Out Now: HARMONIC CROSS "The Grand Paradise" (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

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Rue Morgue, the world’s leading horror culture magazine, hosted the exclusive advance stream of The Grand Paradise yesterday, the new LP/Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by dark ambient collective HARMONIC CROSS, available now through Dark Operative.

Written specifically for the upcoming short film The Grand Paradise, the cohesiveness and narrative through lines permeate from beginning to end. Without spoiling the film, the soundtrack follows a protagonist’s journey through a traditional three-act structure of prophecy, madness, and triumph across a visual palette of liminal subscapes. The purpose of releasing the album in advance of the film is to allow for early listeners to “see” their own narratives before presenting the band and filmmaker’s own visual representation of what’s “happening” within the songs.

Recorded, mixed, and sound designed by HARMONIC CROSS’s Brent Eyestone at Tracking in San Diego in the Summer of 2021, mastered by Bryan Walthall at Stereoimage, and completed with cover art by Eyestone, The Grand Paradise clocks in at just over forty minutes across its eight songs.

Speaking to Rue Morgue, Eyestone revealed, “The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized the importance of always participating somehow in the wholly unique spiritual energy surrounding Halloween and the fall season. We feel it first as kids, as going trick or treating is often the first time that any of us get to go do something alone with our friends, devoid of any parents or authority looming over the activity itself. It grows in its power and wide-eyed enthusiasm toward ‘being alive’ as we do, be it concocting elaborate pranks as pre-teens or driving to haunts, themed concerts, and converted amusement parks, again with friends, once we get our licenses. If one isn’t very careful, adult life creeps in and dulls the connection to ‘something in the air.’ We can perceive it as ‘harder’ or being ‘too old’ to participate in the inherent creative freedom and overall creative mosaic that makes each passing Halloween season more fun than the one before.

“Making a creepy, haunting record is but one way to stay in touch with the spirit of the season. If we were six years old right now, Ryan, Kelly, Graham, and myself would be looking at Google Maps on a tablet to figure out what neighborhoods we’re going to hit on our candy-collecting route. If we were sixteen, we’d be in search of the weirdest show happening in the most underground, off-the-radar DIY space we could realistically drive to. If we were twenty-six, we’d certainly be playing our own Halloween show, definitely in costume. This year, we chose to make another record as our ‘group of friends’ activity toward adding to the spirit and activity of the season. Individually, we’ll still be connected as well. Ryan will be playing a show in front of costumed freaks in a city far from home, Graham and Kelly will be helping kids learn the ropes on how to get the most out of the big day, and I’ll be making my way through the fog and the walking dead haunting Knott’s Scary Farm. Happy Halloween.”

With their advance album stream, Rue Morgue dubs HARMONIC CROSS, “Macabre masters of dark ambient soundscapes…”

The Grand Paradise Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is out now. Click here for direct links to all digital services.

Ending a seven-year stretch between albums, The Grand Paradise is the second full-length album and first original motion picture soundtrack from HARMONIC CROSS, the dark ambient alter ego of the Richmond, Virginia-based artist collective that also records and performs in their punk/hardcore form as Bleach Everything and their indie rock incarnation Highness.

The Grand Paradise is HARMONIC CROSS’s follow-up to the 2015-released It Is Finished., a conceptual album about the unsolved mystery of “The Somerton Man,” originally on vinyl through Magic Bullet Records and since digitally reissued via Dark Operative. While functioning as an intentionally cohesive standalone album, The Grand Paradise in its entirety also serves as the original motion picture soundtrack for a film by the same, set for release through Lil’ Baker Films in 2023.

While once again unifying the collective’s original creatives in Brent Eyestone, Graham Scala, and Ryan Parrish, it also marks the first formal recording with their Bleach Everything bandmate of ten years, Kelly Posadas. In direct sonic opposition to Bleach Everything’s short, fast, and loud credo, HARMONIC CROSS creates significantly longer cinematic compositions that often creep slowly and dynamically within an entirely different headspace and listening experience.

In addition to The Grand Paradise, HARMONIC CROSS will appear on the second installment of Dark Operative’s It Came From The Abyss compilation series in 2023 and is set to score a 2024 horror film, also for Lil’ Baker Films.

The Grand Paradise Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is out now. Click here for direct links to all digital services.

BLEACH EVERYTHING Drops Surprise Halloween Single, “Fix Your Heart Or Die;” New LP Due In 2022

Like a razorblade in your candy apple, BLEACH EVERYTHING drops a cut for Halloween, with the surprise release of “Fix Your Heart Or Die.”

With vocals recorded by vocalist Brent Eyestone at Tracking, the instruments for “Fix Your Heart Or Die” were recorded by Ricky Olson at The Ward where the single was mixed, after which it was mastered by Bryan Walthall at Stereoimage, and completed with photography by Veronika Reinert and art by Eyestone.

