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Chronicles of Chaos Issue 030
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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, April 13, 1998, Issue #30
http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel <mailto:hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contributor: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Drew Schinzel <mailto:drew@magpage.com>
Contributor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder
NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
'Details' section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #30 Contents, 04/13/98
----------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Cryptopsy: Blasphemous, Vile and Now Supreme
-- Ancient Ceremony: Tales of Vampyric Romanticism
-- Guillotine: Let Them Eat Cake
-- Officium Triste: Living A Lonesome Life
-- Sanctum: Momentum Through Emotion
-- Solefald: Unifying The Musical Extremes
* Album Asylum
-- Agoraphobic Nosebleed - _Honkey Reduction_
-- Amestigon - _Hollentanz_
-- Ancient Ceremony - _Under Moonlight We Kiss_
-- Arcturus - _La Masquerade Infernale_
-- Beyond Dawn - _Revelry_
-- Blood Duster - _Str8 Outta Northcote_
-- Captor - _Dogface_
-- Covenant - _Nexus Polaris_
-- Dellamorte - _Uglier and More Disgusting_
-- Desire - _Pentacrow_
-- Dirge / Grift - _Guilty by Association_ Split EP
-- Disfear - _Everyday Slaughter_
-- Domine - _Champion Eternal_
-- Ebony Tears - _Tortura Insomniae_
-- Elegeion - _Odyssey Into Darkness_
-- Empyrium - _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_
-- His Hero Is Gone - _Monuments to Thieves_
-- Krieg - _Rise of the Imperial Hordes_
-- Marduk - _Nightwing_
-- Mortician - _Zombie Apocalypse_
-- Necromortis - _Burning Priest_
-- Nefarious - _Global Warning_
-- October Tide - _Rain Without End_
-- Primal Fear - _Primal Fear_
-- Running Wild - _The Rivalry_
-- Sacramentary Abolishment - _The Distracting Stone_
-- Sculpture - _Like a Dead Flower_
-- Self - _The Sinister Urge_
-- Soulfly - _Soulfly_
-- Tribes of Neurot & Walking Time Bombs - _Static Migration_
-- Tristania - _Widow's Weeds_
-- Type O Negative - _After Dark_ <video>
-- W.A.S.P. - _Double Live Assassins_
-- Wicked Angel - _Heads Will Roll_
* New Noise
-- Agathodaimon - _Near Dark_
-- Odium - _Factor of Tantrum_
-- Soulstorm - _<demo>_
-- Tandus - _Logan Maut_
-- The Royal Blood - _Incantation of the Queen_
-- The Vein - _Under the Circumstance_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Impaling Them Burritos: Impaled Nazarene Play Mexico
* What We Have Cranked
* Details
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by: Gino Filicetti
Greetings rabid readers. Here's a quick note from me apologizing
for the tardiness of this issue. I know it's something you've come to
expect from us, but there is still no excuse, right? Well, things
have been very hectic for everyone here at CoC and it is for this
reason that regret to inform you that we will not be releasing our
next issue at the same time next month. We've chosen to take a month
off to give everyone a bit of breathing room and to settle on some
changes to the magazine.
Therefore, please do not fret during our extended absence over
the next month. We will be hard at work bringing you a killer issue
hopefully no later than May 1st.
Thanks to everyone for continuing the CoC legacy by reading and
sending us your thoughts. Until next time...
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
M""MMMMMMMM dP
M MMMMMMMM 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88
M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88
M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88
M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8
MMMMMMMMMMM
M""MMMMMMMM dP dP
M MMMMMMMM 88 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b.
M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo.
M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88
M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P'
MMMMMMMMMMM
This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here, e-mail it to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com> and enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.
[Seems for the first time in the history of Loud Letters, we haven't
received a single letter to print! Please don't forget about this
forum we have for our readers. This is your space, do with it as thou
wilt. -- Gino]
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B L A S P H E M O U S , V I L E A N D N O W S U P R E M E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Jon Levasseur of Cryptopsy
by: Paul Schwarz
There was a point when people said that death metal had met with its
own 'death'. Two things were supposed to prove this: 1) The trend had
become oversaturated and was destined to implode and disappear; 2) In
a very Spinal Tap-ish way people felt justified in posing the
question "Where can you go from there? Where?" and came up with the
answer "nowhere, exactly" in terms of extremity. The old death bands
could change but they couldn't maintain or intensify their sound.
Well, if any 'amp-that-goes-up-to-eleven' example need be given there
is probably none better (nor viler) than that of Canada's Cryptopsy,
who have not only consistently come out with new and original ideas
but have also consistently refined their, at first, 'hyperblast
grindcore' sound to make it more intense, faster and more 'annoying'.
With their new album out by the end of summer, guitarist Jon
Levasseur gave me the lowdown on the new material as well as various
other blasphemous lumps of flesh. Here is what transpired.
CoC: How's everything going?
Jon Levasseur: Everything is going fine; we're just concentrating on
the new album. We still have a month before we go into
the studio, so we're just practising and practising
and practising some more. That's all we're doing.
CoC: How's it going, how are the practises?
JL: It's going fine. It's always like that. Before we go into the
studio the jams get more and more intense and now we're up to the
point where we're filtering for all the little details, minor
things that we wanna make sure are perfect on the album. That's
what we're doing, we're just practising, trying to speed them up,
also, a bit. Flo [Mounier, drums] is trying to go a bit faster,
but it's not like blade raging faster; because how much faster
can you get? He's aiming for a bit faster and, at the speed were
going, there is a lot more unexpected stuff in the songs. We're
trying to be different once again. We experimented a lot. Two or
three songs on the album are kind of experimental and then maybe
two more are pretty basic, well basic: it's more like _None So
Vile_. A bit similar.
CoC: Basic on your terms.
JL: Exactly. Basically the difference between _Blasphemy Made Flesh_
and _None So Vile_ will be the same difference [as] between _None
So Vile_ and this next album.
CoC: That's what it says in the _Blasphemy Made Flesh_ re-release
booklet.
JL: We just reached an understanding with Displeased, because they
were printing the CD illegally, but it wasn't really their fault.
Our previous label, Invasion Records, sold the stuff to
Displeased by lying, saying the rights were theirs when that
wasn't true, but it's cool because Displeased is compensating for
all the royalties. We're very happy about that, now the problem
is that we're having trouble getting _None So Vile_ CDs, because
we distribute them ourselves, the best we can, in North America
and for _NSV_ we're exclusive in Canada: we supply all the HMVs.
CoC: Don't Wrong Again have any?
JL: Well, the thing is that Wrong Again split a while ago. Wes
started another label, WAR music, and Pear started Regain. The
contract with Wrong Again records is finished, but now it's not
clear who will get the stuff back and who will print the CDs.
CoC: Do you guys write a lot of songs and then a lot of them get
thrown out, or do you get a certain amount of songs down and
then work on those songs?
JL: Well, it really depends. We don't write a whole bunch of songs
and then take the ones we like, 'cause we want each song to be
very distinct, very apart from all the others. Even though there
are a few songs that, maybe, sound like a -bit- like a song on
_None So Vile_. It's gonna be different. Each song is different.
We're slow writers, we take two years per album and the reason is
simple: we don't want to write two songs within two months [of
each other] because the chances are that those two songs will
resemble each other a bit, they will be going in the same
direction, while if you wait another three months [that's
better]. We write one song per two, or three or even four months
just because; we get a song finished, we give ourselves time to
listen to more music, because we don't just listen to death metal
-- we listen to all kinds of stuff, and we just search for a few
months for ideas, for new stuff, for things no one never heard in
death metal. The main songwriters are me and Flo; for _None So
Vile_ that was very true, I wrote like 85% of the guitar and Flo
would obviously help me out structuring and everything and the
other 15% came form our ex-guitarist Steve [Thibault], but now
with our new guitarist Miguel [Roy] and Eric [Langlois, bass],
well, Eric was on _NSV_, but for the next album coming out he had
a lot more input just because he got used to our way of writing.
It's just like me, when I got in Cryptopsy for _Blasphemy Made
Flesh_ I was really influenced [by] Malevolent Creation and
Suffocation, so obviously I would come in and try to imitate
them, but they [the band] slapped me back to reality and said
"Look, buddy, this is not Suffocation, this is not Malevolent
Creation, this is Cryptopsy; you have to blend in with what
Cryptopsy wants to hear" and it took me a while to adapt. I
adapted for _NSV_ and Eric is adapting now. What's really cool is
that Miguel adapted very quick. He doesn't write major parts of
the songs but he has some really weird ideas which go really well
with what the band always wanted to be. It's a long process.
There was one song we started to write for the third album which
we totally scrapped, 'cause the song was going nowhere. Basically
that's pretty much how it works: when we have good ideas we stick
to them, try to evolve with them; if we have the feeling we're
not going anywhere [with a song], we scratch it but usually when
we start dishing out ideas and putting riffs together [in the
studio] we keep everything. For each five riffs that I'll write
at home we'll maybe take two of those -- which is good, 'cause we
don't wanna sound like anything else. When we write songs, we
think [about] what people will expect and then do something else,
we like playing with peoples' minds so people can listen and be
totally surprised. When you listen to an album you want something
that's different and that'll please your ear.
CoC: What record company are you with now?
JL: I am not supposed to tell you, but everybody knows, so if I just
say 'C' and 'M'...
CoC: Germany?
JL: US, but it's Century Media anyway. They're also supposed to be
opening up offices in Japan and Australia, which is -very-
interesting. The real contract isn't signed yet, but we sign
ahead of agreement -- that's a brief contract and everything in
there was -very- -very- acceptable. If we get the actual contract
and everything meets what the ahead of agreement said, we'll sign
with them. The way we see it, Century Media is looking for a band
that wants to work their ass off. Cryptopsy has always worked on
its own to get their name in the underground; Invasion did a bit
but not very much, Wrong Again records did a fairly good job --
well, a good job getting the name out there --, we were very
pleased. But we still booked our own shows, toured, and did other
merchandise than our CD, sold through mail-order and stuff like
that. Labels these days are really looking for a band that wants
to work, that wants to go on tour, not a band that'll just want
to do albums, not tour, sit at home and drink beer all day. They
told us, they said "If you guys want to work seriously, we're
gonna get Cryptopsy somewhere." That's what I have been doing
from day one, I do all the merchandise, mailing and everything,
and it's for a good reason: I know that Cryptopsy has the
potential, and what I find cool is that finally major labels are
admitting the fact that perhaps we could have been signed two
albums ago. But you know, back then death metal was shaky, nobody
wanted to risk to take a band but we said "Fuck it, we'll just do
what we believe in, we'll do what we wanna do," and gladly we see
the results of it.
CoC: When do you expect the new album to be out?
JL: We're gonna be in the studio this April and mid-summer, I guess,
will be the release, although I hope for mid-July; but we'll have
to see, with delays and everything.
CoC: Do you have a track run-down for it so far?
JL: Well, the album title is not decided for sure yet but it will
very probably be called _Whisper Supremacy_. We didn't want a
title which was typically death metal, like _None So Vile_; what
we liked about _NSV_ was that it was three small words but it
meant everything. We don't want a really long, complicated title.
CoC: Like Suffocation?
JL: Well, for them that's great, but it doesn't suit us. Cryptopsy is
pretty sick of the Satanism. We're not religious but we don't
believe in Satan either, because realistically if you believe in
God, you believe in Satan and if you believe in Satan, you
believe in God. We're sick of that whole image thing of blood and
bones and guts and flesh all over the place.
CoC: The black metal trend?
JL: Well no, even a lot of brutal death metal bands have that image.
We don't relate to that, basically we're all musicians who love
music, as much death metal as any other type of music and we just
do music because we like it and I think it shows on _NSV_ and
will show even more on the third album. We just try to bring the
music style that one step further because we feel, maybe two or
three years ago, the same music was getting remixed and remixed
and was pretty much the same. Nothing was really evolving and
that's really what we're trying to do, even though sometimes we
have ideas which are not death metal at all. On _NSV_, the riff
for "Lichmistress" is a blues riff, but once you put distortion
to it and a proper beat, it sounds brutal. But the successions of
notes are a blues scale. We like to experiment.
CoC: Who's writing the lyrics for the new album? [Lord Worm,
ex-vocalist, used to write the lyrics -- Paul]
JL: Lord Worm wrote 2 songs on the new album: "White Worm" and "Cold
Hate and Warm Blood". The six other ones are written by our new
vocalist Mike DiSalvo.
CoC: Has this altered the direction of the lyrics?
JL: Yes, Lord Worm was passioned [inspired? -- Paul] by real fucked
up people: serial killers, serial rapists. That's what he wrote
about and it's not that he's all for that; it's just that he
tried to explain the mental and physical procedures of a sick
person like that. What he would go through before doing that,
because he studied in Psychology in University. Lord Worm, a lot
of people find him a fucked up person, but he's an intelligent
man. He's really well educated, he knows what he's talking about.
Mike's vocals [lyrics? -- Paul] are not really political but more
personal, more emotional, some feelings that everyone can feel,
not just those serial rapists and murders. Some downs and lows
that anyone can live, depression and stuff like that, how
dangerous depression can be and what it can bring you to do. What
somebody who is really depressed might do, he doesn't want to
kill himself but he will kill his wife and two kids before he
kills himself. His voice alone is more powerful than Lord Worm's.
It's really in your face and he takes a lot of room on stage he
moves a lot. We've done ten or fifteen shows with him including
the Milwaukee Metalfest and I think my feet are still sore from
him stepping on them. He moves all over the place, you gotta
watch out for him.
CoC: On _None So Vile_ there was a classical art influence on the
packaging [the cover is Herodias with the head John the Baptist
by Elizabeth Sirani -- Paul]; who had that idea?
JL: The one who came up with the idea for the cover picture was Flo,
because he's really good with art; he studied in communications
and marketing and stuff like that, and he came up with that and
we looked at that and it all clicked right away. The cover is so
brutal because when you think of what really happened to John the
Baptist, it's so brutal -- how he died and for what he died. He
died for a dance, the daughter danced and then he got his head
chopped off, that's vile, it's "none so vile", because nobody
these days would do a dance for somebody's head. Even though
there is no blood and guts on the cover, it's classy, it looks
good, but it's still very brutal. That's how we like to think of
ourselves: we're really brutal but we try to do it in a good way,
with good taste and originality. That cover took a lot of people
by surprise.
CoC: I think that album also looks a lot better. All the Cannibal
Corpse albums are really sick, but -I- prefer covers like Morbid
Angel's _Blessed Are the Sick_ -- it's an amazing picture. It
can be better to have a 'real' picture than gore art.
JL: Something that doesn't suggest blood, guts and everything because
we're personally sick of that. Cannibal Corpse, *at the time*,
when they brought out _Butchered at Birth_, people were pretty
surprised and said '-this- is a brutal cover.' Everyone stole
that idea and re-did it. Since we try musically to be distinct
from everyone else, sometimes because of the speed, sometimes
because of how well try to make a riff sound totally weird and
-annoying-, because to be honest there are a few parts on the new
album which people will find -annoying-. It's really annoying,
it's Cryptopsy, don't get me wrong, but God is it annoying. It
sounds circular. It's not nice and classical, it's annoying but
it's different.
