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Chronicles of Chaos Issue 042
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Fourth Anniversary Mega-Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, August 12, 1999, Issue #42
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@fe.up.pt>
Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@cwcom.net>
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:alex@netmdc.com>
Contributor: Matthias Noll <mailto:matthias.noll@updatemarketing.de>
NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
'Details' section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #42 Contents, 8/12/99
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Suicidal Tendencies: Of Skateboards, Suicide and Pepsi
-- Tiamat: Within the Sun's Own Shadow
-- Borknagar: Bullshitting With Borknagar
-- Jesus Martyr: Sex, Drugs and... Porno?
-- Children of Bodom: The Chil'un Must Rise
-- God Dethroned: Eden Must Burn
* Album Asylum
-- Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_
-- Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
-- The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_
-- Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_
-- Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_
-- Darkane - _Rusted Angel_
-- Deviate - _State of Grace_
-- Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_
-- Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_
-- earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_
-- Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_
-- Various - _ECW Extreme Music_
-- Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_
-- Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_
-- Extol - _Mesmerized_
-- Fantomas - _Fantomas_
-- Fornever - _We Whom Are..._
-- Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_
-- Godgory - _Resurrection_
-- Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_
-- Lacrimosa - _Elodia_
-- Various - _Lobot Manual_
-- Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_
-- Machine Head - _The Burning Red_
-- Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_
-- Merciless - _The Awakening_
-- Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_
-- Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_
-- MO*TE - _Stash_
-- Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_
-- Various - _Needlepoint_
-- Novembers Doom - _Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers_
-- Obscenity - _Demo-Niac_
-- On Thorns I Lay - _Crystal Tears_
-- Satyricon - _Intermezzo II_
-- Sephiroth - _Cathedron_
-- Skepticism - _aes_
-- Soilwork - _Chainheart Machine_
-- Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_
-- Summoning - _Stronghold_
-- Tormentula - _Submit Your Unworthy Soul_
-- Undertakers - _Live in Brutality_
-- Unholy - _Gracefallen_
-- Unusual Sickness - _Sounds of a Shattered Soul_
-- Valse Triste - _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_
-- Viking Crown - _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_
-- War - _We Are War_
-- Various - _White: Nightmares in the End_
* New Noise
-- Exhumator - _Condescentions From the Dark Side_
-- Forcefed - _Special Places_
-- In Grey - _Seasons Change_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Milwaukee Metalfest XIII
-- Milwaukee, Here I Come Again, by: Adam Wasylyk
-- Paul Peruses Wisconsin's Finest, by: Paul Schwarz
-- Assorted Assertions, by: Adrian Bromley & Alain Gaudrault
-- Canada: No Church-Burners Allowed! Emperor in Canada
-- U.S. of A.: Church-Burners Are People Too: Emperor in the USA
-- Facing the Breton Storm Season: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in France
-- Pigs Feet and All Things Yummy: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in Germany
-- Take Your Stein, and Ramm It! Rammstein and Soulfly in Canada
-- Let Your Soul Fly Away: Rammstein and Soulfly in the USA
-- White Trash Convention: Ozzfest '99
-- Bruce Is Back: Iron Maiden in Toronto
-- Averse Conditions Inhibit the Endless Usurp of Filth
-- Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero? His Hero Is Gone in Toronto
* Writer's Wrath
-- MTV: Music Television or Money Television?
* What We Have Cranked
* Details
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by: Gino Filicetti
Look who's back... your long silent editor has returned to say a
word or two about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Well,
maybe not today, since all of our thoughts, all of our hopes and
dreams, and yes, all of our heart and soul should be pondering the
fact that Chronicles of Chaos, the most magnificent e-zine ever to
walk the face of the Internet, is celebrating its fourth birthday.
Alright, time to turn off the cheese-O-matic and deflate my
over-inflated ego and be serious once again.
Today marks four years of Chronicles of Chaos. Four years of
hard work and lots of unrewarded toil, for a gang of misantropes who
chose to associate themselves with this publication. They are the
ones who see to it, that the best possible writing is output each
month in a consistent fashion. But is not writing for CoC a reward in
and of itself? Personally, I must say yes, even though I haven't
written an article in over two years, being a part of CoC isn't
something I would soon trade in. Perhaps the best part of CoC is
working with a fine group of people who are a blast not only to chat
to via email, but to drink heavily with as well. This is to all the
people who've contributed to Chronicles of Chaos over the past four
years, without you, I'd be no where in a hurry.
And what of you, loyal reader. Out of our original lot of 80
subscribers, I'm more than curious to know how many are still with
us. And even if you weren't here since the beginning, oh so long ago,
I want to thank each and every 1700 of you for sticking with us, and
showing the rest of the internet that quality is what survives and
flourishes, not flashy web sites with a shite-load of graphics.
I think I've gushed enough for another year entirely, but I just
wanted to set down on electrons that which I've known since the
beginning: that without the many great people who've read and
contributed to CoC in the past, I would be nowhere right about now.
Cheers to everyone, the next fours years should be a blast.
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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: Thu, 08 Jul 1999
From: "S.R. Prozak" <prozak@anus.com>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #41 (1/3)
howdy,
i'm writing in response to gutterboy's comments requesting more
reviews for "christian metal". let me ask: why? and then present my
points.
1) earth, a bluesy band, changed to be black sabbath to reflect the
band's belief in the occult; its nihilistic power chord riffs were to
many an indicator of total breakdown of social order.
2) metal bands from the heavy metal to current day have been
fascinated by any combination of the following: ancient mythology,
battle, technology, magic, drugs, hate, war, death.
3) some bands, such as black sabbath, led zeppelin, morbid angel,
slayer, venom, hellhammer and all of black metal, are either
explicitly satanic or use satanic metaphor to express a
_post-christian_ existence.
4) death metal is composed of elements of both heavy metal and
hardcore, one of which is romanticist and the other of which is
ideological/political, each as its own "subculture," or dissident
group within social expansion.
5) our world is in deep doo-doo. briefly: we're destroying most of
our natural forest land, destroying temperature and atmospheric
purity regulators at the same time we commit erosion and runoff to
slaughter our streams. the level of industrial pollutants in the
world is at an all-time high, as our industry with no regard for
human life pays workers minimal amounts to create worthless plastic
products and dump the toxic waste generated somewhere obscure. we die
of cancers as our corporate owners laugh.
metal was founded in 1969, at the height of the cold war, to get
beyond conventional thinking. a different way was needed - different
from the normal moralistic, prudish, commercially-driven value system
that became the hallmark of the western nations to combat "godless
communism." at a time when everything was falling apart, we were
doing everything "right" according to conventional Judeo-Christian
dogma - which failed - hence we have metal.
as usual, however, the Christians are waging a propaganda war against
us with "metal" bands that emulate non-religious bands, churn out a
similar product, and then claim it's art. it's not. it's pure
propaganda. no self-respecting metal magazine should honor in any way
"Christian metal," as that is adding insult to injury by not only
tolerating their brainwashing, but encouraging others to do it!
i've debated gutterboy on these points before, and he has conceded
every time by withdrawing from logical debate. more attention paid to
this issue in the metal community would point out how ludicrous,
paradoxical and dishonest "christian metal" is and why serious
metalheads avoid its disease.
respectfully,
s.r. prozak
Immortal Death Metal
http://www.anus.com/metal/ - reviews
http://www.kcuf.org/ - metal radio
http://www.evilmusic.com/ - mail order
JOIN US... WE ARE THE FUTURE
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999
From: Todd Crawford <lacrisus@hotmail.com>
To: Pedro Azevedo <ei94048@fe.up.pt>
Subject: help, music is dying
I get COC 'zine emailed to me. I notice that you do the doom
reviews. My favorite bands/albums are MyDyingBride, Anathema's
"Serenades," Disembowelment, Acid Bath, Katatonia, Septic Flesh, The
Cure's "Disintegration," and other individual songs, Lycia, Ordeal,
and Hades. The rest of the music world has failed to compare to these
bands according to my taste. There are a few others that are
worthwhile, but I am desperately seeking something new. I've heard
some of the bands from Austria already. I'd like to find some more
music like Lycia and Ordeal; something that sounds like a soundtrack
to "Bladerunner," or a Shadowrun film (that has not been made of
course). I am looking into Current 93 and Endura now, but I know that
I do not generally enjoy any of the Cold Meat Industries projects. I
don't know what other specifications to give you. I am looking for
something progressive, but not too fast or upbeat. Something
involving a mixture of non-American metal, ambient, jazz and maybe
folk. If you have any recommendations, please respond. You may post
this in COC 'zine's next issue.
Tod C.
Date: 9 Jul 1999
From: David Guerreiro <vio_man@mail.pt>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Hail to all living souls.
In the COC #40, Adrian Bromley gave a 9 to the latest Hypocrisy
album. I strongly disagree. This is the best Hypocrisy's album ever
made, and I haven't seen any bad aspects, so why rating this album
with a 9??? Peter Tagtgren is a musical genius, the best musician of
the 90's and a talented guitar player. Every thing he does is art. We
can't afford to loose this man. A 10 was the minimum score to be
given. If you like Hypocrisy don't forget to visit my page at:
http://welcome.to/hypocrisy
Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:51:38 +0530
From: Sunil <sdpant@htp.com.np>
Subject: Attention Loud letters
This is a good magazine and I've been into this from it's very
beginning, but I have not been able to get any information regarding
a band called 'RIGOR MORTIS'. Not just CoC but I have not found
anything about this band in any other magazine. Considering its
technicality and the musical complexity, it is one of the most
underrated bands in the history of Extreme Metal. Their self-titled
album is what I call 'the height of technical Brutality' because no
other band can be so technical and yet retain its extreme brutality
at the same time.I've never heard anything like this. If any of you
out there knows anything about RIGOR MORTIS please let me know.
Sunil
<sdpant@htp.com.np>
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A R C H E N E M Y O F D I C T A P H O N E S ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Paul Schwarz
Some of you may recall that in my interview with Arch Enemy's
Mike Amott last month, I commented many times on my dictaphone
cutting out, to the point where our esteemed Pied (Lead) Piping
Editor commented that I needed a new one. I will now explain what was
actually "going wrong" with my dictaphone.
I have a function on my dictaphone called VAS (Voice Activated
System); it is on a switch with "pause" and "off" also being options.
For the duration of my Arch Enemy interview the VAS function was,
unbeknownst to me, on and thus the dictaphone would happily stay on
while Mike was speaking, since his voice comes through the phone at a
decent volume, but when I spoke, or occasionally when Mike went
quiet, the thing would shut itself off. I kept banging my dictaphone
on my desk to "get it started", which seemed to work. Of course it
was because of the noise it made, not that I was "fixing" it as I
thought at the time. The story is amusing if you picture it, but also
a lesson to aspiring interviewers out there: beware of VAS, you can
lose interviews to it if you accidentally turn it on.
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O F S K A T E B O A R D S , S U I C I D E A N D P E P S I
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CoC chats with Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies
by: Paul Schwarz
By 1982 the band "Suicidal Tendencies" had begun to make some
impact on the lives of hardcore, punk and metal followers in Los
Angeles' Venice Beach area, the same band had also topped Flipside
magazine's end-of-year polls, winning in the categories of "worst
band" and "biggest assholes". They went on to produce 1983's hardcore
classic, _Suicidal Tendencies_, but were plagued throughout their
career by the perception of them which is summed up by the results of
that Flipside magazine poll. This was due in part to the outspoken
honesty of frontman Mike Muir (which had a tendency to piss people
off), the rumours claiming the band were "thugs" associated with some
kind of Venice Beach street gang (which led the LAPD to prevent them
from playing in many venues in the LA area), the group's sarcastic
and humorous image (which led them to be thought of as somewhat
goofy) and the subsequent attitude which certain areas of the press
took to them (that they were a joke). Still, the band built up a
considerable and rabid following and produced some brilliant albums
in addition to the aforementioned self-titled debut before things
came to an end with 1994's _Suicidal for Life_.
In the Spring/Summer of 1997 news filtered through to me that
Suicidal were back together, and -damn- did I get a buzz out of that.
Finally, it would be possible for me, one who had only recently
pledged his allegiance, to see the band live! I waited and waited and
very little news actually reached me of what, if anything, Suicidal
were doing with their time and reunion. Being the cynic I am, I
figured this was a half-assed reunion deal and that the band would
disappear into oblivion in an unspectacular second break-up before
they made it to the UK or I made it to a place they might be playing
(a la 1997's Exodus reunion which ended early this year). Well, it
just shows how wrong you can be. Suicidal are currently set to play
England's Reading Festival in August and are also setting up a London
date for some time in September. They have also, out of the blue as
far as I'm concerned, released a new album, which takes the title
_Freedumb_. However, I was still skeptical, but after this
conversation with the manic Mr. Muir, I was more than restored in my
confidence that the band are back, and back with a vengeance.
CoC: How would you describe the new record, _Freedumb_, for longtime
Suicidal Tendencies fans who've followed you guys for years, who
are pretty happy about this new comeback record?
Mike Muir: Basically, what we're doing is quite a different approach
than what most people are. Like in America we don't have
any ads for the record, and we're taking the approach of
kinda the way we started off. Fortunately here we're on
the Warped Tour, which means we get to play in front of a
lot of people, and a lot of the people that we're playing
in front of -- I'd say the vast majority -- never heard of
Suicidal Tendencies because they're sixteen years old,
they're fourteen years old and five years ago [when
Suicidal split], they were nine years old. Basically, we
have the approach that if we can't win people over by them
hearing the music, then we shouldn't be a band and rather
than doing a bunch of advertising before the record comes
and have people going "Oh, Suicidal's back, I'd better go
buy the record", there's going to be a lot of people that
even come to these shows that are like, "I've seen
Suicidal, I saw you seven years ago" and after we play
they're like "Fuck!", and they go out and buy the record
and they're going to be playing it for their friends and
go, "Have you got the new Suicidal record?" and they'll
say "What, they've got a new record?!", "Yeah, check it
out!". So they actually hear the music rather than buying
it from what happened in the past. So we've felt it's
actually the best situation that we've had that. In
comparison, in different places we had to do different
things. Like in Japan, it's the only place we're actually
on a major and it's been our best selling record by far --
and we've always done really well in Japan. We have a
belief that it's a fucking great record, the reaction that
we've got has been incredible from the people that have
gotten it and the reaction is the type that we want: a lot
of people that hopefully won't like it are the kind of
people we don't want to like it and people that we want to
like it fucking love it and Suicidal; the only way we're
going to be effective as a band is not how many records we
sell but how many people that actually hear the record are
fucking screamin' "Suicidal", and that's what's going on
right now, so we feel really good.
CoC: You were saying you felt that people who went to your live show
would be convinced enough to buy the record and really enjoy it.
So obviously you think it will not only appeal to the old
Suicidal Tendencies fans, because it's you guys, but it'll also
appeal to fans of metal or hardcore who are around today. Do you
think it'll impress them because it's maybe going beyond what
other records of this type are doing these days? [This was a
suggestion and not a reflection of my opinion of _Freedumb_ at
the time. -- Paul]
MM: I think it goes back to where we started. There's a lot of people
that won't like it, and they won't like it for the wrong reasons,
and the people who will like it will like it because they'll hear
it and they'll go "Fuck", and compare it with what else is out
there and they'll think it's better than what's out there. That's
what we like to do and that's the number one reason why people
used to like Suicidal -- because of the music, you know? And the
reason why they didn't like it is because "Oh, that fuckin'
singer's an asshole", "I don't like the way they look", "They're
not this..." or "They don't follow the rules", or that kind of
thing -- or they didn't hear the music. So we take it that way:
the people that love us is because of the music and what we stand
for and so I think that's far more important. Over the years, in
the past, we've been exposed as so many different things, a lot
of which we I don't think we actually should have been, and now
we're very comfortable going about the way that we are now, which
I think is going to be far more effective. And I don't believe
everybody should hear Suicidal, and I don't believe everybody
should like Suicidal, and I think this is the type of record to
re-establish us the way we want to be established.
CoC: Would you say that you were unhappy at all with the way Suicidal
Tendencies ended up before you guys reformed, the _Suicidal for
Life_ album, the end of the band? Were you unhappy with that as
a final album, or were you unhappy with the fact the band didn't
continue?
MM: Well, with _Suicidal for Life_ I knew it was going to be the last
record I did, that's why it had "shit" or "fuck" in the title of
every song on the first side of the record: basically it was
because I didn't want to do a commercial record and go on and it
made it pretty obvious, you know. Lookin' back, anybody who can't
figure that -out-, is not too -bright- [I have the feeling this
was directed at me. -- Paul]. So, basically, fortunately there is
a lot of changes that were made. I didn't think we'd get back
together, but the situation as is now is a situation I never
thought would be possible. I'm having a damn good time, you know.
We did the Warped Tour in Australia and that was the most fun
I've ever had in the band, it was the best tour the band's ever
had and it was the most fun I've ever had in my life. Now, if you
can say that about your last tour, you're doin' somethin' right,
you know. I think this tour is the same situation: I'm havin' an
incredible time, I know why I'm here and it's great, you know. I
couldn't say that before, I could say before, "Oh, the tour's
doing a lot for the band", but it wasn't doing anything for me or
it wasn't doing anything in the sense of what I thought should be
accomplished. I think right now everybody's -proud- of being in
the band and they're also -happy- to be in the band and feel
lucky to be in band, and that's the best thing in the world.
CoC: With your label, you've come back after quite a while and you're
on Nuclear Blast, certainly in Europe I believe, which seemed to
me like an unusual label, simply because Nuclear Blast began as
a death metal label and that's the way I've known it. I was
wondering why you chose them and I was also wondering what you
thought of the interesting fact that other old bands like
yourselves, who've come back, have signed to Nuclear Blast --
well, SoD have come back, and Manowar are signed to Nuclear
Blast.
MM: Well, first of all we didn't sign to the label, there's no label
that we signed to, the only label we signed to, like I said, is
in Japan -- we're on EMI. The whole thing is, we weren't going to
sign to any label, we're not going to be on any label but our
own. Basically the deal is they're distributing the record,
they're buying the records from us and stuff and basically to
make a long story short: in America, that's where we have the
most control, we know exactly what we want to do, other places
you can't, we're not there, we can't follow it up as much. And
basically with them [Nuclear Blast] it's because there's one guy
who's fuckin' hounded us for two years and to be quite honest I
never would be on a label like that, there's not one record on
that label I would listen to, I fuckin' hate heavy metal, I hate
whatever that other stuff is they call.
CoC: Death metal? Black metal? Which metal? <I laugh>
MM: Whatever it is, all I gotta say is we've got a song called "Hippy
Killer" and everybody should hear it. So, basically, I'm not
afraid to go in front of the enemy, you know what I mean.
<laughs> Fuck it, you know. <Laughing as he begins> I told the
guy and all those dudes [at Nuclear Blast], "There ain't one
record..." -- they gave us a bunch of records and we threw 'em
all out the window. It was like we were driving down the freeway,
we put it on, heard it, threw it out, try the next one, throw it
out <I laugh very loud>, so we said as far as we're concerned
everything on there is garbage and people get beat up if they
listen to that stuff where we're from. <I laugh again> So, they
know, they know we think it sucks.
CoC: OK. I was wondering, then, since you were saying about the
running of your own label, etc., I noticed you have a site on
the Internet which is full of information, etc.. Are you guys
aiming to go the way of the many bands who aim to reach total
independence from a label via the Internet: to put out music, as
much as possible, on the Internet, and put out records because
there are still people who aren't on it. Is that an ideal thing
for you, to be able to just control it all in that way?
MM: Well, as far as the Internet goes, specifically -- I've been kind
of following it for a while because of, well, some people told
me, at Sony, they go, "Well, in two years this is going to be,
you'll see what's going to happen". That was five years ago and I
think a lot of people grossly mis-state what the Internet is
going to be, I think it is very important in the sense of my
nephew's and niece's all learn on computers and stuff, that type
of situation. And especially for areas which in the past, you
know, Third World countries, etc. -- they have access to it and
stuff and it's a way for people to get information. As far as
actually being a vehicle for selling stuff, every year people
make predictions about what's going to happen next year and they
never come out right. I think it's going to take quite a while
before people are actually, effectively selling on the Internet.
If you're a small group, you can do good because no-one's going
to want to buy your records anyhow, no-one knows who you are, but
as far as being on a mass scale, being effective, there's a lot
of big groups that've tried that where they've said "This
record's only going to be on the Internet", and they don't sell
any records. So I think the Internet is more effective as far as
disseminating information and stuff, and there's a lot of people,
in that case, who say, "I've just got a computer, and I just put
"Suicidal Tendencies" in there and "boom!", I found your website,
you know, and I didn't even know you guys got back together". So,
it gets a lot of information out and it's an important vehicle,
but I don't think it's an end-all.
CoC: The actual reformation itself happened two years ago. I haven't
obviously been following you that carefully, I guess, since
then. How much have you done since then, because I haven't
noticed a lot done on you guys in the press, and why in
particular has it taken quite a while to get a record together?
MM: Basically, one of the things that we didn't want to do was to put
a record out and say "We're back together, we're putting a record
out and we're touring", you know. I think that's the approach
most people deal, and that's a definite lack of sincerity, you
know, it's more of the job type thing. What we did is -- there's
a lot of places we haven't been able to tour to or we've been
there once and we went to a lot of places like South America,
etc., and basically we've been touring around so people can see
what we're doing before the actual record comes out, so that we
know we can get back a solid base the way that we wanted to be. I
felt that was important before the record came out so that we had
a certain amount of people that kind of understood what
Suicidal's about so they could lead the way to the new people
that get in there. We found that very important going back, like
when we toured with Queensryche in America, that was a situation
where they were the most played band in America on the radio and
on MTV and there were a lot of places that we'd never played
before that we played with them and you'd walk in the hallway and
after you played they'd go "aaahhh": they'd be running after you
and stuff, but the places we played with Queensryche which we'd
played many times before -- like in the major cities --, you
know, someone would see, they'd come up, they'd say "Hey Mike,
what's up, how ya doin'" and you'd talk, and everybody else who'd
see, they would be like "Hey, how're you doin'", you know. So it
was an atmosphere which was much more conductive to what we think
is good. So I think that's very important, that you have that
base, and the same thing carries over on this tour [The Warped
Tour], there's always a certain element there, that are very
familiar with Suicidal, and they go off and people see it, and so
you can see the difference between when, quote unquote, "the
other punk bands" play and they're skippin' around. I don't know
what the fuck they're skippin' for 'cause I ain't skipped since
kindergarten. <I laugh> And then when Suicidal plays, it goes
off, and then you see the people scramblin' to get the fuck out
of there, you know, and I think there's a lot of symbolism for
that with Suicidal: a lot of people don't belong, and if you play
on skippin', and you feel like this is going to be the same as
the next band, you're fuckin' mistaken, and you're going to find
out real quick. That's what we call as "the instantaneous baptism
and celebration of Suicidal". So when we start, it goes off, and
I think people realise right away, Suicidal is not just another
band, and I think that's an important lesson everybody should
learn.
CoC: So from that I draw that the new "punk" movement, the very
short-lived punk movement, is not to your liking?
MM: No, I really don't think it is punk and I think -that- is a great
opportunity for us. I mean, when we started everyone said we
weren't punk, so we don't really give a fuck, but I'll tell you
what: the unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of people who
use that word and think it is synonymous with cool. You know,
[say] <puts on whiny voice> "I like -punk-" [and you're] fucking
cool, aren't you? And it's like they can name every fuckin' goofy
band that never should have been a band as far as I'm concerned,
you know. <I laugh heartily again> So for us, if it's a situation
and we already find this <whiny voice again> "Oh well, Suicidal,
they're "bad"", yeah, OK, we're "bad" but you fuckin' suck, so
FUCK YOU! That's what we say.
CoC: About the UK, you guys are heading back here for Reading [yearly
alternative rock festival held over three days the last week in
August in Reading, England -- Paul] and you're lining up a
London date for September. How long is it since you guys last
played here?
MM: A long, long, long time. Some people would probably say not long
enough, but... <laughs>
CoC: Well, I wouldn't be one of those, but how do you feel about
coming back to the UK and what do you think about your fanbase
here and music here in general?
MM: Well, I'll be honest, you know -- which has always got me in
trouble --, I've never understood, when we went there a couple of
times, why we went there. The way I was brought up, my dad said,
"You don't do anything just to do it, there should be a reason to
why you do things", and those are the few times where I kind of
felt that there was really no reason for us to go there,
especially in comparison to what was going on. Let me say, every
other country, every record we did would sell more and more, and
England would sell less and less. And then on the other side,
just with press, I remember the first time I did press, in
England. I had to have some of my English translated for me
because I don't know what the hell they said that I said, because
they're havin' me using English expressions, [I'm] like, "What
does that mean?!" and they go "You said it" and I go, "I didn't
say it, I don't even know what it means!". <I laugh heartily
again> So it was an interesting experience, I went, "Man, people
do things different over here".
CoC: That sounds like an experiment in lazy journalism to me.
MM: Yeah, yeah, and stuff. So I just kind of like tripped out. I go,
"You know, I piss people off enough, and that's just what I say,
you don't have to twist it around so I don't even understand what
I'm saying", but I look at it this way: it's been a long time
and, you know, we should go there, there's a lot of people that
are English that you'd see in Europe that would have to go a long
way to see you in France or whatever. Basically, I don't think we
have much of a following there at all, and I think in a sense
that's good because now we can try to actually start all over and
see if it makes sense to go back, and I think that's an
obligation that we owe all the people that have supported us
'cause they've gotten the short end of the stick in comparison to
other places and so I think that there's definitely a lot of
people that I owe it to, to support the band in a non-ideal
situation. I think also being on the Reading thing, it gives a
great chance for a lot of people to see us and I think they're
going to realise that this is a far different band than the band
that they never heard that they thought they knew what it was.
CoC: Sounds like you've had the force of pre-judgement put against
you a couple of times.
MM: Oh, we did. I mean, going back, and a lot of times you shouldn't
have it, but I remember: each record, different stories. One was
a guy who wrote us a letter saying he was playing one of the new
Suicidal records, I can't remember which one it was, and he was
like [to his friends], "Check it out, I got this new band", blah
blah blah, and they're like, "Oh fuckin' yeah, that's great". And
afterwards he goes, "That's Suicidal". He said everybody dropped
their heads and goes, [puts on depressed deep voice] "oh". They
were all bummed, you know. So, it's kind of like that situation,
but I think it's been so long and nobody really knows who we are
now, so it's a good place to start over, you know. Ideally all
you want to do is be in a situation where people are going to
judge you for your music. If they don't like it, they don't like
it, I don't expect anyone to sit there and go "I don't like this
but I'll buy the record". So on an even basis I think it's all
good and I know, like I said, in Australia the majority of the
people were like twelve or thirteen years old, they didn't know
who the fuck we were, and it went off big time. And I think that
on a pure musical sense, if we don't have what appeals to, like,
English people, we shouldn't be there and we shouldn't go back,
and that's a real simple thing, you know.
CoC: I have no idea where you guys are billed at Reading at the
moment, I have no idea what kind of following you guys have, but
I'll be there cheering you guys on...
MM: <laughs> I think the whole thing is, like we say, it's not who
goes to see you, it's who goes home talking about you.
CoC: Agreed.
