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Forums > All other metal related talk..

DSBM 'General'

Johnny Hash
Sat, 23/07/2016 - 19:37

What do you think of the DSBM scene?


imfan1975's picture

if you're referring to shit like silencer that shit sucks. but i've heard leviathan and xasthur referred to as DSBM and they're great but i just call it black metal so i dunno :p

Into Glory Ride's picture

Because that's what it is, my friend.

Vectrex's picture

Man i hate DSBM. Just can't stand the riffing and atmosphere in those genre....Don't know how to put it. It's not even the image or lyrics. It's just how the riffs are arranged..

Into Glory Ride's picture

BDSM > DSBM.

bad_american1992's picture

Haha! +1

OmeletteDuFromage's picture

Couldnt agree more.

Nater90's picture

Abyssic Hate
Lightless
Striborg
Leviathan
Xasthur
Vond

But also depends on the album, Not all the artists material falls under the genre with every release.

HELLHAMMERED's picture

I see how it would be fairly hard to get into, I mean most of it is pretty bad, but I think that there's deffinetly a few worthwhile like Lifelover, Leviathan & Noenum (painfully short discography, but good nonetheless)
Same thing the first guy said though, fuck Silencer

Into Glory Ride's picture

I am always very impressed when people talk about this "Genre". I even ask myself if this Genre exists at all, why does everything have to get a new Sublabel? It's ridiculous. But let's try to analyse this. A Genre can be defined a) by musical characteristics, b) lyrics and topics.
So: Abyssic Hate DSBM? Yes, they have melancholic, sad Riffs full of sorrow and despair, yes the lyrics are about solitude and negative emotions in General. So : Burzum is DSBM then. Abyssic Hate is from a time where this strange thing called "DSBM" did not even exist as a word. This is melancholic Oldschool Black Metal full of sorrow, despair and Spirit. Also Noenum never ever has ANYthing to do with this. Their lyrics deal with Occultism and even Satanism if i'm not wrong, musically it is just typical Finnish Black Metal. Nothing more, nothing less. Then Satanic Warmaster and Baptism are "DSBM" aswell. Discussion over. And to see Noenum in one line with those wealth-Depression Kids of Lifelover fucking hurts.
Leviathan is way too varied lyrics- AND musicwise, Xasthur could count as that with a lot of understanding, but plain simply is just USBM and in a very typical way (and because of that not really good).
So what lets this Genre stand out? The high, ear piercing shrieks (which i love)? Burzum, Aaskereia, Fleurety have them. So these are all DSBM Bands. Vocals about said negative emotions? They are a part of Black Metal ever since.
So: There simply is no definition. This Genre does not exist.

If DSBM after all is a Genre (the same as Viking Metal is a Genre...) then it consists of a huge amount of mediocre to shitty bands and these Bands and some very, very few good one. But : They all have to be rather NEW.
If any bands fall under this, i would call out Hordes like Nyktalgia, Sterbend, Trist, Hypothermia, probably Silencer and some others. The thing is: There are a shitload of Bands that sing about how bad the world is and how coll it is cutting Your arms (instead of just leaving this planet) and call their music DSBM and there are very, very few quality Bands that play that style, of which the best has to be probably Nyktalgia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Qp9Jhts0Nk

Sorry for ranting in that harsh tone, but i just had this discussion a thousand times already and i hate it. I especially hate to discuss this crap with Kiddies that otherwise only listen to Metalcore and other Shit and want to feel evil, obscure and hated once in their lifetime, so they say "Now i listen to DSBM!".
Please....

Ah, the question was what i think about the "Scene". Sorry: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/nxv1Nsd4ta0/hqdefault.jpg

Der Todesking's picture

The lyrics are about negativism, solitude, despair, suicide, emtiness... The music is mostly midtempo/slower & atmospheric. The main bands I guess are Shining (swe), Lifelover, (old) Bethlehem, Den Saakaldte... I'm not a pro or fan of Suicidal Black Metal, but I guess these are the main trademarks. I think Shining came out with the term "Suicidal BM" to stand out from the rest. Shining have some really great stuff if you forget about the image, check this f.ex.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtTb7z2kQF8

Piss's picture

Most bands that label themselves as "DSBM" are sheiße.

The best bands playing melancholy sounding black metal are the bands from the 90s i.e. Strid, Burzum (obviously), Forgotten Woods as well as the LLN and some Blazebirth Hall stuff. All create a soul-draining and helpless atmosphere without out-of-tune rubber band clean introductions, razorblades in logos and dumb wrist-cutting band pictures.