CoC: I think it's where bands should go now and are going.
[I chat briefly to Jon about the new Morbid Angel album, which he
hasn't got yet, and point out that it ends with a strange electronic
sounding track which Jon sees nothing wrong with but points out]
JL: We'll have a few samples and stuff but we really try to keep it
natural, because Cryptopsy wants to be as natural as possible:
the bass, two guitars, the drums. If you look at _None So Vile_,
there's a lot of stuff we could have put in, for instance I could
have put a lot more harmony in my solos. But, our motto is, if we
can't do it live, we won't do it on album, because we want to let
people know we're natural -- what you hear on the album is what
you hear live. There will definitely be a few samples here and
there but, with our instruments, we really tried to go beyond --
getting some strange ideas, and with Miguel, our new guitarist,
he had some strange ideas which was very cool. I can't wait till
people actually hear it, I hope they like it. We were scared for
_NSV_, we thought it would be too much. At first we did not have
that good a response. People were expecting something like
_Blasphemy Made Flesh_, but if we'd done that people would have
loved it -- the two first weeks, but after they would have said
it's the same thing. You have to, in some way, give what people
want to hear, but we're trying to give it in another way. We're
trying to be as brutal and even more if we can. I think it will
be more, it depends on how people see the concept of the songs.
When _NSV_ came out, people didn't like it right away. Four
months after _NSV_'s release everyone liked it, but the two first
months people weren't sure because it didn't sound like _BMF_.
That's okay, 'cause we expect that for the third album as well.
CoC: Do you have any touring plans?
JL: We're supposed to go on tour in the US with Dying Fetus this
summer. For Europe, the plan with Century Media is that we'll do
one tour in '98: North America; and we really, really hope to go
to Europe before the end of '98. It's still possible but, worst
case scenario, Century Media is really looking forward to making
us tour again in 1999: the US and Europe, -finally-. For _BMF_,
Europe was a lot better [than the US] and then for _NSV_ it was
the contrary. I know that in Europe people are dying to see us. I
can't wait to go to Europe, I've never been. We can't wait to go
to Europe, period; we can't wait to play there 'cause we know
that people want to see us.
CoC: Do you place more emphasis on the live performances [of your
songs]? Which are more definitive for you?
JL: The emphasis is the same. First of all, especially, our third
album and _None So Vile_ was pretty demanding for us. We have to
be as ready for a show and the feeling is the same as the studio
as we get closer to the tour. We know that on tour we'll have a
great time and we have to have the songs as good as in a studio.
In a studio there is even more concentration because of all the
little details in the new songs. The new songs don't stop,
they're like a speeding train which is going to smack you in the
face and run over you and won't stop until the last wagon goes
by. There are a few pauses, but it's really in your face. The
feeling that we get before going into the studio and before
playing live is pretty much the same. I know that some bands
record an album, stop jamming for a month or two and just live on
the road. I don't know how they can do that because, maybe it's
us being Cryptopsy, but, I swear to you that after two weeks, if
we were to come in and jam, it wouldn't be as good. We practice
four times a week steady, all year round and it has been like
that for four years and it's so demanding that we can't afford to
take a break before going on tour. The longest break we'll take
is when we come back from a tour, maybe a week off. We value our
studio -and- live performances a lot. Flo is the master of the
live performance. If Flo is in a good shape that night and he
says "OK guys, I'm gonna play faster tonight," well, we don't
have a choice but follow him. He did that in Milwaukee, he said
"OK guys, I'm pumped for this show, watch out" and often we'll
play even faster live.
CoC: Have you been happy with your previous releases?
JL: Yeah, we were really satisfied. _Blasphemy Made Flesh_ pretty
much said to the world 'this is what Cryptopsy is gonna be doing'
but we promised then, in doing that, that we were gonna try to
evolve as much as we could and that's what we did. _BMF_ had a
very good response. We were able to tour Canada entirely off that
album and people were very supportive. The only misfortune was
that we signed with Invasion records and they screwed us big time
with the money and everything, but at the time we didn't really
mind because at least _BMF_ was printed on CDs and people could
[get to] know the songs. At that time we knew that we were far
from making money and we're still far from making money.
CoC: Bands always make this point. Entombed had to work between
Wolverine Blues and this new record and people think bands don't
have to do that sort of thing.
JL: We toured a bit with Morbid Angel, we know that those guys don't
work. Well, maybe now.
CoC: No, I don't think they do, 'cause they're the only death metal
band who've retained their appeal. They still get featured in
the mainstream metal press. They were very lucky to get that
level of success [and I don't mean they were -just- lucky, I
think MA are also one of the best and most hardworking bands in
death metal -- Paul].
JL: Morbid Angel stayed true throughout.
CoC: Absolutely.
JL: They said: "we're brutal and were going to stay brutal -- until
the death of Morbid Angel." That's what they have been doing and
that's admirable.
CoC: They don't have to work, but Pete and Trey practise every day.
It's exactly the same as what you were saying: it seems the
bands that work -are- the bands who find success [bandwagon
jumpers, but that doesn't apply here -- Paul].
JL: We try not to be lazy. Say we get a bit of money, often bands
take their profit and have a huge party, but if you do that you
lose the chance to invest that money in more. We're not expecting
to make any money, the only thing we expect is that when we go on
tour we have a decent life. We all work. Then again, we said to
ourselves that in reality Cryptopsy was what we wanted it to be,
Cryptopsy is a trip. The way we saw it was that if we're gonna
play this style of music we're gonna play it to the metal, to the
god damn extreme and that's how we think and like to think of
ourselves and how we work on songs. I think it shows in the songs
that we like music; we really like to bring out everything that
has been made or even new stuff in our music, even though it's
not [necessarily] death metal. We do this for fun, it's obvious
when we play live and in the studio, when we have to work on the
details and make this album perfect we want to, we really want
to: fast, intense, tight and everything.
CoC: What music originally influenced you personally and the band as
a whole?
JL: Well, in '92 we were all huge death metal fans: Napalm Death,
Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, old Entombed,
Dismember, everything that was brutal, Malevolent Creation. For
me, personally, the two best death metal albums that have ever
been made are _Effigy of the Forgotten_ from Suffocation and
Malevolent Creation's _Retribution_.
CoC: The technicality of _Effigy of the Forgotten_ is crazy.
JL: Oh yeah! For the time in '92 when I heard 'dun dun dun dun
tata-tata-tata-tata' I thought 'jeez what the hell is this!'
Suffocation made a huge impact and to say that Suffocation had no
impact on Cryptopsy would be lying. I don't think any young death
metal band; ourselves, Internal Bleeding, Dying Fetus, Autumn
Leaves can say that _EotF_ had no influence on their music, I
don't believe that. Other than that, I'll listen to some
Alsylyola 'cause I love great guitar playing -- my favourite
guitarist is Yngwie Malmsteen. I listen to Dream Theatre, I
worship them. Those guys are gods. Primus. Sometimes Cradle of
Filth, sometimes Kenny G, I like everything that's really
technical, regardless of the instrument. But I don't like
commercial music. Eric listens to some Primus, to Pastorius; the
bassist that died a while ago, he was a fucking amazing bassist.
And Miguel, our new guitarist, he's still more into really brutal
death metal, but he will listen to other types of music which are
really annoying, which makes him bring in a lot of interesting
ideas for the new songs. Mike likes brutal stuff, he likes stuff
like, well we all like... what's their name, they're huge...
[It takes a whole minute before I say]
CoC: Dead Can Dance?
JL: Dead Can Dance!!! Yeah, we worship them. Those guys are gods.
Musically; they take every music style that has ever existed and
just incorporate it perfectly. If you like music, you have to
like Dead Can Dance and if you don't you have to at least
appreciate the fact that these guys know how to get some very
interesting music out there. Mike listens to a lot of hardcore
and brutal music. Flo has a huge bagload of music from Led
Zeppelin, to Bjork, to Jeff Buckley, to brutal music, to Primus,
to Dream Theatre, to Dennis Chambers, to Dave Weckles, whatever
he likes. We like what we like; if it's not death metal it
doesn't mean we won't like it. In any style not all the albums
are good, but the ones that are good we appreciate. I love Dream
Theatre, they have the talent to put really aggressive stuff with
technical stuff that you wouldn't believe and that I wouldn't
even try playing. It's the hardest question to answer because
there are just so many bands that we listen to, but, in death
metal, everything that was brutal, we loved; and The Gathering.
CoC: Any other mediums that have influenced you? Film, books, etc.?
JL: Lord Worm, yes, by horror movies and the writings of Clive
Barker; but the rest of us, not really. Our whole lives evolved
around music and, until I die, music will be the main thing in my
life. It's funny, we all had the same history of listening to
music from the day we were born until now, we're all four the
same. Mike is like that. Lord Worm explored a lot of other
artistic things like movies and books.
CoC: What's the scene like in Canada?
JL: The scene, as touring goes, is a lot healthier than people think.
We toured Canada twice and both times were worthwhile. Band-wise
it's incredible. There's us, Oblivion, Gorguts -- who are going
to dish out a new album that's so twisted you will not believe, I
can't wait until the album comes out --, Kataklysm, Obscene
Crisis, Cro-Vadis, Demount. These bands all kick ass. In Ontario,
you have this very sarcastically named band called Summertime
Daisies, and it's brutal death. In Saskatchewan, Pericardium, who
are very brutal and experimental... Musically, being a very proud
Canadian, I am very flattered. That we got our asses kicked in
ice hockey, that I have not stomached yet. I nearly cried when we
lost. Because the religion in Canada is ice hockey, fuck God,
it's ice hockey.
CoC: I think in Europe it's the former Soviet block countries which
are producing the greatest volume of good, brutal music. Bands
like Vader.
JL: Poland is a godly country for the underground. Our ultimate dream
would be to tour Europe opening up for Vader. It would be unreal.
We have the highest respect for those guys, 'cause, like us, they
have stayed brutal but on each album there is something new to
listen to and you never get sick of it.
[I mention Vader's touring slot with Morbid Angel]
JL: We did some shows with them when they were in Canada. To our
surprise, Morbid Angel were the coolest guys, as are Suffocation.
We weren't sure we'd make it home -- we partied so hard... When a
band is as big as Morbid Angel, you say to yourself "we won't
bother them," but no, Pete and Dave came right up to us and they
were really great guys.
CoC: Some bands just get reputations. With Deicide everyone thinks
they're fucked up and apparently that's untrue.
JL: We've never actually spoken to Deicide and I'll admit to you I
have also heard that they have this rockstar attitude. I heard
the same thing about Morbid Angel and that was completely wrong,
'cause they were super-cool with us. When you get that big,
people start rumours. One thing that we have to admit about
Deicide, though, is that they never altered their ideas, they
always stuck to what they wanted to do. I read an interview with
Glen recently and he said "Well, we're Deicide, we started off
doing this music and we'll continue doing this music, and anyone
who expects to have classical guitar or some chick singing on our
next record, well, they can listen to someone else." Personally,
with the chick thing, I don't really find that brutal, we won't
do it. But then again we'll have some classical guitar on this
next album. I can't tell you too much 'cause it will take out the
punch.
CoC: Is the album longer than usual?
JL: It's a tad longer than _None So Vile_... a few minutes.
CoC: You had two samples, one at the beginning and one at the end, of
_NSV_...
JL: Lord Worm came up with the first one. Flo came up with the last
one and to us it's more funny than sarcastic and when you first
listen to the album you don't really expect it. People who heard
that for the first time were dying with laughter. We're gonna
have something on the end of the new album which will be even
more funny, but I -can't- say.
CoC: Don't tell me, I want the surprise.
JL: You're gonna laugh, especially if you know where it comes from.
CoC: Anything more you wanna say to the readers of CoC?
JL: Well, we hope, the next album will rocket us through the world,
because we're hungry to play the rest of the world. We really
want to get out there and play for all the people who have
supported us since 1993, it's been a while and we have had
constant support. We really hope this next album will be
something different and that people will like it, 'cause we do. I
hope we'll be able to play for every Cryptopsy fan in the world
soon. I know that a lot of people have been waiting for us and I
just want to say keep it sick, keep the underground alive and
Cryptopsy are doing their best so this underground has something
new. We, and many other bands, are trying to make this
underground as strong as it was before, even though it will be
hard. The new album will be brutal but still different and maybe
the first listen will be pretty hard and people won't really
realise what's happening. With the underground, you have to
surprise people to keep them interested and we're not the only
ones doing that.
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T A L E S O F V A M P Y R I C R O M A N T I C I S M
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Christian Anderle of Ancient Ceremony
by: Pedro Azevedo
The metal scene is made of many love-or-hate situations; be it for
extreme doom, black or death metal, traditional heavy metal,
you-name-it metal, the use of classical instruments or female voices
in metal... or vampyric themes being used in metal. Now this is where
Ancient Ceremony step in. How many of you are indifferent to having
vampyrism mixed in your music? Some love it, some hate it, but I
don't know many who stay indifferent. It was a significant part of
what made Cradle of Filth what they are now (and it sure has sold a
huge amount of t-shirts and such for them). This became one of the
topics in my e-mail conversation with Ancient Ceremony vocalist
Christian Anderle. Both Ancient Ceremony guitarists have recently
left the band and are now being replaced, as a new album is prepared;
this and a better production may turn the follow-up to their _Under
Moonlight We Kiss_ (reviewed in this issue) into something stronger.
Read on to find out more about all this and Anderle's views on metal
and vampyrism.
CoC: How would you describe the music and atmosphere to be found in
your _Under Moonlight We Kiss_?
Christian Anderle: Unique symphonic darkness evokes romantic
scenarios of gothic vampyre horror!
CoC: I know your band has been around for several years now, and I
think vampyrism has become quite a trend in extreme metal during
this period. Does that bother you?
CA: Each trend starts getting on one's nerves some day and
unfortunately we have to witness this magnificent vampyre theme
getting abused by too many weak fakes, currently. Most of them
simply are unable to suck out the immense power this bewitching
combination of different darkened facets offers -- posers like,
for example, Nastrond, Mystic Circle or Black Funeral, who know
absolutely nothing about the background, the emotions and the
essential focus of vampyrism -- they are nothing more than silly
trend monkeys. It is especially this fact that makes me furious,
but to my delight there are also some bands that spread this
majestic phenomenon the way it deserves to be presented.
CoC: How tired are you of being compared to your current labelmates
Cradle of Filth because of your vampyric / dark romantic themes?
