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Chronicles of Chaos Issue 038
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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, March 14, 1999, Issue #38
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@riff.fe.up.pt>
Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:anguish@mindspring.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: Aaron McKay <mailto:aaronm@trxinc.com>
Contributor: David Rocher <mailto:el_rojo@dial.oleane.com>
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez <mailto:mwnoise@yahoo.com>
Contributor: Alex Cantwell <mailto:cvantwell@juno.com>
NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
'Details' section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #38 Contents, 3/14/99
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Marduk: Far Beyond the Grace of God
-- Satyricon: An Extravagant Rebel Conquest
-- Exhumed: Madmen of Mutilation
-- Overkill: Still Killing
-- Orange Goblin: Passing the Bong
* Independent Interrogations
-- Kekal: Beyond a Glimpse of Borneo
-- Necromanicide: Hate Regime Wars
* Album Asylum
-- Ames Sanglantes / Flutter - _Split_
-- Ancient Ceremony - _Fallen Angel's Symphony_
-- Bethlehem - _Reflektionen auf's Sterben_
-- Various - _Black Mark Tribute II_
-- Bob Marinelli / Outermost - _Split_
-- Broken - _Skytorn_
-- Carnival in Coal - _Vivalavida_
-- Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
-- Dog Faced Gods - _Random Chaos Theory in Action_
-- Don Caballero - _Singles Breaking Up (Vol. 1)_
-- Even Song - _Path of the Angels_
-- Evoke - _Dreaming the Reality_
-- Feikn - _Helhesten / Aamanden_
-- God - _Sublime_
-- Grip Inc. - _Solidify_
-- Haemorrhage - _Anatomical Inferno_
-- Houwitser - _Death... But Not Buried_
-- Humectant Interruption - _Internal Feedback_
-- Various - _In Conspiracy With Satan_
-- Macbeth - _Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo_
-- Midnight Syndicate - _Born of the Night_
-- Mindset - _A Bullet for Cinderella_
-- Minotaur - _Power of Darkness_
-- Moontower - _Moontower_
-- My Insanity - _Still Dreams in Violent Areas_
-- Necrophagia - _Holocausto de la Morte_
-- Negura Bunget - _Sala Molksa_
-- Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_
-- Nokturnal Mortum - _To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire_
-- Obscurity - _Ovations to the Death_
-- Orange Goblin - _Time Travelling Blues_
-- Overkill - _Necroshine_
-- Peccatum - _Strangling From Within_
-- Postmortem - _Repulsion_
-- Pro-Pain - _Act of God_
-- Sarcastic - _Inside_
-- Serenity - _The Name_
-- Skinlab - _Disembody: The New Flesh_
-- Sorcery - _Bloodchilling Tales_
-- Swordmaster - _Deathraider_
-- Tchort - _The Heavens Are Showing the Glory of..._
-- Terveet Kadet - _The Ultimate Pain_
-- Thirdorgan vs. [ISOFC] - _Neon, Garbage, & Worms_
-- Throneaeon - _With Sardonic Wrath_
-- Various - _WWF - The Music Vol. 3_
* New Noise
-- Bongwater - _0000000002_
-- Core Device - _Core Device_
-- Crucified Dawn - _Crucified Dawn_
-- Endymion - _The Aegis of Apollo_
-- Kormoss - _Four_
-- Mindflair - _The Multi-Orgasmic-Man_
-- Mindflair - _Split w/ Belching Beet_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Zeus Himself Would've Been Proud: Bolt Thrower with Crowbar
-- Dead by Dawn: Deicide with Rotting Christ, Aeternus, Ancient Rites
-- The Fear of Strobelight Moshing: Fear Factory w/ System of a Down
* What We Have Cranked
* Details
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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.
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999
From: Blackk Soul <blackksoul@hotmail.com>
Subject: 'Attention Loud Letters'
A few years back I was heavily into Death Metal music, but a lot
of DM bands changed their music for commercial success. Slowly I
thought that Black Metal was more extreme, more underground and less
commercial than DM. I started listening to BM and I liked the variety
and the extremity in this sub-genre. I got heavily into BM too. But
nowadays it's very different. BM is not underground anymore. It's a
trend. It's too commercial and money-making business. It's has lost
its extremity and it's offensiveness. Nowadays every other kid in the
street is a Cradle of Filth 'fan'. Every other metal band is a BM
band with corpsepaint and Satanic names. Bands like Venom, Celtic
Frost and Bathory have suddenly become everybody's inspiration.
Although they sold very few records back in the early eighties, even
re-releases of their albums are sellouts now. There are a very few
people who are truely into this music. All the other
hundred-thousands are trend-seekers. BM is a trend now. After a few
years some other metal genre (maybe extremely Brutal hyperspeed
Death/Grind Metal ha! ha!) will be trendy and these stupid idiots
will suddenly become fans of Brutal Death Metal.
I have said it once before, and I say it again: Let all the true
Black Warriors unite against these trend followers and destroy them,
crush their pretty little heads so that they can no more rise again
to pollute other sub-genres of Extreme music.
Readers, if you agree with me mail me at
<blackksoul@hotmail.com> LETS UNITE.
Please check out BM site at
members.tripod.com/blackmetal13/index.htm
Blacksoul
Kathmandu, Nepal
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Date: Tue, 16 Feb 1999
From: vance kotrla <bimage@wans.net>
Subject: attention loud letters...or not
hey. i think you've got a great little zine going here, but i've got
one complaint. you see i'm the drummer for black spiral, an unsigned
and band who's self-produced debut cd was review in issue number 36.
i thought that maybe we'd show up in 'new noise' rather than your
'album asylum' since it is a self-produced cd and all. but there we
were, getting what i'd call a less-than-favorable review in 'asylum.'
the reviewer (i forget who it was) spent more time dogging the
production than discussing the music. first, the production isn't
that bad. it's not stellar, and it's not on the same level as most of
your big-name metal bands, but it is, after all, a self-produced cd.
secondly, the production is a hell of a lot better than most black
metal stuff out there. let's try not have a double standard, here.
basically, i would just ask that our cd would be taken for what it
is. it's not perfect, but it's good music, and we've gotten lots of
positive responses to it. we hope that more people will listen and
take notice (obviously) but we feel that that's been impared by our
mis-categorization. do you think maybe you could give the cd another
crack, but under a different section. we would appreciate it.
thanks,
vk.
ps. you can print this or not, it doesn't matter a whole lot to me,
but we'd ask you to take the content into consideration. thanks.
vance kotrla
bimage@wans.net
http://web.wt.net/~turk1602/broken.htm
4700 e. riverside dr. #1111
austin, tx 78741
(512) 356-2580
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F A R B E Y O N D T H E G R A C E O F G O D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Marduk
by: David Rocher
Arguably the most brutal, blasphemous and undisputed icon in the
Swedish extreme metal scene, Marduk are currently preparing to
unleash the devastating force of their sixth full-length album, the
not-very-ambiguously named _Panzer Division Marduk_. As the band's
demo recordings are now truly attaining a cult status in the extreme
metal scene, it's becoming increasingly clear that Marduk are an
unhallowed, blackened force to be reckoned with. In the following
interview, Legion, Marduk's uncompromising "mouth of Satan",
demonstrates that nothing in the band's seemingly irrepressible
ascension is left to fate alone. A cool-headed, sharp-minded, and
coldly determined metalhead calmly talks about the unrelenting new
onslaught that we frail, unsuspecting mortals are due to fall before.
Once again, my thanks to the mighty metalhead Joey Jaffrezic (JJ) of
Radio Meduse for his contributions to this journalistic slab of hate.
CoC: What's gone since the release of _Nightwing_?
Legion: Actually, not as much as we really wanted to do. We were
scheduled for a US tour this summer together with Angel
Corpse and Cannibal Corpse, but for several reasons, we never
got on that tour, so we were stuck at home for a whole
Summer, doing nothing. But tonight we're doing the last show
on this tour, and then we'll get home, rehearse very
intensively, do some Swedish gigs, do some gigs in Florida
together with Cannibal Corpse, and then we're going to the
studio to record our new album, _Panzer Division Marduk_.
CoC: When is _Panzer Division Marduk_ scheduled for release?
L: We hope to be able to release it in April or May, because we're
going over to the USA after that, and the best time to play in the
US, if you cannot do it in Winter, is in July-August, so it's got
to be out before that. We're all working very intensively towards
the stuff concerning the new recording, so it can be released as
soon as possible -- late Spring, something like that.
CoC: What can we expect musically from _Panzer Division Marduk_?
L: Expect pure fucking Armageddon! We'll release the most intense
black metal album ever released; no band in the past will have
been able to do what we are about to do -- we'll have no heavy
parts, no double-bass drumming, no -nothing- except full fucking
breakneck speed all the time! We will release something like eight
or ten songs, with full fucking blast beats all the time, very
chaotic and hysterical riffing, but always controlled -- you will
still hear that it is Marduk -- and very violent lyrics regarding
war. Right now, I have completed three new lyrics, which are
called "Blodorn", "Baptism by Fire" and "Panzer Division Marduk",
which are all very cruel and devastating lyrics. So, prepare for
the worst black metal assault so far!
JJ: Will it be a concept album?
L: Yeah, in a way -- the lyrics will not be connected as in the Vlad
story of _Nightwing_, but all the lyrics will be dealing with
topics of war and warfare, so in a way it's a concept album,
because of the subject we have chosen.
CoC: The black metal trend seems to finally be receding; what do you
think it will leave in its wake?
L: Yeah, I agree, and there'll be the same shit as with the death
metal scene -- only a couple of bands survived, those bands who
really put something of interest into the scene. For me, right
now, there is no black metal scene any more, because it's very
much -gothic- music, and the only thing I can say is in Marduk, we
prefer to be -goatic- instead. I don't like goth music, I don't
find it interesting at all. And I think it makes absolutely no
sense that the guys stating to be the cruellest beings on earth
sound like a fucking pop orchestra, with female vocals,
synthesisers and all that shit, and sorry lyrics about how fucking
sad they are when they're out in the forest -- I agree with Gene
Simmons of Kiss, he said like "all them sorry bands, give them a
hug and a trip to Disneyland" <laughs> --, because that is
actually NOT what black metal is all about. Our lyrics will always
be in the same vein, it's what we feel is the right thing to do
regarding black metal, just very dark and malignant lyrics, which
are really like a fist in the face of God. That is what we'll
always be about, and for us, it's about the only thing you can do
if you are stating to be a black metal band.
CoC: You were talking about synthesisers and female vocals in black
metal -- do you completely disagree with this, don't you stand
for bands like Emperor?
L: Emperor can do whatever they want, I'm not their fucking father,
so I don't tell them what to do! <laughs> But, bottom line, Marduk
will always be Marduk, and that's what counts to us, the rest of
the scene can do what they want, we don't care, and we don't
backstab other bands because they are not like us. My main
priority, twenty six hours a day maybe, is Marduk, and that is all
I count on. Of course I enjoy other bands, but it's their decision
how they want to sound -- I don't judge anyone, they can do
whatever they want, but for us, it's a totally wrong way of doing
it!
CoC: Black metal has moved away from what it was meant to be,
something really primitive and raw, so I guess _Panzer Division
Marduk_ will be a back-to-the-roots sort of trip, that sticks to
the stricter meaning of black metal?
L: Yeah, the riffing will be very primitive and very basic, I guess
you can say so. But the first generations, the really early black
metal bands, they don't have anything together with today's scene;
what's in the past was in the past, and I don't really fancy those
new bands trying to sound exactly like old-school, because a copy
can never get better than the original. So, instead listening of
ten new bands trying to sound like _Infernal Overkill_ of
Destruction, I'd rather listen to that actual recording.
JJ: Don't you think that calling your new album _Panzer Division
Marduk_ will get you trouble from the same people who criticised
the cover of your _Live in Germania_?
L: Yeah, it will, for sure! It's the fucking witch-hunter spirit of
the inquisition which [tries to] abolish free will and stop people
from thinking, but nobody should tell us what to do, because it's
not very difficult for us to fuck those guys! We can be in lots of
other magazines, we can play at different locations in Germany,
and they are the guys who'll be biting the grass. That _Live in
Germania_ thing was really fucking stupid from them, because we
recorded eighteen shows on the _Heaven Shall Burn..._ tour, and
when we got home, we found that the four shows, all of which we
played in Germany, were the absolute best -- superior sound, the
songs we did were perfect, and everything was great, so we said
"hey, let's do a celebration to Germany, because we've got a very
good crowd there!" So we did, and of course we got shitloads of
problems, all for nothing -- it's actually the same eagle which is
featured on the one Deutsche Mark coins, so what do the Germans do
in the stores? Are they like... [Hides is eyes with his hand and
pretends to be disgusted by the coin he's placing on the counter.]
<laughs> It's so stupid, should you be a Nazi if you pay with one
Deutsche Mark coins? It's rather ridiculous, but Herve [the Osmose
boss -- David] solved that very elegantly -- he changed some coins
and sent them to the journalists, and they went "hey, it's
alright". So, for sure, it will really be a punch in the eye for
some guys, I know that, but I don't care, because we do whatever
we want to do, and -no- fucking journalist is gonna tell us what
is right or wrong, because that is up to US to decide! And also,
people who read the lyrics will understand that the _Panzer
Division Marduk_ album will -not- be a political album in any way,
we are doing the same shit as always, only that this album will
focus on war in a pretty modern kind of way, rather than in a
medieval, occult evil way -- so, it's looking at the same thing,
but from a different point of view.
CoC: Marduk are renowned for extreme Satanic lyrics; are the lyrics
on _Panzer Division Marduk_ going to be in the same vein as on
_Heaven Shall Burn..._ and your latest releases?
L: Yeah, they will, for sure. If the only supernatural Evil that ever
existed on Earth was in the dark ages, in 1300 or something, then
why would we be around doing what we do, if we didn't believe that
thing still exists? We're looking at it from a different point of
view, in a different century, but the lyrics regarding Marduk will
always have a Satanic base, because that is what this band is
really all about. It will be the same lyrics as always, but with a
different touch, you could say.
CoC: Nowadays, science is able to explain a lot of what was
considered as miracles and supernatural happenings, so how do
you represent Satan to yourselves, now?
L: Just because you don't believe that the trolls are running around
in the forest anymore doesn't really mean to me that there is no
higher power. I believe in an [incomprehensible] divinity, a force
so great our brains cannot get the whole picture, we can only see
fractions of it. And it's so powerful, you are -nothing-, you're
like a tiny little shit compared to that power, and that is what
we believe in. That is our aim, with our lyrics, to hammer the
last nail in the coffin of Christianity, and give praise to
something which we feel is better. Regarding science, science is
like a mumbo-jumbo occult thing in itself, people rely too much on
it; it's like "take this pill, and you'll be like that", "use this
machine, and you'll be like that" -- people rely too much on that
shit, instead of thinking for themselves.
JJ: The next Marduk is announced as being the most violent black
metal album ever created; is this the end of a cycle for Marduk?
L: Most likely, it'll be a peak of aggressiveness, I don't think
we'll ever do such an extreme album again. But you never know,
it's better to aim for one album which will be really devastating,
rather than doing two or three small fires in a row. The album
which will come out after _Panzer Division Marduk_ will be very
varied, with lots of heavy parts and mid-paced stuff, like we did
on _Nightwing_, but even more varied. And also, immediately after
_Panzer Division Marduk_, we will record a mini-CD entitled _Face
the Master_, which will be a double-bass drumming song, mid-paced,
with lyrics based on the "Salem's Lot" story by Stephen King. And
that mini-CD will most likely feature some cover versions as well,
maybe from Exodus, Possessed or something like that -- we haven't
decided yet.
CoC: I guess classical music isn't going to be as much of an
inspiration for you as it has been so far?
L: For _Panzer Division Marduk_, it will very much be basic stuff, we
just want to create the feeling of seventy tons of steel rolling
across the battlefield. We'll never use classical music so that
you can hear we're doing classical stuff, but since we listen to
it very much at home, and some of the riffing in the metal scene
in general and the violin in classical music are kind of related,
I guess you can find some shit like that in Marduk's music, but
_Panzer Division Marduk_ will aim at recreating the feeling of a
battle -- that's what the album is all about!
JJ: Who influenced Marduk more, Bathory or Wagner?
L: Well, both, I guess! I really love the works of Wagner and I
really love the first three Bathory albums as well, and some of
the later albums are okay, like _Blood Fire Death_, _Twilight of
the Gods_ and _Hammerheart_ -- they're okay, but not really good.
CoC: Would you ever consider, on works after _Panzer Division
Marduk_, doing what you did with the track "Glorification of the
Black God" -- taking a classical music theme and developing it
into a metal symphony?
L: Yeah, we have already thought of that, and planned several pieces
like that, but if it's going to be something in reality -- well,
nothing's planned right now, so maybe, maybe not.
JJ: Some of you are implied in projects other than Marduk, such as
Allegiance; is managing time and energy not too difficult in this
case? Does Marduk remain your priority?
L: Well, the two guys who are in Allegiance don't do that much for
Marduk -- Fredrik is our drummer, but he doesn't write any lyrics,
I do all the lyrics, and Morgan [Hakansson, guitars] does most of
the music; I'll maybe write one or two riffs for each album, and B
War [bass] will write a couple, so Allegiance may be their
priority regarding their creativity, but Marduk is our main
priority: all four of us in the band are going for Marduk. We've
already had to sacrifice a lot to keep this band going, and we'll
sacrifice even more if we have to.
CoC: Do you still do some vocals on Ophthalamia's last album?
L: No, I quit Ophthalamia late '94, maybe early '95, and I met those
guys maybe two or three times after that -- if I meet them, I
still say hi and speak with them, but I've never done anything
more with them.
CoC: What do you think of their last work, _Dominion_?
L: Actually, not too much, since I only heard it two times
immediately after the studio. I think it sounds too much [like]
Dissection and too mainstream, actually. It's not the same thing
as it was -- which is pretty natural because you move on -- and
you can really tell that the music is made this time by the
younger brother Nodtveidt and Ole from Dissection. But I haven't
listened to it that much, so I'm not the guy to review it, really.
CoC: Talking about Jon Nodtveidt and Dissection, how do you look upon
what happened? I think he's has been sentenced to eight years in
jail...
L: That's wrong, he's been sentenced to ten years.
CoC: I thought it was Vlad who got ten years...
