Interview: Blatant/Unashamed
Image provided by Blatant/Unashamed
Sometimes, a band will come along that you have a hard time describing, both melodically and rhythmically. Blatant/Unashamed, an artist out of North Carolina, is such an artist who embodies so many different elements that it’s hard to pin them down to any one description.
Despite the obvious black metal influence, it’s impossible to miss the elements of death metal and hardcore blended into the cacophony that is Blatant/Unashamed. Their sole album, Lamenta, packs a punch with all of these elements intertwining to make a record that you can’t forget after a full listen.
The inconspicuous artist behind B/U hails from the lovely state of North Carolina, which also happens to be my home and native roots. So, to discover such a talent in a genre I love who resides in my own backyard was quite a pleasant surprise upon first discovering them a year ago. To interview them is an even better privilege. I hope this conversation encourages you all, and I also hope you check out his music, if you haven’t already given it a listen.
Now, for the interview…
It’s a pleasure having you join Blacforje for an interview! I love your work. Before we get into the music, can you tell us about where you’re from and how you got into black metal?
I'm happy to be given such a great opportunity! I'm a fan of your ministry through Blacforje, and I'm honored to be amongst the artists featured in an interview with you.
I am from Burlington, North Carolina, just a short drive from the more well-known city of Greensboro. It was probably within a single year when I was a teenager that my music taste went from early 2010s metalcore to bands like Cult Leader and Calligram, both of which have some musical influence on what I write in B/U. Being mostly into brutal death metal at the end of my teenage years, I felt that I should try and diversify my palate. Note that this was at a particularly low point in my life regarding the state of mind in which I found myself, not that I had given into disbelief in Christ and the Gospel, but rather that it was the only source of strength I could find. In listening to a very wide variety of genres, many of which are in the depths of extreme metal, I found that I emotionally responded most with atmospheric black metal... Today I blend those genres with others in B/U to reach people who may be in a similar position to myself at my low, while still retaining some heaviness and catchiness that will attract people of less gloomy perspectives.
You have released one album thus far titled Lamenta. It’s a great record! I absolutely love “The Liar, Thyself”. What inspired you to start Blatant/Unashamed, and what was the inspiration behind the album?
I started B/U how I think many one-man projects begin. I liked the music that I listened to, but I believed that some element was missing. Whatever that element was, whether it be a variety of vocal styles, icy tremolo, a more appealing tuning, or dissonant chord progressions, would be what could make the type of music that I already enjoyed listening to exactly the type of music that would satisfy my taste (if any of that makes sense). In other words, I wanted to make music tailored to my tastes and preferences as many people do.
I started writing progressions and riffs that eventually became the songs of Lamenta in 2019 shortly after teaching myself the basics of guitar. To be clear, I am not a good guitarist, and I'm poorly disciplined concerning practice. It is a gift from God that I can play what I'm able to play already and that I have enough ability to actualize my creativity to make what I have made. Although I was somewhat new to guitar, bass, and writing music, I had adequate knowledge of mixing and recording music, and I began working on a few songs that I thought I might be able to turn into an album. Those songs were the ones of my first demo, “Beyond This Darkness” and “Grief”, which appeared later in Lamenta. While I desired to wait and record a proper album, I felt impatience and a strong urge to release something, so in 2021, I released the three demo tracks. I still want to re-record and polish those tracks with a more refined mix and apply lyrics to the two instrumentals, but I’ve decided to save that for another time.
During winter of 2021 and throughout 2022 I wrote and recorded the rest of what is now my first album, Lamenta. During the recording of the album, I tried to establish a feeling or a theme per song and write music that corresponded. Reflecting upon that process, I feel that this made for an overall inconsistent album musically, and (have recently) tried to narrow the feelings and themes that I write about to better fit the musical context in which the songs lie together.
To give a quick explanation of the idea behind each song:
“The Liar, Thyself” refers to the rampant self-righteousness found within the Church. It is fairly common knowledge that intentional self-worship is a touted practice in satanism and a horrid sin, but this song is about the unconscious self-worship that buds when a person takes their focus from the cross of Christ to their own “holiness”.