Writes Eyestone of the track, “‘Fix Your Heart Or Die’ is somewhat of a mirror to the urgency of purpose many individuals were forced to find, confront, or outright reject once the world involuntarily turned on its head. It’s been something else watching friends and loved ones go through that process toward greater senses of purpose or stop looking at their ‘someday’ lists long-term in favor of chasing it all down in present tense.

“Meanwhile, the shift has all been atop a backdrop of far more death than many of us have ever experienced in our lives. In some ways, it ends up making the joyous moments and instances of real connection even brighter and more vivid than ever realized before. Outside of the music itself reflecting such a shift, it is also represented through a completely different visual color palette for us, utilizing an absurdly bright yellow and even a swatch of pink for the very first time. We traditionally use muted, stark colors on all our visuals. Prior to ‘Bound/Cured’ earlier this year, the music and vocal ideas matched those darker and starker aesthetics one to one. But just as the world itself is clearly a dynamic, evolutionary force, so goes the band. We feel it’s paramount to have those shifts reflected as we continue from year to year and release to release.”

Stream BLEACH EVERYTHING’s “Fix Your Heart Or Die” now at Bandcamp RIGHT HERE and via all digital providers.

Also see the band’s recent videos for “Bound” HERE and “Cured” HERE.

Watch for details on BLEACH EVERYTHING’s impending second LP and multiple other upcoming recordings to post over the months ahead.

BLEACH EVERYTHING Double-Premieres New Videos For “Bound/Cured” Flexi Tracks Through Decibel And Rue Morgue Magazines

BLEACH EVERYTHING presents a horror double-feature, simultaneously premiering two videos, created for the tracks found on their “Bound/Cured” X-Ray flexi disc single, released through Dark Operative earlier this year. The premiere for the “Bound” video is hosted by Decibel Magazine, while Rue Morgue Magazine is hosting the “Cured” video.

The band writes, "'Bound' and 'Cured' were shot in historic Redondo Beach with our friend Nath Milburn of Lil' Baker Films. Now that the air is getting colder and the sun continues to go down earlier and earlier, it's a real treat to kick off our favorite time of year with a seasonally appropriate mini double-feature.”

Further examination of the paired videos from BLEACH EVERYTHING reveals, "’Bound’ finds all of us trapped in an old, haunted house with the added terror of being isolated from one another. A demonic presence (played by Jenn Muse) stalks and toys with everyone' psyche accordingly. We shot everything in a historic section of Redondo Beach, California using a vintage camcorder to mimic a lot of the direct-to-video creations that ourselves and Nath have enjoyed as horror and thriller fans for decades. 'Cured’ wraps up the premise established in ‘Bound’ and ultimately documents our escape from the trappings of both the haunted house and demonic spirit that was holding us all individually and collectively captive. As an added bonus, we get to burn everything to the ground.”

Watch BLEACH EVERYTHING’s “Bound” at Decibel Magazine HERE and “Cured” at Rue Morgue Magazine HERE.

Clocking at 1:29 and 1:08 respectively, both songs get in, get to the point, and then get out with razor-like precision, cutting exactly as intended. Thematically, “Bound” explores the uncertainty of luck and life and never truly knowing how it can, will, and can still shake out. “Cured” addresses the notion of figuring out how one must come to terms with the truth before death takes care of the task. It took you longer to read to this point than to experience both songs in their entirety.

“Bound/Cured” were recorded and mixed by Ricky Olson at the Ward in Richmond, with the vocals recorded by Brent Eyestone, and the tracks were mastered by Bryan Walthall at Stereoimage. “Cured” features a section of modular synth by Dash Lewis of Gardener, and the cover artwork was handled by Eyestone.

“Bound/Cured” is available across all digital services including Bandcamp HERE and Spotify HERE, and the remaining copies of the limited X-ray flexi are available at RevHQ HERE.

BLEACH EVERYTHING is currently immersed in the writing for their second LP and multiple other upcoming recordings to be identified over the months ahead.

For all coverage of BLEACH EVERYTHING worldwide please contact dave@earsplitcompound.com.

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Out today: AREPO "S/T" (a new Ryan & Graham project)

Today, Ryan and Graham see “S/T,” the debut from their new ambient project AREPO, hit all digital service providers worldwide via Pax Aeternum (the digital-only label co-curated by Graham and Brent). This is the duo’s latest exploratory mission into the deep chasms of dark ambient music. Synths, loops, violin, and more mark this particular journey of the sonisphere. You can experience it anywhere right now!

The Game of Busey

by Ice-T

I was very fortunate to work with Gary Busey. Now his particular method is… well, Gary’s a wild man. Only he knows what he’s going to do.

In Surviving the Game, with that Prince Henry-style monologue he did, he wrote it himself that day. He just walked in said “the monologue you guys got sucks and I wrote my own last night” (and he did). When we heard it… and I heard it for the first time, I was like “yoooo… THIS is Gary Busey.”

He one of those kind of actors that, when he gets on the set, what he’s going to do is going to be different, but it’s going to be dope. So I have nothing but love for Gary Busey. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life to work with him because heís such a great person on and off the screen.