L: Yeah, and Jon -- they both got ten years, because Jon moved
forward to another court, thinking they would reduce his
punishment. But they didn't, they gave him two more years. And, I
mean, they can do whatever they want. I haven't really spoken to
Jon since '95, when we were back at his place -- it was Jon, Vlad,
some other guys from Gothenburg, me and Morgan, It and some other
guys as well -- then we lost contact. If they want to shoot some
people, if they think that is good, well, go ahead, I don't care,
but I wouldn't do such a thing to spoil my entire career.
Dissection could have gotten really big and now they will not,
but... he has made his choice.
CoC: Do you think the purpose of these kind of actions was trying to
draw the lights to the scene?
L: No, I don't know if that was their aim -- I don't think it was,
but if it was, it's just rather meaningless, because releasing a
good album is far better. And people won't take it seriously
anyway, because it's just like some bad kind of promotion -- it's
like the Norse church fires; if the guys were into burning those
churches, why did they contact all the magazines afterwards? It's
stupid.
JJ: Many bands have surfed on the black metal trend's success in
order to get signed on larger labels -- did you receive any such
offers? And are you satisfied with Osmose's work?
L: Yeah, we are very satisfied with Osmose. I think it's really the
best label for Marduk, since they are professional; we can always
rely on Herve, and they have got the power to distribute their
albums correctly. But the most important thing to us is that we
have total artistic freedom. Nuclear Blast would never have
released the lyrics sheet for _Slay the Nazarene_, never; they
would never have released the _Fuck Me Jesus_ CD; they would never
have released the "Christraping Black Metal" t-shirt, nor our new
shirt for the track "Slay the Nazarene" -- this will be the
_Nightwing_ demon standing in a pentagram with Jesus' body,
decapitated, on a cross on fire, and the demon's raising the head
[at arm's length]. What other label this big would release such a
shirt? Nobody that I can think of... so we are very, very
satisfied with Osmose, they're doing a very good job for us.
JJ: So you'll stay on Osmose?
L: Yeah, yeah, yeah! We have one more album on our contract, which
will be _Panzer Division Marduk_, and then we'll negotiate again,
and see what they have to offer -- but we are satisfied!
CoC: Mentioning artwork, do you know why the artwork for _Fuck me
Jesus_ was changed? The photos are completely different and the
artwork was changed, too...
L: Yeah, it's a completely different [layout]. On the demo, it's a
girl lying on a table and lots of demons circling around her, like
they're ripping her. Actually, it was Herve who came up with the
really splendid cover for the CD, and said "hey, let's do this!"
And of course, we couldn't do anything but agree, because it's a
fucking great cover!
CoC: What do you think of Osmose's roster of bands?
L: Well, I really like Immortal and Angel Corpse, they are fucking
great bands, but the other Osmose bands, I haven't listened to a
lot -- I don't listen to many of the bands in the metal scene
today, so I'm not the guy to review them. It's not very
interesting, for me anyway.
CoC: Do any other forms of art influence your music?
L: I guess I'm not really inspired by art, really, but of course you
can get some cool ideas by studying art done by others. I'm very
much into drawing myself, and I will begin as a tattoo artist as
soon as we get home -- and that will be it for me, when I'm older
and when I'm through with Marduk.
JJ: Metal has always become more extreme, do you think it is possible
to create music more violent than black metal by Marduk or
Immortal?
L: I don't really know... <laughs> I wonder how that would sound. But
roughly, music has always gone in circles -- just look at the
"ordinary" metal scene: it's not a coincidence that for instance
Ratt have reformed and signed a big, big record deal in the USA;
it's that this pussy wimp "up-metal" shit is coming back. There
have [recently] been some retro thrash [acts] as well, and I guess
death metal will get really big again -- it's always going in
circles; it's like a new thing when it's returned, but you can
still feel the roots. I don't know if bands will get more brutal,
we'll see in future!
CoC: As a Swedish band, you claim to play "Swedish Black Metal" -- in
your opinion, what are the main differences between Swedish and
Norwegian black metal?
L: Erm... <hesitates> I don't know. I think the Norwegians go more
for the moods, while we go for the brutality, I guess, but it's
the only thing I can think of -- if you're not counting Darkthrone
or Mayhem, which are really the most important bands over there,
together with Emperor. But I don't really know -- we released the
"Swedish Black Metal" shirt just to make clear that we are
Swedish, because before, we'd got a lot of shit like "you guys
cannot be real black metal [musicians], you're not from Norway!"
If people really knew the Norwegian people, they wouldn't run
around with Norwegian flags on their t-shirts, because the
Norwegian people are very happy people who wear cardigans, sing
songs, scratch themselves under the arms, and stuff like that
<laughs> -- and they're pretty Christian too! It's NOT what people
think over there, I can assure you. We only did the "Swedish Black
Metal" t-shirt because we -are- a black metal band, and we -are-
from Sweden -- bottom line!
JJ: Do you get decent support from the Swedish audiences?
L: Actually, Marduk hasn't played live in Sweden for four and a half
years. There are no metal clubs in Sweden, there are hardly ever
any concerts, there's -not- a scene in Sweden -- it's just like
many bands, because the only way you can exist in that scene, if
you have to call it like that, is by having a band. But Swedish
crowds are not good, and the Norwegians are even worse, because
everybody's got bands, and everybody's cocky and real big-headed,
"I'm better than you, I cannot thrash around at your concerts", so
it's mostly like this: [crosses his arms, and takes a proud stance
with his nose turned up.] <laughs> So who the hell wants to play
there? We feel much more comfortable down here in Europe where
there's actually a good metal scene. We will do some Swedish gigs
later just to do them, but we don't like playing back home.
JJ: Do you think corpsepaint is a part of black metal? What do you
think of black metal bands who have given it up?
L: Well, I can only speak for Marduk, and we use corpsepaint because
we want the whole concert to be the same: the lyrics, the music
and the approach should be as brutal as possible, so we can really
make clear to people what we are all about. In some ways,
honestly, I wouldn't mind dropping it, because when you're out on
tour, it's fucking hell getting that on and off every night, but
it's a big part of our concept, and we won't drop it, we won't be
unmasked. But regarding some of the new bands who use corpsepaint,
it looks maybe a little bit funny when the music is soft and
tender and the guys look like fucking demons! But for Marduk, we
really use it to illustrate what we are singing about.
CoC: When you joined Marduk, did you ever think this band would ever
be one of the most renowned "true" black metal bands around?
L: Well, I never looked upon it like that, all we wanted to do was
play black metal, and do it the way we thought it should be done,
like really die-hard -- either you do the whole package, or you
don't and stay off it! There are hardly any black metal bands,
everybody has started to work towards goth music, or some other
strange kind of shit. But anyway, I don't know if we're a band
doing it the right way or whatever, all we ever wanted to do was
good black metal, and I guess we have succeeded so far, and we
will not fail in the future either, we will not wimp out -- we'd
rather quit than wimp out, because that is for suckers!
JJ: Now, you're answering our interview, you earn your living with
your music, but as a child, did you ever think that one day,
you'd be living like this?
L: Well, I've always been into metal -- I first discovered metal with
Manowar, Dio and Iron Maiden and shit like that at the age of six,
when the first hard-rock wave came to Sweden and it passed on TV
and on the radio, and I was like, "wow!" So I always wanted this
life, going around on tours and making albums, I really love it, I
love every minute of the life I'm living right now, but of course,
as a child, it was pretty hard to imagine. But one thing led to
another, and now -- here I am! <laughs>
JJ: Don't you think that the black metal trend is running out, and
that this is good as only the best bands will remain?
L: Yeah, it will be like a funnel for the bands who didn't make it
this time, they'll have to either wait until the next time when
there is a market for new black metal bands, or they'll have to
change style, which will be the same thing as the death metal
scene experienced in the early nineties: from those old bands,
it's almost like only Deicide, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse [and]
Immolation are still around. I guess it'll be very much the same
for us; right now, we have such a strong position, so we won't be
affected if the trend runs out, because we have very devoted fans,
and we will still be able to tour and create new albums. In a way,
it will be good, because all these new bands who are playing
"arrogant artistic force nymphomaniac blah blah" won't be around,
but since I've really stopped caring about the scene, I don't mind
them at all! Trends come and go, and from each wave of new music,
there will only be a few guys left, that's always the case.
CoC: Sweden is mainly renowned for death metal bands; how do you
appreciate present-day Swedish death metal bands?
L: Well, the death metal bands of Sweden I loved were the early
Entombed, which was very, very good, and Dismember; they were
extremely great -- the first Dismember album and the early demos
were totally amazing, but for the Swedish death metal scene of
today, I don't give that much actually. I think all those bands
like Grotesque, which were actually more black metal, were really
good, but since then, I've not discovered so much interesting
stuff. If I go for death metal, I'd rather choose the US style of
doing it, because I think it's better.
CoC: If Marduk were to write the music to a film, what would this
film be?
L: Erm... Some very bizarre and brutal horror movie, something maybe
as shocking today as the first "Evil Dead" movie when it came out
-- I remember seeing that uncut for the first time when I was a
kid, and I almost shit in my pants! So something like that would
be really, really cool to do -- if we're asked by some guys, we'll
do it for sure. Or something more like the weird, low-budget
stuff. Yeah, why not -- I like many old second-grade horror
movies. Some are very, very cool!
JJ: Last words for Marduk fans?
L: Yeah -- if you're not a metalhead, you might as well be dead!
<laughs>
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A N E X T R A V A G A N T R E B E L C O N Q U E S T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC talks to Satyr of Satyricon
by: Paul Schwarz
Satyricon are one of the finest black metal bands in the world
today. Yet, as seems to be the case with many of black metal's
legendary names, Satyricon are not as well known, popular or, on a
mass level, highly regarded as newer acts such as Cradle of Filth and
Dimmu Borgir are. Satyricon do not headline main stages at festivals
who have Sepultura lined-up as the next day's headliners (which is
the case with Dimmu Borgir at this year's March Metal Meltdown). Some
claim, and it is not an entirely unfounded claim, that Satyricon
choose to stay "under ground". There is some truth to this claim, but
the realities of the scene mean that it is not a simple -choice- of
being popular or not being popular, especially on your own terms.
Satyricon have never compromised their vision of what black metal is
about. They have never bowed to commercial pressure or the pressure
of some of their more conservative peers. Their first two albums
(_Dark Medieval Times_ and _The Shadowthrone_) were well noted by
those in the black metal scene and did more than simply follow what
others were doing at the time. After the mid-nineties' deluge,
Satyricon emerged again triumphant with _Nemesis Divina_, their third
full length offering. Adopting a slightly different, faster style
than their earlier material, Satyricon nonetheless gave us a very
mature, complex and exceptionally well produced album which still
stands as one of my favorite black metal albums. Now, after
experimenting with the _Megiddo_ EP, Satyricon are ready to return
with a new full length. Set for an August release, the title of this
as-yet-unrecorded album is _Rebel Extravaganza_. I had the privilege
of talking to Satyr, one half of the band's nucleus, of which drummer
Frost is the other, about the upcoming album and his attitudes to and
views on the black metal scene. I hope his answers are as
enlightening and interesting to you as some of them were to me.
Thanks to Mat McNerny for his help brainstorming the questions for
this interview.
CoC: The new album is called _Rebel Extravaganza_. Why did you choose
this title? To me it doesn't sound like a "traditional" black
metal album title.
Satyr: To be honest, I don't know, really, 'cause it is the same
thing that happened with the last album, _Nemesis Divina_, the
same thing that happened with _The Shadowthrone_ and _Dark
Medieval Times_ as well. [It] just fell in my head and it felt
totally natural, you know, it's kind of representative of my
way of thinking when it comes to the new songs and the lyrics
as well. I wouldn't say that the word "rebel" is
unconventional in black metal, but "extravaganza" is very much
about what we've done, for several years now. Satyricon is
definitely an extravagant band, so as I said, I have [an]
equally hard time to explain _Nemesis Divina_, really. I could
try to come up with different theories, but it just fell in my
head.
CoC: How do you think the sound [of the new songs] differs, how has it
moved on from _Nemesis Divina_? If people were to have heard the
last album, and they pick up this new one, what do you think
they'd find different from what they might expect, maybe?
S: Well, Samoth from Emperor was here listening to the rehearsal with
all the new songs, and he said that he thought it was very much
us, but it was harder, and it's probably true, but there's more
than that. You can hear the trademark of the band in the songs,
even though it's a vast progression from _Nemesis Divina_.
_Nemesis Divina_ is like three years old now, so there would have
to be something very wrong with the whole thing if nothing had
happened since then, obviously. So, probably a bit harder,
probably less medieval and Nordic, but [still] very much us.
CoC: How do you see the scene today, do you think that it compares to
the old one, or do you think that there are a lot of differences
now, in the bands that appear or the music they play?
S: Umm...
CoC: Do you think that black metal has evolved or that it's stayed
similar?
S: Oh, it has definitely evolved a lot, but I would say that in
'92/'93 black metal gave me much more of a kick than it does
today. Let's say if... I haven't heard the new Emperor album yet,
but I guess I'll like it and I guess I'll think it's good, but I
am also pretty sure that it won't give me this big kick, the same
kick _A Blaze in the Northern Sky_ [Darkthrone -- Paul] gave me
the first time I heard it. So the magic is gone really, but there
is still quality around and I'm happy to see that at least the
best bands, apart from Dissection, are still going.
CoC: Do you think that by remaining in the scene, Satyricon are
producing something new while still providing a link to the
previous scene, because you've been around throughout the
various different developments?
S: What I try to do is also to send a message through the music. A
message about how black metal should be done, at least in the way
I like it, because I think when you write music you often tend to
try to make the kinds of things that you want to hear yourself.
The way I think of this kind of music is the way I do it, in my
own band. And what I hope is that we can try to influence the
third wave of black metal bands to think more in the way of the
first and the second wave. There's definitely a need for new
thinking and progression, but there are some things, like the
extended use of female vocals and this kind of gothic romance,
which I find totally unsuitable for at least my way of thinking
about black metal.
CoC: Leading on from that, [with] bands like [the typical bands to
mention] Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth, do you think that by
using keyboards or female vocals, by making the style more
popular, they, in some way, help it, by getting more people
exposed to the more underground stuff, because, in interviews or
whatever, they'll mention the older bands?
S: Well, they help it and destroy it at the same time, you know. They
help get more people into listening to more extreme music, and
they help, obviously, other black metal bands who have, well at
least in my view, a more interesting message than they have, to
come through. But in a way they destroy it as well, because, you
know, they're so big, so they set a lot of standards for how
things are meant to be done and that will influence some bands too
-- as someone here in Norway said, I would rather breed the black
metal kids on Darkthrone than Cradle of Filth, you know. Without
that meaning that there is something wrong with Cradle of Filth, I
just think there is more -edge- to bands like Darkthrone.
CoC: Do you think that, by the character of the scene changing so
much from how it was five or six years ago, by bands being, this
is one way of putting it, less "drawn" to a certain way of
being, of playing black metal, do you think it allows bands,
now, to be more creative, by there not being such a strict "way
to play", maybe?
S: Yes, I do.
CoC: So you think that allows you, Satyricon, to be more creative
than you could've been?
S: I don't think -- actually, I think my answer is yes, but I think
we are an exception, because the way I understand your question
you are probably referring to, what shall I say, the power of
people like Euronymous, for example [I acknowledge this -- Paul]
and the kind of influence they had, and in some ways that was
positive, because some people have shown their real faces after
his death and I would actually have preferred them to stay with
their fake faces because I dislike their real faces so much. But
in our case, I never cared about his rules or anything like that,
actually, I had a bit of a conflict going with him and I think
that was due to the fact that he couldn't accept that I was a
youngster coming from nowhere, more or less not giving a shit
about his ideas. And I told him that as well, and he definitely
disliked that, but yes, I think it is positive that there has to
be some quality acts to set a standard for the rest, but there
shouldn't be rules about what you should do and what you can't do.
CoC: Would you say there is music or things in the world which
specifically do influence you? Do you think that you could
identify certain influences which either influenced you to start
the band in the first place, or to still create music or to
create [specific] past works?
S: Well, I think the drive behind the beginning was, apart from the
whole thing with Darkthrone and all that, then the second wave of
black metal, it was also me, and the others who were with me then,
our huge fascination for the old acts, such as Celtic Frost,
Bathory and Venom, all that. And today I don't think I am so
inspired by music, I don't listen much to music, I listen to music
in the car, but I usually get enough because we rehearse and I
play guitar at home and I write lyrics, and I get enough music in
my life. I work in the music business as well, so I don't need to
use my spare time to listen to music, but in the car I listen to
some music. Some electronic and industrial acts have given me
impulses and I think it's a very positive thing to listen to lots
of different kinds of genres, to get impulses and to make yourself
richer musically. Because if you don't know what's going on you
have no chance to develop. How can I, for example, develop my way
of singing if the only way I know is to scream? But fortunately I
listen to lots of other music and get impulses, rather than
inspiration.
CoC: Regarding the use of the media to expose your music more, do you
think doing things in the past like the very well produced
"Mother North" video -- do you think that you will continue to
use media to bring attention to your music more...
S: In terms of advertising?
CoC: In terms of advertising and also the presentation, do you think
that that matters as much in black metal as it does in other
styles of music? Because I think that sometimes, with some
bands, there is a tendency to want to remain limited to a
certain number of people, to not attempt to draw other people
in, to allow them to come in themselves, as it were. Not that
I'm criticising that.
S: Yeah, yeah, I understand, but that is not the way I am thinking. I
fully respect that way of thinking, but I don't think any band
should be forced to expose themselves or to limit themselves, it
should be a freedom of choice, you know, where you want your band
to go and I definitely find the video media very interesting and I
know that we will do a video for the album. I don't know what it
is going to be like, I just know we are going to do a video and
I'll have to think about it. It'll probably happen during Summer
or something, 'cause the MCD is going to be out in April or May
and the album in August. I think, actually, the record company are
going to do some short clips or something for TV advertising in
Germany, which is pretty new, and, to be honest, I actually don't
like TV advertising with music -- just five seconds and it's all
over, and next up is, uh, a commercial for diapers or something
--, so I think it is totally unsuitable, but, in a way, you know,
it is obviously very good for the band, lots of people that
wouldn't have heard about the album otherwise might find it
interesting and go to the record store and check it out -- you
know, listen to the album and make a decision whether to buy it or
not. So, I guess...