CA: At a certain point, I was a bit afraid there might perhaps be too
many cries of plagiarism. Some parallels are obvious (and the
fact we got signed up by Cacophonous did not make it easier, but
should we have denied their great offer for such a reason?!) and
are caused by similar influences, similar spirit and similar
reflection. In the meanwhile, the situation has calmed down a lot
as most people could read our arguments in interviews. Moreover,
we have found our rather unique, individual musical identity
through _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ and thus an increasing number
of black souls experience that we are definitely no
Cradle-clones. One aspect is that the story on the actual opus is
a lyrical concept and the decision to do so was sealed back under
the Winter moon of 1994/95, a time when this vampyre-trend (which
was mainly caused by the tremendous success of CoF -- and by the
way they've earned it in my opinion, for they have an original
style and are very talented in composing and performing) had not
started at all. The main argument is in any case the title song
of our "Cemetary Visions" MCD, which was unleashed in February
1994. I wrote the poetry for this already in late 1993 and it
deals with a vamypric love in the tragic, romantic, lovelorn,
erotic and highly dark way. Hence we can state with it to have
adapted this stuff even at a time when this normally more
gothic-based theme was almost virgin-like to the genres of
extreme metal!
CoC: How much do vampyrism and dark romanticism really mean to you,
on a more personal basis?
CA: On the throne of my individual superior existence there are
sitting two aspects: on the one hand my innermost true Satanic
philosophy; on the other hand dark music as my leading medium of
expression. As guiding seraphims I had to name vampyrism, dark
romanticism, dark eroticism... anyway, I feed my mighty soul
mainly with all that implies the divine embrace of darkness!
CoC: What do you think of that use of vampyrism in black metal,
compared to how you use it yourselves?
CA: As already said before, this high number of silly idiots who only
(ab)use it as a trend-theme pisses me off. But there is also a
small number of bands that know how to evoke the deeper mood of
it, of course Ancient Ceremony is amongst those supreme artists
in my opinion. Nevertheless, my poetry on our next strike _Fallen
Angel's Symphony_ shall deal also with several other themes,
rather than only vampyrism, such as Satanism, gothic horror,
mythology or angelology.
CoC: In your opinion, why does Satanism and vampyrism appear linked
to each other in extreme metal so frequently?
CA: There is mostly a common spirit to be found in the fans and
consumers of extreme metal (extreme music in general?!),
consisting of a certain feeling of rebellion, of being different
from the masses, combined with aspects of the darkside (new
generation of black metal, for instance) or aggression (brutal
death metal, grind...). This logically finds its reflection in
the musical taste and, as a consequence, also in the lyrical
illumination. Moreover, each metal musician who wants to earn a
certain success has to sell his/her soul to Satan, haha!
CoC: What are your main musical and lyrical influences nowadays?
CA: We aim to create our individual Ancient Ceremony style and have
managed to do so better than ever on _Under Moonlight We Kiss_.
Our music is a rather unique mixture of elements such as death,
dark, black, doom, heavy, gothic combined with darkwave,
classical music and (horror-)soundtracks. My lyrics might be seen
as a tribute to such masters as Byron, Nietzsche, Crowley,
LeFanu, Poe, Goethe, Stoker, de Sade... presenting mainly gothic
horror, vampyres and ghosts. Furthermore, I have to name as
influences works on Satanism, black magic(k), mythology,
angels..., dark photo-books (Marsden, Axelrod) and of course all
music that offers a certain dark avantgarde feeling,
horror-soundtracks ("Omen", "Dracula", "Interview with the
Vampyre", "Frankenstein", a.o.) and movies as well as darkness
(the central source which combines all those cited here!), dreams
or visions. My poetry is highly individual and thus it is
presented as a personal reflection of the dark illumination the
above named grant to me!
CoC: Your band is from Germany, a country which is currently perhaps
the largest consumer of metal in Europe. What are your feelings
about that? Does it help Ancient Ceremony?
CA: Market and scene here are very vast indeed, which causes certain
advantages as well as some fuck ups. It is definitely cool when
it comes to gigs or tours, as most of the live activities in
European territory are performed in Germany, moreover almost all
shirts, CDs, etc. are available here. Nevertheless, there are
lots of trendies and the commercialisation is increasing too
much, business gets more and more dominant. Like at most other
places trendy and silly, quantity seems to drown innovative
quality, though there are regularly some good bands arising. The
money to earn with a release possibly has a much higher
importance than the passion for the music, but this is also a
more global development, especially in the age of the CD, which
means lower costs and higher profit. Being from Germany helps us
when it comes to the booking situation (we started cooperating
with a professional agency a few weeks ago), moreover I know
several people working for bigger publications, which makes it a
bit easier to get presented there through interviews or
something... but of course the competition here is harder than in
most other countries and thus the German market can be really
tough and full of lies.
CoC: How do you view the impact of bands such as Paradise Lost and
Moonspell in Germany through the release of much more commercial
albums (_One Second_ and _Sin / Pecado_, respectively) that
retain some dark/goth influences?
CA: I like [Paradise Lost's] _Gothic_ as well as Moonspell's first
MCD [_Under the Moonspell_] and of course the great _Wolfheart_
album, but the other releases of both acts do not affect me at
all -- especially the later ones that are the ultimate commercial
crap without identity, without soul and without passion. Paradise
Lost try to sound like the newer Metallica and Moonspell get more
and more ridiculous through transforming into a weak Type O-copy.
Well, the dark-goth influences get increasingly lost, for both
formations have unfortunately developed into feeble poser bands.
Nevertheless, we'll probably (hopefully) perform a festival gig
in July with, a.o., Moonspell and the (German) chartbreakers
Dimmu Borgir... I do not see a problem here, "bigger" bands bring
a wider audience; they shall perform their show and we'll do
ours.
CoC: If you could choose any place in the world to play live, where
would it be? And at what time of the day (or night)?
CA: Here I have to name several places to answer this cool question:
Carfax Abbey or one of Dracula's castles would be lovely, as well
as a concert in a pyramid of ancient Egypt. But in general it
would be greater than great to perform in cemetaries, castles,
Victorian / gothic villas, ruins, churches, cathedrals,
temples... all such places. Of course the show had to take place
when dusk ascends or under the purity of the nightsky, dominated
by our lunar empress and Her dancing children, the stars.
CoC: Please describe your view of what the perfect Ancient Ceremony
concert would look like and what you would like to see performed
on stage.
CA: The gig would be at one of the places named before, a gloomy
candlelight scenario is presented whilst the dismal tunes of
"Symphoni Satani" (a track from the upcoming album with
reminiscences of Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Goldsmith's "Omen"
soundtrack) embrace all the present dark souls as an overture. A
coffin is brought on stage and a sinister girl wearing a black
cape approaches with crimson fire in Her bewitching eyes. She
opens the coffin and kisses me (for it is me who lies in there).
I ascend and we start playing our superior compositions. I take
Her cape away and everybody can witness her iconic beauty, the
long black hair, the ivory skin, the crimson lips. She is wearing
skirt and bra made of latex as well as high leather boots and
presents some dance performance during our songs. Later she
throws black roses into the audience and some other lovely girls
are dancing all around, dressed as erotic angels with a white
thin shroud. On the right, there is standing a statue of Baphomet
made of ivory, on the left the same in ebony... well, I decide to
stop here, though there are lots of further ideas for a dark
choreography in me...
CoC: What musical changes can we expect for the forthcoming album?
CA: We'll start with the recording session for the upcoming opus
_Fallen Angel's Symphony_ in late May together with G. Magin who
already worked for acts such as Crematory (ultimate pussies!!)
and Theatre of Tragedy. We are currently busy with composing the
final missing track and then we'll do some final arrangments.
There are some small changes to be expected as the songs
themselves are a bit straighter in their structure and the mix of
different genres here goes more between the songs. Hence it is a
bit more "inter" than "intra" in comparison to _Under Moonlight
We Kiss_, but do not worry, it will definitely be an album which
presents the individual, rather unique style of Ancient Ceremony!
Some songs will appear a bit softer with more goth-influence,
whilst most compositions are a bit rougher... all in all they are
again of a certain symphonic darkness. Creations such as "Death
in Desire's Masquerade", "Devil's Paradise" or "Vampyresque
Weddingnight" should turn out as some ultimate highlights. There
will be a new female chantress (the other one was fantastic, but
her behaviour besides the singing was unacceptable) and we also
want a small choir to sing some passages; let's hope this will
finally happen. Now with a new producer and new guitarists the
discreet sound problems of _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ should be
overthrown. Besides, I am currently busy with the aesthetic
concept for the booklet and cover -- if some of my visions turned
out as reality, the artwork for _Fallen Angel's Symphony_ will be
definitely over the top. Time will tell...
CoC: Will your lyrical and atmospheric inspirations remain the same
in the near future, or do you feel new sources of interest
arising?
CA: _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ was a concept story and thus the lyrics
remained mostly in the genre of this "gothic vampyre", but as
already said, the next album will feature different poetical
themes as the facets of the illumination of mine are vast indeed.
I named some titles before, others like "Babalon Descends" or
"The Tragedy of Forsaken Angel's" should state my words.
CoC: What is your main wish for the future of Ancient Ceremony?
CA: To reach an even wider audience without changing the music, to
become bigger without betrayal of the own roots and spirit
(unlike so many other acts). The cooperation with the booking
agency will hopefully grant us an increasing number of live
performances and the upcoming opus _Fallen Angel's Symphony_ has
to become as divine as possible when it comes to the trinity of
compositions, artwork and poetry. All in all, we aim at spreading
our dark superior creations to as many lunatics as possible,
perhaps we might reach a place as seraphim next to the throne of
extreme metal within the following years.
CoC: Engrave a suitable epitaph for this interview here, if you
wish...
CA: Thanx for this really impressive interview and best luck for you
and your publication. The last copies of our _Where Serpents
Reign_ demo are available for 6$, the MCD _Cemetary Visions_
costs 10$. Those who can not find _Under Moonlight We Kiss_
elsewhere should feel free to order it at the band's address for
16$ (all prices include p&p). Merchandise of us should be
available in late Spring, Cacophonous will do some longsleeves
whilst we manufacture our own t-shirt "Seducing even Angels" --
watch out for those. All darkened souls are recommended to
embrace with the ardent aura of our majestic homepage at:
http://www.grave.com/~mega/AncientCeremony/index.html
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L E T T H E M E A T C A K E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Sweden's Guillotine
by Adrian Bromley
Play it loud! Fuck shit up! Run around like a madman, playing
metallic riffs heavy enough to make your ears bleed and an attitude
that'll leave them running for cover. This is it, man! Thrash metal
for the 90s with an 80s approach.
The thrash metal band in question is Swedish trio Guillotine and
their debut album for Necropolis Records called _Under the
Guillotine_ is a manic return to the days when German-styled thrash
metal gods Kreator ruled the metal scene. Back then, sharp notes and
deafening screams of anguish filled the scene as thrash metal was
then a staple part of a healthy metal scene. Fast forward to 1998
and, while thrash metal may not be a common style practiced by many
bands nowadays, some bands are kicking out the tunes 'retro' style,
Guillotine being one of them. They won't deny it. Guillotine are
'retro' and thrash metal, but most importantly they dish it out big
time with their debut and they do it oh-so well.
"We have always been into this kind of music since we were
kids," says bassist Snake over the phone from Sweden. "I think first
this was a dedication and celebration to all of the great bands that
we listened to when we were growing up and are still listening to.
But then when we heard the album and the end results we started
taking this a bit more seriously and decided to go all the way with
this sound and style. I think this is a great album."
Seeing that Guillotine hail from Sweden and their label is
located in Fremont, California, I ask, "How did you hook up with an
American label for the debut?" He answers, "When we made the demo we
didn't think many labels would be into us 'cause when we made the
demo, back in 1995, this whole 'retro' thing hadn't started and there
were no other bands playing this style. We sent out the material to a
few select labels that we thought would be into our music. Labels
like Necropolis, Osmose and Malicious Records in Germany. We had
tremendous feedback from all the labels we had shipped our stuff to
and everyone wanted to have us. We negotiated with several of them
but Necropolis came up with the best deal, so we signed with them."
On the topic of recording the album, Snake (along with fellow
Guillotine-ers Spider on vocals/guitar and drummer Cobra) admits that
all of the ideas were ready to go before heading into the studio to
record the debut. "We had all the ideas going into the studio. But
y'know what? It's funny how you always hear how songs shape
themselves when they are recorded properly. We experienced that too.
We have demoed a lot of the material but they sounded really poor. It
was great that we were able to do some good studio work to enhance
the sound rather than have muffled demo versions on the LP."
Getting more in-depth about the material on _Under the
Guillotine_, Snake comments, "We spent a lot of focus on both the
song writing aspect and the production of this record. Both are
equally important for us and to maintain a strong Guillotine sound.
All of us in the band are real studio freaks and love to work on
songs and all that shit. It's a lot of fun for us to be in the
studio. We are currently building our own studio to have to work on
future recordings. I mean, we are really into this whole thing of
making music and recording songs. It's what we do. We have for years
recorded all of our material and styles we have worked on. It's all
kept on tape. We already have all of these riffs and ideas in our
heads for the next record. The next record should go by pretty quick,
much faster than this one, 'cause we are eager to get in there and
get this stuff out. The thing about us and recording is that we have
been doing this for a long time and it comes fast to us. We don't
like to spend time fixing things up in the studio. We like to keep
the material of Guillotine raw."
He adds, "Playing music is what we do and we wouldn't have it
any other way. It's our passion. I mean music is constantly in our
lives. If we aren't writing music, we are listening to it. If we
aren't listening to it, we are recording it. We try to keep our lives
focused around music because that is what we love to do. So we try to
keep this a 24-hour job as much as possible."
Obviously knee-deep into the whole 'retro/thrash' thing, how
does Guillotine feel about all of these bands paying homage to thrash
metal in 1998? Is it a rip-off of a sound and style or is it genuine
interest in that style of music? "This whole 'retro' thing is coming
back and I know we are a part of that. All of these metal riffs and
speed metal sounds seem to be coming back and that is a good thing,
but we've had this plan to play this music for a long time," notes
Snake. "We had delayed this whole idea and style of Guillotine for a
while 'cause we had a lot of other things we had to finish up first.
I mean, we are part of this whole retro thing, we acknowledge that,
and are proud to be playing this style of music."
He continues, "It's great to see a lot of bands going back to
this style, but this whole 'retro' thing is getting out of hand and
going trendy on us. And that bugs me. A lot of these new bands come
out and play that style. Bands are formed to play 'retro' 'cause it
is the IN thing to play now. They make one album and then you never
hear from them again. The same is happening with black metal too.
Supposedly 9 out of 10 black metal bands are Satanists, but how many
of them really are? It just frustrates me to see it all go this way.
It's amazing to see how many bands are out there that aren't real and
put out one album and then fade away when the style has gone away."
So then how does Guillotine get past the idea of people calling
them 'trendy' and/or 'retro'?
"We don't really care what people say about us. We are pretty
realistic about what we are doing and why we are doing it. We do this
'cause it's really fun. I think as long as you keep it at this level
then you won't have a problem. We do this for fun. We don't really
have a message to carry across to our fans. We aim to have fun while
doing this and that's it. We are a band that aims at being a good
band and that's it."
