When my Twitter buddies Kim Kelly (metal editor at Noisey) and Ed Blair (cofounder of the zine Black Metal of the Americas) both talk about the same band, I pay attention. And this winter their tweets convinced me to check out A Pessimistic Doomsayer, the current release by a duo from St. Catharines, Ontario, called Vile Creature.
“Pessimistic is about utilizing fantasy in all of its mediums (books, comics, TV, film) as an escape from the harshness of reality,” says guitarist and vocalist KW. “Specifically about how the relationships we glean from those mediums can be as valid and comforting as those we experience in this world. We create our own safety through community. Whether that community is fictional characters from a book or a group of friends you lean on is up to you.” The lyrics bear this out, though they don’t put it so plainly: “I speak in tongues known to few,” sings Vic, the band’s drummer. “I hide depression in pages / I scavenge for meaning.” Later in the song she builds an extended metaphor about cicadas: the nymphs spend years in burrows to avoid predators, but once the adults finally emerge, they die in just a few weeks even if they’re not eaten. “Craving escape / But knowing / It will lead to demise / Is our nature,” she sings. The underlying message seems bleak—staying clear of the people who want to do you harm can’t protect you forever.