MM: And I think that's where we've been real effective and we can be
real effective. I think that is kind of the situation where, in a
way, we're kind of the underdogs. A lot of people don't know who
we are, they go expecting to see certain bands, and they have to
kill their time, so it's like, "Fuck, there's a band playing,
I'll go check it out 'till my band comes on". And I think a lot
of times they find out their band was not the band they thought
it was anymore. <I laugh> So that's one of the great things, it
enables us to sneak up on people, whereas before I think that one
of the things that turned a lot of people off on us was that
there was always the people that liked Suicidal -- they didn't
like 'em, they loved 'em, "Suicidal! Suicidal!". And so people
kind of felt like they didn't belong because they weren't into
the band, they didn't know who the band was, and they'd just see
all these people going crazy. So they felt alienated and in this
kind of environment there's not really that fanatical part. In LA
or places like that there still is, but there isn't that
fanatical element [at a festival like Reading] so everybody gets
to see it on their own basis and I think that really helps us
out. And to be honest, I'd be disappointed if it didn't go over
really well, you know, 'cause I'd like to be able to come back
and, ironically, a lot of the people we always worked with, the
producers and people at the label, were English. And no one ever
understood, they always said, "You know what? Your going to be
huge in England", you know. They always said, "I don't understand
how you sell so many records here, there and there and you don't
sell records in England", so ironically it's kind of funny. A lot
of people say it's my fault, but... <laughs>
CoC: England is a funny country and people [in general] are funny
about people who are honest, that's just life sometimes.
[From here Mike and I had to part ways because of time constraints,
and thus the interview ended. -- Paul]
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W I T H I N T H E S U N ' S O W N S H A D O W
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interrogates Tiamat's Johan Edlund
by: David Rocher
With their very brutal indeed first effort _Sumerian Cry_ (1991)
set aside, Tiamat have devoted their now ten year long career to
fusing the grinding low-case harshness of death metal with the
ethereal tones of occult, atmospheric music; and it is probably this
songwriting ideal which has constantly marked their albums with a
certain form of touching fragility, as if Tiamat's music was
constantly only just in maintaining its balance on the sharp edge of
the wall between two musical genres. As they disclosed, in 1997,
their rather unpleasantly surprising _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_ [CoC
#21], Tiamat certainly lost a vast part of their following, as the
heart-touching melancholy of tracks like "A Caress of Stars"
(_Clouds_) or _Gaia" (_Wildhoney_) receded before more dreamy
electronic sounds which many earlier fans failed to comprehend; for
this reason, the release of their 1999 vintage _Skeleton Skeletron_
was as eagerly awaited as it was almost feared. Revelling in
atmospheric cold-wave and gothic tones, Johan Edlund's latest
collection of material is yet another surprise for Tiamat's
following, and definitely not what one could have expected as a
sequel to _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, though I admit it has, in my
eyes, actually failed to equal the beauty of Tiamat's former works.
Regardless of my personal appreciation of Tiamat's new musical style,
the opportunity to drift through a whole decade of violent
atmospherics with soft-spoken mastermind Johan Edlund -- the only
original member of Tiamat remaining in the band -- was an offer I
could not sanely have turned down; and thus spake this very
introspective musician...
CoC: I kind of lost track of Tiamat after the release of _A Deeper
Kind of Slumber_, so could you tell me what's gone on since the
release of this album?
Johan Edlund: The album was released in April '97 and we played a lot
of festivals here in Europe that year, almost every
weekend for the whole Summer, then we made a headline
tour in the fall, which began at the end of September
and continued until mid-November. Then we took a year
off, basically -- we did nothing last year, just
relaxed, tried to work on new songs, and we didn't
really work hard until maybe November last year, when
we started to work on the new album.
CoC: I guess _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_ was perceived as a pretty
surprising change in Tiamat's style, which also happened to come
in after a long period of silence, so how was this change
accepted by the fans?
JE: It was very different, actually, some people really liked it, and
some people were pretty shocked or maybe even pissed off about
it. But I think it tends to get harder for us not to change, and
I guess some people don't know what to expect from us, which is
something cool -- if you think you know us and you know what to
expect, you will probably be disappointed, because we will prove
you wrong!
CoC: So you wouldn't really want to release albums in the ways of
Bolt Thrower?
JE: We can't, really, we don't know how to do [that] -- sometimes I
wish I could recreate the sound from an album we have done, but I
actually don't know how to do that, so... So much is changing
around you, and you develop as a musician, so I don't think it's
really possible.
CoC: I perceived Tiamat's evolution as being equally important as
Samael's, for instance -- what do you think of the way they have
moved on to their very atmospheric, electronic sound?
JE: I think it was really the best way. It sounds very natural. I've
known Samael for a very long time, we toured with them for the
first time back in 1991, and I used to trade demos and stuff
really long ago, so I've been following them even before they
were signed to Century Media, and I think the steps they took
were always very cool.
CoC: Compared to _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, _Skeleton Skeletron_
sounds a lot more gothic -- how did you change to this kind of
music?
JE: It's not really that I've been listening to a lot of gothic
music, it's more that I really try to work at writing good songs,
and songs you could almost play on an acoustic guitar and sing at
a barbecue. The last album was a big experiment in sounds, we had
a lot of new toys back then that we wanted to experiment with --
programs, keyboards and stuff --, it was all very exciting. But
this time we did not feel the urge to do that, and I thought it
would be more challenging to try to write very strong songs; and
then, it just happened to turn out to sound maybe more like some
English bands from the middle of the eighties than Pink Floyd --
Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, of course...
CoC: And about your new line-up -- Lars Skold played the drums on
_Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, and I'm familiar
with the name Anders Iwers, but I can't remember his musical
history...
JE: He used to play guitar in Cemetary, and he was actually in Tiamat
during a tour back in 1991, as a session member, so both members
have a very long history with us.
CoC: When you tour now, what kind of audiences attend your concerts
now that your music has evolved the way it has?
JE: We haven't played live with this album so far, so that's going to
be interesting to see. It's working pretty well in the gothic
scene, gothic DJ's are sending in reports that they play
"Brighter Than the Sun" every day, it seems to work pretty well
there, and I hope we can keep the old audiences as well. It has
always changed, actually, it was strange to see when we toured on
_Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, the audiences were
always pretty mixed, actually. And I think that's pretty cool,
anyway.
CoC: _Wildhoney_ seemed to be a concept which was oriented around
nature -- can you tell me more about this?
JE: We'd just had a big discussion with some ex-members -- actually,
we almost split the band before _Wildhoney_; there were five
guys, and me and the bass player decided to continue, as we
didn't share the same opinions about how we should continue. So
me and the bass player decided to do something which would really
be a lot closer to what we personally listened to at that time --
Pink Floyd and a lot of bands from the '70s, like King Crimson...
And the problem was we were not experienced enough, or talented
enough, to recreate the sound of Pink Floyd or so... So we
started to do something interesting, I think, because we were in
a way a death metal band that wanted to sound like Pink Floyd,
and we did not really manage it, but we ended up somewhere in
between. That made a very original album, that is actually
probably even better than blue-printing one of your favourite
bands. It's a bit of a happy failure, because you struggle for
something -- I mean, I don't consider myself as a very talented
musician, I don't have it from birth; if I have to come up with
something that sounds good in the end, I have to struggle a lot,
I really have to fight for it, and that's what I meant about
"recreating a sound". When you're gifted, you always know what
you are doing -- well, I'm not always aware of what I'm doing, I
just work and work until something comes out, that sounds cool,
and I don't really know where it's going to end!
CoC: So you're not in complete control of your songwriting, then...
JE: No -- it's very uncontrolled, actually! <laughs> I enjoy that!
CoC: You said you couldn't decide to recreate the atmosphere of a
particular album -- when you look back upon previous Tiamat
releases, what album would you like to be able to recreate?
JE: <hesitates> I don't know, actually... Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I
would not like to do it, I would just like to know -how- to do
it, but I don't think I would, anyway. But I was proud of
_Wildhoney_, that album had something special. Being objective,
five years later, there are a lot of things that could have been
changed, but it's useless, because the album worked in the end,
it's a cool album -- and if something was objectively not very
good, I could live with that.
CoC: Many Tiamat fans say that _Clouds_ is your best album to date --
how do you feel about that one?
JE: It's really a bit of a sad album, because that's when we had
those problems with the old line-up. To me, our albums are more
like memories, I'm a little nostalgic about the memories of the
past. I don't really think so much about how the albums actually
sound, because I don't listen to them very often, but when I talk
about an album like _Wildhoney_ or even _Sumerian Cry_, then I
get very bright memories, because we had a good time. When I
think about _Clouds_, actually, that was the hardest time we had
in the band, with the most arguments, it was also when business
really started to enter the picture, with money problems and
stuff... I'm a little bit sorry to say it, but to me, _Clouds_ is
a bit of a problematic album, but not for the sound or the songs
-- we still play songs from it --, but the making of it was
pretty hard.
CoC: I guess the Satanic lyrics on _Clouds_ and earlier works seem
quite far by now, so how do you feel your beliefs have evolved
to this day?
JE: If I would say something very positive about _Clouds_, I think
that I wrote some of my best lyrics at that time. If I now read
the lyrics to "A Caress of Stars" or the title song, I sometimes
wish I could write that again, so I guess that means I still
completely stand behind what I wrote at the time.
CoC: Does this mean that on _Skeleton Skeletron_, the cover of
"Sympathy For the Devil" is to be understood in the sense that
you still have "sympathy" for your earlier material?
JE: It has a lot to do with the title, actually; I think it's such a
killer title, and I think that I was also a little bit annoyed in
the past that people thought we had left our beliefs on _A Deeper
Kind of Slumber_. And therefore, I was working on a song of my
own, for which I wanted to steal just the title, and I thought
that maybe we should just cover that song, because it's a great
one. Although Mick Jagger's lyrics are pretty ironic, for us, I
think that the title is a message to tell our audience that we're
still pretty much the band that they used to know years ago.
CoC: I don't have the lyrics to _Skeleton Skeletron_, so what do the
lyrics on this album deal with, mainly?
JE: They're more about life, actually, not so much about death or
dreamworlds -- especially on the last tour, where I've been
trying to build up some kind of dreamworld --, and this is more
of a way of dealing with more down-to-earth things. It's been
influenced by what we have seen during the ten years of being a
touring rock band, dealing with the things you've gone through,
like drug problems... _Wildhoney_ was maybe a drug-influenced
album, and now I can look back on times like that and write about
it from an objective point of view. Therefore, I think it's
something positive -- although the topics are pretty gloomy, in a
way, it's still positive, because you look in from the outside,
and are now out of it.
CoC: Concerning the lyrics on _Wildhoney_, I'm still rather puzzled
by the lyrics to the song "The AR" -- they're very cryptic and
strange lyrics.
JE: The AR is the original pentagram from the Sumerian tradition.
It's the five-pointed star, where one point is heading upwards,
like a symbol of man, you know, like the Da Vinci sign? So it was
pretty much about that symbol -- I was very much into symbols at
that time, and how very strong they could be for people.
CoC: Was the fact that you mentioned the aryan race in this song
related to the strength of symbols developed by the third Reich,
I mean the way in which they literally defied their army and the
war?
JE: Not at all, actually. Of course, I've been asked this question
before, I knew I would be asked this before I decided to use the
lyrics. The thing is that the AR was the original pentagram, and
it was also short for the sign of the aryan race. The symbol was
called like this by the people who lived some 5000 years ago in
the place now called Iraq. I didn't want to censor myself,
because I knew that this could be understood wrongly, now, in
this century, but I thought "that's not what I'm writing about,
so even if people get it wrong, I'd better explain it and stand
for it". I didn't want to change it, and now, I'm stealing the
chance to explain this to your readers.
CoC: Okay! Tiamat have now been going for a whole decade, as
_Sumerian Cry_ was released back in 1990, so how do you feel
about the way the metal scene has evolved in the '90s?
JE: I don't know, actually, I'm not very well informed nowadays, I'm
very focused on working with my songs, and I don't feel connected
to a scene, I must say. I don't read magazines too often -- it's
not that I'm not interested, but I just happen to do other things
most of the time. Last year we didn't tour, and we started to
have longer breaks in between the records, so we had time off
from the band, in which I do completely different things, you
know, like watching football, enjoying life a little bit... On
the other hand, I meet quite a lot of bands here, I meet Century
Media bands that are managed by the same manager as ourselves,
and these few last days I've been out drinking with Lacuna Coil,
which I think is a really good Italian band, and later tonight
Nevermore are going to come here and we'll probably go out
bowling, so I meet them all. But you know, we bowl -- we don't
talk metal music too much! <laughs>
CoC: When you look at your music and state of mind now, how do you
feel when you reconsider the really brutal times of Treblinka?
[Tiamat's original name, under which the 1987 demo _Crawl in
Vomit_ and 1989 _Severe Abominations_ 7" EP were released. --
David]
JE: It seems very far. It was a good time. Of course we were naive,
but we were young as well, so you're allowed to be naive when
you're that age! <laughs>
CoC: Tiamat is the Sumerian equivalent of Satan, who was slain by
Marduk -- do you feel this name still fits the band?
JE: It does, because for me it symbolised the darker parts of
yourself, and it's something I always tried to get out in my
songs. It's not easy, it's sides of you that are hard to deal
with, and writing lyrics is like a therapy, you know? And you
see, therefore, it fits!
CoC: What can we expect from Tiamat in the future?
JE: I hope this album does well so we can go on an European tour
pretty soon after its release... apart from that, I really don't
know! <laughs>
CoC: Last words?
JE: You're in France, right? The distribution's starting to work
well, and I look forward to France, actually, because we were
never that big there, and I hope we can change it with that
record, as there are a lot of plans for us now -- I hope they're
good! Enjoy the Summer, and see you on tour!
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B U L L S H I T T I N G W I T H B O R K N A G A R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Borknagar
by: Adrian Bromley
Sure Borknagar's third release _The Archaic Course_ has been out
for a long time now, but its powerful array of melody and harsh
realms of blackened metal, doused in hard rock sensibility, surely
still ignites the passion within all those who still have it in their
CD player. To say the least, _TAC_ is a brilliant album (much
stronger than their 1996 _Borknagar_ debut for Malicious Records or
their 1997 Century Media debut _The Olden Domain_) that helps keep
the ways of metal strong and mighty. Borknagar is about passion and
the unveiling of emotions one song at a time.
By phone from Century Media offices in Santa Monica, California
comes the call from guitarist Oystein G. Brun, founding member of
Borknagar and prime innovator in helping mould the band through
various line-up changes and studio sessions. He's been with this
one-time side project, now full-scale band, from the get-go and has
aimed at making Borknagar a well-known name within the metal world.
At the end of the band's much anticipated U.S. tour with Emperor
and Witchery, Brun is excited, to say the least, at the last few
weeks of his metal life. He has a lot to talk about. "It was a great
time for us on the road, playing all those places we had never been
before", quips Brun about the tour. "We had some so-so shows, but
then we had some great shows. We have great memories from many
shows."
When asked about the band's material live and how it has
shape-shifted over the past few months and on tour, Brun says: "We've
been gradually getting the sound going as the band goes along. I mean
we've really worked this material hard. It's great to be able to work
on songs and bring them from a studio into the live environment. The
music for us has changed a bit 'cause two members quit a while ago
and we have two new members, Nick Barker [ex-CoF] on drums and Simen
[also of Dimmu Borgir] sings and plays bass, so you can obviously see
where they bring in their own character to our material. It's been an
interesting moulding of material for us over the last little while."
He adds: "We cut out a lot of the acoustics and other stuff from our
live set and focused on just keeping it simplistic and being true
metal. It's a great time for us on stage."
One thing that truly stands out from Borknagar -- at least with
this release -- is their unique way of working the ways of metal
music. The band's strengthened grasp of eccentricness and raw
pairings of heavy metal thunder makes Borknagar come off as something
out of the ordinary. While some write them off as too odd, those who
follow this band will tell you that's the key to what they do.
"Like you said", he states, "it's always been about us doing
something that is unique sounding. Our music flows in many ways and
some bands can handle that and some can't. We're one of the lucky
ones, I guess?... We added a fresh feel to the music scene, I
believe. Many people have told us that before and I'm beginning to
see that a bit. It's always easy to follow what people are doing, but
trying to keep focused on what you want to do can be an obstacle."
He continues, "Passion has always been something I have related
Borknagar's music to. This is my input, but I think our feelings come
out loud and clear and I think people who really get into this music,
it's hard to put it aside. I think our music has some value to it."
And Brun knows the importance of coming overseas to play,
realising that the pulse of much of the metal fans and music industry
lies in North America. "I've always wanted to come over to the United
States and take in the culture and just have a good time. It seemed
like the right thing to come over and play with the band. I've been
working hard and pushing Century Media for a long time to make this
happen and when it did we were all excited to be able to come over
and play the shows and be part of the Emperor shows."
Any sightseeing? "Oh yeah... we had to do that stuff while in
the States. I'm having a blast. While in New York we went all over
the city and saw the World Trade Center. We had a chance to go visit
Niagara Falls and also while here in Hollywood we checked out all the
sites and many bars. Jens [other guitarist] and I even rented a car
and drove down from San Francisco along the great Pacific Ocean
coastline. It was a great drive and to see the ocean -- that was
great!"
With the record being out for so long, Brun acknowledges that
the band is currently working on material. "We are already toying
with many ideas. How far off is it from what people know -- who
knows? It's surely coming together w
ell. I mean progression has
always been an important factor for me when it comes to writing
material for this band. It's a key factor. We have 50 minutes of
material already and we plan on heading to the studio in the coming
months. It's different in many ways from what we have done before,
but it also keeps the elements and vitality of Borknagar's sound
within the material. There has been a definite transition with our
material from the first album to the second one up to this one and
I'm glad to have that, though in saying that, the essence of
Borknagar is present on all the releases."
He finishes: "I think the fourth album will definitely aim at
being more harsh and raw, with much more screaming vocals than we
have used before. We need to experiment a bit more with ideas but it
all seems to be working out quite nicely. I think people will be into
this as they have been with our past work."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
S E X , D R U G S A N D . . . P O R N O ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Jesus Martyr
by: Adrian Bromley
Just one listen, my friends, and you'll be hooked. Hmmm... more
like crushed. To the faint of heart, if you can't handle an abundance
of sex and powerfully-charged metal chaos, then stay clear of the
debut disc _Sudamerican Porno_ from Argentina powerhouse Jesus
Martyr. Bible thumpers, you've been warned.
This sexually obsessed, powerfully intact industrial metal
machine band -- consisting of singer Santiago, guitarist Martin,
drummer Guillermo, bassist Bruno and keyboardist Hugo -- has managed
to snag a deal with Repulse Records and spread their leper-like ways
of painfully sadistic metal numbers to the metal legions of the
world. It's a tough regime to ignite, but Jesus Martyr has the goods
to do so.
One of the main spokesmen of Jesus Martyr's intentions is
guitarist Martin. He discusses the abundance of sexual, pornographic
ideas and themes spread throughout the recording. "Our lyrics are
mainly inspired by the ways of philosophy and religion", he starts.
"I studied philosophy as a career and everything I read and learned
influences me to come up with such material, or at least to try to
get the ideas into the main source of what we do."
He adds about the pornography element, saying: "We didn't use
porno in its contemporary sense throughout the record. Maybe in some
areas, but to note, the word "pornography" in Greek means something
like "to write on bitches" and our album is no more than a chronicle
about the South American bitches, like media, institutionalised
religion and political parties, for example. All of them are looking
for a bit of power and money, just like bitches. Like I mentioned
before, we have many topics in our lyrics; sex is an important part
of it, but this album is very personal and introspective, everything
has a different meaning when it comes to the lyrics I write."
What's the band's take on today's society and censorship? Martin
starts: "I hate everything that has to do with having your rights
taken away, and to express yourself is one of them. Argentina (and
Latin America in general) has a long history of situations like that
arising, military governments did what they fucking wanted with the
rights of the people, they didn't even respect some people's right to
live. You wouldn't believe the history we have to deal with from 1945
to 1982. Argentina's society suffered a lot and now it is in
transition into something better; so nowadays things are quite
different, but democracy in this part of the world is as fragile as
crystal. In two months we are voting for a new president and all the
candidates are shitty!! Argentina is a wonderful country, but the
political parties here are nothing but clowns. Our society has
unfortunately lost all its combative spirit with the terrible
economical situation and the unemployment that is oppressing us and
taking our strength. We'll see what happens..."
Initially starting out as Martyr in 1994 and over the years
demoing new material (with elements of hardcore, death, punk and the
like moulding into their current sound) and adding a keyboardist,
things are looking much better for the band now as they start to work
more with Repulse. It's looking pretty good currently.
"We did everything you can imaginable to get the name out in the
beginning", tells Martin. "But we were really stupid, as we just
looked for labels in Argentina and all those idiots (that now are
distributing our CD!!) didn't want to release it at all, saying it
was "too uncommercial" and nonsense like "it is in English, it won't
work". Fortunately, Repulse came into the picture for us, but it was
totally by chance. The fact is that we gave a tape with eight songs
from our _Sudamerican Porno_ to a guy who had a label in Chile, he
showed it to Repulse and then they offered us a contract. We took our
time in getting back to them and luckily when we replied they were
still interested in our CD and it all worked. They are doing a good
job. We have another album coming again through Repulse next year."
While most foreign bands seem to do extremely well in Central
and South America, very few bands south of the United States (other
than Sepultura, Angra and maybe Overdose) get proper exposure and
make something for themselves. It's a hard scene in South America.
Martin explains.
"The musical situation in South America in general is not really
bad. Brazil has an incredible scene. On the other hand, in Argentina
heavy music is exactly the same as anything else, it's in crisis,
about to collapse. The scene is really big and we have lots of bands,
but the economical situation is really destroying every chance to do
something and music is no exception. Fortunately, we are being lucky
and our CD is selling okay. We're happy and are now gaining a lot of
fan support which is stemming from good press. I think we are in a
good situation right now and it should be that way 'cause we worked a
lot to achieve this. I'm glad it all has turned out 'cause this time
last year we were on the verge of splitting up. Things weren't
working. It's all turned around for the better and we can only be
happy with the exposure and respect that Jesus Martyr is getting from
metal fans worldwide."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T H E C H I L ' U N M U S T R I S E !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Children of Bodom
by: Adrian Bromley
"We didn't know shit about anything when we recorded our first
record _Something Wild_", starts guitarist/vocalist Alexi "Wildchild"
Laiho over the phone from Finland. "It was all just thrown together.
The writing, the recording and everything else that came along with
it. We weren't even expecting to sell 1000 copies of the record. But
something clicked and people picked up on it. We were onto
something."
About the writing process for the debut disc, Laiho says, "I
came up with a lot of ideas for what we were going to do. But when we
went into the studio we were pretty fast to hammer out the ideas. It
came together very rapidly. We didn't really take our time. We didn't
care too much to hang around in the studio, 'cause we would have lost
that feeling of intensity, not to mention spending too much on studio
time."
The band -- which also includes guitarist Ale Kuoppala, drummer
Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Blacksmith Seppala and keyboardist
Janne Wirman -- have recently put out their second full-length
through Nuclear Blast America called _Hatebreeder_, a continuation of
where they left off with their debut disc, a record chock full of
black metal-tinged operatic assaults, coated with heavy duty guitar
solos, haunting keyboards and well-textured sub sections.
So what was the mentality going into _Hatebreeder_? Pressure
from the label? Pressure to compete with the success of the debut
disc? Laiho states: "There could have been a lot of pressure going
into this record, but I had to block out all of that to make this
record. I had to focus on music that suited what we wanted to do,
rather than what people expected. I'm happy with the final result. We
have gotten a lot of experience since _Something Wild_ came out with
all the touring we have done and just living and surviving in this
music business. I think we have improved as musicians and I for one
have improved as a songwriter and that's good to see."
On the topic of song writing and studio work, he says, "Writing
material takes time for me. I go through phases to write material. I
will usually be able to write for two months, and then my mind will
be blank for writing for the next three. It gets stressful when you
are trying to work on material and nothing is coming to you. The
studio is a great place to be. It's where a lot of things change for
bands when they are recording. A lot of ideas shape shift in the
studio. When we go into the studio I make sure that we have the
general idea and we work on it from that point on. Sometimes it takes
just the smallest idea to help fuel some creativity and alter a song
or chorus. I always record everything I come up with in the studio.
Who knows where I can use it down the road."
One reason why Children of Bodom seem to stand out from the rest
of the pack is their intensity and the band's unique blend of metal
both old and new. Laiho agrees. "We have a lot of black metal
tendencies, but most of the stuff we play has a lot of old metal
influences. It's heavy metal with black metal tendencies. We have
classical metal influences, too. Our music is an amalgamation of many
musical styles."
"We're not afraid to venture out and play music with massive
guitar solos and melodic harmonies. We're not afraid to do any of
that, but the key thing that needs to be done is to do it with a
definite feel for it. Don't just add it into your sound for the hell
of it or 'cause it's the flavour of the month. Growing up and
learning guitar, I was heavily into the works of Yngwie Malmsteen and
Steve Vai. That was a reason why I focused on doing cool guitar
soloing on both records. I keep our music pretty straightforward. I
don't want to hear a certain band and want to sound like that. I want
to do what comes natural and keep it simple. I think it's more
interesting if songs have very technical parts. I get off on that."
"It's funny to watch all of these bands out there try to jump on
a certain sound and try to play it sincerely", says Laiho. "You can
see right through them most of the time. I mean, take for example
HammerFall [another Nuclear Blast band -- Adrian]. They play
'80s-styled heavy metal, you know, hero metal. It's cool and all to
be doing that, I mean, we have our own share of '80s influence too
running through Children of Bodom, but after they came out all of
these other metal bands either came out of the woodwork and starting
playing that style of metal or bands added that sound to what they
were already doing. It's stupid."
He finishes, "Musicians should always play music for the love of
it. If it all comes down to how much money you can make with a
certain type of music and that appeals to you, then I suggest you
leave this business. We don't need that kind of band. There are
already enough bands competing out there. I want my band to make it
in this business and I don't want any uninspired or rip-off bands
keeping me from getting there."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
E D E N M U S T B U R N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews God Dethroned
by: Adrian Bromley
It's not really a crusade. It's more like an attitude. God and
religion needs to be cast to the wayside and God Dethroned singer
Henri Sattler wouldn't have it any other way.
"There are a lot of reasons why we write so many lyrics against
Jesus and religion", starts Sattler from his home in Holland. "I
think religion is just an opinion and not a law. The Bible has been
written for people to use as a guide to lead a normal life, but the
church used the Bible to enforce these laws that it states onto
people, telling them what they can or cannot do. I think that's
wrong. So in my lyrics I take passages from the Bible and try to make
them more down to earth. I try to spruce them up a bit, add some
chaoticness to the story lines and really go against the stories that
people emphasise as wholesome ones. That's what we're all about"
"I love this style of music", confides Sattler. "I can't get
enough of it. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is
put on music. Black metal. Speed metal. Grindcore. It's no problem.
This is my life and that helps me continue on what we do as a band
(rounded out by other blasphemers Jens, Roel and Beef). I don't need
to copy other music. I just get inspired to write all of the time. I
pick up a guitar and write. It's an easy process. In order to do this
and be an honest musician, you just need to be yourself and write
from what you believe in and not what others tell you to do. God
Dethroned listens to no one but themselves. It's always been a rule
for us."
About the new LP and the last record (1997's _The Grand
Grimoire_), he comments, "I think we pretty much continued on where
we left off. I think we made a good album with _Bloody Blasphemy_",
says Sattler. "We didn't know what kind of reaction we would be
getting, but so far it's been very good. It's pretty much the same
type of record: brutal and fast. We will always be playing music like
this and there will be no, I mean NO, way of compromising and slowing
things down. God Dethroned is about being fast and brutal. People
expect that from us and so do we."
