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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS E-Zine, June 9, 1996, Issue #11
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <ginof@io.org> <_DeaTH_ on #metal>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <energizr@interlog.com>
Assistant Editor: Alain M. Gaudrault <alain@mks.com>
Web Page Manager: Brian Meloon <bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel <hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <macabre@interlog.com>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@io.org
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms
of brutal music; from thrash to death to black metal, we have it all.
Each issue will feature interviews with your favorite bands, written
from the perspective of a true fan. Each issue will also include
record reviews and previews, concert reviews and tour dates, as well
as various happenings in the metal scene worldwide. We here at
Chronicles of Chaos also believe in reader participation, so we
encourage you to submit any material you may have to Gino Filicetti
<ginof@io.org>.
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 <ginof@io.org>. Please note that this command must NOT be
sent to the list address <coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>.
WORLD WIDE WEB SITE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are currently in the process of constructing a website for
Chronicles of Chaos. You can check it out by pointing your web
browser to http://www.io.org/~ginof/coc.html. If you have any
comments or suggestions, please e-mail Brian Meloon
<bmeloon@math.cornell.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 <ginof@io.org>. The 'Subject:' field of
your message must read: "send file X" where 'X' is the name of the
requested file. 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. If you experience any problems or are having difficulty,
feel free to e-mail us the usual way at <ginof@io.org>.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #11 Contents, 6/9/96
--------------------------
- Editorial
- Loud Letters
- Ferocious Features
-- Amorphis: The Alteration of All Norms
-- Chum: Attacking from the Appalachians
-- Morbid Angel: Eyes to Read, Ears to Listen
-- Obliveon: A New Beginning for Canadian Hellions
-- Decoryah: Melancholic Madness
-- Wicked Innocence: No Rest for the Wicked Innocent
- Independent Interrogations
-- Spiral Architect: Spiralling Towards Success
-- Slayer - _Undisputed Attitude_
-- Pantera - _The Great Southern Trendkill_
-- Cradle of Filth - _Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein_
-- Malevolent Creation - _Joe Black_
-- Various - _Nordic Metal: A Tribute to Euronymous_
-- Accursed - _Meditations Among the Tombs_
-- Asphyx - _God Cries_
-- Bathory - _Blood on Ice_
-- Bewitched - _Diabolical Desecration_
-- Beyond - _Reassemble_
-- Don Caballero - _Don Caballero II_
-- Candiria - _Surrealistic Madness_
-- Cathedral - _Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)_
-- Decoryah - _Fall-Dark Waters_
-- Doughnuts - _Equalize Nature_
-- Grave - _Hating Life_
-- Grotus - _Mass_
-- Mysticum - _In the Streams of Inferno_
-- Naglfar - _Vittra_
-- Obliveon - _Cybervoid_
-- Prong - _Rude Awakening_
-- Ramp - _Intersection_
-- Testify - _Mmmyaooo_
-- Blood of Christ - _The Lonely Flowers of Autumn_
-- 7th Gate - _The Funeral Delight_
-- Red Sun Project - _Red Sun Project_
-- Vicious Crowd - _Vicious Crowd_
-- Obscene Crisis - _Silence of the Mind_
-- Heavy Metal Novelty Night: Gwar with Brutal Juice and the Meatmen
-- Overkilling The Masses: Overkill in Raleigh, NC
-- Gasping for Air: Suffocation in London, Ont.
- Tours of Torture
- What We Have Cranked
- The Final Word
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
E D I T O R I A L
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Gino Filicetti
Here we are with issue eleven. Once again, cheers go out to
every one of you who's offered to contribute your time and energy to
make CoC a better magazine. Our readership level has been pretty
constant over the last two issues, hovering around 650 people
worldwide. Remember the days when CoC used to grow by 100 with each
issue? Well, I guess everything's got its limit, but I'm sure there
aren't only 650 "Extreme Music Enthusiasts" on this entire Internet.
What I'd like to see is our readers going out and recruiting people
and "showing them the light" that is Chronicles of Chaos. Wherever
you hang out on the 'net, give mention of our magazine, whether it be
on your favorite IRC channel, or Usenet newsgroup. You can even
request a copy of our ad from our auto fileserver (coc-ad). Or if you
can't figure out what to do, just simply e-mail me with the addresses
of anyone you want me to add, and I'll do it for you. Let's see if we
can bring CoC to 750 by our next issue!
As a lot of you probably already know, the Milwaukee Metal Fest
#10 is taking place this year on July 26th and 27th. This year's Fest
features A SHITLOAD of amazing bands sure to please everyone. They
are aiming at having 100 bands play but I can't list them all here
now If you want more info, keep an eye on the alt.rock-n-roll.metal
newsgroup for all the latest. Four of the six CoC staff members will
be attending this year's fest. Adrian, Adam, Steve and myself will
all be at the shows handing out CoC flyers and partying it up! We
hope some of you guys make it down to the show, and say hi if you
bump into us. Also, Adrian and I are still looking for a ride down to
Milwaukee so if anyone has any extra room in their vehicle and are
looking to have a couple of really cool dudes ride down with them,
please e-mail me. We are desperate! :)
Also, I want to forewarn everyone that our next issue, CoC #12,
may be just a little delayed seeing as Adrian and I will be in
Pittsburgh from the 19th to the 23rd of June partying it up with our
good buddy Buzzy Beck of Filthboy. Buzzy's getting married on the
22nd of June, so why don't you all take a little time and e-mail him
at <hate@telerama.lm.com> and give him your best wishes for his new
life of eternal agony and suffering.
Now here's a little piece of advice for all of you. It would be
beneficial to you to carefully read this entire issue as fast as
possible and try and soak in some of the details. That's all for now
folks, 'Nuff said! :)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Now a note from Alain:
Congratulations to the winner of last month's Naphobia CD giveaway.
The lucky entry was submitted by Ernest Crvich who answered "Chuck
Schuldiner and Gene Hoglan." Enjoy the CD, Ernest, and to all our
readers, stay tuned for more free giveaways. Be sure to check out
Ernest's very first review submission to CoC in Chaotic Concerts.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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 <ginof@io.org> and enter 'Attention Loud
Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be
featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.
Date: Fri, 10 May 1996
From: Napalm Records America <estenflo@napalm.com>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #10 (1/3)
gino,
thanks again for the new issue. I'm truly amazed how you guys keep
cranking them out so fast. The writing is top class. I like how each
interview has a theme to it, not just the usual questions, and this
is usually accented very nice with the headlines. Also, for just
being in ascii, the format and layout is very impressive too. I've
been meaning to ask you: Do you have a program that comes up with the
cool ascii logos, or do you do all that manually? Take Care,
eRiK
Napalm Records America
Date: 07 May 1996
From: Tim Wadzinski <tswadzinski@amoco.com>
Subject: Re: (U)
I requested issue 7 from your auto-mailer this morning so I could
read the review of Helloween's MASTER OF THE RINGS. Once again, I'm
totally impressed with your mag. You really got your shit together.
I'll admit when you first contacted me I thought, "Oh boy, a death
metal freak", and I expected the mag to be just a bunch of hardcore
death heads screaming out about how everything else sucks. BOY, was I
wrong! In fact, even though I don't get into too many of the bands
you cover, I'll probably end up subscribing just because I really
enjoy what you're doing. (Also, I can read album reviews for hours
and hours without getting bored.)
Anyway, I'm rambling. I'll finish up that little blurb on CoC for SFK
and get it to you soon.
Tim
Date: Sat, 11 May 96
From: wolfe@achilles.net
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Hey guys! I just did a bunch of catching up, going thru COC 9&10.
Those were fuckin' busy issues! I had to keep my notepad handy for
those two, I got info on no less than seven releases to pursue. I
mustn't have the right channels around here or something, cuz I never
hear about this stuff, so I'm really glad COC is around. I'd really
like to see an improvement on the concert listings tho. Get Alain to
add some of the dates for bands he knows of in the Toronto area,
hopefully the info will include dates in Montreal and Ottawa.
Anyways, great work great reviews. I was real happy to see the info
on Slayer's vid, on Amorphis, and to see that Adrian listed my fave
Megadeth disc RIP in his top ten. I think the addition of the auto
file server is great too, it'll allow me to get COC5 to compare what
Chris Barnes had to say from SFU as compared to what Cannibal Corpse
says about him now (two sides to every story right). I don't think
much of band members cutting up formers, lookit the
Mustaine/Metallica saga, but gossip will always be interesting right,
just like a good car wreck.
Keep it up!
---
I traded my burdens for habits I can't cure......
---
I need their love and attention | I'm a dog without a leash
Like I need lead in my head | A jigsaw puzzle
--- Fight | Lookin' for a piece
| --- Dangerous Toys
-wolfe@achilles.net-
Date: Wed, 15 May 1996
From: "-wintermute- (Kluver-Bucy the wikid sick minkey spanky love dog)"
<ggilmore@post.its.mcw.edu>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos JOIN NOW!
Anyway, the mag rules! I've been with ya since issue 2, and as soon
as I got it, I downloaded issue 1. You guys have gotten better
exponentially, and I guess your subscriptions have increased that way
too. Congrats, and keep it up!
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996
From: Mitch Coken <Insaniak@ifu.net>
Reply-To: mitch@ifu.net
Subject: Deicide@thewave review, COC #10
_Death_:
I had a pretty good opinion of your zine 'til i saw the review of the
Deicide show by that numbnuts singh. I was at that show and can tell
you that things were definitely NOT as reported. Will you publish me
if I submit a review of Santa Claus live from the dark side of the
moon?
1. Mortician DID play, they were on the bill as advertised. Deathrune
& Candiria were never on the bill. N.B. Deathrune's guitar player
played with Incantation that night. Mortician sounded much better at
this show with their new drummer than I have ever heard them sound.
