Thursday, April 12, 2012

Alda - Tahoma LP


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     I received a request from Replenish Records to review a couple of their releases. This new full-length from Alda will be the first of two. Alda are a crushingly epic Black Metal/Post-Rock band from Tacoma, Washington. In the band's own words they claim Pantheist-Animism, environmentalism, the Cascadian bio-region, primitivist practices and general heathenry, music and being an animal in urbanity as direct influences. That sentence seems to do a pretty good job of summing up the band's ideology. I would just like to say, thank you.
     The truth is, I don't really have a great frame of reference when it comes to music like this. I never listened to Black Metal before bands like Weakling and Wolves In The Throne Room first started playing. I have studied the history and I have read all the books and in my opinion, the first two or three waves were generally awful and overrated. Celtic Frost were talentless. Bathory was talentless. Venom was basically KISS without the groupies or connections. I am most certainly aware of the Burzums and the Mayhems and the Emperors and all that bullshit neo-fascist garbage. Shit, I have seen plenty of so-called "Anarchists" proudly wearing their t-shirts over the years. Those bands don't matter to me. None of that matters anymore.
     When talking about modern Black Metal, we need only look to the trees. This is music created out of necessity. The cities are swollen and dying and in turn laying waste to the last threads of natural land we have on this rock. Alda are the sound of Mother Nature fighting back. Imagine the ground opening wide, swallowing whole these crystal castles. Picture strong roots, rising up, reclaiming the jungles, concrete or otherwise. The oceans are boiling, the sky is growing darker with each passing day. There is little left for us to do but fight.
     Anyway, This is an excellent record. I don't see why you wouldn't like this if you have ever been a fan of modern, progressive Black Metal, Crust, Post-Metal and/or Apocalyptic Folk. Wolves In The Throne Room, Ash Borer, Embers, Oroku, Mammifer, Alcest... Yes, I am going to listen to it again. That will make this the 12th time today.

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