound like some sort of passive attack to you? If they do, well, all I can say is that is not the case.
Consider, once again, Cargest. A peanut gallery complainer right? The kind of person that just needs to go away? Yet even his Visions demo had more life to it than most professional metal even on this high standard website. What I am saying is he has done something tangible for metal. I really, really, really hate the well-what-have-YOU-done etc. mentality that sometimes crops up around here but apply it to yourself and compare your `contributions` to his. A man I rarely agree with yet has the grace to think well of those who strongly disagree with him unless they are actual enemies.
Addressed generally, since I seem to have been given free reign for now (but addressed particularly to Prozak): Whatever happened to guys just hanging out? Do great things not come from such activity in your view? Is `social chatting` this great evil that always leads to destructiveness? Brothers-in-arms sometimes realtalk, but bros understand that it doesnt mean harm. I dont know what your ultimate goal is re: metal, the world and everything, but you will never be able to accomplish it without true friends. Not ones you choose either. At least try and be FRIENDLY, you know, someone with an approachable disposition. Someone who does not proclaim wisdom from up high and then disappears (or trolls with different usernames or w/e, that is just hearsay so I dont know if you still do this).
I dont know why you decided to shut down the forum. I have my suspicions but they may well be wrong so I will keep them to myself, but you did a great disservice to your own goals about metal, metal music itself and some great people. I personally cannot forgive you for it. You created a problem in the guise of fixing a nonexistent `problem` (without ever saying a direct word). When that got out of hand you just shut. everything. down. Damn man. You are supposedly conservative right? What happened to organic development? Is that not part of the root of conservatism? Many tried and tried and tried to tell you this with no response, and there still wont be a real one. Just damn.
As long as other people are shit on your shoes, all your endeavours will fail. The old ANUS Prozak must have died or something. I barely ever read your stuff but I could see the effect it had on people. That was a different Prozak. The Prozak that writes for Amerika.org is some kind of philosophical robot.
Nevertheless inshallah it will all go well. Also damn, that was quite some rant! Whaddya say, at least a B+?
I was going to leave a rude one-liner, but I’ll answer it. This will be the last time I answer to this line of discourse, regardless of what username posts it, as it is far too repetitive:
Because Brett is far more tolerant than me.
This sentence contains the root of my problem with you. You don’t do anything except whine the same bullshit on every other post. You know this site has repeatedly dismissed this criticism and will not be accommodating it, so why do you insist on ejaculating it everywhere? It seems to me the definition of passive-aggression: insert criticism, then run away with an excuse of “oh, didn’t really matter.” Is this the behavior of an adult? Is your ego so small your feel the urge to act the martyr (again, since the forum wasn’t enough)?
You aren’t my “friend”, and I don’t [i]want[/i] you to be. I am not friends with people who harm the site (look at how this thread has turned into yet another re-hash of your same bullshit, rather than a discussion of the band).
I have accurately diagnosed the correct behavior to take towards you.
I don’t have a problem with what he’s posted, at least under that account. I disagree with his conception of the site’s purpose, but part of his most recent criticism/suggestion was valid.
The difference between him and you is that his criticism has a point and is not merely bloviated trolling, which is what yours has become.
I will pass on responding to what you addressed to Brett, except to point out that if you don’t understand why he closed the forum you should buy some glasses and read the posts he made leading up to its obsolescence.
The reasons are not hidden.
Goddamn WP formatting.
“he” refers to Cargest.
The quotes were missing, here is the corrected version:
I was going to leave a rude one-liner, but I’ll answer it. This will be the last time I answer to this line of discourse, regardless of what username posts it, as it is far too repetitive:
“Why isnt it (i.e. these naggers) gone yet?”
Because Brett is far more tolerant than me.
“No one is trying to change shit here is what I mean Wild.”
This sentence contains the root of my problem with you. You don’t do anything except whine the same bullshit on every other post. You know this site has repeatedly dismissed this criticism and will not be accommodating it, so why do you insist on ejaculating it everywhere? It seems to me the definition of passive-aggression: insert criticism, then run away with an excuse of “oh, didn’t really matter.” Is this the behavior of an adult? Is your ego so small your feel the urge to act the martyr (again, since the forum wasn’t enough)?