They played a pretty long set, with a lot of new stuff from House by
the Cemetery.
2. Will Rahmer (Mortician's front man and also the original vocalist
for Incantation) fronted Incantation at this show. This was a
completely different lineup for Incantation and sounded better than
any previous versions of the band. They did all old (Golgatha) songs,
probably because Will didn't know the new stuff.
The sound at the wave is terrible, I couldn't catch the names of all
the fill-in players (the whole band?!) for Incantation, but the
guitarist was borrowed from Deathrune.
3. Fallen Christ sucked. The front man was like a wannabe-Dave
Mustaine, Jr., their new drummer sounded like he was bowling with
trashcans for pins, and the guitar sound was so bad that you couldn't
make out any of the riffs. Anybody who liked their track on the World
Domination comp (Osmose), fugetta'bout it. They lost their drummer
(Alex, ex-Disassociate, now in Immolation) a long time ago.
4. Deicide put on a ass-kickin professional show. No frills, straight
ahead, in your face death metal, tight as a gnat's ass. Here's a band
that has to finance their own tours because their label is a fucking
parasite; haven't slept in 30 hours, and they're out there throwin
down. They also played 2 other shows in the NYC area that week, the
wave show was not the 'only area appearance' as the promoter would
like you to believe.
5. IMMOLATION KICKED ASS. Numbnuts was right about that.
_Death_: maybe your writers should stick to 'reviewing' rather than
'reporting'. You owe me a dollar; I'm giving it to numbnuts to buy a
clue.
Smoke'em if ya got'em __}
_Insaniak_
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 19:17:03 +0200
From: Panos Agoros <nahitfol@warka.ai.univ-paris8.fr>
Subject: Re: Question?
thanx 4 getting back to me. yesterday i printed your issue#10, and
man i am quite impressed. it's very interesting and well written. no
ass kissin!!!
it'll be a source of inspiration for me and chaotik... ok, stay in
touch, c-ya soon! :)
panos aka nahitfol (Editor, Chaotik Webzine)
nahitfol@warka.univ-paris8.fr or panos@bocal.cs.univ-paris8.fr
http://www.univ-paris8.fr/~nahitfol
Date: Wed, 22 May 1996
From: Dan & Elaine Lepage <dlepage@cycor.ca>
Subject: Loud Letters
Attention Loud Letters
I love your 'zine! It kicks serious ass. This is the only source
that keeps me up to date with what's happening in the metal/death
scene.
Toronto has really let me down over the past couple of years. A
city of over 2 million people and there are no bars left that play
anything heavier than Bryan Adams! Everything has turned to that
Alternative crap! Even radio stations around here that used to rock
have given in to Alternative garbage. And the biggest letdown, my
subscription to M.E.A.T. magazine, (the source for metal happenings,
similar to COC), has changed its name to A.R.M. for Alternative Rock
Monthly...they might as well call it A.R.C. for Alternative Rock
Crap!!!! I'm still waiting for my refund!...Adrian, since you write
for A.R.M., think you could look into this for me? (no offense for
the A.R.C. wisecrack!)
Anyway, I hope I can always count on you guys. Keep up the
excellent work. By the way, one suggestion might be to add a section
to your 'zine informing us as to future CD releases. For example, the
new Pantera which came out on May 7th, the new Slayer due out later
this month and the new Metallica on June 4th, so we can race to the
record stores on the release dates and blow our minds! Thanks.
Dan Lepage
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
___________ .__
\_ _____/__________ ____ ____ |__| ____ __ __ ______
| __)/ __ \_ __ \/ _ \_/ ___\| |/ _ \| | \/ ___/
| \\ ___/| | \( <_> ) \___| ( <_> ) | /\___ \
\___ / \___ >__| \____/ \___ >__|\____/|____//____ >
\/ \/ \/ \/
___________ __
\_ _____/___ _____ _/ |_ __ _________ ____ ______
| __)/ __ \\__ \\ __\ | \_ __ \_/ __ \ / ___/
| \\ ___/ / __ \| | | | /| | \/\ ___/ \___ \
\___ / \___ >____ /__| |____/ |__| \___ >____ >
\/ \/ \/ \/ \/
The meat of the matter lies here. Read on for the juiciest morsels on
bands ranging from the reknowned to the obscure. No fat, no gristle,
just blood-soaked slabs served hot and ready. Dig in, readers.
T H E A L T E R A T I O N O F A L L N O R M S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with Amorphis
by: Gino Filicetti
"In Finland there are some parts where it's dark for 24 hours in the
winter, so Finnish people are usually a very depressed people"
-- Esa Holopainen (guitarist/creative center)
1990 saw the creation of what was to become one of the most
stunning and impressive bands Finland has ever had to offer the rest
of the world. It was in this year that guitarist Esa Holopainen had
the vision of creating a band to shatter everyone's perception of
what a metal band should be. Although the band started as a typical
death metal outfit, Amorphis soon grew to realize that they had a
higher purpose. In keeping with the definition of the word from which
they derived their name, amorphous, the band is a 'constantly
changing entity with no fixed shape or form.'
In 1994 Amorphis released an album that has yet to be matched in
its intricacy and utter stunningness. _Tales from the Thousand Lakes_
was the launching pad from which Amorphis separated themselves from
all the cliches of the death metal world. The album won them critical
acclaim the world over, and is still looked upon (by myself
especially) as one of the most memorable metal releases of all time.
Two years later, this formidable musical entity has come out
with the newest fruits of their labor. _Elegy_ is an album that holds
a great deal of surprises for the average Amorphis fan and proves
beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this band has definitely chosen the
right name for themselves.
Amorphis' music is not the only thing that has changed since
1994. Added to their lineup are three new personalities that have had
a lot to do with the Amorphis sound. Kim Rantala (keyboards), Pekka
Kasari (drums) and Pasi Koskinen (clean vocalist), have joined ranks
with the 'veteran' Amorphis crew, Esa Holopainen (guitars), Olli
Pekka-Laine (bass) and Tomi Koivusaari (growls/guitars). The fusion,
according to Esa, has been a smooth one; "It's gone very good. Kim
was the first one of them to join and he has brought so many new
elements to our music, it's unbelievable. And Pekka our new drummer
plays very tight and he's a really good drummer. It's easier for us
to play when you know the drummer is keeping the right tempo. And the
new vocalist, Pasi, has also done an amazing job for us. These three
members have contributed a large part of the music." And have these
new members brought anything new to Amorphis? "Well, we're all
listening to the same stuff that we've always been listening to, but
I think this time our influences come out of the music more easily
than they did before. The music's got much more folk melodies and the
production of the sound is much better than the last time, it's much
more what *we* wanted it to sound like. It's not the typical death
metal product, it's got an 'old' sound to it. There isn't much
'hi-tech' stuff on this album."
Two years is quite a gap between albums for a band that is so
young, but Esa explains that the band did not want an album that
sounded rushed, instead one that came from their hearts. "Straight
away after we recorded [_Tales from the Thousand Lakes_] we started
to compose new songs and it took quite a while to finish each track.
It was about a year's process putting all the songs together." He
continues on how the music was arranged; "We've arranged everything
as a band, all of us together. Basically, it's always been like that,
I mean, sometimes one of us might do some stuff at home. But during
rehearsal, we all get involved in the arrangement of the songs and
everyone does their part."
Also different on _Elegy_ is the vocal element of Amorphis'
music. To my ultimate dismay, I discovered that the band has
pre-empted their previous growled vocals, and chose to blend in clean
vox with the growls taking the obvious back seat. To pull this off
however, the band recruited a separate vocalist, Pasi Koskinen. But
does Tomi (the growler) feel overshadowed in any way by Pasi? "I
don't think he feels like that. As a matter of fact, he's here next
to me if you want to ask him <laughs>. No, I don't think he feels
very badly. Me, Tomi and Olli are very pleased with the new members
and with how the album turned out. We still like the growling parts
though, and I don't think we'll ever drop them. Pasi has a big part
in our stageshow, he's the ultimate vocalist." Also changed to
distance themselves from the death metal norm is the band's logo, "We
changed it because we didn't want to use the old logo anymore because
the music also changed. It was just too death metal for us. Relapse
did this logo for us, it's just a typical font but it's really cool."
Perhaps most noticeable in the music of Amorphis is their
extensive use of folk melodies, something that is certainly not
typical in this genre. Esa explains, "Well, the whole thing started
in like 1992 when we first got interested in old Finnish folklore and
culture. After that we started to get into the folk music from all
over Scandinavia, we respect it a lot because there are a lot of good
melodies in folk music and we started to get influences from that
sort of music." Another unique aspect of Amorphis is their use of
traditional Finnish ballads and poems as the lyrics to their songs.
These lyrics were taken from The Kanteletar, a traditional Finnish
text. "Basically its just a collection of poems and lyrics that
haven't been used in hundreds of years. It was an interesting area to
use because this stuff includes old philosophical and mythological
meanings. The book itself talks about every day life and it has a lot
of interesting stories. And because they were just lyrics and no
music, we decided to compose music for the lyrics." He continues
about the difficulties of translation; "We used this guy to translate
the stuff and he was really good. Originally, the book is in the old
Finnish language which is really hard to translate. It's not
translated word for word but it still has its meaning."
