Haven't listened to Bring on the Night in years ... I'd forgotten just how many backing musicians Sting brought along on this tour - highly accomplished jazz artists like Branford Marsalis and Omar Hakim. It's a sonic smorgasbord:
I pulled that out of the demo music (hodgepodge) at my record store back room. As I was unfamiliar with their early punk music, I simply accepted the sound of this single LP. There was no internet or real way of learning who the band was, unless you were already familiar with who they were. Different than the music of Duran Duran, or anyone else, that became one of my favorites of the year, I’m guessing 1982? A mixture of drums machines and synthesis that I was told was quite the departure for the band. Each song slightly different but still related in style.
I pulled that out of the demo music (hodgepodge) at my record store back room. As I was unfamiliar with their early punk music, I simply accepted the sound of this single LP. There was no internet or real way of learning who the band was, unless you were already familiar with who they were. Different than the music of Duran Duran, or anyone else, that became one of my favorites of the year, I’m guessing 1982? A mixture of drums machines and synthesis that I was told was quite the departure for the band. Each song slightly different but still related in style.
A few months ago I purged most of my metal collection. Only around ten albums remained and life is better now. Music has failed as a political force, but its lasting effects on the individual are real. Many metal bands operate under questionable motives. ‘Blackness’ is exhilarating, but could it be a rotten deal for the listener? For me the answer has become an unequivocal “Yes”. Demon Hunter is one of my metal discoveries after leaving the harmful stuff behind. Feels good to participate in a war-like experience without the drain.
Demon Hunter are ok. They don't seem to push anything questionable. Not overtly, that I've noticed. I am cautious of Christian Metal though.
As for music as a political force... it's tricky. Music has always required the patronage of society, and it's less necessary than say, waste disposal, which leaves it (speaking very generally) subordinate to more mundane considerations. And more vulnerable to being co-opted, even if co-opting it is less desirable than having control of public utilities in terms of more immediate expressions of power. Nobody 'owns' music, but the people who have the most of other kinds of power, can control it.
Music that has defined itself with- and attached itself to- political movements and ideas, is co-opted as those ideas and movements are themselves co-opted by the powers that be. Still... good ideas and good music live on.
Anyway, ya just gotta find the good stuff. I don't listen to dumbass metal. Metal should be a trip, a journey... an exhilarating release. Something thoughtful and visceral that acknowledges the darkness, but doesn't hold it up as a goal. Darkness is something to live with, not live for.
I like historical metal. What could be darker than human history? It's something that must be faced.
But I think that what you want at the moment, is this kind of thing:
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together with this one...