{"id":56530,"date":"2016-10-06T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T18:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.toiletovhell.com\/?p=56530"},"modified":"2016-10-06T12:45:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T17:45:53","slug":"stressed-try-some-black-metal-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/stressed-try-some-black-metal-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Stressed? Try Some Black Metal Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Modern life is hell. Between destabilizing personal relationships, crippling debt, and an ever-growing national ennui rooted in disenchantment with the political system and the polarizing effect of social media tribalism, Americans seem to be rushing headlong like frightened lemmings toward some precipitous cliff of substance-fueled and overstimulated self-destruction. But one man wants to fix all that. A Reddit user named Flalaski is inviting you to throw on some extreme tunes, unplug, and work through all that garbage inside.<\/p>\n

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One of the most beautiful aspects of art is its capacity for self-reflection. Music, in particular, provides a particularly ready, though not quite blank, canvas upon which we may write our varied pressures, fears, doubts, and joys. Many of us were drawn to extreme metal for its promise of emotional resonance<\/a>. Caught in the throes of turbulent adolescence, we looked outward for strength and found a mirror of extremity, something on the fringe, that in turn helped us to look inward, to reflect upon self.<\/p>\n

It is this promise that drew Flalaski to black metal. Although he had been a fan of progressive power metal bands like\u00a0Pagan’s Mind<\/strong> and\u00a0Symphony X<\/strong> for some time, it was during a particularly turbulent period of his personal life that he finally “got” black metal. “It was my first year in college 6 years ago where I delved into Black Metal. I was depressed as hell, being in a small college town out in the middle of nowhere. Most people were Mormon, and I was struggling through a long distance relationship (I should say I was there for the music program, which was good… but damn!),” Flalaski notes. “I discovered Burzum’s<\/strong> stuff and Darkthrone’s<\/strong> Transilvanian Hunger<\/em>, and It connected with me in a strange, dark emotional way. Like it understood the shittiness of loneliness and seclusion. the chord progressions and lo-fi raw-ness really did the trick. I’ve always liked to draw and doodle mainly for fun, and I ended up drawing while listening to these bands now and then. It helped me get through the year, and then I moved out of that damn town.”<\/p>\n

Like many of us, Flalaski fell headlong into extremity\u00a0in order to drown out the seemingly insurmountable waves of stress that many young people face. As he grew older and learned how to better cope with his own personal demons, he maintained his interest in black metal, treating it as a welcome friend to offer support and companionship. Over time,\u00a0Leviathan<\/strong>,\u00a0Marduk<\/strong>,\u00a0BloodThorn<\/strong>, and\u00a0Watain<\/strong> became some of his favorites.<\/p>\n