“I told you before, I have no illusions, but apparently these words bother you somehow and you seem like you would rather fight people than make friends.”
You aren’t my “friend”, and I don’t want you to be. I am not friends with people who harm the site (look at how this thread has turned into yet another re-hash of your same bullshit, rather than a discussion of the band).
I have accurately diagnosed the correct behavior to take towards you.
“Cargest”
I don’t have a problem with what he’s posted, at least under that account. I disagree with his conception of the site’s purpose, but part of his most recent criticism/suggestion was valid.
The difference between him and you is that his criticism has a point and is not merely bloviated trolling, which is what yours has become.
I will pass on responding to what you addressed to Brett, except to point out that if you don’t understand why he closed the forum you should buy some glasses and read the posts he made leading up to its obsolescence.
The reasons are not hidden.
Addendum: there originally was another word in stead of “ego”.
Very good points.
Can’t we all just …get along? On the one hand you’ve arrogant nerds and on the other, old guys that think it all comes down to perception. Damned if I know…
Seems like trystero has been “diagnosed” (what are you anyway, a psychiatrist?) as a legitimate threat. Why don’t you ignore him or ban him? You don’t ignore him for two reasons I can think of; 1. His ideas ARE a legimitate threat to this site’s integrity (which is weird as fuck but whatever) and you feel the need to stand up against his undermining of your ideals/agenda by demeaning him/championing your cause publicly, or 2. You like ripping his posts apart. Since you aren’t banning him, then it is one of those, right? What is the point, anyway?
Advanced apology for the typos, I’m typing on a phone. 420 blaze it faggot.
Wait, wait, what part of his most recent criticism was valid? Please elaborate. I know you said its your last response but humour me.
It is very true.
“Brett” saying that is no different from “multiculturalism”…There isn’t any reason at all to associate yourself with people that you don’t agree with…”Brett” is just saying that because he is herding you into something…
Insightful. Better to work toward a plan. People who have no plan can only complain, which makes them even more bitter.
No one is really a Nihilist and the Stevens variety certainly isnt. It is cleansing approach, lose all human value and meaning to see true value or what lies beneath (or dont, but at least ditch the purely social one).
Why would a real Nihilist want to do anything about everything? Where does the drive, the meaning required for that to happen come from? Somewhere surely.
Read what “Brett Stevens” says about Nihilism and read Order of 9 Angles material and you can see what he’s doing…He wasn’t hiding anything the whole time…
His drive trystero? He isn’t acting on his own accord, he’s part of a bigger plan, what’s going on with this site now is part of a long term plan, I can see exactly what he did…
This site has a way bigger agenda than just Metal, I remember reading a lot of what Stevens/Prozak writes and something kept setting an alarm off…Look at the people that the ANUS site says are heroes…Look at the metaphysical views they have, they no nothing of true metaphysics, it’s dumbed down…
Here’s something to chew on…Metal and Classical music are from higher beings from beyond this realm, the Classical composers admit to this…Why is it that so many band names are demon names from the Goetia or whatever? It’s because “demons” are actually beings from higher planes that used to come to human realms to get worshiped by people (Pazuzu. Bahimiron, etc) and the christians called them demons…The reason why Metal has so much Demon/Pagan things in it is because these beings are using Metal to keep and spread their influence in this realm, it’s a balance for christian ideas…
Metal is a language used by acausal beings to communicate in this realm…
Read this site’s interpretation of what Metal means and compare it to what I wrote above…If you think like I do then you understand why certain things about this site always rubbed me the wrong way…
I had the same thoughts when I was getting into the second Morbid Angel album as a kid. I suspect other people had similar thoughts about their favorite albums.
But help me through this. Are you claiming that Brett (or whoever commands him) is against those beings?
Yes, he is…He isn’t the only one either…The internet was created by the “elite”…Why? Because they are using it as a tool to control people…All of these blogs on the internet that talk about “truth” and how society are fucked up are all just like this one, just like philosophy…They needed to make a Metal one because there are people who listen to Metal who have high spiritual potential…Just the fact that you came to the same conclusion about the Morbid Angel album when you were a child says *a whole lot*…
Here’s something to chew on…What you believe shapes your experience in life…So if you get someone like Nietchze or Brett to give you beliefs and a world view, it shapes your life…If you get alot of people to have the same worldviews, you have modern society…It’s just that the stuff Brett is pushing actually benefits the “elite”…
And now we’re into voodoo new age trailer park/dingy apartment feel-good religion.
