On their new episode, Hell Bent For Metal takes a long, lingering look at the long, lingering close-ups in the video to Kvelertak's breakout video, "Mjød", and thinks they look more than a lot suggestively homoerotic. Before the horror sequence starts, anyway…
For this week's #YesHomo feature – which is where someone did something that was supposed to look metal as fuck, but the podcast thinks ended up looking accidentally very gay – the hosts dig into everything that happens in "Mjød" before the violence, gore and death. (That stuff is still cool, obviously, just not the focus for this podcast.) Matt and Tom find that, shockingly, if you have a video where sweaty men gyrate in super slo-mo, while others try to claw their way into an enclosure dominated by your shirtless singer, it may just look slightly more homoerotic than you intended.
There's also some reflections on the band's breakout back in 2010 and how that rolled out in the UK, and an amusing mistranslation of the band's name that a former colleague of Tom's was convinced was true. Presumably, someone in the band had a bet over it.
A hidden gem from Greek black metal legends Rotting Christ is also looked at to show why it's gloriously, fabulous relevant to us as queers, as this week's Camp Classic is "Welcome To Hel", the bonus track from their 2013 album 'Κατά τον δαίμονα εαυτού' ("Do What Thou Wilt"). Matt thinks he's not got a clue what Tom's going on about with this one – or does he? Either way, they end up agreeing that this may just be perfect for something they've accidentally committed to making happen.
The hosts also agree on Rotting Christ in almost every way, both in thinking they're great, what their best album is, and why they can provide a vital role in helping people get into black metal in the first place. A long-running gripe of Tom's gets aired, however: Why on Earth was a song that good only a bonus track?
Plus there's a devilishly packed Hate Crew Gaybar. There's a brand new section to the feature, as the pod assesses live recordings to see if they'll work as projections for the heavy metal gay bar, starting with Enslaved's 'Cinematic Tour 2020' compilation. Their four new live DVDs and the accompanying albums are analysed from musical and visual perspectives – and from some of the special aspects only this metal podcast looks for.
In the regular jukebox section, this week's additions are 'Serpent & Spirit', the hotly anticipated debut from UK sludgy, thrashy, un-pigeonhole-able act Urne, and the latest ceremony of post-metal reverie from Amenra, 'De Doorn'.
Listen to Hell Bent For Metal on Spotify here, listen on iTunes here, or choose one of the other ways to listen here.
