Jeremy from The Brvtalist interviews Lord Time
Lord Time Mandatory Human Livestock Reduction + Q&A
Perhaps a harbinger of pain, Lord Time emerges again and releases what could easily be described as the most brvtal release of 2016. The solo project of Los Angeles-based Andorkappen, Lord Time now offers Mandatory Human Livestock Reduction, a true assault on the senses that is specifically meant to be tortuous. The cassette version contains “Addendum” and “extermination suite in fifteen bowel movements,” which amounts to roughly thirty minutes of what the artist describes as “Black Wall Metal,” an apt term given the project’s proclivity toward black metal and harsh noise wall. Made with just a bass, drums and vocals, Human Livestock Reduction is anti-human, anti-categorical chaos that is a rejection of mediocrity and the herd mentality. The atmospheres are soul-crushing and the vocals stain like burnt acid. To find out more, The Brvtalist spoke with the artist, who is also a member of such projects as Harassor and Vorpal Swords. Please find our Q&A below:
The Brvtalist: I would like to get some background on Lord Time. I’m interested when/why you started this project and how it fits in to your artistic oeuvre.
Lord Time: The Lord Time project came to existence as a vehicle for my solo (black metal) self-expression and sonic exploration in 2010. I just turned thirty and had a major epiphany: I’ve been actively working on music for over a decade by then, but still never started a ‘definitive’ solo recording project, regardless of genre. By this point, I’ve played drums in a number of bands and have been involved in the L.A. experimental/noise/improvised scene and performed many shows, but never really had any solo recorded works of substance. I’ve been a metal fan since childhood and a serious black metal fan for years, so it was a no-brainer for me to perform this style of music. I’d go as far as saying that black metal is my soul music, it comes naturally to me… This particular project is simply a product of my inspiration and imagination: a highly individualistic but very primitive take on black metal.
I personally labeled the style of Lord Time as ‘Morbid Outsider Metal,’ though I come up with a unique stylistic descriptions for each of my records.
Do you consider this a black metal release?
LT: Yes. While my sound has always been fairly different from most ‘normal’ black metal out there, my music is strongly influenced and informed by the black metal tradition, specifically the ‘one-man black metal’ of Ildjarn, Burzum, Leviathan, Xasthur, Bathory and many others. I feel it is fair to call it ‘bedroom black metal’ or ‘experimental black metal’ – because it really IS made in my bedroom and it is genuinely experimental in approach. But I truly don’t give a shit about fitting into any preconceived categories – any sort of herd mentality is the opposite of my mindset. I go against the endless grain of Metal Mediocrity with a solemnly focused artistic mindset. On this particular record I decided to use strictly distorted bass guitars instead of 6-string guitars – I feel I that I found a particularly noisy and punishing sound. It might not be my best record, but it IS my heaviest record.
The cassette is called “Mandatory Human Livestock Reduction” (in the running for favorite title of the year). Was the sound born out of a general disgust for the human race and/or do you want to inflict pain on those who listen to it?
LT: Yes and Yes. The title truly speaks for itself and your question essentially answered itself right there! Obviously, the title and the concept behind it are intended symbolically, I do not wish harm upon any individual human being. But I do view humanity in whole as a disease upon this planet. I created this work in the spirit of Radical Environmentalism – hence the use of the Earth First logo in the cassette booklet. You could even call it ‘Green Metal,’ although I do not have any messages beyond the album title itself (as I do not use lyrics in my songs). It might be interesting to know that I always come up with the album/project title first as a guiding concept and then come up with the individual songs and all other details later.
Musickal Sadism/Masochism is a fascinating concept though, and I’m clearly guilty of both inflicting and absorbing such torment in mass quantities.
[vimeo id=”192091394″]
LORD TIME – mandatory human livestock reduction from sandor finta on Vimeo.
One thing I love about you as an artist is how diversified your output is. Talk about the importance of releasing a broad spectrum of music and the visual/tangible art that goes along with it.
LT: ‘Stability In Diversity’ might be a concept I learned in Environmental Science class in Junior College, but I adapted it into my everyday habits, including music. I enjoy listening to a broad variety of musical styles and I’m inspired to perform various styles as well. Thus far I’ve explored Noise, Metal, Punk, Sludge, Grindcore, Free Improvisation and various Electronic and Experimental styles. Perhaps atypically for a lifelong metalhead, I started my musical activity in the early 2000’s L.A. underground noise/experimental/improvised music scene. A lot of the ‘weird music’ influences definitely show in Lord Time’s unorthodox sound and approach. Most of my songs are improvisational in nature, usually one single take only per instrument.
The visual aspect of my work is certainly important in the overall scheme of my artistic vision. I look at each release as a multi-disciplinary art project, I attempt to fully realize my vision, generally handling all aspects of musical performance and production, all artwork and also generally individually manufacturing and hand-assembling the releases.
What’s coming up next for Lord Time?
LT: I do not have any specific plans for this project. I work fully impulsively. I do what the fuck I want to do; I play by my own rules. I truly enjoy this, my works are fully born out of pure inspiration, not any pressure or outside influence – I believe that complete freedom of creation is the true calling card of genuine art, be it music, visual art or literature.
I’m currently in the midst of the dreaded ‘promotional cycle’ for this particular record. I truly loathe self-promotion, but I would really like for more people to be exposed to my work. The critical response has been largely good – from the select ‘critics’ who actually bothered to listen to my music. A lot of them simply haven’t; there is no manufactured hype attached to my work to easily latch onto, that shit is simply below me…