“Slave” is a song about addiction to lust and the normalization of such a practice. “Addict” was the working title for the song, but the claustrophobic atmosphere and dreadful feeling that the song invokes were present since the idea formed for a song about this particular topic.
“Despised” is somewhat of an exegesis of Matthew 10. I wasn't particularly sure how I would fit that message into a proper black metal mold, so I decided to lean into the death metal influences of the previous track.
While I did write the music for Grief in 2019 (the only song on the album in E standard), I found the meaning for it in the loss of a loved one. I don't want to disclose too much personal information, but the lyrics of the song are a very raw statement of the feelings that were called upon to write the song.
Finally, Lamenta is a condensed musical exegesis of the book of Lamentations, if you couldn't guess. Ironically, this is, as the final song of any of my releases should be, the track that is supposed to leave the listener with hope by the end as Jeremiah reflects upon the eternal sovereignty of God.
‘Lamenta’ by Blatant/Unashamed
So, give me some context as to the name, Blatant/Unashamed. It’s rare to see an artist or band name with a “/”. Somehow, it works for you. What’s the story there?
This one is a bit embarrassing actually, but Blatant and Unashamed were supposed to be two different projects in the beginning. Blatant would've been beatdown hardcore and Unashamed was ultimately supposed to be blackgaze influenced atmo-black. I think that what came of Blatant/Unashamed was more unique than either of those ideas though, and I'm significantly prouder of what I ended up with than I likely would've been if I boxed myself into either of those genres. Also, for the record, I do pronounce it Blatant and Unashamed, and it is not a stylistic or symbolic choice like some other bands.
In prior talks with you on social media, I know you’re a Christian, as am I. How does your faith impact your work for Blatant/Unashamed? Are your lyrics specifically centered around matters of the Christian faith? How does it impact you personally, as well?
One of the most important things about this project to me is that, while I may not be anonymous if you dig a little, I foster a clear disconnect between myself in actuality and the voice behind my music. I write as if I were the ideal version of myself. The past mistakes, immaturity, laziness, and obsessiveness that I find myself often overthinking are seen from the viewpoint of an entirely different person when I am writing my music. A more tempered, thoughtful, blank-slate version of me is who writes the lyrics for my music in my mind. I don't want a wretched and extremely selfish man like myself coloring the perspective of a listener who hears any semblance of a Christ-centered message in my music.
My faith is the ultimate purpose of my life, as faith and submission to Christ is the ultimate purpose of the whole of existence. I do not outwardly market B/U as a Christian band as I am very focused on reaching atmo-black fans who may have quite strong reservations about the Christian faith, the Church, Christian music, or probably all of the above. However, I am not shy about unashamedly admitting my faith in the Gospel in general.
For my lyrics, I have little interest in eisegesis, but I try to represent Biblical or theological ideas from their proper context in an exegetical manner that might be digestible for someone who has no clue about the depth of the Christian faith. I also am very interested in philosophy and trying to incorporate concepts into the music that I’m writing currently, as well as future songs.
What are your thoughts on creating new music in the near future? Anything in the works?
Absolutely there is! I won’t give away too much here, but for some time my bio has been the penultimate verse of Ecclesiastes. There is a definite reason for that, and it will be greatly explored in my next album, which, if all goes according to plan, will be finished by the end of the year.
Do you think you’ll make any Blatant/Unashamed merch, such as shirts? I’d totally get one of those.
I will keep their identity anonymous since the deal isn’t complete yet, but I am currently talking with one of my favorite Christian artists about cover art which will also go on some shirts, as well as a physical release (hopefully).
If you’ve ever read any of my interviews, you know I’m really sarcastic, which is hard to keep in throughout an entire interview. So, I save the sarcastic, idiotic question for the end. That said, I have to ask: were you blatantly ashamed in your younger years? It’s OK to confess sins here.
100%. Of what in particular? A lot. Still am to some degree depending on what you’re talking about. I don’t think I confessed any sins, did I? I’ve taken a pack of gum that someone left in one place for a long time. That’s something.
