LA Black Metal – localized hatred

LA is a terrible place. But I think people hate it for the wrong reasons. I know this blog has a lot of Bay Area readers, and as a Bay Area native my self, I know up there we’re just raised to hate Southern California. For the rest of the country, and I'm assuming internationally, people hate LA in most part for its superficiality, its projected values, and to a large degree, it’s appearance. A hatred, which in itself, is ironically superficial. People hate LA because down here we’re all about money and fame and name dropping and fake tits and fake nails and fake hair and fake tans and fake everything and Jamba Juice and Pink Berry and cocaine and Xanax and Botox and bulimia and hair metal and the sunset strip and red carpets and paparazzi and palm trees and bad traffic and shopping malls and fuck the Dodgers. But that’s stupid. Where as that may all be true, for some people, if you hate LA because of spray on tans and American Apparel, then you have a pretty privileged existence. That LA exists, but only for a small percentage of lucky Angelinos. Where as you might think it looks like this:



For most of us, it looks like this:


what's up emilio

I say hate LA for the right reasons. Hate the fact the we’re the most polluted city in the country and our air is literally brown. Hate the class society and the way we treat our gardeners and the way we talk down to our maids. Hate the way people in shitty neighborhoods have to line up at dispensaries for drinkable water. Hate the fact that police helicopters rattle us awake 6 times a night. Hate our corrupt cops and our abundance of fast food and our lack of public transportation. Hate that there is competition to salvage our recycling and people are roaming the streets with their kids in the evenings just waiting for people to take their blue bins to the curb. Hate the unemployment, the graffiti on our garage doors and shit on the sidewalk left there by a crack head who squatted up against my car for some privacy. The LA Weekly reported that arrests for rape in my neighborhood went up 500%this year. Hate that.

One of my neighbors got murdered the other day. 17 year old dude, lived a couple houses up. Not out of character for the block, as long as I’ve lived here we seem to loose about one kid a month. Usually shot to death in the street around the time school gets out. Every time I go by this kids house I see his family sitting outside by the makeshift sidewalk memorial. They look pretty bummed.


Sometimes when you’re hating LA for the right reasons the only thing that will do is some quality LABM. These dudes are filled with hate too. Probably because they see the same disgusting bullshit day in and day out that you do. It’s a split by the two best black metal bands in town, Lightning Swords of Death and Valdur. Support these dudes if you can, they live in LA, so their lives probably suck as it is.



Steal their music. Then find a way to make it up to them.

Visit Lightning Swords of Death
Visit Valdur