Decibel Magazine: The Village Voice's Sketchy Metal Review

The Village Voice's Sketchy Metal Review

Posted December 1 by Jeanne F.

“A shameless glitz-and-tits approach to faux-anthemic blockbuster melodrama masquerading as elite-approved Art for Art's Sake—plagues ‘metal’ these days,” writes Stewart Voegtlin. I’m all for a contrarian view of anything embraced by the masses, and so I read his piece “Pelican’s Sketchy Metal” with gusto. (The deck: “The Chicago band leads a pack of wayward, ambiguous, faux-intellectual faux-headbangers.”) I genuinely wanted to understand his critique of the bands he refers to as “a host of dunderheaded critical darlings with banal commercialist tastes: Baroness, Mastodon, Torche, and especially Pelican.” I read the piece a good three or four times before wrenching my brain from the page.

Voegtlin methodically deconstructs these bands with erudite verbiage, and underneath all the wordsmithery, here’s what I understood as the bottom line: Voegtlin is thoroughly unimpressed by the music of Pelican, Mastodon, Baroness, and Torche because he doesn’t hear those bands as producing honest (see also: tr00) metal.

The metal community makes a big to-do over the “death to false metal” edict, but let me take this opportunity to come clean: I have no idea what “honest” metal sounds like and I don’t care to know because it doesn’t make a goddamn bit of difference. I love the Darkness, for fuck’s sake. Yeah, you heard me. Fucking love them. Just listen to the rhythm of my heart.

According to Voegtlin, Gates of Slumber and Lord Weird Slough Feg make “actual metal” in part because they have “clear aesthetic statements.” Why is an understanding of anyone’s/anything’s aesthetic statements inherently necessary for the enjoyment of art? In terms of “getting” art, my guts take precedence over my brain. Guts don’t lie.

Voegtlin also hones in on Pelican/Mastodon/Baroness/Torche’s inconceivable appeal to the “‘un-metal’ folks who play ‘headbanger’ by night,” and paints popularity as an offense, and therefore further taints the music. The “un-metal folks” seem to be a distraction or a disturbance to Voegtlin, or they offer human proof that the bands aren’t honest metal. It’s no secret that more people are embracing heavier music. But who cares what these people do during the daylight as long as they’re rocking out during a show? I never cared who was in the crowd as long as they weren’t out to beat my ass.

I’m writing this as someone who was never truly moved by Pelican in the first place, and who prefers The Red Album to The Blue Record, and who definitely didn’t jizz on Crack the Skye, and who took her sweet time getting hooked on Meanderthal. But I’ll tell you one thing—Pelican, Mastodon, Baroness, and Torche are four bands that produce a variety of metal and if Mr. Voegtlin can’t hear anything noteworthy in any of their music, I’m not entirely sure the music is the problem.

To read the whole Village Voice piece click here. Though you may regret it.

Posted 12/1/2009 7:35 PM by ben

voegtlin's writing is some of the worst. i can't knock him for his conviction or passion, but from a writing standpoint....garbage.

Posted 12/1/2009 7:47 PM by ajs432

Where the fuck does the Village Fucking Voice find the balls to write about metal in the first place. Metal does not reside in "The Village". In fact The Village isn't even a village. Their "Village" is untroo. The only thing br00tal about the Village Voice is their majestic ability to shun hipsters while stil being 100% staffed by and written for hipsters.

Posted 12/1/2009 7:58 PM by Lainad

I love you, Jeanne.

Posted 12/1/2009 8:02 PM by Nick A.

I still don't really get the whole tr00 thing. I'm not sure anyone can claim a band authentic other than the members themselves. As for the fans...this is a dangerous, slippery slope. To whit, I grew up going to crusty, sweaty basement shows like many others, but now i work as a librarian...I find it silly to ever refer myself as 'kvlt'. Somehow it always seems to be a gripe of the fans that reflects poorly on the bands in question. and in full disclosure, im not a fan of pelican, thought remission and leviathan incredible, and do really like baroness (torche, eh, i dont see the hoopla really)...but i always feel folks like myself come into question, our motives our authenticity, when we go to shows because we lack the flowing ebon locks, and visible tattoos (back and chest, 'nother story). So, yea, pardon my lengthiness, but i always get the feeling when someone looks at the likes of me at a show, they are cursing the above bands for bringing a hipster contingent to the metal scene. if only they knew, that there are scores of us 'false' fans who fetish over Bolt Thrower and broderick-led Napalm Death records.