Into Glory Ride's picture

Perfect comment.

Vectrex's picture

Are forgotten tomb and Shining dsbm?

Der Todesking's picture

Shining = Yes!

Johnny Hash's picture

Isn't early FT dsbm?

Goathammer's picture

The first four albums definitely fit the bill for what the general "description" of the genre. Songs to Leave and Springtime Depression being closest to the mark.

nameless_rites's picture

DSBM doesn't do much for me. Most of the bands copy the surface level aesthetic of artists like Burzum and Darkthrone without any of the compositional depth. The self pitying "i want to kill myself" lyrics just make it worse IMO.

Johnny Hash's picture

Are there death metal bands with dsbm like lyrics and atmosphere?

Into Glory Ride's picture

Hopefully not...

Stathis's picture

Shitty music for emos

DevilzForce's picture

Complete bullshit and everyone that likes it is an emo in denial XD

On a serious note... i don't get why everything need to have a new label... you got horrorcore now (wich is crossover)... such bullshit.
I'm not a fan of the genre eventhough i listen to a lot of (funeral) doommetal.... nyktalgia is nice though

Into Glory Ride's picture

Yeah, Nyktalgia are about the only Band i can think of that is truely amazing.

NocturnalOccultist's picture

Cant handle it. Sounds like the second wave of "screamo" or something...

Into Glory Ride's picture

Seems this Genre gets a lot of love here!

Stathis's picture

It gets what it deserves :D. After all it is music for posers hipsters and ball-less emos...

judascrust's picture

black metal is a lot more convincing (and more enjoyable for me and many others I assume) when it is used to express genuine anger and hatred instead of weepy, sad-boy dreck

Vombatus's picture

I don't quite get the DSBM label, as the bands in this "genre" can sound very different and most of the time it's just regular BM. Of course the lyrics and imagery seem to revolve around the same theme, but lyrics do not define what type of music it is.

Take Nyktalgia for example. Plain kickass BM that happens to have depressive lyrics. Compare that to the utter garbage Drown in Solitude is (the infamous "elephant black metal" hahaha) and it has very little in common. Can't see them as part of a same thing.

This said, I do enjoy quite a few bands labeled as such, like Wigrid, Austere, Strid, Nyktalgia, Silencer, Sterbend, I'm in a Coffin, Trist, Xasthur or Abyssic Hate.

Mary Gore's picture

I'll have to second Stathis comment. The thing that annoys me is the fact that the genre has nothing to do with black metal. According to me black metal delivers some kind of power, bands like Celtic Frost, Dissection, Venom... "DSBM" is weak music and it has nothing to do with the Black Metal scene.

Vombatus's picture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnd_SYusP2A

How is this not BM? It has all the ingredients.

And btw, saying something is "not BM" nowadays doesn't mean much. The genre has been going into all sorts of directions in the last couple of years.
You could say it's not early/first wave BM if you like (because indeed, it doesn't sound like Hellhammer) but thankfully, BM is a very broad genre.

Into Glory Ride's picture

Well, like more people than me already said here: Nyktalgia are a very solemn exception to this "Genre", this is BM for sure. Not only this Song, but for example this from the Debut aswell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lpaeoTw2f0 and this has a lot more "typical DSBM" characteristics. Killer Band, period.

Well, that depends on how one definees the Genre i guess. Some people apparently really think, Krallice, Deafheaven, this bitch whose band's name i have gladly forgotten (Yrkur?), Liturgy, and all that other Crap are Black Metal. They want to march under a banner whose weapons and battle oaths they despise and laugh upon and that is actually the biggest problem i have with this "newer Generation of 'Black' metal". Fuck them.

Good article about this phenomenon, especially about thos combining Black Metal with "Shoegaze": https://blackivorytower.com/2013/01/18/blackgaze-does-not-exist/

Vombatus's picture

Well, that article is nothing new, it just brings up all the crap and whining there is behind labelling music the way one subjectively thinks is the "right way".
Music is primarily labelled according to the sound, not the lyrics theme/ideology/imagery. So if a band starts mixing BM elements with other stuff (post-rock, symphonic, etc..), it still retains elements of BM whether you like it or not. Ergo, it is to some extent BM. Or rather a subgenre of BM, duh. Anything else is just kvlt kids who think that in order to preserve "their precious BM" they have to exclude anything that doesnt tick all the right boxes as they are incapable of dissociating music from external factors. This is my opnion, but I'm no member of the rightous black metal society.