And what of today's metal scene? Sattler's thoughts? "There are
a lot of good bands out there, but there are a lot of other bands out
there that play a certain type of music 'cause it's popular. A few
years from now, all those bands will be gone and only the good bands
are going to be left. When you compose your own songs and do your own
thing, it takes a while to become a popular band. You have to really
work to gain a fan base and sell records. That's what God Dethroned
is. We don't copy anyone and no one is like God Dethroned."
As one would expect, a name like God Dethroned (much like the
name Rotting Christ) is bound to anger many people as the band
releases material and tours. What kind of flack or negative attention
has the band received throughout the years? "It's always been
steady", laughs Sattler. "People can't get enough of us or our name.
Christian organisations always try to shut down our shows, but we
live in a liberal country, so we can say what we want. They try and
it never works. We are always in the papers over here 'cause we are a
popular band and there is always someone trying to hurt or say bad
stuff about what we do. We don't care. We get exposure. One time
these organisations even approached the Minister of Justice over here
and requested that she forbid our concert. It never happened."
He ends, "People can say all they want about what we do. It's
their say and that's fine. But we too have a right to go out and
promote our views about religion and what have you. Our music and
lyrics say it all. We don't mess around. We tell it like it is and
fans of God Dethroned like that. That's good enough for us."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_____ .__ ___.
/ _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____
/ /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \
/ | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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!
Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_ (Full Moon Productions)
by: Aaron McKay (3 out 10)
Having purchased this dual disc compilation at a favourite haunt of
mine in Florida, I had very high hopes for it. It is widely known
among most of my friends, to a large degree, that I appreciate
Acheron's music very much. -Not- his theories, but definitely his
music. Hell, Richard Christy of Death's _The Sound of Perseverance_
fame played with Acheron! Not getting off on a tangent, but I think
that is one of the deepest unifying characteristics of the genre we
all enjoy -- the music is the tie that binds, regardless of personal
philosophy or religious ideology. That said, Acheron is a favourite
of mine. So, when I picked up _A Tribute to Hell_ and saw "Evil
Dead", speaking of Death, by Acheron listed as disc two's track 16, I
thought "SHIT YEA!" Choosing to cover probably the most influential
metal band, Death, from _Scream Bloody Gore_, I thought to myself
that I couldn't go wrong with this. To say I miscalculated is putting
things mildly. Don't get me wrong, the three points I -did- give this
compilation comes almost solely from Acheron's cover of "Evil Dead".
The other .5, maybe a full point, comes from the fact there is an
impressive number of groups here exhibited for the fans. Some
notables are unreleased tracks, according to FMP's homepage, from
Mayhem, Naglfar, Ever Dark, Apollyon, Sacramentum and Burning Inside
(also with Richard Christy on drums and keyboards). The list of
awkward, heavy-handed tracks is much more elaborate, if not longer:
Mysticum's "Eriaminell", Ash's "The Descent", Mastiphal's "Summoned
Howling" and Melechesh's "Desert Pentagram". Most of the remaining
tracks, 32 in all, range from adequate to slightly above average, but
no true stand-outs other than the aforementioned few. The insert
booklet is eye-pleasing, but not too informative. Also, do you think
it would have killed Full Moon Productions to state -anywhere- a date
when this fucker was made, recorded, or otherwise dreamed-up?! Damn!
All things being equal, don't waste your time, energy or money on
this unless you feel an overwhelming compulsion to have these tracks
that, apparently, are not released elsewhere.
Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) (Goat of Mendes, May 1999)
Though the eight second introductional proclamation and slightly
lacking (particularly where the drum sound is concerned) production
should give this record a little less than the nine out of ten I have
bestowed upon it, the potential for brilliance which the music
contained on _RotBN_ possesses gives me license, I believe, to "break
the rules" in order to more likely draw your attention to this
different and uncommonly good black/death-type metal band. Akercocke,
at the core, are violent and ripping death metal which draws black
metal comparisons via the kinds of atmospheres the riffs create and
the passing similarities one can detect to Cradle of Filth's _The
Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ (which, though primarily regarded as a
black metal record, is certainly strongly death metal influenced).
Furthermore, Akercocke do not merely blast it out with the best, they
also incorporate searing noise/industrial elements into songs and
interludes and thus succeed in adding a fresh dimension to their
extreme metal base. The aforementioned "blasting" is also not
Akercocke's only way of expressing themselves using only their basic
instruments. Though the majority of the album is fast and sung with
pronounced "unclean" vocals, "Marguerite & Gretchen" is a creepingly
slow, bass guitar dirge led experiment, utilising vaguely choral
sounding melodic vocals, which certainly breaks with the traditions
of the other influences Akercocke display. The lyrical themes are
Satanic, but (unlike many a "Satan!"-screaming release) also show
evidence of having had both thought and time put into their writing.
Akercocke have produced a dark, distinctive and somewhat original
record; they have been let down slightly by production as many
unsigned bands are, but their talent and potential shine through and
make _RotBN_ the best release from an unsigned band I have heard this
year.
Contact: Akercocke, 97 Victoria Rd., London, N22 4XG, England
http://www.dialspace.dial.pipex.com/georgesabellicus
mailto:akercocke@hotmail.com
The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_ (MIA Records, July 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10)
If there was one band out there that really got me going from first
note these last few weeks, it has to be the music of Atomic Bitchwax.
Based on highly volatile rock grooves meshed with stoner rock-like
deliverance and really "out there" ideals, Atomic Bitchwax is the
saviour for all those fans out there wanting something new to take
in. Well... spread for "Big Daddy", baby, 'cause the lovin' of music
on this nine-song release is so rich it'll leave you craving more.
With guitarist Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet, ex-Godspeed/Daisycutter
bassist Chris Kosnick and ex-Slaprocket drummer Keith Ackerman along
for the ride, you couldn't choose better co-pilots. Far more
instrumental than some might think, Atomic Bitchwax rock solid every
way they can on their debut disc.
Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_
by: Alex Cantwell (1 out of 10) (Full Moon Productions, June 1999)
This was seriously disappointing. I was a happy man when this arrived
in the mail, because the cover looked menacing and I knew from
previous listens that the music of Black Funeral was uncompromising,
raw black metal. Well, _Moon of Characith_ is nothing like that. Gone
the way of Ulver and Dodheimsgard, only far more incriminating, Black
Funeral is now on some kind of ambient/techno/noise trip that can be
described in one word -- dumb. The whole CD is a sort of minimalist
keyboard kind of thing, with some gay beats thrown in for bad
measure. I am not anti-ambient at all, and if this was good ambient,
I would complain only a little bit -- but this is just sad. The
killtaker is the female vocals, which are nothing but strategically
placed moans and groans. Black Funeral (or Michael Ford, but now
includes Shanna LeJeune as well) has in the span of a few short years
gone from "vampyric" black metal, which was dumb in concept but
produced some good music, to this Mortiis wannabe stuff. How's that
for artistic integrity and longevity?
Contact: Full Moon Productions, 2039 Roxburgh Court
Lakeland, FL 33813, USA
mailto:fmp@fmp666.com
Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_
by: Paul Schwarz (6.5 out of 10) (Osmose, May 1999)
Cirith Gorgor pound out some violent and intense black metal at
speeds which are above the average, and score browny points for the
intensity and sheer violence they display with this approach. This
assault is underpinned with a competent use of melody which traces
the passages of the hard riffs underneath the blasting (and also
frequently and creatively breaking) drums. Unfortunately, the vocals
are painfully faceless and compound _OttSD_'s core problem: lack of
variation. _OttSD_ doesn't vary enough over the course of its ten
tracks to keep me interested for its forty two minute duration. If
brutality is your thing, though, you could certainly do worse.
Darkane - _Rusted Angel_ (WAR Music, June 1999)
by: David Rocher (10 out of 10)
Despite the mild letdown that Carnal Forge's _Who's Gonna Burn_ [CoC
#36] embodied, WAR Music releases on the whole prove to be damn good
news; and Wez Wenedikter's songwriter extraordinaire breeding ground
has indeed once again provided the goods above all hopes. Fusing
technical Swedish death metal tones with the violence and unbound
aggressiveness of late eighties' Bay Area thrash, Darkane's first and
essential effort is a ruthless slab of extreme metal that
successfully recaptures (and doesn't merely rehash) the power and
industrial inhumanity of Meshuggah, the frantic violence of Razor,
the raucous low-case heaviness of Carcass and the jaw-dropping
duelling lead guitar virtuosity of Arch Enemy, all this sealed within
the fathoms of Darkane's own brilliant songwriting style. While the
string section lead by axemen Christofer Malmstrom and Klas Ideberg
and bassist Jorgen Lofberg never ceases to develop fantastic ideas
and technicality oozing with utter heaviness, ex-Armageddon skinsman
Peter Wildoer -- arguably one of the finest and most technical
extreme metal drummers out there -- provides the backbone to the
constant breaks and syncopated rhythmic parts with his complex,
pounding drumming and sparkling cymbal play; Darkane's fantastic
vocalist Lawrence Mackrory demonstrates with what ease and precision
he shifts from angered thrash vocals, akin to Razor's Bob Reid's, to
high-pitched grating black metal screams, to thick, phlegm-churning
death metal roars. With a good production, _Rusted Angel_ would have
been a great album, but Darkane have chosen to ignore the usual Abyss
and Fredman studios, and recorded this offering in Upssala's Dug Out
studios, with the mighty production genius Daniel Bergstrand at the
mix... This results in a production which is absolutely -stellar-,
loud, crunchy, clear, thick, powerful and perfectly balanced, and
which makes _Rusted Angel_ the definitely cardinal release it is.
Sweden's new extreme masters Darkane are technical, violent, varied
and catchy way beyond what words can describe -- I've seldom heard
metal get better than this, and I don't recall many first efforts
having instantly burnt me to a crisp the way _Rusted Angel_ has done.
Above all doubt, one of 1999's, and probably this decade's, finest
death metal releases. Buy or die.
Deviate - _State of Grace_ (I Scream Records, June 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10)
It's quite easy to see why this popular Belgium hardcore/metal outfit
has been going strong 'n' heavy since their inception in 1991. Their
production value alone says "experienced", and the overall
deliverance of the band is monstrous. Much like the works of veteran
hardcore acts like Earth Crisis, Hatebreed and Integrity, Deviate
always seem to be able to muster up enough spark and solid rhythms to
keep the record tight and in control. While the record does sway from
time to time with generic sounding hardcore "-isms", it's the power
hitter songs like "Dawn of Mankind" and "Empty World" that clear away
from that, that hit ya hard 'n' heavy each time out. On a whole, the
disc rocks, just a few ideas that seem to lack attention in the song
writing process. Go mosh!
Contact: http://www.iscreamrecords.com
Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_ (Nuclear Blast, May 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk (8.5 out of 10)
This album was a total shocker to me. Not having cared much for their
prior releases, _All Little Devils_ contains a definite sound
departure; less bombastic and more concentrated on catchy choruses
and smoother riffs. Gone are the traditional, raw black metal days in
favour of a more polished product. This exudes total class. My
admiration for the band revolves around the female vocals, which are
actually quite good (considering the many so called female "singers"
in other black metal bands I've had the displeasure of hearing), the
new vocalist (whose name I'm unaware of) gives the album a certain
amount of charm. Once tracks like "Rage of Fire", "Victory", "Psycho
Path" and the title track enter your ears, they won't leave your head
any time soon. For once, a band that diversifies their sound and
succeeds.
Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_ (Scarlet, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
Despite what the album title might lead the potential buyer to think,
this isn't much of an "epic" album as far as the usual preconceptions
about the usage of great keyboards and various classical instruments
are concerned. In fact, despite the very reasonable keyboard intro
and outro, there's nothing especially epic about _Anthems of Ancient
Splendour_, as this is basically guitar-driven blackened death metal
-- not that guitar-driven music can't be epic, of course, but this
particular album is relatively normal. Title-induced misconceptions
notwithstanding, this Italian band plays very competent and quite
dynamic and varied blackened death metal and reaches some especially
good moments during "Immemorial Iced Lake" and "Engraved", thanks to
effective rhythms and riffs in the former and guitar work in the
latter, together with a competent vocal delivery. Dominance
occasionally remind me of The Elysian Fields' excellent _We, the
Enlightened_ in the way they use some slight influences of black and
Swedish metal in their basic death metal sound, even though the
similarities don't go far (The Elysian Fields opt for a doomier and
more classically influenced style, which is generally not the case
here). Though I don't know what happened with the production during
the second half of the track "Anthem of Ancient Splendour", the band
sounds very determined throughout _AoAS_ and have succeeded in
creating a good album overall.
earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_ (Copro Records/PHD, July 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10)
In a day and age where metal music has been run through the ringer so
many times and nothing seems fresh or innovative anymore, it's nice
to see bands like Nottingham, England's earthtone9 surface into the
picture. I raved about the last record _lo-def(inition) discord_ [CoC
#35], and I'm gonna rave about this one too. These guys fuckin' rule.
There is no question in my mind that this band has got to be one of
the most eccentric and hard sounding ones out there. With shades of
Coalesce, VoD and Cave-In bringing up the hardcore front, the waves
of adrenaline that earthtone9 disperse to the listener are no doubt
inspired by such versatile acts as Neurosis and Tool, but they manage
to add their own flavour and groove to the mix. The result? One
happening cocktail mix, my dear metal friend. It's an incredible ride
to take upon yourself with each listen, as the music of earthtone9
really seems to radiate an ethereal vibe at times, allowing you, the
listener, to cautiously sit back and take in the music content of
this band, taking into account their breathtaking deliverance and
tight musicianship. Get hooked on tracks like "I Naugal Eye" and the
stunning work on "Simon Says" and "Grind and Click". I know, I
know... I'm babbling on about this band, but this stuff is the shit.
This comes highly recommended and easily in my top ten of 1999.
Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_ (Black Sun Records, June 1999)
by: David Rocher (8 out of 10)
The possibility, back in 1998, that there would be no sequel to Ebony
Tears' rather unequal 1997 debut _Tortura Insomniae_ [CoC #30] (this
being due to the fact that members Johnny Wranning and Conny Jonsson
wanted to concentrate on their power/thrash project Dog Faced Gods)
wasn't really something I was losing any sleep over. Admittedly,
_Tortura Insomniae_ did feature a few cool, enticing tracks (that
were mainly catchy thanks to the adjunction of nice violin playing)
but the album was generally let down by an excessively weird
production, perfectible songwriting and Johnny Wranning's annoying
vocal style, that unceasingly shifted from death to black and back,
and then suddenly mutated into brutal raucous tones -- all this for
no apparent reason, right in the middle of a phrase. With _A Handful
of Nothing_ however, Ebony Tears have placed the emphasis on
aggressiveness and efficiency, and basically recorded a second album
that, in my eyes, has the enjoyable, spicy taste of a "no more mister
nice guy" kind of declaration. Conny Jonsson's guitar work now bears
the stigma of thrash-influenced death metal riffage a la Gothenburg,
Johnny Wranning has put and end to his iffy experimenting with vocal
styles to concentrate on a rasping, aggressive form of singing, and
the violin, which I can only guess was finally perceived by the band
as being a misplaced element in their music, now only appears on one
single track (the short, distorted instrumental piece "Erised").
Solidly welded onto the thick skeleton of the powerful and fast drum
playing (syncopated double bass drumming galore!), the bass and
guitars are now given all necessary leeway to develop alone the
catchiness and appeal that the violin offered on _Tortura
Insomniae_... and it works like it never did before! _A Handful of
Nothing_ has turned out to be a catchy, energetic and violent album
that never loses its firm double grip on power and melody and shows
-vast- improvement on Ebony Tears' earlier songs. Not only will fans
of their first output definitely recognise the band with this new
effort of theirs, but _A Handful of Nothing_ is also quite able to
appeal to metalheads who had failed to be keeled over by the cool,
but nonetheless rather "tepid" music played by Ebony Tears so far.
Various - _ECW Extreme Music_ (Earache, July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10)
This is a compilation of extreme music tracks chosen to musically
represent Extreme Championship Wrestling. Harry Slash and the
Slashtones' "This Is Extreme" provides an intro, and a boring one, of
sorts to this comp. It is followed by a remix of White Zombie's "El
Phantasmo and the Chicken Run Blast-O-Rama" which is nearly the same
as the original, and, additionally, tedious in the extreme (sic).
This record contains a virtual plethora of covers, and I will tackle
these collectively and comparatively now. Kilgore, Motorhead and
Anthrax all, in my opinion, chose very poorly the covers they were to
contribute. "Walk" by Pantera and "Enter Sandman" and "Phantom Lord"
by Metallica are their respective contributions and, in my view,
there is a lot wrong with the mere principle of these bands doing
their chosen covers. In Kilgore's case, no-one should be covering a
seven year old tune by a huge-selling band, and you certainly
shouldn't be covering what is probably their most popular song. The
cover adds nothing to the original -- which is hardly a classic in
itself, it just happens to be a song a lot of people can get into.
Motorhead should not be covering Metallica in my view, and I'd
certainly say that, again, the most overplayed and popular song from
the band's most successful record is hardly a good choice. Anthrax's
error is not as much the choice as the execution. I would have
thought the point of covering a really old, cool and heavy Metallica
track would be to show up the band's current commercial direction by
churning out a ripping version of the track; instead, Anthrax play a
competent cover but add nothing in vitriol, heaviness or depth to the
original, even though I imagine they have access to way more money
and time than Metallica had to do _Kill 'Em All_. The final insult is
John Bush's vocals, however, which fit so badly it is almost
embarrassing to listen to. What's interesting is that I think if
Anthrax and Motorhead had swapped Metallica songs, we would have
ended up with a much more satisfactory pair of covers. Bruce
Dickinson turns in The Scorpions' "The Zoo", which is not a track I
am familiar with. It is a bit tedious but seems decently done.
Megadeth's "Trust (ECW mix)" is not dance-beat infused but seems only
to be an extended instrumental: it's boring. Tres Diablos is a
Pantera offshoot band which I think features all members except Phil
Anselmo. Some upfront, Primus-esque bass work makes it somewhat
interesting, but overall it is somewhat simplistic and uninteresting,
and has sections where the band simply fall back onto Pantera
trademark riffs, rather shamefully. Monster Magnet's "Kick Out the
Jams" (from the promo-only _Space Lord_ EP) is energetic and
worthwhile: probably worth checking out if you're a big Monster
Magnet fan. The remaining bands are Earache's own. Morbid Angel's
godly "Prayer of Hatred" (from my favourite record of last year,
_Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_) is included and Cathedral and Iron
Monkey also turn in tracks. The Cathedral track is from their most
recent _Caravan Beyond Redemption_ disc and is much better than I had
expected out of the band since losing track of them after the tedious
_Supernatural Birth Machine_ and patchy _Carnival Bizzarre_ albums.
The Iron Monkey track is cool and extreme doom-type stuff which
reminds me of Sleep's recent _Jerusalem_ disc. Overall, a lot of
unnecessary and boring covers and remixes mean that nothing
unreleased from here is worth picking it up for, while its value as a
sampler is limited due to the small number of quality album tracks
included.
Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) (Prophecy Productions, June 1999)
This entirely acoustic release by Empyrium is not a very surprising
move for them considering the acoustic components of _Songs of Moors
& Misty Fields_ [CoC #30], but I expected something more consistent
overall and also better as far as the second half of the album is
concerned. Perhaps I expected too much because of the excellence of
_SoM&MF_, but still the opening title track was quite promising.
Simple acoustic guitars, a flute melody, then a deep male choir in
the background with normal Empyrium clean vox on top and some simple
percussion towards the end. Very atmospheric and pleasant. The second
track, "Dying Brokenhearted", is also quite good; similar to the
first, minus the percussion and featuring only some whispered vox,
and overall very based upon acoustic guitar work, like most of the
album. The next track, "The Shepherd and the Maiden Ghost", features
more sombre spoken vocals and some cello, which could have been used
much more frequently and effectively, in my opinion. The fourth
track, "The Sad Song of the Wind", is indeed a sad song, again based
on acoustic guitar and sombre vocals, plus some more flute. The
spoken vocals work quite well, whereas the results achieved by the
chants vary considerably. From this point onward, however, things are
never again as interesting as before. The acoustic guitar starts to
become somewhat repetitive and nothing very interesting is added,
culminating in the rather strange eighth track of this 32 minute long
release, "Many Moons Ago..." -- a very medieval/folk-sounding song
that seems rather out of place here. The atmosphere created by the
first few tracks is partially lost by now and _WaNtWGP_ ends with a
new version of "When Shadows Grow Longer", originally from their
previous album, with a lot of chanting and an acoustic guitar
background; nothing very remarkable when compared to the original.
Though not excessively similar, _WaNtWGP_ isn't far from some of what
Ulver did with their own acoustic album. Ulver's _Kveldssanger_,
however, is overall superior, thanks mainly to the fact that the
album doesn't start to rapidly lose interest or atmosphere after its
midpoint, as is the case with Empyrium's. Overall, I expected
something sadder and more sorrowful (the first four tracks do get
quite close to that) and also more stirring -- in the end, those were
the main elements that Empyrium achieved to make _SoM&MF_ so great,
and I expected the band to somehow re-create them in a different way
with acoustic instrumentation better than they did in the second half
of the album. Still, the first half, though not entirely as brilliant
as I expected, is nevertheless very good and the second isn't
anything terrible at all, just average; it's just that, coming from
Empyrium, I feel that _WaNtWGP_ could have been better.
Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_ (Earache, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk (6.5 out of 10)
You would think that a live Entombed album recorded during the Gods
of Grind tour would be a good album. You'd think that, right? How
disappointing it was to give _Monkey Puss_ a few spins and never feel
the energy or satisfaction an Entombed gig always brings (evidenced
by their mind-blowing performance in Toronto on their _To Shoot
Straight..._ tour). Despite covering some great material ("Stranger
Aeons", "Sinners Bleed", "Evilyn", "Left Hand Path"), they actually
came off sounding tired and uninspired. Who would have thought? Also
the recording of the gig can be faulted, you can actually hear the
quality improve and go down within a single track. To be brutally
honest for a moment, Earache should stop trying to make money off
bands that aren't on Earache anymore (e.g. Carcass) and look to the
(bleak?) future rather than trying to recapture past glories. Guys,
as opposed to releasing best-ofs or live albums, why not go out and
sign a new and fresh metal band!?! Now there's an idea.
Extol - _Mesmerized_ (Endtime, June 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell (7.5 out of 10)
To accompany Extol's brilliant 1998 debut _Burial_ [CoC #34] comes
_Mesmerized_. It features one totally new song ("Enthralled"), a
newly recorded version of "Prodigal Son" from the _Embraced_ demo, a
previously unreleased song from the _Burial_ sessions ("Storms of
Disillusions"), industrial remixes of "Burial" and "Renhetens Elv" by
Sanctum, and an ambient remix of "Work of Art" by Raison d'Etre. The
cover art is once again done by Kristian Wahlin, and is very similar
in design to the _Burial_ cover, but with a different painting. The
CD is a cool digipak and, like _Burial_, falls under the art
direction of the brilliant Samuel Durling. The new song is a killer
-- very technical, with many different parts. If this is a clue into
the future sound of Extol, current fans will not be disappointed at
all, because "Enthralled" is sleek and razor sharp. The immediately
recognisable difference in the newly recorded version of "Prodigal
Son" is that it is downtuned from where it once was, so it sounds
much different. Disappointingly, the intro is not done with acoustic
guitar like the demo version. The biggest change, though, is that
they have created two entirely new parts in the middle of the song.
"Storms of Disillusions" features guitarist Ole Borud on clean
vocals, but they are distorted through the whole song, which adds an
interesting atmosphere. This track also has a guitar solo in it --
something that they haven't attempted since their very earliest
recordings. Although I think Cold Meat Industry's Sanctum has
interesting music, I don't care much at all for these "industrial
remixes" that they did here. Only a few riffs or vocal lines from the
original songs ever surface in these musical dissections, and the
final product seems patchy at best. The "Work of Art" remix by Raison
d'Etre (also on Cold Meat) is actually really cool because it is
basically just one ambient droning sound for the whole duration of
the track, but as is stated inside, uses only original sounds, so I
guess that they didn't use any of the parts from the original, and
you sure can't hear any. While these industrial remixes are somewhat
interesting, they take up half the CD -- valuable space that could
have been used for more original Extol music, which is why I didn't
rate this CD higher. Nevertheless, this is essential for the Extol
fan and very recommended for other interested parties as well.
Contact: Endtime Productions, PO Box 17142,
SE-402 61 Gothenburg, Sweden
mailto:endtime@durling.com
Fantomas - _Fantomas_ (Ipecac Records, June 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10)
If singer Mike Patton (ex-Faith No More) isn't committed to an insane
asylum after authorities hear this LP, I don't know what'll happen to
him. He's off his rocker! He's flipped his lid! Comprised of equal
shares of insanity, mayhem and brilliance, one can't go wrong with
sampling the work of Fantomas. Don't be afraid, kids. With a
supergroup of henchmen helping out in the wings -- ex-Slayer / Grip
Inc. drummer Dave Lombardo and King Buzzo and co. from The Melvins
--, this lil' puppy really socks it to ya. Put this on, sit back and
listen to the madness unfold. You'll never get the image of Patton
running around the studio screaming incoherently out of your head. In
short, nothing sounds at all right here, but inexplicably it all
works out in the end.
Contact: Ipecac Records P.O. Box 1197 Alameda, CA. USA 94501
Fornever - _We Whom Are..._ (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
Omaha, Nebraska quintet Fornever have two things going for them right
off the bat: 1) Brian Griffin (Broken Hope / En Sinfonia) producing
and 2) an interesting array of material that spawns many genres of
metal music (from death metal chants to doom/gloom riffs and
choruses). That said and done, prepare yourself to journey into the
solidly played five-song outing from these heavy hitters. Get ruffled
up by the intensity of such songs as "Divine Immortal" and "Purify"
and drawn into the stirring closer "The Garden of Never". While not
perfect throughout, for the most part the styles represented here are
in good hands. It's good to see a band step above the normal realm of
metal music every once in a while, especially a relatively unknown
band like Fornever. Solid work from a band that obviously worked hard
to get where they are. No doubt they will have a future.
Contact: http://www.fornever.com
mailto:fornever1@hotmail.com
Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_ (Metal Blade, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10)
Sounding like a mix between the sinister stylings of death metal and
older Slayer (circa _South of Heaven_) / Megadeth (circa _Peace
Sells..._), the music here just seems to roll forward, no real
variety thrown in. Sure it's brash and rockin', willing to give a
wallop to the head every so often, but had this record had songs as
bitchin' as the women adorning the CD inlay, then maybe it would have
been more of a "Triumph".
Godgory - _Resurrection_ (Nuclear Blast, April 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (5 out of 10)
_Resurrection_ is a disjointed, though well produced, album created
by more-than-competent musicians. The opening title track begins with
a gothic-sounding keyboard atmosphere, which is then interspersed
with big crunchy bar chord strums and pounding drum hits. The vocals
which soon enter are growled, though these do vary to being spoken or
clean, but not tunefully so. Strangely, this doom-like song is
followed by the 100% Gothenburg death metal sounding "Crimson Snow".
Though _Resurrection_ continues with songs more in the vein of the
first from here on, there is still variation. Current-Hypocrisy-esque
riffs emanate from a few songs while gothic atmospheres and
symphonically catchy choruses are a fixture in most of the remaining
tracks. The end result lacks identity, but my problem with this
release is that none of the music is anything to get excited about.
