Watain are a “black metal” band, at least that’s what their label Metal Blade likes to claim in their press releases, said releases which are then subsequently heavily relayed by the media. Back in reality, Watain play mostly deathcore and nu metal, two genre which are understandably not something you’d want to brag about in press releases and other thinly veiled adverts destined to dupe dumb metalheads into believing that Watain’s music is in any way connected to that of Burzum, Phantom and Darkthrone.
This isn’t the first time the music industry has tried to bring something totally unrelated into extreme metal and intentionally mislabel it in order to make money. You may remember Suicide Silence and Whitechapel getting called “death metal” by Roadrunner Records (brutal death metal, even!), Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir and even Nightwish getting called “black metal” by Nuclear Blast, and even actual rap/rock acts like Korn and Machine Head getting hyped as the “next evolution in extreme metal” (excuse me while I lol).
So what’s so different this time around? Well, for one thing, it seems that black metal fans are not content to just sit around and take this one in the ass. Many have taken to social media, forums and other news sites to denounce what they claim is “impostor black metal” – I don’t remember who is credited with using the term first, but it spread like wildfire.
Two bands are targeted in particular, Norway’s Gorgoroth has gotten a bit of flack, not that much considering how common knowledge it is that the band is and has always been a shit tier dope fest for lowest common denominator beer metallers anyway, but the real outrage has mostly centered around Sweden’s Watain, essentially for calling itself “the one true black metal band” despite playing mostly nu metal and radio rock, and that since their debut Rabid Death’s Curse in late 2000.
You can read the most reasonable and, I would say, least virulent diatribe on “Is It Time For Black Metal To Distance Itself From Watain?” via MetalZone. And just in case that wasn’t a rhetorical question, allow me to answer it. Yes, it is time for black metal to distance itself from Watain.
And perhaps even more importantly, it is time for extreme metal in general – and maybe even heavy metal – to distance itself from deathcore, metalcore and other punk rock offshoots.
What is so problematic about deathcore/metalcore/nu metal, and punk rock music itself, arguably the “father” of the three aforementioned bastard genres, in order words the REASON why we are witnessing such pushback against mallcore bands like Watain, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Leviathan and Dark Funeral “squatting” the black metal label, is not for the demographics such genre squatting will inevitably bring in, nor even because of the target audience of these dishonest record companies are going for. Rather, like a defective product, the reason “mallcore” is so hated is that it cheapens everything it pretends to be. Everything it touches turns to shit… starting with itself.
Ever wonder WHY deathcore bands won’t admit to being deathcore bands? Because everyone implicitly understands, at least on a subconscious level, that deathcore is shit. Not even deathcore fans want to be caught listening to deathcore. Which is why they lie and claim bands like Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Waking the Cadaver, Carnifex and Black Dahlia Murder play “brutal death metal” or “slam death“, or whatever else actual death metal fans will allow them to get away with. Likewise, in black metal, most metalcore/deathcore/nu metal acts are quarantined to pretty specific sub-genres, usually “post black metal” and “war metal“.
But Watain broke the rules of that tacit “separate peace” agreement when they not only attacked other real black metal bands, such as Burzum and Mayhem, but also by widely proclaiming such bullshit as them being “the only true black metal band” and that “Euronymous begged [Erik Danielsson] to play in Mayhem, […] something [he] always refused out of principle“.
If you don’t understand WHY black metal fans, and underground black metal fans in particular, are so pissed at both the bands responsible for the genre squatting, the record labels that encourage them and the media companies that promote these fake news narratives, try a little thought reversal experiment.
Take your favourite genre, say alternative rock, and imagine black metal bands (and not even the good ones at that, just the lower tier bedroom Darkthrone clones) suddenly calling their music “alternative rock”, being heavily promoted as such by the media – without giving you, actual fans of the genre, a voice to object – and essentially insulting Radiohead and Coldplay at every interview they give, calling them “pussies” and insinuating they “begged” these black metal bands or members thereof for autographs.
It feels pretty degrading, right? That’s how black metal fans react when they hear about a goth rock band (Dimmu Borgir) or a metalcore shitshow (Watain) laying claim to THEIR genre, while the actual bands from THEIR genre that innovate and push the boundaries are “rewarded” by getting (1) insulted by these impostor bands, (2) constantly called “racist and nazis” in coordinated hit jobs with anti-White/anti-racist organisations, and (3) completely ignored by the media, who promotes the impostors at the expense of the genre’s actual artists.
Quite a few reasons to be pissed off, yes?
There are a few other reasons why the black metal underground can’t stand bands like Watain, including some pretty serious ideological divergence when it comes to religious orientation, but for the most part these are the main reasons why, were you to post one of Watain’s interviews on a black metal forum or mention them as one of your “favourite bands”, you will get insulted, banned or promptly asked to find another forum to engage in your nu metal fetishism. Without involving black metal, death metal or any other type of extreme metal music.
And to Watain and fans of Watain, that still despite everything else laid here, continue to insist that their band is “true black metal” – the least you could do is learn about the history of the genre you’re squatting. Black metal is more than just harsh vocals and low-fi guitar fuzz.
Sewerlust 
Watain, the shit show that keeps on shitting. Can Edik Danielson at least admit he is a tranny who likes getting buttfucked by his own biological father while denying his incestuous urges to masturbate while getting his ass creamed with the very same semen from which he was born???? That’s what you get when you let wypipo into BLACK metal.
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