Into Glory Ride's picture

Well if a Genre from the very beginning is not only defined by its Sound but also because of content, lyrics, perhaps even values - although this is a discussion itself if BM ever had any specific values. The old dispute if Darkthrone were just Kids pissing off authorities, bla bla bla - then : yes , it can be correct and necessary to cut off certain elements and "advancement". Exclusion is important, in every aspect.
Apart from that the point with the Hipster Bands is, that they are like already mentioned want to use the characteristics of Black Metal and play music like them , only that they add fucking Metalcore Elements and pathetic way of acting (like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND8-64XHJTQ) AND much more important dare to rant about old, regressive and outdated values that need to be negotiated and overcome. At this point they should be treated with nothing like despite and healthy arrogance and pride.

Vombatus's picture

I'm not a big fan of most so called "hipster bm" and don't know well Deafheaven (I don't care 'bout them) but I certainly never heard Metalcore elements in these kind of bands. It's mostly shoegaze, atmospheric or post- stuff. For instance, Wolves In The Throne Room is totally BM music wise. If you think it's hipster stuff so would be Drudkh, Fen, Wodensthrone, Panopticon, etc... So it's wearing a flannel shirt that magically make them "hispter"? They deliberatly don't want the follow the rules of cool clothing & attitude? Preposterous!! hahaha... I personnally couldn't care less and doesn't prevent me of enjoying BM at all.

But anyway, this drifts from the main topic of DSBM. A funny thing is how people that don't like it complain of how it revolves around depression, suicide, etc... So called "emo". Strangely,both the music and subculture related to "emo" is not even remotely close to DSBM so I'll just consider that people that use the term to describe DSBM are ignorants. Even more strange is how depression, suicide, negativity, misanthropy or isolation are all extremely common things in BM, but somehow is wrong with DSBM? There is like zero logic in their arguments.

Into Glory Ride's picture

Just a short note about WITTR, that is important to me : I never got why they are put into the "Hipster Box" together with all the other bands. I heard their first album as they were basically inknown and loved it at an instant. Has nothing to do with Hipster whatsoever. like You said then other bands would fall into that aswell, even Ulver.

Goathammer's picture

I think the comparison is more towards the scene that the band occupies, they (from my understanding) have ties with red/anarchist black metal bands and they occupy a niche popular with college kids and people into social justice causes.

I heard Diadem of 12 Stars when it was released and I enjoyed it, and I even saw them just after Two Hunters was released and I enjoyed their show. And when it comes down to it, I'd rather listen to their brand of "Cascadian Black Metal" than that blow hard HHH and his cronies in Liturgy and their "Transcendental Black Metal". But I honestly can't help but feel that this stuff is worlds away from what Black Metal means to me, and what I know it as.

Into Glory Ride's picture

Red/Anarchist Black Metal should not even exist. I think of Bands like Thränenkind with their "antifascist straight Edge Vegan Black Metal"-Patches.

Into Glory Ride's picture

mmh i see, that indeed makes sense. I am not too familiar with the environment there, but it sounds quite logical.

Exactly, have to agree quite frankly on every word.

Nine Turning Mirrors's picture

Exactly what Vombatus said!

Der Todesking's picture

+1

DevilzForce's picture

Celtic frost isn't black metal......

Into Glory Ride's picture

Of course Celtic Frost is 1st Wave BM.

Into Glory Ride's picture

After all, to underline the ridiculousness of this "definition": With these Characterstics alot of Nargaroth's Songs would be plain DSBM, for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut0rqG2QL_w
I don't think this needs a discussion.

Vectrex's picture

To me sorrow and depression is a weak medium for music. If you have it you probably won't talk about or even make a topic about it for your band. It's just a subjective thing but for me metal has to be fast and aggressive and not "desperate" or "sad" sounding. Life is sad enough with all this shit going on. Aggressive music gives me energy and makes my mind capable to work. I've heard soldiers in warzones sometimes listen to metal music to hype themself for fighting, and there is also a reason people use fast or aggressive music for workout. It gives you the feel to accomplish anything you want.

kresctilon's picture

I do listen to Hanging Garden and Depressive Years. I am a very proud owner of the How Will You Live Your Life Today? CD. Schizophrenic Psychopath is the best vocalist in the DSBM scene, in my opinion.

Kvlt_ured_Gentleman's picture

I tolerate a lot of DSBM but I prefer some of the more experimental material that falls under that umbrella such as the Scar Sighted album by Leviathan and the band Australian band Droghtnung. However I can't stand bands like Lifelover which I've heard described as "depressive rock".