Closing _Resurrection_ with a cover of Accept's "Princess of the
Dawn" was definitely a bad move, however. The end and beginning of an
album are quite significant things in my view and to have the last
memory of your album in someone's mind being someone else's song
seems like a bad thing to me. Godgory have poured salt in this wound
by choosing an album closing song to cover and by doing a cover which
is pretty unexciting, though its attempt to combine the crunchy
guitars and gothic tendencies of Godgory's music into the Accept
original is partially successful and certainly daring. Overall,
though, this is little more than an average album.
Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_ (Peaceville, September 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
If I knew every Katatonia album except their 1998 effort _Discouraged
Ones_, I would have been seriously surprised, or even baffled, by
_Tonight's Decision_. However, considering its predecessor
_Discouraged Ones_, Katatonia's first album for Peaceville becomes a
bit more of an expectable output, though that will most likely not be
very clear during the first few listens. With guest Dan Swano
somewhat unremarkably replacing Jonas Renske on drums, the biggest
changes, or at least the most immediately apparent ones, concern
Renske's vocals: still clean vox only, but different. These
differences are quite hard to describe, as his vocals are rather
varied throughout the album, but they're basically more "sung" than
before; often less sombre, softer, apparently not as doomy. With
time, though, a lot of it ends up sounding quite doomy after all;
nevertheless, some of Renske's vocal delivery failed to convince me
this time, some of his experiments didn't turn out so well and a few
tracks suffer from that. As indicated by the once again superb and
meaningful artwork, the album still carries an overall atmosphere of
doom in its own way, differently but effectively, though perhaps not
quite as much as before. But as I listened to _Tonight's Decision_
again and again, I gradually overcame most of the impression of
strangeness and awkwardness I initially had. A few of the song
structures are somewhat more complex than before, though the album is
overall still mostly simple structure-wise. Several tracks tend to
successively reveal themselves more worthy than initially suspected
with each listen, but there are still enough less than brilliant
choruses, passages and vocal arrangements here to keep the rating
down to an 8 out of 10, as quality varies a lot within most tracks,
from brilliant to somewhat unremarkable and misplaced-sounding.
Instrumentally, Katatonia's current direction is hard to pinpoint, as
it varies considerably from track to track: "Right Into the Bliss",
for example, sounds quite like _Discouraged Ones_-era Katatonia; "A
Darkness Coming" reminded me of present day Anathema; and a lot of
the album reminded me of nothing in particular, not even earlier
Katatonia. Not to say that this is all completely different, nor
clearly less metallic than before -- typical Katatonia guitar
elements still pervade a lot of the record --, but this -is- overall
considerably different from _Discouraged Ones_ and after being given
a generous enough chance it can prove itself a very good album. It's
just that Katatonia have done better than "very good" several times
in the past, and that's only occasionally the case here.
Lacrimosa - _Elodia_ (Hall of Sermon, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell (6 out of 10)
This is interesting, as it features the London Symphony Orchestra
throughout its entirety, and was apparently composed entirely by
members of the band. Of the eight tracks on _Elodia_, there are two
kinds of songs: those where the orchestra performs the vast majority
of the music and those blending Lacrimosa's metal/rock with the
orchestra, sometimes to astounding results. All of the lyrics are in
German, and the male and female vocalists both have powerful voices.
They don't sound so good, though, especially the male vocals, but
they certainly are powerful. The music is enjoyable, sometimes giving
way to huge, lavish orchestral parts, and other times crushingly
heavy. Another interesting thing is the fact that I had never heard
this band previous to receiving this in the mail, and it seems that
it would be quite an undertaking to hire the London Symphony
Orchestra. Is Lacrimosa huge in Europe or something? How could an
underground band afford something like this? Well, I don't have
answers to those questions, but I can say that this is powerful music
in its own right, and I would enjoy hearing a similar undertaking
from any metal band who thinks they could pull it off.
Contact: mailto:hallofsermon@compuserve.com
Various - _Lobot Manual_ (Lobot Music, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (6 out of 10)
Hey look, a noise compilation... with no liner notes. Fuck Lobot
Music then. When I open up a compilation, I want to see liner notes
with artist addresses, thank yous, and a bit of background (hell,
I'll settle for 2 out of 3), not "Lobot Manual - For more information
write to:". When I purchase the fucking CD I want the fucking
information in my hands while I listen to (what I hope to be) good
noise. Oh well... where is ranting going to get me? At least the
noise is going to be good... right? <sigh> This compilation is a fine
example of what happens when you put together the hoi polloi generic
garbage noise/power electronics artists and have absolutely no big
time names with uhm... let's see... TALENT to carry the lot. After
running down the list of artists, I came to the conclusion that I had
pretty much no idea who just about any of these people were, where
they were from, or what sort of style they mingled with. Instead, I
found myself bouncing from track to track holding my breath and
hoping that it wasn't going to be even cruddier than the one I just
finished with. There are some artists who take steps in the right
direction towards making this mildly enjoyable, such as Dyslexis
Coup's opening track and one followed a few tracks later by Dysthemia
Scars. Flutter shoots out with a piece which hits just around average
for them, though I found myself highly amused by the use of R2-D2 as
a source sound. The rest of the compilation (as mentioned above) is
throw away, though even the cruddiest bands have a few seconds of
interesting noise here and there. I hear the profits for this are
going to Food Not Bombs and the guys who made it are real nice... oh
well. Buy it for that, or move on, I say.
Contact: Lobot Music, 808 F St. #309, Davis, CA 95616, USA
Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_
by: David Rocher (7 out of 10) (Kettenhund Records, May 1999)
Already Lunar Aurora's fourth full-length effort, _OSaBCS_ is a
hateful offering of epic, very symphonic and warlike black metal that
testifies to this German band's growing identity; indeed, despite the
fact they never lacked musical qualities, Lunar Aurora had so far not
always succeeded in being personal enough for them to really stand
out among the plethoric black metal tide. This new album should,
however, open all eyes to these black metallers' sincerity, as their
violent blend of bellicose rage and eerie melody continues to refine,
even after the metal scene has seemingly turned its back on this now
rather breathless blackened metal genre. With a suitably murky, yet
interesting and appealing production, the music contained on _OSaBCS_
is intricate and very varied, as serene atmospheric passages brutally
transform into epic extremist assaults, carried by spectacular
drumming and tight guitar playing; Lunar Aurora's main quality is
that they don't merely rely on overwhelming facile keyboard melodies
to turn lame guitar riffs into supposedly appealing and accessible
tracks the way Mystic Circle do. No, Lunar Aurora actually consider
synthetics as the very flesh of their songs, on the same level as the
strings, drums or vocals, and in fact retain a considerable level of
violence and harshness throughout the whole of _OSaBCS_. Even though
symphonic black metal has been worn down to its weakest expression by
countless bands making excessive use of single-fingered synthetic
wannabe virtuosity, Lunar Aurora have proved, in my eyes, how
faithful they are to this genre and its origins, a faith which truly
haloes their art with a most occult and baleful light.
Machine Head - _The Burning Red_ (Roadrunner, July 1999)
by: Jody Webb (9 out of 10)
In the past, I respected Machine Head because I thought they had
their own sound, which I am finding to be an increasingly rare thing
the more CDs I hear. But I never liked the music enough to be a fan.
Now that _The Burning Red_ has seared my stereo, things are
different! Rob Flynn has delivered what I consider to be the finest
Machine Head album to date. While demonstrating the wisdom to avoid
the staleness trap, Flynn simultaneously shows his deep talent by
writing songs that are different -and- good. What it means is that
Machine Head has mostly moved on from the simple, crushing tracks
like "Ten Ton Hammer" to craftier cuts such as "Nothing Left". Fans,
do not be distressed! The songs remain thick and muscular, and
continue to feature that signature high pitched scream from the
guitar pickups. In fact, the band achieves a supreme crunch on
"Exhale the Vile". The only negative comment I have here concerns the
notable influence from Korn on two of the songs. Did the new guitar
player, Ahrue Luster, bring some baggage with him? Fortunately, it is
a well done Korn sound, but whoever was responsible should check that
baggage at the door next time. Finally, I never thought this before,
but Rob Flynn has a great voice. Actually, he has a couple of great
voices. I didn't know he could sing. I didn't know he could do
throaty death metal. I sure didn't know he could rap. And I didn't
know he could force his lungs to the point of failure, which happens
on "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears", at the end of which Flynn gasps
"I'm gonna pass out..." before a collapsing sound is heard in the
studio. _The Burning Red_ is balanced and good, through and through.
My only question is, what is this fascination with burning things?
Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_ (Osmose Productions, May 1999)
by: David Rocher (9 out of 10)
Allegedly and undoubtedly Marduk's most violent opus to date, _Panzer
Division Marduk_ definitely has the devastating heaviness to match
its uncompromising pretences! In a mere half hour of devastating,
insane lightspeed brutality, Marduk have succeeded -- and with
slightly more finesse at that than the blatantly unsubtle cover art
suggests -- in spawning an album so massively aggressive it almost
makes Immortal's ruthless masterpiece _Pure Holocaust_ sound like
atmospheric black metal... The elements that concretely make the
monstrously hostile deity _Panzer Division Marduk_ sound that much
more aggressive than the Swedes' two latest efforts, namely _Heaven
Shall Burn..._ and _Nightwing_, is that the powerful rhythm section
lead by Fredrik Andersson and B. War does indeed move with greater
velocity than it developed on _Heaven Shall Burn..._, but the
greatest impression of speed is undoubtedly due to Morgan Hakansson's
faster and more aggressive guitar lines, and the way in which Legion
once again screams his baleful, unearthly grating vocals over the
strings' saturated sound. Marduk's appointed guru producer Peter
Tagtgren has once again graced this maelstrom of aggression with a
very fitting sound that rings loud, sharp and powerful, and that
greatly enhances the thick aura of malevolence and brutality
emanating from _Panzer Division Marduk_. After worrying many fans
with their rather mitigated 1997 album _Nightwing_, Marduk have this
time again demonstrated that they are still, and beyond all doubt,
the "fist in the face of God" Legion has claimed they are -- _Panzer
Division Marduk_ is an outrageously warlike and totally unsubtle slab
of pure hate, and an intense and very murderous new chapter in
Marduk's blasphemous career. As Immortal so justly phrased it, "only
the music of the truly dedicated will survive", and Marduk have once
again clearly shown, if there ever was a need for this, that their
charred, evil mark will undoubtedly remain seared deep into the
poseur black metal scene's hide.
Merciless - _The Awakening_ (Osmose, May 1999 / 1990 reissue)
by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10)
The praise I have heard bestowed upon this slab of violent thrash
probably led me to expect too much out of it. I expected a vaguely
original and crushingly crisply written late-eighties death/thrash
assault, but what I got was a somewhat painfully Kreator-esque
collection of fast thrash songs which, though well-written, are
nothing special. Riffs, rhythms and vocals remind one instantly and
strongly of Kreator while the pessimism of lyrical passages like
"Don't wait for tomorrow / 'cause there is none" indicate clearly the
period this was made in. To be fair, _The Awakening_, though far from
being essential or classic, is a pretty fast, heavy and well-written
late-eighties thrash record with decent lyrics, and worth checking
out if you're looking for something to keep your _Extreme Aggression_
and _Beneath the Remains_ discs company.
Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10) (Bandaged Hands Produce, 1999)
_The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_ is another in a long line in the
latest noise trend of using CD-R as a means of releasing material.
While I don't mind the format at all (in fact, the quality of the
recording is much better than that of previous analog methods), I am
starting to get in a bit of a tiff over the lack of originality in
the packaging; most notably the sleeves for the jewel case. There is
no information about the recordings, the artists, where to contact
them, etc.. Just a dot matrix printed graphic with some cheap font
logos. I know it is my duty here to inform you about the contents on
the d
isc and not the package, and I do apologise, but... well... damn
it's annoying! Anyhow, as for the noise itself... standard Mlehst.
There's plenty of atmospheric style noise with a heavy minimalist
overtone to the whole deal. If one is popping this in and expecting a
harsh lesson in spontaneity and chaos, you bought the wrong damn
disc. If a more laid back and surreal experience raises your Bismark,
then by all means take a ride on the Mlehst express (though I must
confess it moves more like a turtle with polio than a rip roaring
steam engine). In all honesty this type of deal isn't my cup of tea,
so I hope I did not ruin anybody's day by not fingering my own anus
over it. It's perfectly acceptable for what it is. Final word.
Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_ (Relapse, July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (0 out of 10)
Boring, uninventive, unnecessary. Three words which have always
applied to Mortician, and which fit _CD_ like a glove. That said,
this is the closest to enjoyable slab of Mortician I have yet
listened to. If you are as yet uninitiated to the "delights" of
Mortician, my advice would be to stay that way. However, if you want
to know what you're letting yourself in for should you decide to
indulge in the dubious pleasure of listening to _CD_, here is what
will await you. Mortician produce death metal of a distinctly
fuzzed-out, dirge-like quality. The structures mimic early
grindcore/death bands like Carcass and, though mostly conducting
themselves at lightning speeds (attained with the aid of a drum
machine), Mortician also ear-mark the likes of Celtic Frost and
Autopsy as influences by virtue of occasionally slowing their pace
and attaining a more sludge-based sound. They constantly intersperse
various obscure and classic horror movie samples into their albums to
serve as intros of sorts for songs. For the record, the above
mentioned bands to whom I compare Mortician, are themselves bands I
respect and like very much, so explanation is needed as to why,
though sounding somewhat like them, I think Mortician suck so
supremely. Mortician's riffs are boring, almost beyond belief; the
epitome of bad grindcore death. They lack any creativity when placed
in a late-nineties context, and do absolutely nothing but bore seven
shades of shit out of me. They don't invigorate, convey emotion;
anything. The structures for songs which they employ are similarly
unexciting, there is nothing creative or endearing, and I feel only
the most primitive of minds could have failed to come up with
structures of the complexity Mortician utilise. The drum programming
is atrociously boring and lacking in creativity (there's that word
again), no impressive breaks or rolls, nothing to excite, just
percussive 4/4 smashes, occasional standard rhythm playing, and blast
beats all the rest of the way. Will Rhamer tops it all off
marvellously by barfing and grunting his way (like a man committing
illegal acts of buggery with a wild animal, who is not sure whether
his actions sicken or excite him) through this 48 minute (minus
samples) trip through a death metal dumpyard of reused riffs, tired
old lyrical themes and the out of date, decaying idea that brutality
is all that a death metal album needs to be good. A number of people
have proclaimed that Mortician are "cult" when I express my extreme
dislike for them; being "cult" is no excuse for being crap. _Chainsaw
Dismemberment_ richly deserves a 0 out of 10. It sets out to achieve
very little in a time when death metal has come so far I would have
thought we'd be in a position to demand more than just brutality out
of it, and doesn't even succeed in its one stated aim: to prove
Mortician are the most brutal band on the planet. They are not. They
instead embody the kind of pig-headed idiocy that holds music in
general, and styles like death metal especially, back. If you want
brutality of a similarly short and sweet variety, I suggest you check
out Assuck's _Misery Index_ or Nasum's _Inhale/Exhale_, just two of
the hundreds of records more brutal and just plain -better- than
anything the primeval intelligence of Mortician could ever come up
with.
MO*TE - _Stash_ (Solipism, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (6.5 out of 10)
Before I begin this review, let me just say that MO*TE entertains me.
In fact, I have yet to hear a MO*TE release that does not fulfil this
task. However, what MO*TE has yet to do is intrigue and challenge me.
Unfortunately, this release proves to be no different. _Stash_
appears to be another in the long line of noise which Fumiyuki has
sleep walked through and paid little to no attention to any use of
innovative recording techniques, source sounds or effects. The noise
contained on the disc proves to be solid as always and certainly
leaves no room for any complaints; however, I cannot shake the
feeling that there should be something more to all of this than the
harsh, albeit simplistic, mix of dark tonal works and various walls
of crunching feedback. As I stated in the beginning... entertaining,
but hardly intriguing enough to make me shit my pants over. So where
does this place _Stash_ in the great hierarchy of noise recordings?
Who knows... but certainly no place more lofty than anything else
that has been put out by MO*TE in the last couple of years. Much like
Merzbow's _Tauro Machine_, this is a release only die hard fans may
want to take a look at if they have a few extra dollars laying
around, but I suggest the casual fan move on as there are better
things being put out in the same vein and style as MO*TE's work.
Contact: Solipism, 26 S. Main #277, Concord, NH 03301, USA
Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_ (Kettenhund Records, May 1999)
by: David Rocher (8 out of 10)
Nagelfar's 1998 debut, _Hunengrab im Herbst_ [CoC #29], had
introduced this German three-piece (not to be mistaken with proud
Swedish Dissection heirs Naglfar, who are signed to WAR Music) as a
sincere, unpretentious band who had closely studied the art of black
metal referrers such as Bathory or Darkthrone, and had neatly
integrated these sources of inspiration in their own personal
songwriting. Once again carefully balanced between cold-blooded
Norwegian harshness and atmospheric grandeur, _Srontgorrth_ contains
five long tracks, among which are two finely reworked versions of
excerpts from Nagelfar's demos and one from their first full-length.
However, fans should not be disheartened by this fact, as the
rewritten and replayed tracks have been treated with great respect
and conviction, and this new recording truly grants them a second
life, with new and stronger arrangements, improved playing technique
and a few great new ideas in the domains of melodies and song
structures. The two entirely new tracks are what you could logically
expect from Nagelfar, with the track "Kapitel Vier, der Winter:
Trummer" being an innovative experiment in electronics for the band.
As a definite non-fan of technoid interludes in metal albums, I must
admit that this track, however, plays very pleasantly and contains
some very enthralling atmospheres which violent metal tones can't
necessarily claim to invoke. Producer Andy Classen has once again
crafted a fine sound for this release, that is definitely no typical
black metal production -- aggressive, grating guitar lines evolving
over a clear and intelligible rhythmic background, with an optimal
dose of keyboards and vocals. Nagelfar's second full-length is once
again a humble, yet excellent black metal release, that should not
fail to appeal to open-minded black metal addicts who care to see
intelligence fuse harmoniously with extreme songwriting.
Various - _Needlepoint_ (Varicocele Records, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7.5 out of 10)
_Needlepoint_ proves to be another in a long line of noise
compilations which features tracks of sheer brilliance that make you
want to stand up and shout to the world, "I'm a noise fan, and I'm
damn proud of it!" while delivering others that send you on a mad
dash to hit the fast-forward button. In the case of _Needlepoint_,
however, they have wisely divided up their compilation. The first
side features the sultans of swat themselves with artists such as
Kazumoto Endo, Stimbox and Skin Crime topping off the list, while the
second dives straight down (way down... keep going... hit the bottom?
There you go...) into the realm of ambient-esque, atmospheric noise.
So basically one is left knowing that side 1 equates out to "Good,
Great, Wonderful!" and side 2 is sitting somewhere between "Turn This
Shit Off" and "Johnny Fetch My Gun". Some may state that atmospheric
noise has its place and I tend to agree it does have its place... in
the dumpster out back. When one is treated to such masterful work
such as that of a Kazumoto Endo or Skin Crime (who I should note win
extra Brownie Points (tm) for titling their track "Mountain Dew Is My
Life's Blood"), it is hard to stomach the works of artists who
revolve their entire overly drawn out tracks around just a handful of
sounds. While the compilation certainly doesn't feature the worst
atmospheric styled noise I have ever heard, even the well executed
style falls short in long run. It is by the good graces of some
divine force that the first half of this compilation delivers on such
a high level that those artists who are collected together for the
second half are easily laid to the wayside and forgotten about. The
compilation as a whole is well worth purchasing for the first side
alone, which leaves an entire back side to be used for dubbing your
friend's Sugar Ray CD or getting a nice static infested version of
Pearl Jam's rip-off of "Last Kiss" from your local Top 40 station. In
that sense, I suppose it's not all that bad after all.
Contact: Varicocele Records, 503 E St., Davis, CA 95616, USA
mailto:varicocele@yahoo.com
Novembers Doom - _Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers_
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) (Martyr Music, July 1999)
With the walls of My Dying Bride crumbling at an alarming rate (a new
member leaves every month -- what gives?), solid gothic-laced / death
metal / doom ensemble Novembers Doom picks up the slack of its
notable idol and so eloquently carries the torch with conviction and
passion. Beneath the powerful pounds of doom sonic overcharges rests
a shining hope of collective ideals and brilliance. Novembers Doom
captures a world of doom that has yet to be explored. It's
groundbreaking and versatile at the same time. Take to heart the
state of metal music, and forget all as the music of this band
captivates your mind and soul. Piece by piece, Novembers Doom's
architecture helps create a perfect foundation for the band to work
from. Much stronger than their debut mCD, the self-released _For
Every Leaf That Falls_, this release is a wonderful array of
musicianship that helps etch their work into a wholesome format. Once
again, I bow to Novembers Doom.
Obscenity - _Demo-Niac_ (Morbid Records, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10)
I doubt that the two Obscenity demos (_Amputated Souls_ and _Age of
Brutality_) which make up this release are, as Morbid Records claim,
"the most demand rarity's in the Death Metal scene" (direct quote),
but for their time (1991 and 1993 respectively, I believe) they are
not too shabby. The first, _Amputated Souls_, begins with the same
sample of singing used, bizarrely enough, at the beginning of hip-hop
group The Fugees' hit 1997 track "Ready or Not" (which I'm told is
from Enya) -- this does make it a little confusing at first, but
mostly what this intro does is illustrate (through its full,
pronounced sound) how tinny the sound of _Amputated Souls_ is.
Musically, it is somewhat derivative, even for the time, and overall
offers little but nostalgia for Obscenity fans to get excited about.
_Age of Brutality_ is much better. I really like the pulsing drum
sound achieved on this release and though the songs are, again, not
light years, or even a hair's breadth, quite honestly, in front of
the death metal fore-front of the time, there are still some good
leads, well performed brutal vocals, and insane, powerful drums, to
kick you in the ass. Definitely one for fans of Obscenity, and also
worthy of investigation if you are particularly nostalgic about your
death metal.
On Thorns I Lay - _Crystal Tears_ (Holy Records, June 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)
Neither of the two albums I heard from this band before the release
of _Crystal Tears_ impressed me enough to make me want to become
familiar with them, but in both cases On Thorns I Lay seemed to be
searching for something special, a sound and style of their own; they
just didn't seem to be having much success -- at least not
apparently. Still, their new album's title track opener made me think
that On Thorns I Lay might have found something really interesting
this time; but while this doesn't sound too much like any other band
in particular, it's not extraordinarily innovative, either. They
currently play a very soft sort of metal with male and female vocals,
and it is their use of a violin that is mainly responsible for the
album's best moments, especially the excellent title track I
mentioned before. The problem when you have such a fine opener,
however, is that the rest of the album doesn't quite sound so good
anymore, and that is clearly the case with _Crystal Tears_. Some more
interesting passages do appear, but never again is a similar level of
quality reached. The music is at times somewhat doomy, but always in
a very soft way, with mellow guitars, keyboards and the
aforementioned violin. The quality of the male vox varies a lot, and
so does that of the music itself, as tracks like "Enigma" and other
miscellaneous passages sound quite poor compared to the title track
or "All Is Silent" -- clearly the album's best couple of songs.
Still, most of the album is at least average, and then it also
contains those two especially good songs.
Satyricon - _Intermezzo II_ (Nuclear Blast, May 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk (8 out of 10)
The first recording for their new label Nuclear Blast, _Intermezzo
II_ is a good indicator of the future musical path of Satyricon,
which is a slightly more advanced sound in comparison to their last
LP _Nemesis Divina_. The lone new track, "A Moment of Clarity",
boasts a more mature songwriting approach, utilising speed with some
seriously moody parts. The cover of Sarcophago's "Irni" is probably
one of the fastest Norwegian black metal songs I've heard in a while.
It's one of those tracks that by merely thinking about it gets you
excited. Simply awe-inspiring. Also a re-recording of "Nemesis
Divina" can be found, along with an ambient track created with the
help of Thorns' S.W. Krupp, which if listened to too many times can
warp the mind. Clocking in at around 20 minutes, if you can find a
good price for it I highly suggest picking this up.
Sephiroth - _Cathedron_ (Cold Meat Industry, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk (8 out of 10)
Sephiroth exemplify the best qualities of a Cold Meat Industry band.
Boasting an ambience sound with chilling and unforgettable musical
passages, this is the sort of musical experience you never forget.
What's great about this music is you can turn the lights off and let
the music take you to places, from the highest peaks to the darkest
recesses of the soul. I'm not the biggest fan of this genre, but
Sephiroth have encouraged me to give more of this type of music a
try. Not for the close-minded metalhead, but for the individual who
desires to travel without leaving the room.
Skepticism - _aes_ (Red Stream, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10)
What a nice evenflow feel this mCD by Skepticism has running through
it, like a predator on the prowl at dusk. Self-titled "emotionally
artistic funeral doom", Skepticism has more to offer, I believe.
Unabridged, unqualified passages absorb the listener concurrently
through the nearly 28 minute, one-track composition. Resonant cymbals
splash with timely washes of despondency. Guitar usage is at a
minimum, serving to intensify the feeling of the distraught
progression of the passage. I was first exposed to Skepticism on Red
Stream's _To Live Is to Ever Be in Danger_ compilation. The chosen
track for that release was "Pouring" from the _Aeothe Kaear_ 1995
demo. While both are beautifully crafted pieces, the _aes_ mCD track
is more mature and directed. "Pouring" has a sound more equitable to
death funeral doom, specifically due to the gravel-style vocals
present and a forging tempo, where _aes_ tries to stake a claim to a
babbling brook through a dank forest feel. Skepticism is a band to be
embraced. I intend now to wait patiently for their next full-length
release.
Soilwork - _Chainheart Machine_ (Listenable Records, September 1999)
by: David Rocher (9 out of 10)
Soilwork's 1998 debut, _Steelbath Suicide_ -- a fine taste indeed of
these Swedes' technical, melodic and thrashing death metal --, had
succeeded in whetting many a metalhead's appetite up, owing to the
large helping of energetic, addictive metal it offered. And now, as
Soilwork are poised to unleash their second effort, _Chainheart
Machine_, be prepared to be more than merely satiated! Ten seconds
into an industrial, grating techno beat, the title track "Chainheart
Machine" kicks in with crushing rhythmic heaviness, midway between At
the Gates' glorious masterpiece _Slaughter of the Soul_ and Carcass'
referential milestone _Heartwork_, before exploding into breakneck
blastbeat velocity, that then instantly recedes before rumbling
double bass antics, loaded with catchy, energetic and melodic
riffing, seared with Speed Strid's furious, foaming-at-the mouth
vocal delivery. As the nine tracks of _Chainheart Machine_ unfold,
from the raging speed of the title track to the mid-paced heaviness
of the hymn "Spirits of the Future Sun", through to the light-footed,
melodic string-picking riffs of "Millionflame", lightspeed virtuoso
guitar leads tinged with an almighty '70s aura furiously give chase
to intricate twin axe attacks, uncompromisingly demonstrating how
increasingly mature and personal Soilwork's own style is growing --
more than just another flock of sheep in the once again organically
expanding death metal landscapes, these deathsters have grafted
something special to the now trademark Gothenburg sound and shaped it
according to their own will and sound... and judging from the ease
with which Soilwork first asserted their style with their 1998
vintage, and have now succeeded, anno 1999, in giving their musical
scope far greater breadth, their readily disclosed potential seems
yet far from having reached its peak...