As far as his method? You’re going to have to enter Gary Busey’s mind to understand his method. And GOOD LUCK there. Good luck.

Nothing but love, Gary. We had a great time and we’re friends for life. My man…

Deathprod’s “Occulting Disk” and the Art of the Anti-Fascist Ritual

By Graham Scala

Though the entirety of human history can be viewed as one large conflagration in which blazes of various size burn hot and extinguish in perpetuity, leaving a thick coat of ash from which further development can spring forth like a forest floor after a seasonal burn, one could be forgiven for feeling that in our present moment the world seems particularly ablaze. In Chile, in Hong Kong, in Catalonia, in Lebanon, in Rojava people struggle for the right to assert their basic humanity while simultaneously the authoritarians of the world do what authoritarians are wont to do, opposing them with violence as cold as the grave. However, while Nazis may march in the streets of European capitals and wage pitched battles in the streets of the Pacific Northwest, those on the right side of history are able to express solidarity in ways previous generations couldn’t have imagined, sharing strategy, tactics, and supportive sentiment from halfway across the globe in seconds. Terrifying and electrifying in equal measure, the palpable difficulty of shaking the feeling that we live in the most interesting time to possibly be alive cannot be understated. Against this backdrop, Norwegian sound artist Helge Sten - operating under the moniker Deathprod since the early 1990s - released Occulting Disk, his first album in a decade and a half. Described by Sten as an “anti-fascist ritual”, the contents may at first seem disconcerting but might well be some of the most bracing and relevent work anyone is currently making.

That Occulting Disk isn’t an easy listen should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with Sten’s output. For anyone unfamiliar, the question of whether the album’s contents even constitute music per se might not be far from the tip of the tongue. “Song” feels like the wrong word to describe each track and, though eight of the ten pieces feature the word “occultation” in the title, that particular nomenclature seems a little heavy-handed for casual examination. Whatever the descriptor, each component element - whether viewed as a song, a track, or an occultation - hovers around a static tonal core, a single drone around which other elements hover and flit. The pieces with “occultation” in the title all unfurl in a similar fashion, a single tone insistently buzzing and howling as other contradictory and complementary drones weave their way around the tonal nucleus.

The titular variations appear in the form of opener “Disappearance/Reappearance” and penultimate track “Black Transit Of Jupiter’s Third Satellite.” The former - the title of which seems like it could as easily refer to Sten’s own creative output as it could the resurgence in the right wing authoritarianism to which Occulting Disk stands in opposition - introduces the album through the starkest study in contrast offered at any point therein. Sharp clusters of sound stab into otherwise empty expanses, leaving crackling tonal wisps that extend tendril-like, lashing out from each sonic ebullition into the cold void. It may be music writer cliche to praise the notes a musician doesn’t play as much as those they do, but in this case the negative space provides as much of the tonal characteristics as the assertiveness of Sten’s delivery. “Black Transit Of Jupiter’s Third Satellite” - though titled in a manner less explicit than the album’s opener - expounds upon the harsher elements of “Disappearance/Reappearance,” allowing the yin and yang of the former track’s duality to become all yang, a borderline assaultive wall of sound that only gives way to space in its final moments before allowing the album to conclude with one final “occultation.”

Listening to this off-putting assemblage of sounds both tonal and atonal (largely leaning towards the latter), the question may arise of how exactly this relates to the political project at hand. Ignoring the simple explanation that as much of art’s creation (if not more) lies in the intent as it does the execution and therefore if an artist states their work is anti-fascist then one can reasonably believe that it is so, elements of the project’s implementation underscore Sten’s purpose with a stark and single-minded efficacy .

The sheer, terrifying force of the Occulting Disk’s content, especially its opening moments, almost call to mind a totalitarian aesthetic - stark, harsh, and unrelenting. After all, the musical language that Sten speaks descends from the same common ancestor as fascism itself - Luigi Russolo’s intonarumori gave birth to much of 20th Century music’s noisiest avant-garde just as his ideas about aestheticizing the sounds of war and industry inspired a young Benito Mussolini - but Sten’s tongue is sharper, more incisive, more interesting. A closer listen to “Disappearance/Reappearance” reveals that, despite the harsh, mechanized tonal clusters that characterize the piece, each burst of sound trails off with different inflections and each appears from the blank ether at seemingly arbitrary intervals. When it appears, the listener doesn’t expect it, when it’s expected it doesn’t appear. If fascism and other right wing authoritarian belief systems can be seen as the apotheosis of conservatism’s enshrinement of the familiar and the comfortable, moments like this stand in the sharpest contrast to those worldviews.

If the actual content seems rigid and martial, the manner that Sten presents it undercuts that rigidity in subtle ways without sacrificing force. And an explicitly anti-fascist project ought not lack for force. Subtlety abounds in Occulting Disk but the degree to which the album also comes off decidedly unrestrained bears a mention. Hitler himself had said that Nazism would never have taken hold if its opponents had “from the first day annihilated with the utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement” and, while Sten often seems to dwell on an ambiguous, contemplative take on anti-fascist praxis, he also seems unafraid to wield his soundmaking devices like the weapon they can very much be.

