After a health break, the LGBTQ+ heavy metal podcast returns to talk Clutch live, explain why ‘Split My Tongue’ by Schammasch speaks to the host’s queer side, and put albums from An Abstract Illusion, Ahab, and Katatonia into HCGB’s jukebox (with a little help from Phil Collins).
Hell Bent for Metal returns in style after a health-imposed absence with Tom and Matt beginning the show by telling what they’ve been up to in its hiatus, ranging from drunken antics in Gdańsk to a glowing review of a Clutch show with a very ‘interesting’ setlist choice, as well as praise for their support band Green Lung.
Moving onto queerer matters, the Camp Classics return this week with the hosts looking at ‘Split My Tongue’ by evil-sounding Swiss black-metallers Schammasch from their 2014 triumph Contradiction. Seemingly an unusual choice of song from which to find queer meaning (although that’s come to be expected from HBFM), Matt tries his hand at working out what Tom could possibly be relating to, with a guess at the coming out journey reaching a point where everything seems to align and feel good all at once, before Tom comes in with a much broader theory.
There’s much discussion on religious teachings that simplify things to ‘God = good and Satan = evil’, and how the song in question seems to represent the journey to one’s realization that the opposite may in fact be closer to the truth. This is agreed upon to overtly relate to the experiences of a lot of queer folk who’ve had religious beliefs preached at them throughout their lives and have been made to feel hated by those zealots, and in turn wider society, for just being who they are.
This leads into wider discourse on how the hosts generally like to see evidence of something to believe that it’s real, observing how religious fundamentalists seek to control others, and the fact that loving someone of the sex same, quelle surprise, is not a bad thing. Overall, the talk is an honest look at how most people just want to live their lives without any drama or hassle from others, and how the world would surely be a happier place if people just chilled the fuck out a little.
It’s a lengthy visit to the Hate Crew Gay Bar to finish this week’s show, with a catch-up album from 2022 in the form of Swedish black/death metal boundary-pushers An Abstract Illusions’ sophomore LP Woe, as well as two early top 20 contenders for 2023, Stockholm goth/doom/prog legends Katatonia’s Sky Void of Stars, and German ocean-obsessed funeral doom maestros Ahab with The Coral Tombs.
Listen to Hell Bent For Metal on Spotify here, listen on iTunes here, or choose one of the other ways to listen here.
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