Look, I’ve been back and forth for the last month-plus with Masakari‘s The Prophet Feeds (spelled The Profit Feeds on the CD itself), trying to decide whether or not to give it a review. It’s on Southern Lord, which is enough of a connection to doom that I probably could make it fit if I wanted — it was enough for the Black Breath EP — but the fact is, I don’t want to.

I feel bad in a way, because I know the Cleveland outfit probably put a lot of work into the record — it certainly sounds like they did — but I need to draw the line, and I think this might be where I’m drawing it. The Obelisk was conceived to cover stoner, doom, psych, prog, and the relevant subgenres thereof, because that’s what I enjoy listening to and writing about. I’m not a hardcore fan or expert, and I’d rather not write a shitty review of a record that’s just not my thing from the get-go.

Yes, Masakari have a song about the horrors of dog fighting with lyrics written in the vaulted language common to their genre, discussions of “loyalty,” “honor” and so forth, so there’s plenty to talk about, but that doesn’t mean I’m interested in doing so. When Southern Lord decided black metal was the new “it” thing — and I would argue their decision was a big part of making that true — I went along with it. Fine. When SunnO))) put out Black One, I thought it was cool. But man, if Greg Anderson wants to explore his hardcore roots, that’s great, I wish him all the success in the world, but I’m not on for this ride.

It would be disingenuous for me to pretend to dig on The Prophet Feeds just because Southern Lord put it out when there’s a ton of other albums out there that sound just like it that I can’t and won’t be bothered with. So I’m not going to. I’d rather keep this site honest and true to what it is meant to be than follow the shifting tide of trend, and I’m not saying that to be self-righteous, but rather, because I’m a fan of Southern Lord and what Greg Anderson has presented in the past, and I don’t want to cheapen that. So, to the label and the band, I’m sorry (I’m pretty sure both parties will survive), but this one is going to have to be a pass.

Tags: Cleveland, Masakari, Ohio, Southern Lord

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Whathaveyou. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.