Posted 12/1/2009 8:02 PM by gnarlk

well said, and without un-necessary overuse of flowery nonsense...

Posted 12/1/2009 8:08 PM by ghettohed

Ive read alot of trash like that Village Voice article. People spend way to much time naming things cool or uncool, hip or unhip, etc. Not to sound like the stoned kid in the back, but cant we just enjoy the music?

Posted 12/1/2009 11:09 PM by Hate!

how many thesauruses does this guy have?

Posted 12/1/2009 11:13 PM by 123

no-one "hones in" - it's "home in". if you want to "hone" it has to be "up" I don't like metal

Posted 12/2/2009 12:47 AM by cre2done

He certainly likes to see his words in print eh? Just taking a contrarian and trying to gussy up his writing for the NYC hipster set who ironically wear metal tees with their wayfarers. None of his other reviews are written with anything close to that kind of "attention."

Posted 12/2/2009 1:03 AM by LightningRider

Voegtlin is essentially an A.N.U.S. reject, due to a lack of white power/nationalism melodrama, who hates anything he considers beardo metal (or that beardos would like) while loving Manilla Road and Manilla Road tribute bands (nothing wrong with those bands).

Posted 12/2/2009 1:20 AM by Splitty

Fuck this guy. He needs a hobby, other than writing about metal.

Posted 12/2/2009 1:27 AM by Jezzico

I hate hipsters, but I must agree. Most of these new waves of "Album of the Year" contenders do absolutely nothing for me. I like it heavy as fuck, but when all is said and done, I will take old Maiden, old Metallica, and the last 4 Death albums over any of this new and "troo" shit, because as heavy as these guys can get, very few of them know how to write an actual song anymore. Perhaps that makes me a poser, but you get more wallop out of 8 minutes of "Master of Puppets" than in the entirety of "The Blue Record". Yeah, not entirely on topic, blow me.

Posted 12/2/2009 2:09 AM by LightningRider

Going to have to kind of agree with Jezzico, though I'm probably the odd man out in saying I can listen to Mastodon and old Metallica without anything feeling like a drop off.

Posted 12/2/2009 9:33 AM by Vesuvium

"Their "Village" is untroo." So troo, so troo....

Posted 12/2/2009 10:18 AM by VOEGTLIN

Thanks for the flattery and thanks for reading and re-reading, folks. Up the Irons.

Posted 12/2/2009 11:28 AM by jerkstore

Come on, you want to use more adjectives than that.

Posted 12/2/2009 11:38 AM by mr ed

Stewart Voegtlin, self-Googler.

Posted 12/2/2009 11:53 AM by VOEGTLIN

Self-googler, pretentious asshole, douche, troo metaller, thesaurus wielder, hipster, Williamsburg res, contrarian, hack, etc etc etc. Y'all think this is news to me? Ha ha ha.

Posted 12/2/2009 12:52 PM by jerkstore

He knows he's a huge douche. Joke's on us!

Posted 12/2/2009 1:36 PM by Avail73

Who reads the Village Voice for opinions on metal anyway? Read Decibel instead!

Posted 12/2/2009 2:36 PM by Brad

Meh. I don't know what side to take, because I do love "beardo metal" or "hipster metal" or whatever you want to call it, BUT I am also a big Gates of Slumber/Slough Feg fan, BUT I am also annoyed by giant un-metal hipsters who are into Mastodon, BUT I am also not sure why the hipster-as-fuck Village Voice is defending "tr00 metal". I'm so confused.