CoC: It might be the lesser of two evils, maybe?
S: I guess so. I think it is also just a natural development of the
whole thing, you know, we have the internet replacing the old
correspondence of underground with regular slow mail, and now you
have the internet replacing that whole underground, and, I think,
in the coming years, TV advertising and such will, not replace,
but I think more and more it will go over to that instead of
advertising in magazines, because the rates for advertising in
magazines are sick, you know, you have to sell so many extra
albums to make it worth it. I think it is probably easier to reach
out through television. I think radio would've been definitely the
best thing, but the problem is that there are not many radio
stations who allow metal programs, and if they have metal programs
it's probably in the middle of the night on a Wednesday or
something.
CoC: And it is only a small audience who might know about it.
S: Yeah, it's like twenty people who are regulars and there's
probably one or two more dropping by just by coincidence.
CoC: You have a new member on this album, apparently?
S: No new members.
CoC: No?
S: We are working with lots of different people, but we found out
that there's too many problems with all the other guys and...
basically we've done it ourselves all the time, we've brought some
other people in on all the albums, but, you know, when it all
comes down it's just like, as you Englishmen say, "at the end of
the day", there has only been me and Frost, you know.
CoC: So Daemon [ex-Dismember], would no longer be in the band?
S: No, you know, if you want to you can -- I'll be happy to see if
you could -- set up a "wanted" poster, because he's been gone for
six months; that's what I've said to every journalist. He was
supposed to go to Sweden for one week and that's like, seven or
eight months ago or something, and we haven't heard anything ever
since. So I don't know what he's up to, but that's the kind of
things that usually happen. Strange things, people disappearing or
people lacking the interest to work as hard as we want to, or
maybe they think it is too much of a hassle, so we're just gonna
keep on going with just the two of us, as a band. But we have our
own live line-up; basically the same line-up as we had at Dynamo,
and, on the album, we're gonna bring in Fenriz, doing some
percussion, we're gonna bring in Mikael, from Thorns, to do some
guest guitar things, and Sanrabb from Gehenna is gonna do some
guitars on the MCD. We'll also bring in another guitarist, in
addition to myself, on the album, and bass on the album and MCD
will be handled by -- well, they broke up now but, you know,
Conception, it's a power metal band on Noise Records.
CoC: Oh, no, I don't know them.
S: It's horrible [I laugh -- Paul] but, I don't know, real technical
people and all that and this guy, the bassist, he has a project,
called Crest of Darkness, and... he's very good, so he's doing the
bass. So we're bringing in lots of different people, I mean, we're
even bringing in this guy who plays in [couldn't quite hear what
he said, it sounded like "Uperting My Berserk" -- Paul], who
played in a black metal band called Mock, which was a crappy band,
but this guy has turned into becoming interested only in
industrial and electronic music and he's a wizard when it comes to
sampling, making special effects, electronic loops, those kind of
things, and he's very good at it. So he's going to be part of the
mix or something. So, we'd rather work with ourselves [motioning
to himself and Frost] as the platform of the band and bring in
people with special skills to make the album become better.
Contact: WWW: http://www.union.no/moonfog
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M A D M E N O F M U T I L A T I O N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Exhumed
by: Adrian Bromley
There are a lot of sick people in this world we live in. People
that do awful things to children. People that don't have a care in
the world or any regard for anyone but themselves. People who live on
this planet just to fuck things up and have a jolly time doing it.
Then there is Exhumed.
Judging by the cover of Exhumed's latest grindcore/metal
masterpiece _Gore Metal_, a horribly rude and disgustingly squeamish
cover of bodies mutilated beyond recognition throughout a kitchen, it
seems as though the four crazy fucks (let's see, there is Matt
Harvey, Col Jones, Ross Sewage and Mike Beams) in the band would fit
nicely into the characterisation of my first paragraph. They'd love
it. That's just them, you see... Exhumed are Exhumed.
What you should know and just imbed into your forehead is that
Exhumed play their music the way that they want to, with little
concern for how others feel, and they could give two fucks about
record sales. They mean nothing. In general, I don't usually take
time to really wonder about people and their actions, but as I sit
here and write about Exhumed, I wonder just what it's all about for
them. Do they have a mission? What's with all of the grotesque take
on things? Is it necessary? Of course it is. They are making a point.
It's all about playing loud, aggressive music and having a
shit-kickin' time doing it. Who cares how ya do it, just as long as
you are doing it. Right? You bet.
As the interview begins, I actually take time to comment about
the violent images pasted all over the album cover. It's sick and
brutally rude. I ask guitarist/interviewee Matt Harvey "Whose sick
idea was it to use those photos?" He laughs and says: "It was all our
idea. We just wanted to fuck shit up." No shit. Good job, Holmes.
He continues: "It's Ross [Sewage, drummer] who took all the
photos. That is actually my kitchen. We just went in there and messed
stuff up. It was great fun. We all had an input in what you see
within the artwork." In regards to many other genres (primarily black
metal) boasting a certain image to uphold, Harvey comments, "I know
what you're talking about. Let's just say you'll never see a forestry
image on an Exhumed record. We just want to make the biggest fucking
shit possible and this is it."
I tell Harvey about myself opening the CD sleeve on the subway
and having people stare with a disgusted look, with me eventually
putting away the CD slightly embarrassed. "Oh man. That's great", he
says with a sense of accomplishment. "That is the way it should be.
If people feel that way towards what they see or hear with our
record, then we have done our job. We're not trying to upset a
certain type or person or specific people in general, we're just
trying to be ourselves. That's all we do. We play what we play and we
do what we do. That's how it is with Exhumed. We've never really had
a direction. We just go with the flow."
About the direction of their material with _Gore Metal_, he says
in detail: "There are certain things on this record that could have
been a lot better for us, but things could have been shittier. The
record worked out for us. Some of the stuff here is real old, but I
personally think this is the best thing that we have ever released.
Everything worked out in the end."
"The reason that I am so happy and saying that this is our best
release is the fact that you can tell we took the time to work on
this in the studio. I mean, we used a proper studio this time and
worked with a good producer. James Murphy [renowned guitar player and
Testament member] was a great help for us. For once, there was at
least one person who knew what he was doing, which is more than
usual. I just think the songs really take shape into songs, rather
than just all these noisy barrages of material. We have some good
ideas here."
On the role of studio work, he comments: "It's such a pain in
the ass. It's very tedious for the most part, but something you gotta
do if you want to get a record out. It's so bad to be in there doing
the guitar chords over and over like a thousand times. I really feel
sorry for our drummer, though. Playing the same drum beat like five
thousand times in a studio for five hours... I mean, being alone in a
room with James Murphy while working on material is tough enough
<laughs>, but five hours?! It's crazy, shit like that that really
gets you, but I'll tell you it's a reward to get it out there and be
happy with the product."
On the overall take of Exhumed and what they have done, Harvey
tries to sum up Exhumed's role in helping shape metal music. "When we
started up six or seven years ago, we were all part of what was going
on. We were a typical band doing what everyone else was doing. But I
look around nowadays and see all of the stuff out there and realize
that we are all alone. We're still playing grinding death metal,
singing about sick shit and all that 'cause we want to."
The topic of their label Relapse Records surfaces into the
conversation. About their work with the label, Harvey juts in: "They
are a great label to be working with. They are the only label that I
want to be working with. Really. I look at all the other labels out
there, like Century Media and Nuclear Blast, and they are some of the
biggest fags out there. They jump on all of these trends and it makes
me sick. Relapse has been going strong for the last few years, and I
don't like everything they put out, but at least they don't jump on
trends."
On band motivation and handling material and music, Harvey
notes: "We really work hard to keep our writing going. We have done a
few 7" splits this year and have been on a compilation or two. We
just keep things going. It's great to be doing this. Sure, people
might say that we put out shit, but at least we put out a lot of
shit. Maybe it's not quality, but at least we have quantity on our
side. I think it's really lame for bands to sit around and wait two
years to put something out. It shouldn't be that way. It should be
push, push, push with bands and their material. We need to keep the
momentum going for the band. It's been great to do this and the
underground support has really been a blessing for us. If we were to
sit around and not tour or put out records or 7" or what have you,
then it would be the dumbest thing to do."
"We have always had the same work ethics. We do very little mail
outs and we're not too big in our scene here, but people seem to know
about us. We went to Europe at the end of 1997 and people were coming
up to us knowing all of our stuff. It blew me away, man. It was a new
thing for us to experience. Our thoughts on the whole thing is if
they know us it's great, and if they don't they will soon enough.
<laughs>" You've all been warned. Exhumed are currently on tour.
Contact: Exhumed, c/o Pearly Penile Papules,
P.O. Box. 53432, San Jose, CA, USA, 95153
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S T I L L K I L L I N G
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Bobby Blitz of Overkill
by: Jody Webb
Never one to throw in the towel, Bobby Blitz and the Overkill
crew have been churning out riffs and records for over a decade now,
never wavering far from their classic '80s sound. In February the
band releases _Necroshine_, the latest instalment in the Overkill
saga. Read on as we get the low down on the new disc, the story
behind the cancellation of the last tour and Bobby's state of the
scene address.
CoC: Give us a little insight into what _Necroshine_ is about.
Bobby Blitz: To just generalize it, you get a real good view of where
we are, in our lives personally, and as a band. I had
quite an exhausting year as far as my health went, and
this was something that came out of it. This was kind of
a cleansing for me, to expel any demons I had sort of
running around in my head. Because, I mean, it was a
coin flip at a certain time in the situation I had,
which was cancer, and there was a time when they thought
it was going to go after my brain. I was like, where is
it? <laughs> This record has given me an opportunity to
be very strong and give you a lyrical perspective of
where I stand as a person. As far as the musical aspect
of the record goes, I think we've evolved another step.
I think a great thing about this band is it never looses
its roots, yet at the same time it doesn't sound like
1985 on this record. It has a very marketable
contemporary value to it, as well as a standard, 1985
deep rooted metal feel to it. So I think the beauty is
being able to balance the two.
CoC: A lot of people were disappointed when you cancelled your show
at the club here in town, back in the spring of '97, on the tour
for _From the Underground and Below_. I think you sold all 950
tickets to the joint and there was a mad scramble for the
tickets I gave away on my radio show. What happened?
BB: Because of the cancer, half of my face was gone!
<laughs> If you
saw the rescheduled show you might say "Jeez, that guy looks a
little different." I learned I wasn't vain!
CoC: Who is the primary writer?
BB: I write with my partner DD Vernon. DD gets things going in the
musical end of things, then he lets me hear the demos and keeps
me abreast of what's going on. We are familiar with each other's
styles and that doesn't stop the evolution of the band.
CoC: Any other kinds of music that the Overkill crew listens to, that
influences the writing?
BB: I'm kind of eclectic, I listen to anything from Harry Connick Jr,
to your Johnny Cash album, to Slayer, to Machine Head, to Napalm
Death. Anything Colin Richardson does I like.
CoC: Who's that?
BB: He's a producer. He has worked with bands like Fear Factory,
Machine Head, Napalm Death; he did our last album. His stuff we
really really like. We watched him closely when we co-produced
_From the Underground and Below_ with him. We stole some of his
tricks and produced this latest one ourselves! We worked with
Terry Date on numerous things. I love these producers. If you put
on something done by Terry, I can almost guarantee that I'll like
it.
CoC: What does Overkill do when it's tired of working in the studio?
BB: We keep going, overkill! <laughs> This is our full time job. We
have to make our own decisions and this is a business. It's a
business we love, so it doesn't seem like business to us; you
could say we are protecting our interests.
CoC: Has the current craze in wrestling claimed any members of
Overkill?
BB: Back in '96 Tim Mallory played on one of those WWF metal albums
with Scott Ian and one of the guys from Savatage. I don't think
he's a wrestling fan, though he looks like he could be a
wrestler. But not me. I suppose hobbies for me could include...
I'm a two wheel junkie, I love riding bikes and I always will.
Music, bikes, and my family. Not necessarily in that order.
CoC: Do you have any tattoos to declare?
BB: No, no I don't. One of the reasons I don't is because it's become
a craze. I always find myself close to getting one, but then I
think that tattoos have been overexposed, excuse the pun. When
every metal band went tattooed on arms and bellies and backs, we
like to keep our individuality from the pack.
CoC: Do you have any comments about the state of the scene?
BB: At this point I think it's getting stronger, and I think it's
getting stronger because there was a great house cleaning; in the
early '90s a great chopping block came in the major labels and
off with their heads. "This band's not making enough money, drop
'em." This gave us the opportunity to flex our muscles, stretch.
It gave the true fans a chance to really support us, because
casual listeners were not there being fed by the labels. The
field is not saturated with two thousand metal bands and labels
shoving songs down your throat. So it may seem like the scene is
weaker because there are less bands, but the bands who made it
through are the strongest ones.
CoC: I always felt like it was a good thing to have a large number of
bands, because that shows a lot of interest, and it expands the
talent pool, the group of people from which we can find stars.
Yes, there will be a lot of bad bands, but as long as a lot of
people try to make metal, we will be more likely to tap into
some genius. Today, I feel, primarily because of Korn, that
people are back into making heavy music again. As a DJ, I do see
a new saturation starting to occur.
BB: You know who's guilty of making this happen, it's the major
labels. Major labels are based on dollars and cents. The people
involved in evaluating a band are accountants, and these are
number people, these have nothing to do with people developing a
band. After you sink a million bucks into a band and they're
returning $500k, it's a simple math problem. The point is, this
has always been, even in recent history, it's evident. Think back
to Seattle. Everybody owned flannel, I mean, I couldn't believe
it. Every band had a specific type of tattoo based on the
popularity of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam and a few solid bands
that came out of that scene. All of a sudden, you get to the
second wave and POW, it's bad imitators. Now if I want to hear
something with a stamp of Seattle, I'll go to the creators. I'm
gonna go to the Nirvana, and maybe the bands before them, like
Mother Love Bone. Today, with the popularity of Korn and
Deftones, new young bands will get a shot to be looked at, and
labels will sign them because they are trendy, not based on
longevity, which a band like Korn will probably have.
CoC: How do people react when you tell them you are in a metal band?
How are you treated? Do you use the word "metal"?
BB: Absolutely, in fact you used the term "heavy music" and I almost
stopped you and said "No, it's metal!"
CoC: There have been instances where I've used the word and people
have said things I didn't expect. Once I was down in Charlotte
and I was talking with the guy driving a limo I was riding in.
He said "Oh, don't tell anybody, but I still love Winger." I
also heard things like "That died so long ago." I'm apprehensive
to use the word.
BB: Metal got a bad rap a few years ago and I think we were the only
metal band left. <laughs> It was never an issue with us when it
was unpopular to be in a metal band. To deny what we are denies
that the bands exists, and it makes the music worthless from a
listening standpoint. There was a great confusion in the late
'80s and early '90s. You had pop bands with ripped jeans and
hairspray and they were ruling the charts and making money for
the big boys. They were considered metal by the public, by the
way [they] were marketed, and I think it confused us with Winger,
it confused Slayer with Poison! Metal has a purer sense about it
than commercialism.
CoC: Have you approached the Ozzfest people?
BB: Oh, absolutely. Every year. They just tell us "We'll get back to
you." Why, you know anybody? <chuckles>
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P A S S I N G T H E B O N G
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Orange Goblin
by: Adrian Bromley
If there is any band out there nowadays that deserves to be
labelled "stoner rock", it has to be England's Orange Goblin. So
thick are the grooves and the feedback, that smoking a bong of
marijuana and kicking back and enjoying the jam session unfolding
seems like the only proper thing to do. Anyone who has heard the
band's latest disc _Time Travelling Blues_ (TMC / Rise Above Records)
will certainly smile with a huge grin, uttering the words "Yeah man!
I'm down with it."
Orange Goblin singer Ben Ward seems to be down with it as well.
"I'm just glad to be able to do this and make great music", he says
over the phone from England, as a delay within the phone conversation
gives us slight feedback. "It's great to be able to create music and
be happy with it. I think we definitely did that with this record and
it feels even better that people who have heard this record really
like it. And people also seem to like the fact that we don't stay
with one sound or style within what we do. This record is different
from the first disc [1997's _Frequencies From Planet Ten_]. I think
this record has a definite Lynard Skynard feel to it, while the new
material we are working on is going back a bit to the days of Sleep
and St. Vitus. It shows that we are not afraid to mix it up."
"There has a been a definite natural progression for the band
[comprised of guitarists Joe Hoare and Pete O' Malley, drummer Chris
Turner and bassist Martyn Millard] over the years. The four musicians
in the band have gone far with their playing, not only showing growth
and depth but successfully playing as a unit and sounding great. This
record has such a great heavy groove to it. The sound of this record
was captured very well, I think. See... no matter where we go with
our music, the heaviness and the groove always stays intact. Those
two elements have always played a key role in our songwriting."
Orange Goblin are definite slaves of their work. They live and
breathe music. Their love for what they do shines like there is no
tomorrow throughout _TTB_. "We work on a lot of material for each
record. To be able to pick out what tracks work is quite easy, I'd
say," notes Ward; "When you are in the studio working on a record,
you just get this buzz from certain songs. You'll play a riff and
it'll sound just right. We'll start with a riff, then Chris will add
drums, Martyn will touch it up with bass and then a few vocals and
it's done. Songs come together quite easily for us, as long as we get
a good vibe from the ideas. It also helps that the songs go over well
live. There's nothing like a good crowd reaction."
About younger bands coming into the scene and the music industry
in general, Ward comments: "I don't know how people should react to
it. We really don't. We just walked right into the music scene
wanting to play our music and I guess we've just had to deal with
things as they came along. We have other people to deal with the
business side of the music industry. We're here to enjoy ourselves
and nothing else. We plug in and play. That's it."
"We've had a good time doing this," explains Ward. "This
business has been good to us so far. There have been a lot of
milestones. Our first tour of the U.K. with Cathedral, releasing our
first 7"... It all adds up to a good time for Orange Goblin. We love
the way all of this has turned out, 'cause we were the last to ever
expect to be on a record label and putting our material out and
touring. It feels really good to go into a record store and see your
music on the shelves. It really gives you a great feeling and that
feeling is why we do what we do. There have been some great
milestones so far and I hope there will be many more."
