Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve Review
by Matt Hensch
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Velvet Cacoon is stuck in the center of America's controversial black metal scene. Some have called them riders of a new land; others label Portland's duo as burnt-out druggies, and Korouva once said dazzling things about Velvet Cacoon's originality, haha. So here is Genevieve, the praised full-length from these strange individuals that everyone seems to embrace for its damaging minimalism, low-grade instrumentation, and repetition so vague one could face a lobotomy via music if one is not careful when handling. But one knows, the status quo says it is good, even though the status quo claims something with damaging minimalism, low-grade instrumentation, and repetition so vague you could face a lobotomy via music if one is not careful when handling is grasping the finest hour of black metal. I am not trying to be a bastard, but let's get real: Genevieve is paralyzed, drugged, and intentionally catatonic; dead to the Earth, it has all the might of damp soil.
The actual response to the claims of eco-terrorism, diesel-based guitars recorded underwater, and some new, fresh age of anarchistic black metal is ironically the sole truth behind Velvet Cacoon: everything is all just a big lie. The music itself is layered down to a few steps, including playing extremely simplistic riffs smothered over transparent percussion that really requires no skill to perform; now just picture a few chords per songs plucked upon predictable drums, and then echoing
and echoing
.and echoing...and that is it until the track-number on your CD player rolls over. Once that happens, expect the same talentless texture to overcome the remaining slabs found throughout Genevieve. The album itself is shamefully asinine, both inside and out, but that is precisely the point, as sad as it sounds.
From here on out, the base of Velvet Cacoon's stability lies in repetition of said formula, circling again and again and again. Pretty tiring as you could imagine, not to mention the production is so unclear intentionally, of course that the music almost feels lucid in its own right; clever concept, yet just too guileless for enjoyment. Do they have ambient influences? Yes, but one will quickly detect the calm parts of Genevieve are thoughtless pieces of rehashed droning waves that are sapless. Fluffy passages and seventeen minutes of ambient blandness cannot maneuver into anything remotely artistically motivating; it is just predictable and empty throughout. Gas-powered guitar or not, Genevieve successfully attracts the droning, hypnotic atmosphere this ambient-influenced faction strived for, albeit causing sleepiness from its burdensome redundancy while Velvet Cacoon continues throughout their little observation. Sh*t, the vocals sound like frail whispers in this stormy sea of scalding rain and gloomy fog, only to appear like high-pitched slurps. So, if one is not catching on already, here is a boost: Velvet Cacoon is no different from stereotypical black metal bands. Just add the typical black metal norm, and squeeze it out for six or seven minutes; DNA entwines, and Genevieve has been vomited forth. It chugs. It continues. It bores. Finally, it causes snores.
Perhaps there is more to the story that I am just not seeing when sitting eye-to-eye with Velvet Cacoon, yet on a musical platform, there is no doubt Genevieve plods around aimlessly, using minimal substance and really nothing dangerously original to aid this strange projection, apparently trying to add a trippy edge to black metal. At day's end, I cannot say it is anything else than soulless and zombie-like, so much so that there is literally no spine to the band, and that is not what metal of this magnitude is about. Overall, Velvet Cacoon has failed, and I am still certain Genevieve is an ocean away from mastering any aspect black metal could ever materialize. Time to be a realist: this one is not revolutionary.
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Velvet Cacoon - Genevieve Rating:3.0
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