Posted 12/2/2009 4:26 PM by omind

...hmmm this kinda strikes me similarly as some white dude telling a black guy how to be "black"; essentially so he can define and delineate his own response. I'm nowhere close to being deep metal so I don't care if whoever likes whoever. I just don't want to see the possible success amoung the "pop" masses put bands in commercial pressure zones that ultimately busts'm up or leads to inferior work. If I found out about Torche thru a dif. avenue than Stonerrock.com and here I probably wouldn't have associated them with the metal world. But if thats where they tour and get over fucking great! Or maybe its another rebirth of "hard rock"/"art rock" using metal intensity and some of the musical language developed by bands tagged as metal. As long as there is no irony/camp being used to try to undermine/defile the good work metal bands thru the decades have done -bring it all on. Hell too much purity leads to genetic defects anyway. I made a "3 by each" mix with Torche, Mission of Burma, Sugar, Kepone, Kylsea and Goes Cube to play in the car and the "mixed crowd" peeped not a bit.

Posted 12/2/2009 9:01 PM by shanks

As much as I disagree with SV's opinions, when it comes to band interviews, the guy really comes through in the clutch.

Posted 12/2/2009 9:35 PM by smartass

I know for a fact that Torche have never claimed to be "metal", tr00 or otherwise. I'm sure the same can be said of the other bands being ripped on in Voegtlin's article. Voegtlin is confusing the demographic to whom the bands appeal with the bands' intentions. Just because they happen to have sprung from or found a home with metal fans and publications, does not chain them entirely to the limitations of that genre. I love Torche for blending simple pop melodies with sludge heaviness, Mastodon and Baroness for pushing their basic sound further out into prog territory and Pelican for attempting to find a way to communicate using only heavy sounds and no vocals. Really, the worst thing that we can say about Voegtlin is that he is an agent of musical conservatism and far too dependant on the idea of genre definitions.

Posted 12/3/2009 12:21 AM by Colin McCarthy

From the article regarding Pelican, et al.: "a preciousness only tolerated from the critically coddled and strategically enigmatic." That's why you didn't like that article. The entire article was a "fuck you" to Decibel and its relevance, relative to "the Village Voice." Only it was in the guise of a review of Pelican. They basically took Decibel's three favorite bands - Mastodon, Baroness, and Torche - and said they suck and are irrelevant. Who gives a shit. The writer is threatened. Those are three great bands he didn't know about and didn't get the scoop on, so he poops on the folks that get it and got the scoop. And in the interests of total disclosure, I only found out about Decibel magazine three years ago after reading an article reviewing Mastodon's Blood Mountain in - wait for it - the Village Voice.

Posted 12/3/2009 2:36 AM by LightningRider

The real irony (does that make me a hipster...?) is that now Mastodon is hated by about half of Decibel.... or so it seems.

Posted 12/3/2009 8:33 AM by Hate!

that's why they are on the cover this month right?

Posted 12/3/2009 1:01 PM by Marbles

The only person intellectualizing metal around here is SV, with his big words and bad attitude. I always thought metal was devoid of all pretense- and here comes this guy acting like a precious scenester protecting his precious scene. I don't want to ever see that in metal. I haven't heard that kind of talk since high school- hating on some arty band because it got some popularity, or on jocks who don't appreciate art that just found out about your favorite band. Pelican is a great band, and Fire in Our Throats hit me in the gut. I also love crusty shit. This bitter little man can overthink shit if he wants, but I don't see why anyone needs to feel the need to get all insular about heavy music. Lose the snotty fukkin attitude.

Posted 12/3/2009 3:25 PM by LightningRider

@Hate! - Don't forget the Dragonforce cover. Or the other covers that never made the top 40.

Posted 12/3/2009 3:59 PM by Zack

I miss Chuck Eddy.

Posted 12/3/2009 4:39 PM by VOEGTLIN

Keep goin'. Decibel told me if this thing breaks 50 comments they'll commission a hit piece on Drone.

Posted 12/3/2009 9:06 PM by jerrymagoo

WTF broz!! why can't a dood dish it?? Voetglin is probably the best music writer since that guy that philip seymour hoffman played in that movie by the guy who wrote "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." Just because music is palatable doesn't mean it can't suck. wicked hails to the LHP!