I really wanted to give this guy a chance but I’m afraid he might have stumbled over here from the David Icke forums.
Nah man, Brett is actually an extraterrestrial from Sirius sent by Shiva to convert the world to quality death metal during the age of Kali Yuga.
DON’T YOU SEE?
This is a site about heavy metal. Read the FAQ.
All other topics belong elsewhere.
Nice post but unfortunately this site does NOT have a way bigger agenda than metal and if it does it will/has failed for reasons elaborated on elsewhere. When I say drive I am just talking about dictionary definition nihilism, which the nihilism espoused here obviously isnt. I dont agree with it anyway but I do think it is a positive thing / a thing of worth. I dont discuss my own approach to metaphysics here because I am just an orthodox muslim. I have often felt, but only rarely said, that `religion` is misunderstood here. Anyway, not something I want to get into. Yes, I do know what you mean, thank you for your candidness.
You should, if you want.
The last thing a nihilist should ever do is adopt the Crowd-method of forming cute little social cliques that unite against outsider ideas.
We know what is real; there may be more to add to it. After the years of religious debate on this site, I doubt having a Muslim voice would in any way fracture where most people are going.
I’d say our audience is 50%/50% hard-line empiricists and hermeticists who identify with different religion-labels but have essentially the same view of spirituality expressed in The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley.
that’s is, hard-on hermeticocks!
There comes a point in discussion of faith where you can go no further with reason. It needs to be felt. It cant be explained. I have seen some Christian (minded) people try and fail. It turns ugly. Nevertheless if I see an appropriate opportunity I will give my input, but it is likely to be from the anthropological/social aspects of religion than the metaphysical.
I am not a nihilist, by definition I cannot be, but seeing everything anew, without expectation or handed down value is useful. If you want to call that nihilism then sure, I am, but that is the extent of it.
Nihilism does not contradict metaphysics.
Nihilism rejects human wishful thinking. Where there is cause, there is effect.
Nihilism would start at agnosticism and not leave until other data appeared. Not necessarily physical data; it can be pure logic. My anti-Christian statements are separate from metaphysics. They involve the group morality that most Christian groups endorse; since that time, I’ve seen how much more pervasive this group mentality is that any single tradition.
It is the group mentality that must be crushed and all who advocate it should have their vocal cords removed.
Basically I cannot consider myself a Nihilist because there is no room in that approach for a personal god. I believe that would be considered human wishful thinking unless I am totally incorrect. This is quite incompatible with Nihilism in my understanding. Bruce Charlton expressed it well: http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-personal-god-god-who-is-person.html
If I am not misunderstanding, a Nihilist knows he lives in an uncaring (yet awesome) universe. I… sort-of agree with this but the ultimate question of Why-Something-and-not-Nothing plus humanity cannot be satisfactorily understood without this.
Also I believe the Quran to be the literal word of this personal god, hence the avoidance of Nihilism while agreeing with some of it and considering it superior to modern neutered Christianity etc.
I also think that ultimately the metaphysical and individual approach cannot be divorced from the social aspect of religion. I have come to believe that religiousness is built into the human brain. Moreover, even if I did not believe in Allah, the state of the world would convince me of Satan (again, the person, not the semi-Miltonian concept).
Nihilism does not preclude anything which is true.
Its most fervent application is against that which has no basis in the patterning of reality, such as many fond greeting card notions and platitudes.
I imagine that any gods are a subtler and more disinterested force than we like to think, but the idea of “personal God” is beyond me.
haha… XD
You obviously have a very superficial (thus erroneous) understanding of Nihilism.
Nihilist doesn’t mean “asshole.”
Of course we care about the complaints. But then it became clear that we’d have to be insane to listen to all of them. Thus a filter: only logical and relevant ones are admitted.
The real problem here has always been a nasty crowd of people who are angry at life and, rather than take action and make themselves feel better, they preen around and act like poseurs.