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L I V I N G A L O N E S O M E L I F E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Pim Blankenstein of Officium Triste
by: Pedro Azevedo
Officium Triste seem to be trying to bring Dutch doom back. After
Celestial Season's excellent doom/death with violins in _Forever
Scarlet Passion_ in 1993 and _Solar Lovers_ in 1995, the current
Dutch doom scene is essentially made of melodic bands like The
Gathering and Within Temptation, as well as Orphanage, to some
extent. Not many more bands within that scene have risen in the past
couple of years, and Officium Triste try to be the exception.
Existing for almost four years now, their debut full-length _Ne
Vivam_, which I reviewed in CoC #29, features competent doom/death.
Despite some faults, _Ne Vivam_ has very enjoyable parts and the band
showed potential, so I proceeded to interview vocalist Pim
Blankenstein through e-mail.
CoC: What's the story of Officium Triste so far?
Pim Blankenstein: Okay, here we go. Officium Triste was founded in
March/April 1994. We had been together under a
different name and with different line-ups. Anyway,
we weren't happy with what we were doing and
decided to start all over again as Officium Triste.
We recorded a demo in the summer of 1994 and a 7"
EP _Mountains of Depressiveness_ in 1995. Due to
some circumstances, we released it in 1996. Then we
got an offer to release a CD on Teutonic Existence
Records, which we did. _Ne Vivam_ was released in
April 1997. J
ust recently we've recorded some new
tracks which we will release as a split MCD with
Cold Mourning (USA).
CoC: Please tell us more about the name of your band, Officium
Triste, and this album's title, _Ne Vivam_.
PB: As I already told you in the first question, we came to a point
on which we restarted in 1994 and Johan, our guitar player, came
up with the name Officium Triste. We all felt it sounded very
cool and it's quite original as well. He dug it up from a latin
dictionary and it means something like "a last gesture of honour
to a dead person." _Ne Vivam_ was part of the lyrics to the intro
of our demo, and it means something like "I may die." We feel it
says everything about the atmosphere of the songs on the CD, so
it fits as an album title.
CoC: _Ne Vivam_ has a quite simple, yet very effective, booklet,
based upon a black marble background and few embellishments. How
important was it for you to have a package like this?
PB: We wanted something very sober as a cover. The idea behind it is
a headstone, but we didn't want to use a real headstone, so we
came up with the black marble background with golden lettering,
which of course can be related to our band's name and album
title. Because of this soberness, we stand out between the usual
metal covers, which is exactly what we want.
CoC: Being a doom band, Officium Triste also have several lighter
moments (or at least not as doomy), especially in "Stardust" and
"The Happy Forest", which, in my opinion, don't fit the mood
created by the rest of the songs very well. Why did you choose
to include these lighter parts?
PB: I can see what you mean. I think "Stardust" fits the overall
feeling of the album, especially lyrically. Musically it's not
that different either, perhaps only the opening riff. "The Happy
Forest" is a totally different story, though; we know it differs
a lot. Therefore, we decided to put it on the album as the last
song. We had a discussion about it -- whether we should put it on
the album or not, but the reactions to the song were so great
when we played it live that we decided to put it on the album.
You should see it this way: it's a song to put you back on earth
after listening to the album. We don't want our listeners to be
totally depressive after listening to our music. It also seems to
be a song people love or hate.
CoC: Holland has seen its share of excellent metal bands, and one
doom metal band was remarkable a few years ago: Celestial
Season, of whom, unfortunately, only the name remains, for the
quality violin-filled doom/death found in _Forever Scarlet
Passion_ and _Solar Lovers_ now belongs to the past. What is
your opinion about this? Was this Dutch band an influence to
you?
PB: It's cool that they have that success. If they can open doors for
other bands then that's okay. Hopefully we can follow in their
footsteps. I agree their first two albums are excellent. But I
can enjoy their newer stuff as well, although you should see them
as a totally different band of which, indeed, only the name stays
the same. I wouldn't consider them as an influence, because at
the time we started I was the only person in the band that had
heard of them. The other guys got to know them a bit later.
CoC: I would risk saying that there are slight traces of My Dying
Bride, Anathema and perhaps even Katatonia in your music, mixed
with your own style. Do you agree? What bands would you mention
as most influential for Officium Triste?
PB: Well, you answered this question yourself. Those are the bands we
love. Old Paradise Lost and Chorus of Ruin have also been
influential to us.
CoC: About your lyrics, you attempt something that isn't very common
nowadays (at least not in my experience), as you frequently use
rhymes in your verses. Why?
PB: I don't know. That's the way I write lyrics. I haven't thought
about it, really; it's just the way I do it. I guess it's just a
natural thing to me. I've got no further explanation. I know I'm
not trying to copy anyone.
CoC: Your lyrics seem quite personal, especially in tracks such as
the excellent "Lonesome" and "One With the Sea". Would you like
to tell us more about the music and lyrics found in those two
tracks?
PB: I think there are some personal traces to be found within the
lyrics, but in general I write from the perspective of an
imaginary person. I know for sure "Lonesome" definitely is
personal, but I'd rather keep that for myself, if you don't mind.
"One With the Sea" is about someone who can't cope with life in
modern society and finally commits suicide, which I would never
do. So that song is less personal. I always try to write lyrics
that have the same feeling as the music -- you know it would be
silly to sing about parties on the music we make.
CoC: In "Psyche Nullification", you repeatedly refer to suicide in
several ways. What are your feelings on that subject?
PB: As I said in the previous question, I mostly write from the
perspective of someone else. This particular song is about a
person who has voices inside his head. He cannot deal with it and
tries to kill himself. My personal view towards suicide is that I
find it a very interesting subject to think about. I mean, what
drives certain people to the point where they decide to end their
lives? Personally, I would never commit suicide, for I think that
you should try to overwin your problems, no matter what. I also
feel that there's a lot in life you still want to do or see, so
that would hold me from commiting suicide.
CoC: _Ne Vivam_ has very heavy guitars, strong drums and deep vocals;
many doom bands, however, have been going softer lately (some of
them succeeding, like Anathema with their emotional _Eternity_).
Do you plan to become instrumentally or emotionally overall
lighter in the future?
PB: No way. What other bands want to do is up to them. We want to
stay as heavy as possible. Perhaps every now and then we will
integrate some lighter parts within the songs, but we still want
to be as heavy as we can. Our newest songs are actually more
varied, with some uptempo parts, but it always will be heavy.
CoC: What are your plans for the near future? Is there a new album
being prepared yet?
PB: We've recorded three new songs, of which two will appear on a
split MCD with Cold Mourning, as mentioned before. We don't know
what will happen to the third song at this time (it was supposed
to be on a compilation CD, but that has been cancelled.) There
are no plans for a new album at this moment, because we don't
have a deal right now. We will keep writing new songs and we'll
just have to see what happens.
CoC: Please add a final message, if you wish...
PB: First of all I have to thank you, Pedro, for this interview and
your interest in Officium Triste. Anyone else interested in our
music should get in touch. Doom on!!
Contact: Officium Triste, c/o Pim Blankenstein
Belgischestraat 46 B
3028 TH Rotterdam, HOLLAND
mailto:Silk@ipr.nl
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M O M E N T U M T H R O U G H E M O T I O N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Sanctum
by: Adrian Bromley
It takes a lot of talent to be able to capture a specific
emotion in song writing, but to be able to capture a multiple array
of emotions, make them sonically appealing, and still manage to keep
it interesting goes beyond talent. Few bands have this ability; they
opt instead to stick to formula. But Swedish instrumental/ambient
outfit Sanctum is not like the rest of the bands out there. Their
emotionally charged debut LP _Lupus in Fabula_ (on Swedish
ambient/extreme music label Cold Meat Industry) brings a sweet change
to ambient music, emphasizing long states of emotional recklessness,
intricate ideas and passionate overtones.
Presently, Sanctum -- comprised of ambient gurus Jan Carleklev,
Lena Robert, Hakan Paulsson and Marika Ljungberg -- are in the
process of working on a follow-up to _Lupus in Fabula_, but Jan
Carleklev took time out to talk to Chronicles of Chaos by e-mail
about the band, their music and future ideas for the band. Read on.
CoC: In terms of where Sanctum is headed musically or creatively, do
you think you will ever reach your final destination with
Sanctum? Or are the ideas constantly evolving the band and its
music?
Jan Carleklev: I hope we never reach our final destination. If we
feel that we don't have anything more to give the
band, we'd have to look somewhere else to refresh our
minds -- and that should be the end of Sanctum. At
this moment I can't see a situation like that
happening, as we have so much to give to the band. The
fact that we all have other projects going on keeps us
from being bored, and keeps our minds clear to focus
on what we will achieve with Sanctum.
CoC: Do you find your music peaceful? If not, how does your music
affect you?
JC: I have never used the word "peaceful" when I have described our
music -- to me, it has too many penetrating feelings to be
peaceful. But someone else might use that word to describe
Sanctum. The impact our music has on me varies, and I have
noticed the impact varies on the listener as well. A tune that I
feel is beautiful and happy, a listener can experience in a sad
and harsh way. Creating music is something that I must do to
survive. That may sound pompous, but it is true. It is a way for
me to express myself, and when I'm sitting in my studio and
creating a tune it is like I am in a totally different world. I
do this to satisfy myself, but knowing that people appreciate our
music is great. It makes striving to reach new grounds worth it.
CoC: How has being on Cold Meat Industry helped the band? What other
bands on the label do you enjoy?
JC: Cold Meat Industry has made our music available for other people,
and I'm really glad that we have the ability to work with CMI. So
far we have had free hands to do what we want to do, and that
freedom is something that we must have to be able to carry on
with Sanctum. But, in a way, I think that being a CMI band can
prevent us from reaching other audiences, too. Concerning other
bands on the label, I really like BDN, Deutsch Nepal, Mental
Destruction and Arcana, to mention some. But there are many on
the label that I don't like at all.
CoC: What influenced you to play this type of music? Do you like
other forms of music, or mostly atmospheric/ambient music?
JC: I/we have no intention of creating a certain "type" of music.
Sanctum just uses the components that are necessary to reach the
feeling we are looking for. We do not try to sound industrial or
ambient or any other genre/style. And of course we like other
forms of music! The band members' tastes vary -- everything from
country/western music to death metal. Speaking for myself, I
listen to a lot of classical and modern orchestral music. But it
varies. One moment I could be listening to Portishead, and the
next moment, Meshuggah. I find myself listening to other ambient
projects the least of all.
CoC: Do you think most bands lack emotion or powerful expression in
their music nowadays? What I mean is, bands seem very formulated
now, no emotion. Do you agree?
JC: If you refer to the mainstream genres, I agree fully. I don't
think that what those bands create is music -- it's pure
entertainment. But all the underground music scenes have
something else. There, everyone wants to achieve something...
there are few copycats in the underground.
CoC: In the bio, you mention visuals, dancers, etc. Are those a part
of the Sanctum live show now? How does Sanctum differ live from
on record?
JC: It is hard for me to describe how Sanctum is live, but so far we
have gotten a very good response from the audience. We try to
bring our expression further with some visual elements, like
video projections and dancers. We want to strengthen the feelings
by bringing the music and the visual elements as close to each
other as possible, and that is very hard to achieve on a record.
We try hard to get the visual on the album cover to mirror our
music inside. Musically, we try to use as many traditional and
non-traditional live instruments as possible to generate a
genuine live feel to the music we are playing. Marika plays the
cello, and I'm playing some hand drums and also creating sounds
with specially-designed electric instruments. Lena sings, and
Hakan sings and handles samples.
CoC: Do you feel very adept at creating music? Is it an easy process
amongst the rest of the band, or does it take time to develop
ideas?
JC: It is hard to generalize the process of creating a tune.
Sometimes I run into a wall trying to come up with ideas, and
everything at that point goes right to the trash can, but
fortunately that doesn't happen too often. For me, the obstacle
is creating varied sounds that'll fit with one another. I'll sit
down for days -- even weeks -- with a couple of sounds, trying to
make them fit. It is not hard to get ideas, the problem is
carrying them out and being able to reach the feeling that I want
with that specific song.
Contact: Jan Carleklev, Norra Bogesundsgatan 3A, 1 554 73 Jonkoping,
Sweden mailto:sanctum@coldmeat.se
mailto:jan.carleklev@mbox200.swipnet.se WWW:
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73354
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U N I F Y I N G T H E M U S I C A L E X T R E M E S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Cornelius of Solefald
by: Pedro Azevedo
I must say that it is indeed remarkable how only two musicians manage
to make an album such as Solefald's _The Linear Scaffold_ (or, for
that matter, any of Limbonic Art's superb symphonies). These two
highly talented individuals, Cornelius and Lazare, have put together
music that is simultaneously unusual and brilliant and lyrics that
show considerable effort. The result, _The Linear Scaffold_, was one
of the main themes of my very interesting snail-mail conversation
with Cornelius, one which ended in a rather unusual way. Enter this
"abnormal chase" through this interview and _The Linear Scaffold_...
CoC: "Red music with black edges," in your own words, is what
Solefald creates. Would you like to tell us more about
Solefald's musical concept?
Cornelius: Our music began with cries of pain and booming blastbeats,
mixed with other scopes of feeling. "Red music with black
edges" is an attempt to put something red into all the
black that surrounds us, particularly in the world of
music. It is basically a revolt against what we feel is
existential injustice. The world order, so to speak. Maybe
we can't change the whole, but we can change 39:21 minutes
of somebody's personal life.
CoC: How close to black metal would you say you are?
C: Solefald and black metal are separated by a huge, larger-than-life
size mirror: black metal tries to look outside itself and does not
particularly like what appears in the mirror. We look at black
metal from the outside, robbing it for its sublime tools, without
stagnating in the mirror hall.
CoC: I think your music is very related to the creation of extreme
contrast situations: you suddenly change from a quiet part into
a blasting black-like sequence, and back into a softer part. The
same can be said about the vocals. Do you agree?
C: Yes, totally. Have you noticed this: [drawing of a triangle in
which an arrow is embedded in each side (all of equal length),
forming a clockwise path; this symbol can be found in _The Linear
Scaffold_'s booklet]? To me it represents all the changes in the
music, changes that still belong to a wholeness. Stravinsky talks
about this, how a composer must strain towards unifying the
musical extremes.
CoC: I think the keyboard-only parts with blackened screams are
exceptional, and a brilliant way to finish the album. Is there a
specific meaning behind your choice of ending _The Linear
Scaffold_ that way?
C: This section was the last thing we did in the studio, a fact that
you can probably hear from the fatigue of my voice. It was the
last sacrifice to complete the effort of those eight days. I
normally smile when I listen to it.
CoC: What bands and what kind of music do you listen to nowadays?
C: Beethoven's nr. 9. Early AC/DC albums (with Don Scott.) Mono
_Formica Blues_. Emperor _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_. Mi Solar
_Paradisique_. Future Sound of London _Cascades_.
CoC: How do you view your label's other bands, namely the brilliant
Katatonia?
C: Katatonia is a poetical band, classically inspired in words and
sounds. I like the guy's lyrics, poor soul, he could need some
encouragement; maybe a Katatonia-Solefald soccer match in Milan?
CoC: _The Linear Scaffold_ presents a rather unusual and original
musical and lyrical approach. What inspires you to write such
extraordinary material?