Posted 12/4/2009 12:01 AM by Yeah

Village Voice reviewers are wankers in the fullest sense of that word, and have been for at least the past 15 years. That said, Baroness is overrated, Pelican blows (and I could see why someone wouldn't call them metal), Torche I never got into, and Crack the Skye blows. But Leviathan is maybe THE best metal album of the past ten years (the other contenders being II: Crush the Insects and Elusive Truth). I say again: Fuck the Voice. The only good things about it are Savage Love and the show listings.

Posted 12/4/2009 3:48 AM by Nick

I will just say this: the writing style looked eerily similar to all of the papers I wrote in 10th grade about the books that I never read.

Posted 12/4/2009 8:57 AM by fearofbirdshit

he forgot douche bag.

Posted 12/4/2009 9:36 AM by VOEGTLIN

"Douche": The Official Pejorative Term for the Lovey-Dovey, Everyman, Workin' Class, Plain speakin' metalhead. Maybe y'all can get Baroness to write a jingle for it.

Posted 12/4/2009 10:31 AM by fearofbirdshit

no no no, douche as in some one who doesn't like anything and shits all over targets who don't fight back... that kind of douche bag. Put the thesaurus away and pull out the dictionary.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:00 AM by VOEGTLIN

(1) I like lots of "things" and I would be happy to shit on you and fight you, too. (2) I've never owned a thesaurus, but do own the complete OED. QED, etc.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:09 AM by fearofbirdshit

if we fight bring a ladder and a hammer... you'll need both.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:11 AM by VOEGTLIN

So you're a house?

Posted 12/4/2009 11:21 AM by fearofbirdshit

such a whitty comeback Prof. Thesauaurus... you are changing the subject... picking a fight on line is about at classy as whiping snot on the mentaly handicaped. I don't know, maybe your mom is proud of you but you sir are a king sized dildo. Saying you'll take a dump all over me and fight me, when you know that there's no way place or chance of it happening is about as courageous as trying to walk away from reading one of your "reviews" and pretending that you had any idea what the fuck the author was saying. I think your scarf is dragging through that pile of dog crap.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:29 AM by VOEGTLIN

Ha ha ha! Keep it up. We're almost to 50.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:32 AM by VOEGTLIN

BTW, Mr. Birdshit: Your spelling is atrocious. (Atrocious means "bad.)

Posted 12/4/2009 11:51 AM by fearofbirdshit

good spelling/typing skills etc plus $1.50 get's you buss fare. maybe your mom should have hugged you more.

Posted 12/4/2009 11:57 AM by VOEGTLIN

Step right up, folks! The one, the only, talking tourist t-shirt purchased at the turnpike truck stop! He says things like, "Your Mom Shoulda Hugged You More!" and, "Put the Thesaurus Away and Pull out the Dictionary!" Old faves, "I Dissed a Buncha Shitty Bands and the Internet assfucked Me!" and "Pretentious Douche!" pull no punches... Step right up...

Posted 12/4/2009 12:40 PM by dog faced herman

Seriously, is this all a wind-up for a hidden camera show? "Aw snap, you've been VOEGTLIN'd!"

Posted 12/4/2009 12:49 PM by VOEGTLIN

Hmm....

Posted 12/4/2009 1:08 PM by Hate!

I would think with the amount of words you like to use, your comebacks would be longer. I don't really give a shit about your blog or your opinion, I was just hoping for some wittier comebacks I might use at work.

Posted 12/4/2009 1:13 PM by VOEGTLIN

Hate! We can negotiate a price offline. I don't give a shit about you or your opinion, but I will compose comebacks for money.

Posted 12/4/2009 1:30 PM by Hate!

That was weak as hell man! You can do better. You should put on "You're The Best!" by Joe Esposito to get pumped up for some serious attempts at tongue lashings!! In case you need a reference point, that song is the theme for the original Karate Kid. You can't listen to it and not get pumped up. Serious question though: Are you responding on the other metal forums that are talking about how much your reviews suck as much as you are on this one?

Posted 12/4/2009 1:57 PM by VOEGTLIN

Jenga! Look for my piece on Drone comin' soon, kiddo.

