Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sbhA78RO5E

Black painted fingernails and flat brim caps. Oy vey.

I gotta admit, I kinda LOLed a little bit finding out that Jeff Whitehead is on the cover of Skate or Die II.

Well, anyways, one thing about this is that you see three very different personalities who operate for what seem to be very different reasons. Whitehead appears to be a guy capable of being an extrovert who has simply managed to alienate himself from people through his actions and attitude, making working solo a necessity simply because no one wants to work with him. I suppose that is a long way of saying he is a sociopath? The guy from Striborg on face value looks like he's doing it largely for artistic reasons primarily. Malefic is the yin to Whitehead's yang; he seems abused into aloofness, and his depression is real and severe (that shot of the scarred up wrists? 'sup cutter). Xasthur seems like an attempt to grab people's attention. Not to say that he's a poseur or something by indicating that, just that he is a very, very damaged human being with serious mental issues that manifested themselves in making a shit ton of black metal recordings.

The dude from Striborg seems the most down to earth of the bunch. Whitehead is alienated, but still has ties society, being a tattoo artist, former skater and all, and I don't get the impression he is much of a loner like the others. Malefic is definitely fucked up, perhaps if he didn't had an outlet like music, he would had offed himself already.

The shot of Malefic's scars seemed like a bit of a dick move to me, like as if it was saying "look at this guy, look at how messed up he is!"

You know what though? It isn't "Let's Pal With Xasthur: The Movie". It is a film trying to understand the artists, motivation, and lifestyle of persons in a very particular and somewhat limited field within music. Maybe showing the inside of his house or getting in the shot of his wrists seems exploitative. Maybe to some extent it is. This isn't a film intended to be treatment for him, after all. But I think it is an honest depiction. We aren't seeing guys wearing corpsepaint and roaming around the snow with a sword in their hand and giving generic quotes like they're hyping a release in a xeroxed mag.

I thought that was just as interesting as part one. I was particularly happy to see we got actual shots of the guys playing instruments. Jeff is a really good drummer and I laughed at Sin Nanna on his knees in front of his tiny amp twiddling around with a pedal and recording sound effects. This is some really compelling stuff, and Scott truly looks morbidly depressed. I feel kind of bad for him, he doesn't seem the type that would ever look for help and I doubt things will end well for him.

Really, really interesting shit. Especially the stuff with Wrest. He just seems like an interesting dude.

Don't listen to Striborg, so that part's still the most boring of the three for me.

I actually found myself agreeing a lot with what Malefic said at that park about people, which kinda bums me out a bit. And yeah, the wrist shot was wholly unnecessary and done in an extremely shitty way.

I recommend GhostWoodlands

What Malefic said in the park didn't seem any more profound than something you'd expect from an angst ridden teen, what with the "nobody understands me" and "people are all so arrogant", all the while he's sitting there judging people he doesn't even know.

Take away the musical aspect and the Xasthur section could be about any depression sufferer. There's no real insight into what he has to say.

i find striborgs way of doing things alot less self involved,he seperates his family life and makes time for his dark musical artistic side .

west seems more normal than i thought in the first part, abit of a bad childhood,might have few mental problems still ,but nothing alot of people cant relate to.

malefic seems he needs help but mite be one of those people to stubborn ever to get it and will just waste away.
thats ok with me though if its what makes his music soo good.

That's just a horrible thing to say, I hope your kidding. Anyhow I do like seeing the people behind the music as actual accessible(ish) people its refreshing.

Part 2 was cool, maybe not quite as interesting as part 1. I'm not really into the Striborg section since he just comes off as silly to me and I'm not a fan of the band. Totally mindblown that Malefic used to be a huge skater. Given the fact that these three people are all introverts, it doesn't exactly make for the most compelling interviews. I wish the interviewer would try to find ways to get them to really open up about their music and explain why they've dedicated their entire lives to these bands. I don't feel like that's really been done yet.

Agreed. I don't feel like he's asking any real or insightful questions, just kind of tries to lead them on and let them finish.

really enjoying this.
haven't payed much attention to striborg, to be honest, but maybe will do in a very near future, mostly because sin nanna's words are really strong, imo.
black metal and sk8board are a biblic equation eheh

Wow, had no idea that Wrest was a fairly big skater. It's crazy that he designed the logo for Thunder Trucks, sucks that they ripped him off. Yup, this is just as good as the first one, offering further insight into their character. The Striborg guy still seems like a relatively normal dude and Wrest is getting more and more interesting. Just judging from the first one I thought Malefic just had some minor depression and was a bit awkward, but from this one it's digging a lot deeper into who he is. He really does seem to have some mental health issues, although I'm sure isolating one's self like that would only make it a lot worse.

