Interview: Outer Darkness
Picture Credit: Outer Darkness
Artwork: "Untitled [woman milking goat]" by Hugo Gellert, The Masses, October 1917
On January 26, 2021, Brooklyn's Outer Darkness released their second album "Ten Acres of Hell": 31 minutes of atmospheric Black Metal. I got the chance to interview sole musician Drew Zimmermann. We had an interesting talk about his music and about politics in Black Metal.
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| Picture Credit: Outer Darkness |
Hi Drew,
thanks for taking some time for this interview. And first of all,
congratulations on the release of your album “Ten Acres of Hell”. How do you
feel, now that the work is done?
Your
album was influenced by “The Masses”. Can you give us a little insight to the
content of “The Masses” and what this journal means to you?
I discovered The Masses a few
years ago and have been captivated by it ever since. The Masses was a
short-lived socialist periodical from New York City that ran from 1911–1917,
but this is a far cry from the stodgy, theoretical journal that such a
designation might imply.
It was equal parts radical, hilarious and artistic—with poems and art
lining its margins—and content that would feel quite at home in the 2021
political landscape. Its authors wrote about strikes, plutocrats, dangerous
working conditions, the horrors of war, and the promise of radical socialism. As
a strategist in the Labor Movement, issues of worker power and exploitation
weigh heavily on my mind, and I found it quite edifying to read debates and
musings on the same challenges through the eyes of political thinkers who lived
more than 100 years ago.
Much of the lyrics from Ten Acres
of Hell are cobbled together from bits and pieces of these poems, as are
the song titles and the album title itself. The cover art—"Untitled [woman
milking goat]" by Hugo Gellert—was also lifted from the magazine. As far
as I can tell, very little of the contents of The Masses have been remarked upon in our current, digital era, and
I hope reviving these obscure passages from their century-long slumber may
rekindle interest for the magazine and its unique historical moment in others.
Dominant
features on “Ten Acres of Hell” can be called Atmospheric Black Metal, DSBM, or
Post Black Metal. As you recorded the album during the lockdown, would you say
that it is a zeitgeist document? Or would you have recorded an album like that
anyway, apart from the pandemic?
I wouldn’t say the album’s sound was influenced by the pandemic, as many
of the songs were written before 2020. As my background is in the Hardcore and
Punk scenes, I’ve always defaulted back to certain song structures and thematic
elements that I’ve accumulated over many years playing in different bands. With
Outer Darkness, my goal has always
been to blend the chaotic, sad sounds of the 90s “Skramz” scene (Orchid, Saetia) and concise song structures of Hardcore with the
conventions of modern Black Metal. Ten
Acres of Hell is, in my eyes, a continuation of that progression more than
anything else.
You call
your music leftist, anti-fascist Black Metal, or RABM. How come, Black Metal is
one of the few genres where artists have to make it obvious that they do not
sympathize with NSBM or right-wing scenes? At least, I have not heard of
anti-fascist Death Metal, anti-racist Power Metal etc…
Yes, I
believe that is accurate. I think the reason is that Black Metal began with a
very particular locality and ideology, although not necessarily a political
one. As I am sure many of your readers know, the NSBM scene began early on in
the genre’s history with Varg Vikernes of
Burzum. The genesis of Leftist Black Metal is a murkier, and I think it’s
fair to say, more recent phenomenon—particularly in the US, where the Far-Right
has made itself much more visible in the past decade. I do not see my own music
as a reaction to NSBM necessarily, as I have been playing and writing music
with leftist political themes for as long as I can remember. Unlike some other
RABM bands, I take a more subtle approach and don’t have overtly political song
titles or imagery, although I am a card-carrying Socialist and that ideological
message is clearly there for anyone willing to look. But there is no question
that Fascism and white nationalism must be confronted wherever it raises its
bloody head, and that certainly includes the Black Metal scene.
Have you
ever had to cancel shows (both, as musician or as visitor) because you found
out some of the artists were not kosher?
No, as
Outer Darkness is a solo project I have not played any live shows under that
banner. But I have certainly stopped listening to bands after discovering they
held far-right sympathies.
What is
your general impression of the political profile of the contemporary metal
scene?
I will confess that I don’t really engage with any scene these days,
metal or otherwise, outside of attending a handful of live shows in Brooklyn
where my friends are playing. But in many years of playing in different bands
and going to extreme metal shows, my impression is that the vast majority of
Black Metal fans are not Nazis or Fascist-adjacent. I think the NSBM scene is a
loud, stilted minority and, thankfully, not very effective as a recruiting tool
for the Far-Right.
And what
is your way of dealing with fascists and right-wing populists in the music
scene?
Recently, I have not had any real engagement with such people in the
music scene, but I think anyone espousing Fascist rhetoric should be
de-platformed and exiled from all respectable spaces without sympathy. The most
important thing is to speak up. Don’t let their mind-poison go unchallenged,
whether that’s accomplished by pressuring venues to cancel their shows, getting
them kicked off streaming platforms, or even something as small as calling out
people in Burzum or Satanic Warmaster shirts. If that fails,
you can always punch them in the face, a la Richard Spencer.
Thanks
again for your time! Is there anything you want to add our shout out?
Thank you! I hope your readers will check out Ten Acres of Hell and download it on Bandcamp. While I appreciate
donations, I try to make everything I do available for free. So if I am out of
free downloads on Bandcamp for the month, or you just want to know more about The Masses or ways to get involved in
the Labor Movement, shoot me an email at outerdarknessny@gmail.com. You can
also find me on Twitter @drewczimmerman.
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