In keeping with the traditional theme of _Elegy_, Amorphis
elected to use old Finnish symbols and artwork for their cover and
liner notes. Esa describes what each symbol means; "Ok, the symbol in
the middle of the album sleeve, the big circle, that's an old symbol
of Helsinki. The little one on the north, east, south and west sides
are old symbols from the eastern part of Finland. The symbols beside
these are from northern Finland and the Lap Lands. The symbol that
encircles everything was pretty much Kristain's idea (Kristain Wahlin
has done artwork for the likes of Tiamat, Dissection and At the
Gates). It's like a little map of Finland right in your hands. In the
booklet too are symbols behind the lyrics, for example the one behind
"Against Widows" describes a world that's a snake with a sun in the
middle. Everything has its own meaning, but we don't know
everything's entire meaning. It's just something to make this booklet
interesting." He continues describing the hammer symbol from their
last album; "That describes the creation of the world. There is a
ring on the top of the hammer and that represents the sun. Then there
are two paths were two gods walk down, one going one way and the
other going in the other direction. Good and evil."
The production of _Elegy_, as compared with Amorphis' previous
efforts, is ten times as superb. What was different with the
production this time around? "It was much more professional this
time. The recording process was in three parts. First we recorded all
the electric guitars and drums in (the newly rebuilt) Sunlight
Studios (with Tomas Skogsberg), then we recorded the bass and
acoustic guitars and vocals in Finland and finally we mixed the album
in Liverpool, England (at Parr Street Studios with Pete 'Pee Wee'
Coleman). It was a cool experience, but next time, we want to just
concentrate in one studio."
Amorphis' tours following the release of _Tales from the
Thousand Lakes_ were successful, to say the least. Having toured
Europe many times with Paradise Lost, Tiamat and others, late 1994
saw them take to North America, opening for Sweden's Entombed. Esa
details their tour plans this time around; "First off, we have a
bunch of festival gigs we are playing. We'll probably play at Dynamo,
and at the big festival in Denmark. Also a few festivals in Germany
and a few in Finland. Altogether, that's about ten festivals. Then in
September we are planning to headline in Europe. We have dates
confirmed for that. That's going to be one and a half months with a
lot of good venues and good dates, so that should be great. We are
searching for supporting bands now. There was a rumor that Therion
would go out with us, but I don't know, it's pretty much up to the
booking agency. Also we are looking to do a US tour at the end of
this year. We've been there before with Entombed. It wasn't anything
special, just a club tour, but we had a really good time. It was
pretty rough for us touring with seven people in the band, but from
that we've learned how to live in tour busses. You can compare it to
living in a hotel <laughs>."
Being from Finland, there is no doubt that Esa thinks Americans
are different; "I'm not sure if it's right to say the people think in
different ways, but they do have a different mood. In Finland, there
are some parts where it's dark for 24 hours in the winter, so Finnish
people are usually very depressed people and they don't smile much on
the street and don't talk very much. But when you come here you see
all the people smiling and being polite. [!?! Are we talking about
the same United States here? :) -- Gino] It makes you wonder if they
are just putting on a mask for you by being polite. Finnish nature is
quite depressing but when the summer comes everyone starts to smile
and have a good time. And Finns also consume a lot of alcohol, that's
another part of Finnish nature. We are shy and don't talk until you
give us a couple shots of Vodka, then watch out! <laughs>"
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A T T A C K I N G F R O M T H E A P P A L A C H I A N ' S
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An interview with Chum
by: Adrian Bromley
Huntington, West Virginia isn't exactly the first city you think
of when you mention hard music. But to some, Huntington's loudest
export, Chum, may be the next hard-grooved outfit to watch out for.
Speaking from his home in Huntington, singer/guitarist John Lancaster
is a bit nervous about the interview, seeing that this is the first
interview he has ever done. Ever. The topic: The band's much
anticipated debut album on Century Media, _Dead to the World_.
Begins the twenty-three year old with a small sense of humour
and in the process cautioning the interviewer, "This is my first
interview I have done, so if I sound stupid, it's because this is my
first interview." The initial jitters he has of the interview subside
and Lancaster opens up about the intensity and hard work that went
into the emotionally strong and well-balanced groove of _DttW_. "We
wanted to be able to go into the studio and make an emotionally full
and musically tight record. A sonically good album that showed off
the emotions and moods of every song. We achieved that with _DttW_. I
think throughout the whole record we have a driving mood of realism
and the lyrics that I mostly write are personal about my life,"
states Lancaster. "I think throughout the record the mood stays the
same level and that makes the record sound strong and focused. Having
that same feeling throughout the record makes the record seem true to
life."
The record was produced by longtime friend Dave Barrick, who
also produced the band's two earlier demos. But before Barrick was
chosen to produce _DttW_, the band had been approached by King X's
Doug Pinnick and Ross Robinson (Korn, Sepultura) to produce the
debut. About the sound of the band and the interest in the band they
had created, Lancaster says, "We've been told we have a different
sound but it is hard to look at it this way. We never tried to be
different. I listen to a lot of different types of music, both heavy
shit and I also love a good melody in a song, you know? Stuff that
will either move you musically or lyrically. It was basically
bringing those two things as one, but wasn't really an effort to do
so. Maybe that is why those people were interested? Maybe some of
these people think the music is somewhat different to what is out
there."
An interesting story about the band, other than the fact that
they come from such a small, unknown town is the method they went to
getting signed to Century Media. Accounts Lancaster, "We played a
showcase in New York and we had some people come out to see us. Monty
Connor (president) of Roadrunner was there and I guess he wasn't
interested in us for Roadrunner but he is good friends with the A&R
guy from Century Media and he recommended us to the label. They
checked us out and we went from there. From what I understand,"
finishes off Lancaster, "that is the same way Stuck Mojo got signed
to Century Media too."
The band is comprised of longtime friends Mac Walker on guitar,
Chris Tackett on bass and new drummer (since February) Elliot
Hoffman. Since the band's inception a few years back, the band has
formed a small fanbase with their live shows. "The earliest formation
of the band dates back to 1992 and 1993," starts Lancaster about the
early days of the band. "I used to jam with the bass player and the
other guitar player in another band when we were 14 or so. I hadn't
heard from them in a while and then they called to say that they were
jamming with this drummer and they needed a singer. I played guitar
and asked them if I could play guitar too. So I joined. Then in 1994
we got a new drummer and then our style started to show and it became
quite apparent where we were headed.
"When we first started to write songs (on the early demos) it
wasn't focused and we were whipping out songs. Our material was just
there, nothing special. But once we got the new drummer it started to
form into what Chum was to become with our music."
Talking more about the overall sound of the band he notes, "I
love a band that can incorporate heaviness and intensity and have
that combined with good melody. Singers that can mix it up a little
bit, a good example being Faith No More. Mike Patton (singer of FNM)
can sing with a soulful voice and have an intensity as well. It is
great to see how he uses his voice as an instrument and how he can
transform his voice to suit a song. As for our sound, we just brought
together all the music we were listening to and any other
contributions."
Listening to the harmonic power of _DttW_, many of the album's
tracks have their own character. There is the sheer intensity of
"Stepping On Crack" or "Kindling Kind" and the melodic stance taken
by "Angels In The Snow" and "Untouchable". One song that does stand
out is the album closer, a cover of Prince's (The Artist Formerly
Known As Prince) "Darling Nikki". "We always played that song live,
it was usually the show closer and while in the studio we decided to
record it. When we heard it in the studio we wanted it so bad on the
record and the record company people liked it a lot so we included
it. It made us happy to see it make it onto the record."
Another thing that would make the band happy right now would be
to tour the United States in support of their debut. The band has
only been able to do small amounts of touring in the last little
while, with stops in New York City, bits and pieces of the East Coast
and some of the surrounding states of West Virginia. Lancaster is
asked: Are you worried about touring? <laughs> No! I am worried about
not touring. This guy was to book us for a few weeks solid and then
just backed out on us. Just like that... gone! We are still trying to
get something together in regards to touring. We are kicking around a
few ideas here and there but nothing concrete yet. In some shape or
form we need to go out and play. As far as I am concerned, touring is
the biggest part of promotion for a band. We want to do this and do
it now." Seeing that this is their debut album, has the band
experienced the 'give and take' ideology of the music business yet?
"I heard all this stuff about the music business so I guess I was
ready for it. I mean we haven't experienced much yet but we also
haven't been involved with it too long. I'm prepared to do this and
this is something I have always wanted to do and I am finally doing
it. I tell people this is like a big rollercoaster ride. You get
excited about it and then something bad happens and then something
good will happen after that and keep you high on that for a bit,
etc... It goes up and down and I guess I got to get used to it?"
About success and growing with the industry and doing things
their own way without having to compromise too much, he says, "I
don't want to get to a point where the music is not real. I always
want to keep it real. Whatever happens happens and I just want to
make sure our music isn't changed by people telling us what to do.
You gotta have fun doing this while you can 'cause it isn't forever."
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This is the column where CoC sits down to have a face to face, no
holds barred conversation with your favorite bands, and get the
inside scoop into what's happening in their lives.
E Y E S T O R E A D , E A R S T O L I S T E N
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An interview with David Vincent of Morbid Angel
by: Alain M. Gaudrault
Just about everyone knows who they are. They've laid the groundwork
for American death metal, influencing countless acts. Love 'em or
hate 'em, MA's current success means they'll probably be around for
awhile still. I had the chance to speak with vocalist/bassist David
Vincent as he sat comfortably in his Florida home, taking it easy
after the band's Australian tour. Without further ado...
CoC: I hear you've just returned from an Australian tour and are in
need of rest. Burned out?
David Vincent: Oh wow, boy were we. Really, what it is, is the
eighteen-hour plane trip, non-stop, in this little
tiny cattle-car, you know what I mean? That's
weakening. But I love Australia. Once you get there
and get over the flight, it's a beautiful country, I
love it. Then again, you've got a beautiful country
too.
CoC: Getting to business, how has your latest album, _Domination_,
done?