The context in which Sten frames Occulting Disk deserves a mention as well. The repeated use of the word “occult” in both album and track titles and the description of the album as a “ritual” lean heavily on the manner in which esoteric belief systems have become a part of the psychosocial battleground between authoritarianism and its opponents. Much has been made of fascist occultism - some based on actual documented evidence of Nazi interest in the paranormal, the mystical, and the fortean, some based on cheap pulp novels and internet conspiracy theories - and (to the extent to which it was evidence-based at least), these tendencies were a powerful motivating tool. Fascism operates in a slim nexus point between our fascination with and our fear of modernity, and that same modernity often divorces us from the rituals that have characterized the vast majority of human history.

Fascist occultism conveys on its believer a weighty gnosis, an inarguable place in the spectrum of right and wrong, and the greatest success of Occulting Disk comes from offering the same to those who oppose fascism’s infernal machinations. But instead of relying on UFOs, secret societies, or Holy Grail mythologies, Sten offers us something immediate, something largely divorced from historical precedent, and ultimately something possessed of an oblique character that leaves up to the listener what the ritual element of this music entails to them. Unlike authoritarian ceremony, Sten dictates no terms of engagement apart from the project’s general ideological bent, offering something more destabilized and democratic.

Also, while it lacks the exotic sheen and may be far less documented than Nazi occultism, the manner in which the more contemporary (and ever so slightly less fringe) modern Right utilizes means of operating less in line with consensus reality bears mention as well. While much has been said of the post-truth era in which we live, the time when any sort of objective grounding for an argument gives way to the subjective hermetic bubbles of bias provided by internet algorithms that feed ravenously on hyperpartisanship, many - especially on the authoritarian Right - view their part in this as a sort of chaos magic or magical thinking. One only has to recall the 4Chan posters who claim to have “memed” Donald Trump into a presidency (to use one example) to see the alchemical elements to their worldview. Rather than creating gold from base metals, however, these modern-day John Dees form concrete political power from misinformation, disinformation, and outright fiction.

Though putting an exact inception date on the current iteration of Trump’s current political activities might prove inexact, his fixation on Barack Obama’s supposed Kenyan origins was one of the earliest sparks of controversy that fed the conflagration of his current presidency. The “birther” conspiracy started off as fiction but became a fiction so widely believed that it assumed its own agency and its own real-world ramifications. If the common denominator to consensus reality lies with the degree to which actions are subject to ramifications, then this fringe bit of paranoid political theatre demonstrates the degree to which right-wing magical thinking might not will fiction into literal existence but can at least force their non-truths to be considered with the same gravity as objective reality.

It may seem like a stretch to elevate the sharing of a frog meme or an ungrounded conspiracy to the level of occult ritual, but the end result is the same (if not more effective). These symbolic actions, largely cloaked in the internet’s anonymity, are able to transmogrify and destabilize the very nature of what we consider to be real simply through the force of repetition and belief. While an argument could be made for not wanting to stoop to the level of internet trolls, it also bears consideration that allowing them sole provenance over tactics like these provides them the advantage of dictating the terms of engagement.

The material Left’s disinterest in (or distaste for) occult and esoteric matters may spring from a variety of understandable sources - the perception of any hidden gnosis as being fundamentally undemocratic, the idea that less tangible undertakings might not carry the pragmatic weight of more direct praxis, the religious overtones implicit to many of these belief systems, or just that these processes can be tainted by an association with dilettantish New Age pseudospirituality - but the power of ritual, a process long-absent from the lives of many, can prove an atavistic motivating force, providing simultaneous grounding in the present moment and existential connection to something larger than the present tense.

In its deep listening drones and violent discordance, Occulting Disk provides a psychological space both singular and ever-shifting, devoted to a general idea but never settling for a single means of expressing it. It may not necessarily be stirring or didactic in the way most explicitly political music is but it neither rests nor settles and this ephemeral quality stands at the heart of all anti-fascist belief - that the future is yet unwritten, that the best may be yet to come, that the pillars that once stood immovable might yet crumble, and that the end products of these various hopes might exist for the benefit of everyone in equal measure. As everything turns to ash around us, we need a sanctuary in which to retreat. While Occulting Disk may be a strange shield to raise against the slings and arrows of those who would only advance their position in the world with a boot on the neck of those they deem inferior, its density and impenetrability provide some small safe haven where, as the world’s fires intensify, we might take shelter and steel ourselves for whatever might come next.