There’s nothing wrong with that, if they do it at sites designed for that purpose like Wikipedia, Metal Archives, NWN, FMP, etc.
Here we don’t want that.
We are nihilists. We deny the human wishful thinking and focus on reality instead.
When groups form around ideologies (especially nonfunctional ones, though prob. not the case there), there occurs a tendency to Include and Exclude. Normal human social behaviour. No one is immune to it but people who consider themselves immune to it are ironically especially prone. The Outsiders are ascribed all kinds of terrible qualities etc.
Wikipedia is an especially good example actually, if you dont want that here then well, I dont think it worked.
I have been thinking on this for years, having once been a free speech advocate. Now it occurs to me that Plato was right: speech is action, and all speech must either be good or be banished.
Some more…
Philosophy is no different from organized religion…Platonic Idealism is garbage, why? Because “perfection” isn’t real, imperfection is perfection, even the best of the best Metal isn’t “perfect”…If Metal is a spiritual thing, then why is philosophy pushed on this site? If philosophers had any answers, then why are they so well known? Anything well known by so many people was something that “the elite” wanted you to see it…
Think about it, everything that this site is supposed to be against, it’s something that the “elite” told you that was a problem and once again the solution comes from something the “elite” say…
Dudes, Nietzche is pretty mainstream now, they teach him in college…Why doesn’t anyone talk about Fulcanelli or Hermes Trismegistus? Hmmm….
What “Brett” has for a vision of an ideal world is the *exact* opposite of *Nature and Reality*…He isn’t that much off from a christian…christians are against *nature and reality* just like Stevens is…
I’m tempted to openly criticize your idea of information being controlled by “elites” but I’m actually more interested in hearing you explain what it means. I’m with you on the idea of music being influenced by acausal forces but what/who exactly (or, hell, even generally) do you think these elites are and why would you be against their agenda?
maybe i misunderstand vulture but i think you are trying to equalize nature with chaos and the void,, as if chaos is the natural state of existence. brett steven seeks to ally with everything that brings order and beauty in the world. or maybe im getting it all wrong.
“Dudes, Nietzche is pretty mainstream now, they teach him in college…Why doesn’t anyone talk about Fulcanelli or Hermes Trismegistus? Hmmm….”
Same reason why Beethoven is “pretty mainstream” in music and is taught in all colleges around the world: RELEVANCE. You might as well ask why doesn’t anyone talk about Havohej in western music conservatories.
Nietzsche provoked a revolution in thinking in philosophy. Not sure Fulcanelli ever came close to that.
Back in the day, yes I remember.
Being ‘true/kvlt’ or NS was the issue. And the mods back then had names like Inhumanist, Childhood Cancer, QBLH etc. How’s that for showing my age?
Back then people used to hail each other too, so hails to you guys if your listening.
I went into isolation with no internet for 5-10 years and came back to find Beherit had released an album. Holy smokes! Meanwhile back at the forums ‘intelligence/non-intelligence’ and ‘old-school metal resurgence’ were the issue.
2010 or some similar year. Burzum gets out of prison and quickly loses god-like reputation.
Corrupt.org collapsed too at some point.
So anyway more years go past and we can count the good releases on one hand (but then again my memory’s kind of self-limiting). And the whole subject/object bullshit plays into it with the autists too.
Suddenly enters the crow, who taught the autists that they needn’t be how they are, (if only they weren’t lol). Good times were had and people get very VERY fucking pissed off. Then being kinda practical in a mystical way, crow sets the whole island on fire while simply flying off squawking ‘there’s more to life than death-metal’.
Enter the mid-year solstice of 2014. You can hear a pin drop.
But really, the same kind of thing more or less repeats ad infinitum all the time everywhere wherever you are.
Kudos to cosmic laughter.
Coolest comment I’ve read in months. I loved getting into arguments with crow. He taught me what it meant to “love to hate”.
I wonder why. High standards + individualism = conflict.
Sometimes it’s more one than the other, though the harder thing to achieve tends to be the exception (which is a rare thing but worth sticking around for in my experience).
Love the story but one correction; the autists had already left years before the flying teacher arrived.
I am not even sure they are autists (either really or as insult), but I wasnt very interested in the forums then and simply dont know.