Review by Frost on January 2, 2022.

When metalheads are asked to name their favorite black metal band, the responses are bound to vary from person to person. The responses range from the expected and typical (Immortal, Emperor, Mayhem, Sarcófago, Burzum, Hellhammer, etc.) to the different and unexpected (Thorns, Dødheimsgard, Mgla, Lyfthrasyr, Harakiri For The Sky, Deathspell Omega, Mütiilation, Satanic Warmaster, etc.). There's one thing, those, in common with all of the answers most people will give: many of the bands will come from European and/or Asian countries. However, you won't be hard pressed to find American black metal getting plenty of love. Deafheaven; Wolves In The Throne Room; Xasthur; Agalloch; Liturgy; Von; Leviathan; Judas Iscariot; Profanatica; Havohej; Demoncy - and that's just a few. Yes, some bands are no longer active, but they are still points of reference for favorites in the USBM scene. America has its fair share of bands that aren't too afraid to embrace the ice cold and turgid landscapes of black metal. If someone came to me and asked me what my favorite black metal band from America was, Weakling would be the first band to come to mind.

A brief bit about them first. Weakling was a short-lived black metal project born out of San Francisco, California. They were active for about three years (1997, I believe, to 2000, when they dissolved), never performed live, and only released one album, the five track, 75-minute long masterwork known as Dead As Dreams, in 2000. Various sources speculate it was released in 1999, but on MA, the release date says 2000, so that's what I'm going with.

Now onto the music. Dead As Dreams is one of those albums that encapsulates war so perfectly. The music on this record is terrifying. I mean that. The music on this record is beyond explanation. It is scary. Like really scary. From the riffs to the vocal performance to the drums to the bass and the keyboards, there's not one element that works individually apart from one another. Each instrument compliments the other perfectly to create this unsettling atmosphere that's unavoidably palpable. This album plows forward like a war machine hellbent of global genocide and won't stop until you and everything you love are reduced to a smoldering pile of ash. The riffs are so memorable, twisting maddeningly through every single song, through every single movement. There's not one riff you'll forget if you pay attention to everything that's going on. And trust me, there's a lot going on. Drums pummel away endlessly with tactless precision. The guitars blare away as the antithesis of peace. There are even some lovely chimes that play in the opening track. Keyboards hang in the background of the riffs, sending chills down your spine. Sometimes everything just ceases and the keyboards are placed front and center to play this solemn melody as a cold wind blows, cutting through the dark clouds of war spiraling all around like a tornado. It's absolutely spectacular and a truly unnerving moment.

The vocals deserve their own paragraph. In an interview that's on tUMULt's website, John Gossard described how he came up with his unique vocal performance on this album. Apparently, he just decided to scream his lungs out because other black metal bands were doing it. Really, though, Mr. Gossard's performance is nothing shy of harrowing. It is without a doubt the most demented, insane, bloodcurdling performances I've ever heard behind a microphone. From anybody. Don't get me wrong, I've heard bands like Mayhem and Silencer. I thought those were some of the most petrifying screams I'd heard before. Through every song, it sounds like he's the victim of an exorcism a-la The Exorcist. He forces out these bone-chilling, suffocating screams and howls that are unique to me in that they sound like legitimate sorrow and anguish. The vocals seem to accurately depict the aural sentiments behind witnessing the hopeless horror or endless war.

Speaking of war, this album is one of few I can think of that seems to encapsulate the bitter proliferation of war, death, hopeless, sorrow, anguish, and depression all in one. This album is only five elongated songs, but in that time, it was able to perfectly present to the listener with an auditory glimpse of what the end of the world would actually sound like. There are no standout tracks because all of them are equally as incredible. Because when you listen to tracks like 'Cut Their Grain And Place Fire Therein', the only thing that comes into your mind are the countless explosions on the battlefield, the devastating power of napalm blasting the Earth into a crater, tracer bullets swooshing to and fro past you as you dash into the thicket of Hell's violent underbelly. As it ends, the epic 20 minute title track only serves as a painful reminder of how hopeless everything is. As thick distortion fades in, it cuts off to drop to a very depressing acoustic guitar passage that builds into one of the most darkly beautiful passages I've ever heard at three minutes in. It's almost suicidal in how misanthropic it is. The whole song is rather progressive for black metal, frolicking with passages of doom, progressive, and what would later become post-black.

'This Entire Fucking Battlefield' (what an amazing title, by the way) is probably the best track just for the riff alone that makes up the first couple minutes of this song. Before reading the interview on tUMULt's website, I had no idea this riff was taken from another song. The riff originally came from a Norwegian black metal band called Demonic. It's from their EP, "Lead Us Into Darkness", specifically from the song "Når Mørket Faller." I personally think it was better incorporated in this song than in the original. The dark thrash lead that opens the next track 'No One Shall Be Called A Man While He'll Die' is amazing, as well as the seamless movement that follows about four minutes into the song. Everything goes quiet and the bass starts playing. Once again, each instrument has their place. There's not one thing that feels out of place, too loud, too quiet, too awkward, or it feels like it didn't belong and was just tacked on for the sake of it. The album closes with the devastatingly apocalyptic 'Desasters In The Sun', the perfect way to close out this monster with a bang.

If I haven't made it clear at any point before I close, this album is not an easy listen. It may only be five tracks long, but all five tracks are sprawling and epic in length, ranging from ten minutes to twenty minutes. On top of that, there's so much going on that only heavy black metal enthusiasts and those with an interest in long songs will gravitate to this album. Back when this thing was released, it was somewhat polarizing, but it was still regarded as a masterpiece in black metal. Seventeen years later after its limited release, it's now a collector's item, even more polarizing, and is regarded as even more of a masterpiece not just in black metal, but in the entirety of the whole genre of metal. This album is not for everyone, I assure you, but for anyone who's curious about it, especially purveyors of the finest black metal out there, Dead As Dreams is mandatory listening. This album has to be heard to be believed. If you can, buy a physical copy to own.

Many different answers will come from many different people about who they think the best American black metal band is. I think the sunny city of San Francisco would be the last place the casual listener of black metal would think any band of this particular genre would come from. But if Wrest's project Leviathan and this album is anything to go by, great black metal can exist just about anywhere, especially in places you wouldn't quite expect.

Rating: 10 out of 10