34 READER | OCTOBER 21, 2005 | SECTION ONE

Music

LURKER OF CHALICE LURKER OF CHALICE (SOUTHERN LORD) Whimsy Leviathan’s Wrest goes exploring

By Monica Kendrick suppose I got into this racket (Locally, at press time Metal because I wanted to figure out Haven had CDs in stock and I why some records struck me Reckless had the vinyl.) as merely enjoyable while others Why all the fuss? Black-metal seemed to just overwhelm me, side projects aren’t unusual, but grabbing me by the ear like a their creators usually stake out vicious nun reprimanding an pretty specific patches of turf— errant schoolgirl. For me the best somebody flying their freak-folk albums have always been the flag over here, another falling ones that imagine worlds as deeper into a Lovecraftian sink- rounded and complex as any hole over there. What’s delightful you’ll find in a good science fic- about Lurker of Chalice is that tion novel—and just as with a Wrest sounds willing to try any- pretensions and Wagnerian good novel, you’ll have to call my thing, swooping out of his usual ambitions, is too often thought name more than once and fairly black-metal mode to skim the of as the exclusive province of loudly if you want to pull me out low mountains of gothic pop, gloomy Scandinavians who set of its spell. dark ambient, and art rock. On churches on fire, kill each other, I’ve gotten better at describing the first track (whose title is a and wear ridiculous makeup. But that sort of record, but I still pitchfork-shaped graphic) the the stuff’s much more expressive have a hard time anticipating opening martial drumbeats stop than it’s given credit for—it’s where the next one’s coming abruptly, and the song shifts into dark music for dark times and (a from. In retrospectI should’ve some delicate guitar plinking. It’s subculture of pro-Nazi acts expected it from Wrest, a one- a deliberate wrong turn, almost a notwithstanding) a relevant man black-metal juggernaut musical joke; Wrest stops dead update of ages-old lore. from San Francisco who’s been and goes twee after building up America’s national mythology is recording as Leviathan since the your expectations for some- nothing like, say, Norway’s late 90s. Wrest clearly has a thing—anything—else. (though North America did get more fertile and restless imagi- The ringing guitar tone in the Viked), so most stateside black- nation than most of his peers. surging, stormy parts of metal bands tend to be more Under the name Lurker of “Piercing Where They Might” ironic—they can’t lay it on too Chalice he’s put out a couple cas- has more than a whiff of early thick without smirking. Wrest sette-only releases that show off Bauhaus about it, which means a seems to enjoy having it both his (relatively) lighter, more inti- certain bloody-minded archness ways: though he plays straight- mate side, and his first full- isn’t far behind. Gurgly baby- ahead black metal in Leviathan length under that moniker sold demon noises? Wind chimes? and Twilight, a project with out almost immediately when it Echo-laden spoken-word inter- members of and locals came out on Total Holocaust ear- ludes laid over plains of dreamy , he counterbal- lier this year. Southern Lord synths? Oh Wrest, you rake! On ances it with the dark whimsy of rereleased the CD in August, and “Granite” he merges a cliched Lurker of Chalice. this month it announced the morass of kick drum with some Metal usually needs a band release of a vinyl-only version incongruous goth rock and ethic—the genre gets its power with an extra track. Southern makes even that work, sounding from its collaborative, tribal Lord’s sold out of the CD; the a bit like Fields of the Nephilim. aspects. But there’s something vinyl sold out in preorders. Black metal, with its satanic delightful about listening to a CHICAGO READER | OCTOBER 21, 2005 | SECTION ONE 35

Ink Well by Ben Tausig

42.PD alert Play Calling 43.Massive departure 45.Vodka grains ACROSS 46.Valentine’s Day candy word 1. Zealous, as a fan 48.Pot top 6. Catalyst 49.Radio host who said of U2, “These 10.DHL competitor guys are from England and who 14.Without aid gives a shit?” solitary soul rambling so far 15.Neck of the woods 50.Italian jeans designer afield. When the clanging, puls- 16.OJ matter 53. “I’m not gonna stand in their way.” ing intro of “Paramnesia” starts, 17.Plea to avoid bankruptcy from 55.Too young for a draft? we don’t know where Wrest is 1983 to 1986 57.Stop daydreaming 19.The Chipmunks, e.g. 61. * going with it, and I think he’s 20.Trattoria treats allowing us to believe he doesn’t 62.Invitation to the stage since 1972 21. Ends a crush 64.Susan portrayer on Desperate know either—he lets the mur- 23. City with no photographs of the Housewives 14th Dalai Lama muring voices give way to some 65.Salinger heroine 25.Where Angels play groove-oriented riffing, some 66.Howard Dean or John Kerry 26.This is hell choral interludes, and still more 67.Iditarod ride 29.Peruvian singer Sumac 68.Austin Powers euphemism riffing. Creeping underneath 31. Whichever 69.Small flies these songs aren’t the usual 32.Ice Cube holder? marauding hordes, belle dames 33. :-) DOWN 35.Pen sans merci, or angry heathen 1. Charged, with “up” 38.“It’s so ______!” gods; instead, on a song like 2. African plant 39.Part of a Queer Eye sobriquet “This Blood Falls as Mortal Part 3. Orange or Sugar 40.Angeles or Alamos preceder 4. Got some air III,” eruptions of fusiony notes 41. Shock’s partner lure you into an Arkham 5. Final acts? Asylum padded room filled with 6. Block (up) LAST WEEK: ATONAL 7. Paper tiger, say dark keyboards and high- 8. Extreme shoe width pitched wails. 9. Dread sporter 28.Titular throwdown from 1986 to 1993 49.Noted one-note wonder There’s no narrative on Lurker 10.The Green Mill’s neighborhood 30.Hint at 50.Checks for prints of Chalice, but it feels like a 11. Dawson’s call from 1976 to 1985 33. Clinton blows it 51. Big chip maker novel—perhaps a Burroughsian 12.Works at 34.Canon camera model 52.They may fill your shoes cut-up, a gentler Lovecraft work, 13.Good loser 36.Adjective for Belle & Sebastian 54.Takeout general 18.Sri Lankan hip-hop sensation 37.Polite assent 56.“Gee whillikers!” something Philip K. Dick 22.Doesn’t bomb at all 39.It might get high 58.Silents star Negri might’ve done if he had a 24.33- or 61-Across, e.g. 44.Pickle 59.Pinhead swords-and-sorcery bent. By 26.“Howdy!” 45.Fast time in Iran 60.Shiftless !s? allowing himself the freedom to 27.Per person 47.Handle on the web 63. ER readout run wild, without genre conven- tions, Wrest goes to a lot of dif- ferent places, but it feels like he’s gathering energy rather than expending it. The next Leviathan album should be a monster. v