Stimbox _Caveat Emptor_ (Solipism, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8.5 out of 10)
"Let the buyer beware..." a wise piece of advice handed down from
antiquity but one that only half applies in the case of Stimbox's
second CD release. One must beware of any Stimbox output in the sense
of what it could do to one's stereo system, sense of hearing, and/or
social life if played too loudly, but at the same time one can always
rest assured that any big heaping dose of Stimbox noise is not to be
loathed but embraced in a most loving manner. Stimbox's Napoleonic
approach to his noise has always intrigued me for a number of
reasons. There are no attempts made at being distant with the sound
or using guerrilla tactics to sneak in sound bites here and there;
leaving the listener's mind as quickly as they came. Instead, Stimbox
masses together his noise in one beautiful formation, bows his head
down, and charges strait in with no second thought. There is a
Romantic beauty to this free spirited attitude of how to deliver a
package as sensually accosting as Stimbox in the form that he does.
There may very well indeed be great care and planing behind this full
forced assault, but the ranking strategist never lets out any of his
secrets. Instead he watches from his mount, distanced far away from
the scene of battle, and smiles as his mustered army of madness takes
the day once again. Formulaic? Perhaps... but still marvellously
effective.
Contact: Solipsism, 26 S. Main #277, Concord, NH 03301, USA
mailto:stimbox@idiom.com
Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_ (Suicidal/Radiation, May/July 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10)
This was a difficult record to put pen to paper on and judge, but I
have finally managed it, and I think I have got it right. What ST
have essentially done with _Freedumb_ is regressed back to the roots
of their self-titled debut and beyond to an even more basic punk
formula. _ST_ may have been a raw and primal hardcore punk album, but
it had melodic twinges and metallic elements which, for me at least,
enhanced its impact immensely, creating a tumultuous, rolling snow
ball of angst, black humour, sharp social commentary and pure
unbridled rage which was also ridiculously and infectiously catchy.
_Freedumb_ certainly has rage and also dynamics, and definitely
retains the outspoken, opinionated lyricism which ST have long been
noted for. Songs like the title track opener, "Ain't Gonna Take It",
"Scream Out" and the proclamatory "Hippie Killers", among others,
embody the spirit of true US hardcore and punk, resurrecting the
sometimes criminally forgotten spirit of such bands as Minor Threat
and The Misfits. The less all-out tracks like "Naked", which often
employ a stronger dynamic and also brief flirtations with more alien
musical styles, such as the one with ska on "Half Way Up My Head",
also work most of the time and overall _Freedumb_ is a very
listenable and enjoyable album. But, and you knew there was one
coming didn't you?, there is something missing from _Freedumb_. It
falls short of being as great a record as _ST_, _How Will I Laugh
Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today_ or other ST classics, and
also of being as great a record as I feel this classic band could
have made in 1999. The trademarks of intricate bass work, raging
guitars and Muir's impressive vocal tirades are all in place with
maybe only the supremely catchy vocal melodies and solos of oldies of
the ilk of "I Want More" or "Suicidal Failure" missing. However, it
is mostly the overall feel of _Freedumb_ which doesn't quite attain
the heights the band have previously reached. No songs here can match
a cut on _ST_ and win hands down, which to be fair is something that
can be said about many hardcore or punk albums made in the last
fifteen years, but even putting this somewhat harsh comparison to one
side and taking the style and songs of _Freedumb_ for what they are,
the record as a whole lacks the seamless cohesion and endearing flow
ST have previously achieved, especially with their debut. This is
still one of the best hardcore punk albums the '90s has brought forth
and it is a good record in its own right, but out of a new ST record?
Me, I want more.
Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_ (Suicidal Records, May 1999)
by: Jody Webb (7 out of 10)
The sole original cyco Mike Muir has concocted a high octane
combustion of punk and thrash that jolted me from the first spin. By
the time they blasted out the last note of the fifth track, I was
hailing this as the comeback of the year. Somebody located their
songwriting ability and breathed new life into it with punk! There is
not a trace of the generic metal or gratuitous funk bass churned out
on the mediocre _The Art of Rebellion_. Indeed in true punk form only
a handful of songs reach past the three minute mark and as I write I
find myself wondering if there is even a guitar solo on _Freedumb_.
On the other hand, the flip side to punk is the risk of degeneration
into sameness, and unfortunately Muir was unable to keep it fresh.
After a few songs this album begins to go in one ear and out the
other. Suicidal has returned to the energy and aggression captured on
_Suicidal Tendencies_, but the music here lacks depth and the
forgettable lyrics never approach the irreverent, off the top of the
head classics found on that first masterpiece. Some of this kicks
major butt, though, and I would be lying if I told you that great
songs like "Freedumb" or "Cyco Vision" were not my anthems for the
summer.
Summoning - _Stronghold_ (Napalm Records, June 1999)
by: Adam Wasylyk (9.5 out of 10)
Combining black metal influences with an ambient backdrop, Summoning
have created something truly special here. Never the ones to sound
predictable or similar to their contemporaries, Summoning proudly
walk down their own path of musical genius. This type of music can't
be faked, the emotions and atmospheres that Summoning create are
unparalleled on any release thus far this year. Soaked in keyboards,
_Stronghold_ is one of the better albums I've heard to fully utilise
them. At times majestic and at others chilling, an entire spectrum of
emotions are explored in the full hour of music here. A sure top 10
entry of 1999 in my books, Summoning's new piece of work won't go
unnoticed in the black metal / ambient scene. This can't come more
recommended.
Tormentula - _Submit Your Unworthy Soul_
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) (Speakeasy Records, July 1999)
For those of you out there looking for beautifully sculpted songs,
songs that speak as if angels had crafted them, allowing you to take
rest and take in the sounds, then go look elsewhere, assholes. Fuck
that pansy shit. Ravenous female trio Tormentula play the raunchiest,
most sadistic doom-laden sounds to hit the circuit in some time. The
massive screech fest spawned from these vixens, called _Submit Your
Unworthy Soul_, is a slapfest to society's morals. Fuck everyone.
Hail Satan, have a brewskie and kick it out like you're a gun-toting
nut job on a mission to kill. Mama warned us about women like these,
boys. Bring it on Tormentula!
Contact: http://www.speakeasyrecords.com
Undertakers - _Live in Brutality_ (Nocturnal Music, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)
Live albums are generally put out as contract fulfillers, cash-ins or
alternatives to best-ofs. It's a fact, let's face it. This is not to
say I don't enjoy them sometimes, because I do, sometimes. A live
album from the underground, though, is a dubious prospect. Are there
really enough fans of a band as small as Undertakers to warrant a CD
containing five live originals, one SoD cover and two remastered demo
tracks with a total running time of twenty eight minutes? [According
to sales figures of this, there are, since I am informed that it has
shifted 500 copies in two weeks -- Paul.] The live sound on this is
surprisingly good, the material is mostly new and as yet unheard, the
SoD cover is well performed and the demo tracks have been given a
professional sound, but if I were scoring solely value for money, you
could knock four to five marks off my rating.
Contact: Via B. Longo 211, 80147 Napoli, Italy
http://members.tripod.com/nocturnalmusic
mailto:nocturna@tin.it
Unholy - _Gracefallen_ (Avantgarde Records, May 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
Unholy have changed. The painfully slow, often repetitive, dirgeful
music that they usually played before isn't quite as much so nowadays
and the band has even incorporated a substantially greater amount of
female vocals and keyboards than those found on _Rapture_ [CoC #31]
(vocalist/keyboardist Veera Muhli is now a full-time member of the
band). But if you're thinking that Unholy now play in the same league
as The Gathering, you're very wrong. Unholy have changed, but only
for the better, and this doesn't include a reduction in doom. The
female vocals are as simultaneously soothing and sombre as on
_Rapture_'s "For the Unknown One", which is what a lot of the music
on _Gracefallen_ sounds closest to, while the keyboards only
contribute further to the depressive metallic atmospheres Unholy
create. As I mentioned above, this isn't as extremely slow,
repetitive or dirgeful as before, though those adjectives are still
valid for _Gracefallen_; but this -is- deeply doomy and remarkably,
relentlessly crushing, thanks to the hugely heavy guitars and death
vox that are also part of this painting of desolation. Just listen to
"... Of Tragedy", "Daybreak" or the skull-pounding "When Truth Turns
Its Head", for example -- I am nigh unable to pick highlights from
_Gracefallen_'s first six songs, they all deserved to be mentioned.
This is remarkably powerful music and truly superb doom metal. Unholy
have basically succeeded in picking the best elements from _Rapture_,
improved them and mixed them with new, -adequate- elements (something
that many bands miserably fail at), reaching a much more consistent
result than before with more going on in the music throughout the
album's nearly 63 minutes as well. -This- is a fine example of
"progression", a word nowadays spoken and/or written so frequently
whenever a band changes for the less extreme (which is definitely not
the case here), often almost regardless of the actual quality of the
result. _Gracefallen_ is the best doom metal album to reach my ears
since Evoken's outstanding _Embrace the Emptiness_ and the main
reason why I'm not giving it a 10 out of 10 is that the album tends
to lose a lot of its grip during the last three of its nine tracks --
mainly "Haoma", but "Seeker" and "Athene Noctua", although good,
aren't quite as great as the rest, either. "Athene Noctua" provides
an adequate, though somewhat excessively repetitive, end for the
album. Still, this is definitely one of those albums that is
excellent despite simultaneously being quite different from the norm,
which ultimately makes it even better.
Unusual Sickness - _Sounds of a Shattered Soul_
by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast / PHD, April 1999)
A little uneasy at times, Unusual Sickness kicks out the jams as we
have heard so many times before. With a sound reminiscent of old
school Slayer/Metallica mixed with the modern Bay Area thrash sounds
of Machine Head / Skinlab (though lesser in influence), it doesn't
take long for the band to sound familiar. Oh, the joy! At many times
throughout this Mexican trio's record did I think I was actually
listening to a Slayer disc. Sounds flattering, I guess, but also a
real knock on their own material, eh? I don't know... I am just
thinkin' it's great and all to show respect to metal pioneers, but
striving to work someone else's material seems a little wrong and no
doubt boring. Good for a few licks here and there, Unusual Sickness
takes on a more "usual" metal sound as the record finishes up.
Despite the less than spectacular review, I must say some of those
guitar riffs smoke more than President Bill Clinton's cigar.
Contact: Unusual Sickness, Nicolas San Juan 1340,
Col. Del Valle C.P., 03100, Mexico, D.F.
mailto:usickness@hotmail.com
Valse Triste - _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_ (Solardisk, July 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10)
Looking at the album cover and seeing a band name such as Valse
Triste, I expected to find some sort of doom metal here. However,
_Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_ turned out to be Scandinavian (more
specifically Finnish) punk/crust containing 21 tracks that last for a
total of 28 minutes, so I was just -slightly- misled by the album's
appearance. Not being familiar with this specific genre (nor with any
kind of punk in general, for that matter), I still enjoyed some of
the material here, which is a good sign, but quality varied very
significantly from track to track -- and that spans from the musical
quality itself to production. The Finnish language doesn't seem to
work too well here, at least compared to the Norwegian I'm used to
from black metal, though most of the vocal delivery doesn't help
much. Despite some good passages, the music didn't do much for me,
even though I was willing to give the album a fair chance, regardless
of the fact that it belonged to a different genre than those I choose
for my everyday listening pleasure -- as long as it contained some
well crafted sonic violence. However, being used to more captivating
and also more extreme music as far as aggression is concerned (in
which that aggression is also far more focused and much better
applied to the music itself), the rest of the elements here are all
far from able to stand out by themselves. Fans of the genre may be
interested, considering some of the material here, but this doesn't
have much to offer to anyone seriously into extreme metal except a
different attitude towards music, which _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_
didn't help me personally feel more attracted towards than I was
before.
Contact: Solardisk, Box 50, 90251 Oulu, Finland
Viking Crown - _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_ (Baphomet Records, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (10 out of 10)
This should be short and sweet, kiddies! I couldn't have been any
more impressed with this -killer- release if "Anton Crowley", Viking
Crown's sole member and co-member in Necrophagia, came over to my
place and laid down this sensationally brilliant effort before my
very eyes. Originally recorded in 1994 under the efficient executive
production of Killjoy, also of Necrophagia, "Anton" was -so- ahead of
the black metal curve for U.S. bands that it confuses reality. Songs
like "Satan Ruler of Earth", "The Judas Goat" and "Invocation Towards
the Conjuration of Black Souls" should give you some idea of the
direction of Viking Crown's sound. It's all here, boys and girls --
black metal blastbeats, warped and twisted vocal screeches tempered
with low-end esophagus work, and tireless, unyielding guitar
conflagrations. If you don't like this -- you should stop reading my
shit! ALL HAIL VIKING CROWN!
Contact: Baphomet Records, P.O. Box 282, Wellsville, OH 43968 USA
War - _We Are War_ (Necropolis Records, May 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10)
Well, all I can say is "Thank God I don't have to listen to this ever
again". Though not religious, I feel that God needs to be
figuratively thanked for the fact that when this review is finished
_We Are War_ will not again be spun by me (except maybe to laugh at
it briefly with colleagues and friends), since Satan seems to have
had some hand in forging "The ultimate anti-Christian, anti-human
musical statement". What that above quoted press sentence is supposed
to entail I don't quite know, but judging by the music which spews
forth from _We Are War_'s bullet-adorned CD, "The ultimate
anti-Christian, anti-human musical statement" is a boring,
derivative, solely-brutal black metal record on which songs fade out
like they're taken off rehearsal tapes and certain misguided
Scandinavians decide attempting to cover Sodom's "Bombenhagel" is a
worthwhile way to take up time. The three out of ten you see above is
only there because "We Are War" and "Kill God" are actually quite
decent songs; however, were these removed from _We Are War_, not only
would you be left with a mere twenty minutes of original material,
you'd also notice my score drop by at least two points. War are
summed up very well by the titles of their own albums if you replace
the word "war" with "boredom" and "boring" on _Total War_ [the band's
first release, CoC #29] and _We Are War_, respectively. [Thanks to
Count Gnat for help with that last sentence. -- Paul]
Various - _White: Nightmares in the End_ (The End Records, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10)
What a great forum, once again, for The End Records here with this
nine-song release. The previous compilation came into being in
February '98 (if memory serves me correctly), so now we welcome this
as the new testament to The End -- _White: Nightmares in the End_.
Four tracks, counting the newcomers, Love History, harbinger the
tomorrow for the label; in other words, material not yet available
taken from upcoming releases. The Greek Odes of Ecstasy's "Abstract
Thoughts", taken from their soon to be released sophomore CD, start
off this musical conglomeration. It has a less metallic bend to its
texture. More harmonious and not as guitar slanted and even kind of
doomy. I like this new path the band has ventured down. Next on the
listing for the CD is Sculptured with their song "Snow Covers All"
from an album unfamiliar to me, _Apollo Ends_. Remembering back a
way, I seem to recall listing Sculptured's _The Spear of the Lily Is
Aureoled_ as one of my top 10 albums of last year. "Snow Covers All"
did not disappoint me a single bit! Another advance listening from a
forthcoming effort is delivered by Mental Home. "Stained" is a "mix"
off the as of yet unreleased _Against the Sun_. Not getting to see
Mental Home at the Milwaukee Metalfest, due to Visa troubles, was a
-huge- let-down, but this song makes certain strides to curb that
frustration. EXCELLENT! As I patiently await Love History's full
length effort, "The Gleam of Midnight Sky / Smell of Tears" is
pacifying for all of their 11-plus minute track. Truly a most welcome
addition to The End's line-up, more or less in the vein of Sculptured
or Scholomance, but having an identity unto themselves, I assure you.
Powerful! Agalloch next commands the listener's attention. Please
read Brian Meloon's excellent review of this group in CoC #41.
Superior song here -- very superior! Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra, also
reviewed in issue #41, has a great excerpt of the intimidating
blackened track "The Key to the Gates of Apocalypses". This "clip" of
the song, if asked, I -also- would have chosen to place on this
compilation. It more than demonstrates MVD's musical wingspan of
diversity. Naturally, The End could not have placed -all- of the
band's 72 minute track on _White_! As an aside, I understand that MVD
went into the studio and recorded the entire album straight through
in three hours. Now that is my idea of knowing what you want!
Missouri's Scholomance, track seven, provides the most eclectic,
progressive form of death metal on this compilation. Warmly placed
sound clips together with Scholomance's unique style, which is very
impressive indeed. Epoch of Unlight's "Conflagration of Hate" from
_What Will Be Has Been_ (interview in CoC #39) is still one my
personal favourite tracks off their stunning release. They absolutely
-slayed- as a three-piece unit at the Milwaukee Metalfest! Awesome!
The last song on _White_ is Nokturnal Mortum's "Perun's Celestial
Silver" from their coming effort _Nechrist_. Actually utilising the
"extra" instruments, not the typical guitar/drum/bass work, even
thought all these are present in -finely- crafted form, but instead
speaking more to the woodwind instrument heard at the beginning adds
volumes to this track. I anticipate the rest of _Nechrist_ will be
this masterful and brutalizing. Seek out this compilation, people.
New stuff, new bands, but the same effort on The End's part -- to
"find the best metal music from around the world and work hard on
spreading it everywhere". Mission accomplished, gentlemen!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
__ __ _
/\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___
/ \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
/ /\ / __/\ 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
Exhumator - _Condescentions From the Dark Side_ (3-track demo)
by: Nuno Almeida <messiah@pulhas.org> (****-)
This band has quite a history. Formed in 1989 in Minsk, Belarus (then
still a USSR republic), they managed to release three albums. Because
of their very poor distribution, Exhumator crumbled to pieces, with
various members leaving the band. In 1994, they recorded the
_Sacrificial Bleeding_ demo, but before they had the chance to
release it, their vocalist Vadim Akimov died. They released the demo
anyway in 1995 but didn't print the lyrics to the title track; I
suppose in consideration to Vadim. I have this demo and although the
music is good, brutal death metal that can be compared to Cannibal
Corpse and Deicide, the sound quality is very bad. That ruined the
power and strength that the music might have had. Later that year,
the band decided to move to Belgium, where they recorded this three
track demo last year. The style is basically the same, with a little
more growled vocals. The production, however, is better. On this
demo, they also recorded the track "Sacrificial Bleeding". Although
I'm not really a big fan of brutal death, I liked the demos and hope
the band gets up on their feet again now that they are in a new
country.
Contact: Alexander Bourei, Rue Seutin, 43, 1030 Bruxelles, Belgium
http://www.chez.com/helleven/exhumator/
(Also reviewed in Ancient Ceremonies #3 -- http://come.to/ac-zine/)
Forcefed - _Special Places_ (8-track demo)
by: Adam Wasylyk (***--)
Wearing their musical influences on their sleeve, it's obvious that
bands like Slayer had a huge impact on the sound of Canada's
Forcefed. Meshing elements of death, speed and thrash metal, at
points Forcefed sound like an amalgamation of influences, rather than
an unique entity onto itself. However, what we hear on _Special
Places_ can't simply be written off. Able to write a cool tune, more
than half of the eight (!) tracks on this demo are quite good, which
contain the odd sound byte and even a live track. Ex-Brutal Truth
bass grinder Dan Lilker apparently had a hand in the production of
this demo, and I'd be lying if I said his work was any better than on
the thousands of demos presently circulating around the scene. The
sound is a bit underproduced, but it never deters the attention from
the music which is key. I rarely review demos, but I felt that
Forcefed are really onto something and I wanted to tell it like it
is. I definitely look forward to hearing future releases by the band.
Contact: Forcefed, Box 5115, Pembroke, ON, K8A 6W4, Canada
mailto:forcefed@mailcity.com
In Grey - _Seasons Change_ (4-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (****-)
Though Sweden is easily one of the most productive countries nowadays
as far as metal is concerned, gothic metal has never been a genre
Sweden has been renowned for. In Grey are one of the bands who
struggle against that situation, and they have been doing that for
quite a while now -- since 1992, _Seasons Change_ already being their
fourth studio recording and possibly their last independent release.
Not that there is anything mindblowing about it, it's just that the
band already shows signs of enough professionalism and musical
quality to justify a label deal. Though not innovative, _Seasons
Change_ still provides an entertaining listen; some of the second
track, "In Heaven", brings to mind Anathema's latest works, and those
specific sections are quite well done. This isn't to say that there
aren't some bland riffs or rather average passages here, but In Grey
usually manage to come up with something that will carry the song
onward quite well most of the time, usually a more melancholic guitar
or keyboard passage or a more atmospheric part. All the band members
play very competently throughout the demo (not that the music is ever
very complex anyway) and the clean vocals are generally good
(especially the spoken parts). Complete with a nice cover and with
the CD-R recording providing some help for the very decent
production, _Seasons Change_ is a good demo from a band that seems
quite serious about their music and has its share of talent. They
still need to focus it better to make a more consistent record --
mainly improve the more metallic side of the guitar work and keep a
stronger feeling throughout the whole record instead of throwing in
more "rocking" tracks such as "Like This", which isn't a bad track in
itself --, but _Seasons Change_ is nevertheless quite enjoyable and
unusually well performed for a demo.
Contact: Dennis Liljedahl, Uttinivagen 3, 129 38 Hagersten, Sweden
mailto:dgcreative@swipnet.se
http://listen.to/ingrey
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
____ __ __
/\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __
\ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___
\ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\
\ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
\ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\
\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/
____ __
/\ _`\ /\ \__
\ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____
\ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\
\ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/
\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/
M I L W A U K E E , H E R E I C O M E A G A I N !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
by: Adam Wasylyk
Thinking about the 13th instalment of North America's premier
metal festival leaves a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Not that those
in attendance (at least 4000+, including CoC scribes Adrian "The
Energizer" Bromley, Paul Schwarz, Alain Gaudrault and Aaron McKay)
necessarily had a bad time, as many of the 160+ bands demonstrated
that metal couldn't be further from "dead". But what lingers in the
mind is how much better it could have been.
Early drop outs (Morbid Angel, Manowar, Machine Head) and last
minute ones (mostly Scandinavian black metal in the form of
Satyricon, Marduk, Mactatus and Mental Home) gave a lot of metal fans
something to feel shitty about. But many bands promised to play
showed up and proceeded to kick some major ass. Including mine.
Originally scheduled to take place at the Wisconsin State Fair
Park, this plan was eventually dropped due to bureaucratic bullshit
and a last minute venue had to be found. No better place could have
been found than the Milwaukee Auditorium, air conditioned with plenty
of space for four stages and a large vending area. This may have been
a blessing in disguise, as Milwaukee's temperature on day one of the
festival was over 100 degrees Celsius, which would have made for a
day in Hell (however appropriate that may sound). [100 degrees
Celsius, eh Adam? I guess you guys had no trouble boiling water in
that mosh pit! -- Gino]
Day one featured a varied array of acts, catering to a number of
metallic tastes. The gang arrived at approximately 4pm, well rested
and ready for some great metal.
The first band I saw worthy of mention was Chicago's Ember. Not
what I remembered them to sound (and look) like, I was thrown back
for a moment as I came to the realisation that this was the same band
that sounded like Enslaved (in my ears, anyway) at last year's Fest.
Boasting a smorgasbord of influences, it was metal all right, but
difficult to nail down exactly what kind. The vocalist ranted like a
madman, while the drumming kept things moving and tight. Cool stuff.
Fellow Canadians Kitty took to the Bruce Hall (the main stage)
to a curious bunch of onlookers, most likely more interested in the
band being comprised of four hot chicks rather than what they sounded
like. "Do you wanna hear some cunt metal?", the blonde in the band
yelled at the audience. "Hell yeah!" Meshing metal with alternative
rock/punk influences, surprisingly it sounded pleasant and eerily
pleasing. "Do you think I'm a whore?", one of the brunettes in the
band yelled at the audience. "Hell yeah!" Surprisingly, they had a
larger crowd than some of the upcoming acts, although it's doubtful
that it was because of their musical integrity.
The Relapse stage would prove to be the place to be for a large
part of Friday. The first band to pique my curiosity was Bongzilla,
the band not two feet away from a bong or a copy of High Times.
Playing their brand of sludgy metal with vocals from Hell, they
played a variety of tracks from their new album _Stash_ which the
crowd on hand lapped up merrily.
Next up were Dillinger Escape Plan, who have created quite a
name for themselves as a live band. Going nuts as soon as the first
chord was stuck, these guys never let up from beginning to end.
Playing hardcore sped up a thousand times, the start/stops and off
time signatures really messed with my head. Disorienting, to say the
least.
Today Is the Day never fail to disappoint, and Milwaukee #13 was
no exception. Steve Austin must be troubled; I've seen no front man
for a band this pissed off and agitated. Taking the mic into his
mouth to accentuate his screams, Austin's performance would prove to
be the highlight of their set. Fucked up noise metal. Gotta love it.
Another fellow Canadian band Solus ended up following Soilent
Green, but unfortunately didn't retain much of their audience.
Playing to a mostly empty Relapse stage, it didn't stop the band from
playing an energetic set of metal with death influences. Having heard
some talk about wanting to catch their set, I was surprised by the
lack of people on hand. But with three other stages playing at the
same time, it was bound to hurt many bands in attendance.
After checking out one song of The Gathering, it was time to see
why Brazil's Krisiun have such a cult following. Hearing but one song
showed me why this band are so popular in the death metal
underground. The Morbid Angel-isms combined with a go-for-the-throat
attitude made the band's half an hour set both exhilarating and
exhausting. Occasionally bland because of too much speed where better
control of tempo would have been more favourable, overall Krisiun won
the packed Kilbourn Hall over in spades and will hopefully come back
to these parts soon.
Norway's Twin Obscenity made my worst of the Fest list, simply
because they seem unable to write a song that one can remember after
it's over. Containing a keyboardist who was nice to look at but
looked totally out of place, the band seemed uncomfortable and
couldn't excite the half capacity room, many of whom I followed out
the door. Wish they stayed home, to be totally frank.
Time conflicts soon became too painful to bear, as both
Oakland's Neurosis and Sweden's In Flames were scheduled to play at
the same time. But due to a delay on the Kilborne Hall stage, I was
able to check out half of each band. Neurosis, with their brand of
hardcore/noise/metal accompanied with movie screen backdrop depicting
downcast and incomprehensible images almost made me unable to tear
myself away to check out the Scandinavian act. In Flames put on a
good show, but not knowing some of their material may have hampered
my potential enjoyment. Highlighted by "Episode 666" and playing
tracks from their new album _Colony_, I was glad to have gotten the
opportunity to see them, knowing they most likely won't be back for
some time.
The Misfits, who I surprisingly enjoyed (contrarily to many I
would later speak to), closed out the night. Being completely
unfamiliar with their material (apart from the tracks Metallica have
covered in the past) and having heard their fans sing along with the
band made me wish I wasn't so. Oh well, ho hum.
Mass quantities of beer would be consumed on this night, with
our own Paul Schwarz having a bit too much and paying for it the next
morning. Rookies!
Day two wouldn't start for us until 3pm, missing as many
pay-to-play bands as possible. Unfortunately, I was to miss Markham,
Canada's Rotting, who I later heard played a powerful set of brutal
death metal to a near-packed Kilborne Hall.
Victory's Shutdown followed on the Bruce Hall stage where they
played a 20 minute set of speed/thrash metal -- for some reason, the
band like to label themselves "hardcore". I can honestly say I didn't
hear ONE OUNCE of hardcore, just dated metal music. Sure they may
look hardcore, but they don't play it. Whatever.
Back to the Relapse stage, which contained more great bands to
check out. California's Benumb kicked some major ass, playing 30
second to one minute blasts of pure aggression. Effortlessly meshing
hardcore with grindcore elements, it's music that the hardcore kids
can appreciate and the metalheads can get into. Vocalist Pete
Ponitkoff's face was beat read by track two, and ready to explode by
the set's end. Fucking intense the whole way through.