Posted 12/4/2009 4:11 PM by fearofbirdshit

dude, you really are a douche bag. I never told anyone at the magazine or on the website that I have dyslexia and you fucking called me out on it... Albert or anyone else wasn't a dick about my mispellings or bad grammar, but you sir, master of online reparte were a dick...I know you don't care what I say but you are a fucking back pedaling piece of trash. "Change the topic someone called me out by chalenging my character" should be your bi-line. I know this is just going to be followed up by some more half spirited lame ass come back which was designed to make you feel ohhh so much smarter than the rest of us...I say what ever. This all can be summed up with the old adage That the empty can rattles the most.

Posted 12/4/2009 10:13 PM by Sal Chicho

V, why are you trolling the Deciblog user comments if you don't give a shit about us or our opinions? Narcissism disguised as ennui?

Posted 12/5/2009 1:03 PM by Conduit

Reading this was so pathetic I had to take a bath.

Posted 12/6/2009 11:59 AM by astral zombie

"Thanks for the flattery and thanks for reading and re-reading, folks. Up the Irons." Wow, if that ain't the pot calling the kettle black metal! And a small point of clarification...no one is "reading and re-reading", everyone is "skimming" and rolling their eyes because you write like a bullshit hipster autistic savant, but keep it up pal and we'll keep laughing!

Posted 12/6/2009 12:54 PM by VOEGTLIN

"Narcissism?" "Ennui?" Don't you mean, "self-love" and "boredom?" You're breaking your own rules, douche. "Skimming" and "rolling their eyes" has never = this much self-righteous indignation, even on the Internet, where "passions" are as short-lived as music favorites. Keep hating (er, laughing), folks. Maybe I'll get to quit my day job.

Posted 12/6/2009 1:05 PM by astral zombie

Nice try buddy...but keep trying, again, we're all enjoying it/you immensely!

Posted 12/6/2009 1:28 PM by VOEGTIN

Ditto, "astral zombie."

Posted 12/6/2009 1:38 PM by astral zombie

The difference is, I'm a regular here and you obviously are not...but again, nice try! Nice "quotation marks" btw.

Posted 12/6/2009 3:37 PM by astral zombie

Also, calling Pelican, Baroness, Mastodon and whatever other relatively mainstream act "hipster" while touting the virtues of Bone Awl and Battletorn is highly suspect, perhaps you don't really have a good grasp on the term. Second, your ire for this publication strikes me as more of a personal vendetta than honest, valid criticism...it kind of makes me wonder if you attempted to pimp your wares to them and were "neglected"...oh wait, I know for a fact you did and were! How does it feel to be the real world incarnation of the pony tail guy from Good Will Hunting???

Posted 12/6/2009 5:25 PM by VOEGTLIN

You really did just skim, didn't you?! If you'd read it, you would know for yourself the piece never mentioned the term "hipster" or the magazine "Decibel." I've got a stack of them here at the house. I'll send you a few. I'll even sign them for you.

Posted 12/6/2009 5:25 PM by VOEGTLIN

Posted 12/6/2009 5:26 PM by VOEGTLIN

Posted 12/6/2009 5:30 PM by VOEGTLIN

Posted 12/6/2009 5:39 PM by murk

I think he really did just skim, you can stop saying it. Voegtlin is wrong but you idiots are wronger (look it up!). Whenever anyone has an advanced vocabulary (knows more words than idiots on the internet), idiots on the internet accuse them of using a thesaurus. Actually, if you read & attend a decent school, you're gonna know more words than idiots on the internet do. Tough.

Posted 12/6/2009 5:44 PM by murk

Is a polite way of saying I knew all the words in the article, & I imagine most others did too. I mean, they're not even difficult or obscure words. V's vocabulary is completely NORMAL for educated people. It's you "thesaurus" complainers who are so unread & so poorly educated that you can't fucking define basic terms. I know that my elitist attitude here is contrary to V's argument (which is a stupid argument), but I don't care. Does Decibel have intelligent readers who post comments?

Posted 12/6/2009 9:17 PM by astral zombie

No, Stewart, you didn't mention them in your exhaustively long winded diatribe about a band most folks haven't cared about in four years. Shit, I can't stand them honestly! The problem is, you have mentioned the magazine several times elsewhere in tandem with your genius observations about Mastodon, Baroness, and several other flavor of the week bands that seem to really get under your skin...enough so that you seem to be constantly writing about them. I hope crying about mid-level metal bands helps move copies of your free "newspaper" that litters most major metropolitan cities and massive hits to your "blog". My opinion (and many others) stands, you're a douche...so stick to PBR and Early Man and continue to "challenge" folks who really just don't give a shit!