Seeing that it has been a long haul to get where the band is,
has Ward grown tired of doing the "music thing" yet? "No. I don't get
tired of doing this. We have a lot planned and I can't give up now.
We are doing a seven week tour of Europe with Cathedral and hopefully
some other tours, maybe in the United States or Japan. We just want
to play to as many people as possible. We are writing material too,
but most likely won't record anything this year. It would be too
soon."
"I'm not tired of doing this," he finishes, "I got tired of
working my crappy job driving a forklift at a warehouse working nine
to five. But how can you get tired of doing this? I don't see how
anyone could get sick of making music. It's such a great experience."
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| |___ _| |___ ___ ___ ___ _| |___ ___| |_
|- -| | . | -_| . | -_| | . | -_| | _|
|_____|_|_|___|___| _|___|_|_|___|___|_|_|_|
|_|
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| |___| |_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___| |_|_|___ ___ ___
|- -| | _| -_| _| _| . | . | .'| _| | . | |_ -|
|_____|_|_|_| |___|_| |_| |___|_ |__,|_| |_|___|_|_|___|
|___|
B E Y O N D A G L I M P S E O F B O R N E O
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with Kekal
by: Alex Cantwell
To the best of my knowledge, Kekal is the first Indonesian black
metal band to gain international acclaim. The band is made up of four
individuals: Jeff on guitar and vocals, Harry on vocals, Leo on
guitar and Azhar on bass. They are certainly due some recognition for
their recent release _Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams_, which combines
raw emotion with speedy drums and lethal riffage. I recently
conversed with Jeff via e-mail. Enter the world of Kekal.
"We started out in 1995. At first, there was no intention to
become a serious band, just a one-time session band by two long-time
friends. We wrote and recorded four songs at that time. But on June
1996, we got a strong vision that we have to try again with more
serious work. Then we decided to continue. The first official demo
tape (_Contra Spiritualia Nequitiae_), which contained four new
tracks and four tracks from a '95 session, was released in August
'96. The responses were very positive and many say that the musical
structure is influential." A line-up change occurred after the
recording of the demo, and since then, they no longer thought of
themselves as just a session band. In addition to Kekal, some of the
band members are involved in other projects as well. "Some of the
members are involved in various projects like Worldhate, Excision and
Mournphagy. Worldhate's music is mostly noise-industrial and they
will release a full-length CD on March through a Canadian label
[called] Northern Assembly. Excision is my solo project and the style
is more into the technical death metal kind of thing. Mournphagy is a
grind/noisecore band that plays music as brutal as possible. Each of
us has different musical interests, but we still love playing in
Kekal very much, so we think that doing side-projects is the best
way. Despite those projects, we are agreed that this band is the main
priority."
CoC: How have sales been for _Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams_ since the
CD pressing? I finally saw the CD version. Why a different cover?
Jeff: So far, more than 2000 copies have been sold in both the CD and
cassette version, mostly in Indonesia and Malaysia. The first
release of that album was a tape version only. It was released
by THT Productions, a small Indonesian label. Then a label from
Singapore [called] Candlelight Productions re-pressed that
album and released their own version on both CD and tape
formats. They didn't like the earlier cover, so they changed it.
CoC: Who do you have distribution through in Europe and America?
Jeff: The label said that they haven't got a major distribution deal
yet for Europe and America, but it is available through some
underground mail-order distros. The label is currently settling
a deal for major distribution in the US.
Since Kekal are a pure black metal entity, I was surprised at Jeff's
reply when asked who had influenced them. "Our influences are mainly
'80s bands, which we grew up listening to. Bands like Iron Maiden,
Bathory, Trouble, Helloween, Celtic Frost, Sodom, and Death to
mention some."
CoC: Have you played shows? Where and with whom?
Jeff: We haven't been able to play live because we haven't got a
permanent drummer that suits our music and the band's
direction. We don't want to use a session drummer or a drum
machine for live performances. But after all, we love playing
gigs because we came from live bands before finally joining
Kekal.
CoC: Have people in the black metal scene, or metal scene in general,
been receptive to you in Indonesia?
Jeff: Yes, most of them have been receptive to us. The scene in
Indonesia is now more focused on the music and not the
religions, ideologies, political stances or whatever that might
contradict each other. There's no need to call the scene "the
metal scene" anymore if it's actually based on personal
beliefs. As long as we play metal music, respect one another
and not hate others because of their differences, there is no
reason to be rejected in the metal scene. Of course there are
individuals who hate bands with different beliefs, other than
theirs, but it seems so childish.
CoC: When will there be new music available from Kekal, and do you
have a title for a new CD? What about your other bands?
Jeff: We plan to record new material for the next album sometime this
year. Some new songs are ready, but we haven't set the title
for the album yet. My project Excision just has a cassette EP
out. It's called _The Quality of Mankind_. It is available
through THT Productions.
CoC: How does a Satanic band or a Christian band become popular in
Asia, since the common Asian mindset regarding evil is different
from that of the Western mindset?
Jeff: I don't think the people's mindset of what you call "evil" is
different in Asia and Western countries. I think it's all the
same. Evil is perceived as something that is outside the
borders of universal moral order and is harmful to the
individual and social life. So, acts like killing the fellow
men, or torturing someone physically or mentally, are evil. But
you know, teenagers like to do something shocking to their
environment, and the content of evil itself has a strong
tendency to shock people. Metal fans are mostly teenagers or in
[their] early twenties. That's why many of them are excited
with anything that has an evil image. Thus, the bands that wear
that image have been welcomed and [have] become popular. Is it
basically the same? The difference is, regarding your question,
the people's views on Christianity. Christians are a minority
here, and the condition of being a Christian in Indonesia is
different from that in Western countries. In Europe or America,
Christianity has taken a role in the political area. It can
possibly be corrupted by those in the authorities by using
power to oppress their people. But here, Christians, as a
minority, are being oppressed by the regulations from the
authorities. I can see that in the Western countries the
antipathy towards Christianity is parallel with the antipathy
towards governmental authorities. It doesn't happen here.
Indonesia is known as a country that has many different
religions and spirituality among the people, and each of them
has a supernatural side. You can find Moslems, Christians,
Hindus, Buddhists, and countless people involved with the
occult religions here. Modernism has little effect, so the
ideology of atheism is not too widespread. People believe in
the supernatural entities and that's why they are more
spiritually oriented [here]. I myself have experienced, seen
and heard various supernatural happenings, like demonic
exorcism and so on. This is one example of why I believe there
are demons, angels, Satan and God, and [why I] believe which
one is in charge.
CoC: Any final comments for the readers of CoC?
Jeff: Thanks for the interview. Please check out our homepage and if
you are interested in our music, be sure you have a copy of our
CD. You can e-mail <pcandlelight@hotmail.com> for more info on
how to obtain it. Keep supporting the underground!
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H A T E R E G I M E W A R S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Necromanicide
by: Alex Cantwell
Necromanicide is a modern metal band, for lack of a better term,
from Malaysia, of all places. Their debut release, _Hate Regime_ [CoC
#34] is an interesting mixture of death, industrial, groove, thrash,
and hardcore. I recently asked Simon See some questions regarding all
things Necromanicide.
CoC: When did the band form?
Simon See: About late 1995.
CoC: Were any of you in bands before?
SS: No, this was the first band for most of us.
CoC: What is the metal scene like in Malaysia, and what has the
response been to Necromanicide?
SS: The scene here is pretty happening. Most of our supporters are
Malaysian Chinese and Indians. However, the people who actually
purchase our material from retail stores are Malays. Most of the
scene revolves around black metal and groove metal. The '80s
metal thing is pretty dead here.
CoC: Have you played shows? Where and with whom?
SS: We have played in huge commercial shows before. Some were
organized by a cigarette company, [some by] our record company,
which is Pony Canyon, and sometimes churches!! We play with a few
up and coming prominent bands like Wired, Infectious Maggots and
Soul Mason, and sometimes we play alone.
CoC: How have sales been for _Hate Regime_ worldwide? Please tell me
about Pony Canyon. Who else is on that label?
SS: _Hate Regime_? Well, I'm not to sure of the counts, but we are
overjoyed that we're on the same label as Yngwie Malmsteen.
Narnia was nearly with Pony Canyon, but then Nuclear Blast took
over. Pony Canyon [Malaysia], as far as I know, is in charge of
all Asian countries except Japan. So there are two main offices,
one here and the other in Japan. I think the Japan [office] deals
with non-Asian countries.
CoC: My opinion is that your music is influenced by everything from
thrash to stuff like Mortal. Being from Malaysia, how and when
were you exposed to metal and who are your influences?
SS: Most of the stuff that has influenced us comes from overseas.
Some of the inspiration comes from the States, like Strongarm and
Crucified. From Australia [there] is Metanoia and Horde. From
Europe [there] is Deuteronomium, and [there's also] Kekal from
Indonesia. Oh yes, I think the industrial bit was influenced by
Klank and Brainchild.
CoC: Why do you use so many vocal styles?
SS: [To] spice things up. [They are] performed by two individuals.
That's what you'll sound like after you eat Malaysian curry.
CoC: Is the line-up for Necromanicide solid?
SS: Adrian has left the band to form Soul Mason. The rest of the
line-up remains the same. So we only have one vocalist [now],
Andre. Thus, we are not too spicy now.
CoC: I am aware that your country has a significant amount of
witchcraft going on there.
SS: Our drummer, J. Christopher, was an active occult member. He saw
a few evil miracles performed by the spiritual realm. It was
scary and the temporary power was released for his usage. But
Christopher knew it was costing him his life and soul. He ran to
God, and God delivered him and restored him.
CoC: When can we expect some new music from you, what will it sound
like, and do you have a title for a new CD?
SS: We usually have the title last. For now, I think the music will
be less spicy. [It will] probably dwell upon black to hardcore
industrial.
CoC: Final comments for the readers of CoC?
SS: Check out our website for more Necromanicide info at:
http://members.tripod.com/necromanicide
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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!
Ames Sanglantes / Flutter - _Split_ (Xerxes, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (6 out of 10)
Though in the past I have taken great lengths to praise numerous
split releases from some of the lesser known composers of the noise
genre, this particular output has me literally torn inside. On one
hand you have Ames Sanglantes who came off as being less of a harsh
noise extraordinaire and more of a Dissecting Table wannabe. On the
other you have Flutter; a noise act which has improved leaps and
bounds with every release to the point their work (which is still
relatively unknown compared to other artists in the field) is
humbling the outputs of some artists in the field whom many feel the
need to jack themselves off to everytime they plop a new tape of
boring, repetitious shit onto the market. Keeping this mind, I will
skip slamming Ames Sanglantes' punishingly annoying output of utter
electronic crap and skip ahead to Flutter, who really impressed me
(nothing new) this time around. Flutter's solitary, lengthy track
takes the artist into every region of the noise genre at one point by
delivering a healthy dose of multi-layered feedback/distortion
effects while augmenting the composition with some more dark and
droning bits and even a bluesy harmonica opener to the entire deal.
The entire Flutter experience reminds me of Pain Jerk on acid with a
little _Pulse Demon_ era Merzbow tossed on top for good measure. The
Flutter alone deserves a healthy 8.5 rating, but in the name of being
fair, I can't overlook the terrible idea of combining an artist with
so much promise and ability with one that is nothing more than a
waste of tape. Buy this for the Flutter, and wisely use the other
side to dub your friend's Best of New Order CD, as I assure you, even
if you hate poppy electronic '80s music... it kicks the hell out of
Sanglantes's shit.
Contact: Xerxes, 203 Fujimori-kata, 1-4-5 Wakabayashi,
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-0023 Japan
Fax: **81-(0) 3-3487-3758
Ancient Ceremony - _Fallen Angel's Symphony_
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) (Cacophonous, February 1998)
After going through some considerable line-up changes (bassist and
both guitarists were all replaced and there are two new female
vocalists instead of the original singer), Ancient Ceremony return
with _Fallen Angel's Symphony_. This new album is essentially based
upon the same elements as their debut _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ [CoC
#30], but with all the line-up changes and surely also because the
band's experience has increased since their debut, _Fallen Angel's
Symphony_ is clearly superior to _Under Moonlight We Kiss_ in
practically every way. The female vocals are better, as one would
expect since there are now two female vocalists, and the guitar work
is more interesting than before -- it was perhaps their debut's main
weakness. The music here is just better overall, and still mainly
driven by the keyboard, which also produces better results this time.
The male vocals still fit the rest of the music quite well, while the
drumming is still less than interesting. More aggressiveness would
have been very welcome here, but as far as mid-paced dark gothic
metal goes, Ancient Ceremony have produced a fine album, in which the
rather raw potential they had shown with their debut has been given a
good treatment.
Contact: mailto:ANDE4201@uni-trier.de
WWW: http://www.iki.fi/mega/AncientCeremony/
Bethlehem - _Reflektionen auf's Sterben_ (Red Stream, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay (9.5 out of 10)
I am of the opinion that the longer I operate in the field of music
the more (exquisitely) maddening it is. Look at how long a band like
Bethlehem has been around -- almost a decade -- and I am only -now-
discovering them! For shit's sake! I feel no need to waste a lot of
time dissecting all six mostly superior songs on this emotionally
powerful MCD. I -do- feel, however, that I would be remiss if I
didn't mention a couple of things. For instance, "Yesterday I Still
Had a Beer Today", or "Gestern Starb Ich Schon Heute" (from the
previous _Sardonischer Untergang im Zeichen Irreligioser Darbietung_
(_SUiZID_) album); the latter, about two minutes in, exhibits some of
the most crafted, hauntingly melodic guitar work I've ever heard. The
music and lyrics of the song pull the listener from one end of utter
uncompromising darkness to another without ever leaving the abandoned
emptiness of Bethlehem's own particular breed of sickeningly black
confusion. Since I mentioned lyrics, even though they are in German,
the translation to English is worth your time. The "poems", as the
band states, that accompany the music are horribly enthralling. To a
somewhat lesser degree, the poems/lyrics Bethlehem invoke are mindful
of early Dark Angel proliferations, a la master wordsmith, Gene "Drum
God" Hoglan, only in Bethlehem's case, in German. The instrumental
song, "Angst Atmet Mord" (English: "Fear Breathes Murder"), on _RaS_,
just by itself, makes having this release completely worth it. Dark,
bizarre, powerful and experimental. If any of these words tweak your
interest and curiosity, definitely check out Bethlehem.
Various - _Black Mark Tribute II_ (Black Mark, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
Looking at the line-up of cover material on this record -- such as
ABBA, Depeche Mode and Cream -- I was a little reluctant to give this
a thorough spin. But I did, and much like with the previous
instalment of this tribute series [CoC #22], I found myself digging
some of the songs the various Black Mark artists opted to cover.
While opener band Purity ruin the Police song "It's Alright For You",
Quorthon gets absurdly folkie with The Beatles' "I'm Only Sleeping"
and Hexenhaus do a passable cover of Cream's classic "Sunshine of
Your Love", there are some notable winners here. Necrophobic do a
violently killer version of Iron Maiden's "Moonchild", Edge of Sanity
beef up Danzig's "Mother" and metal masters Bathory do a cover of the
ultimate kind, by covering Black Sabbath's "War Pigs". A little
lukewarm at times, but for the most part a good compilation. I still
can't get Quorthon doing The Beatles out of my head.
Bob Marinelli / Outermost - _Split_ (Distorted Vision Records, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8 out of 10)
This release completes my little "Bob Marinelli" trilogy that I have
been running in the last few issues. This time Bob Marinelli splits
up with another of the lesser known Japanese artists, Outermost.
Marinelli's side features more quickly diced and sliced wails of ear
piercing electronic madness with some rather offbeat moments of bassy
rumbles dropped in at intricate moments. There is also some
experimentation with volume fluctuation on this track, which really
works to emphasize a lot of the more powerful and completely
maddening portions of the composition. Nice. The Outermost side
features choppy and wild Japanoise the way I like it: with new sounds
and a flair for keeping it harsh without falling into boring
repetition. While there isn't a great mix of sounds all at once,
Outermost makes good with the one or two he is playing with at that
particular time through subtle drops in tone of the noise before
throwing the listener off guard with the introduction of a new
electronically charged sound theme. Even if Outermost isn't the most
punishingly brutal Japanoise artist out there, he is certainly one of
the most promising if he continues to produce and expand upon work
such as that featured on here. As always, buy the Bob Marinelli for
the Bob Marinelli. There is no way you can go wrong, in my humble
opinion. But at the same time, be aware of the artists on the split
side of Bob's many releases who do an excellent job of keeping the
chaotic harshness going in their own unique ways. Excellent stuff, as
always.
Contact: Distorted Vision Records, 200 W. Fourth St.,
Mt. Carmel, PA 17851, USA
mailto:tgbob@sunlink.net
Broken - _Skytorn_ (Sterilized Decay, 1997)
by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10)
Being the cranky ol' s.o.b. that I am, I -cannot- believe how
fortunate I have been. Release after tumultuous release, I have found
the plethora of artists to which I have recently been exposed to be
rich in talent, deep in meaning, and skilled in music. Enter the band
Broken at this point. Ever heard of them? -Not- Broken Hope (fuck
yeah, brother!), but simply Broken. Me neither, but my good fortune
continues and I am here to tell you I was blown away by this group.
Broken has more "change-ups" in their songs than any -two- tracks on
Dying Fetus' _Killing on Adrenaline_. What does that amount to --
half, or three quarter of a million?! Seriously though, with the same
amount of effortless skill possessed by Dying Fetus, Broken execute
brutal style change after brutal style change on _Skytorn_. Did you
think Corrosion of Conformity's _Wiseblood_ was "riff-tastic?" You
haven't heard Broken yet. They are described as "groovin' brutality".
I cannot find two better words thrown together to more accurately
communicate Boken's style. The way I see it, this English five-piece
unit combines perfectly the essence of musical integrity and beat
structured cadence originality. Here and there, a strategically
placed mid-paced passage followed by a death growl blazes the way for
a choppy, harsh musical force to follow. Track seven of nine on this
disc is entitled "Emphasis". This particular song is so fuckin' thick
the only description available to use here would be the musical
equivalent of trying to pour molasses on an Iowa eve in January (know
what I mean, Steve?!). If the fact that _Skytorn_ was recorded at
Academy Studios (My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Cradle of
Filth) by Mags pushes any of your buttons, then add that to the list
of many reasons why you should own this disc. Did you hear that
double bass drum work on the swampy Louisiana-esque tune "Twisted
Fate"? If you couldn't hear it blasting from my JVC wherever you are
-- get your own copy!