Sweden's Nasum proved that grindcore is an international way of
total brutalization. Featuring drums on full blast with a bassist who
was unable to stand still for even one second, they played a number
of tracks (that I could discern, anyway) from their _Inhale/Exhale_
debut on Relapse. Not playing the full half hour as originally
scheduled, they did however make an impression on the audience, that
of an auditory representation of a charging bull. Intense, to say the
least.
Atrocity played a cover of Tears For Fears' "Shout". 'Nuff said.
A death metal phenom if there ever was one, Nile had no problem
proving to the Milwaukee audience why they're one of the more intense
live acts around. Playing a number of tracks from their highly
acclaimed _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_ (climaxing with "The
Howling of the Jinn"), the drumming was spectacular while all four
members contributed vocally to the malicious onslaught. One of the
best bands to play the Fest, hands down.
Holland's Sinister sounded (to me, anyway) to be the fastest of
the 160+ bands on hand, with guitaring that's really something to
behold. The beer was starting to kick in, so song titles started to
become a blur, but Sinister's tight musicianship and good sound could
never be forgotten.
Quebec's Gorguts showed 'em Yankees how death metal is really
played, despite being a member short. Playing without Steve Hurdle,
it did have an effect on their sound as the technical brilliance
exhibited on _Obscura_ didn't shine through as when I last saw them
as a complete band. Not deterred, they played a good half hour to a
sizeable crowd who showed their appreciation appropriately.
Closing out the show was Greece's Rotting Christ, who were only
able to play about four songs until the promoters pulled the plug.
Playing mostly new stuff with one track being an older one, they
travelled too far to play such a short set. Almost a disappointment
to see them for such a small amount of time, I've never been a fan of
RC but I've recently culled my releases by the band to give 'em
another listen. Who knows, perhaps they'll get another chance to play
America. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
And just like that, the festival was over. However, this year
wasn't just about the bands. It was also cool to get to talk to
people about metal, this coming from someone who's from a town where
death metal is only starting to get the attention it deserves.
Accompanied with some great pot and lots of beer (excluding American
beer, which could generously be called "piss water"), it truly made
it a year to remember.
Incidentally, the talk recently has centred around Holland for
Dynamo 2000 for the CoC crew. We'll keep you updated.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
P A U L P E R U S E S W I S C O N S I N ' S F I N E S T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
by: Paul Schwarz
Introduction
~~~~~~~~~~~~
This year's Milaukee Metalfest went through so many "last
minute" (as in last month) problems that it was looking at one point
not simply that it would be one big anticlimactic disappointment, but
that it would not happen at all. The first line-up casualties this
year were the headliners, with Manowar and Machine Head both
cancelling mere weeks before the Fest was to go ahead. Rumours
suggest that Machine Head pulled out due to the "extreme" line-up of
the Metalfest ("Didn't want to play with too many death metal bands"
was the way it was put to me) and Manowar wanted more money than was
offered. Another possible explanation, however, is that Jack Koshick
(Metalfest organiser) put these bands on the bill before a contract
with them was signed and thus the bands may never have been set for
Metalfest in the first place. In any case, the fact stands that
high-profile headliners were not what Metalfest ended up with this
year and thus Neurosis / The Misfits and Cradle of Filth were the
more low-key lynch-pins for the two days of music and metal madness
that the 5000 or so attendees were treated to. This year a venue
shift was also planned. The idea was to take MMF outside to the
Milwaukee State Fair Park, but when legal wrangles forced Koshick &
Co. to fight a court battle over the right to hold it at this venue,
a court case which was lost, the decision was made to move the
festival back indoors, though not to the Eagles Ballroom where recent
Metalfests have taken place, but instead to the Milwaukee Auditorium,
a large, air-conditioned complex which housed all four stages with
ease. To be honest, the oppressive and ludicrously humid weather made
this new location a godsend; I think if MMF XIII had been held
outside it would have been a painful and very unenjoyably hot
experience. With a venue in place it was time for a few more bands to
pull out, with Satyricon, Marduk, Morbid Angel, Nevermore and
Solitude Aeturnus all cancelling, some mere days before the event was
to go ahead. All this taken into account, then, it was with some
trepidation and much pessimism that I made the trip down to Milwaukee
for the second year running.
Heading down with colleagues and generally respected metalheads
is always fun, and in traditional fashion the festivities began the
day before the festival itself, with beer being consumed, jokes being
cracked and great dialogues being had, long after Thursday night had
faded into oblivion and the early hours of Friday morning had come
upon us. Thus, sickness and headache greeted me on Friday as I
prepared for a day of excruciating volumes and sweaty rooms, but this
did not manage to stain the two days of music, which, at points, were
almost revelatory.
The four stages this year's Fest played host to were an
Arena-style stage, Bruce Hall, two medium sized rooms adjacent to
each other, Kilbourn Hall and Juineau Hall, and an upstairs seated
and furnished conference room, Plankington Hall, which was where
Relapse had their sponsored stage. Moving between these was
relatively unhindering and even the climb to the upstairs
Relapse-sponsored stage was no hassle. Though the three apart from
Bruce Hall got a bit hot once a large number of people were crammed
into them, in general the air conditioning made things at least
bearable, certainly a comparison to previous Metalfests.
But hey, enough of my yappin'... let's buggie!
Friday 30th July
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After walking around the venue to check out the layout, various
rooms, stages and tables full of merchandise, the first band who I
actually took time to watch were ...And Here I Lie. They had a doomy
feel to their music, most commonly chugging along and sprinkling
melodic runs sparingly into the dirge-like mix, and reminded vaguely
of the style of _The Fourth Dimension_-era Hypocrisy. Vesperian
Sorrow took Bruce Hall's dauntingly large stage next and were quite
the unusual combination of factors. Would you believe in the
existence a black/death metal band with keyboard backings and an
European feel who come from Texas and dress like a hardcore band,
with Texas leaning like chequered shirts thrown in for good measure,
who are signed to the Dutch death metal label Displeased? You
wouldn't, would you? Well, Vesperian Sorrow are just that and, to be
fair, they were also actually pretty decent despite their unusual
image.
First on my list of bands I -intended- to check out were
Chicago's Ember, who seem not only to have taken a slightly different
musical path of late with their _Concession_ EP but also seem to have
had an image change for good measure. A few supporters I know of
walked out of Kilbourn Hall right after they walked in because they
assumed that Ember weren't Ember. However, the few songs I caught
sounded good and, despite emphasising the more punk leanings the band
have r
ecently taken on (especially with their cover of The Misfit's
"Earth AD"), showed that they still have the power to kick some ass
in the live arena. From The Depths followed Ember and impressed me
mildly, showcasing a good range of dynamics and utilising melody
well. Their highly appraising demo reviews in previous issues of this
magazine were not overzealous, judging by tonight's performance,
though I did leave briefly to get an opinion on the band currently
whining their way through a set on the Bruce Hall stage, London
Ontario's Kittie. This band are to me a female, punk/riot girl
version of the Death Kids, with attention-grabbing stage antics,
novelty status and painfully average music in abundance: I left
quickly in mild disgust.
By this point in the day stages were already running late, a
problem which would persist and become increasingly more agitated as
the festival progressed, and so I arrived at the Relapse stage a bit
before Bongzilla hit it and during the last few minutes of Fall's
set. Fall seemed to be a death-tinged grindcore band who had achieved
a good sound and had the confidence to play competently and look good
on stage, and thus were worthwhile, though a long way short of a
stand-out.
Bongzilla's sound filled the air and created a similarly
encapsulating feel to Burn the Priest last year. However, like Burn
the Priest, I found their music (which is of the stoner/Eyehategod
variety) to be similarly uninteresting after prolonged listening. The
same syndrome of heading for one band, finding they were late and
thus catching another occurred when I came across Centurion on the
Kilbourn Hall stage. Their take on _Harmony Corruption_-era Napalm
Death / Massacre's _From Beyond_ was unastounding, though still
suitably powerful, but Epoch of Unlight, who I had come to see, were
a lot more worthy of my time. Having only heard rumours of their
talents and no actual music, I was pleasantly surprised to be
impressed by Epoch of Unlight. They play a technical mix of American
death and European melodic death and possess more than a hint of
black. The singer's vocals are thankfully far beyond inconsequential,
as can sometimes be the case when a technical melee is on the cards,
and in any case the band's technical prowess and occasional use of
breakdowns was a pleasure to watch. Epoch are certainly a band I will
be making an effort to hear more of in the future.
Today Is the Day kicked my ass for a man. Once again (this is
the third time I have witnessed them and also the third time I have
gotten a severe ass-kicking) they totally slayed live. Their sound
was utterly raw though devastatingly clear, shoving the sporadic
guitar work and insane drumming right in the audience's collective
face. Steve Austin was once again a visual, musical and emotional
focal point with his intense motions, mike swallowing and generally
anguished presence enhancing the feeling of anger, disgust and fury
which the spastic tones of Today Is the Day inevitably convey to the
listener. Once again a highlight of the Metalfest and certainly the
best band to play on Friday. Unfortunately, stage conflicts meant I
could only catch a song and a half of Solus' set, but what I heard
sounded as proficient and deadly as their past live appearances and
their recently unleashed _Universal Bloodshed_ album.
Krisiun were my reason for leaving Solus. These Brazilian
deathsters have a lot of thrash, a lot of technical prowess and a
recipe for musical insanity in place on their records which led me to
expect a live performance would be almost unbearably intense. I was a
little let down. Though playing powerfully and well reproducing
tracks from both _Black Force Domain_ and _Apocalyptic Revelation_,
Krisiun lacked a fine-tuned clarity, especially in the vocal
department, which meant that much as their impact was intense and
violent, it did not draw the listener into their violent soundscape
like their albums have that wonderful ability to. Granted, the
spiralling solo-work of the single guitarist was captivating and the
drum work was, especially in parts, astoundingly complex, but the
performance was not the extra one up on their albums I had hoped it
would be.
Neurosis' performance on the main stage, Bruce Hall, was
similarly disappointing. Though projectors were present and a good
sound was in their possession, Neurosis were not the life-changing
spectacle live which I had been told so many times they are (and
unfortunately they didn't play my personal favourite track, "Locust
Star", either). At points I was drawn into their set enough to really
live and breath the experience in the way I had been told would be
the case, but they were not enrapturing enough to stop my mind from
constantly wandering and pulling me back to the rather ordinary
reality of just watching a band perform their material. I watched
Neurosis' set, I enjoyed it, but I did not live it, and that was a
shame.
Watching all of Neurosis led me to miss the majority of In
Flames, who I am told were pretty astounding this evening. I was not
convinced by the selection of _Colony_ tracks and old favourite
"Behind Space" which I heard, and though I will admit In Flames were
good, I found their stage presence a little lacking.
The night came to a mushy halt with The Misfits. Though their
spikes, muscular physiques and unusual make-up and hairdos made for
an imposing stage presence, which was backed up by their energetic
jumps and runs around the stage and an impressively crunchy sound,
they became somewhat tedious after fifteen or twenty minutes on stage
and played an overabundance of recent or soon-to-be-released
material, somewhat neglecting older classics. They also spent a
ridiculous thirty minutes sound-checking, which was irritating, to
say the least. Overall, The Misfits weren't that much of a
disappointment since I hadn't expected a great deal from them, but
they were a disappointing end to the first day of music at Metalfest
XIII, and were certainly no substitute for Manowar.
Saturday 31st July
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today began at 17:00 for me with Lividity's appearance on the
Kilbourn Hall stage. For the record, bands today started at 11:00
(yesterday it was 16:00) so we missed quite a considerable chunk of
music, though nothing we -knew- was going to be any good apart from
Toronto's own Rotting, who we meant to see but arrived late for --
sorry, guys. Lividity I had gone to check out solely because I had
been told their stage comments relating to female genitalia were
funny in their brash, offensive tone. I wasn't let down. Though the
proceeding music was always -very- unexciting American death metal,
proclamations like "This song is -Pussy Lover-!" or "This song is
about getting fucked in the ass", chantings of "Show your pussy" from
band to audience and comments on how the band hope the audience
enjoys their new album capped off with "Ladies, we hope you blow your
guys to this" kept me entertained, to say the least. That final
comment resulted in an immediate middle finger salute from one female
member of the audience, which is pretty much how I felt towards
Lividity by the end of their set, with regards to both their music,
their comments and the novelty of them that they seem to be
exploiting for commercial gain.
Next up on this same stage were New York's Withered Earth, a
band I am not only familiar with but also one whose music I enjoy.
Their set was good, with a decent sound backing the band up and good
performances turned in by all, though the drummer should be mentioned
specially for his subtly excellent cymbal work. The band captured a
good groove live and pulled off their various breakdowns and song
dynamics seemingly with ease. I will admit their somewhat
hardcore-like appearance threw me off somewhat, judging by the
distinct death metal sound they have, but it certainly made no
difference to their impressive performance tonight.
Next up were Pessimist, a band who certainly -do- wear their
death metal stylings very much on their sleeve, or rather in their
leather trousers, bullet belts and toned physiques. However, the band
are more than just an imposing physical presence; their technical
brand of brutal death is also an imposing musical force to be
reckoned with and they certainly impressed me more than expected in
their short 20 minute appearance.
Late running stages again led me to catch bands I had intended
not to bother with, and I would have been happy to do without
Exhumed, who were still grinding at the Relapse stage when Nasum
should have been on. Exhumed are bearable but painfully generic and
derivative and not that exciting to watch live. Nasum were quite a
contrast. Though also a grindcore band, their songs are far better
written, their anger is more affectingly obvious and their attitude
seems more professional. Though they had a few sound problems which
cut into their set and not every moment captivated me, their overall
effect was devastating, especially when they played "The Masked Face"
and its follow on.
I was only able to catch one song and a half of Dying Fetus (who
were almost as viciously devastating as usual, even in that short
time) despite leaving Nasum early to catch them, as a late running
Kilbourn Hall but on-time Bruce Hall meant that Usurper were starting
only five minutes, instead of half and hour, after Dying Fetus.
Usurper were no kind of compensation for missing even three minutes
of Dying Fetus, let alone over half their set. The singer's Tom
Warrior-isms can become almost embarrassing at times, while his
attempts to invigorate the crowd in-between songs had him sounding
like a monkey. Additionally, the band played neither "Necrocult Part
1" or "Dead of Winter", which are surely some of their best songs,
and the other members were not even close to stunning enough to
offset the singer's inadequacies. Disappointing and close to just
plain bad.
One thing I was going to make sure of today was that I saw The
Chasm, and this led me to go into Juineau Hall (for the first time
this weekend!) early and thus catch some of Lorde of All Desires'
set. They seem to be decent, keyboard backed melodic death, with a
gothic tinge, and though unexciting were far from offensive. However,
I had come to see The Chasm, and my waiting was not without reward.
Beginning with the vicious one-two of "Revenge Rises" / "Drowned in
the Mournful Blood", The Chasm slayed and were one of the best bands
of the weekend. Though some of the melodic, and especially acoustic,
intricacies of the music showcased on their latest _Deathcult For
Eternity: The Triumph_ album didn't come out live, their Slayer-esque
stage appearance and similar live impact made them a deadly force to
be reckoned with.
I missed two songs of Atrocity (who I was quite hyped up to see)
to watch all of The Chasm, but to be honest that was definitely the
right decision: Atrocity were a big disappointment. The two songs I
missed were '80s covers; Atrocity played two more before I left and
another one as I was leaving. The old material they played was poorly
chosen in addition to the fact there wasn't enough of it, with the
title tracks of _Blut_ and _Wilenskraft_ getting an airing along with
"Necropolis" from _Hallucinations_ (which they played nearly two full
times due to sound problems which cut off their first, nearly
completed, attempt to play the song). Atrocity were just that today:
an atrocity, and, to paraphrase one of their covers, sets like these
are the things -I- can do without. Fortunately, changes in set times
did mean that I didn't have to miss the beginning of Nile because of
spending time watching Atrocity and thus I saw South Carolina's
Egyptianally innovative death metal gods perform for the third time
this year. Playing without samples, Nile began with "Barra Edinazu"
and followed up with "The Black Hand of Set", "The Howling of the
Jinn" and "Pestilence and Iniquity" before I looked at my watch,
realised Immolation were about to play, and somehow managed to
extract myself from Nile's enrapturing aura. Nile were astounding,
with a truly inhuman presence imbuing them and making their set an
experience far above simply watching a band play their music live.
Despite Nile's near-godly presence, I in no way regretted
leaving them to see Immolation. As some of you may already realise,
Immolation are a personal favourite of mine and they have also just
released what will surely remain as one of 1999's death metal
triumphs: _Failures For Gods_. From beginning to end their set was as
violent as it was moving; Immolation injected me with the primal
energy of pure enjoyment as they raged through "Once Ordained", "No
Jesus, No Beast", "Under the Supreme", "Unsaved" (cut a little short
by sound problems), "Into Everlasting Fire", "Dawn of Possession" and
the ultimate closer (which also closes _FFG_), "The Devil I Know".
Immolation were most certainly the band of the Metalfest for me this
year; I bow down before them and shake with the anticipation of
seeing them live in London, England early in September.
After being flattened by Immolation, I waited a while to check
out Cradle of Filth, tonight's headliners. After a long and drawn out
classical, organ tinged intro, the band hit the stage with a rather
mushy sound and I quickly became bored and headed to the other stages
to see what else was on offer. Upon finding nothing of interest at
that point, I went back to the main stage a while later to catch
Cradle finishing "Dusk and Her Embrace", then playing new track "From
the Cradle to Enslave" and then beginning "The Twisted Nails of Fate"
before I again got bored and headed off to the Relapse stage to see
Gorguts.
Of course, they were in a wholly different class. Though second
guitarist Steve was absent, Lemay and his two remaining compadres
managed to very convincingly pull off a captivating set. Many tracks
from their warped and brilliant _Obscura_ were aired along with
"Stiff and Cold" from _Considered Dead_, and though they weren't
destroyed by Steve's absence, there were times in the _Obscura_
material where one felt that something was certainly missing. All in
all, a great set but one which could have been better.
The last band I caught this year were Rotting Christ, who took
the Kilbourn Hall stage nearly an hour later than scheduled. This
being the Greeks' first time ever in the US, it was gratifying that
their presence was as strong and energetic as when I saw them support
Deicide in London back in February. However, the band were cut off
after less than twenty minutes because the festival had a curfew time
which had been reached. With police around the building, the
organisers obviously didn't want to risk problems, and thus, despite
crowd and band protestation, Rotting Christ were unceremoniously
removed from the stage. This was the ultimate end result of a very
late running stage. I think time and thought should be expended to
avoid similar problems in the future.
Conclusion
~~~~~~~~~~
This year Metalfest was an overall success. The second day in
particular presented enough great bands and stunning performances to
offset the disappointment of so many cancellations, even of bands I
was dying to see. The jury is still out for me as to whether four
stages is a good thing. To be honest, I only went to three most of
the time and even these provided and had the potential for enough
clashes to really get on my nerves, so I imagine four stages all with
bands I was interested in would have been near to impossibly
irritating. The late running of the stages, especially Kilbourn Hall,
should be fixed just to make it possible to know when you can see a
band and to prevent what happened to Rotting Christ happening again.
I know it seems like quite a demand, but giving each band their time
and absolutely no more would be the best solution, otherwise there's
often one who pays for the delay in the end, and thus the fans also
pay.
Additionally, I would like to say thank you to Relapse Records
for providing food and drink for some of us in a nice secluded room
and of course for once again bringing so many of their bands, some of
whom were among the best at the festival, to Milwaukee this year.
To close, here are some funny things which happened or which
were heard at Metalfest, apart from those things, such as Lividity's
stage comments, which have already been mentioned.
1. A rather dishevelled-looking person sitting in a corner holding a
sign saying "Will put out for food and shelter".
2. One person screaming "Kill -all- the Christians!" after leaving a
band in Kilbourn Hall.
3. Will Rahmer of Mortician, who decided that one woman idly stepping
on a flyer needed to be stopped, and thus went and kicked her on the
foot to get her to move off the flyer saying "Excuse me, can you move
your foot, please?". She moved it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A S S O R T E D A S S E R T I O N S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC covers the Milaukee Metalfest XIII
at the Milwaukee Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Friday and Saturday July 30th & 31st, 1999
by: Adrian Bromley & Alain Gaudrault
ADRIAN'S ASSUMPTIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well... it could have been a disaster, a really big one, but
thankfully it wasn't. I am glad to say that the group of us who made
our way to this year's Metalfest (which included CoC-ers Adam
Wasylyk, Alain Gaudrault, Paul Schwarz and Aaron McKay) made the best
of the time there.
With many headliners cancelling in the weeks/days leading up to
the festival (Satyricon, Machine Head, Manowar, Marduk) and with
promoter Jack Koshick in a complete frenzy trying to fight action by
many to ban the festival from the original festival area of Wisconsin
State Fair Grounds, who knew if this was going to happen.
But it did and even though the festival had moved back indoors
(to the bitchin' Milwaukee Auditorium complex) and bands had
cancelled, all those who made the trek from the North were pleased
with the end results.
This was the third time I have gone to this festival, four times
if you count the inaugural March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey last
March, and I must say I had the most fun this time. It rocked! Here
is a quick summary of the good and bad points of Metalfest XIII:
THUMBS UP
~~~~~~~~~
Bands: Today Is the Day, In Flames, The Gathering, Bongzilla, Nile,
Benumb, Lorde of All Desire, Gorguts, Immolation
- The *nice guys* in Cephalic Carnage
- Doing the "W" at Thursday night's drinking fest
- Those funny Chris Bruni-isms
- Perkins (good wholesome American food)
- No last minute cancellations during festival
- Meeting friends and colleagues and just hanging out
- Meeting CoC-er Aaron McKay (could you be any taller?!)
THUMBS DOWN
~~~~~~~~~~~
Bands: Mortician, Internal Bleeding, Earth Crisis, Atrocity
- Fuckin' long ride home
- The border stop (GRR!!)
- The 100+ degree heat
- Mediocre service at Perkins at 2am
- Not much leg room in mini-van (11 hours plus is a long time, kids!)
- Having to deal with housekeeping at 10am
- Having to hear Adam Wasylyk whine about my snoring all the time
ALAIN'S ASSESSMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THUMBS UP
~~~~~~~~~
Dying Fetus
-- truly the highlight; kicked... my... ass...
Neurosis
-- a THC-lover's visual and aural delight, a feast for the senses
Soilent Green
-- can't stop gushing about these guys
Nile
-- even without much of their effects
Today Is the Day
-- new drummer astounds, Austin as fucked as ever
Sinister
-- tight, crushing, and luckily, great sound
Gorguts
-- despite Hurdle's absence; Lemay's fret-work is sheer beauty
Immolation
-- even with iffy sound
Morgion
-- new material a bit weak, but great set
Summon
Indecision
The Chasm
Lord of all Desires
Solus
-- keep an eye out for these guys, tres death/speed cool
Cephalic Carnage
-- for providing much-needed weed!
Milwaukee Auditorium
-- far better than The Eagles Ballroom
Guy heard shrieking "Kill all the Christians!!!" while walking about
Guy with "Will put out for food and shelter" sign
THUMBS DOWN
~~~~~~~~~~~
No-shows by Man-O-War, Marduk, Satyricon, Incantation and Morbid
Angel
The Misfits
-- Michael Graves *cannot* sing
Mortician
-- for consistently putting out Moron Metal
Flotsam & Jetsam
-- mediocre set, pointless Sabbath cover wasting time
Cephalic Carnage
-- for not being as good as their weed
Spotty sound (what else is new?)
Scheduling skews (ditto)
Food vendors (for being rip-off artists)
Cheapskates with "spare change for beer" signs
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
C A N A D A : N O C H U R C H - B U R N E R S A L L O W E D !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emperor, Witchery, Borknagar, Peccatum and Divine Empire
at the Reverb in Toronto, Ontario, on July 14th, 1999
by: Adam Wasylyk
This was probably the highest anticipated underground metal show
of the year thus far, as 300+ (a record of some sort here in Toronto)
came out to see some of Scandinavia's highest praised metal artists.
Even the mighty Gino made an appearance, complete with both shit
kickers and decked out in full corpse paint! Now I know his soul is
purely black...
First off were the Floridian death metal unit Divine Empire, who
everyone knows contains ex-members of Malevolent Creation. Having
seen them a couple of times before, they did what they do best;
playing aggressive death metal that rises above the many mediocre
bands in the scene. The track "Silent Carnage" was the highlight and
a definite trademark of the band, combining deadly riffs and some
supreme blast beats. The crowd acknowledged their strength, as Divine
Empire received a good response considering they were playing to a
mostly black metal crowd.
What quickly became apparent was how soon Peccatum took the
stage, something like 15 minutes! Why can't every concert be like
this? Waiting 30 minutes between sets sucks; this show was a monument
to how smoothly a show can go, and I'm sure it contributed to the
enjoyment of many in attendance.
Peccatum were the wild card on the bill -- while not the
prototype of the black metal sound, the band contains Emperor's
Ihsahn, his wife Ihriel and her brother Lord PZ. Combining several
elements such as black, death, classical and even opera, the foursome
(accompanied with another male vocalist) were backed by drum machine
(which sounded great) and programmed keyboards as both man and
machine blended effortlessly into an extraordinary sight to behold.
Ihriel's vocals right on par with those on their CD _Strangling From
Within_ and Ihsahn's flawless guitar playing really made for an
exciting listen. Highlighted by the track "The Change", I could tell
that many in attendance didn't understand what exactly they were
hearing. I admit that Peccatum may sound idiosyncratic on the first
listen, but if given the chance to grow on you, they'll never leave
an arms length of your CD player.
Borknagar followed quickly behind, backed by new drummer Nick
(ex-Cradle of Filth). I'm not entirely familiar with their material,
but listening to their material live moved me to spin their albums
once again. Combining their core sound of black metal with some retro
and classic metal influences, it's cool to hear something truly
different coming out of Norway. Not bad, although about half an hour
is about the right length of time to check out this band for.
Next up were Witchery, who many were here just to see. Playing
both old material and new stuff from their upcoming _Dead, Hot and
Ready_ album, the crowd reacted strongly to their black metal / retro
sound. Not bad, but I couldn't help but think that these guys were
merely an obstacle between me and Emperor. Ho hum.
Emperor would not disappoint on this night. Having played
Milwaukee with no keyboards, tonight I would get to experience the
entire Emperor sound. Starting off with "Curse You All Men!", Emperor
would go on to prove that they couldn't be denied on this night.
Despite the absence of Samoth, who because of his criminal record was
denied passage into Canada, Ihsahn was up to the challenge and worked
double-duty to make sure their guitar sound would be just as deadly.
And they succeeded. Songs to follow were "I Am the Black Wizards",
"The Loss and Curse of Reverence", "Thus Spake the Nightspirit" and
the godly "Night of the Graveless Souls" with great keyboards
courtesy of touring member Charmand Grimloch (Tartaros). Spectacular
as far as both sound and choice of material, Emperor's near hour long
set won't soon be forgotten.
A mind-blowing night of European black metal, this show will go
down in record books as one of Toronto's best shows in memory. I was
glad to be a witness to it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
U.S. OF A.: CHURCH-BURNERS ARE PEOPLE TOO
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Emperor, Witchery, Borknagar, Peccatum and Divine Empire
at Ground Zero in Spartanburg, South Carolina
On July 20th, 1999
by: John Weathers
Last Tuesday, I drove two and half hours to see a band whose
music I have admired since I first heard them back in 1996. And the
mighty Emperor did not disappoint me live! But I jump ahead of
myself...