C: I think I have to pay my debts to the philosophical tradition by
blaming the old writers for many weird ideas. Schopenhauer's
"Wille zur Leben", in particular, and many Germans like Hegel,
Fichte, Schelling, Nietzche, Kant, etc. I stress this so much
because philosophy gives you such a complex and rich way of
looking at things, it accustoms you to big thinking. A humble hail
to "my masters of the past," as Crowley says it.
CoC: Your lyrical concept is bound to baffle many, in my opinion.
Most of the tracks contain what seems to be a highly metaphoric
lyrical style. What do you aim to create with your lyrics?
C: Our lyrics can be divided into the intellectual and the poetical.
The first, like "The Macho Vehicle", aims at clarifying hidden
connections, in this case between the student "revolution" in
Paris, 1968, and a new way of looking at sex roles, paternalistic
religion and the individual freedom. It may seem ambitious, I
know, but at the same time I feel like stretching myself to my
analytical limit. As long as I know there are at least two persons
out there who understand, we'll continue. The second type, like
"Countryside Bohemians", tries more to convey a concrete
experience: a weekend at a bizarre cottage inherited from my
deceased, deeply religious grand-aunt. Situated on the top of a
mountain, with a tremendous view over the valley, this cottage
sees you dead if you move more than five meters in front of it.
Lazare and myself nearly did so in the nighttime, both drunk as
drunk can be. We survived, the lyrics evolved.
CoC: In what way does the cover art relate to the album's concept?
C: "The Return of the Sun" depicts the grand cycle of everything that
exists. Sunrise, sunset, day and night, life and death, etc. You
can affect what happens to you to a certain extent, but in most
cases we greet life with excited facial expressions, like those in
the picture, and accept what we get.
CoC: _The Linear Scaffold_ is "an abnormal chase for those who still
believe in a normal world," again in your own words. Would you
like to expand on that idea?
C: Black metal's way of perceiving things is very abnormal, which is
what I love about it. No trace of any compromise, just sheer will
from A to Z. Black metal has already admitted what no one else
dares, and is about to force you to do the same. I reckon that's
why 97% of the genre bands share the same, Biblical imagery.
"Under the sign of the Beast," etc. Just the same scrapheap of
cheap literary cliches (yes, they do work very well) and hardly
ever any CLEAR THOUGHT. Still, it's metal, and metal doesn't
always mean everything it says. In an attempt to widen the scope
of music travel, we invite you to that abnormal chase.
CoC: Musically, how satisfied are you with _The Linear Scaffold_?
C: Very. I feel happy about it, and I'm sincerely proud of what we
have accomplished. Still, we know many things can be done better.
The sound is OK, but next time we'll find a more advanced studio.
CoC: Have you started planning a new album yet? If so, are there
already any changes that should be expected relatively to _The
Linear Scaffold_?
C: Yes, we are now choosing from all the ideas we have gathered in
the last years, to make a Grand Mean follow-up to "the Scaffold".
The album will include France-beals, some flamenco influence,
heavily-worked-on lyrics, blistering riffs and more clear vocals.
We're both terribly excited about where we are heading. The hard
will be harder, the passion will be more passionate, the ecstatic
more ecstatic.
CoC: What other words would you like to share with our readers?
C: I would like to say this: thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you for listening to our album, liking or not liking it. We
have had so many great people helping us and showing interest in
the band. Next time [...? And here it ends. Right at the end of a
page; Cornelius misplaced the last page and thus the end of this
interview shall remain a mistery... -- Pedro]
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_____ .__ ___.
/ _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____
/ /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \
/ | \ |_| \_\ \ | / Y Y \
\____|__ /____/___ /____/|__|_| /
\/ \/ \/
_____ .__
/ _ \ _________.__.| | __ __ _____
/ /_\ \ / ___< | || | | | \/ \
/ | \\___ \ \___ || |_| | / Y Y \
\____|__ /____ >/ ____||____/____/|__|_| /
\/ \/ \/ \/
Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed
9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended
7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities
5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into
0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs!
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - _Honkey Reduction_
by: Adam Wasylyk (8 out of 10) (Relapse, February 1998)
Grindcore is a lost art these days. I'd like to see bands like
Agoraphobic Nosebleed become the focus of labels rather than
pathetic, fifth rate death metal bands. The Relapse bio calls the
band "manic grindcore" (who would have thought a bio would have
anything interesting to say?), a good term to describe the duo,
comprised of Scott Hull (ex-Anal Cunt) and Jay Randall. There's a
strong Enemy Soil influence in the drum programming (a fitting
influence since the band at one time held an ex-Enemy Soil member),
and if you've heard Enemy Soil's _Casualties of Progress_ 7" you know
how savage and aggressive this is. _Honkey Reduction_ features
blazing drums, crazy vocals, heavy guitars and grinding bass... there
isn't one weak aspect in this band. Clocking in at just under 20
minutes (for 26 songs), you know you're in store for some grindcore
insanity... and to think this is only an EP with a full-length on its
way! Fuck the new Blood Duster record, this is where it's at.
Amestigon - _Hollentanz_ (Napalm Records, March 1998)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (8 out of 10)
The arrival of this four-song, 22-minute MCD was a great and welcome
surprise. I had been assuming that Amestigon were no more, because
quite some time has passed since the release of their split CD with
Angizia. (It seems like ages to me, anyway.) But I'm glad this
assumption was mistaken, because the early Amestigon material has
really grown on me in the intervening time, and this new MCD picks up
right where the band left off: black metal as it should be, icy,
uncomplicated, and dark. I can't say that the Amestigon sound is
especially unique. If you imagine Abigor's early music, stripped down
to its pained and melancholic core, then you have a fairly good idea
of what Amestigon sounds like. But one thing I can say, emphatically,
is that this band still succeeds in being chilly, atmospheric, and
evocative -without- sounding generic, overwrought, or contrived. It's
just good, unpretentious black metal. It doesn't sound like yet
another inauthentic knock-off, and it's free of all the melodic
boredom and "symphonic" bombast currently being fabricated by
countless bandwagon-jumping, popularity-seeking bands. Granted, I
didn't give Amestigon's debut outing a very high score -- but believe
me, if I had known then what I know now about the way the scene was
going to develop, I would have held up that release as an
under-appreciated frosty gem. That's definitely the way I view it
now. (It's too bad the Angizia portion of that split CD is so lame.)
_Hollentanz_, which features session work by members of Abigor, will
be the last official Amestigon release. And it strikes me as a damn
good way to make an exit: record some truly genuine, decidedly
un-trendy, sincere-sounding black metal. Frankly, I'm willing to bet
that the majority of so-called black metal bands putting out albums
in 1998 and beyond will never, ever manage to do the same thing.
Ancient Ceremony - _Under Moonlight We Kiss_
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) (Cacophonous, September 1997)
Vampyric symphonic metal -- perhaps that's a reasonably accurate
description of what _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ sounds like. If that
description reminds you of Cradle of Filth, forget about that;
there's much less black metal here than in CoF's music and a far
stronger emphasis is placed on dark romanticism, vampyrism and
mid-paced keyboard-based melodies. Keyboards therefore play a major
role in Ancient Ceremony, and they're clearly the highlight in their
music. The vocals (male, from black to spoken/whispered, and female)
are also very good, and work very well with the keyboard sound.
However, despite these promising qualities, _Under Moonlight We Kiss_
is let down by a significant lack of instrumental strength on the
part of the drums and guitars. Both drum and guitar work are just
average, and sound rather weak most of the time. Still, despite being
somewhat let down by a less than adequate production, the melodic
side of _UMWK_ makes it an interesting album; and if you're attracted
to the subjects dealt with here, then you may very well enjoy the
atmosphere as well and the production faults mentioned above may seem
much less important.
Arcturus - _La Masquerade Infernale_
by: Paul Schwarz (10 out of 10) (Music For Nations, October 1997)
When a band produce an album of the quality, originality and
sincerity of Arcturus' 1996 _Aspera Hiems Symfonia_, the pessimists
among us sigh with regret for so often this is the sign for a band to
slide. Arcturus are not submitting to that particular demon with
their 2nd official album _La Masquerade Infernale_, although a repeat
performance is also not on the menu. _LMI_ takes Arcturus' blend of
black metal and classical symphony and distorts it into an almost
unrecognisable mass which, when examined, is influenced by so much,
and I suspect far more than just music, that it would induce
hopelessness to try to pick each part individually -- and so one can
only sit back and let the masquerade go round. If you liked, or
loved, _AHS_ or if you want "metal" music with true emotion and
atmosphere, don't read the rest of this review: it will spoil the
surprises and degrade the wonder of hearing _LMI_ with fresh ears. If
you're not convinced and you want to know more about _LMI_ I have a
few short words for you: metal, drum n' bass, keyboards, harmony,
clean vocals, unclean vocals, guitars, bass, drums, atmosphere + meat
grinder. Happy now?
Beyond Dawn - _Revelry_ (Misanthropy Records, March 1998)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (3 out of 10)
Let's play a quick game of word association: "Misanthropy Records."
The inevitable response: "Boring pretentious schlock." Immediately
upon hearing that Misanthropy has released a new non-Burzum album, a
few -- to be precise, those who praised the last Arcturus, Fleurety,
or Monumentum CDs as ingenious -- will start salivating, while the
rest will simply know that the album is by a former mediocre metal
band which now uses avant-garde stylings to compensate for a dearth
of creativity and transparent song structures. Such is the case with
Beyond Dawn. Once best known as the doom metal band with a
trombonist, Beyond Dawn are now a moody, nauseatingly monotonous
gothic pop band with a trombonist. Although BD steal a few riffs from
the latest My Dying Bride album on the first two songs, these riffs
merely invoke a somber background for the lead singer's deep voice,
which sounds suspiciously similar to M. Gira's on the Swans' later
work. Generally, BD don't even use their over-amplified, pseudo-metal
riffs unless they need to signify that it's time for a chorus (here's
a choice one: "You raped me on the first of July"). Although neither
can save each of the predictable tracks, the use of ambient sounds
and a trombone, which is still the most belch-like of brass
instruments, add Misanthropy's standard avant-garde flair. This is
poop, yet it is poop that can't even emit a stench.
Blood Duster - _Str8 Outta Northcote_ (Relapse, February 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk (3 out of 10)
I can't express the anticipation I felt towards Blood Duster's new
album, the follow-up to 1996's _Yeest_, which combined the intensity
of death/grind with plenty 'o groove. You couldn't picture the
expression on my face after hearing _Str8 Outta Northcote_ for the
first time. I asked myself, 'WHAT THE FUCK HAVE THESE GUYS DONE?'
This album is a desecration to what Blood Duster should stand for.
These guys have obviously been listening to too much Kyuss or Fu
Manchu, what's with all of this stoner rock influence??!!?? It seems
as though the guys in the band wanted to get away from the early
Napalm Death / early Carcass influences and embrace a more
groovy/rock 'n roll sound. What a huge mistake. There's hardly
anything (musically) on this album that reminds fans of what made
_Yeest_ so great. The band have cut down on the blasting (about 50%
less), the remaining speedy parts just sound weak compared to those
on their debut. What a huge disappointment. _Str8 Outta Northcote_
could have been one of the year's best releases. Face it, guys, you
fucked up. Big time.
Captor - _Dogface_ (Diehard, February 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (4 out of 10)
Hmm, who do this band sound like? Yeah, it's another Coal Chamber,
Korn, Limp Bizkit, etc. clone band. However, what's different about
Captor is -- oh there isn't anything, well, not to worry. If you like
this sort of stuff this isn't too bad (for my money it's better than
Coal Chamber's debut), but I really don't see that there is any need
to possess more than about three albums in this style and for my
money those album are Korn's debut, and both of The Deftones' albums.
However, if you're a sucker for riff heavy, I-hate-my-life type
dirge, you could go a lot more wrong than buying _Dogface_. One thing
though, these guys -boast- of not having any "tedious leads" (meaning
that leads -are- tedious, not that they only have leads which aren't
tedious), which ironically is one thing that could have actually made
this album interesting.
Covenant - _Nexus Polaris_ (Nuclear Blast, January 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus, Mayhem and even Cradle of Filth -- strong
names to mention when one is trying to sell a metal CD, and Covenant
allow Nuclear Blast to do just that. The result sounds like a mix of
the two Arcturus albums released so far, _Aspera Hiems Symfonia_ and
a little bit of _La Masquerade Infernale_: only traces of black metal
are left and attempts are made to be innovative while using keyboards
in a peculiar way. Throw in the vocal performance of Nagash (who also
plays bass here), Hellhammer on drums, Sverd on keyboards, Astennu
and Blackheart on guitars and Sarah performing backing chants (giving
Nuclear Blast the chance to somewhat questionably mention Cradle of
Filth as having participated in this project). Most of what Covenant
is about is thus described. This is all fine quality music, highly
listenable and with many interesting sequences, but it seems to lack
spirit. The music itself, like I said, is very good and even somewhat
original (despite being strongly inspired by Arcturus), played by
skilled musicians and competently produced, but it just doesn't carry
much emotion. Of course, that doesn't ruin the musical enjoyment
_Nexus Polaris_ provides, but it prevents the album from reaching
inside the listener. For that, and within this style, you should get
Solefald's brilliant _The Linear Scaffold_ (see CoC #29) or Limbonic
Art's excellent _Moon in the Scorpio_ and _In Abhorrence Dementia_
(CoC #18 and #28) instead. Nevertheless, _Nexus Polaris_ will surely
sell more than those three superior albums all together. Still, this
album shouldn't disappoint Dimmu Borgir and Arcturus fans, as it is
musically worthy of its talented creators.
Dellamorte - _Uglier and More Disgusting_ (Kron-H, October 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10)
This album has been getting a lot of great press, and by the time the
first song has plowed over you, it's clear why. In the big ol'
toolbox that is the "death'n'roll" genre, this record is the jagged,
rusty ripsaw of the bunch -- never mind Entombed, whose latest effort
is but a big rubber mallet by comparison. While Entombed just kind of
plods along, lucky to land the occasional heavy blow, Dellamorte rip
through the timber like there's no tomorrow, so lock up your
saplings... To be honest, I'm not a fan of this style, but Dellamorte
definitely erupts with enough energy and attitude to stand out from
the d'n'r crowd, and without relying on a bunch of trendy mosh parts
or kindred macho metal cliches. The vocalist puts in a great
performance, too, belting out the lyrics with anger and edge but
never really sounding forced or flat -- a definite rarity in this
corner of the scene. The album's clear, powerful mix is dominated by
a big, fat guitar sound and topped off with many a mighty
snake-rattle cymbal crash. If I felt like describing the songs in
more detail, I suppose I'd drop the toolbox analogy and start in with
the speedway talk: lots of burnin' rubber, screamin' engines on a
highway to hell -- you get the idea. In other words, there's a lot
more "n'roll" than "death" to be heard here: for the most part, this
is hard-driving, heavy rock sheathed in a full metal jacket of tuning
and amplification. But whatever; this is one heavy, boisterous record
no matter what.