Contact: Sterilized Decay Productions, 62 Shearwater Crescent,
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, LA14 3JP, England
Carnival in Coal - _Vivalavida_ (War on Majors, 1998)
by: David Rocher (7 out of 10)
Spin the intriguing album _Vivalavida_ once, and four bands spring to
mind -- Cannibal Corpse, Bal-Sagoth, Faith No More, and Boney M. Spin
it again, and the ghosts of a whole load of bands will be summoned,
such as Emperor, Gorguts, Waltari, Napalm Death, and many more... It
seems to me this unearthly blend of influences is precisely what will
draw Carnival in Coal as many roses as thorns, since their music is
as amusing as it is infuriating -- and I -do- admit having to fight
with my temper when I'm granted the right to sit through a two-minute
bouncy, loathsomely happy disco session that suddenly mutates into a
low-case grinding US death-metal riff a la Suffocation, with all the
finesse this implies. Justice must be done to this band, though, for
their impressive knowledge and savoir-faire when it comes to fusing
the most eclectic influences, and whisking them up into a senseless
display of creativity. Not all tracks are precisely amazing, and some
even tend to be on the more uninteresting side of things, but
Carnival in Coal undoubtedly demonstrate great talent when it comes
to crafting the theoretically uncraftable. If you can put up with the
very disconcerting absence of a serious, profound guideline
throughout the whole of an album -- although Carnival in Coal's music
is definitely -not- incoherent -- and are looking for something that
will successively make you feel like doing the splits in white,
tight-at-the-crotch, bell-bottomed trousers, then pulling a pair of
leather chaps on and wrecking your neck intensively before
considering fixing a pressure-sensitive light-show disco paving in
your lounge, and all this in the time of one single track... then
_Vivalavida_ is your beast.
Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, March 1999)
With _Spiritual Black Dimensions_ Dimmu Borgir have triumphed, in the
sense that they have created a very worthy album, an album which is
not only musically relevant today, but also quite enjoyable. _SBD_ is
not by any means a total change in style for the band, and those of
you familiar with _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_ and even its
predecessors would, I think, very quickly recognise _SBD_ as being a
Dimmu Borgir album, but there are marked differences between this and
previous releases. The key difference is an increase in speed and
brutality: though keyboards and melody still play a very substantial
part, the guitars are stronger on _SBD_ than they have ever been
before. Many of the riffs are similar in that the guitars thrash
while the keyboards play the melody line, but this isn't where the
band stop, as they had a tendency to do on some songs on _EDT_ and
last year's _Godless Savage Garden_ MCD; the guitars also spiral
through some interesting melody lines themselves (including an almost
melancholic lead on "The Insight and the Catharsis") and the
keyboards run a more complex and mature course. Utilising Simen
Hestnaes on a number of tracks was an interesting choice. His strange
semi-choral vocals do give Dimmu Borgir a new angle, though in some
ways the sections where he sings just end up sounding like Borknagar
or Arcturus (his other bands). The main thing about _SBD_ is that it
is better than its predecessor. The guitars churn out nastier riffs,
the drums blast harder, the keyboard lines are more interesting and
(the most important factor) the arrangements are -much- better. The
build-ups can be fantastic and the explosions into fast and brutal
playing after a more subdued section are often very effective. _SBD_
is a good album, but it is not even close to being a great black
metal album. To me, great black metal albums need that raw, cold,
bone-chilling feel which is key to the great and influential nature
of early albums by Celtic Frost, Bathory et al. I don't mean just the
sound of the second wave's early '90s classics, like _Pure
Holocaust_, I mean albums like Satyricon's _Nemesis Divina_, which is
far more comparable to our case in point than _PH_ is. Despite a very
clear production and quite a substantial amount of multi-tracking,
_Nemesis Divina_ still has that harsh feel, it still taps that vein
of what black metal is about. _SBD_ fails in this respect; it doesn't
sound sugar coated by any means, and there is a lot on offer here to
enjoy, but not all the ingredients of a great -black- metal album are
present. If Dimmu Borgir were hoping to make one of the greatest
black metal albums of all time, then I think they have fallen far
short of the mark. However,if their aim was to make a complex,
mature, but also quite heavy record, then they have succeeded, and in
an area where many bands fail miserably.
Dog Faced Gods - _Random Chaos Theory in Action_
by: Jody Webb (8.5 out of 10) (Gothenburg NoiseWorks, December 1999)
A sonic assault in the vein of Machine Head, Meshuggah, and Fear
Factory, with just a hint of In Flames for the melody fan in you.
These boys have got the guitars and double kick locked in and locked
in tight, and at points I found myself wondering if Dog Faced Gods
were going to out-Fear Factory Fear Factory, if you can follow that
one. Not since Slayer's _Seasons in the Abyss_ have I heard such
first rate thrashing as "Dirge", but on the downside this outfit
loses points for blatant riff shoplifting on "Blindfolded", where
they gank a Dino Cazares special. Despite this slip, ax slinger Conny
Jonsson slaps some truly original effects on his tasteful solos,
amounting to what I believe is a sweeping filter running through a
flange. The result can be breathtaking, as on "Fractured Image", and
is probably the only truly original idea on the disc -- but that's
saying something, because few bands do anything original. I could go
for a different throat, or better, no voice at all. This is thrash
done so well, why muddle it with trite lyrics of remarkable
mediocrity? A solid debut.
Don Caballero - _Singles Breaking Up (Vol. 1)_ (Touch & Go, 1999)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Don Caballero are a band I never seem to understand right away.
Although I've reviewed their previous two releases (_Don Caballero
II_ [CoC #11] and _What Burns Never Returns_ [CoC #32]), I haven't
been happy with the reviews a short time after writing them.
Something about the music just eluded me. However, this album gives
me a chance to catch up with the band. As its title would suggest,
_Singles..._ is a collection of previously released material (all of
which was unavailable on CD) and one unreleased track, spanning the
years 1992 to 1997. It chronicles the progression of their style from
a more "alternative" hard rock band to the abstract style they've
developed recently. Most of the material is from their early days,
with nine of the thirteen songs from 1992 and 1993. Despite this, the
album shows a surprising consistency in style, for while their sound
has developed and matured, the cornerstones of their sound were laid
down with the earliest recordings. "What are these cornerstones", you
ask? They are polyrhythmic layering and unbelievably dense drumming,
mixed with simple and repetitive guitar and bass lines, complemented
by a complete lack of vocals. The interplay between the various
instruments makes this a challenging listen, as there are often two
or three different parts being played at the same time. Underneath
all of this, there's the phenomenal drumming of Damon Che, who is
essentially soloing: playing an assortment of fills and rolls, and
implying changes in the time signature on a sporadic and rapid basis,
only to settle back in with the rest of the band at a later point.
Many of the songs have a "live" recording sound, adding an air of
jazz-like spontaneity to the music. As this is a compilation, the
quality of the recordings does vary a little bit, but the sound is
generally pretty good. Overall, this is about what you'd expect it to
be: a good starting place for finding out about the band, and an
essential collectible for longtime fans.
Even Song - _Path of the Angels_ (Displeased, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (7.5 out of 10)
I may throw out all my Theatre of Tragedy, Anathema, and some Within
Temptation stuff. Why clutter an already crowded compact disc tower
with a lot of music that isn't nearly as powerful as this group, Even
Song? Of course I am joking about throwing out CDs, I'm too much of a
packrat for that to ever happen, but you all get my meaning here,
right? Displeased found themselves a real breath of air for this
suffocating vein of music. The material on this effort is gloriously
devoid of vivacity; sombre, yet an exploration into an ancient world
of woodlandic faeries and moon-drenched serenity. A wonderful vocal
presence on _PotA_ pulls on the listener's senses, dominating them
with a thick cover of an ethereal female expression complemented by
both clean and gluey-growl male vocals. The guitar work on _PotA_ is
not overshadowed at all by either the percussion or the well-utilized
keyboards. As a matter of fact, on track four, "Where the Devil
Slumbers" (what a killer song title!), the riffing at about the three
minute mark is some of the best I have ever had the pleasure to
experience on any melodic doom disc. If you give this Hungarian
quintet half a chance, or even half the time on their forty-five
minute debut _PotA_, I am confident that you will also find reason to
force aside a Celestial Season or The Gathering effort to make room
for Even Song.
Evoke - _Dreaming the Reality_ (Pavement Music, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)
This is quite a heavy record, chock-full of detonating riffs and a
solid grind metal groove that kicks and punches 'till the bitter end.
"Then why does it not get a better rating than a lousy 6", you may be
asking? Why?! 'Cause the record goes nowhere. Sure it dips and grinds
its way through twelve tracks, but we've heard all of this before.
Though as a positive angle to this review, I have not heard guitar
playing (superb stuff here) like this in a long time. Rarely in this
genre of meaty grind death metal music can you get to hear stuff like
this. Okay... maybe Morbid Angel. Anyway, take a bow, guitarist John
Parkin, as you provide some light of hope in a rather lacklustre,
"it's-all-been-done-before" record. That, unfortunately, is the
"reality" of _Dreaming the Reality_.
Feikn - _Helhesten/Aamanden_ (Horror Records, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (9 out of 10)
Long gone are the days when black metal was something to be feared by
the masses, and for only the true believers to drown their darkened
selves in. Or so I thought, until I got into contact with Azter, the
man behind Danish outfit Denial of God and head honcho of underground
label Horror Records, and also a believer in preserving the sanctity
and mystique of black metal -- it's no surprise that Horror's first
signing prove themselves worthy of special mention in today's
overcrowded, commercial scene. "Aamanden" opens quietly with
Ulver-like folk guitars before the traditional fuzz takes over,
painting a gently melodic soundscape with an atmosphere as impressive
as Satyricon's early work or Enslaved's "Hordanes Land". In fact, the
mix is suitably rough to create the ambience of atmospheric black
metal in the early '90s: mysterious, dark and unfathomable. Segueing
smoothly from early Ulver-style ragings into quietly moving angelic
female singing and back again, Feikn's music is both heart-stoppingly
beautiful and soul-damningly dark, all the way through to
"Helhesten", a somewhat shorter but no less effective dirge. While
Isaz's passionately tortured screams would bring ecstasy to any
self-respecting Grishnackh fan, what is described in the flyer as
"almost fragile singing" can more appropriately be blamed on an
untrained female throat. Nevertheless, the atmosphere remains
untainted, and Feikn prove that they have remarkable talent for
combining passages of utmost melancholy with the mayhem of black
metal, while never losing continuity. There is no doubt about it that
Feikn reigns among the very best in atmospheric, truly underground
black metal.
God - _Sublime_ (Bestial, 1999)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
This is God's second release, following _From the Moldavian
Ecclesiastic Throne_ [CoC #35]. It follows in much the same style,
but the music is more involved than last time, and it's more
consistent. Gone are most of the "Viking metal" touches of their
previous work, replaced by a more consistent melodic doom feel. The
music features guitars and keyboards on an equal footing, with
neither allowed to dominate the music to any degree. The performances
are very good, with precise guitar work and competent drumming. The
keyboards are again excellent, including an instrumental piano piece
which sounds much like an etude by Chopin. The vocals range from
growly to clean, and all are well-done. The production is a little
faded, which takes away from the power the music would otherwise
have. On the other hand, power isn't the band's main concern, and for
the effect the band is going for, the production is adequate. In
short, this should appease fans of gothic melodic doom, as well as
generally open-minded listeners of all persuasions.
Grip Inc. - _Solidify_ (Steamhammer / Media 7, January 1999)
by: David Rocher (9.5 out of 10)
In the space of three albums, it has become perfectly clear to me
that referring to Grip Inc. as "Dave Lombardo's mob" any longer is a
dire mistake, and may no longer even hope to do this band's immense
talent justice. Agreed, _Power of Inner Strength_ probably -did-
sound rather Slayer-ish, but who can decently blame skinsman
extraordinaire Lombardo for bearing the musical stigmata of the once
awesome thrash outfit he was once the flawless backbone of? The
band's revenge upon this gratuitous flak saw the light in the shape
of 1997's _Nemesis_, as Grip Inc. adopted a style that was far more
personal, atmospheric and mature, and widely as efficient as the
no-holds-barred metallic violence of _PoIS_. And here is the flawless
fulfilment of the revenge Grip Inc. sought: _Solidify_ is the
impeccable attainment of the goal _Nemesis_ reached towards, a
definite milestone containing eleven tracks of metal that encompasses
so many influences, styles and atmospheres that words fail to
describe it correctly. The distance between the thrashing cavalcades
of "Amped", the monstrous, nearly tribal grooves of "Griefless" and
the obscure, angered melancholy of "Human?" is so immense that
_Solidify_ unquestionably is the birthchild of four minds working
together, not just a rockstar and his three stooges. Dave Lombardo's
drumming is as intricate and energetic as ever, Gus Chamber's vocals
have now extended to include low, disquieting complaints, and the
band have found a very suitable replacement for bassist Jason
Viebrooks in the person of Stuart Carruthers. For this almighty,
crowning achievement, though, my reverence goes to the amazing axeman
and songwriter Waldemar Sorychta -- not only for the bewildering,
powerful, animal, -supreme- guitar work that _Solidify_ teems with,
but also for the enrapturing atmospheres and huge sound he so finely
crafts. Beyond all doubt, _Solidify_ embodies the violent, intense,
multi-facetted osmosis of four competent and inspired musicians --
truly a lesson in the fine art of musical murder.
Haemorrhage - _Anatomical Inferno_ (Morbid, November 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)
Haemorrhage are simultaneously disappointing and gratifying. They
play grindcore with a smidgen of death in it which sounds -very- much
like Carcass in their _Reek of Putrefaction_ era, with a slightly
better production, right down to song titles like "Cirrhoetic Liver
Distillation" and "Worminfested Cavities". It is disappointing
because it really does sound like 30 minutes of missing Carcass
songs. However, this is what, for myself as a Carcass fan, is also
gratifying about this release, because _Anatomical Inferno_ is far
from bad as far as albums of its sort go. It isn't as indecipherable
and pointlessly hyperspeed as _Noise A-Go-GO_ by Gore Beyond Necropsy
was, instead it has some poise. The band let loose, and they do it a
lot, but they also grind out some monster riffs utilising their
crushingly bass-heavy production, and thus create some room for
build-up. The vocals are also pleasingly sick, brutal, and
indecipherable for the most part. This is about as far from original
as any record I have heard in recent times but, as rehashes go, I
don't hear ones as worthy, or well produced, as this, very often.
Contact: Morbid Records, Postfach 3, 03114 Drebkau, Germany
Fax: (0) 35602/20636
WWW: http://www.morbidrecords.de
mailto:morbidrecords@ranet.de
Houwitser - _Death... But Not Buried_ (Displeased, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10)
Maybe it is my intense admiration of this type of music or maybe it
is simply that I have a special place in my (blackened) heart for
Sinister, but this is honestly one helluva debut from Holland's
Houwitser. Comprised of three parts Sinister-associated individuals
(guitarist Michel Alderliefsten, growler Mike van Mastrigt and
drummer Aad Kloosterwaard) and one part Judgement Day (bassist Theo
van Eekelen), the band's premier effort _DBNB_ is so stunningly
appropriate that it transcends the imagination. Due almost entirely
to Mike's vocals, Houwitser sounds capriciously close to Sinister.
Not often is this as -good- of a thing as Houwitser makes it. Songs
hover about the two minute mark, allowing the group to explore a more
concentrated wall of sound approach, if you will, to their
death/grind/thrash-core. To boil it down -- very impressive. At
times, Houwitser has transparent Gorgoroth tendencies with all the
tightness of a Pro-Pain or Helmet without loosing so much as an ounce
of creative singularity. A unique point of sheer genius comes with
the opening of track eleven, "Fistfull of Vixen", originally recorded
along with five other songs to shop around for label interest. In
June 1998, Displeased showed plenty of interest in the fledgling
Houwitser, having only formed in 1997, signing them for a dual
release contract. "War, Blood & Honey" and "I Shape the Suffering",
in addition to "Fistfull of Vixen", provide superior substantiation
of the band's talent and possibilities. If _DBNB_ is this good, I
hope that my patients lay in wait for Houwitser's next exercise in
brutal aggressiveness. Volcanic ecstasy!
Humectant Interruption - _Internal Feedback_ (Xerxes, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10)
Hey look, another release by Humectant Interruption (yah!). For those
who don't know, HI is the brainchild of Spite Records' head honcho
Joel St. Germain and they produce some fine harsh sounds that combine
a dash of crunchy bassy nastiness with garnishes of feedback and
moaning tonal effects. When it is all mixed together and properly
heated for the right amount of time, what you have is a basic but
effective composition that seems to entrance the listener more than
punish him/her. This is not a criticism of Mr. St. Germain's work but
instead a compliment, as unlike much of the over-produced power
electronics trash that passes for noise these days, HI's compositions
keep the listener attentive to the mixture, as opposed to letting the
sounds fade away into the background and out of one's mind. As
stated, there is nothing earth shattering or ground breaking about
HI's sound, but there certainly isn't any room for major criticism of
lethal attack. If more noise artists today aimed for this basic style
and kept at it, I'm fully convinced the genre as a whole would be
greatly improved. One can dream, can't they?
Contact: Xerxes, 203 Fujimori-kata, 1-4-5 Wakabayashi,
Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-0023 Japan
Fax: **81-(0) 3-3487-3758
Various - _In Conspiracy With Satan_ (Hellspawn / No Fashion, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay (7 out of 10)
I like compilations, by and large. Quorthon certainly deserves a
tribute or two for all the inspiration that Bathory has fostered
throughout the ranks of metal, black and otherwise, over the last
fifteen years. According to Adam Wasylyk's interview with Quorthon in
CoC #37, this disc has the distinct potential of becoming somewhat of
a collectors' item due to the fact that there exists some legal
strife between the tribute's label, Hellspawn, and Bathory's, Black
Mark. If this gets pulled off shelves, it will be quite a loss for
all concerned, I'm afraid. As Adam pointed out, some bigger names in
the black metal community have chimed in with their horrific versions
of classics, such as Marduk covering "In Conspiracy with Satan" and
"Woman of Dark Desires", the second aforementioned track being the
better of the two Marduk covers, I think. Emperor also rings in with
their powerfully beautiful "A Fine Day to Die", as well as Satyricon
setting ablaze the always efficient "Born for Burning". All these
that I have brought to your attention are worthwhile, but they are
-not- the reasons why I bought this release. No, sir. I bought _ICWS_
for two well-founded rationalizations: The Abyss and War. To be
honest, I would crawl over broken glass and a whole truck load of
straight-edge razors in the Sahara desert to listen to either of
these two groups cover anything! On this CD they cover "Armageddon"
and, appropriately enough, "War", respectively. Both are magnificent
in sound and truly deserving of homage to Bathory. If you have the
chance and you are lucky enough to pry this pearl from the oyster of
your favorite record store, I might say get it while the gettin' is
good.