Emperor and Borknagar are currently on a small "Kings of Terror"
tour through some parts of North America. They inexplicably passed
over my city of Atlanta, GA and instead descended upon the smaller
town of Spartanburg, SC. On the day of the concert, I took a half-day
at work and drove to Greenville, South Carolina, where I met up with
a friend of mine before proceeding to Ground Zero, which is seemingly
located in the middle of nowhere in Spartanburg. Ground Zero isn't
exactly a nice joint, but it is fairly roomy on the inside and is
about the size of an average full-fledged dance club. There is a long
bar on the ground level and a second bar below in a lower lounge
level where couches, pool tables and a TV reside.
When my friend and I arrived, a small crowd of thirty or so
people stood outside the entrance. My friend, being dressed in
business casual attire, felt distinctly out of place among the other
concert goers who were decked out in various metal t-shirts, leather
and consistently black articles of clothing. I, at least, was
somewhat dressed for the occasion in my all black slacks and t-shirt.
I was glad that I didn't wear my "Cruelty and the Beast" t-shirt, as
there were far too many Cradle of Filth t-shirts in the crowd. The
average age seemed somewhere around 19 to 20, though some folks my
age (22) and older were present and more arrived later.
We arrived at 7:20pm and the show was scheduled to begin at
around 8pm. Unfortunately, this estimate was far from accurate. They
didn't even open the door until around 8:45. In the mean time, we
could hear Ihriel and Lord PZ from Peccatum practising their vocals
to Ihsahn's guitar work. It was then that it actually sunk in that I
was finally going to see one of my favourite bands playing live. Now
don't get me wrong -- I love Peccatum --, but it was kind of strange
to be standing outside and waiting to get inside a metal concert and
to hear Ihriel's opera style vocals as though we had gathered for a
performance at the Metropolitan Opera House. After waiting in the
accursed humidity for over an hour, the club finally opened its doors
and the group of 100 or so metal fans entered Ground Zero.
At around 9pm, Divine Empire took the stage and the until then
rather spread out crowd closed in more tightly around the stage, but
at this point the crowd still wasn't very thick. Apparently, this
Florida based death metal group consists of ex-Malevolent Creation
members. As my tastes lean more towards Swedish death metal than
towards old school death metal, I cannot say that I am familiar with
either band. They struck me as decent if not outstanding examples of
the genre. I did note that I rather enjoyed their usage of two
vocalists in alternation and sometimes in unison -- one with a really
deep guttural death vocal and another with a slightly higher and more
hiss-like vocal. The contrast worked nicely and reminded me somewhat
of the pair of death vocal styles on Orphanage's track "At the
Mountains of Madness" from their sophomore album _By Time Alone_. The
band managed to stir up a small mosh pit, but for the most part the
crowd did not get too worked up for this band. Then again, when the
vocalist barked at the crowd to make some noise, he was kind of
intimidating because even his natural voice sounds ridiculously low
and guttural, leading one to feel almost obligated to salute the band
in kind, which for some people, such as myself, is simply not
possible.
Peccatum were next, and I was excited to see this family group
in a live performance, as I greatly enjoyed their debut CD
_Strangling From Within_. While I pushed towards the front of the
stage, I noted that the crowd, having dispersed between sets, had
returned in greater numbers for this Norwegian trio. The fact that
Ihsahn is the main composer in the group certainly helps stir
interest, I am sure. As the first notes of the harpsichord stirred
along side the spoken introduction of "Where Do I Then Belong",
Ihriel, Lord PZ, Ihsahn and a session guitarist entered the stage to
much vocal delight from the crowd. Ihsahn was dressed in an "Icon E"
Emperor t-shirt and is still bald as an eagle. After the initial
sighting of Ihsahn, my attention then focused on the beautiful Ihriel
and her brother Lord PZ. Ihriel was dressed dramatically in a
witch-like robe and cape. Lord PZ entered the stage bare-chested and
sporting corpse-paint. The siblings entered the stage carrying
matching candles, which they set upon either side of the stage in
antique-looking candleholders. Throughout the performance, brother
and sister made grand gestures and put on what can only be described
as a very dramatic show. All instrumentation other than the guitars
came from recordings, but I suppose it would be rather hard to
reproduce the more orchestral sounds of Peccatum in a live setting.
Lord PZ and Ihriel were imminently serious during the entire show,
but they did on a few occasions rally the crowd behind the "horns"
salute. The sound was not the best that I have heard, and on a few
occasions the speakers seemed to peak when Ihriel's voice resounded
with particular volume, resulting in an unfortunate marring of her
spectacular vocal delivery. Otherwise, the performance was rather
good, and the crowd seemed rather caught up in Peccatum's particular
brand of witchery -- with the exception of one idiot who exclaimed:
"Have your bitch take her top off!". I felt like strangling this
moron. This act is an excellent band from whom I expect great things
in the future.
The Swedish band Witchery played next. Having never before
heard
the band, I didn't know what to expect, but seeing as the show had
been good so far, I didn't dread hearing this band perform. Being a
Slayer and thrash fan, I was pleasantly surprised to find that
Witchery perform an energetic form of thrash metal with Swedish death
metal style vocals. The crowd also reacted positively, and an
energetic mosh pit ensued with my friend and I as willing
participants for a good portion of Witchery's show. They were a
decent thrash band with a lot of energy. The pseudo-Satanism of their
lyrics and act came off very cheesy, though, especially when the
vocalist asked if there were any priests in the room before he
introduced a song whose title escapes my memory's grasp. All in all a
nice little show, but not impressive enough to send me out to the
store any time soon.
At this point, I went downstairs to get a drink and, to my
surprise, I discovered Ihsahn hanging at the bar with a few fans
around him in small chat. Later, I saw Samoth and Trym hanging by a
pool table. Ihsahn seemed friendly enough and more approachable than
I had imagined, but I didn't really know what I wanted to say to the
man and decided against stating the obvious -- that I was an Emperor
fan, etc.. In my hesitation, I lost my opportunity, for Ihsahn soon
rejoined Samoth and Trym near a pool table, and then Borknagar took
the stage upstairs.
Before this concert, I knew little of Borknagar other than that
they were a Norwegian black metal "super group" not unlike Arcturus
and that Ulver's Garm had once been their vocalist. Since Arcturus
and Ulver are two of my favourite bands, I was definitely interested
in hearing a related band. They entered the stage to an acoustic
introduction and then ripped into epic black metal that was beautiful
and soaring. The vocalist employed both grim vocals and powerful
clean vocals of a deeply masculine but beautiful nature. The entire
performance oozed class and a sense of the grand. Musically, the band
reminds me of a cross between Ulver's more acoustic side with a band
like Enslaved. I was definitely impressed. So much so that I bought
their album _The Olden Domain_ a few days later. The crowd response
was very good, but the energy was a different kind than for the
previous band, which is perfectly natural as this kind of music is on
a different plane from Witchery's thrash, which is at most fun and
aggressive. I noticed that Karl Sanders (one of the guitarists for
Greenville's death metal band Nile) was one of the spectators and I
heard him comment that this was the best band of the night so far. I
couldn't agree more readily.
After Borknagar, there was a short break as everyone geared up
for the main act of the night. I made sure to be right next to the
stage. At approximately 1am, the crowd gave enthusiastic shouts and
hails as Ihsahn, Samoth, Trym, Charmand Grimloch and Tyr took the
stage. They were all dressed pretty normally, with Samoth wearing
camouflaged trousers. Ihsahn was still in an "Icon E" t-shirt. They
don't need any corpse-paint or leather attire to command attention.
The emperors are a no-nonsense band with little crowd interaction,
and that is perfectly fine because in return they delivered a solid
and totally shattering performance. Also, their occasional nods and
salutes to the crowd seemed genuine instead of mere showmanship. It
was a delight to witness Samoth and Ihsahn attack the guitars with
such speed and mastery. I found myself watching their fingers glide
deftly across the strings and frets, which is something I never do at
a concert. Trym executed his lightning drumming with the precision
that I love on both his Enslaved and Emperor albums. The session
bassist Tyr was the one band member who would work the stage from
various angles, moving from one side of the stage to the other. The
keyboards were wonderful as is the case on the albums, but their
sound didn't seem nearly prominent enough at the beginning of the
show. The rest of the band's sound was so solid that I didn't really
notice this until they finally kicked in with full force on "The
Majesty of the Night Sky". The only other sound problem that I
noticed was on one occasion when the band was performing "With
Strength I Burn". During the quiet interlude where Ihsahn speaks over
some epic horn sounds, the recording failed, at which point Ihsahn
shrugged and exclaimed "Fuck it!"; the band then continued in a
professional manner without missing a beat. Overall, this was a
stunning show with Emperor reigning supreme over any other band that
I have seen live. If Emperor comes anywhere near your town, do
yourself a favour and make haste to an excellent concert! Emperor's
set list was (almost, if not entirely, in order): "Curse You All
Men!", "Decrystallizing Reason", "Thus Spake the Nightspirit", "I am
the Black Wizards", "With Strength I Burn", "Sworn", "Night of the
Graveless Souls", "Ye Entrancemperium", "The Source of Icon E" and
"Inno a Satana", plus "The Majesty of the Nightsky" and "The Loss and
Curse of Reverence" as an encore.
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F A C I N G T H E B R E T O N S T O R M S E A S O N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six Feet Under, Mayhem, Vader, Enslaved, Cryptopsy, Nile,
Thyrfing and Darkseid
at the Antipode, Rennes, France on June 16, 1999
by: David Rocher
Oblivious to the pouring rain and the rather annoying news that
co-headliners Six Feet Under would not be turning this evening as was
scheduled, some 500 metalheads, among which Paul Schwarz and myself,
had gathered this evening to witness this crushing metal line-up,
which would also allegedly see the legendary Mayhem setting foot on
French shores for the first time.
Things started up pretty well, since Darkseid's appearance had
been mercifully cancelled; I don't think anyone really missed a
helping of their lame poseur deathrash that night...
I only saw little of Thyrfing's set, but they sounded like
little more than another synth-driven blackened metal outfit.
Surprisingly enough, though, considering the imagery developed on
their two albums, Thyrfing live were definitely as un-Viking as they
could be, with their singer appearing clad in jeans and a Metallica
t-shirt. In the 25 minutes they were granted, Thyrfing did succeed in
making their music sound a lot more interesting live than it does on
their albums _Thyrfing_ and _Valdr Galga_, but definitely failed to
convince me they were a band the now hopelessly saturated extreme
metal scene couldn't live on without.
Unsurprisingly, everything heated up considerably as the
ultra-brutal Nile took the stage over and lashed out in sheer fury at
rather startled audiences with their half-hour long track listing,
essentially covering material from their latest output _Amongst the
Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_, and one track off their first album. Nile
proved to be very convincing on stage, but their set was sadly
hampered by the constant flow of egotistical show-off stage divers
continuously climbing up on stage and then standing there for almost
a whole minute at times, trying to act evil and aggressive, but
mostly succeeding in looking downright childish and unfailingly
knocking the mike off its stand. Despite this distinctly infuriating
feature, Nile seemed very satisfied by the welcome they were granted,
and flawlessly interpreted war hymns such as "The Howling of the
Jinn", "Pestilence and Iniquity" and the crushing "Ramses Bringer of
War", all of which received a very positive response from the
attending metal masses.
Canada's own sonic shredders Cryptopsy then invested the stage,
and proceeded, throughout their 45-minute set, to meticulously crush
the audience with energetic renditions of tracks from all three of
their albums; their ultra brutal technicality proved to be perfectly
played in live conditions, with their massive vocalist Mike DiSalvo
storming around the stage like an angered bear in cage. Mike proved
to be an excellent replacement to Lord Worm, so impressive was his
growling or aggressively yelled vocal delivery on the tracks
"Benedictine Convulsions", "Leechmistress" and the godly "Slit Your
Guts". Judging from Jon Levasseur's and Eric Langlois' satisfied
comments, spoken in perfect French (with their great, thick trademark
Quebec accent) to the sweating legions attending the gig, Cryptopsy's
first visit to the old continent would be an experience to remember
for all. With the support provided by a label finally doing their
immense competence and rapidly growing recognition justice, the
Canadian six-piece is going to be a band to keep more than just one
eye on.
After a fifteen-minute break, it was Norway's mighty Vikings
Enslaved's turn to appear for the first time in Rennes, as they
played a selection of material extensively covering the whole of
their influential career, from the _Hordane's Land_ split-CD with
Emperor to their latest offering, _Blodhemn_, with many excerpts from
their acclaimed masterpiece _Eld_. Sceptical as I am when it comes to
live black metal acts -- I have, after all, been "lucky" enough to
witness Mystic Circle on stage --, I was nonetheless definitely
impressed by the sheer -metallic- conviction and technical skill
Enslaved demonstrated that night. Former Gehenna skinsman Dirge Rep's
drumming was absolutely flawless, performed at insane speeds, and
created solid rhythmic foundations which the guitarists Bjornson and
Kronheim could easily lay their distinctly thrashing guitar lines on.
Additionally to their excellent scenic appearance, I must speak a
word of thanks to bassist and vocalist Grutle Kjellson, who
mercilessly booted the faces of two stagedivers as they attempted to
climb up on stage, thus repelling them back down into the pit, and
discouraging any eventual followers from acting likewise. All hails,
Grutle, thanks to whom the 500 people attending Enslaved's set could
actually enjoy the great show without goofs climbing up all over the
place and ruining the goods.
Definitely the band I was most anxious to be confronted to that
night, Vader then began their soundcheck, which alone did not fail to
gather some 300 silent fans, who watched them warm up with a
near-religious degree of silent respect. The lights went out, the
intro sample started playing, and Vader then were free to nail
everyone to the back of the room, as the whole of the Antipode
succumbed to an irrepressible urge to headbang. Covering material
from their classic _The Ultimate Incantation_ right up to their
questionable full-price mCD _Kingdom_, not forgetting classic
skullcrushers such as "Carnal" and "Sothis" from their awesome _De
Profundis_, the Polish technical death metal masters' playing was
razor-sharp as always, and frontman Peter's impressive charisma
contributed to make their show distinctly enthralling, despite the
aforementioned egotistical vermin succeeding in knocking the mike off
the stand at such crucial moments as the beginning of the awesome
song "Sothis". Regardless of this, Vader were simply majestic, as
always. Due to personal problems, drummer Doc had not made it to
Rennes on this tour, and had been efficiently replaced by Yattering's
skinsman; if he did not, that night, succeed in equalling the
startling velocity of Doc's blast beats, his drumming technique
proved to be just as energetic and devastating. Vader were, as far as
I am concerned, the best act that evening; so majestic, in fact, I
have trouble in grasping why the hell Six Feet Under could possibly
be preferred to them when it comes to the headlining role.
However, with Six Feet Under's set unfortunately cancelled,
black metal legends Mayhem now appeared on stage, and only succeeded
that night in showing what a mistake the organiser Heic Noenum Pax
had made when a) merely inviting them and b) giving them the
headliner role, which was simply shameful. I was certainly not alone
to rapidly realise that the only valid musical element to remain in
Mayhem undoubtedly is their drum god Hellhammer, and according to
this general assumption, Mayhem's sound balance had in fact clearly
been woven around his fantastic skin-pounding; the drum sound was
however so loud that Blasphemer's guitars and Necrobutcher's bass
playing could scarcely be heard. Turning up in a state of desperate
inebriation, Maniac was also despairingly funny, as he dropped his
mike into the public for various fans to grunt into, or as he threw
water bottles into the overheated audience, succeeding, on a first
throw, in soaking the lyric sheets he had placed all on stage at his
feet, and on a second throw, achieving to unplug a whole rack of the
lighting system, giving his partners on strings the opportunity to
grope around in the dark for the rest of Mayhem's appearance.
Maniac's vocal performance was also a rather despairing feature, and
the whole of the show provided by Mayhem that night was sadly nothing
the late Euronymous would have been very pleased about.
With this rather humorous ending to the show, all in all, and
despite the infuriating repeated interventions of 1% of the audience
that night, it was unanimously decided, as a pair of catatonic,
deafened and vocally strained CoC journalists returned home to the
comfort of a large slab of pizza and a beer or ten, that this '99
edition of the Summer Clash gig had turned out to be an evening to
remember.
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P I G ' S F E E T A N D A L L T H I N G S Y U M M Y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Six Feet Under, Vader, Enslaved, Cryptopsy, Nile and Thyrfing
at Schweinhalle, Hanau, Germany on June 17, 1999
by: Matthias Noll
Once again I travelled to this hallowed venue, where not so far
ago I got blessed with the insight that metal is actually better than
sex. This time I went to see the heaviest package to tour German soil
at least in 1999, if not in the '90s. Many concerns occupied my mind
previous to the gig and I was trying to be mentally prepared for some
major disappointment. From my point of view, especially a death metal
show with such extreme competitors as in tonight's line-up is the
ultimate quality test. Nowadays there are so many capable studio
producers and engineers around that the record itself is less
representative of a band's real capabilities than ever. Is it
possible to reproduce both the technical and the "stomach" part of
the music? And, dear readership, it's confession time again. I might
have arrived as an infidel, but left as a true believer. A believer
in the greatness of Nile and Cryptopsy, who can both repeat the
technical wizardry and even top the brutality of their records
easily. Something I didn't even dare to hope previous to that show.
But let's focus on the events now.
There were six bands on the bill and Thyrfing began very early.
I missed most of their set -- only catched the last two songs. That's
not enough to really judge the band and I won't comment on them here.
After a couple of minutes it was already time for Nile.
Beginning with a short intro, unsurprisingly Egyptian style,
they unleashed "Barra Edinazzu" upon the crowd and simply blew me
away from start to finish. Ultra wicked and technical riffing in
conjunction with their slower and doomier parts worked perfectly well
in the live situation. A crystal clear sound was the icing on the
cake. Attention never focused on a single member of the band because
both guitarists and the bass player delivered their share of the
unearthly growls. Nile's performance was breathtakingly brutal and
precise and they ended their 30 minute set with "Smashing the
Antiou".
The merciless onslaught continued with Cryptopsy. Unfortunately,
I did not own their first two records at this point in time.
Considering the complexity of their material, which normally needs a
couple of spins to really sink into your mind, it was amazing how
effective even the unfamiliar songs were. Singer Mike DiSalvo roamed
the stage like an angry pitbull, more hardcore in his appearance than
death metal. This might have caused some criticism from the more
conservative section of death metal fans, but fits their unique style
perfectly. The guitar work was flawless and both guitarists were
churning out their technical yet brutal to the max material while
still banging their heads like madmen. The rhythm section was equally
amazing and man-machine Flo Mounier precisely propelled them through
the set. It was really a delight to witness how tightly they executed
songs like my personal highlights "Cold Hate, Warm Blood" and "White
Worms" from _Whisper Supremacy_. Like Nile, Cryptopsy did not play
for more than 30 minutes, but these 30 minutes were so intense and
insane that other bands wouldn't be able to achieve this in a three
hour set. I think it's very safe to say that with these two bands
I've seen the future of death metal and I think it's a very bright
future. Both showed a very down to earth attitude and hung out at the
merchandising booth, talking to the fans and each other for the whole
rest of the evening. I had a short conversation with Cryptopsy's
bassman Eric, who told me that the band will soon stop touring to
focus on the songwriting process for the next album, for which only
one song has been written so far.
Next on stage were Enslaved. Unfortunately for them, the
audience was a pure death metal crowd and only a few people gathered
in front of the stage. I do believe the most important thing is the
music, but like with the other "Viking metal" bands I've seen so far,
I did have a serious problem taking this Viking thing seriously when
looking at their stage outfit. The two guitarists Ivar and Roy looked
like a couple of skinheads, complete with camouflage trousers, army
boots and bad tattoos. Grutle Kjellson at least wore some "Viking
clothes" while Dirge Rep pretty much looked like the average
metaller. They started with the _Blodhemn_ intro, followed by "I
Lenker til Ragnarok". Other _Blodhemn_ material did sound rather
uninspired and dull this night, whereas older stuff, especially from
_Eld_, sounded far more aggressive and convincing. Playing after
Cryptopsy and/or Nile is no fun at all for any extreme band. In
comparison to the technical wizardry of these two bands, especially
Enslaved's axemen appeared as if they had gotten their first guitars
for Christmas 1998. It was drummer Dirge Rep who saved the Vikings in
the competition. Dirge is no match for Flo Mounier or Pete Hammoura
when comparing technique, but he can go impressively fast while still
playing really powerful and tight. There was no increase in crowd
participation or interest until the end of the set and no one wanted
an encore. In summary I have to say that Enslaved had the most
unfortunate slot in this billing, but also didn't manage to prove
themselves and do not deserve a better rating than average.
Vader came fifth and they somehow reminded me of early
Sepultura. I think it's fair to say that there are slight musical
similarities between Vader's material and the death/thrash style
Sepultura had on _Schizophrenia_ to _Arise_, but that's not all and I
felt a similar vibe in how the band came across. A certain sense of
professionalism which does not compromise the close relationship with
the audience and also a high level of enjoyment of their music. Vader
received the best crowd reaction so far and played a cool set with
lots of highlights: "Carnal", my favourite Vader tune, "Kingdom",
"Creatures of Light and Darkness", etc., etc.. Looking at this
material, their technical abilities and their sympathetic attitude,
Vader could be much bigger than they are and I'm wondering a bit what
has hindered them to reach a far higher status than what they already
have achieved in the underground. If you find their records to be
more on the average side, then I highly recommend checking them out
on stage -- this band rules!
Germans like their death metal simple. That's about the only
explanation I have for the success of Six Feet Under, especially in
Germany. Sure, this band is professional and their slow to medium
paced crunchers are a headbanger's delight. On the other hand, I have
the impression that no riff is worn out enough for SFU to make a
whole song (or two) out of it. The lyrics are also way too cliche for
my taste: yelling along to "Kill motherfucker, die, die!" is probably
cooler for a 14 year old than for me. The performance was quite OK,
even if the group acted a bit static. They played tight, but
considering the rather simple nature of their material that was not
too difficult to accomplish. Looking at Chris Barnes' outfit -- baggy
pants with chain, skater shirt and dreadlocks --, I was wondering if
he's attempting to become the Jonathan Davis of death metal, but his
vocals sounded good and aggressive. I left halfway through their set
because I increasingly felt too bored to stay longer. With a few
exceptions, the rest of the audience loved the band and the whole
place was headbanging like crazy when I headed to the door. I would
have stayed until the end had there not been six bands. Despite this
criticism, overall it was a superb package and a fantastic show!
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T A K E Y O U R S T E I N , A N D R A M M I T !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rammstein, Soulfly and Skunk Anansie
at The Docks in Toronto, Ontario, on June 8th 1999
by: Adam Wasylyk
I just recently came upon Rammstein's latest disk, 1997's
_Sehnsucht_, and became completely enthralled by their meshing of
industrial and metal music. Gaining a reputation from its live show
from the "Family Values" tour (Korn, Limp Bizkit) and coupled with
the quality of music they've created, I knew I had to be there to
witness them in person. It would be a show I'd never forget.
Openers Skunk Anansie and Soulfly could be referred cruelly to
as "momentary distractions from complete boredom", as most in
attendance couldn't care less who was playing on this night other
than the German headliner. Both bands, however, did turn in good
sets, although unmemorable compared to what was to come.
What's great about Rammstein in concert is that it's a spectacle
to behold. Not only do you get to hear some great music (staying true
to their recorded material) but the pyrotechnics and band theatrics
keep things lively and energetic.
With around 1500 in attendance, the band started off with "Spiel
Mit Mir". As all six members rose from the pit (hell?) below the
stage, singer Till Lindemann appeared last by emerging through the
bass drum with a Borg-like laser eye-piece in place. What a way to
start off a show! Lots of fire and explosions were scattered
throughout the hour-and-a-half set, with tracks like "Tier",
"Bestrafe Mich", the title track and a couple of older tracks that I
assume were off the band's prior album. Of course a Rammstein set
wouldn't be complete without the fan favourite "Du Haust", which is
currently getting a lot of radio play. And as seen on the "Family
Values" tour video, Rammstein re-enacted their performance during the
song "Buck Dich", which involved the singer taking out a prosthetic
penis (which was connected to a water pump) and stroking it until a
stream with the power of a fire house came out, all while aimed at
the ass of a willing gimp. Classic!
There's a couple of points worthy of note revolving around
Rammstein during their Toronto show. The first point concerns
keyboardist Flake Lorenz. I must comment that he is the worst dancer
I've ever seen. Doing what resembled a shimmy, he would run around
the stage in a maniacal sort of way for reasons unknown (it ain't
dancing!). What most in attendance will never forget is during one of
their songs Lorenz threw a inflatable rubber dingy onto the crowd and
had them carry him from the stage to the back of the venue and
finally back to the stage again. However, what he didn't plan on was
a barricade on the way back to the stage, resulting in the crowd
loosing their grip on the dingy and him falling about eight feet to
the floor. He must have been feeling it for the rest of the night, as
I was close enough to feel the thud. Ouch!
Secondly, the band have been accused of being racist. It's
unknown as to whether it's true, but why would a supposedly racist
band allow a black female fronted band (Skunk Anansie) and a band
from Brazil (Soulfly) to open up for them? With this in mind, while
at least 400 kids sang along with Rammstein in German, I couldn't
help but feel I was in attendance at a Nazi youth pep rally. Eerie,
to say the least.
Ending off the night with "Engel", it capped off a terrific set
that serves as the best live show I've seen thus far this year. If
Rammstein visit near your parts, don't hesitate to go check 'em out,
especially those who like their industrial music heavy and
uncompromising. You'll thank me later.
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L E T Y O U R S O U L F L Y A W A Y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rammstein with Soulfly
at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York
on June 4, 1999
by: Jody Webb
It is a breezy evening in the Manhattan locality and the night
is right for a showcase of international metal with Brazilian rockers
Soulfly and German pyromaniacs Rammstein. I stroll into the
Hammerstein around 8:30pm and the hall is already brimming with
almost three thousand people as more arrive by the minute. The crowd
seems to be mostly clean-cut "new metal" fans in their teens and
early twenties, but a fair number of goths and well dressed European
types pepper the audience.
Anticipation charges the air and I heave in a giant breath of
the stuff. Soon a tribal chant drones through the PA as the crowd
cheers and presses forward, creating a crunch against the barrier
between the stage and the people. The house lights fall and stage
lights rise, revealing big Marshall stacks over which the Brazilian
national flag is draped. Soulfly emerges and another roar from the
fans reverberates around the Hammerstein. Singer Max Cavalera counts
off the time in Portuguese and the band rips into "Eye For an Eye",
transforming the concert hall into a combat zone of moshers and
kickboxing maniacs. Soulfly drops bomb after bomb from their recent
debut album, scoring a direct hit with the crowd. As a veteran of the
metal scene, even I was impressed with the sustained violence the
band could inspire. Also in the arsenal were two covers of Sepultura
songs as well as a tribal number, during which it surprised me to
hear the crowd chanting along in Portuguese! Near the end of the set
roadies hefted out drums for each person in the band and Soulfly
pounded out a percussion jam that had feet stomping and heads
bobbing. The set, as best as I can remember: "Eye For an Eye", "No
Hope = No Fear", "Spit" (Sepultura), "Bleed", "Tribe",
"Refuse/Resist" (Sepultura), "Quilombo", "Fire", "Umbabarauma"
(tribal), percussion jam and "No".