OCCULTING DISK by Deathprod, released 25 October 2019 1. DISAPPEARANCE / REAPPEARANCE 2. OCCULTATION 1 3. OCCULTATION 2 4. OCCULTATION 3 5. OCCULTATION 4 6. OCCULTATION 5 7. OCCULTATION 6 8. OCCULTATION 7 9. BLACK TRANSIT OF JUPITER'S THIRD SATELLITE 10. OCCULTATION 8

INTEGRITY & BLEACH EVERYTHING: Dark Operative Presents Septic Death/Rocket From The Crypt Tribute For Halloween; Alternative Press Premieres “On A Rope” Featuring Riley Gale And Mike Kennerty

Dark Operative presents an intimately caustic split album from INTEGRITY and BLEACH EVERYTHING, paying homage to Septic Death and Rocket From The Crypt. SDK x RFTCC (Septic Death Karaoke x Rocket From The Crypt Covers). With the cover art and album info, BLEACH EVERYTHING’s rendition of Rocket From The Crypt’s “On A Rope” – featuring guest vocals from Riley Gale of Power Trip and Mike Kennerty of The All-American Rejects – has been debuted through an exclusive premiere at Alternative Press.

SDK x RFTCC is a tribute to a 1992 split 2×7″ between Septic Death and Rocket from the Crypt, which was limited to 100 copies, released on Pushead’s Bacteria Sour label. Here, INTEGRITY and BLEACH EVERYTHING offer their own modern takes on both bands in the form of a split LP. In further celebration of Septic Death and Rocket From The Crypt’s enduring legacies, this album sees release on the only day that makes sense: Halloween 2019.

With their premiere of “On A Rope” and commentary by BLEACH EVERYTHING’s Brent Eyestone, Alternative Press writes, “It’s definitely a paint-peeler of the highest order, no doubt fueled by the shared enthusiasm the musicians have about the original recordings. INTEGRITY revisit the Septic Death songs, while BLEACH EVERYTHING and friends handle the RFTC songs… beat yourself up in the best way possible by turning this waaay up.”

Stream BLEACH EVERYTHING’s version of “On A Rope” RIGHT HERE.

SDK x RFTCC will see release on 12” vinyl and all digital platforms this Halloween, October 31st, 2019, with Dark Operative handling the vinyl and the BLEACH EVERYTHING digital, and Relapse Records handling INTEGRITY’s digital. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION.

Watch for additional audio samples, and more to be posted in the bleak days ahead.

On this recording, INTEGRITY is Dwid Hellion and Dom Romeo. With SDK (Septic Death Karaoke), INTEGRITY utilizes some original Septic Death source material and layers their own vocal and guitar overdubs atop five of the band’s classics. While previous SDK releases exist with some of these songs, Dwid Hellion and Domenic Romeo completely re-recorded and overhauled entirely new 2019 takes on all material while offering up “Sweat Of A Nightmare” for the very first time, the track featuring guest lead guitar by Darkest Prince. The overdubs for SDK were recorded by Dwid Hellion and Dom Romeo, mixed by Tim De Gieter at Much Luv Studios, and mastered by Arthur Rizk, and the INTEGRITY side of the split completed with artwork by Dwid Hellion.

BLEACH EVERYTHING is vocalist Brent Eyestone, guitarist Graham Scala, bassist Kelly Posadas, and drummer Ryan Parrish. On RFTCC (Rocket From The Crypt Covers), BLEACH EVERYTHING erects monolithic tributes to Rocket From The Crypt entirely from scratch, adding speed to “Middle,” multi-part harmonies and guest vocalists (Riley Gale of Power Trip, Mike Kennerty of The All-American Rejects) to “On A Rope,” psychedelia to “Sturdy Wrists,” a deconstructed meditation on “I’m Not Invisible” in the form of a passage titled “Vital Signs,” and the album’s conclusion: a heavy, slowed-down take on “I’m Not Invisible” in all its glory, capped off by an outro from Christopher Royal King of This Will Destroy You. The drums, bass, and guitars were recorded by Ricky Olson at The Ward. Brent Eyestone’s vocals were recorded by himself at Tracking, Riley Gale’s vocals recorded by JoJo Centineo in Dallas, Mike Kennerty’s vocals were recorded by himself at The Cereal Box, Christopher Royal King’s tracks were recorded by himself in Los Angeles, and “Vital Signs” was recorded by Graham Scala at Gnostic Front Sound. The tracks were mixed by Ricky Olson at The Ward and mastered by Arthur Rizk in Philadelphia, and the BLEACH EVERYTHING side completed with illustrations by Matt Stikker, and art direction and layout by Brent Eyestone.

