In our Inquisition symphony, the hard rock hallelujah gets louder than hell
Vastatuuli plays Jussi Lahtonen by four dictionaries this time. orzel_aquila and my mother deserve credit&thanks for certain grammatical/informational help. You know the deal, except that the victim is new; Jussi writes in the Finnish free distribution music magazine Sue (#99 October 2006), I read it, I like it, I translate it, I post it.
The core of metal, part 1: Musical sects
What is metal? A simple question to which there's no simple answer. The question has been to the fore as long as heavy music has been around. Dividing lines and definitions have sprung up like mushrooms, and the evolution dance that boils like protoplasm has as many favourite tunes as it has participants. So the question could be set wider: what is the truth?
Looking for the final definition and sole truth is both pointless and dangerous. Development and balance demand that no viewpoint or coalition gain too much power. When the predominant hegemony is too controlling, the growth turns inwards. The roots rot, the exterior hardens - and the result is a stone dead monolith, a puritanical sect that exists for itself, not for its ideology.
Besides musical styles, warning examples can also be found in world religions. Long ago the Catholic Church was able to preserve the knowledge of antiquity, stabilise living conditions and answer for literacy teaching among other things. If it wasn't for the Catholics, Agricola wouldn't have developed a literary language for Finland either. Nowadays the institution is a perverted, corrupt relic from the past, which justifies its senile, anti-life intentions by centuries-old lies.
The birth of Islam was a huge amelioration for the human rights and development of Arab territories. During their golden age, Muslims were ahead of the Western countries in the arts, literature and technology. Nowadays the highest religious leaders of Islam efficiently prevent the resistance from modern Muslims. The uneducated beardies object to things they don't fully even understand.
It is easy to scorn and shun the fanatic sect members who lean on traditions and absurd trifling details - and partly for a cause: those living in their own universe don't listen to reason. However, few modern music listeners realise that their own preferences and convictions may shackle them likewise.
The majority of people spin like weathervanes in the gusts of musical trends, just like the majority passively take in the religion that's most actively fed to them. Genuine music amateurs, for their part, are comparable to fundamentalists. At the most positive, their stances are clear throughout their lives, and they use them to organise those lives. At the most negative, the same assurances are used to subjugate, compel and convert others.
Organising one's outlook and values through metal is a wonderful thing, whether the organiser is a beer belly friend of classical heavy metal, a glum 'true black metal' fan sitting frozen-arse in a forest, a sopping wet goth girl dampened by arousal metal, an yngwiemalmsteen enthusing over technical virtuosity, or a bald rivet man enjoying brutal demise metal.
In the same people it's just as easy to find the dark side of the force. The one who values technique turns out to be a sulky rock cop who looks down on those unable to play Beethoven's Fifth with their toenails. The blackmetalman preaches his übermensch-theories about the survival of the fittest and doesn't necessarily tolerate any human being that isn't a humourless penguin pushing himself forward to Satan. The basic heavy metal man in front of his tankard might slur comments about bands that have already noticed the eighties are over. The demise metal man might categorically loathe all light-metalheads, and after recovering from her love metal orgasm, the black-lipped girlie could despise all the 'boorish' metal musicians who grow hair on their chests and wear no make-up.
Jussi Lahtonen
The writer knows the absolute truth.
It can't be found in porridge.
The translator is a nevergonnabe-pro who loves blasphemy.
The core of metal, part 1: Musical sects
What is metal? A simple question to which there's no simple answer. The question has been to the fore as long as heavy music has been around. Dividing lines and definitions have sprung up like mushrooms, and the evolution dance that boils like protoplasm has as many favourite tunes as it has participants. So the question could be set wider: what is the truth?
Looking for the final definition and sole truth is both pointless and dangerous. Development and balance demand that no viewpoint or coalition gain too much power. When the predominant hegemony is too controlling, the growth turns inwards. The roots rot, the exterior hardens - and the result is a stone dead monolith, a puritanical sect that exists for itself, not for its ideology.
Besides musical styles, warning examples can also be found in world religions. Long ago the Catholic Church was able to preserve the knowledge of antiquity, stabilise living conditions and answer for literacy teaching among other things. If it wasn't for the Catholics, Agricola wouldn't have developed a literary language for Finland either. Nowadays the institution is a perverted, corrupt relic from the past, which justifies its senile, anti-life intentions by centuries-old lies.
The birth of Islam was a huge amelioration for the human rights and development of Arab territories. During their golden age, Muslims were ahead of the Western countries in the arts, literature and technology. Nowadays the highest religious leaders of Islam efficiently prevent the resistance from modern Muslims. The uneducated beardies object to things they don't fully even understand.
It is easy to scorn and shun the fanatic sect members who lean on traditions and absurd trifling details - and partly for a cause: those living in their own universe don't listen to reason. However, few modern music listeners realise that their own preferences and convictions may shackle them likewise.
The majority of people spin like weathervanes in the gusts of musical trends, just like the majority passively take in the religion that's most actively fed to them. Genuine music amateurs, for their part, are comparable to fundamentalists. At the most positive, their stances are clear throughout their lives, and they use them to organise those lives. At the most negative, the same assurances are used to subjugate, compel and convert others.
Organising one's outlook and values through metal is a wonderful thing, whether the organiser is a beer belly friend of classical heavy metal, a glum 'true black metal' fan sitting frozen-arse in a forest, a sopping wet goth girl dampened by arousal metal, an yngwiemalmsteen enthusing over technical virtuosity, or a bald rivet man enjoying brutal demise metal.
In the same people it's just as easy to find the dark side of the force. The one who values technique turns out to be a sulky rock cop who looks down on those unable to play Beethoven's Fifth with their toenails. The blackmetalman preaches his übermensch-theories about the survival of the fittest and doesn't necessarily tolerate any human being that isn't a humourless penguin pushing himself forward to Satan. The basic heavy metal man in front of his tankard might slur comments about bands that have already noticed the eighties are over. The demise metal man might categorically loathe all light-metalheads, and after recovering from her love metal orgasm, the black-lipped girlie could despise all the 'boorish' metal musicians who grow hair on their chests and wear no make-up.
Jussi Lahtonen
The writer knows the absolute truth.
It can't be found in porridge.
The translator is a nevergonnabe-pro who loves blasphemy.