Welcome to Dissident Aggression, where we sow the future, reap the present and highlight the past to bring you the underground of The Underground…
Bands try to come up with fun labels for themselves all the time. It’s almost like a rite of passage. As descriptions have become more and more grandiose over the years it’s refreshing to see a band successfully describe themselves in three words. In the case of Denver’s Primitive Man those three words are: Bleak. Malevolent. Doom. A very apt description indeed. The opening, title track of the album, is itself a microcosm of what the listener is going to be in store for over the course of seven tracks. For over 11 minutes the music lurches and lumbers forward, yet is prone to the occasional aggressive outburst. There are points so drastically heavy and overbearing that you welcome the aggression just so you aren’t swallowed whole.
Primitive Man deliver the kind of doom metal reminiscent of a vast, apocalyptic wasteland where the only inhabitants left are too busy committing acts of lethal brutality against one another to care about things as trivial as beauty or art. This band has created the musical equivalent of survival for survival’s sake. There is nothing pretty here. There are no moments of peacefulness or lucidity. Even in their most serene passages Primitive Man is still able to convey the message that everything is absolutely not o.k. Maybe it’s their ability to successfully combine crust, death metal and even a hint of black metal with some of the most crushing doom this side of Electric Wizard? Maybe it’s the demon-inducing vocals or the bowel-shaking riffs? Whatever it is, Primitive Man has created an album that sticks with you even after you put the headphones down. Possibly the best part about all of this… Scorn is the band’s debut album. If this album is any indication of what this band is capable of then they are going to own the doom metal scene over the next few years. In fact, any label folks out there reading this right now you might want to give a good long listen and get in touch with these guys before someone else snatches them up.
The album officially hits the streets on January 31 but you can listen to the entire thing on their Bandcamp page. I suggest while you’re there you go right ahead and pre-order this thing while you can.
Metal Homework:
This week I’ve decided to go in a slightly different direction. About 15 or so years ago I was introduced to the mini-documentary “Heavy Metal Parking Lot”. I’m sure most people reading this have at least heard of it. If you haven’t please take about 15 minutes to go to YouTube and search for it. You will not, I promise NOT be disappointed. The basic premise is that two dudes took a camera into a parking lot outside a Judas Priest concert in 1986. It’s a living, breathing testament to metal youth culture in the 80’s…or at least a snapshot of a bunch of drunk Priest fans. (Quick sidebar – I had the pleasure of meeting Rob Halford prior to a show in Hartford, CT on one of his solo tours. It was one of these canned meet-and-greet things and being I’m not into the whole starstruck/autograph thing I didn’t bring anything for him to sign. So when I got to the front of the line – yes there was a line – all I could think to do was shake his hand and ask if he had heard of Heavy Metal Parking Lot. Not only had he heard of it but he went on a 10 minute diatribe about the sociological importance of it. Basically Rob Halford gave me ‘metal homework’ that day.)
Long story, short I want to find the stars of H.M.P.L. The official site has little to nothing about the “stars”. I want to give names and stories to the drunken faces. So your Metal Homework this week is if you have any information leading to the whereabouts of anyone who was in H.M.P.L. please comment below or get in touch with me through the site. Thank you!
