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Velvet Cacoon: Genevieve

19/07/10 || Khlysty

I’m sure that everybody knows the dictum that posits that “even bad publicity is good publicity”, right? Well, in the case of Velvet Cacoon this dictum backfired so much, as to become a cautionary tale for aspiring bands everywhere. See, the duo of SGL and LVG, even before writing one note of their own, started spreading “dragons” (a Greek journalistic expression signifying “really big lies”) about the band. Things like how there were incredibly hard-to-find demos, how they had played some shows of legendary debauchery, how they dabbled into eco-terrorist acts, how their psychedelic drug consumption bordered on unbelievable, and much more. These stories started circulating on the retardnet, making Velvet Cacoon a legendary act, even without anyone having actually heard anything from them.

Well, as Bob Marley says, you can’t fool all the people, all the time. Once the “dragons” were revealed for what they were, the band faced wholesale derision, with “fans” even denying that “Genevieve” was theirs and not some kind of hoax, a Frankenstein monster combined from other people’s works. Which, y’know, is a damn shame –even if the band brought this plight to itself-, because this little record is one hell of a good listen. “Blackened shoegaze” might sound as retarded as it gets, but the fact of the matter is that Velvet Cacoon, by mixing and meshing elements of black metal and shoegaze, create a sound that’s completely their own, even if it might totally alienate 99,9% of the metalheadz who sample this record.

The seven tracks of “Genevieve” seem to have been constructed around buzzy, fuzzy black metal riffs of the more melodic variety. These riffs are based on a couple of minor chords, that are repeated –with slight variations- throughout the whole length of each song (that is, from five-and-a-half to almost eight minutes). The drums are quite buried in the mix, sounding more like a subterranean pulse and having no propulsive power on each song’s development, while the vocal tracks are sparse and of an almost-whispered-rasp kind. So, the music is mainly based on the gauzy wall-of-sound that the guitars create, a sound that would’ve made Kevin Shields weep from frustration, as it completely saturates every nook and cranny of this thing.

The sound the band goes for here is not hateful and abrasive, as most black metal is wont to do; no, it’s a dream-like, trance-inducing sound, the perfect soundscape for a foggy day, when everything blurs into the mist, attaining a spectral quality, even if it’s mundane. And while the raw material is totally black metal, the final result (with the exception of the last track, “Bete noir”, which is drone/ambient) seems to have more in common with Ride or My Bloody Valentine than with even the more “ambient” of black metal’s proponents (e.g. Nortt or Nihill). Bottom line is that “Genevieve” works greatly as an atmospheric piece of music. Even if Velvet Cacoon managed to disgrace themselves with the wild stories they tried to cloak the band with, this is one record that anyone interested in black metal’s more “ambient” side will appreciate just fine.

7,5

Information
Released: 2004
Label: Full Moon Productions
Website: Velvet Cacoon MySpace (fanpage)
Band
Angela (LVG): guitars
Josh (SGL): vocals, guitars, drums

Tracklist
01. 1
02. P.S. nautical
03. Avalon polo
04. Laudanum
05. Fauna & flora
06. Genevieve
07. Bete Noir

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