Not only does Drew Daniel make up one half of the San Francisco electronic duo Matmos, he has his own project called the Soft Pink Truth, although he hasn't released an album under that guise in a decade. That will soon change with the arrival of Why Do the Heathen Rage? on June 17 via Thrill Jockey.
The album is subtitled Electronic Profanations of Black Metal Classics, indicating that this unique project consists of synthesized covers of black metal songs. A press release calls this "a sticky tryst between the two mutually incongruous early '90s subcultures of rave and black metal."
Artists covered here include Venom, Beherit, Sarcofago, Sargeist, Darkthrone, AN, Mayhem, Hellhammer, and Impaled Northern Moonforest. Guests who contributed to the project include Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Terence Hannum (Locrian), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak), M.C. Schmidt (Matmos), and Owen Gaertner (Horse Lords).
The result is described like this: "A gleeful queer travesty of black metal's undying obsession with kvlt authenticity, Why Do the Heathen Rage? is also a formally precise homage executed with a scholar's obsession."
See a trailer at the bottom of this page.
The album cover is apparently extremely graphic and hasn't yet been unveiled. See the tracklist below. Opening cut "Invocation for Strength" is said to be "a spoken word track in which a Radical Faery poem used by gay activist Arthur Evans in his classic Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture is read by Drew Daniel and Antony [Hegarty]."
The album can be pre-ordered here on CD or vinyl. The first 666 vinyl copies will come on pink wax, while subsequent records will be on standard black.
Why Do the Heathen Rage?:
1. Invocation for Strength
2. Black Metal (Venom)
3. Sadomatic Rites (Beherit)
4. Ready to Fuck (Sarcofago)
5. Stanic Black Devotion (Sargeist)
6. Beholding the Throne of Might (Darkthrone)
7. Let There Be Ebola Frost (AN)
8. Buried by Time and Dust (Mayhem)
9. Maniac (Hellhammer)
10. Grim and Frostbitten Gay Bar (Impaled Northern Moonforest)
Read our recent interview with Daniel regarding Why Do the Heathen Rage? here.
The album is subtitled Electronic Profanations of Black Metal Classics, indicating that this unique project consists of synthesized covers of black metal songs. A press release calls this "a sticky tryst between the two mutually incongruous early '90s subcultures of rave and black metal."
Artists covered here include Venom, Beherit, Sarcofago, Sargeist, Darkthrone, AN, Mayhem, Hellhammer, and Impaled Northern Moonforest. Guests who contributed to the project include Antony Hegarty (Antony and the Johnsons), Terence Hannum (Locrian), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak), M.C. Schmidt (Matmos), and Owen Gaertner (Horse Lords).
The result is described like this: "A gleeful queer travesty of black metal's undying obsession with kvlt authenticity, Why Do the Heathen Rage? is also a formally precise homage executed with a scholar's obsession."
See a trailer at the bottom of this page.
The album cover is apparently extremely graphic and hasn't yet been unveiled. See the tracklist below. Opening cut "Invocation for Strength" is said to be "a spoken word track in which a Radical Faery poem used by gay activist Arthur Evans in his classic Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture is read by Drew Daniel and Antony [Hegarty]."
The album can be pre-ordered here on CD or vinyl. The first 666 vinyl copies will come on pink wax, while subsequent records will be on standard black.
Why Do the Heathen Rage?:
1. Invocation for Strength
2. Black Metal (Venom)
3. Sadomatic Rites (Beherit)
4. Ready to Fuck (Sarcofago)
5. Stanic Black Devotion (Sargeist)
6. Beholding the Throne of Might (Darkthrone)
7. Let There Be Ebola Frost (AN)
8. Buried by Time and Dust (Mayhem)
9. Maniac (Hellhammer)
10. Grim and Frostbitten Gay Bar (Impaled Northern Moonforest)
Read our recent interview with Daniel regarding Why Do the Heathen Rage? here.