Desire - _Pentacrow_ (Skyfall, March 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)
Not quite an MCD, but not really a full-length album either and
almost as expensive as a normal full-length, _Pentacrow_ has one new
song (over 18 minutes long), a track taken from their 1993 demo, a
Candlemass cover and "A Ride in a Dream Crow", taken from their debut
_Infinity_. The new song presented here should not disappoint those
who liked _Infinity_, while it also shows that the band's style
hasn't changed much (fortunately, in my opinion). Divided in three
tracks, it's more of Desire's very slow and sorrowful music, still
with the very good and varied vocals (especially the extremely low,
slow, tortured death grunts and the backing female chants). This is
thus more of their symphonic doom/death, showing slight improvements
in tightness. Slow music isn't necessarily easy to play, and a
certain lack of that tightness was my only reason for lowering
_Infinity_'s deserved 8 to a 7 back in CoC #17 (which I shouldn't
have, as it did deserve a strong 8 despite that fault). This new
song, "When Sorrow Embraces my Heart", is therefore the highlight of
this CD and keeps up with the quality found in _Infinity_. So, what
about the rest? Well, the first track, "A Ride in a Dream Crow", is
very good and one of the best songs on _Infinity_, but rather useless
for those who already own their debut album. The Candlemass cover
"Solitude", however, is a rare example of a worthy cover, thanks to
the enhancements made in the vocals together with a quality
instrumental side. "Death Blessed by a God", the demo tape song, is
again questionable. After listening to it for a short while, I found
myself reaching for the booklet to see if this wouldn't happen to
have been taken from a demo; and it was. That said, it's a good song
for a demo tape, but far from the quality of the other tracks found
here. For those who are into doom but have never listened to Desire,
I strongly advise you to get _Infinity_. Desire fans who already own
their debut should consider buying this one as well, even though it
should have been financially more rewarding (i.e., sold at MCD price
without "A Ride in a Dream Crow" and "Death Blessed by a God", rather
than including these and being sold almost at full-length price).
Dirge / Grift - _Guilty by Association_ Split EP
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Deadly Venom, January 1998)
Now this is the shit. Heavy duty deathcore/hardcore from two
up-and-coming Ontario, Canada outfits: Malton's Dirge and Brampton's
Grift. While Malton four-piece Dirge radiate a Brutal Truth-esque
flow to their sound n' style, their hardcore roots keep the groove
hard-hitting and intense. Their material on this LP shatters any
preconceived notions that hard music is dead in Canada. And while
Dirge are packing heaviness, so are the maniacal ensemble known as
Grift. Saturated beneath crushing grooves and a definite old-school
hardcore feel, Grift set things a light with "Rey Mysterio" and
"Blind". Having been my first listen of Grift's material, I was
highly impressed. Dirge's own material has strengthened since their
debut LP, the poorly produced _Hazing Rituals_ from 1995, and is a
definite pleaser to see that the band's material has turned for the
better. Keeping things 'a rockin' here in Ontario, readers please do
yourself a favor and/or either A) buy this release and support the
bands and/or B) go see these bands live when you get a chance. This
surely kicked my ass.
Contact: Dirge, 7714 Netherwood Dr.
Malton, Ont., L4T-2P1, Canada
mailto:ci420@freenet.toronto.on.ca
Disfear - _Everyday Slaughter_ (Kron-H, October 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (9 out of 10)
Had I obtained this record much sooner, I probably would never have
gotten into my current habit of drinking five or six cups of strong
coffee every day. This 27-minute platter of utterly raging crust
provides an even better jolt, and it won't stain my teeth or give me
murky, brewed-bean breath! On the other hand, I doubt this is going
to be very good for my tinnitus, but oh well. These days I come
across very few new records that I end up wanting to crank through
many repeated plays, but this is one such disk, absolutely. Of
course, it's Dis-core all the way, and these guys never really
deviate from the formula -- but this is such a masterpiece of sonic
abrasion and barely-controlled rage that my usual carping about
originality and whatnot shall hereby take a back seat to the
declaration that in my opinion this CD totally rules. (By the way,
it's also my opinion that these guys totally outperform similar acts
like Disgust and Dischange.) The rhythm section rumbles mightily
along like some nuclear-powered, mutant Motorhead; loud, crusty
guitars crank out some killer hammer-and-scour riffs; angry vox spew
corrosive bile all over our century's rampaging militarism and police
state mentality. (Personally, I prefer this kind of lyrical criticism
to the typical defamatory screaming about other people's religious
beliefs -- but to each his own.) Were my brain a geiger counter, it
would certainly crackle like crazy when exposed to the energy
unleashed by this band. It's not the most varied or demanding style,
but these guys rip it up with incredible power and conviction, and
the CD's bright, caustic production is excellent too. Recommended.
Domine - _Champion Eternal_ (Dragonheart, 1997)
by: Alvin Wee (8.5 out of 10)
Whew! Just when I thought Omen had given up the ghost with their
latest piss-take, I was pleasantly surprised by this bunch of
Omen-wannabes slashing their way out of Italy. Bearing nothing but
the (often too heavy) flag of True Metal, Domine's debut 10-tracker
reeks of nothing less than Manowar, Omen and Iron Maiden. Metal
enough to get the most seasoned headbanger's feet tapping, the
anthems on parade boast incredible atmosphere and majesty, helped in
part by the inspired use of of keyboards and acoustic passages,
elements oft neglected by the bands of old. More technical and
innovative than other bands of the genre (Nocturnal Rites, Gothic
Knights, etc.), Domine combine elements of thrash, speed and even
Sabbath-style bass-heavy riffing seamlessly, managing to get
increasingly engaging with each listen, never pounding themselves
into repetitive obscurity like the abovementioned bands. Comparisons
to Iced Earth are unavoidable, and fans of _ Night of the Stormrider_
need hesitate no further. Domine believe in leaving the best for
last, the final "Suite in 7 Parts" impressing like Manowar's
_Achilles_ epic. Shining with a dark operatic brilliance, this is one
track no fan of epic metal can ignore, and it's representative of
just about everything Domine stands for -- Metal, Metal and Metal!!!!
Ebony Tears - _Tortura Insomniae_ (Black Sun Records, December 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
Fans of Swedish melodic death metal, here's something different for
you to enjoy. Ebony Tears incorporate several new elements into this
style on their _Tortura Insomniae_, the most influential being the
frequent use of remarkably catchy violin melodies. Occasional female
vox and acoustic guitars are also to be found here, as well as a 10
minute long finishing track that blends some of Ebony Tears' normal
sound with perhaps as-weird-as-Meshuggah sequences. This is
definitely not a track to be enjoyed by everyone, but if you think
you might really like such a song, you should probably add an extra
mark to my rating. If not, there's no need to worry either; the album
is about 53 minutes long, so it's still very worthy of your money
even if you don't like the last track. Indeed, songs such as
"Moonlight", "Freak Jesus", "Nectars of Eden", "Opacity" and
"Spoonbender" give Ebony Tears a place near In Flames, which should
say a lot about the quality of this album.
Elegeion - _Odyssey Into Darkness_ (Candlelight, March 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)
Images of The Gathering and Within Temptation came to mind after
numerous listens of this disc. Comprised of doom-ladden song
structures, yet sedated with solemn soft-styled choir vocals, the
music of Elegeion is nothing new to us metal fans. This is music we
have heard time after time, but something about this music draws us
in. The gems discovered within this somewhat cliche genre/style of
music is the way that Elegeion use their simplistic, haunting
melodies and the enchanted/darkened dreamlike song sequences to
entice us to give this a second go. This is a rather soothing
experience to say the least. This 3-song, 24-minute EP could have
been boring, had it not been for the injection of creative song
writing here and there. Good enough for me and a band to keep note
of.
Empyrium - _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_
by: Pedro Azevedo (10 out of 10) (Prophecy Prod., October 1997)
Consider the songtitles in _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_: "When the
Shadows Grow Longer", "The Blue Mists of Night", "Mourners", "Ode to
Melancholy", "Lover's Grief" and "The Ensemble of Silence". Now try
to think of skillfully rendered music and lyrics that consistently
suit these titles, and a picture of what _Songs of Moors & Misty
Fields_ is about may be forming. If none of what I wrote above has at
least sparked your interest, forget about it -- it's best that you
just skip to the next review right now, because this album wasn't
made for you. Still with me? If so, then you might want to check my
October Tide review below after you finish this one, because the
ideas behind what I just wrote apply to them and to the work done so
far by other sincere doom metal bands like Katatonia, My Dying Bride
and Anathema (to name but a few). Well, back to Empyrium, they
combine in _SoM&MF_ the expectable metallic elements and synths with
piano, acoustic guitars, flute and cello; however, none of this ever
seems to have been just 'thrown in', something which bands who use
this kind of enhancements to their metal are often (sometimes
accurately, others needlessly) accused of. Everything fits here;
everything has a purpose, and the musicianship found in this very
doomy, yet majestic album is truly remarkable. The deep, clean vocals
found in _SoM&MF_ may not be everyone's favourite style, but they
suit the music so well that it just doesn't matter. These clean vox
are quite varied too, and both deep spoken and various kinds of
chanted parts are to be found, as well as several blackened vox
sections. _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_ is a major improvement upon
the very interesting _A Wintersunset..._ and an album to contend for
best CD I heard in 1998. Extremely moody and superbly executed.
His Hero Is Gone - _Monuments to Thieves_ (Prank, Autumn 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (9 out of 10)
Here we have another specimen from the crustier stratum of
subterranea. Unlike the Disfear record reviewed up above, however,
this one stirs that scab-caked, abrasive vibe into a molten mixture
brimming with weighty chunks of heavy, intelligent hardcore and very
adept grind. And the result is no dilution: this band melds the
strongest traits of all those styles, and a good bit of punishing
slo-core besides, into an utterly mighty, totally distinctive overall
sound. Much the same could be said of their earlier releases (a
self-titled 7-inch and the _Fifteen Counts of Arson_ full-length),
but _Monuments_ has a more articulate and individual sound -- it's
one very eloquent slab of brutality. The band's earlier releases are
also incredibly powerful, but they come across (at least to me) as a
bit of a stylistic patchwork. Now, on the other hand, the sound has
matured; everything congeals into a crushing storm of sound,
thundering with percussive weight and crackling with killer breaks,
precise stabs of grind, and ragged shards of anguished, abstract
melody. You know, I get the feeling that I've used all these
metaphors before, many times perhaps, but I've written so many
reviews by now that I've lost all track... Anyway, you'll find no
tired rehash of the same old formulae in this band's music.
Seriously, even though it's only 25 minutes in length, this is one of
the most powerfully expressive yet unrelentingly brutal recordings
I've ever had the pleasure to hear. Very strongly recommended.
Krieg - _Rise of the Imperial Hordes_ (Blood, Fire, Death, 1998)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (8 out of 10)
For much of this album, Krieg create an inexorable cacophony of old
school black metal, but unfortunately, four ineffective keyboard
tracks are strewn throught the album's 11 short tracks. They disrupt
the album's merciless, nihilistic aesthetic, and once combined with
the Nietzschian lyrics and goofy demonic spoken word vocals, they
ensure that _Rise of the Imperial Hordes_ has more obtrusive
silliness than almost any intelligent black metal album since Impaled
Nazarene's _Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz_. The similarities between
Krieg and primal Finnish black metal do not end there; Krieg's
layering of grinding slabs of castrated melodies on top of steady
rhythms recalls early Impaled Nazarene, while Krieg's use of doom
riffs and stark melancholic passages is akin to Beherit's _Drawing
Down the Moon_. During their most potent moments, Krieg can also
match the brutality of Blasphemy with the former's injection of the
slashing melodies of grindcore and breakneck, occasionally complex
drumming patterns into a deceptively traditional black metal
structure. This may be somewhat more chaotic than original, yet most
of _RotIH_ should satisfy anyone who wishes to hear brutal American
black metal which is produced well, besides a flat drum sound, and
not directly influenced by Darkthrone, particularly if this potential
listener is a fan of Blasphemy.
Marduk - _Nightwing_ (Osmose Productions, March 1998)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7.5 out of 10)
Is it possible to blast along at hell's pace for the better part of
47 minutes without actually going anywhere? Yes. This album proves
it. Granted, Marduk is one seriously ferocious band, which is cool --
but sonic ferocity isn't everything. Musical ideas are important,
too, but these days Marduk seems to be running low on those. Oh,
wait, here's one! Come up with two or three riffs and go through
them, generally at hyperspeed, over and over and over... If the riffs
are strong ones, interestingly arranged, then this formula can add up
to some kick-ass music. But most of the riffs on _Nightwing_ seem
quite flavorless to me, and the song structures are really basic. So
although the music is incredibly vehement... well, it basically just
sits there being incredibly vehement, doing nothing else to earn or
sustain any interest. (By contrast, the new Setherial album shows
that it's possible to fold more depth and development into this
mega-blasting style.) Of course, sometimes sheer intensity is all
you're asking for, and Marduk certainly delivers on that score, with
unbelievable drumming, wicked vocals, and sharp, tough production.
But I think they did the same musical thing better on 1994's _Opus
Nocturne_. (That's my pick for Marduk's best. In retrospect, I think
my praise for _Heaven Shall Burn_ was too generous. But I digress.)
One intriguing thing about _Nightwing_ is its inclusion of a
five-song cycle dealing with the real life and times of Vlad Tepes of
Wallachia. As usual, my promo copy contains no text, so I have no
idea how they've actually developed this theme lyrically, but I think
this Vlad-oriented section contains the album's best songs. Two of
these tracks slow things down to create a darker, heavier feeling;
also included is a re-recording of the blazing "Deme Quaden Thyrane"
(originally from _Opus Nocturne_ and the best song on _Nightwing_
too, if you ask me). This is not a bad album overall, but it seems
like a rather uninspired rehash of Marduk's earlier, better material.
Mortician - _Zombie Apocalypse_ (Relapse, February 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk (1 out of 10)
The release of _Zombie Apocalypse_ has proved one thing to me: there
are still yahoos out there who buy this shit and enable Mortician to
stay on Relapse. Who the fuck is still interested in this band? I got
some minute pleasure out of _Mortal Massacre_, but that was back in
'94!! And with the releases of _House by the Cemetary_ and _Hacked up
for Barbeque_, one tends to ask him or herself 'How can a band get
away with making the same record over and over again?' On this
_Zombie Apocalypse_ MCD there is hardly any distinction between
tracks, the drum machine is fucking lame, the sound clips grow old...
must I go on? It's surprising to me that two bands like Agoraphobic
Nosebleed (reviewed this issue) and Mortician can share a love for
intensity and all-out brutality, but the intelligence level be miles
apart. Includes covers of Slaughter and Repulsion, but after hearing
them you wouldn't know it. I've heard some people try to say that the
haunting atmosphere that Mortician create is what makes this band so
cool. But then again these people are of minimal intelligence anyway.
I've wasted enough time writing about this.