DV: It's been doing real well. We're actually real pleased with the
response it's gotten. We spent a lot more time on this record
than we had on any previous record, and really just trying to
hone in on something to get something happening, you know? I'm
just really happy that people received it as well as they have,
because you know that's the icing on the cake when you're really
pleased with something, and then when other people tell you
they're pleased with it too. That just makes all the difference.
CoC: So how well has it done in terms of sales compared to the other
albums?
DV: We've sold more of [_Domination_] in the time that it's been out
than we have any other record.
CoC: The tour; how's it going so far? What's the current status?
DV: Well right now, we're at home for a little while and going back
out in June, going to Europe and South America.
CoC: Those are areas you haven't covered yet on the _Domination_ tour?
DV: We've done Europe before, but we'll be doing festivals there
throughout the summer. It's just shy of a month's worth of
playing. We've had a really good response so far. We've been
trying to branch out lately and go to places where we don't
normally go. Like the last time we played in West Virginia which,
we didn't even know what was going on over there, but we had a
good crowd for what it was. It was a small town, real isolated.
That's the kind of thing... I want to do more of that and get
into the heartland as well, 'cause we always go do the big
cities. I want to play some places where you'd never expect it,
you know? We've found that there's a lot of people who have been
fans for awhile, and some of them have been fortunate enough to
make it to some of the other shows we've played in the larger
cities over the years, and some people just can't afford to do
that, so when you can take it to them it shows them that you're
really committed to trying to do the right thing, which we are.
CoC: It seems you've had a label change lately. What's the scoop?
DV: We're still on Earache in Europe, we just don't have an American
record label right now so they're helping out with some of the
promotion. We're no longer working with Giant anymore. They just
passed on their option. We had a two-record deal and options
after that. Well, frankly, the amount of money that they would
have to pay us for this next record is just through the roof, and
they've actually changed, there really isn't no more Giant
Records either. They've had a bunch of changes over there and
they dropped all but two bands, changed the name of the label and
changed the whole focus.
CoC: Speaking of the next album, do you have any details to share?
DV: We haven't started working on it yet. We'll probably start
working on it towards the end of the year.
CoC: Once you've completed touring for _Domination_?
DV: Right. Once we're in this limbo thing. When we get down to
working on a record, we're not disturbed by anything. We don't
book shows, the phones are off the hook, we kinda close ourselves
off and just get to work.
CoC: Now that Erik Rutan's had time to settle into his role in Morbid
Angel, have things significantly changed musically and
personally within the band?
DV: He's brought a lot to the table. The guy's a very talented
musician. Everything that he's brought to the table has been
unique in its own way, because he's a very different player than
Trey [Azagthoth]. They complement each other real well.
CoC: Morbid Angel has always been known to be pretty much overtly
anti-christian, but recently, there seems to be some people who
are accusing you in particular of having racist tendencies.
Anything to say to those people?
DV: I think probably people misconstrue. I did some interviews where
I just kind of went off the deep end, and it was really more to
illustrate points of breaking the patterns in thinking. I have a
real problem with this whole idea of political correctness, about
thinking things just because it's something that everybody thinks
and if you don't agree with everybody on all these various
points, it's considered a real taboo thing. That's just as much,
in my opinion, mind control and censorship a la christianity as
anything else. Just because it's the left-wing controlling the
media and saying that you shouldn't think these things, how's
that any different than right-wing christians having their
special-interest groups to say that you should think these other
things? I reject all of it. I think freedom of speech, freedom of
expression, freedom of association, freedom to have whatever kind
of beliefs you want to regardless of whether they're fashionable
at any particular time, I think that these are some of the
freedoms that at least I, as an American, cherish, and I'm
against censorship and thought control by any group, towards any
group, for any reason. That's really where I stand on all of that.
CoC: The last time you played in Toronto, a sizeable group of Nazi
skinheads showed up and pretty much ruined the show for everyone
else by being assholes in the pit. What were your impressions on
that evening?
DV: Well, I look at it this way. There's all kinds of people that
come to our shows, regardless of where we play. There's always a
diverse audience and I try to get people to overlook whatever
differences they may think that they have in the interest of
coming together and having a good show. Sometimes it doesn't
always work that way but I try to encourage it to work that way.
CoC: Forging ahead with the rumour mill, some have speculated that
your wife (Gen of the Genitorturers) used to be male!
DV: What?!? I mean, come on. I've heard it all. That really tops the
list of absurd things I've ever heard. I've heard it all, believe
me, and I've never heard that, so I don't know what to tell you.
Add that to my National Enquirer story when I'm fifty or whatever.
CoC: The rumour spread a bit through certain Internet newsgroups, so
I thought I'd pass that along.
DV: Sounds like some jealous people to me.
CoC: Speaking of Gen and the Genitorturers, do you plan on
participating musically in any of her projects in the future?
DV: It's interesting, I just got out of the studio with her last
night. We actually did a project. There's a compilation that's
coming out, a tribute to AC/DC. She's submitting a track for that
which I helped her out with.
CoC: Which track is that?
DV: It's an old Bon Scott song, one of their early ones. The song's
called "Squealer", from the _Dirty Deeds_ record. Doesn't sound
like that anymore, though. (laughs)
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A NEW BEGINNING FOR CANADIAN HELLIONS
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An interview with Obliveon
by: Alain M. Gaudrault
Three years have passed since the release of their last album,
_Nemesis_. While their future may have seemed bleak at times, what
with the lack of a label, and relatively little exposure, Obliveon is
alive and well, still calling the Montreal area home. Set to unleash
their latest full-length, _Cybervoid_, the band is bracing themselves
for the reactions to their change in musical styles, not to mention
the addition of a new singer. I recently managed to get some feedback
from founding guitarist Martin Gagne on the new album, the line-up
change, and the musical direction they're currently pursuing.
CoC: There has been much speculation as to what label has picked up
the band. Do you have a record deal, or will you be promoting
the new album yourselves once more?
Martin Gagne: Well we do have a record deal with the Canadian label
A.S.A., which is a division of Cargo Records. It's a
two-way deal, 'cause the album _Cybervoid_ is only
licensed and they have a recording option for the next
album. The distribution is in Canada and France, and we
haven't yet signed for the other territories, but
that's coming soon! The reason why it's only a
licensing deal for _Cybervoid_ is that we produced it
all, and all they had to do was to print them and put
them on the shelves.
CoC: To be blunt, what's taken so long? _Nemesis_ came out 3 years
ago!
MG: I'll try to make it short, but I'm not sure I can do that! Well,
first of all, we were kinda waiting for a licensing deal for the
states concerning _Nemesis_ (their previous release), and that
never [came] through. We really believed in our chances and we
thought that it was a done deal, and we were really anxious to
hit the road! "To be blunt," we were stretching _Nemesis_'s life
in Canada, in the hope of giving it a new life in the States and
Europe. After realizing that we had to move to something else,
already a year had passed! Then, we made a 4-song demo with our
new singer. We sent it to a couple of record companies, it got
some attention but nothing serious, again. It took six months to
get that "nothing serious" attention. So we came to a point where
we had no choice but to produce the next album by ourselves. And
it takes time to come up with $20000 or so, don't you agree? So
we took to the streets and started selling chocolate bars!!!
CoC: The album has been completed for some time now. What has held up
its release?
MG: Well you're right... The album was all finished in July of
1995!!! And as far as we're concerned, we wanted it out in
September, at the same time the school year started. But when we
started dealing with Cargo, (in May 1995) they told us they were
putting out a new division (A.S.A) in January 1996 and that it
would be better for us to be on A.S.A. We said no, we want it out
*NOW*. They said 'okay, no problemo, it's in the pocket, sure,
why not, we understand...' So it was "supposed" to come out in
July on Cargo Records. But they stalled us up to January with
their contract mumbo jumbo to say: 'hey, our new label's ready!'
After more contract mumbo jumbo, we came up with this deal which
was worth the wait.
CoC: When will _Cybervoid_ be gracing the music store shelves?
MG: For Canada and France, it came out April 16th. For Europe and the
States, we have some more contract "mumbo jumbo" to do!
CoC: Tell us a bit about your new vocalist.
MG: He's 29, has blond hair, green eyes, 5'10", what a hunk, eh?
Seriously, he used to play in a band called Sarkasm, and it came
to an end right when we were on the lookout for a new singer.
Pierre (Remillard, guitar), who is also a sound engineer, had the
occasion of working for Sarkasm a couple of times and he knew
right away that Bruno (Bernier, new lead vocalist) was the one we
needed. We auditioned him and he turned out to be the perfect guy
for us. In fact, he's the only one we auditioned!!!
CoC: What prompted you to bring in this new member?
MG: When we started writing new material, we realized, as did
Stephane (Picard, bassist and former lead vocalist), that
Stephane's vocal style and range didn't fit as well as in the ol'
days. We tried and tried new ideas to make it fit, but we came to
the inevitable conclusion that the music was evolving and that
Stephane could not evolve with it, no matter how hard we tried.
We sat down and talked it over a lot, and we said that we would
give it a try with someone else. But we knew right away that
Stephane would have the last word on it due to the fact that he
would still write the lyrics (and play bass of course). That
four-song demo I talked about earlier was where Bruno really
became our new singer. It was the first time we heard some
Obliveon with different vocals, and we had no bizarre or weird
feelings about the new stuff, it just blended really great.
Stephane was happy 'cause he could do more vocal arrangements due
to the fact that Bruno's voice was more varied than his own.
CoC: How do you think your fans will react to the new direction
you've chosen for your music?
MG: Some see Obliveon as a technical death metal band, some see
Obliveon as a progressive metal band, some see Obliveon as a
space metal band?!?, some see us simply as a heavy metal band.
The only thing I can say is that some will like it and some won't
like it. The important thing is that we feel comfortable with
what we did.