Between bands the audience swells to nearly four thousand and
the atmosphere relaxes as people take a breather. A few of the
crazier Soulfly fans leave and are replaced by more civil Rammstein
fans. Spooky electronic music wafts out of the PA while people mill
around. Finally the house lights dim and the roar of the crowd fills
the Hammerstein again. A flame bursts to life, igniting a long fuse
running up the left side of the stage curtain. The flame reaches the
top, setting off a booming explosion, and the curtain plummets. The
Rammstein stage stands before us, a collection of industrial pipes
and metal, occupying the entire vertical and horizontal space on the
stage. One by one the members appear, some seeming to emerge from the
stage itself, and when the entire band is standing there, clad in
futuristic garb, the keyboard player strikes the opening notes of
"Spiel Mit Mir". The Rammstein experience begins with flames, lasers
and gimmicks galore. In concert, their simple rhythms and lyrics work
well, sending the crowd into regular episodes of pogo jumping and
German lyrics mangling. The music is backed, of course, with the most
awesome show this side of Rob Zombie, and I took on a close encounter
when body surfing over the barrier. I do not have the space to
describe the entire spectacle, and doing so would ruin the surprises.
Therefore, I will just conclude by commanding you to go out and see
Rammstein! The set, as best as I can remember: "Spiel Mit Mir",
"Tier", "Sehnsucht", "Bestrafe Mich", "Klavier", "Buck Dich", "Du
Hast", "Engel" and an extended version of Rammstein as encore.
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W H I T E T R A S H C O N V E N T I O N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC covers the *Omnipotent* Ozzfest
at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey
on June 8 & 10, 1999
by: Jody Webb
Today is a scorcher in Jersey, ninety degrees and not a cloud in
sight. After a brief pat down by security I saunter into the
amphitheatre grounds and evaluate my surroundings. At a capacity of
thirteen thousand people, PNC Bank Arts Center is a smallish place
considering the tour, which usually plays venues in the twenty five
thousand range. On the other hand, the promoter booked two
back-to-back shows at the Arts Center. Why just make a lot of money
when you can make a SHITLOAD of a lot of money, right? Around 11:30am
the music began.
Pushmonkey opened the day on the side stage. Badly out of place
but trying hard to impress, they churned through a half hour set of
wimp rock. In between episodes of whini
ng about the lack of crowd
activity, the singer queried us as to whether or not we had "fucked"
yet today. A heckler shot back with the classic "I fucked your mom!".
Now that was entertaining.
Fifteen minutes later Flashpoint took the side stage. Apparently
this band has not even released a debut album yet, but whoa, that did
not stop them from boring hell out of me with their badly written
metalcore. It boggles my mind, with all the amazing metal bands in
our country, that some promoter persuaded the Ozzfest organisers to
book this act. Not even a cameo appearance by Evan Seinfeld from
Biohazard was able to save this set. Next.
Another fifteen minutes pass and the sounds of (hed)pe are
pumping through the side stage PA. In the eyes of the crowd, (hed)pe
was the first real band to play. These boys have been tooling around
the New York area for about three years now, playing small clubs and
gaining a fan base. Although they ride on the Korn bandwagon, (hed)
incorporates more funk as well as a DJ to create diversity in their
bag of songs, something that Korn lacks. Not bad, but something you
can safely skip if you already own a Limp Bizkit CD.
Immediately following (hed)pe, the main stage kicked off with
the slightly industrial intro music for Drain STH. Then the band
strides out, revealing themselves to be four Swedish beauties with a
thing for black fashions. Drain is playing in support of their newly
released second album called _Enter My Mind_, but even as a seasoned
metal listener I cannot distinguish the new material from the old. It
is all mid-paced, thick and boring. Drain is good for about a two
minute eye hump and then I'm just relaxing in my amphitheatre seat,
waiting for them to finish.
Sometime about a half hour later Drain wraps up and I jog to the
side stage to catch Slipknot. There is a bit of hype surrounding this
outfit and, after witnessing their set, I'd say they almost live up
to it. I noticed nine freaks wearing matching jumpsuits and
individual masks, dancing about the stage, wrangling a twisted sound
of their instruments. Envision Insane Clown Posse meeting Gwar and
you get the idea. Of course they could afford to lose about five
guys, but then where would they be with only one drummer? Oh yea,
Slipknot is sporting three drummers, two of which have drums made out
of empty beer kegs situated on hydraulics which raise the drums up
and down, making for some neat eye candy. All in all, a welcome
exercise in silliness to balance all the "my favourite band is the
baddest shit in the world" attitudes circulating the area.
I swiftly returned to the amphitheatre for System of a Down, a
four-piece badly in need of ritalin but also owing a great deal of
their excellent material to their hyperactive tendencies. The band is
of Armenian descent and incorporates a touch of folk and polka music
into the metal which they do so well, but the chief contribution of
their ancestry comes in the form of their lyrics and political
stance. Fortunately, the singer kept his ranting down to one brief
episode today, imploring us only to realise that in any other country
we could look to the sky and see bombs dropping from planes. Uh,
right. Nevertheless, I got in the first headbanging of the day to
rocking numbers such as "Suite-Pee" and "Know".
Back to the side stage for one of my recent favourites, Puya,
who hail from the island of Puerto Rico. Earlier in the day I had met
and chatted with friend and Puya drummer Eduardo Paniague, who
anticipated a good crowd. He was not let down, and the 'Rican fans
were out in force, waving the country's national flag the second the
band appeared. These boys crank out a sound that is not for everyone,
but I find their hybrid of metal and salsa music to be an infectious
combination, and it is not even an issue that everything is sung in
Spanish. They could have been tighter, but Puya still rocked.
No rush to get back to the main stage as Godsmack was lined up
next. Sloppy, fourth generation Seattle grunge is how I would
describe them. Due to the rock radio airplay of their song
"Whatever", I could see they had a few tame fans, and granted,
Godsmack is not the kind of band that incites a riot like, say,
Slayer. But these chumps should have signed on to Lollapalooza. Oh
wait, that tour has been dead for two or three years. In the end,
Godsmack was average, and I caught some rest in the shade of the
amphitheatre.
Finally Godcrap wrapped up their set of sonic sludge and a
tingle of excitement shimmied through me. Static-X was primed to
explode on the side stage. Singer/guitarist Wayne Static stepped to
the microphone and wailed a greeting to the crowd in his
indescribable voice. With that the group banged through a half hour
of self-described "trance rock", with pounding 4/4 rhythms, cutting
guitars reinforced with electronic sub bass and sound samples
injected into the music a la Prodigy. Thanks to spins from K-Rock and
WSOU, the band enjoyed a decent audience and mosh pit.
Taking my time after a solid thumping at the hands of Wayne
Static and company, I walked back to the amphitheatre as Primus was
starting their second song. I am not a fan and would have preferred
that Primus be bumped from the tour in lieu of a metal band, but they
did bring the mysterious Buckethead with them, who made their
appearance worthwhile. While Primus bass slapped through hits such as
"Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" and "My Name Is Mud", Buckethead
demonstrated his monster guitar skills and breakdancing talents, even
wielding numchucks at one point in smooth display of kung-fu prowess.
Don't miss Buckethead's antics!
Apartment 26 took the side stage and failed to pique my interest
after an already interest-free Primus set, but what should I expect
from a band that does not even have an album yet? Like Flashpoint,
this rookie band had no business at Ozzfest, but unlike Flashpoint,
they did not need some promoter to sweet talk them onto the bill --
their singer is the son of none other than Geezer Butler, bass player
for Black Sabbath. In college they lectured me about ethics in the
workplace, but I guess nepotism is rampant in the music business, eh?
Skip this band.
After four cuts I had enough Apartment 26 and resumed my seat
under the amphitheatre, prepared for the first major act of the day.
Most of the tailgaters had moved on from the parking lot and were
inside the grounds by now, and the place was close to capacity. The
noise from the side stage died, a quiet lull of about a minute
occurred, then a banner was raised as cheers resounded through the
cavernous acoustics in the amphitheatre. Slayer was about to play.
The crowd rose from their seats as Tom Araya screamed the rally call.
"Angel of Death!". Chaos descended on the area. People rushed
security in a mad dash and I joined in the first wave of attackers,
advancing my position all the way to the fourth row centre aisle!
Though not a big Slayer fan, it was quite a thrill to rush security
and catch the legendary band up close as five thousand people went
nuts. Still, I can honestly say I have had my fill of sweaty fat guys
who mosh in the aisle against seats bolted to ground. Squish! The set
included "Angel of Death", "Bitter Peace", "Death's Head", "Post
Mortem", "Dead Skin Mask", "War Ensemble" and "Seasons in the Abyss".
Following the last blasting note from Slayer there was an exodus
to the side stage as thousands hurried to catch Fear Factory. Though
normally they would have taken a spot on the main stage, the group
was headlining the second stage because they were asked to fill in
for Judas Priest, who were originally slated to headline the side
stage but cancelled a month earlier. Torrents of people flowed into
the packed area, and Fear Factory hesitated as the crowd swelled to
several thousand before knocking out the instant classic "Shock",
followed by more skull crushers such as "Self Bias Resistor" and
"Edgecrusher", which caused the biggest pit of the day. Fists were
pumping and bodies were surfing. I was in heaven. Fear Factory was on
top of their game and I thought they were the most dynamite group of
the day, until much to my disdain and to the evident disdain of some
fans in the crowd, Fear Factory turned into Queer Factory and played
that goddamned fucking "Cars" song. Fortunately, they saved
themselves with a spectacular performance of "Replica" to finish
their set, but for Christ's sake... The set was "Shock", "Self Bias
Resistor", "Edgecrusher", "Demanufacture", "Scapegoat", "Martyr",
"Cars" (Gary Numan), "Replica".
Many spectators were fairly spent by this time due to the heat
and the last two bands. Deftones had begun on the main stage but the
crowd seemed a bit indifferent in comparison to the madness that had
just occurred. I was puzzled by their appearing later than Slayer,
and they did appear weak in comparison. Stephen Carpenter pushed his
gang through their most powerful songs and put together a decent
showing, but I've seen Deftones do better. Perhaps they do not play
well in a big venue, but something was flat about the band this day.
At least they played a new song from the forthcoming album _White
Pony_.
The side stage was done, so after Deftones finished there was a
welcome twenty minute break in the noise while roadies set up for Rob
Zombie. I had seen the Zombie spectacle in October and knew a visual
extravaganza was in store. I decided I did not want to rush security
for this set because I was tired after Fear Factory, so I sat content
in my seat, looking around at all the wonderful freaks assembled
tonight. At long last the sun began to fade behind the horizon.
And the Zombie spectacle was upon us! Lights, flames, dancing
girls and a giant flashing marquee with the signature 6-6-6 blazed
before the capacity crowd as people jumped up from their seats. Rob
Zombie's minions took the stage all zombified in grey leather and
make up, creating a fabulous vision of hell. Red and green flames
rose from the stage floor while the band charged through
monsterpieces like "Superbeast" and "Living Dead Girl". Zombie segued
through the songs with his charismatic wit. "Welcome to Lilith Fair,
we've got quite a line-up of lesbian folk music for you tonight. We
will not disappoint!". The crowd laughs. "Do any of you remember a
band called White Zombie?" The crowd met him with thunderous cheers.
"Where the hell were you when I needed you?", he chuckled before
breaking into "Thunderkiss '65". The Rob Zombie quartet ended with
the foot stomping "Dragula" before a tremendous applause. This is one
show to check out. The set was "Superbeast", "Supercharger Heaven"
(White Zombie), "Meet the Creeper", "More Human Than Human" (White
Zombie), "Demonoid Phenomenon", "What Lurks on Channel X?", "Living
Dead Girl", "Thunderkiss '65" (White Zombie) and finally "Dragula" as
encore.
Damn, I am getting tired of writing this review! Are you tired
of reading yet? Tour headliners Black Sabbath pummelled as usual with
a bone crunching heaviness, but I am getting pissed at them for only
playing from their first three albums. Why don't they tap into the
genius on "Volume 4", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" or "Sabotage"? Ah
well. "After Forever" was a welcome surprise as was my bumping into
Evan Seinfeld during the song, where we exchanged some small talk. At
least I sneaked past security again and got within range of Ozzy's
throwing arm. I was a prime target for buckets of water. Row four is
a great place to be. The usual: "War Pigs", bass solo, "N.I.B.",
"Hand of Doom", "After Forever", "Fairies Wear Boots", "Sweatleaf",
"Into the Void", "Orchid", "Lord of This World", "Black Sabbath",
"Dirty Women", "Iron Man" and "Children of the Grave"; encore:
"Supernaut" / "Paranoid" medley.
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B R U C E I S B A C K
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Iron Maiden at Massey Hall in Toronto, Ontario
on July 20, 1999
by: Alex Ristic
Several questions surrounded Iron Maiden's "It's Not a Reunion
Tour", including how they would fare with three guitar players live,
and Maiden would try to answer as they played a seventeen-song
hit-packed set.
The nearly sold-out confines of the 2100 seat Massey Hall
provided a cosy, if not cramped, setting for Maiden, with rabid fans
howling the band's name during the introduction, a promotional
display of their latest outlet _Ed Hunter_, a video game with
similarities to "Doom" and Eddie as the main character. The tour
Maiden came to town with was in support of the game, as well as the
twenty greatest hits of Iron Maiden, as voted by the fans via
Internet.
Running from the get-go with opener "Aces High", Bruce Dickinson
and company had their afterburners going full bore, careening and
posing onstage while backdrops of Eddie, depicting him in several
different settings, hanged ominously in the background.
In all, eleven of Iron Maiden's studio albums were represented
(yes, including _X-Factor_ and _Virtual XI_), except for _No Prayer
For the Dying_. Other tunes from their classic _Powerslave_ record
included the title track and "2 Minutes to Midnight", superb choices,
yet other magnificent opuses, like _Somewhere in Time_ and _Fear of
the Dark_, were sorely underrepresented with only one song from each
("Wasted Years" and "Fear of the Dark", respectively).
As for three guitar players, well, they'll have to come back and
hit Toronto again, as sadly Adrian Smith had to cancel out because
his father passed away, so it was a five-piece as usual. In fact, it
was the exact line-up of the band when Dickinson left six years ago,
with founder/bassist Steve Harris, founder/guitarist Dave Murray,
guitarist Jannick Gers and drummer Nicko McBrain waving the Maiden
flag.
Highlights of the night included "Wrathchild" and two songs from
the Blaze Bailey era, namely "Man on the Edge" and "The Clansman".
For the latter, Dickinson provided a humorous intro with a poke at
our American cousins and how some reportedly perceived the song was
about the Ku Klux Klan, as opposed to its true point of inspiration,
being William Wallace and the independent Scottish movement.
Both songs were at the tender mercies of the Air Raid Siren and
how he would approach them from his point of view. Dickinson did not
disappoint, lending a little more power to the vocals than Bailey did
and using his antics to get the crowd to sing along. Surprisingly, a
fair number knew the words, remarkable because many of the faithful
fans have avoided the last two records because of the band's most
prominent singer's absence.
For the encore, the audience feasted on a troika of songs from
the bands most well known release, _The Number of the Beast_.
"Hallowed Be thy Name", "Run to the Hills" and the title track had
the audience pumping their devil horns in the air as they head banged
along.
In the final analysis, it appears Maiden haven't suffered from
the re-shuffling of the line-up, playing a loud and enjoyable show as
always. This show wasn't as spectacular as their _Somewhere in Time_
and _Seventh Son of a Seventh Son_ days, but solid and entertaining
nonetheless.
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AVERSE CONDITIONS INHIBIT THE ENDLESS USURP OF FILTH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cradle of Filth, Usurper, Endless and Averse Sefira
at the Reverb in Toronto, Canada on August 4th 1999
by: Adam Wasylyk
Honestly, I could care less about Cradle of Filth. I missed them
in Milwaukee for Sinister and Gorguts, and I would do it again in a
heart beat. I was skeptical on getting the opportunity to see them
close to home, but with CoC legend Steve Hoeltzel visiting the cold
tundra that is Canada, how could I refuse?
We arrived just in time to check out Rochester, NY's Averse
Sefira. Playing a pretty cool set of Gorgoroth-influenced black
metal, these guys know how to write a catchy melody and repeat it
with another and another. Decked out in evil corpse paint, my image
of the band was hurt by the jock-like drummer with, gasp, no corpse
paint. Blasphemy! But he can drum up a storm, so I can forgive him
partially. A great way to start off the set.
Toronto's Endless followed, but unfortunately proved to live up
to their name. Recently signed to Pavement Records, the Entombed-ish
death metal trio riled up few and frustrated many. Not much else to
say, other than it'll take a great performance next time to win me
over.
Chicago's Usurper stormed the stage in full metal gear, ready to
kick serious ass. The only problem was they didn't do so. The
vocalist just doesn't do enough for me to keep things interesting.
Granted the music is good, but why not shriek and scream here and
there? I'm just not into the Tom G. Warrior-like vocals. Bearable,
but just.
Cradle of Filth were actually not that bad. Tracks like "The
Principle of Evil Made Flesh" and "Malice Through the Looking Glass"
lent themselves nicely to a live set, the band were reasonably tight
and the sound was good most of the time. A lot of their material went
over my head, but standout tracks made their set worth checking out.
What can I say, call me "untrue" if you must.
If there was ever a show worth missing, it was this one. Cradle
are past their heyday, Usurper are sub par, and Toronto didn't have
much of a say musically on this night. Who would have thought that
hanging around Steve would have saved the day? Hail to the True one!
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DID YOU EVER KNOW THAT YOU'RE MY HERO?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
His Hero Is Gone (amongst unmemorable bands)
at the Big Bop in Toronto, Canada on August 6th 1999
by: Adam Wasylyk
Having spread beer-fuelled mayhem with CoCks Gino, Alain,
Adrian, myself and former scribe Steve Hoeltzel before the show, it
was time to check out some serious hardcore/grind action in the form
of Tennessee's His Hero Is Gone!
Playing a tight set of material ranging from disks like _Fifteen
Counts of Arson_ and _Monuments to Thieves_, HHIG are one of many
bands that the underground has yet to expose to the masses that truly
deserves to be recognised. Raging, aggressive, cut-throat, heavy,
pounding... what more do you want? Taking the energy of hardcore and
fusing it with the furiousness of grindcore, HHIG were undisputedly
one of the best bands to play in Toronto this year, nestled in
between Germany's Rammstein and California's Fear Factory.
Starting off with my favourite track (how uncommon is that?)
"Professional Mindfuckers" found on _Fifteen Counts of Arson_, they
played just over a half hour, never letting up. At night's end, it
became clear that HHIG may be put on the "CoC Recommended List",
right beside Pan-Thy-Monium and Absu. If you get the chance to check
them out, please do so. I await your e-mail thanking me.
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@!! !!@ @!@ @!@!!@! !!@ @!! @!!!:! @!@!!@! !@@!!
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::.: ::: : : : : : : : : : :
Here is where things get ugly. Writer's Wrath gives our writers a
chance to voice their own opinions about certain hot topics in the
scene today. Check out this column for the most obscene and
controversial ramblings this side of the National Enquirer.
MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION OR MONEY TELEVISION ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Paul Schwarz
Try to picture this: I am sitting in a room by myself,
surrounded by books to read, CDs to listen to, an interview to
transcribe, a pot to make tea, and a TV. Tonight I opted to forget
sense, forget past experience and past disappointments, and turn to
the TV for my night's amusement. Big mistake.
I am in Germany. I do not speak German. However, it is not my
lack of linguistic ability nor the awful selection of TV this country
has to offer which was the problem tonight. No, tonight I decided to
give MTV a chance. OK, you can call me stupid if you want, you can
say I was asking for it, but -damn-, I'm still going to complain,
because God dammit I shouldn't be proved -so- right in my
never-ending cynicism.
Monday at 0030-0230 MTV Germany transmit "Superock". Described
in the TV guide simply as "heavy music" and, as you can see, quite
devoid of the word "metal" or "extreme", this nonetheless was the
program in Europe which came to replace "Headbanger's Ball" (the long
running and sometimes off the commercial, beaten track, metal show
which had graced MTV's screens since the '80s), and it certainly is
at an unsociable enough hour of the night (and on an unsociable
enough day) that you could reasonably expect it to play a selection
of music outside of the seriously narrow, commercial, arse-licking
spectrum which MTV operates during all other hours of the day. That's
what I'd hope, though as I already discussed expectations and hopes
like these seem to be misplaced when discussing organisations as
uninterested in exposing music for its artistic (as opposed to
commercial) sake as MTV seems to be.
I was not surprised, and thus not overly distraught, that Korn
began proceedings -- HBB would often feature the more popular of the
bands to begin with and to keep the rating end of things up, and much
as I don't like this, it is one of the evils of the mass market which
TV operates in, which I accept as a reality. What followed, however,
was more like a roll call of "what sells in the States where more
than two of the band members play a real instrument". Limp Bizkit,
Coal Chamber, Soulfly, Sugar Ray, Ice Cube feat. Korn and some that I
liked too, like System of a Down and The Deftones (though neither of
these bands are among my favourites). That was the level of what we
got; the only three tracks I would consider substantially "metal"
which were played were Pantera's "Drag the Waters" (three years old),
Dickinson's "Killing Floor" (the one track I thought it ruled that
they played) and Rollin's "The End of Something" (a borderline case).
But this article is not a Writer's Wrath about the fact MTV
don't share my taste in music, it is about the fact that MTV are so
profit oriented they don't even have the balls (and fuck, it really
doesn't take much balls) to put on a fringe program dedicated to
bringing heavier music to people, music which would never get
mainstream MTV rotation because it is not popular enough.
The disappointment and downheartedness I feel is heightened by
my location: I am in Germany. Isn't this supposed to be a haven for
metal and extreme music, a place where Dimmu Borgir find chart
success and Manowar debut at number #19 with their latest live album?
Where the same classic '80s band do huge, sold-out tours and where
HammerFall are gaining similar ground? I am not trying to suggest
that these are myths -- these are facts. However, even in such a
haven for metal, where it actually -$ells-, MTV deem it unworthy of
any play.
So, I guess the question going through some of your heads must
be "so what?, what -should- we expect out of a profit making
organisation like MTV, who cares if they don't play our music -- we
like it, we listen to it, simple as that". This is true, but, though
I fully realise I don't live in a perfect world, I always look toward
improving this imperfect one, and this means not lying down and
cynically proclaiming that everyone is going to knock you down and
tread all over you anyway, but instead standing tall and trying to
get through to people and remind them that there is more out there
than most of them will ever be exposed to. You obviously like extreme
music, since you read CoC, but I am sure that, for most of you,
finding your way into the scene was not as automatic a thing as going
to school (as one of Metallica's shirts so suggested, though with
their current direction it seems more likely), and even once you had
started, how long did it take before you got into the really
"different" stuff? For myself, I started with Guns 'n' Roses in 1993,
Metallica and Pantera in 1994, Carcass in 1995, Entombed, Satyricon
and Immortal in 1996, Morbid Angel as late as 1997; it took me ages
to get to hear, and often even hear about, the more underground
bands, and I even had a few friends who were into it and a somewhat
healthy cash flow to depend upon. I am sure there are many people out
there who would know they'd found "their" music if they heard certain
death, black, thrash, hardcore, traditional heavy metal, industrial
or whatever style of albums. Much as I love our scene, the mystical
and almost occult way in which most find passage into it, the lone
metal warriors who expose us to our first this or that, there must be
people out there who would be happier being part of it but never have
the chance to gain access.
My point is that the purpose of Music TeleVision should be to
expose people to as much music as possible, to give people as much
knowledge of music as possible. I don't just mean metal, I mean jazz,
classical, whatever -- people should not be fed a limited diet of all
the songs they know and are on the radio. Why play a band who are
selling well, even more than when they weren't? To make money is the
only answer I can find to this question; it certainly isn't because
you want to broaden people's minds.
I think MTV should do more than simply reflect the popularity of
the select few bands and artists who dominate the charts, even in
their mainstream play, but in the least I think MTV should take it
upon themselves to construct "fringe" programs to give people with
specific but more unusual different musical tastes a chance to hear
stuff from their style they might not have picked up on, and see the
videos associated with the bands they like. "Headbanger's Ball" was
never perfect, but at least it made some effort; "Superock" is
nothing more than a reflection of the most popular guitar-based,
mildly aggravated bands of the moment and really nothing more.
Especially in a country like Germany, I think someone at MTV should
have the balls to put something different and interesting together to
give more people a chance to hear music they might never have had a
chance to hear before.
MTV: Forget about money for once and start doing something for
people.
CoC readers, I urge you to write to MTV and people like them to
get them to put on a metal show. Make yourselves heard: you may not
want to see metal videos, you may not have MTV and you may not want
to stay up 'till whatever ungodly hour to see such a program, but if
by MTV putting on such a program a couple more people who would have
never, or might never, have discovered metal, do, that makes a
difference, that's worth it, don't you think?
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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. Today Is The Day - _In The Eyes of God_
2. Translucia - _Translucia_
3. Kelly's Mix Tape
4. The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_
5. Autechre - _Tri Repetae++_
Adrian's Top 5
1. earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_
2. Machine Head - _The Burning Red_
3. Today Is the Day - _In the Eyes of God_
4. Turmoil - _Anchor_
5. Puya - _Fundamental_
Brian's Top 5
1. Cryptopsy - _None So Vile_
2. Coroner - _Punishment for Decadence_
3. Capharnaum - _Plague of Spirits_
4. Epoch of Unlight - _Black & Crimson Glory_
5. Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_
Alain's Top 5
1. Horde of Worms - _Horde of Worms_
2. Solus - _Universal Bloodshed_
3. Ministry - _Dark Side of the Spoon_
4. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_
5. Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_
Adam's Top 5
1. Summoning - _Stronghold_
2. Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_
3. Manes - _Under Ein Blodraut Maane_
4. Sephiroth - _Cathedron_
5. Brutal Truth - _Need to Control_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Dark Tranquillity - _Projector_
2. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_
3. Unholy - _Gracefallen_
4. Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_
5. Skepticism - _Lead and Aether_
Paul's Top 5
1. Testament - _The Legacy_
2. Testament - _The Gathering_
3. Nile - _Festivals of Atonement_
4. Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_
5. Deceased - _Luck of the Corpse_
Aaron's Top 5
1. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_
2. Laaz Rockit - _Annihilation Principle_
3. Bruce Dickinson - _Accident of Birth_
4. Acheron - _Anti-god, Anti-christ_
5. Compilation by Lowell Smith
David's Top 5
1. Darkane - _Rusted Angel_
2. Iron Maiden - _Somewhere in Time_
3. Sins of Omission - _The Creation_
4. Death - _Symbolic_
5. Sepultura - _Beneath the Remains_
Gabriel's Top 5
1. Amorphis - _Tuonela_
2. Doom - _The Peel Sessions (Re-Release)_
3. Stimbox - _Caveat Emptor_
4. Various - _Sound Park Movie Soundtrack_
5. Various - _Needlepoint_
Alex's Top 5
1. Extol - _Mesmerized_
2. Emperor - _IX Equilibrium_
3. Believer - _Dimensions_
4. Various - _Blackend 3_
5. Centinex - _Reborn Through Flames_ (Thanks, Adrian)
Matthias' Top 5
1. Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_
2. Dismember - _Death Metal_
3. Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_
4. Demolition Hammer - _Tortured Existence_
5. Placebo - _Without You I'm Nothing_
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Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
----
Our European Office can be reached at:
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe)
Urb. Souto n.20 Anta
4500 Espinho, PORTUGAL
e-mail: ei94048@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 #42
All contents copyright 1999 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.
