Despite its outsider status, metal remains one of the more image-conscious genres on the planet. Orthodoxy is law and for many the spiked arm bands are just as important as the riffs summoned forth by their bearers. Aesthetic is part and parcel. Which is a big reason why Colloquial Sound Recordings, in addition to unleashing all sorts of experimental/blackpunk audio hell, is so refreshing.
Let’s take Choker, an eerie mix of proto-punk and blackened noise. The music isn’t far from what the previously featured group Villains are up to, yet the packaging, a seventh grade girl’s after-school collage, offends metal’s sensibilities in the most delightful of ways. The theme runs throughout CSR’s myriad artists, with unusual imagery enhancing an already unusual experience.
Aksumite, the label’s flagship act (fronted by label maestro Damian Master) and the current object of all my musical affections, follows suit in its own way. The duo’s scant releases have turned plenty of heads with their incredibly catchy “blood cult punk,” with 2012’s Prideless Lions garnering particularly rabid acclaim, but it’s their subject matter that conjures the greatest spells. Aksumite belt out tales of the ancient African empire of Aksum, chronicling its rise and fall throughout the first millennium. “Via India! Via Aksum! Their goods! Their men! Their women! Their money! Their minds!”, Master howls. It’s not only a super cool history lesson. It’s a super cool “Fuck You” to the Euro-centric/Norse paradigm that has dominated the genre for so long. How’s that for transgression?
Cool music. Cooler message. Get over to CSR’s page and start shopping.
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