CoC: _Cybervoid_ has a colder, more mechanical feel to it, while
still rife with many memorable melodies. Who is largely
responsible for the new sound?
MG: I do most of the music while Pierre does most of the musical
arrangements. All this with respect to everybody's opinion in the
band. So we are all responsible for it, because we're not afraid
of telling each other what we think, since we really are old
friends. But I can tell you that sometimes, pots and pans fly
around, but that's normal!!!
CoC: Will the band be touring to promote this album, and if so, where
will the tour take you?
MG: We should tour Canada at the end of summer, and since the album
is not out yet in Europe or the States, I don't know about that.
But you know: I CAN'T WAIT TO GO THERE!
CoC: What type of bands do you see yourselves touring with?
MG: We'd like to tour with as many types of bands as possible. You
can't just stick to your style of music, you have to go get them
where they are if you want to convert them!!! Even if that means
a couple of bad experiences or so.
CoC: Will Stephane Picard be performing any of the old material in
concert?
MG: No, but he does a lot of backing vocals which was something we
didn't have before. I think it brings a new dimension to our
music. And I can tell you is that Bruno really tries to keep the
old material faithful to what it was.
CoC: Many are proclaiming the demise of metal, these days. Is the
metal scene in Montreal still flourishing?
MG: Now I'd like to know who is saying that? Maybe it's someone who's
waiting for the new Krokus to come out!!! Down here, everything
is going great except maybe for the lack of encouragement from
record companies. Here in Quebec, there are a lot of places to
play around the province, and the fans really show up anywhere
you want if you do your job on the publicity side. And you can
hear many different styles of (too many to name) bands doing
well. Anyway, je radotte la! All this to say that the ones who
are proclaiming this "supposed" demise are probably not into
metal anymore and are afraid to say so. That's what I think! Well
gotta go and thanks Alain for the interview. Longue vie au
Chronicle du Chaos.
For more info, including details on purchasing _Cybervoid_ and other
Obliveon merchandise, be sure to check out their WWW page at:
http://www.accent.net/cyberbands/obliveon/obliveon.htm.
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M E L A N C H O L I C M A D N E S S
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CoC chats with Finland's Decoryah
by: Adrian Bromley
Finland's three-piece Decoryah are known for the hypnotic yet
beautiful stylings and orchestral pieces that walk the fine line
between death metal and art. It's classical, melancholic and
beautiful, though there is an underlying darkness and uncertainty
that finds refuge within the music of the band as well.
Their latest effort _Fall-Dark Waters_ (Metal Blade) is the
follow-up to their successful 1995 debut, _Wisdom Floats_, an album
respected by critics and fans alike for the Finnish band's ability to
strive for creativity and provide the music scene with something
fresh and innovative. The band prospered from the respect they were
given with their debut and worked hard to create a masterpiece to
follow their debut. _FDW_ is just that, a blissful and enchanting
adaptation of the band's images and visions with the help of three
powerful female singers (Sini Koivuniemi, Karolina Olin and Piritta
Vainio) and the contributions they infused with the use of cellos,
violins and flutes. The band's maturity shines through as well.
From Finland comes the call by drummer Mikko Laine (the band is
rounded out by singer/guitarist Jukka Vuorinen and other guitarist
Jani Kakko) and CoC and Laine 'talk shop' about their latest effort:
CoC: Since the release of the album, you have been doing some press
and now you now have some time off to get back into the
rehearsal hall and practice before touring, whenever that may
be. Will there be a tour for _Fall-Dark Waters_?
Mikko Laine: We are not sure right now. <pause> Quite possible in the
future I guess. Perhaps after the next album or so.
CoC: And why not with this album? Why are you not sure about touring
with this effort?
ML: On our album, there are many people involved with making it, so
if we want it to sound even remotely similar to what is on the
album we would have to have all those people on tour. It would
cost a lot of money and I am not sure if we would have that
financial support.
CoC: Do you find that, seeing as you may not tour with this album, it
hurts the band in regards to exposure and record sales?
ML: Well it doesn't bother me that much. I guess it would be nice to
promote the album with touring but hopefully we will be able to
tour our record in the future. Or just wait till the next one.
CoC: What kind of press is the band doing to promote this album?
Video? Radio? Magazines?
ML: We have only done magazine press right now but we may do a video.
We are planning to do one but again we'll see. It costs a lot of
money to make videos as you know.
CoC: With the work that you did with _FDW_, how is this album
different from what you had done with _WF_?
ML: There is a lot more variety with this record. I think this record
has a much different sound than the poor production we did with
_WF_. This record is moodier and there is definitely more
variation with this album. I liked _WF_ but it was too much of
the same style of music.
CoC: And you were all pretty young too?
ML: Yeah. We were all like seventeen years old when we recorded the
first album. I'm nineteen now, so is Jani and Jukka is twenty
now. Both Jani and I will be twenty by the end of the summer. We
are still very young.
CoC: Do you think being young makes a difference with your music? Do
you think you will be able to grow with your music?
ML: I think it is a great benefit that we are so young and made such
a unique sound. And I hope as we get older our music can progress
too.
CoC: How old were you when you started to play?
ML: I was twelve when I started to play music. Both Jukka and Jani
were around the same time too. We were all in the same class in
school. I was the first to buy an instrument. I bought drums and
pretty soon they bought guitars and we started to play and we got
together as a band. It was very simple to get this started.
CoC: How important is it for the mood of the album to come across as
opposed to just the music?
ML: Atmosphere is the most important thing in all of art and not just
music. In our music both atmosphere and mood are a priority for
me. They are extremely important. If the music is powerful then
that is great but we want to deliver a powerful mood to the
person listening to our music.
CoC: Do you bring about any of your homeland's heritage into your
music?
ML: Maybe a bit in the mood but we never tried to do so. Coming from
Finland, a lot of the music is melancholic and soft, maybe that
is what finds its way into our music. There are a lot of bands
that like to incorporate their heritage or upbringing styles or
even mythology into their music like Amorphis (see interview in
this issue), but we just don't do that or include it. We are not
against doing so but we just stay away from it. I'm proud to be
Finnish and there is great heritage and culture here but we don't
set out to put that into our music.
CoC: How have the reactions been for the record seeing that the debut
was such a popular release?
ML: We have only heard the reactions from those that have interviewed
us so far and they have all liked it. If they didn't like us then
why would they want to interview us? I hope that the album will
do as well as _WF_.
CoC: What do you like about this record, aside from the maturity you
believe it shows off or the better production?
ML: Like I said before, I think the atmosphere says it all about the
record. We really discovered something within our music and
ourselves with this record.
CoC: The music that you create seems to be very hardworked and well
thought out with the classical pieces and the themes. Does it
come naturally? How does the band Decoryah create the music they
play?
ML: It comes quite naturally. Jukka will come up with a riff and we
jam and that is how it comes together. Most of the arrangements
come out of working within the studio, seeing that while we are
in there we have all these ideas and visions of what it is that
we want to get out of our music with that specific song. We
thought of where to put the woman's vocals or the cello or
violins while we were in the studio. The music changes a lot
coming from a rehearsal jam and into the studio and onto the
record, but 'YES' to answer your question, it is quite easy for
us to write material. It is easy so far.
CoC: Do you find your lyrics to be very personal or about everything
out there that people can understand too?
ML: I don't know. Jukka writes all the music and I can't say if they
are personal to me. I can say that they are personal to Jukka.
They are added to the music to create atmosphere. If the music is
melancholic than we look into writing melancholic lyrics to match
the music so they can work off the music and once again set up
the atmosphere of the band.
CoC: Did you ever think that when you started you'd be where you were
today, working with a label like Metal Blade and already with
your second album at such an early age?
ML: No we didn't. When we started we didn't know about 'underground
music' or demos and stuff. We just played and never thought of
recording anything. But after recording our demo tape we got
quite a few good responses from some small labels. We started to
believe that we might then be able to get some records out. And
we eventually did.
CoC: How is the band's reaction to working with a label?
ML: Everything has gone well so far with Metal Blade. We have a free
hand to do whatever we like with our music. So far there have
been no complaints and I am sure that they know that we are quite
a different band to be working with. So far I think it has been a
good combination for both of us.
CoC: As for any new recordings, what is the game plan for Decoryah
seeing that this record just came out and you are already
thinking of a new release? Will there be material on the next
record much more different than what you did with _WF_ and _FDW_?
ML: I guess it will be somewhat different but not much more
different. It'll be along the lines of both releases. I don't
think _WF_ and _FDW_ are that different from one another, only
that _FDW_ shows our maturity more. I hope the next record
captures once again our maturity and people can recognize the
sounds of Decoryah and at the same time bring in new elements.
CoC: And the where does the name of the band come from?
ML: Basically nothing. When we started off realizing we were serious
about this and we were in the 'underground', we were looking for
a name and we were fed up with bands with names with 'Blood' or
'Death' in them. We decided to go for a name that doesn't mean
anything but brings an association of a music style with a
particular band.
CoC: So you were trying to stay clear of being seen as just a band
inspired by death and blood right?
ML: When you have death or something like that within your music than
that is okay, but our music has nothing to do with that. That
would have placed the band as one style of music in which we were
not part of. We didn't want that. We wanted to be somewhere else
other than with those bands. We have always strived to be
different and original.
CoC: Seeing that this is your second release and you have been around
for a few years in the music industry, is there anything
important that you have learned in the last little while?
