Mining Metal is a monthly column from Heavy Consequence contributing writers Langdon Hickman and Colin Dempsey. The focus is on notable new music emerging from the unconventional metal scene, highlighting releases from small and independent labels, or even releases from unsigned acts.
A few weeks ago, I saw Thantifaxath and Knoll perform at a local bar familiar to anyone with a crush on Scott Pilgrim. Thantifaxath has played so much over the past year, at least in my area, that one could justify missing their show by saying they'll see the group when they return. Let me say this; Anyone who thinks they can “catch Thantifaxath when it comes back” is a mouth breeder because Thantifaxath are amazing live. Occasionally, they cover TLC's “Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls” during soundcheck. They almost always flaunt their technicality while melancholic: two contrasting objectives that merge under their spell. Knoll, meanwhile, is insidious in a live setting. They combine atmosphere and music in a way that gives them the mantle of “funeral routine.” (Also, their third album, How to speak, was released at the end of last month and thus slipped through our fingers. Please rectify our mistake by listening to it as soon as possible). For $20, you couldn't have found better entertainment that night.
Or maybe you could, because the venue is not just a concert venue, but a bar that regularly hosts Y2K-themed dance parties, emo nights, and Friends trivia. It is not far from student residences and is opposite cheap clubs with several floors. On weekend nights, it's common to see a dozen young, well-dressed college students lining up waiting for the warm embrace of alcohol and sweat-covered walls, even in the dead of winter. All of this is to say that the crowd at the show that night wasn't your typical metal crowd, which, honestly, was great. Some concertgoers were dressed as if it were an emo night or as if the closest they had come to black metal was thinking that Metallica's eponymous group coined the phrase because of their cover. I want these people at concerts. I want metal shows to convert those who have never immersed themselves in metal or change their opinion on what will happen to the genre in 2024. I want newbies as much as I want trucker dads who have listened to more death metal demos than me. I listened to albums.
Unfortunately, not all who bravely entered the domain that night survived. Some left quickly after Knoll immersed himself in his act or, if they arrived later and didn't catch Knoll's trumpet and theremin sorcery, they only made it two minutes into Thantifaxath's first song. Their ambitions (or the assumption that “metal night” meant the Deftones cover band) were laudable, but their patience was thinner than their bloodstream, so they ventured to drink elsewhere. Fortunately, most of the crowd stayed and he was rewarded with a phenomenal night. So while I might look down on those who left early for not being tough enough, I prefer to analyze it as a sign that metal is still heavy and foreign to those not used to it. Thank God.
February's best underground metal albums exist on this axis of heavy and strange, with our picks across the spectrum. Read about the best black metal, blackgaze and atmospheric black metal of the month (I'll try not to strain myself with such diversity). There's also a lot of death metal, some of which is reminiscent of the extremes of weirdness, while others are more blood, guts, meat and potatoes. Go ahead and enjoy something new.
– Colin Dempsey
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