SDK x RFTCC Track Listing:
1. Integrity – Sweat of a Nightmare (featuring Darkest Prince)
2. Integrity – Change
3. Integrity – Dream Silent
4. Integrity – Poison Mask
5. Integrity – Thaw (Cold World)
6. Bleach Everything – Middle
7. Bleach Everything – On a Rope (featuring Riley Gale, Mike Kennerty)
8. Bleach Everything – Sturdy Wrists
9. Bleach Everything – Vital Signs
10. Bleach Everything – I’m Not Invisible (featuring Christopher Royal King)

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Wolves In Sheeps Clothing: Rob Miller, Cryptofascism, And The Lure Of The Conspiracy Theory

By Graham Scala

It started with a name, one buried in the liner notes of Tau Cross’ third album, one that might have easily been overlooked had a German magazine not picked up on it. That name - Gerard Menuhin - belongs to a prominent proponent of Holocaust denial (as much as anyone subscribing to a belief system as fringe as that could be described as “prominent”) and, from what the liner notes suggested, a primary influence on singer Rob Miller. Miller’s work, both with Tau Cross and in his earlier career fronting legendary anarchopunk band Amebix - often focused on arcane subject matter but most fans assumed that, given the general political leanings of their milieu, his songs’ conceptual elements didn’t stray into the sketchy political territory sometimes favored by those with an interest in alternative history and the occult. Miller’s insertion of Menuhin’s name into the equation destroyed that assumption however. 

It’s not that punk lacks an inclination towards conspiracy. A lot of older punks - especially those who, like Miller, felt marginalized by society early on -  possess a disdain for what is perceived to be the official narratives of government and society and often seek an alternative. Sometimes they end up on the Howard Zinn path, but often (especially in the age of the rampant confirmation bias characterizing so much of the internet’s content) it leans more towards this sort of thing. Though Miller had his chance to explain himself away he opted not to really - though it’s doubtful he could’ve done so easily. It’s not like Menuhin is a David Icke figure who, though no stranger to antisemitism, also has a wealth of other conspiracy theories from which to draw inspiration. Menuhin seems to place most of his wingnut eggs solely in the basket of Holocaust denial. But while it may be difficult to explain away the affiliation without seeming at the very least sympathetic to fascism, Miller’s response - intimating that Germans arrested for Holocaust denial were political prisoners and recommending a twelve-hour documentary called “Europa: The Last Battle” which purports to tell the other side of the World War II story - helped his case exactly not at all.

Worse, he insisted anyone taking umbrage with his belief systems was guilty of “virtue signaling.” This particularly galling assertion acted as a not particularly subtle attempt at gaslighting that portrays anyone who may want to resist society’s slow creep towards authoritarianism as being interested solely in the social capital that comes from presenting one’s self as the most entlightened rather than the more likely answer that these people probably just think that the Holocaust was real and was, in fact, bad. If Miller were to be given the benefit of the doubt regarding his political affiliations - though arguments he deserves it are difficult to concoct, to say the least - his responses to critics did a poor job of offering any exoneration. He may not be an actual Nazi per se (Menuhin himself is of Jewish descent and would likely not be welcomed with open arms by full-fledged Nazis, despite a body of work which might be in line with their worldview), but the material he seeks to put forth into the world does actual Nazis no disservice.

Miller claims that the influence of writers like Menuhin came as he was attempting to “refine the material and ideas to some kind of overarching theory” - which is precisely the problem with this and most other conspiracy theories. Karl Popper once wrote that “a theory which explains everything explains nothing” and these attempts to neatly wrap the past’s messy machinations into a cohesive whole mutate a study of the past into an elaborate fiction in which actual events become contorted to fit a narrative far more convenient than any life will ever offer. The world is an inchoate blur of activity, as ephemeral as it is unstoppable, and in an era where traditional systems of assigning order to it fall increasingly out of favor, people find themselves grasping at anything that can make a confusing existence understandable. When the gyre widens and everything seems to be falling apart, ascribing some grand overarching conspiracy as the root cause comes far easier than examining the historical minutiae that propel everything forward. Conspiracy theories convey upon their believers some degree - however illusory - of control and allow them to feel as if they bear the noble burden of  some weighty gnosis, granting them a place in the struggle against whatever it is they feel they’re opposing, if only by dint of possessing the knowledge.

If these conspiracy theories were solely delusion divorced entirely from reality, few would take any of it seriously, but many come frustratingly close to getting the point. Bankers, for instance, are a classic conspiracy theorist boogeyman. A variety of valid criticisms of the banking industry exist - from redlining to subprime mortgages to the IMF - but the ones most aggressively using “banker” as a pejorative aren’t often doing it in opposition to the ravages wrought by late capitalism, they do it because “banker” acts as a convenient dogwhistle for Jews. If their ire were shifted to the actual insidious elements of the banking industry their criticisms might be in the ballpark of reality rather than an excuse to trot out exhausted stereotypes. But history can be seen as one large Rorschach test, a mass of events to which every observer imposes their own order. Some people will always see a Star Of David when they stare at that blob, regardless of its lack of basis in fact, and this neatly packaged bundle of misrepresented history and millenia-old prejudices often ends up providing a far more comfortable cosmology than one that actually addresses the manifold tangible causes of the world’s strife.

While the inclusion of Menuhin’s name in Tau Cross’ album notes almost seems like an act of hubris, a display of how flagrantly such an influence could be flaunted with the presumption of impunity, it demonstrates something more pernicious - the ease with which Miller couched these concepts in other, more palatable ideas. His ability to weave together different strands of thought - from gnosticism and the occult to mythology and history - has proven a strong suit and a listener even moderately versed in the subject matter could find thought-provoking content in much of his back catalog. The inclusion of concepts like those proffered by Menuhin reach the listener housed in a Trojan horse of less noxious concepts, treating them all as if they possessed the same intellectual, historical, and moral weight.