ML: Yeah, you have to earn money for the labels so that they can keep
you on their roster. That's it. <laughs>
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N O R E S T F O R T H E W I C K E D I N N O C E N T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with the new proponents of technical brutality
by: Steve Hoeltzel
Wicked Innocence is a band that stands out from the current extreme
metal field in quite a few ways. First among these is their
impressive fusion of highly technical musical experimentation with
the kind of uncompromising aggression usually associated with only
the most extreme death metal outfits. (Imagine Cannibal Corpse
ripping through material much crazier than anything from Kataklysm,
and you'll have some idea of the style to be heard on _Omnipotence_,
their recent debut from Napalm Records America.) Also worthy of note
are drummer Travis Jiron's progressive lyrics, which intelligently
treat major, real-life topics much more pertinent than vampires,
severed limbs, and all that. And finally, there's the intriguing fact
that this truly brutal band hails from Salt Lake City, Utah - easily
the most religious, most clean-cut big city in the States. Of course,
I just had to ask Travis about this when he and I sat down to talk
about the band.
CoC: You probably have to field this question every time - but what's
it like being in an extreme metal band in Salt Lake? Is there a
supportive scene there?
Travis Jiron: No, there isn't. I mean, we have an inner circle of
close friends that hang out, and have dedicated their
friendships to helping us out. But the scene here?
There's no support. There's not one all-age club here.
And it's funny, because no one's ever heard of any band
from Utah, ever. And now that we're breaking out, every
interview we do, that's the question. We're in the most
religious state in the country, so that sucks, because
we're not into being Mormons. We're an environmental
band; we're into the environment. But it does suck
here. People don't even like black metal here, or death
metal or grindcore or speed metal. I mean, it's just
unheard of. And there's three or four bands that do it
here. And we all have to rent warehouses and shit to do
it, and I've been doing it for seven years, and I've
just made it happen. And no matter what people have
done, I've just tried to keep it going.
CoC: Do you have to put up with a lot of crap over the whole religion
issue? I mean, do people there just assume "Okay, they're
extreme metal-heads; therefore, they must be Satanists," or
things like that?
TJ: Oh yeah, oh yeah. A lot of people can't understand what Lorin
[Cook, vocalist] says, and they don't know what the lyrics are
about, so they automatically think that we're death metal, and
we're gonna go slaughter someone's cat, you know? If you look
weird here, like an extremist like we are, with long hair and
all, you're an average Joe in a different state. But here, people
think you're a bum, and they lock their doors when you go by 'em.
It's just a joke, man. And then every time we leave the state,
people are like "Are you guys Mormons?" and we're like "Fuck no
we're not, man! <laughs> We're more man than you'll ever think
about being!" We have to make jokes about it, you know, because
people always fucking harass us, and think that we're the Mormon
band.
CoC: So what have you guys been up to since you recorded the album?
TJ: We've just been trying to promote it and do a lot of touring.
Right now, Erik [Stenflo, of Napalm Records America] does all of
our distro, and everything else but booking shows. So since he's
put out the disk and put all his money into everything for us,
it's been up to us to go out and do our own shows and promote it.
So we've just been touring a lot of the close, surrounding
states, but now we're getting out there with some bands that have
been getting to know us.
CoC: How does your stuff go over live? Because I would think that
people who've never heard it before are just gonna be standing
out there saying "What the -fuck- is this?" when they hear the
crazier stuff.
TJ: Yeah, yeah, they do. They trip out. Some people don't know what
to do, they just stand there. One guy asked me in an interview,
"Can you guys play this stuff note for note live?" And I said
"Hell, yeah, we can! We wrote it, so fuck yeah, we can." I mean,
the shit's pretty intricate, but live, we come off aggressive.
It's not like we're some ITT dudes trying to play technical and
just standing there going <does a hilarious impression of
technical guitar doodling> with our feet locked on the stage. We
get out there and fucking slam and get all into it. We're a live
band. We're a lot better live than a lot of the bigger bands out
there. We feed off the energy of the crowd. We want the crowd to
have a good time, so we're as into it as we can be. And then when
they feed off us and get into it, then we just get into it more.
CoC: Have you been writing new stuff, or recording anything new?
TJ: We've got six or seven songs written for the new disk, and Erik
asked us at one time if we wanted to go record again, but we said
no, because we lost our bass player. Tom Cloward quit the band.
So we haven't recorded, but we've got a new bass player named
Zack, and we've just been getting ready to do that now. We've got
him worked in. We did Sacred Reich in Salt Lake with him, and
went to Denver, so we've just been breaking him in with some
shows. We're gonna go into the studio within the next couple
months, I'm sure.
CoC: So what's the new stuff sound like?
TJ: The new stuff's way cool. It's not gonna get all mellow. It's
gonna be heavy, but it's gonna have some complete clean vocals on
there, it's got some tribal stuff... It's just gonna be really
original, and some of the blast beats are just gonna be fucking
ungodly. I mean, people are gonna trip out. It's gonna be really
original, just like _Omnipotence_.
CoC: It sounds like the new stuff is going to continue in the same
insane vein as _Omnipotence_. Or do you think you're pushing
your sound into even crazier territory?
TJ: Oh yeah, yeah. If people think that we're really weird now...
We're gonna be experimenting with stuff that we've never
experimented with before. We can go from three-chord punk to
extreme fucking death to the coolest, jazziest, bad bass lines
you've ever heard, with some blues... People are gonna freak on
the new stuff, because we're really stretching our limits right
now. It's like I said on the _Omnipotence_ J-card: I feed off
people's negativity. So everybody out there putting us down,
giving us bad reviews, saying "We can't accept this," or "The
vocals are too fucking low," well, we're just gonna go out there
and do stuff to piss those people off and be better.
CoC: Do you think there are any limits to how far you can push your
style?
TJ: No, I really don't. I think it's just a matter of fatiguing out
on your band, you know, whether the guys get sick of each other.
And I don't think that we're gonna get to that point. We're doing
good, and everybody gets along, so I don't think there'll be any
limits to what we can do and what directions we can go.
Everybody's got such different backgrounds and different styles
that they're influenced by that it's just cool, man. It's like,
we're in between, I don't know, some of the newer industrial
music and some of the brutal death metal. I don't know, it's hard
to classify us. People can't just throw in the disk and say
"Sounds like so-and-so; fucking heard it." You've gotta hear it a
few times.
CoC: Another thing that sets you guys apart is the depth and
intelligence of your lyrics. Did you make a conscious decision
to steer away from all the gore bullshit and all the satanic
stuff, or did it just come out that way naturally?
TJ: The mountains in Utah are just beautiful, and we really take
pride in what nature has given us. We're really into the
environment, so the lyrics have always been inspired by the
beauty of these things. When you get sick of society here, you
can just leave, and in 15 minutes, you're away from everything.
I've always been into that. And when I first started writing
lyrics, I was thinking, do I want to write about stuff that I
don't believe in? Do I want to write about butchering someone, or
do I want to write about this axe murderer, you know? It just
wasn't me, so I basically decided to stay away from that stuff,
and try to heighten people's awareness. That's what our band's
about.
CoC: Yeah. I mean, I really like a lot of the brutal stuff that's out
there, and a lot of the black metal, but it's so conformist. All
the bands play by this one set of rules, and it just gets
tiresome after a while.
TJ: It does. It's just like a gangster, you know? They've gotta stick
up for their street, but once they go off that street, they're
gonna fucking be in trouble, and they know it. And what they've
done is boxed themselves in. It's just like everybody in life:
humanity boxes [itself] in. "Well, we need to have a home, and a
car, and a boat, and this and this and this, and all this stuff
so we can be better and we can feel comfortable." But you just
fucking put a fence up around yourself and no one can talk to
you, you know? Everybody's just into getting too much stuff.
CoC: Any last words for us?
TJ: To everybody out there who reads this, follow your dreams, and
don't let anybody tell you what to do. If you're into it, do it,
and don't ever turn your head. Because once you start achieving
what you want, you've got the positive energy there, and things
happen, and there's nothing better. Believe in yourself, man, and
do what's right. That's all I can say.
Travis encourages anyone interested in the band to contact him at:
2131 West 4260 South, Theckston Rd.
Salt Lake City, UT, 84119,USA
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,.:/
Here is where CoC gets the inside story on up-and-coming bands. Check
out this column for a variety of fresh, brutal groups. Should you be
an aspiring band on your way to super-stardom, send us your demo and
bio; our address is included in the zine's header.
S P I R A L L I N G T O W A R D S U C C E S S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An interview with Spiral Architect
by: Brian Meloon
"Spiral Architect is also the title of a Black Sabbath song. The fact
that some may assume there's a link also musically was something we
took into consideration when deciding to use that name for our band.
However, being certain that this illusion will shatter as soon as our
music is heard, we didn't -- and still don't -- see this as a
problem. We chose that name as we think it visually has a lot of
potential, and also in a way gives a good description of the music we
perform." -- Lars K. Norberg (bass)
Having formed from the ashes of Anesthesia, Spiral Architect
began in early 1993. While Anesthesia was heavily influenced by the
likes of Iron Maiden, Helloween, and Metallica, Spiral Architect have
taken a more progressive route. Lars cites as their main influence
"whatever we consider good music," but says that the band members
"share a mutual interest in the more innovative bands of the heavy
metal genre." Their influences include Psychotic Waltz, Cynic,
WatchTower, Queensryche, Death, Fates Warning, Rush, and Dream
Theater. The result is a sound which Lars describes as "some kind of
a hard, technical/progressive metal with quite original yet melodic
melodies on top. On several occasions we've been told that our music
is in an odd way catchy, something I believe to be true, at least
after being given time to grow. When written out, however, you'll see
that it's fairly complex with key, time and tempo changes all over
the place."
Retaining the nucleus of Anesthesia has kept the band's lineup
stable for the band's three-year career. Anesthesia members Asgeir
Mickelson (drums), Kaj Gornitzka (guitars, vocals), and Lars K.
