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Blackhouse (USA)

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(en.wikipedia.org) Blackhouse is a Christian industrial band based out of Eureka, California. Blackhouse plays what has been cited as "primo industrial rock", contrasting with post-industrial styles promulgated by artists such as NIN, Klank, or Circle of Dust. Blackhouse was formed in 1984 and is cited as the first band to make industrial music for the Christian market.

Background

Musically acclaimed and sometimes cited as being a founding band of the entire genre. Their career had ensued over three decades, and the band has produced a myriad of releases in that time. Often Blackhouse finds itself riding the fine line between artistic expression and forming a message in a way that could be accepted in the broad Christian community. One album featured a cover showing a bunny crucified, with the thought of exposing the real meaning of Easter.

The sound that Blackhouse offered was far outside the norms of Christian music at the time of the band's formation, and live performances met with resistance from both the Christian right and Neo-Nazi youth organizations. The Neo-Nazi groups protested the religious content, which was unusual in a genre more known for espousing negative themes including nihilism, pornography, sadomasochism, and drug culture, and the Christians took point with the style that the band offered, again due to its association with negative elements of society. After a time the band went underground, focusing on producing recorded material rather than touring.

Their music continues to be on the cutting edge of creativity and experimental, avant-garde music. One review of their 2006 collaborative project Beetu Lathri Kwan found that their genre-mixing produced what was deemed an "intentional dissolution of traditional concepts of... music." The music's effect on the reviewers has shown a great variety of responses. One reviewer reported that the sound finds the "border of our conscious and unconscious thinking", while others have insisted that the sound is "barely good for background noise" or "more frustrating than enjoyable". Lyrics are generally noted as being few and far between, but containing positive messages and espousing Christian faith.

(http://www.blackmagazin.com/?p=13389) Brian Ladds Projekt BLACKHOUSE gehört zu den dienstältesten Industrial-Projekten. Alben wie „Five Minutes After I Die“, „We Will Fight Back“ oder „Hope Like A Candle“ genießen nicht nur hierzulande Kultstatus. Als dezidiert christlicher Künstler ist Ladd in der sonst eher dem Okkulten zugeneigten Szene eine erwähnenswerte Ausnahme. Erfolgreich war er trotzdem und amüsant der Anblick mit Runen und Pentagrammen behangene Grufties zu Textpassagen wie „Christ Is The Hope Of Man“ durch den Nebel schwanken zu sehen. Das nahende 30jährige Jubiläum wird aktuell mit verschiedenen Neuauflagen alter Alben vorbereitet. Das BLACK bat Brian Ladd zum Gespräch. [...]