Seasons in the Abyss November 26, 2013
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Well, another autumn seems to be abruptly coming to an end. Autumn always makes me feel reflective and a bit nostalgic, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. For some reason, during this autumn in particular, I happened to listen to a lot of albums and bands that remind me of specific times in my life. Most of the bands and albums I stumbled on to were not on purpose, though it seemed like an unconscious force was leading me towards them.

Listening to bands and albums for which I have such strong mnemonic associations lead me to think about how we are possibly (stick with me here) unconsciously drawn to music that we perceive to “fit” into a certain season while that season is occurring. Honestly, now that I write that out, it sounds like a complete pile of horseshit.

However, I think we can all agree, for example, that listening to “Blizzard Beasts” or “Transylvanian Hunger” in the snowy dead of winter makes a whole lot more goddamn sense than listening to them in the blistering heat of the summer.

So after some considerable deliberation, I thought I would list some Metal bands that I think “fit” into a certain season. Of course, you can listen to these bands and albums any goddamn time you want. But to harness their trve power, you have to play them during the right time of year.

Note: I tried to avoid some obvious choices, such as the aforementioned “Blizzard Beasts” for Winter.
The Triumph of Spring
 
In the spring I picture myself prancing upon fields of tulips and lilac, biking along rivers, and picnicking as the sun bathes me in it’s nurturing warmth…so, uh…not exactly the most Metal of experiences.

It was for this very reason that spring was the most difficult season for which to think of examples. Normally we think of spring as a time of rebirth and new beginnings. This is a problem when it comes to matching this with appropriate Metal bands or albums, because – let’s face it – about 90% of Metal lyrically deals with destruction, death, evil, and just about everything that is opposite of concepts of rebirth and new beginnings. So I had to think of happy, triumphant-sounding Metal – namely, Power and Progressive Metal.

Dragonforce

Nothing says “EPIC TRIUMPH OF SPRING FLOWERS!” like Dragonforce!

 

Blind Guardian
 

Angra 
 

Summer Slaughter of the Liver
When I think of summer, I picture myself at BBQs, the beach, and back patio and deck parties. I picture myself drinking outside, going on road trips, and…did I mention drinking outside? In short – carefree, good-times Metal.
 
 
I thought Motorhead would have been too obvious of a choice for summer, so I chose Speedwolf who are heavily heavily heavily influenced by Lemmy and his merry band of drunken minstrels.
 
 
OK, maybe an obvious choice…but how could I forego listing the ultimate Metal party band of the post-millenium!
 


Demon of the Fall
 
As I mentioned in the introduction, fall for me is a time of reflection and bittersweet nostalgia. For this reason, fall is also an ideal time for Graduation Day Metal (a term coined by Mark of the Beast, which is basically synonymous with Shoegaze Metal). For fall, I picture myself hiking (by myself, of course) with the colored leaves falling all around me thinking about…what…could…have…been.
 
For whatever reason, the French have metal for autumn down pat.
 
Isis
 
 
 
 

 
Black Winter Days
 
This was by far the easiest season to come up with examples for. I mean, c’mon…the most grim and kvlt season of them all!  I imagine myself trudging through the never-ending snow-laden tundra.  Or wandering aimlessly in the forest as snow falls around me.  That or just losing my mind while thrashing around in my bed, because I haven’t seen the sun in four months and can’t stop reading philosophy for whatever reason.  Really hard to narrow all the choices down, but I focused mostly on Doom and Black Metal.
 

How can it possibly get more grim or cold than Xasthur?!

SO MUCH EXISTENTIAL DESPAIR

 
Nowadays, people can’t seem to stop cumming in their pants over “grim” and “kvlt” production values in Black Metal releases (the majority of which I can only assume were recorded exclusively using Yak Baks). But for me, there aren’t many releases that are more “grimly cold” than the slick-sounding “Storm of the Light’s Bane”.
 
 
 
 
(old) Katatonia
 
New Katatonia isn’t quite as dread-inducing as their older material, so I included an old favorite of mine as the last entry.