Norberg (bass), along with ex-King's Quest guitarist Steinar
Gundersen have been together since the band's inception. However,
filling the lead vocalist spot has been a problem for them. As Kaj
wrote most of the vocal lines and sang on gigs with Anesthesia, he
was given the vocalist spot. However, the band continued to search
for a lead vocalist, auditioning many prospective frontmen, and
finally settling on Oeyvind Haegeland, formerly of the (now defunct)
Norwegian progmetal band Manitou.
As the band was without a permanent vocalist when asked to
contribute two songs to the _A Gathering..._ compilation (reviewed in
CoC #10), the band called in session vocalist Leif J. Knashaug. Leif
was already familiar to the band, as he did the vocals for the two
songs Anesthesia contributed to the _Norway Rocks_ compilation in
1988. _A Gathering..._ was released in September, 1995, and the band
released their first demo (consisting of the same two tracks) in
February, 1996 (reviewed in CoC #9). The songs are the culmination of
years of work, as Lars notes that "Purpose" was "written in stages
within a time frame of six years! I don't think the average listener
will notice, but for us -- being aware of which parts were written at
which time -- listening to that song is like taking a journey through
the band's progression. Although being a fine tune, we're feeling
somewhat alienated towards some of that stuff. 'Fountainhead', on the
other hand, was pieced together in a relatively hurried fashion under
a lot of strain, which again triggered heated arguments during the
rehearsals. Anyway, the end result is something we're quite proud of."
Praise for the band's demo has come from far and wide, as it has
garnered rave reviews in zines across the world (including this one).
Lars comments that the band is "really encouraged and appreciative of
all the great support we've been receiving. We've just recently
started promoting our material towards record companies, so we're
still waiting for most of them to reply. A couple of offers have come
our way nevertheless, and we're now in the process of negotiating a
deal with what you may consider a major independent label." (Can you
guess which one? ;) )
Never content to rest on their laurels, the band is hoping to
release another demo in September, 1996 and a debut album in early
1997, for which they are currently writing material. "Right now,
we're working on four new tunes," Lars explains, "and we have ideas
for at least another four songs. Obviously there's also some older
tunes and hours of idea tapes floating around, but since we've
progressed way beyond what's in general the style on these, we'll
probably just leave that material to rest in its obscurity." Their
sound continues to expand, incorporating elements of technical death
metal as well as jazz/fusion. Lars says the band plans to "include
these elements to our sound without necessarily excluding others - I
mean... that's something we've always been doing, working on and
making adjustments to our sound, and I'm certain that this also will
be our policy in the future. Whatever the music in the end is labeled
as is something we're less concerned about. We'll be happy as long as
the music is interesting and enjoyable to play, and our beliefs
aren't being compromised with."
Eventually, the band plans to tour Norway, hopefully in the
autumn or winter, after their next demo is released. Along with their
new material, they plan to play some covers, such as WatchTower's
"Mayday In Kiev" (which Lars calls "amusing and fun to play") and
Fates Warning's "Anarchy Divine". While Norway is better known for
its black metal scene, a prog scene does exist there, as evidenced by
the compilation _A Gathering..._. According to Lars, there are "many
talented musicians but very few good bands coming out of Norway.
Central Europe is the 'hot spot' when it comes to prog metal, or at
least that's what we've been told. Nevertheless, if you ask me, all
the leading bands of this genre tend to spring out of the USA."
Looking into the future is always a difficult proposition. For
now, Lars says that the band "would rather like not to make any
predictions, but just keep our focus on making the best of things
right here and now." While they're doing that, check out their
homepage (see below), listen to the soundclips of their music, and
make up your own mind about what their future holds.
Contact: SPIRAL ARCHITECT, Chr. Krohgsgt. 30, N-0186 Oslo, NORWAY
WWW: http://www.gi.no/Spiral/
e-mail: asgeir@gi.no
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This is where we rant, rave, and rip apart albums. Check this column
every month for the scoop on the latest in heavy hand-outs.
Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- If there was ever a perfect CD, this is it!
8 out of 10 -- A great piece of metallic mayhem
6 out of 10 -- Not too bad of an album
4 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
2 out of 10 -- If you like this, you are fucked!
0 out of 10 -- My shit can put out better music than this!
Slayer - _Undisputed Attitude_ (American Recordings, May 1996)
by: Gino Filicetti (7 out of 10)
Slayer doing punk. I don't know about you, but to me something in
that sentence just doesn't click. But regardless of what you or I
think, that's just what this seminal thrash band has gone and done.
_Undisputed Attitude_ is Slayer's 10th release and is full of nothing
but punk covers (with one original song thrown in for good measure).
The idea behind making this album seems to mainly stem from guitarist
Jeff Hanneman who's comments on each song appear most frequently in
the liner notes. Unfortunately, yours truly is NOT the biggest punk
fan on earth, so the fact that Slayer neglected to mention which
bands they were covering in the liner notes left me pretty much
clueless. They did however mention that three songs were Minor Threat
covers, "Guilty of Being White," "I Hate You" and "Filler/I Don't
Want To Hear It." Frankly, most of the music on this album just
doesn't sound natural coming from Slayer. All of Slayer's tell-tale
characteristics such as Araya's vocals and their own unique guitar
signatures are still intact making the music sound more like thrash
and less like punk. Some of my favorite tracks are "Mr. Freeze",
which sort of sounds like something the band would write, "I'm Gonna
Be Your God", which is a pretty nasty love song sung with wild vocal
effects. And finally my absolute favorite track from this record,
"Gemini", which is the one original, complete with lyrics in the
liners. The music is slow and evil, the lyrics are expertly written
and the song ends with heavier than hell riffs just chugging away.
Suffice it to say that "Gemini" alone brought my rating of this album
up at least two points.
Pantera - _The Great Southern Trendkill_ (EastWest, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10)
Few bands, especially the metallic-oriented ones, have been able to
match the success that these Texan boys have achieved in such a short
period of time (that is if we overlook the time of their glam rock
days). Ever since the raw and chaotic frenzy spewed forth by their
stunning 'metal reincarnation' of _Cowboys from Hell_ (1990), Pantera
have been a runaway train, plowing over every band in its path and
made them a force to be reckoned with within the mainstream. The
band's last two offerings, 1992's _Vulgar Display of Power_ and
1994's _Far Beyond Driven_ took the band deeper into the roots of a
hard-grooving metallic outfit, providing not only some killer riffs
by Dimebag Darrell but monstrous intensity shared by singer Phil
Anselmo's screams and the strong backing of the potentially dangerous
rhythm section of drummer Vinnie Paul and bassist Rex. Onto their
latest, _The Great Southern Trendkill_, a somewhat departure from the
hard-based grooves of the past few releases (though not dissolved of
them) and back to a very solid metal feel to the record. Rawer and
harsher at times (death metal would be a better adjective at times!),
_TGSTK_ still sounds like Pantera, but some characteristics have been
changed and that is not a bad thing. With some extensive touring
behind them with _FBD_ and Anselmo's other project Down, this album
seems as though the band aimed to get back to their 'roots' of being
a metal band - and many will not be disappointed. Opener title track
(aided by screams of Anal Cunt's singer Seth Putnam) is enough to
pique any metal fan's curiosity. Dig deeper into the record and find
crunchers like "Suicide Note Pt. II", "War Nerve" and "Floods" doing
some serious damage to our ears. Loud and aggressive, these "Cowboys
From Hell" are on the verge of burying every metal act still trying
to salvage some respect from the music industry.
Cradle of Filth - _Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein_
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10) (Cacophonous, March 1996)
The second release from these blasphemous English blokes shows them
moving toward a more gothic, death metal sound. The production gives
them a more professional sound, being thicker, heavier, and having a
much better drum sound (including a tight bass drum sound), but less
prominent keys and vocals. Dani's vocals are the same eerie shrieks
mixed with the occasional guttural death metal belch. Unfortunately,
he's mixed too low at times, making it difficult to hear (let alone
understand) what he's saying, and he continues his (bad) habit of
singing extremely fast, which for some reason reminds me of Ross
Perot. (?) They've also incorporated some sections with female
voices... which I like, though they aren't terribly original. The
guitar work is essentially death metal, with some black metal
influences, similar to their previous style. The keys are once again
very prominent, although their new keyboard player isn't as good as
their previous one. The pipe organ sound is gone, replaced by more
gothic tones... synth violins and such. The drumming is much
improved, with some fast double bass work (helping to give this its
death metal feel), and some interesting and varied playing.
Unfortunately, there are only six tracks, of which one is a cover of
a song on _TPoEMF_ ("The Forest Whispers My Name"), one is an all
keyboard gothic instrumental (which is a little boring and rambling,
but otherwise okay), and four real tracks. Overall, this is a step
backward I think, but still very good.
Malevolent Creation - _Joe Black_ (Pavement, April 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10)
This CD is a mixed bag of material: three new songs, three wild
re-mixes, and some pretty obscure earlier stuff. Brand new opener
"Joe Black" rages, racing crazily back and forth in trademark
Malevolent style between power chord barrages, insane blast beats,
and galloping jackhammer riffs. The other new songs are enjoyable
too, but I don't think they're as strong as the best material on
their latest full-length, _Eternal_. Also included is the '93 demo
version of "Genetic Affliction", which, for my money, absolutely
smokes the _Stillborn_ version. The three-track '90 demo which
eventually got the band signed is also represented here, and
"Remnants of Withered Decay" just rocks. Then there's a cover
(recorded by the _Stillborn_ lineup) of Slayer's "Raining Blood", but
I think it's awfully weak, especially considering that these are the
guys who crushed _Reign in Blood_ beneath the pulverizing weight of
_Retribution_. Finally, though, what compilation would be complete
without three TECHNO (!!) re-mixes of tracks from the latest album?!