Given the knowledge of Miller’s beliefs, a real possibility exists he may have been hinting at these ideas for a while. “Knights Of The Black Sun,” the closing song of Amebix’s 2011 comeback album Sonic Mass, provides one example. The titular black sun symbol, though used in some of the occult practices with which Miller has displayed an interest, also features prominently in the visual aesthetic of a variety of far-right groups, ranging from Heinrich Himmler’s Wewelsburg mosaic to the shields used by Vanguard America during the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville. The lyrics themselves focus primarily on desolate landscapes and dark, impressionist imagery until it reaches the line “from Dresden’s blazing skies / to the bloody wash of dawn / I saw the beast arise / and climb upon the throne.” The reference to Dresden may at first seem oddly specific for lyrics so otherwise abstract, but that one short line acts as a sort of Rosetta Stone to decipher the song’s deeper meaning.

The firebombing of Dresden - one of the later major offensive measures taken by the Allied forces in the second World War, undertaken only a few months prior to Germany’s surrender - has been utilized as a lynchpin for German far-right groups who have both exaggerated the death toll (approximately 25,000 people were killed, though reports directly after the war falsely claimed numbers between 200,000 and 500,000) and utilized the sheer magnitude of the devastation as an attempt to cast a negative light upon the Allied forces. Miller references Dresden in this song in much the same way he more recently referenced “Europa: The Last Battle” - as a shorthand method of conveying doubt as to whether the right side triumphed in that war. That he follows the Dresden reference with imagery of a bestial figure triumphantly ascending a throne after the devastation in question only serves to underscore this point.

“They are the wolves in sheep’s clothing / taking place at the back of the flock,” Miller snarls in Amebix’s 1986 song “Arise”, but given his choice of inspiration and the degree to which he kept it hidden from his bandmates, he has proven himself to be the one baring his fangs behind the backs of his kith and kin. His abuse of his bandmates’ reputations and his fans’ adulation only demonstrates that, in his desire to make some sense of the world, he sacrificed much of what makes the world worth living in - honest critical thinking, fellowship, and creativity untainted by the stark brutality of the sort of authoritarian worldviews abetted by the preponderance of ahistorical propaganda such as that with which he has been so enamored. Focusing on one largely unknown name dropped in the liner notes of one obscure band’s soon-to-be-unreleased album may seem like overkill, but ignoring this sort of thing marks the first step down the path to the sorts of atrocities we would do well not to forget. These abuses of human rights happen over and over because we refuse to call them by their name and, in doing so, allow what should be an immutable history to be eroded by the acidic streams off falcity that become forced into the field of acceptable discourse by those who would seek to gain a foothold in the world through the degradation of anyone they consider to be an “other.” It may be painful to do so, but if we are unwilling to confront these abuses of our trust and respect whenever they occur then whatever moral authority accrued by punk means little to nothing and a potentially transformative force becomes mere sound and fury, signifying nothing.

BLEACH EVERYTHING: Cvlt Nation Premieres “Shears” Video; So We Gnaw Debut LP From Richmond Hardcore Punk Outfit Sees Release Next Week

As Richmond, Virginia-based hardcore punk quartet BLEACH EVERYTHING prepares to issue their debut LP, So We Gnaw, through Dark Operative next week, Cvlt Nation is hosting the premiere of the album’s “Shears.”

The instruments for So We Gnaw were recorded by Ricky Olson at The Ward, the vocals recorded by Brent Eyestone at Tracking. The album was mixed by Ricky Olson at The Ward, mastered by Bryan Walthall at StereoImage, and completed with artwork by Steak MTN.

With the “Shears” video, vocalist Brent Eyestone offers, “When drawing up this song, I was thinking back to the era where I first met Ryan (Parrish – drums). That would have been the late-‘90s/early-‘00s, right at the point where metallic hardcore started crossing over into much wider popularity. It was a weird time because sometimes our bands would play gigantic festivals on a Saturday, but then be playing in some guy’s garage on the way home the next day. Often, the guy (it was always a guy) who said he, ‘had shows in (his) garage all the time,’ wouldn’t so much as have a spare combo amp and quarter-inch jack microphone on hand, let alone the bare essential PA for vocals. This was always equally frustrating and hilarious, as my band at the time had a standalone singer. So, if there was no microphone, he’d just select something random from the garage or the house and sing into it during the set, all of us knowing full well that nobody would hear it.

Eventually, we stopped panicking all together in these situations and our singer would just dryly ask the renter (it was always a renter), ‘do happen to have a copy of Friday The 13th on VHS?’ The answer was always, ‘oh yeah, totally,’ so that VHS tape and box jacket would immediately become the microphone for the evening. At a certain point, we even began writing lyrics as if they were going to appear on the back of a horror VHS jacket. ‘Shears’ is a return to that mental space and approach for me, for better or worse.”