Necromortis - _Burning Priest_ (Independent, March 1998)
by: Adam Wasylyk (2 out of 10)
It's cool that bands are trying to put CDs out rather than demos,
which I already have way too many of. Necromortis hope to give you a
serious lesson on brutal death metal, but it turns out that it's just
a slap on the back. Yes, this is brutal, but so what? It may be an
unfair comparison, but fellow Quebecers Cryptopsy do a much better
job at this sort of thing. Their music crushes you, both on record
and in a live situation (which 1997 Milwaukee Metal Fest participants
can attest to). But with Necromortis, their music doesn't reach out
and grab you. It just sorta sits there and picks its nose. The bright
spot on this recording? It would have to be the movie sound clip
intro to "Occultherion" -- its horror sentiments could really set the
tone --, but the aforementioned track degenerates into a death/grind
mess. Brutal death metal purists may find Necromortis a haven from
the tons of melodic death metal bands out now, but may I suggest
Cryptopsy, Suffocation or even Montreal band Hidden Pride instead?
And guys, thanking Hitler on the back of your CD ain't gonna get you
any new friends!
Contact: Necromortis, 110 rue Gaspar Sud, app. 08
Joliette, QUE, J6E 3X5, Canada
Nefarious - _Global Warning_ (Independent, February 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
Overflowing with some heavy duty death metal riffs and a powerful
onslaught of harsh vocals (radiating a heavy, yet versatile Cannibal
Corpse / Napalm Death sound), Gloucester, Ontario natives Nefarious
rip and tear at us with this solid 4-song offering. From the opening
of the band's self-titled number onto the wickedly eerie and well
thought out "Global Warning", this quartet keeps the momentum strong
and enjoyable. While every song on this offering radiates good
production, there seems to be a raw, loose feel surfacing under that,
enabling the music to sound great but have a slight live edge to it.
I had heard some of this band's older material years ago on the
_Sonic Obliteration Vol. 1_ compilation (put out by Utopian Vision
Music) and it's great to see how far they come with their music. Sure
the music flows along the lines of standard death metal, but there is
more there for the most part that keeps the listener interested. In
comparison to their past material, this is stronger, more adept and
much heavier. I know I keep saying this, but it's good to see so many
Canadian bands (other outfits like Zaraza, Sub Version and PornoComa)
surfacing with potential and trying to make a name for themselves. It
makes a Canuck metal fan like myself proud.
Contact: J. Bourbonnier, 205-1993 Jasmine Cr.
Cloucester, Ontario, K1J-7Z6, Canada
mailto:nefarious@nefarious.net
WWW: http://www.nefarious.net
October Tide - _Rain Without End_ (Vic Records, December 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
October Tide is very Katatonia-like doom played by two Katatonia
members: Jonas Renske (vocals and drums) and Fredrik Norrman (guitars
and bass). Seeing that Renske would perform growled vocals, I
wondered how similar would this be to my favorite Katatonia album,
the ever-awesome _Dance of December Souls_ (which is the only
Katatonia full-length with Renske on vox). However, it turns out that
_Rain Without End_ is instrumentally rather similar to Katatonia's
latest EP, _Sounds of Decay_, while Renske's superb vocals sound like
a mix between what his voice was on _DoDS_ and some of the
characteristics of Mikael Akerfeldt's voice (Akerfeldt being the
Opeth vocalist who performed vocals on the two latest Katatonia
releases). This album is therefore a highly welcome surprise for me,
considering the changes that are to happen in Katatonia's sound.
Norrman shows some guitar skills that I previously believed to be
exclusive to Katatonia's brilliant Blackheim, and _Rain Without End_
resembles the very unique kind of utterly sorrowful music that
Blackheim creates in Katatonia. Unfortunately, the album is somewhat
short (39 minutes) and no lyrics are included; if it also had more
extensive use of violin, then the extra mark would have been well
earned. For any real Katatonia fan, this an absolute -must-. For all
the others out there, my advice is that you give this a try in case
my words about Katatonia and October Tide were of any interest to you
-- _Rain Without End_ is almost as good, and often even just as
great, as what Katatonia have done so far, and is therefore an
outstanding album.
Primal Fear - _Primal Fear_ (Nuclear Blast, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10)
I wouldn't be surprised if Nuclear Blast were to give up on black
metal entirely. Following the immense success of Hammerfall, NB has
finally gotten smart and cashed in on the German obsession with
melodic power metal by distributing acts like Narnia and Hollow (both
recommendable Swedish guitar-based prog-metal bands). The freshest
addition to the NB stables comes in the form of German quartet Primal
Fear. Boasting the distinctive talents of Ralf Sheepers (Gamma Ray)
and Mat Sinner, this is one combo that's bound to hit the charts in
Germany and Japan. Their self-titled debut is somewhat a surprise
though, avoiding the usual Kai Hansen-worship (though it's inevitable
the man plays guest leads here), adopting instead a more
groovy/bluesy sound evocative of 80's glam rock or British hard-rock.
Opener "Chainbreaker" reminds one of Deep Purple (their influence
evidenced by a cover of "Speedking" later in the album) or riot,
while "Dollars" could have come straight out of a Lionsheart album.
Even American hard/glam rock isn't spared as Skid Row gets a tribute
paid with "Running in the Dust". As you can see, this isn't your
usual heap of cheesy anthems at all, in fact, the myriad of
influences makes this a fascinating experience for all but the most
narrow-minded of rockers. If you're worrying about the lack of
Helloween-style melody, fear not, these die hard Germans haven't
forgotten their roots: "Silver and Gold" and "Promised Land" deserve
a place in any Helloween or Hammerfall album, and if Hammerfall's
_Glory to the Brave_ can make it to the charts, I don't see why the
latter track can't.
Running Wild - _The Rivalry_ (GUN, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10)
Any self-respecting Running Wild fan will surely realise that Cap'n
Rolf and crew have embarked on another phase in their career. As a
die-hard follower, I've always maintained that the band has
progressed through three distinct phases since their debut in 1982:
the first primitive and raw, the second kicking off with anthems like
"Black Winds of Death" and 'narratives' like "Treasure Island". Of
late, RW has adopted a more aggresive and technical approach with
_Masquerade_, and _The Rivalry_ takes things one step further, almost
completely shunning the traditional beer-guzzling, sing-along
choruses for a harder edged assault. Kinda disappointing really, when
you realise that "Rebel at Heart" could be the last RW anthem you'll
ever hear... All is not lost though, "Return of the Dragon" still
boasts movie-soundtrack melodies, while "Ballad of William Kidd"
continues the tradition of historical epics like "Soleil Royal" or
"Treasure Island". Other than that, the other tracks are pretty much
same-ish, a problem that was becoming apparent on _Masquerade_.
What's more die-hard one-eyed-jacks will be disappointed to note the
Pirates' latest makeover;
their scruffy seadog look having been
ditched for gleaming white and gold naval uniforms. It's worth
mentioning too, that the privateers have scrapped their seaworn
vessel for a new hulk -- in the shape of GUN Records, in a mystifying
departure from long-time wardens Noise. "War And Peace" provides some
reassurance at least, closing the battle with a frolic, putting to an
end an album of blazing metal that no ordinary headbanger should
avoid; if you're an old-timer seadog who yearns only for the pounding
"Chains And Leather" anthems of old, then be forewarned, don't expect
any "Prisoners of Our Time" on this new voyage.
Sacramentary Abolishment - _The Distracting Stone_
by: Adam Wasylyk (5 out of 10) (Catharsis, October 1997)
I was really expecting more from S.A. after hearing their debut CD
_River of Corticone_, a CD which I definitely recommend. However, I
can't say the same for its follow up, _The Distracting Stone_. I have
to ask 'What the fuck happened to the vocals?' They really stick out
like a sore thumb. Perhaps the band were going for a more
unconventional style; if so, they really made a mistake. Somewhere
between a scream and a yell, these black metal vocals are among the
worst I've heard. However, musically Sacramentary Abolishment fare
better; it's brutally fast for the most part with a few
melodic/slower parts to fill in the gaps. The production is average
and in need of improvement, the guitars could be a lot more powerful
and clearer, it should have been re-mixed at least once more before
the album's release. The tunes are definitely here, but the vocals
come in and ruin them. I know these guys are capable of more, their
past material indicates this. I was even set to do an interview with
the band for a couple of zines I write for (including CoC), but I
won't do it for this release. This Canadian band have potential to go
far, but they won't get there on the heels of _The Distracting
Stone_.
Contact: Catharsis Records, #21 10405 Jasper Ave., P.O. Box 539
Edmonton, Alberta, T3J 3S2, Canada
Sculpture - _Like a Dead Flower_ (Art, January 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
The _Crestfallen_ EP and _Serenades_ saw the bleak sunlight during
the years of 1992 and 1993, respectively, and were among the main
reasons why I started listening to doom metal -- those two, and
especially _Serenades_, still mean very much to me today. Since then,
much has happened with their creators, Anathema, and with the doom
metal scene. Those were the years of Katatonia's _Dance of December
Souls_ and My Dying Bride's _As the Flower Withers_ and _Turn Loose
the Swans_. But things did change for all these bands. Now, Sculpture
have produced an MCD of which the few parts that don't sound either
like the _Crestfallen_ EP or _Serenades_ tend to sound like
Anathema's _Pentecost III_ EP. This Portuguese band harvested the
ideas found in Anathema's debut and, with a lot of merit and very
good production, managed to create an impressive MCD that I can only
see as a tribute to Anathema, such is the extent of the similarities.
Every instrumental component is similar to early Anathema; so are the
vocals and the song structures and style. All three of the 'main'
tracks on this MCD are indeed very good from start to finish, but I
have to mention the excellent faster part in "Autumn Serenades",
which reminded me of "Under a Veil (of Black Lace)" from Anathema's
_Serenades_ -- a proof of how enhanced the impact of a fast(er)
section can be when surrounded by much slower music. The only thing I
really didn't like in _Like a Dead Flower_ were the rather excessive
fade-outs found in most tracks. This is the highest rating I've ever
given a Portuguese album in CoC -- in fact, _Like a Dead Flower_ is
the best Portuguese doom metal album I've ever heard, slightly better
than even Desire's _Infinity_ (see my Desire review in this issue),
even though much less original. Then again, if they had been more
original then most likely this MCD wouldn't have been so good.
Originality is hardly a problem when quality is so high and the sound
Sculpture explore still has much more to give.
Self - _The Sinister Urge_ (Scream Records, March 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (4 out of 10)
While Swedish hardcore/metal act Self could easily be tossed into the
realms of music stylings acquainted by Entombed (newer material),
Face Down and/or Dellamorte, the band's somewhat subdued aggression
and lack of creativity leaves them in the dust behind those
aforementioned acts. Self are good at what they do, don't get me
wrong, it's just that a large majority of their aggressive riffs and
hardcore-esque style seems rather cliche and forced, marring their
music with standard sounds and ideas that have been used many times
over. Within the thirteen tracks on _The Sinister Urge_, Self lays
claim to but a few standout (different) ideas that work: "Hyped" and
"Rule Your Mind". While the band may have the momentum to crank the
music loud and violent in nature, their misuse of common song ideas
easily deflates their chance at world domination. There still is life
here; let's hope they can regroup and do something right and
interesting, rather than rehashing old themes.
Soulfly - _Soulfly_ (Roadrunner, April 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
So... this is it? The new Max Cavalera record? Soulfly. Hmmm... let's
give this a spin. Okay, so we all know about the nasty public breakup
between Max Cavalera and the band Sepultura, a band which he founded
and fronted for 15 years, but the breakup left fans wondering whether
both parties would continue. So here comes the debut release of
Cavalera's new band Soulfly, beating the remaining members of
Sepultura to the punch with a solid effort, months before the band
issues something new to the metal masses. This is a groove-dosed
assemblage of hardcore/metallic ideas that shake the very foundations
on which you stand upon, my friends. After several listens, it isn't
hard to hear the influence of the last Sepultura record here, as
Cavalera once again teamed up with producer Ross Robinson to help him
vent his anger and rhythmic ideas into one ball of fury. The
self-titled LP somewhat takes off and continues where Max ended his
Sepultura career, music based upon the ideals of fusing together
metallic riffs, hard core attitude and world beat visions. The end
result? Stunning. While some fans of Sepultura (especially those who
disliked _Roots_) will see some change here within the ways Cavalera
presents his sounds, the intensity and real down-to-earth feel of his
music still shines. This isn't contrived ideas pushed forth by the
growing music scene. These are ideas and messages vented through
heavy-based music. Cavalera knows how to deliver some of the most
killer grooves, most noted with Soulfly numbers like "Fire",
"Prejudice" (featuring Benji from DubWar) and the kick-ass
deliverance of "The Song Remains Insane". Rather than vent his anger
at the split (though Cavalera does admit the song "Eye for an Eye"
covers that topic), Soulfly pretty much strides in a direction of
mixed emotions and bombastic beats spurned on by the ideals of the
Brazilian culture. In all honesty, this is a great record and a
deserved accomplishment by a musician who has believed so much in
himself and his goals for such a long time. Cavalera has not failed
his fans here with Soulfly and it seems like his future is destined
to be successful while his career as a performer has pretty much
started from the ground up again. Soulfly delivers the goods as most
fans would expect Cavalera to do so and that alone is reason enough
to get your hands on this.
Tribes of Neurot & Walking Time Bombs - _Static Migration_
by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) (Release / Relapse, March 1998)
A far as side-projects go (or band as some see this), Tribes of
Neurot -- featuring members of Neurosis and countless other
collaborators -- has to be one of the most versatile and interesting
projects going. Burrowed deep beneath harrowing riffs of
expressionism and downright lethal doses of ambient excellence, the
earlier sounds of Tribes of Neurot echoed brilliance with their
_Silver Blood Transmission_. It contained amazing song ideas, a near
reflection of the ideals and dreamscapes created by those taking part
in this project. It served as an extension of where Neurosis had
taken their music, though a more philosophical and spiritual
approach. The latest incarnation of Tribes sees fellow sound/noise
purveyor Scott Avery (ex-Pain Teens / Walking Time Bombs) to bring
into the fold his ideas and have the Tribes and himself hammer them
into sonic masterpieces. The collaboration seems to have worked for
the most part as _Static Migration_ easily dents the symphonic
ambient chants of the band with heat seeking intensity and darkened
fits of rage and uncertainty. Avery's ideas blend well into the use
of the band's musical agenda, shedding light on some entertaining
numbers like "Recurring Birth" and "Origin Unkown". While the music
here does hold itself accountable for some amazing ideas, a good
portion of the material on _Static Migration_ floats within the
standard genre of ambient material and can't seem to shake it. Not to
say that Avery's work here is unhelpful, rather uplifting to some
degree, but it ain't no groundbreaking material. His ideas salvage
what could have been a bland ambient album (or even similar Tribes
LP) and in return lays the prospect of future collaborations like
this to pop up more.
