I received a message today on my phone from my friend, a fallen metalhead, who was like a younger brother to me. He fallen into heroin and cocaine addiction in his more recent years, and the message I got, in response to a query I sent (How's life, brotha?), was this:
"Dismal."
I shudder to think what meanings he attaches to this word. I post this here because I got him into true metal. When I met him he was a 14 year old kid who listened to slipknot and a7x. I was 17 at the time. I got him into black metal especially, and that remained his favorite to this day. We used to be in a black metal band together (me on 6 string bass, him on guitars, both of us on vokills) and in all other ways he's a true metal trooper. It's become almost an obsession to him, almost rivaling his obsession for destroying himself with heroin and crack cocaine.
If this sounds like an eulogy, it's because, in a way, it is. He is slowly digging his own grave, as cliche' as that sounds. I know that it is only a 1 word message he sent me, but I rarely hear from him these days, and each day it's worse. He is homeless and lives in the Tenderloin (a particularly foul part of SF).
I guess I'm just sad. Didn't know where else to post this, either.