See BLEACH EVERYTHING’s “Shears” at Cvlt Nation RIGHT HERE.

So We Gnaw will see release through Eyestone’s own Dark Operative label on digital and LP next Friday, July 12th with distribution through Revelation. Find preorders at Bandcamp where “Dumb And Dug In” is also streaming HERE and a limited run of 100 copies on red vinyl exclusively via RevHQ mailorder HERE.

Watch for further audio and video from the So We Gnaw LP, details on the third issue of the band’s own fanzine, and more to be issued in the days ahead.

Formed in Richmond, Virginia in the spring of 2012, BLEACH EVERYTHING is comprised of lifetime scene veterans from across the punk and hardcore underground – vocalist Brent Eyestone, guitarist Graham Scala, bassist Kelly Posadas, and drummer Ryan Parrish – who collectively hail from the likes of Corn On Macabre, Jesuit, Highness, City Of Caterpillar, Darkest Hour, Mammoth Grinder, Suppression, Iron Reagan, Harmonic Cross, Forensics, Souvenir’s Young America, Meditative Sect, and many others over the past two decades or more. While the members of the band are currently living in different parts of the country, the often reunite for numerous recording sessions and live performances around the United States. Following several singles, an EP, and splits with The Infamous Gehenna and VORS over the past several years, So We Gnaw is the debut full-length from BLEACH EVERYTHING.

https://www.bleacheverything.com
http://www.facebook.com/BleachEverything
https://twitter.com/bleachrichmond
http://darkops.site
http://darkoperative.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/darkoperative

BLEACH EVERYTHING To Release So We Gnaw Debut LP July 12; No Echo Premieres “Dumb & Dug In” + Preorders Posted

Richmond, Virginia hardcore punk collective BLEACH EVERYTHING will release their debut LP, So We Gnaw, through Dark Operative in July. No Echo is hosting the premiere of the first single from the new record, the crushing album closer “Dumb & Dug In,” as preorders for the album have been posted.

BLEACH EVERYTHING is comprised of lifetime scene veterans from across the punk and hardcore underground, with its members hailing from the likes of Corn On Macabre, Jesuit, Highness, City Of Caterpillar, Darkest Hour, Mammoth Grinder, Suppression, Iron Reagan, Harmonic Cross, Forensics, Souvenir’s Young America, Meditative Sect, and many more over the past two decades or more.

Formed in Richmond, Virginia in the spring of 2012, members of the band are currently living in different parts of the country, often reuniting for numerous recording sessions and live performances around the United States. Following several singles, an EP, and splits with The Infamous Gehenna and VORS over the past several years, So We Gnaw is the debut full-length from BLEACH EVERYTHING.

The instruments for So We Gnaw were recorded by Ricky Olson at The Ward, the vocals recorded by Brent Eyestone at Tracking. The album mixed by Ricky Olson at The Ward, mastered by Bryan Walthall at StereoImage, and completed with artwork by Steak MTN.

Vocalist Brent Eyestone offers with the “Dumb & Dug In” single, “We’d been playing versions of this song for a few years, as I really love how the chorus hits from each verse. The chorus lyrics — ‘Take the dive. Bait and Switch. (You’ll) never know which is which” — were there from day one, and I remember always changing the verses based on the show and/or what was on my mind. Ultimately, the verses became cemented through the lens of traditional carnival design and how much of a parallel I was seeing between that and people’s obsession, rabid consumption, and universal acceptance of cable news’ logic and talking points. I was staying at the Stanley Hotel in Colorado at the time, ostensibly because of The Shining lore. Oddly enough, The Shining fascination fell to the wayside once I realized that Dumb & Dumber filmed a good chunk on the same property. It seemed like a perfect abstract: I wanted to go experience the ‘credible’/cool draw but ended up spending way more time laughing about literal shit jokes and ultimately wishing my car was dressed like a dog.”

Stream BLEACH EVERYTHING’s “Dumb & Dug In” at No Echo RIGHT HERE.

So We Gnaw will see release through Eyestone’s own Dark Operative label on digital and LP on July 12th with distribution through Revelation. Find preorders at Bandcamp HERE and a limited run of 100 copies on red vinyl exclusively via RevHQ mailorder HERE.

So We Gnaw Track Listing:
1. Shears
2. Nazi Punch, Fuck Yes
3. Relics
4. Dead Winds
5. Soft Bigotry
6. So We Gnaw
7. Dumb & Dug In

Watch for further audio and video previews of the So We Gnaw LP, details on the third issue of the band’s own fanzine, and more to be issued in the days ahead.

BLEACH EVERYTHING:
Brent Eyestone – vocals
Graham Scala – guitars
Kelly Posadas – bass
Ryan Parrish – drums

https://www.bleacheverything.com
http://www.facebook.com/BleachEverything
https://twitter.com/bleachrichmond
http://darkops.site
http://darkoperative.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/darkoperative