I see it from their perspective as a company - they paid the guy $50 to come up with a logo probably 20-something years ago when they were operating out of a parent's house or a storage unit or whatever and he did it. What is he supposed to get? 5% of everything they sell for all time because he drew a logo of a grenade? The problem isn't Thunder Trucks. The problem is Jeff Whitehead.

probably right there,maybe could have thrown him a little extra cash for how well the logo done but...yeah

Really enjoyed the second part. I like how it is going deeper into each of their personalities. I thought it was interesting hearing Wrest talking about his childhood especially about the prisoners being counsellors in the home he was (I hadn't heard of the ward of the court thing, anyone shed some light on this?) Striborg does seem a pretty normal guy, which I was quite pleasantly surprised at. I felt sorry for Malefic especially the unnecessary shot of his scars, however his section is very interesting, an insight into the mind of someone who seems truly depressed.

Looking forward to seeing part 3. Wonder if they will release the whole thing as a dvd or something...

When Malefic worked with Wrest for the first Twilight album did they actually meet in person? If so I wonder if they got along.

was kinda kidding,but it makes the depressive atmosphere in the music so much more real knowing that he really is mentally ill and not just putting on an act to make a cool sound if ya know what i mean.thats probably why his music (IMO) is the better of the three

Malefic truly is a reflection of his music, and vice versa. He seems genuinely depressed, though I would not go as far to say mentally ill (I don't consider depression as mental illness). The man is an ultra talented multi-instrumentalist, and is a very intelligent guy being able to compose all that music on his own. I just think he was born in the wrong century, as he would have been perfect in a primitive, nihilistic setting. A true misanthrope is what he is...

yeah id have to disagree too, being a sufferer of depression and social anxiety myself

depression is a mental illness

Not necessarily. It can be, but I think there are a number of people who are depressed for intellectual or circumstantial reasons.

ok.. clinical depression is a mental illness,think melific is clinicaly depressed

Nope. The reasons behind depression can be intellectual or circumstantial as you say but the end result that is "depression" is a mental illness nevertheless. Unless you're using the word lightly as in common speak when people say something like "I'm depressed" when they are really feeling moody.

Depression is definitely a mental illness, but there are other biological reasons for it like a lack of...serotonin, I think it is? It doesn't necessarily mean you'll get it, it just means that there's more of a chance.
I can see why Xasthur is depressed though. I mean, he sounds like one of those angsty teenagers that never really got better. If we got more insight into his teenager years maybe it'd be a bit clearer.

What does that even mean? What's a "primitive, nihilistic setting"?

And just for the record, let's agree for the general consensus that "misanthrope" does not equal "whiney, angsty, cut my arms, no one understands me", which is exactly what this is about.
I'm genuinely surprised that so many people here harp on emo/core kids and at the same time swallow this shit.
Hell, Finntroll or Bieber is more profound than this shite.

Yeah, it's good to see I'm not the only one who isn't falling for Malefic's juvenile angsty shit. I think he got picked on a little too much during school.

damn,i fell right into it.you guys were the only ones onto it enough

Can't help but feel that you take our reaction to shite on par with "Facing my darkness in the dark mirror of the rainy abyss that is my loneliness" as something personal.

LOL at the first sentence. No kidding. All those great primitive, nihilistic, loner societies. You know, like, uhh, HEY LOOK OVER THERE.

Also, c'mon brah. Like being clinically depressed for any number of reasons gives people better perspective on their sadness. Obviously he is spewing incoherent woe-is-me gibberish? Was there an expectation of something else?



I am genuinely shocked that people who listen to DSBM tend to give a pass to artists producing something they may very well internalize. Really now.

If Scott's depression really is a mental illness, as some people here are stating, then calling it that and then making fun of his "emo/angst attitude" makes you a bunch of assholes who are making fun of a person who has a genuine problem.

Maybe not assholes, just ignorant.

yes the world is full of ignorance, i could personaly give a shit if xasthur is clinicly depressed, he does have scars on his wrist which is a good sign something is unbalanced in his brain, but it doesnt really matter. is depression a mental illness, do "healthy and stable" people isolate themselves, have trouble showing up for their life, cut themself , think suicidaly or any other of the many symptoms that make up depression? no i dont really think so.

Very interesting; I have an urge to listen to some Leviathan now XD

Was very surprised to see Scott; wasn't expecting him to look so genuine and be so chill. I like that.

Basically, this.

I'm not really sure anyone was specifically making fun of him for being depressed, actually. Lets not get carried away.