New Melanchological Nature in Black Metal: Ecogothic Subversion in the Pastoral Lyric by Arsule
Abstract
This article analyzes the LP Le Jardin des Emeraudes (2021), by the French black metal/dungeon synth project Arsule. Using several theoretical frameworks discussing Environmental Humanities (namely Ecogothic and Pastoral criticism), as well as the very same theory emerging from critical studies in black metal, this text explores the band’s lyrical representation of landscape. This representation does not simply destabilize the traditional ecological assumptions of the genre (that idealize the idea of the wilderness), but also addresses pastoral landscapes in an innovative way regarding traditional pastoral poetics. The album thus reconfigures an Arcadian political space which does not imply a fight for sustainability (or any other human/non-human symbiotic model) but, in tandem with black metal’s philosophical thought, implies embracing a logci fo environmental nihilism.
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