Macbeth - _Romantic Tragedy's Crescendo_ (Dragonheart, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10)
I have given some very high ratings to some rather unoriginal albums
in the past, but what's wrong with Macbeth's _Romantic Tragedy's
Crescendo_ isn't just its major lack of originality. Each and every
band member's performance and the band's performance as a whole,
although not bad, are all just unremarkable compared to what's been
done before in this genre. This Italian band essentially sounds and
even looks much like early Theatre of Tragedy, as far as their
ability allows them to. Basically, what happens is that the cover
artwork, layout and album title all promise a Theatre of Tragedy-like
band, and the album fulfils the promise. But then Macbeth are just
average as a band -- they just aren't anywhere nearly as good as the
best bands in the genre and, contrarily to some of them, add nothing
new to the mix. An acceptable album, nothing terrible musically, but
very unoriginal and overall just not good enough to be interesting
when compared to the genre's best bands. One last thing, about the
"tragic" component of the album title: confusing this (and a lot of
what's done in this genre) with doom metal is a big mistake.
Midnight Syndicate - _Born of the Night_
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) (Entity Prod., February 1999)
While _Born for the Night_ is not an -album- of band material
(meaning songs geared upon verses/chorus/verses), it is indeed a
unique collaboration of work between Ohio's Midnight Syndicate duo
(Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka) and well-known gothic fantasy
artist Joseph Vargo. _BotN_ is merely a soundtrack for all things
gothic. It's got ultra-cool ambience, chilling atmosphere and enough
sounds and noises to make you feel as if you are roaming a deserted
castle or darkened forest in the middle of the night. Creepy at
times, _BotN_ really does an excellent job of scooping out ideas and
bringing them so realistically to the recording. With mostly ambient
songs filling the majority of this record and some cool spoken
passages by Vargo himself (not to mention cool artwork in the
booklet), _BotN_ does its job. "The job being", you ask? The ability
to make the imagination of the listener be enhanced by what he/she
hears, thus transporting them to another time and place for the time
frame of the LP. And to boot, this would make excellent backing music
for a Halloween party, too.
Contact: Entity Productions c/o Edward Douglas,
2260 Par Lane PH 22 Willoughby, Ohio 44094 USA
mailto:edoug0001@aol.com
WWW: http://www.entityprod.com
Mindset - _A Bullet for Cinderella_ (Noise Records, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10)
Visions of the amazing, yet now sadly defunct, Boston band Only
Living Witness come highly into focus within the first few moments of
_A Bullet for Cinderella_, Mindset's truly cool sophomore effort.
Losing the rap/rock angle jutted into their previous effort, the new
record flows nicely, with an abundance of killer hooks and utterly
amazing choruses. This is a good record that shines alone on the
direct notion that the band aimed to keep things simple yet rockin'
this time out. With just enough anger and angst to fuel the material,
_ABfC_ kicks a serious groove for the majority of the record, a
record that moves in such a simple fashion, though never really
showcases a dull moment. Singer Roddy Lane has quite a memorable
vocal style, keeping things at bay one moment and the next returning
a ferociously volleyed scream of anguish. Killer vocals and an
interesting array of guitar and rhythm work is turned in from the
rest of the quartet. Standout tracks are: "Laugh", "Sorry" and
"W.B.P.M.". If any band had a second chance to do something worth
listening to, then this is it. The band's debut was mediocre. This is
truly a gem for those who like their rock meaty and melodic.
Minotaur - _Power of Darkness_ (No Colours, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (9 out of 10)
You'll sooner get a kiss from Glen Benton than find an original piece
of Minotaur vinyl on the market. Even a die-hard follower of '80s
metal like me hasn't been able to lay hands on their elusive _Death
Metal_ EP. Hot on the heels of Exumer, Piledriver and Possessed
re-releases comes these German thrashers' cult classic _Power of
Darkness_ LP on CD format, accompanied by a slightly erroneous bio
and a bonus track. Needless to say, lovers of German speed/thrash
like Necronomicon, Destruction, etc. will get a hard-on just reading
the song titles. Not to mention the excellent music: a raging slab of
aggression and tightness unparalleled in other German legends like
Iron Angel, etc.. Blasting their way through scorchers like "Fierce
Fight", "Incubus" and the title track, there's no doubt about the
cult status of this material. Veering wildly from straight-ahead
thrash a la Kreator to almost Possessed-like speed/death and flailing
solos, with even an occasional hint of Frost's sludgy heaviness, the
ten tracks of utter mayhem never loosen their grip on you.
Undoubtedly, this album will occupy the prized space between my
Znowhite and Exorcist LPs, and if you're even remotely interested in
those bands, there's no reason why you should deprive yourself of
this amazing piece of cult.
Moontower - _Moontower_ (Black Mark, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10)
I'm really starting to wonder if Dan Swano will
ever run out of
ideas. This guy is a fountain of metal music creativity. From his
lengthy work with Edge of Sanity onto other projects like
Nightingale, Pan-Thy-Monium, Unicorn, Odyssey and Diabolical
Masquerade (the list could go on forever), Swano has always been one
step ahead of everyone else, for the most part. His music also
delivers the goods, and then some. It's a real stunning
characteristic that few musicians have in this metal industry. His
work is built on ideas, expanded within the studio and etched into
masterpiece format once it gets recorded. One of his newest projects
(besides Odyssey, released on Canuck label Utopian Vision Music) is
Moontower, and are we blessed with more unbelievable work or what?
From opener "Sun of Night" onto "Add Reality" and "Encounterparts",
we see and hear Swano masterfully weave his ideas into keyboard
oriented progressive death metal. In sort of Rush-styled keyboard
work, Swano truly goes the whole nine yards here, making Moontower
stand out as some of his best work in years. While many fans of EoS
might not like the excessive use of keyboards here, I recommend
giving this a spin, as it really flushes a unique sound/style into a
sometimes repetitive music genre (that being progressive metal).
Moontower is just another highlight in Swano's impressive career.
My Insanity - _Still Dreams in Violent Areas_
by: David Rocher (7 out of 10) (Parallel Union, December 1998)
I'd never even heard of Parallel Union Records (who are mysteriously
based in Sion, Switzerland), let alone of My Insanity, before I
checked _Still Dreams in Violent Areas_ out -- an album which
requires much more personal investment than a simple few cursory
listens before it discloses the fine essence of its dark gothic
metal. Some similarities with the once majestic Samael do come to
mind, but the general tone of _SDiVA_ is very gothic, often
constructed on mid-tempo structures, enriched by melodic guitar lines
and vocalist Faust's smooth, low-case chants. Omnipresent keyboard
parts sear this work with a fragile melancholy that is very often
touching, and contrasts with the calm yet heavy guitar riffing and
often muscular rhythm section. If a track like "Silence" is truly
quite reminiscent of Sion's unholy trinity at the times of _Passage_,
works like the awesome track "Tower" or the fine "A Girl in a White
Dress" clearly demonstrate that My Insanity have the personality and
potential to raise their musical craft high above the countless,
tedious, bland acts that are now so hastily labelled "gothic".
_SDiVA_ may indeed need three tracks to really pick up speed, but the
pace it then attains, considering this is apparently the band's first
effort, is far beyond what a blase metal listener like myself would
expect to hear. If you are in quest for the soothing remedy to death
metal's unrelenting, bludgeoning assaults, My Insanity can apply the
balm you need.
Necrophagia - _Holocausto de la Morte_ (Red Stream, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay (8.5 out of 10)
Are these guys one of the best kept secrets on the planet or what?
-Any- band that lambastes me with samples of "The Exorcist III" from
the get-go -instantly- has my respect. Appropriately released on last
year's Halloween, _HdlM_ is Necrophagia's first new album in twelve
long years. Yup, that's right, twelve years! Conceived in 1983 with
the _Death Is Fun_ CD, this band could actually stand tall as a
pioneer of the combination of gore/death metal tsunami prevalent
today. This Ohio four-piece's second effort, _Seasons of the Dead_,
went over in a huge way, further solidifying their stranglehold in
the extreme carnage and bloodshed arena in which they operate.
_HdlM_, or _Holocaust of Death_, is certainly the sharpened tip on
their long spear of existence. Choppy, rough guitar licks and
mercurial rhythms abound amongst _HdlM_'s eight tracks. Probably this
writer's favorite aspect on this effort, other than Necrophagia's
ten-ton style, is their more than adequate use of feedback in
strategic places. This technique is brilliant when done well, and
exemplifies immaturity when done otherwise. The latter point is of no
concern to Necrophagia. I have heard few bands pull this guitar
approach off as effortlessly as these guys. A real honorable mention,
at this point, needs to be given to Red Stream for the monumentally
staggering job they did with packaging this latest instalment of
Necrophagia's blood-soaked existence. What a great job! In summary, I
would have to say fans that could use a more rhythmic Cannibal Corpse
and have an affinity for horror movies will eat Necrophagia's
_Holocausto de la Morte_ up with a damn spoon.
Negura Bunget - _Sala Molksa_ (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)
Negura Bunget are a black metal band from Romania. Their style is
fairly standard: raw, abrasive and straightforward black metal, with
slight keyboard touches. The songs are often repetitive, and the
tempos are slow to mid-paced, and tend to remain at a consistent
tempo for long stretches. This gives the music a droning, trance-like
quality. The performances are competent, with good drumming and
guitar work. The music is primarily guitar-driven, with a few
keyboards in the background adding atmosphere. The keys are simple,
often just slow accompanying chords, but they fit well with the
music. At times, the keys move into the foreground, but never really
dominate the music. The vocals are the typical black metal
screamed/rasped style. The production isn't terribly clear, but it is
adequate for the music; a more powerful or clearer production
wouldn't have made it any better. Overall, these guys are quite good,
but they aren't really doing much to differentiate them from the
throngs of other black metal bands around these days.
Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_ (Century Media, January 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (10 out of 10)
I don't know where my head was at, but I forgot to review the best
record of 1999 over the last few issues. I have to get this in. Metal
fans need to know of the gold mine within the latest Nevermore
offering, _Dreaming Neon Black_. Here goes. There is nothing like
hearing a record for the first time and being blown away by it. This
is a rare occurrence, usually, as most records take a few listens
before you really fall in love with and/or hate them. Not the case
with _DNB_. From the opening sound clip (from the movie "Lord of
Illusions") to the abrupt end, the concept-themed ideas of _DNB_ work
wonders for the listener. Shrouded within darkened wails from singer
Warrel Dane and the mastery of his band's musicianship in the field
of progressive metal (most notably the dual guitar work of Jeff
Loomis and new guy Tim Calvert), this album unfolds like the true
tale that it is. Not once are we left to wander from the story told.
There is no downtime here. It all flows wonderfully and we can
attribute that to the band's excellent musicianship over the years
and Dane's truly heartfelt and gripping lyrical content. There's
nothing like a good story and _DNB_ is just that. Tracks like "Poison
Godmachine", "No More Will", the title track and "The Fault of the
Flesh" are worthy of a listen, but to fully understand the treasure
that this record is for the metal community in 1999, one must go from
start to finish. You will not be disappointed. Many metal critics I
know of have described this as one of the most impressive metal
efforts of the '90s. Maybe even ever?! I could agree with those
comments, but I'll let you be your own judge. But take it from me,
there is a lot of crap out there (lots!!) and it is quite a rush to
have something this good come around to show the others how metal
music should be assembled. _DNB_ is basking in brilliance and Warrel
Dane and Co. know this.
Nokturnal Mortum - _To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire_ (The End, 1999)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)
This is Nokturnal Mortum's second full-length release, following on
the heels of _Goat Horns_ [CoC #31]. This album follows in much the
same style of epic black metal with significant classical and folk
influences and, of course, their trademark dual keyboardists.
However, this time around, the band has decided to opt for a more
brutal and straightforward attack, downplaying the keyboards. That's
not to say that the keyboards are any less interesting than they
were, just that they're buried deeper in the mix. The music is still
melodic, but the melodies aren't as prominent, and the music seems
consistently faster to me. Much of the album has the dark atmosphere
you'd expect from a brutal black metal album, but there are a few
sections which are a little too happy and don't quite fit. The
playing is superb: the drumming is precise and fast, the guitar and
bass work is solid and the keys are excellent. The vocals are mostly
rasped, with a few sections of clean spoken vocals. The production is
powerful, with a full guitar sound and distinct drums. It's brutal
without drowning out or blurring any of the instruments. Overall, I
like this album, but I don't find it ultimately satisfying. It's just
a little too straightforward and not diverse enough for me. I think
that fans of melodic (but not over-melodic) black metal will enjoy
it, but it's not the direction I was hoping they'd go.
Obscurity - _Ovations to the Death_ (To the Death Records, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (9 out of 10)
If Obscurity was a car, the horned one himself would get carsick just
riding with them. A bullet-train rollercoaster ride through the pits
of Hell just mightn't match up to the standards set by this hellish
piece of fury, originally unleashed by the Swedish trio in 1986 as a
demo. Its present incarnation as a no less obscure 7" from new label
TTD Records (hail, Patrik!) reawakens an old-school black metaller's
wet dream: a blazing piece of death/thrash metal with obvious nods to
Slayer and Venom, all delivered at convincingly breakneck speed. Just
listening to "Unblessed Domain" brings back the good old days of
leather and spikes, downtuned guitars and cranky amps, certainly
enough to give guys like Usurper a run for their money. Incidentally,
the label also offers their later demo in the same format entitled
_Damnation's Pride_, which, although less primitive than _Ovations to
the Death_, packs the same, if not a greater, punch. So if _Reign in
Blood_ turned you on, but you wish it had the blackness of _Welcome
to Hell_, then don't hesitate to drop Obscurity a line (and $7 per
EP).
Contact: TTD Records, c/o Cronberg,
Claesgatan 4B, SE-21426 Malmo, Sweden
Orange Goblin - _Time Travelling Blues_
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) (Rise Above Records, February 1999)
You like your stoner rock, people? Ya like it heavy? Ya want some?
Need some? Have I got the band for ya. With a detonating guitar
crunch and snarly, bluesy vocals in tow, England's Orange Goblin are
one of the tightest stoner rock outfits out there. This follow up to
the massively gripping debut _Frequencies From Planet Ten_ (1997) is
laced with some ultra-heavy grooves and totally mind numbing doses of
metal heaviness (a la Sleep / St. Vitus). Orange Goblin speaks to us
with resounding results. Get swallowed within the mammoth walls of
noise from such tracks as "Solarisphere", "Diesel (Phunt)" and
"Nuclear Guru". How could you not want to crank this up? Light up,
crank this and scare the fuck out of your neighbors! Orange Goblin
wouldn't have it any other way.
Overkill - _Necroshine_ (CMC/BMG, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10)
Could this be one of the best Overkill records of the '90s? It just
might be. I know it's hard to match the intensity of their last
effort, 1997's _From the Underground and Below_, but _Necroshine_
really grows on you -- fast! From the ball busting opener onto the
powerful "Revelation", "Stone Cold Jesus" and "Forked Tongue Kiss",
_Necroshine_ has the stamina and strength to please any Overkill fan.
While there is some filler material (some slow segues and what have
you), for the most part _Necroshine_ shines and shines like a fiery
phoenix. The grooves are thicker, singer "Blitz" has never sounded so
rough 'n' ready and the mood of the album is swamped within a real
dark, broody atmosphere. This kicks ass and I recommend any fan of
Overkill and/or just good thrash/speed metal to grab a copy and
witness one of the most consistent metal acts out there. Overkill
rules. Period.
Peccatum - _Strangling From Within_ (Candlelight, February 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
This Peccatum album risked disappointing those who wanted it to be as
much of a more classically influenced version of Emperor as possible,
as well as those who wanted it to have as little in common with
Emperor as possible and just show a different side of Ihsahn's
musical skills and creativity. Having been released just before
Emperor's follow-up to their masterpiece _Anthems to the Welkin at
Dusk_ comes out adds to this situation. As it turns out, you'll
basically get a bit of each with _Strangling From Within_. Together
with his wife Ihriel (who turns out to be a quite reasonably talented
vocalist, except for her irritating screams on "The Song Which No
Name Carry") and her brother (whose clean vocals are just about
acceptable, except when he opts for a high-pitched approach), Ihsahn
has produced an album which is at times rather brilliant and
generally manages to stand on its own, regardless of how close it is
or isn't to Emperor. This is mostly original and almost always
progressive and creative music. A lot of experimentation and
different ideas seem to have been thrown into this album -- sometimes
a bit excessively, actually --, and therefore the songs are hardly
ever predictable. While not every surprise is a pleasant one and the
music occasionally stumbles upon some poor choices, the rather
annoying "The Song Which No Name Carry", which isn't any better than
its own title, constitutes the only major exception to this album's
overall quality.
Postmortem - _Repulsion_ (Pavement Music, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10)
Okay, boys and gals! Time for some German death metal action. Time
for Postmortem. Turn up the speakers and grab a beer! The veteran
German metallers return to the scene with their latest death metal
noise slab. How is it? Not bad. It rocks, it shreds. It's got all the
makings of a reliable metal assault, something that releases by few
bands -- especially veteran acts -- have (Metallica, Megadeth,
Anthrax take note), nowadays. The thing that works here for
Postmortem is the band's overall understanding that their music
follows a certain pattern and style, a set mood that would most
definitely be ruined had the band opted to bring various styles into
the fold. Bottom line: this is a metal record as a metal record
should be. Just listen to cuts like "Beyond the Bounds" or "Dreadful
Sins" and you'll get what I am talking about. Explosive vocals caged
within harrowing riffs and bottom heavy rhythm sections make
_Repulsion_ desirable, not to be shunned. Shun all the other fucking
metal acts that forgot what metal is. Give Postmortem a chance.