Posted 12/6/2009 10:50 PM by Hate!

murk- so you're telling me that you use HALF of those words in every day conversation? It's not so much that the reviews are difficult to read, it's that they just suck. I've been listening to this music for more going on two decades now, consider myself pretty well read, educated, and well traveled and I don't know anyone who uses those words (despite knowing what they mean) in regular conversation. Hell, my sister has a Master's from St. John's and is a college professor in England of all places and she doesn't use that many 25 cent words in a regular conversation. Then again maybe she just dumbs it down for me, right? Me being a knuckle dragging, poorly educated prick and all....

Posted 12/7/2009 9:21 AM by fearofbirdshit

No one ever said that they didn't understand his diction. The sentiment was that why does it atke so many words to say so little. Being plain spoken says a lot more than rambling on and on about inane bullshit. Like I said, I have a learning disability. If you think that makes me a big dummy then that's fine. My ability to express myself with words doesn't define how smart I am or what kind of person I am. It takes me longer to read a book than you. It doesn't mean that I don't know what I'm reading. What it means is that I have to sit there and force those written words into my head. You see words I see symbols. SO this is recomendation, get off some other mans nuts. You are no better than anyone else, even if you are the second smartest guy in a room murk. Have fun being superior.

Posted 12/7/2009 9:42 AM by VOEGTLIN

*Cracks beer* Anyone else want a Pabst? And can we listen to something other than Early Man, please?

Posted 12/7/2009 2:43 PM by David

I think his point was kinda along the lines of "Don't get all artsy fartsy if you're just dippin' your toes in the water, and then expect us to buy it hook-line-and-sinker", especially if you are just taking another template (shoegaze, prog, Boston), applying it to your style (metal)and calling it something new, or innovative, or even influencial. All of the mentioned bands are guilty of that to some degree. He's basically saying, "If you're gonna committ to an aesthetic, either go whole-hog, or admit your smoke-and-mirrors fakery ala 70's era Kiss or BOC). Or something.

Posted 12/9/2009 7:31 PM by murk

What I or anyone would use in everyday conversation is hardly the point. The point is what words one would use in writing. Writing is more formal than "everyday conversation." (Which is hardly to say that I never use those words in everyday conversation.) Americans' vocabularies happen to contain far fewer words, on average, than they did just a couple of decades ago. I don't see why we should celebrate this. The more words you have at your command, the larger your conceptual & cognitive toolbox. Have a look at Adorno on the fetishists of communicability.

Posted 12/10/2009 11:30 AM by VOEGTLIN

Adorno? Careful, Murk. You're gonna be branded a "pretentious douche" soon.

Posted 12/12/2009 4:08 PM by Gore Motel

What a load of shit. Metal, like all forms of music, is enjoyed by individuals based on what they respond to emotionally. Some people (like me) just don't "connect" with bands like Pelican, or Torche, or Meshuggah for that matter. The cute part about heavy metal is that people love to say "I don't connect with this, it must not be REAL metal!" because they think that their opinion is the only valid one. And then other people get all butthurt and bitch and google themselves to find people talking bad about them so they can bitch some more; it all ends when people with functioning brains die of boredom and entry-level goofballs rule the heavy metal landscape. Good luck, bros!

Posted 12/12/2009 6:30 PM by WizardAura

Pelican, Mastadon, Baroness, etc. became far from note-worthy (read: real metal) long ago. I'm sorry you dudes weren't into metal when Headbanger's Ball was off the air but dude, just because you down-tune doesn't make you metal. The "heavy" in "heavy metal" is there for a reason, because metal is supposed to make you feel fucked up. Trying to say (as Stewart Voegtlin does) that Pelican is anywhere near as metal as Neurosis is like saying Ratt was more metal than Black Sabbath. Yeah, thats what I though... don't even pretend like you believe that.

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