Tristania - _Widow's Weeds_ (Napalm Records, March 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
Rather than starting with the expectable "Yet another symphonic doom
band with female vocals" kind of comment, I'll just say that, despite
the fact that this style is getting crowded, Tristania manage to rank
up there with the genre's very best bands. Of course Theatre of
Tragedy and Within Temptation come to mind when listening to
Tristania, but there are enough personal elements to be found here to
keep this album from falling into the rip-off category. But what
counts the most is that Tristania are a very talented band, and the
album shows just that; fine use of keyboards, guitars and drums,
occasional violin and very good vocals. Death grunts and such
dominating throughout most of the album, Tristania are still, like
any band in this genre, dependent on the female vocals' quality.
Fortunately for them, Vibeke Stene has a superb voice. _Widow's
Weeds_ features re-recordings of two tracks originally found in
Tristania's self-titled debut MCD, but both are excellent and, in my
opinion, including them was an acceptable choice -- they take
advantage of the better production facilities, and the MCD mustn't
have sold much anyway. Nevertheless, it's still a worthy album even
for those who do own their debut, since it is nearly 40 minutes long
plus the two re-recordings (over 50 minutes total). Except for the
slightly weaker "Angellore", the new tracks are fortunately similar
in style and quality to the older ones ("Pale Enchantress" and
"Midwintertears"), with "Evenfall" and especially "My Lost Lenore"
being the best. Highly recommended for anyone who's into romantic
doom metal.
Type O Negative - _After Dark_ <video> (Roadrunner, March 1998)
by: Zena Tsarfin (7 out of 10)
Just when I began to think this was some kind of "serious" home video
comprised of professionally-shot Type O Negative videos from both
their _October Rust_ and _Bloody Kisses_ records, the Brooklyn boys
with a penchant for green dispelled any delusions of grandeur by
relentlessly mocking themselves -- and anyone in their way -- in
between clips. Tour mishaps with Pantera, tongue-in-cheek interviews
and looming constipation have all been captured as visual evidence
here, and with very few serious moments (such as the sweet at-home
shots of guitarist Kenny Hickey reflecting on the birth of his
adorable baby daughter, Megan), _After Dark_ shatters the myth that
TON are just posturing goth rockers. Of the six videos (including two
different versions of "Christian Woman"), "My Girlfriend's
Girlfriend" is probably the most MTV appealing, complete with
lipstick lesbians frolicking with each other and Pete Steele, spliced
between shots of the two as back-up dancers for Type O on a
psychedelic '60s soundstage. The other videos include "Love You to
Death", "Cinnamon Girl" and the hit single "Black No. 1".
Surprisingly, all the clips were seemingly shot on a decent budget
and, with few exceptions, failed to surpass any rock video cliches.
Since American MTV has an obvious aversion to hard rock programming,
this might be your only chance to experience the TON magical misery
experience at home.
W.A.S.P. - _Double Live Assassins_ (CMC, February 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
What a great double-live record. This record captures the purity and
rawness of one of metal's most worshipped bands: W.A.S.P. Aside from
the industrial-tinged material from their last effort _Kill Fuck Die_
scattered throughout this release (after all this was recorded during
the _KFD_ album tour), the remainder of the material is vintage
W.A.S.P. and bone-crushing. Hate-filled and angst-ridden, singer
Blackie Lawless delivers solid performances with each number. His
voice radiates a uniqueness unmatched by any singer today. Dark,
broody emotions flow from this live scenario, painting an image of
pure evil, an evil unmatched even by ten Marilyn Manson performances
combined against one W.A.S.P. show. This is evil, Mr. Manson. The
adrenaline is pumping and this is one hell of a ride. Classic cuts
like "Wild Child", "The Idol", "The Headless Children" and "Chainsaw
Charlie" never sounded so ruthless. Great production and a great
performance by W.A.S.P. in the end.
Wicked Angel - _Heads Will Roll_ (Noise Records, January 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
This is one of those rare records where I have a hard time deciding
what to write about. Is it good? Does it suck? What will I write?
Well, I tried my damnedest to sum this all up in as little space as
possible -- here goes. _Heads Will Roll_ by Wicked Angel is one of
those records that you might only listen to a few times over the
course of a year, but in every listen you're in for a treat. This is
dirty, slimy rock n' roll (with metallic qualities) that refuses to
let go until it comes to an end. This band look more like renegade
bikers than musicians, but looks can be deceiving, people. And while
this LP may be chockfull of roarin' metal riffs, harsh screaming
vocals, predictable one-liners and a real reckless attitude that some
might be turned off from, it's those attributes that also seem to
make this all the more enjoyable. This is a bad-ass bar band that
takes shit from nobody. You know how your parents warned you about
bad people when growing up? Ahem... these are those people. Look no
further than Wicked Angel to satisfy your hunger for raunchy, bad
ass, skit-kickin' music. This is an out of control tattooed metal
machine that crushes the values of etiquette, respect and authority
beneath their biker boots. It's nasty, but oh so good, my friends.
Contact: Eye of an Angel c/o Death Dealer Productions
5282 Redwood Road, Columbus, OH, 43229, USA
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If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if
you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's
header.
Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Agathodaimon - _Near Dark_ (4 track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz (*****)
Well, it really is a case of "believe the hype: it's true" with
Agathodaimon: they are a band to be worshipped. Although on first
listen my high expectations (5 out of 5 in Terrorizer) led me to
think, "Ah, it -is- just hype," after repeated listens (once you get
to know what you're actually dealing with) _Near Dark_ really is both
extremely refreshing musically and extremely impressive for a demo
recording -- not to mention being a great piece of extreme music.
Agathodaimon mix the best of extreme music, black and doom cavorting
particularly well, and, like Arcturus, use keyboards and
'symphonicness' (does this word even exist?) to achieve a brilliant
result. The second, and notably long (16:10), track "Near Dark" has a
similar structure to the movements of a Wagnerian opera and an epic
feel much more prominent than just its length. I recommend you
purchase this and soon (it -might- be wise, their full-length due out
on Nuclear Blast later this year, -might- not be as good; just
remember the tale of Cradle of Filth and _Total Fucking Darkness_).
Contact: Agathodaimon Management, c/o Martin Wickler
Westring 18, 55120 Mainz, Germany
or from Black Tears distro if you reside in the UK
Odium - _Factor of Tantrum_ (4-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (****-)
A fine demo made of Swedish death metal here. The songs work well,
the band is technically competent and the demo is well produced. This
isn't quite the currently thriving melodic, more technical style,
though; Odium play a more 'classic' kind of Swedish death. Need I
mention names? Well, they remind me of early Edge of Sanity at times,
but I could mention several others. However, Odium don't really sound
like any particular band; rather, what causes their somewhat
'standard' Swedish death metal sound is that they just don't add much
to what's been done in that style before. Lacking innovation, they
fortunately don't lack the ability to play quality death metal, and
that's what counts most here.
Contact: Chrille Ludvigsson, Vattugatan 15 b
28131 Hassleholm, Sweden
mailto:Odium666@hotmail.com
Soulstorm - _<demo>_ (3-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)
It has been a while since I have heard any new material from Toronto
outfit Soulstorm, with the band going into hiatus some years ago and
some members filling positions left open in fellow Toronto act
Monster Voodoo Machine. But from the ashes of 'defunctness' comes the
raging industrial-tinged beast of Soulstorm -- though in different
shape and form. While not a big follower of the band, though their
_Darkness Visible_ release is a great record chockfull of harrowing
riffs and monumental doses of electronic/industrial/metal anarchy, I
did however have respect for the band. This band was doing what now
seems to be the 'in thing' years ago, using electronic sounds as a
tool to spicen up their metallic material. Fast forward to 1998 and
we see a much more compact and gentler side to Soulstorm with this
3-song EP. Still heavy on all accounts, just more visibly focused on
attaining a strong radiant groove throughout. The new material
("Wreck Your Shit", "Brand New day" and "Sunday") all radiate a
similar sound, congruently evolving the Soulstorm machine quite
clearly throughout the demo. Strong production pumps this baby up.
Nothing here seems lacking -- 'cept maybe record label interest? I'm
hoping the band's full release of new material captures what they
have here. This may be a three-song demo, but packs a stellar and
memorable wallop.
Contact: Soulstorm c/o Nick
Voice: (416) 261-4013
WWW: http://www.golden.net/~molotov/soul/index.htm
Tandus - _Logan Maut_ (4 track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz (****-)
Another quality demo from Malaysia. Although it's not too hard to see
where Tandus get their influence from -- clothes: black jeans, short
cut T-shirt sleeves, bulletbelts, evil looks; music: early Celtic
Frost, early Slayer, Venom etc. Yes, the 80s is being dragged out for
a sound kicking once again, but for a demo band Tandus are dishing
out some pretty good knocks. The first three tracks are pretty
straightforward thrashy numbers with very nice guitar production
(plenty of crunch), but the vocals could use a little working on. The
last track (although instrumental) is what really raises Tandus that
touch further. It has some nice harmonies and rounds off the demo
well. Whether Tandus -will- be big I don't know, but considering how
much of the present Osmose roster are making their living out of
listening to their old vinyl collection, I don't see a reason to vent
my spleen against a band who are actually doing it quite well.
Contact: Muzik Box Production, Peti Surat No.96, Pejabat Pos
Majidice, s1110, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
The Royal Blood - _Incantation of the Queen_ (5-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (**---)
How easy it is to perceive the highly significant (not to say
determinant) influence that Cradle of Filth have in everything The
Royal Blood play. Vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums, all sound (well,
try to sound) like Cradle of Filth. Had they succeeded in that
attempt, then this demo might even have been interesting, despite
never original (recall Hecate Enthroned); the problem is that most is
just poorly performed, to the extent that it all just sounds like
what it really is: a poor amateur version of CoF. The very poor
production doesn't help them at all either. The only thing that did
surprise me in this demo was the vocalist: he managed to perform
Dani-like high-pitched vocals better than I expected (but
monotonously and nowhere near the original), yet completely failed to
perform acceptable death grunts. A few reasonable moments save The
Royal Blood from an even lower rating, but this demo is simply
mediocre and they will have to improve very significantly in the
future.
Contact: The Royal Blood, a/c Sergio Sousa
Av. Antonio C. Moreira 525, 3o dto.
4405 Valadares, Portugal
The Vein - _Under the Circumstance_ (8-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (***--)
This is a demo that shows a lot of work, due to its considerable
length and to the instrumental quality and tightness found throughout
it. In fact, this is all that justifies my rating, for this
Portuguese band's demo _Under the Circumstance_ is definitely not
'my' kind of music. The Vein's music is soft, even rather
mainstream-ish at times; their best moments occur when the cello
comes in, adding a very different feel to their music and taking it
to a higher level. But moments like the "Oh baby, you and I" chorus
in track #3 really make it impossible for me to enjoy this kind of
music, despite its good moments. If, like myself, you don't feel
comfortable in the clarity that emanates from this kind of music and
would rather remain in obscurity, then it's highly unlikely that
you'd like this. However, if you do enjoy the kind of light
atmosphere and music found here, then this is a very worthy demo for
you to check out.
Contact: The Vein management, Praceta de S. Jordao, 5-A
7000 Evora, Portugal
Voice: +066 742014
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I M P A L I N G T H E M B U R R I T O S
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Impaled Nazarene play Monterrey, Mexico on February 21, 1998
by: David E. Alvarez <al588397@mail.mty.itesm.mx>
It was a cold day, it was in a place that was like a dancing
room, but it didn't matter -- the environment was great. Four hundred
people or so were there. In the beginning the very well-known
doom/death metal band Dream of Nebiros appeared and people began to
get closer to the stage. Songs like "Death's Doom" and "Journey in
Autumn" transmited sorrow and brutality. With slow riffs followed by
fast ones and excellent drumming, they make people go crazy.
After one moment of calm, Belzabet rose and the madness began.
It was their debut. With songs like "Mistress of Friday Night" and
"Into the Mist" people began to headbang. Bearing corpse paint, this
four member band showed that what they can create: melodic brutal
darkness I could say, due to their fast blasting drumming and deep
vocals, combined with fast guitar riffs.
At 8:00 PM Impaled Nazarene appeared with "I Eat Pussy for
Dinner", followed by "Motor Penis" and "Crucify". They played fast as
hell and singer Miika was screming loud, very deep. My ears were
hurting due to the high sound level, but I was too stunned to
complain. They played at least three songs from each one of their
albums. Miika was showing his tattoos and the bass player was bearing
a Cannibal Corpse shirt. The drumming was excelent and the guitar
riffs were as fast as I had never heard. They played about three
hours. In the middle of the show, I got into the backstage and I was
looking at all the disasters on the public. At the end I spoke with
all of them and they were gonna play next night in other places of
the country. They were wondered about America, and they say they will
return. It was a great night, Impaled Nazarene did great.
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W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 5
1. Absu - _Third Storm of Cythraul_
2. Marduk - _Opus Nocturne_
3. Monster Magnet - _Superjudge_
4. Underworld - _Second Toughest in the Infants_
2. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_
Adrian's Top 5
1. Mortician - _Zombie Apocalypse_
2. King Diamond - _Voodoo_
3. W.A.S.P. - _Double Live Assassins_
4. Stabbing Westward - _Darkest Days_
5. Monster Magnet - _25......Tab_
Brian's Top 5
1. Spooge - "demo 96" & "demo 94"
2. Tyrant - _Under the Dark Mystic Sky_
3. Dawn - _Slaughtersun_
4. Xenomorph - _Acardiacus_
5. Wallachia - _Wallachia_
Alain's Top 5
1. Motorhead - _Snake Bite Love_
2. Faith No More - _Album of the Year_
3. Pitch Shifter - _Infotainment?_
4. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_
5. Mayhem - _Wolf's Lair Abyss_
Steve's Top 5
1. Mercyful Fate - _Melissa_
2. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_
3. Disfear - _Everyday Slaughter_
4. Amestigon - everything
5. Raven - _F.M._
Adam's Top 5
1. Falkenbach - _...Magni Blandinn ok Magintiri..._
2. Hecate Enthroned - _The Slaughter of Innocence..._
3. Dellamorte - _Uglier and More Disgusting_
4. Hateplow - _Everybody Dies_
5. His Hero is Gone/Assuck tape split (courtesy of CoC scribe Steve)
Andrew's Top 5
1. MSBR - _Collabodestructivists_
2. Vlad Tepes / Belketre - _March to the Black Holocaust_
3. Graveland - _Thousand Swords_
4. John Wall - _Alterstill_
5. Bolt Thrower - _Realm of Chaos_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Empyrium - _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_
2. October Tide - _Rain Without End_
3. Limbonic Art - _Moon in the Scorpio_
4. Limbonic Art - _In Abhorrence Dementia_
5. Borknagar - _The Olden Domain_
Paul's Top 5
1. Morbid Angel - _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_
2. Autopsy - _Mental Funeral_
3. Arcturus - _La Masquerade Infernale_
4. Bolt Thrower - _War Master_
5. Cradle of Filth - _Total Fucking Darkness_
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Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
----
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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as classic and progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of album reviews from a
wide range of bands, as well as interviews with some of the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
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You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a
message with "coc subscribe <your_name_here>" in the SUBJECT of your
message to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. Please note that this command
must NOT be sent to the list address <coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>.
AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
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All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
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'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X" where 'X'
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #30
All contents copyright 1998 by individual creators of included work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.