Pro-Pain - _Act of God_ (Warner Chappell, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll (8 out of 10)
Last week I read a review of this album in a German magazine. The
writer came to the conclusion that with _Act of God_ Pro-Pain have
recorded the same album for the fifth time. Hell, to a certain degree
that's exactly what I expect Pro-Pain to do. True, there is nothing
innovative on this record -- so what? Other bands change and
progress, but there are countless examples where this progression
basically meant wimping out. Pro-Pain doesn't and they have followed
their path with such an amount of stubbornness that I'm tempted to
call them the AC/DC of metal. Even the accusation of recording the
same album every time is not correct. _Act of God_ is still done in
the same simple, no experiments, metalcore style Pro-Pain have used
on their other records, but there definitely are differences. This
time the metal riffing is slightly reduced and gives way to a more
rock 'n' roll / punk oriented approach. Song structures are even
simpler than before, mostly uptempo, with a minimum of breaks and
tempo variations. This makes this album sound repetitive sometimes,
but creates a relentless bulldozer charge atmosphere. Guitar solos
can be found in every song and I really have to say that Tom
Klimchuck once again does a great job there, completely avoiding any
technical gimmicks, which is really refreshing. Soundwise, _Act of
God_ has a great overall sound. The drums have received more
attention this time around, being more powerful than ever. The
guitars sound a little bit less distorted and not as much in the
foreground as on their previous album, but I think this is a
conscious decision, because the material is slightly less metal than
before. Pro-Pain fans will love this album as they loved the others.
Everybody else please take my advice: to really understand what
Pro-Pain is all about, go and see them live. Only then the full power
of this band will unfold and _Act of God_ is yet another brilliant
soundtrack for a kick ass gig.
Sarcastic - _Inside_ (Plutonium Records / Musica Alternativa, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)
Sarcastic had already proved to have some musical skills with their
debut MCD _The Tale Begins..._ [CoC #27], so it's no surprise that
_Inside_ is a competently written, played and produced album.
Mid-paced synth-driven melodic metal can, on one hand, sell plenty of
records, and it's generally not exactly a risky style for any
reasonably skilled band. On the other hand, however, it can -easily-
turn into a stale, tepid, unchallenging kind of music if the band
isn't good enough. _Inside_ is an "easy" album to get into. It
doesn't demand much from the listener. It's not aggressive or doomy,
and it's not technically or structurally challenging. It is,
nevertheless, well done -- within those boundaries, that is --, but
it's just there, it doesn't really cause much impression; at least
not to me. There are several catchy choruses (which tend to be
overused) and nice melodic sequences, and the band generally performs
well and shows some ideas, which is what saves this album. The
average male vocals are well supported by the female vox --
coincidentally, the song I liked the best by far features only female
vocals. Overall, _Inside_ just isn't as dynamic or memorable as some
of the debut MCD was and therefore, despite some good moments, it's
just a piece of well performed but rather uninteresting music.
Serenity - _The Name_ (Bestial, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Serenity are a new band on the Bestial roster, and the most
impressive I've heard yet. Their style is similar to the gothic doom
of labelmates God (reviewed in this issue), but their music is
lighter, more gothic, and more classically (and neo-classically)
oriented. It's definitely keyboard-heavy, as a lot of music is
keyboard-driven, and there are several keyboard-only sections. There
are a few sections where the music is guitar-driven as well,
reminding me of older Crematory (especially _... Just Dreaming_). The
keyboards employ a wide variety of tones, including orchestral
patches, organ tones and uniquely synthesizer tones. The music is
generally very melodic, with melodies in both the guitar and keyboard
parts. Although the music is generally simple, there are a few rather
intricate sections, all of which are handled with surprising aplomb.
There are some spoken vocals and some clean male and female vocals.
The female vocals are excellent, but the male vocals are just
passable. Unlike God, and contrary to what you might expect from the
music, there are no growled vocals at all. Still, with the melodic
nature of the music, the absence of growled vocals isn't a big
surprise. There are a lot of instrumental sections and three
full-blown instrumentals (out of seven total tracks). As with God,
the production could be sharper, but as power isn't the band's main
concern, it isn't a big problem. Overall, this is a very impressive
offering. Fans of bands like The Gathering should find it to their
liking.
Skinlab - _Disembody: The New Flesh_ (Century Media, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10)
I was raving about this band's five-song EP _Eyesore_ a few issues
back [CoC #36] and it was for a good reason: it kicked my ass. Well,
if that EP kicked my ass, then the band's second full-length,
_Disembody: The New Flesh_, kicked me, stabbed me, gouged my eyes out
and left for me for dead by the roadside. An unpleasant image, but
that's the nature of the band's material and attitude. Skinlab play
their music without compromise and you can hear that in every note;
the whole gritty and hard-hitting angle just jumps out at you every
chance it's given. Having been tagged as a cross between Machine Head
and Neurosis (a fair evaluation), Skinlab have progressed further
than that labelling could have taken them. With a new set of band
members (ex-members from Skrew and Killing Culture), the momentum and
deliverance of Skinlab's material has been heightened. It's not just
in your face anymore. We're talking about full body assault,
pummelling and not letting go 'till you're pinned to the floor,
screaming in agony. Yes folks, this is -that- intense. Get pummelled
as tracks like "Scapegoat", "Know Your Enemies" and "Coward" blare
out of your speakers. Chock up another winner for Century Media, as
Skinlab joins Nevermore's latest, _Dreaming Neon Black_, as probably
the two best records you'll hear in 1999. Guaranteed.
Sorcery - _Bloodchilling Tales_ (No Colours, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (8.5 out of 10)
Still remember those days when _Left Hand Path_ and _Like an
Everflowing Stream_ were on the lips of every death metal maniac?
Well, Entombed and Dismember may have long since thrown in the towel
(for most, at least), but there remain the faithful few who still
cherish the crunchiness of Morrissound or the utter brutality of
Sunlight and who will readily dig deep into their faded denim for a
nugget like this re-released, long out-of-print Swedish cult classic.
Originally recorded in 1990 at Sunlight Studios and mixed by Tomas
Skogsberg (can you imagine any other combination?) and released on
vinyl only, _Bloodchilling Tales_ obviously never caught on too well
and was destined to become a cult legend. Until now, that is. While
proving no match for the countless Malmsteens of today's Gothenburg
scene, Sorcery present ten chunky slabs of raw heaviness and
disharmony of the sort long buried with the death bands of the late
'80s. What these boys lack in melody, they fully make up for in
atmosphere and sincerity, their youthful aggression even more
apparent on the two sludgy bonus tracks from an early 7" EP. There's
not much left to say about this album, so heed this old fan's
exhortations: if you loved _Altars of Madness_ or even have _Sumerian
Cry_ in your collection, then hesitate no more. There's some life in
the old thing yet.
Swordmaster - _Deathraider_ (Osmose, 1998)
by: Alvin Wee (8.5 out of 10)
Followers of Swordmaster since their obscure debut EP _Wraths of
Time_ have come to expect a unique intensity and melody from their
material, which has since evolved from ultra-fast black metal to
retro-thrash in the space of just two releases. This MCD takes the
thrash concept to a new level, adding to the somewhat pedestrian
_Postmortem Tales_ a noticeable amount of flair and melody. To say
that tracks like "Deathrider 2000" and "Necronaut Psychout" are
stunningly original would be an overstatement, but it's undeniable
that Swordmaster do possess a certain character to call their own.
From the mega-brutal death rumblings of "Iron Corpse" to the hummable
riffage on "Necronaut Psychout", these boys deliver an amazing punch
with impeccable musicianship and remarkable tightness that makes one
wonder what mayhem this bunch could wreak on stage. The unexpected
brutality of the total death metal "Iron Corpse" doesn't seem out of
place, providing instead a welcome addition to an otherwise
dangerously single-faceted affair (which _Postmortem Tales_ sadly
turned out to be). Even more interesting is the bonus cover of The
Aliens' "Stand for the Fire Demon". Rather than being a weak parody
or fun-session the way most covers turn out, this last track very
much steals the show with its atmospheric, melodic riffing,
impassioned vocals and a solo that'll leave any true metal fan
speechless. All in all, _Deathraider_ is a welcome reassurance for
those disappointed by the mediocrity of _Postmortem Tales_, and
serves to remind us that Swordmaster is possibly the most intense,
and certainly still one of the best bands in Sweden today.
Tchort - _The Heavens Are Showing the Glory of..._
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) (Raspudisc, February 1999)
I've always had a fondness for the music of Tchort and the Family
Mantis (now just Tchort). They've been good to the metal scene here
in Toronto -- being one of the most popular and a regular club act --
and they've always seemed to be moving in the right direction with
their music. The band's debut disc, _Nightside of Eden_ [CoC #17],
was composed of a pretty good assortment of stoner rock, doom-laden
ditties that screamed the influence of such metal acts as Cathedral,
Black Sabbath and Trouble. Two years down the road and a lot has
changed, besides shortening the band name. Sure the band is still
doom metal-based and still has some sonic ties to Cathedral and Black
Sabbath (with singer Eric Coucke sounding more like Ozzy Osbourne
every day), but for the most part _THAStGo_ is a beautifully executed
mishmash of abstract ideas, rebellion and utter dismay, that jumps
out at ya like a ravaging pitbull. It's still rockin', but obvious
ideals of such great bands like The Misfits and The Ramones play a
heavy part in dissecting the metal every now and then and going for
the utterly raw approach. This is a weird record but most
importantly, a record that works. Numbers like "Building A-Bomb for
Tomorrow's Today", "Clopus Clan", "Wonderland Gospel" and "Beezelbub
Pie" fit well together, really establishing a good flow of things to
come. The guitar work of Les Godfree has never sounded more potent
and drummer Michael Borges and bassist Nick Sewell have never been so
vengeful and tight as the rhythm section. This is metal music in a
"rough 'n' raw" shape and sound and I'm proud to have a copy. Show
your respect and see what all the fuss is about. Yes! It's -that-
good.
Terveet Kadet - _The Ultimate Pain_ (Solardisk, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10)
Basking in ultra-heavy guitar riffs and the fiery fury of rough
growled vocals, Terveet Kadet are not a bad band to take in; but
after a few listens, their style of thrashy, ballsy metal/rock gets
kind of old. Not to say that they aren't good musicians or what have
you (they are quite good), it's just that the thrashy, reckless beats
and rhythms fall short after a while. Think along the lines of
Entombed, Dellamorte and Soulquake System, with a little less balls
to their music and less creativity, though I must admit the track
"Restless Soul" kicks the shit out of anything Entombed did with
their latest crapping, _Same Difference_. Take a chance if you wish,
readers, as it might be your cup of tea. I'll pass.
Contact: Tervet Kadet, Box 29, 90251 Oulu, Finland
mailto:sanna.ulmanen@kolumbus.fi
Thirdorgan vs. [ISOFC] - _Neon, Garbage, & Worms_ (Spite, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10)
Admittedly, my exposure to both of these noise artists has been
limited and, be that as it may, I find myself somewhat limited in my
ability to properly critique the combo noise effort found on this
release as it stands up next to their previous efforts. However,
looking at this release purely on its own, I found it to be
relatively basic in a lot of ways, though it certainly had its
moments. It's difficult to pick apart exactly where each of the
artists contributed; however most of this release sounded very
Thirdorgan-ish to me, with a lot of harsh feedback assaults and quick
changes in the various noise layers. What was really a problem for me
with a lot of this release was the lack of imagination. Perhaps I am
being a bit too hard on both artists, but in this day and age just
doing some quick editing doesn't totally cut it for me. I want new
sounds used in new ways with new editing techniques. Instead, it is
the same old stuff, just done in that great Japanoise quick edit
style. I suppose in reality there may not be too much to complain
about, and in all truth, a lot of the noise on this release is far
more entertaining than the current rave of artists who do a lot of
low-end droning which does nothing but put my ass to sleep. For the
novice noise fan, this will sound just groovy. However, if you are
used to this kind of quick editing / feedback deal... you might want
to look elsewhere for more experienced or cutting edge artists.
Contact: Spite, PO Box 51653, Kalamazoo, MI 49005, USA
mailto:mononanie@aol.com
Throneaeon - _With Sardonic Wrath_ (Helgrind, April 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)
If only this had come out ten years ago, I could have given it a
really, really positive review, instead of the honest opinion I am
going to express about its appearance now, in 1999. Throneaeon are,
very obviously, playing ball in the same park as Deicide have been
(except on _Legion_) and still are, and the influence of other early
Floridians such as Malevolent Creation also shows itself on this EP.
Throneaeon's greatest assets are their near-flawless technical
skills, their ability to pen brutal and well constructed death metal
and their powerful and extraordinarily clear production.
Unfortunately, the negative aspect is that they just don't sound
original or fresh, even in a retro way. The ball really does fall in
your court as a listener: if you want another release full of
early-Florida-leaning death metal, then I would venture that
Throneaeon should be one of the first bands on your list if you have
all the early classics; but if you want something which you can hold
up and say "this was made in 1999 and it sounds like it", then you'll
just simply -have- to look elsewhere.
Contact: Tony Freed, Lantvarnsgatan 17, 724 60 Vasteras, Sweden
mailto:throneaeon@usa.net
WWW: http://listen.to/throneaeon
Various - _WWF - The Music Vol. 3_ (Koch International, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8 out of 10)
So what the hell does an album full of themes for pro-wrestlers have
to do with anything covered in this zine? Perhaps nothing, but most
likely everything. In the eyes of the mass public, wrestling is
viewed in the same light as much of the musical styles covered in
this zine -- the lowest common denominator of the group in which it
belongs to (in this case, wrestling being the lowest rung on the
sports ladder and extreme music / metal being the lowest on the
musical one). Beyond this, however, this collection of themes also
touches on and taps into the extreme music field from Gangrel's
theme, which mixes elements of cheap gothic tones and warped
industrial guitar effects, to the Rage Against the Machine-style
"ghetto metal" of D-Generation X or X-Pac's entrance music. Even a
wrestler who represents the bar brawling, blue collar, rednecks of
Texas like Steve Austin has a theme which is driven by a very
industrial/electronic-esque sound, with the music itself being
augmented by crashes and the breaking of glass. While none of these
tracks are destined to be Top 40 Hits or even to earn the praise of
people who are fans of the genres which they so liberally steal from,
they stand as effective build ups to the wrestlers they represent.
Perhaps one actually needs to experience the particular athletes whom
these pieces hype the crowd up for in order to truly understand the
power and emotion attached with them. It is hard to take a theme so
obviously ripped from many modern goth/metal artists such as
Gangrel's seriously until one experiences Gangrel's entrance on
television and his malicious and unrelenting nature in the ring
(nobody, and I mean -nobody- has a cooler DDT than Gangrel). So where
does this leave you, the readers, in terms of buying this CD? I guess
if you know the WWF and love the WWF, then you need to own this. It's
a must have that you will find yourself continually listening to
non-stop. However, for those not quite in touch with pro-wrestling
today, you may want to spare yourself the cash as (to steal from the
WWF's current advertising theme a bit) you won't be likely to "get
it".
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/\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___
/ \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
/ /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/
\_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___|
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
Bongwater - _0000000002_ (3-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (*****)
As I had highly wanted it to sound and as I had assumed it would be,
the new chapter of Bongwater's material is fucked. Fucked up. Look at
it anyway you want, this is screwed up shit and I love it. Raw
production and total attitude make this three-song demo a keeper in
my books. Hell, the song "Pig Fuck" is worthy of praising on its own.
Ever since we were sent their monster fuzzoid slab of goodness
_Pissed Off and... Fuzzed Out_ [CoC #19], I have been eagerly waiting
for the return of this truly talented band from out East. Still
highly connected to the mystical, mind-altering sounds and visions of
such heavyweights as Black Sabbath, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, and Monster
Magnet within their material, Bongwater has left the sometimes
lethargic stoner realm and ventured into the gritty rock/groove
aspect of heavy rock music. Think Corrosion of Conformity meets
Orange Goblin. Still jamming the stoner elements, with a bit more
angst in their deliverance. Man oh man, I need a cold beer or
something. This is too good. High on my demos of '99, and it's only
March. Keep it coming, boys. I'm making a wish right now, hoping for
a label deal for Bongwater (or at least interest) in the next little
while. Something's gotta give, they can't be neglected.
Contact: Neddal Ayad P.O. Box 204 Bay Roberts, NF Canada A0A 1G0
mailto:nayad@morgan.ucs.mun.ca
WWW: http://www3.nf.sympatico.ca/nayad
Core Device - _Core Device_ (9-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)
I was thoroughly impressed with this demo -- from start to finish.
While four songs here are from the band's first demo, it's kind of
cool to see how the band has matured and become more experienced
players come demo #2. Paying homage intensely to old school Metallica
and a good chunk of the '80s/progressive metal community (Savatage,
Helloween, etc.), Core Device is one of those bands that when things
get going good (i.e., good groove), the band shines. For the most
part, the band is strong, with songs like "When Comes the Rain" and
opener "Falling", though at times it seems as though the band's
gearing towards expanding their sound, and experimenting or "mixing
things up" seems like a bad idea. When the band sticks to strong
riffs and powerful vocals, it really does bring a smile to this metal
fan's face. Also to note, the stellar production of the material here
really helps bring out the band's strong characteristics.
Unfortunately, I am missing the contact address for the band, so if
the band is reading this, please submit it to CoC (we'll print it in
an upcoming issue) so we can let people know where to get some good
quality indie metal. One request, though: change your name, please. I
was waiting to hear some out of control hardcore act when your demo
surfaced to be reviewed. Thanks. Stay metal!
Crucified Dawn - _Crucified Dawn_ (4-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (***--)
Eek! Where's the production on this demo? Was this recorded in a
garbage can? Who is Crucified Dawn? And why are they so violently in
your face? Hold on to your hats, kiddies; prepare for the unexpected.
This totally unsafe death metal band grinds and grooves like a bat
out of hell. Mix the sharpness of Obituary's metal influence with the
insanity of Brutal Truth (though not as insane as Kevin Sharp and the
now defunct BT crew). While Crucified Dawn may play music that
appeals to most death metal fans, they have that extra little nuance
of oddity that makes this an interesting listen and may make some
metal fans scratch their heads. Who says death metal has to follow a
formula? Fuck it up sometimes and you'll hear results -- if you're
good. Good job, Crucified Dawn. By the way, the second track ("The
Hand That Bleeds You") rules.
Contact: Crucified Dawn, c/o Frank Kermes, P.O. Box 76195 St. Paul,
MI 55175-1195 USA
mailto:marduk50@ix.netcom.com
Endymion - _The Aegis Of Apollo_ (4-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (*----)
No offense to Endymion, but can you guys speed this up a lil' bit?
I'm falling asleep. Boring, overdrought atmospheric numbers that let
loose bland riffs here and there, mixed with mediocre growls and
drumming that seems half-assed. Endymion seems to have alienated the
listeners with this demo, rather than draw them in. Boring.
Contact: Endymion, 1200 W. 40th St. #204, Austin, Texas USA 78756
mailto:Iygrane@aol.com
WWW: http://www.members.aol.com/iygrane/band.html
Kormoss - _Four_ (6-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (****-)
This new demo from Kormoss is, on one hand, a fine one as far as
musical quality is concerned; but on the other hand, they really
sound a -lot- like Samael now. I had already detected similarities to
Samael in their second demo, _Screams From Night-Mary_ [CoC #29], but
_Four_ sounds a lot more like the Swiss band -- not just
instrumentally, but also the vocals, which are remarkably similar.
The keyboards, however, didn't seem to move much in Samael's
direction, but the overall sound did, even though this still sounds
more like death metal than Samael does now. At any rate, despite the
lack of originality, this is another quality demo from Kormoss, who
have already proved to have enough skill to justify the recording of
a CD.
Contact: Nuno Araujo, Rua da Boucinha, Creixomil,
4800 Guimaraes, Portugal
Mindflair - _The Multi-Orgasmic-Man_ (9-track demo)
Mindflair - _Split w/ Belching Beet_ (5-track EP)
by: Paul Schwarz (***--)
These two releases by this German grindcore combo were sent to me on
a single tape, and so I felt that a double review, assessing not only
the quality of the music on offer but any progression between the two
releases, would be appropriate and most beneficial to you, the
readers. _The Multi-Orgasmic-Man_ is, quite honestly, not that
impressive. Much of the demo is comprised of mostly fast and brutal,
but rarely significantly interesting grindcore, and only a few tracks
stand out. It is let down badly by a murky production and clumsy
sounding drums. The vocals are OK but more or less bark out over the
top of the music and sound badly disjointed. Surprised was I then,
after my walkman turned the tape onto the second side, to find that I
was actually quite into the new tracks from the band's upcoming split
with Belching Beet. It is funny how production can disguise the
quality of songs, for though these two releases share tracks, the
production on the newer EP is so much better that songs I was before
falling asleep during, while mumbling about the poor drum sound, I
was now sitting up straight and quite getting into. I would give the
split a chance, especially if you have a taste for the sick and
brutal sounds of Groinchurn and their ilk, though, as my mark
indicates, Mindflair are still a bit wide of the mark as far as being
stand-out or special goes. With the production so obviously sorted,
though, it could be the ideal time for the band to capitalise by
writing some stunning songs too.
Contact: Manfred Lahmers, Schubertstrasse 15,
67655 Kaiserslautern, Germany
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/\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __
\ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___
\ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\
\ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
\ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\
\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/
____ __
/\ _`\ /\ \__
\ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____
\ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\
\ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/
\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/
Z E U S H I M S E L F W O U L D ' V E B E E N P R O U D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bolt Thrower, Crowbar and Totenmond
At the Hafenbahn, Offenbach, Germany on January 25, 1999
by: Matthias Noll
Due to heavy traffic, I arrived a bit late and completely missed
German death metal outfit Disbelief. As I entered the packed venue,
their fellow countrymen, Totenmond, were already on stage. Their
sound reminded me a bit of Carnivore: rather simple but brutal songs,
alternating between ultra slow and faster paced hardcore eruptions.
The German vocals were delivered in a commanding death metal style.
The three-piece's latest album, _Fleischwald_ (Massacre Records),
should appeal to most CoC readers who can tolerate German lyrics if
the music is heavy enough. Decent show -- check them out!
Crowbar received a huge welcome from the fans, which was
definitely well deserved. Their sound was not perfect, but
fortunately the heaviness of their material wasn't compromised. As
with Bolt Thrower later on, older songs worked as well as the newer,
more melodic material from _Odd Fellows Rest_. Crowbar demonstrated
their respect for the fans when one of the crowdsurfers landed behind
the barriers and a bouncer overreacted with the band witnessing it. I
have seen bands yelling at the security before, but I wasn't prepared
for the Crowbar way of dealing with such things. Sexy T and Kirk
simply put their instruments down and started to move towards the
security crew. This immediately solved all issues, and I tell you, I
would run as if chased by Godzilla if these two guys were coming at
me. Needless to say, the set continued without further incidents.
Watching Todd's face during the gig while he churned out those
monstrous bass riffs was by itself well worth the money. This is a
guy who definitely feels what he's playing. To sum it up: if this
band is on stage and you hear the vicious riffing of songs like "1000
Year Internal War", what other choice do you have but twist your
facial muscles as if you're dying from internal bleedings, clench
your teeth -- or better, bite on a piece of wood -- and suffer?
After a short intro, the Hafenbahn instantly became a killing
zone as Bolt Thrower mercilessly started their engines to unleash
"Zeroed" upon the crowd. Driven by their new drummer Alex Thomas, who
delivered a concrete backbone throughout the whole set, the band
impressed from start to finish. One of the most noteworthy things
about this gig was definitely the crowd reaction. While at
death/black metal shows the audience usually stays rather quiet
between the songs, Bolt Thrower received such an amount of cheering,
yelling and fists up in the air as if the lost son had finally come
home again. The set featured lots of new tracks from _Mercenary_
which proved to be as heavy and effective as older material.
"Mercenary" turned out to be as vicious and brutal as the majestic
"The IVth Crusade". "No Guts, No Glory" stood proud alongside
"Cenotaph". Former Benediction frontman Dave Ingram, who has now
joined Bolt Thrower, turned out to be a better replacement than I had
expected, being very active on stage while his vocals weren't very
different from the original versions with Karl Willets, whom I will
nevertheless miss on future records. The rest of the band also
performed very professionally and both guitarists constantly banged
their heads like madmen while pumping out their grinding riffs. With
the load of killer material Bolt Thrower have released so far (I'm
just listening to _The IVth Crusade_ while I'm writing this review),
my ultimate setlist could in no way be shorter than two hours, but
this time the war machine seemed to be a bit short on ammunition
(maybe because of the early curfew in the Hafenbahn) and finished
their set after only 60 minutes. Besides that, they destroyed
everything in sight.
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D E A D B Y D A W N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deicide, Rotting Christ, Aeternus, Ancient Rites and Behemoth
At the London Astoria 2, England, February 14, 1999
by: Paul Schwarz
A bill containing this many extreme metal bands rarely hits
London at all, so it is rather ironic that Valentine's Day should see
the arrival of such a horde of demons. Deicide once again did us the
honour of bringing a killer line-up to London. Lots of bands meant an
early start, though, and I managed to arrive a tad too late to catch
all of Behemoth's set. However, the three songs I did catch were
enough to indicate to me that Behemoth have some talent and certainly
seem to have some luck or expertise at their disposal when it comes
to mixing a live sound, since their percussive death/black attack was
coming out of the speakers more like crystal clear spring water than
the murky sludge an opening band usually gets for a sound.
Ancient Rites were the next to take the stage. They are not a
band whose music I am familiar with, but, as with Behemoth, the sound
was thankfully of a quality where I could at least hear what they
were playing. The band's central focus is black metal, but with a
considerable amount of melody used, and death metal-esque sections
thrown in here and there. They had a keyboard player, though he
seemed somewhat under-used, and the vocalist interspersed his
screaming with varied vocal emergences. Overall, the band were not
bad and played competently, but their music made little impression on
me.
Aeternus were the first band of the bill whose music I had
previously enjoyed. Their _... And So the Night Became_ album [CoC
#33] is a sprawling, complex, diverse and epic work of black metal
and not the kind of thing I expected would reproduce well in a live
environment. Aeternus were evidently not attempting to re-create the
full effect of their most recent album since no keyboards or even
acoustic guitars were used; instead, the band opted to play only the
heavy parts of their songs. This wasn't exactly bad, and considering
the limited time and the length of this band's songs, it was probably
necessary, but the performance did detract from one of Aeternus'
greatest strengths: their ability to meld dark, violent, percussive
playing with melodic and melancholic passages. The band played well,
the drummer's time keeping being particularly impressive, and
frontman Ares managed some invigorating contortions while playing
which enhanced the band's stage presence. The band were let down a
little by the sound quality, which was a tad murky and lost some of
the subtleties which lie within their otherwise virtual whirlwind of
a sound.
Returning to these shores were Greece's Rotting Christ, and they
played a set which I would go as far as to call triumphant. Beginning
with "Cold Colours", from their new _Sleep of the Angels_ album, and
continuing with a set composed primarily of new material, but also
drawing from nearly all of their other releases, the band not only
had a crisp, powerful sound bestowed upon their instruments; they
also had a lot of energy on stage and were quite invigorating. Sakis
held a striking presence, sometimes standing, almost proclaiming his
lyrics to the crowd, sometimes head down thrashing on his guitar and
often finishing songs with a mighty chop of the axe occasionally
intentionally sounding the drummer's cymbal with his own hand. The
two other up-front members of the band were energetic, though not to
such an impressive extent. One problem I noticed, however, was that
the vocals were not loud enough; they didn't match the volume of the
guitars, drums, or even keyboard sometimes, and too many times were
lost in the mix. Overall, though, a group of very worthy live
performers who played a great set.
Considering the amount of people crammed into the LA2, it would
seem that Deicide's following has hardly waned since their early '90s
heyday, despite what I would regard as a dip in the quality of
recordings since 1992's _Legion_, and the chants of "Dei-cide,
Dei-cide" before the band even hit the stage would seem to confirm
how strong their following is. With a crisp and viciously percussive
sound behind them, Deicide belted out an hour of material which
included: "When Satan Rules His World", "Bastard of Christ", "Blame
it on God", "Children of the Underworld", "Lunatic of God's
Creation", "Serpents of the Light", "Deicide", "Slave to the Cross",
"Dead but Dreaming", "Trick or Betray", "Behind the Light, Thou Shalt
Rise", "Oblivious to Evil", "Father Baker's", "Sacrificial Suicide",
"Once Upon the Cross" and "Dead by Dawn". Though this setlist is
similar to the one they've been touring for a while now and rather
neglects the aforementioned 1992 classic, the band had good news for
those of us who wanted to hear some of their other material. Glen
Benton said that, along with not selling out like Metallica and
Slayer (I personally disagreed with that one) have and spending the
rest of the year working on a new album, they would be re-introducing
many of their old songs (he mentioned "Behead the Prophet" and
"Blaspherion", among others) into a new setlist which they would be
touring next year, when they will return to the UK. Returning to the
subject of tonight's performance, Deicide were technically perfect,
but lacked motion on stage -- the brothers Hoffman being particularly
static. Steve Asheim never missed a beat and Glen Benton's voice was
in prime condition, his screams and bellows still being some of the
most brutal on the planet. Overall, the band did suffer from seeming
a little un-animated, but the music and playing were totally there
and the net effect was abrasive, to say the least. For myself,
though, I'm holding my breath for next time.
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T H E F E A R O F S T R O B E L I G H T M O S H I N G
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fear Factory, System of a Down, Spineshank, Nothingface
At Irving Plaza in New York City, New York on January 19, 1999
by: Jody Webb
Originally, the tour organizers booked this show into the 1500
capacity Irving Plaza on a Tuesday night in January. It sold out so
fast they added a second show for the day before, a Monday. That sold
out too. Moral of the story: next time, set up Fear Factory in the
3000 capacity Roseland to avoid human sardine packing experiments.
I got in there before the doors opened, courtesy of a Roadrunner
Records connection who arranged some interviews with Spineshank and
Fear Factory. We talked with Johnny from 'Shank, who revealed a
mysterious tattoo on his forearm and claimed that it was the same one
Cobra Commander sported in the 1980s animation GI Joe. I'm not sure
what that says about him, but I guess it's better than having Roy
Orbison's face inked on your ass. I let my buddy Jerome talk with
Raymond from Fear Factory. We also got an impromptu chat session with
Matt Holt from Nothingface about guitars and such things, in which he
mentioned a new guitar from some company which would be completely
black -- pickups, tuning machines, strings, da works. I imagine black
metal bands will bust a nut over this.
Soon the New York crowd started trickling into the place and
before long Irving Plaza was teaming with people ranging from about
15 to about 35. Then I got to witness something I hadn't really seen
before. The crowd began to tear down all the banners for K-Rock, the
local hard rock station who doesn't exactly support the bands on the
bill, and played red rover with them, shredding them to bits while
chanting "K-Rock sux! K-Rock sux!" and soon "S O U! S O U!", which
are the call letters for WSOU at Seton Hall, the only 24/7 station in
the US that plays real metal at 2600 watts.
Nothingface sauntered onto the stage and a small but encouraging
applause was heard and subsequently drowned out by the opening notes
of "Grinning". The band was pretty good, but not as impressive as on
CD, probably because they were on first and the engineers had a leash
on the PA. Nevertheless, a beefy corps of moshers had broken the mosh
pit cherry on Irving Plaza that night. I don't understand why people
come into a show with a hockey mask, probably to hide their ugly mug.
Next up was Spineshank who, despite a promo person's
exaggeration to the contrary, were competent but boring, to borrow a
greatly useful phrase from fellow reviewer Paul Schwarz. They did not
change my opinion of them as I watched from the balcony above the
ground floor.
After a fifteen minute break, during which clips from "Evil Dead
II" were shown, System of a Down hit the scene and a loud roar echoed
through the concert hall. The guitar players were stripped,
skinheaded and painted silver, while singer Serge was showing off his
sequin jacket, much to his delight, I'm sure. I heard that they were
having the show videotaped for perhaps a video, of all things, and
their vibe was surely available in large amounts. The entire 700
person floor was in motion. I took a solid shot in the jaw during the
second song and decided to sit out the rest of the set, or at least
until the headache went away. I can't say that I'm a big fan of
System of a Down, but they have certainly established themselves.
So, after a good three hours of warm up, the machine known as
Fear Factory took the place by force in a frightening display of
lights and technical mastery with the monster "Shock". Did you see
the Slayer tour last Summer? Slayer had these two cool as shit laser
and light towers as part of their stage. Tonight, Fear Factory had
SIX! Try to image strobe lights firing in the darkness like cluster
bombs in time with the mind blowing syncopation of guitar and kick
drum on songs like "Shock", "Self Bias Resistor" and "Zero Signal".
Not an ear drum was spared in the next hour and half, no ass left
unkicked. The set: "Shock", "Self Immolation", "Self Bias Resistor",
"Zero Signal", "Edgecrusher", "Smasher/Devourer", "Scumgrief",
"Replica", "Pisschrist", "Securitron", "Descent", "Demanufacture",
"Martyr", "Resurrection", "Scapegoat".
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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. Black Sabbath - _Sabotage_
2. Morgion - _Solinari_
3. Napalm Death - _Fear, Emptiness, Despair_
4. Monster Magnet - _Dopes To Infinity_
5. Bethlehem - _Sardonishcher Untergang un Zeichen irreligioser
Darbietung_
Adrian's Top 5
1. Space Age Playboys - _New Rock Underground_
2. Overkill - _Necroshine_
3. Skinlab - _Disembody: The New Flesh_
4. Mindset - _A Bullet For Cinderella_
5. Orgy - _Candyass_
Brian's Top 5
1. Gorguts - _Obscura_
2. Sieges Even - _Uneven_
3. Power of Omens - _Eyes of the Oracle_
4. Serenity - _The Name_
5. God - _Sublime_
Alain's Top 5
1. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
2. Flotsam and Jetsam - _Unnatural Selection_
3. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
4. Forbidden - _Green_
5. Monster Magnet - _25............Tab_
Adam's Top 5
1. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
2. Peccatum - _Strangling From Within_
3. Bathory - _Jubileum Vol. 3_
4. Taake - _Nattestid..._
5. Fear Factory - _Obsolete_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Primordial - _A Journey's End_
2. Thy Serpent - _Christcrusher_
3. Peccatum - _Strangling From Within_
4. Madder Mortem - _Mercury_
5. The Haunted - _The Haunted_
Paul's Top 5
1. Manowar - _Sign of the Hammer_
2. Sick of it All - _Call to Arms_
3. Eugene "Hideaway" Bridges - _Born to Be Blue_
4. Cenotaph - _The Gloomy Reflection of Our Hidden Sorrows_
5. Krabathor - _Lies_
Aaron's Top 5
1. Broken - _Skytorn_
2. Houwitser - _Death... But Not Buried_
3. Epoch of Unlight - _Within the Night_
4. Bewitched - _Diabolical Desecration_
5. Exodus - _Another Lesson in Violence_
David's Top 5
1. Nokturnal Mortum - _To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire_
2. Hypocrisy - _The Final Chapter_
3. Malevolent Creation - _Eternal_
4. Mundanus Imperium - _The Spectral Spheres Coronation_
5. Grip Inc. - _Solidify_
Gabriel's Top 5
1. One Dark Eye / Macronympha - _Split_
2. Various - _Freak Animal Compilation_
3. MSBR / Die Lebensmittelvergiftung
4. Various - _WWF - The Music Vol. 3_
5. Bob Marinelli / Outermost - _Split_
Alex's Top 5
1. Antestor - _The Return of the Black Death_
2. Sentenced - _Frozen_
3. Various - _War Dance - W.A.R. Records Compilation_
4. Various - _From Kaamos to Midnight Sun_
5. Various - _Chords of the Grave_
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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:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
----
Our European Office can be reached at:
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe)
Urb. Souto n.20 Anta
4500 Espinho, PORTUGAL
e-mail: ei94048@riff.fe.up.pt
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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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is send a message to us at <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X" where 'X'
is the name of the requested file (do not include the quotes). Back
issues are named 'coc-n', where 'n' is the issue number. For a
description of all files available through this fileserver, request
'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all file names.
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #38
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.