That's right: -techno- mixes of Malevolent Creation songs. I can't
stand techno, but you know, I think these tracks are pretty damn
cool. Each is propelled by a driving programmed backbeat beneath
scorching riffs, with looped samples and weird electronics piled up
on top. Catchy, rhythmic, and uniquely wicked. Beyond that, I can't
really describe these tracks, but hey, they came out heavy enough
that the band decided to release them. Considering who we're talking
about here, that ought to tell you something.
Various - _Nordic Metal: A Tribute to Euronymous_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10) (Necropolis Records, March 1996)
Long before he was murdered, Mayhem founder Euronymous (together with
Paul Thind of Necropolis records) planned to release a compilation
album showcasing the still-emerging Norwegian black metal scene. Now,
almost three full years after his death, the spark which Euronymous
first gave to this movement has exploded into a blaze which has
spread like wildfire through the underground, and the compilation
which he planned has finally been released as his own posthumous
tribute. The album contains 15 tracks by 11 bands (many of whom were
Euronymous' good friends), and clocks in at just under 74 minutes.
Included is a 24-page booklet loaded with interesting photos, band
bios, and testimonials from those who knew Euronymous well and revere
his memory still. Musically, too, _Nordic Metal_ is packed with
interesting stuff. Here's what I thought of the most notable
inclusions:
MAYHEM - Their first track is a version of "Freezing Moon" featuring
vocals by Euronymous' brother in posthumous infamy: Dead. As this
track shows, _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_ would have been even more
chilling if Dead had lived long enough to record his ultra-grim rasp
for it. "Pagan Fears" is an unreleased rehearsal track recorded by
the 1996 Mayhem lineup. Neither track has quality sound, but both
really show off Hellhammer's amazing drumming.
EMPEROR - "Moon Over Kara-Shehr" is an unreleased rehearsal track
with rather murky sound. Recorded in early '94, it's weaker than
anything on _In the Nightside Eclipse_, but it still has that epic
Emperor feel. "The Ancient Queen" is taken from their 7-inch _As the
Shadows Rise_, a by-product of the '92 recording sessions for
Emperor's excellent split with Enslaved.
DISSECTION - "Where Dead Angels Lie" is a great track, somber and
darkly atmospheric. "Elizabeth Bathori" is much more simplistic and
has a pronounced 80's metal feel. Both tracks are taken from the
Wrong Again Records _W.A.R. Compilation_.
OPTHALAMIA - Their cover of Mayhem's demo track "Deathcrush" rocks.
Most of the remaining tracks are probably of greater interest to
diehard fans than to anyone who likes a few of the bigger black metal
bands but isn't very seriously interested in the scene. Besides
easy-to-find tracks from Marduk and Enslaved, this is rather obscure
and often very raw sounding stuff from: Abruptum (good scary
ambient), Mysticum (unimpressive), Thorns (slow and dirge-like),
Arcturus (like an easy-listening version of Emperor), and Mortiis
(very unimpressive).
Accursed - _Meditations Among the Tombs_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (8 out of 10) (Visceral Prod., November 1995)
I only know two things about this band: first, its three members hail
from Wisconsin, and second, they have produced an extremely
impressive debut of blackened avant-garde metal. "The Last Sunrise"
opens the album in epic fashion, twisting and turning through
venomous black cacophonies and pounding doom riffs backed by pealing
bells. "Land of Whispers" is -weird- sounding black metal, and "Where
Icicles Form" is genuinely creepy, and once again pretty strange. But
the Accursed sound isn't just constant aggression: every song
contains all kinds of fluid changes of tempo and feel. Like many a
black metal band, they've also peppered their album with hypnotic
musical interludes, usually featuring synthesizers. But unlike most,
these guys actually use keyboards as a -lead- instrument on a couple
of non-intro tracks. On "Oceans of Time" and the all-instrumental
title track, this works surprisingly well. Even though there are some
weak moments on the album, at their best Accursed sound like a more
adventurous version of _Hordane's Land_-era Enslaved. In other words,
this is a killer release, by a band with immense potential.
Asphyx - _God Cries_ (Century Media, May 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk (7 out of 10)
Rising from the ashes of breaking up a year after the release of
their self-titled album, the Dutch band Asphyx have come to life with
their new album, _God Cries_. Reuniting with two-thirds of the
original line-up, they put in a very solid 9-song effort. Songs like
the title track, "My Beloved Enemy", "Died Yesterday" and
"Slaughtered in Sodom" utilize slow to mid-paced speed, and
concentrate on guitar intricacy rather than blinding speed (which
some bands these days find necessary). Worthy of note is that _God
Cries_ is a little more than half the length of their debut album
with each song on averaging about three and a half minutes compared
to their self-titled album where the average length is nearly six
minutes (I guess on this album they took the "shorter but sweeter"
approach). Not many surprises, but some good music nonetheless.
Bathory - _Blood on Ice_ (Black Mark, May 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk (9 out of 10)
After listening to this for the first time I was surprised at how
much I liked it! _Blood on Ice_ being Bathory's eleventh album, was
recorded from February '88 to June '89 between the albums _Blood Fire
Death_ and _Hammerheart_. Of the eleven songs, I particularly liked
"Man of Iron", "One Eyed Old Man", "The Sword", "The Woodwoman" and
"The Lake". Some of the songs are enhanced with choir-like backing
vocals, greatly adding to the sound and atmosphere. The album also
includes a 32-page booklet, detailing the recording of _Blood on Ice_
and some of the history of Bathory, along with the lyrics with a
written intro to each song. So reading the intros and lyrics, it's as
if one was reading a story. Even the cover art is fantastic! The only
fault here is the weak production in some parts, due to the age of
the recording. In the bio it says _Blood on Ice_ is "... an hour of
true epic metal..." This doesn't even begin to explain how truly
great this is.
Bewitched - _Diabolical Desecration_ (Osmose Prod., April 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (5 out of 10)
According to their bio, Bewitched's variety of "evil speed-rockin'
Hell metal" could just as well have been done in '83. One thing's for
sure: if I had discovered this album back then, when I was 14, I
definitely would have played it often and loud. See, Bewitched have
two basic goals: "to focus on old pioneering metal from the early
eighties" and "to maintain genuine feelings of dirty and evil ROCK
'N' ROLL." I guess they do that pretty well, coming off as a pretty
rocking cross between vintage Mercyful Fate and old Judas Priest. But
these guys are cheesier: check out song titles like "Burnin'
Paradise" and "Hard as Steel (Hot as Hell)". Still, the guitars sound
great, and this CD showcases some pretty cool old-school metal riffs.
The vocals, on the other hand, are annoyingly screechy, and they're
not exactly blessed with the greatest lyrics either. In the end, I
just can't get into this style. But big fans of early Mercyful Fate
and similar-sounding bands might want to search these guys out.
Beyond - _Reassemble_ (Pavement/Cargo, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)
Chicago's Beyond are somewhat connoisseurs of metallic mayhem and an
industrial/mechanical tinged sound, something felt quite vividly with
their music. Much like the works of Ministry, Beyond's music on their
debut _Reassemble_ (the band was formerly known as Demented Ted) is a
quick lashing of riffs and walls of noise. The vocals of singer Ron
Janis exhibit a solid death metal-ish growl though at times
downscaled to a solid exertion of anger as every song goes upon its
course. Musically, the music of Beyond is rather bland, no real
attribute pops out, but I must say one thing though: this band has
got a real groove going when it does take shape, especially with
songs like "Monument" and the title track. "Machined" rolls hard and
heavy as does opener "Pure" and "Limbless". Metallic and thrashing
out in a frenzy at times, Beyond's debut is a good listen most of the
time.
Don Caballero - _Don Caballero 2_ (Touch & Go, September 1995)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)
Don Caballero are a semi-mysterious band (not a guy) from
Pennsylvania. The packaging of this disc resembles the music, being
minimal: all that is listed in the liner notes are song titles, band
members, a contact address, and some production credits. The music is
probably best described as "an instrumental Neurosis crossed with
Primus and touches of Voivod." This description is a little
misleading, as the bass playing is definitely not the focal point,
though it is solid. Their overall sound is reminiscent of Neurosis,
with similar guitar tones, long songs (4 of the 8 songs clock in at
around 10 minutes), simplistic guitar riffs, and repetitive and
slow-moving compositions. The music is occasionally heavier, more
metallic, and more dissonant than Neurosis, bringing to mind the most
recent offering by Voivod. The songs feature a similar weirdness to
Primus, as do the song titles, such as "please tokio, please THIS IS
TOKIO", "P,P,P antless", and "Dick Suffers Is Furious With You". The
guitar work is similar to what you'd expect from Primus with two
guitar players, though not as noodley. The playing is not very
precise, usually pretty loose and sloppy, and at times sounds out of
tune. The production doesn't help this either, as it is rather noisy,
and not too flattering. The drumming is the highlight of this album.
This guy gives new meaning to the term "overplaying." He sounds for
long stretches as if he's soloing, keeping the music interesting as
the guitars play the same monotonous, minimalistic riffs. Parts of
this are excellent, but some parts really drag (some bordering on
noise). This is at least original and refreshing, though it still has
room for improvement.
Candiria - _Surrealistic Madness_ (Too Damn Hype, December 1995)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Candiria are a NY band exploring the fertile territory of jazz-metal.
This has a fresh sound, as it's only vaguely similar to the other
bands who've incorporated jazz into metal (Atheist, Cynic,
Pestilence, Spastic Ink, Naked City/John Zorn, Alex Masi). Their
style is roughly death metal crossed with jazz. There are sections of
pure jazz, sections of pure (though not extremely heavy) death metal,
and sections of mixtures of the two. The death sections are sometimes
straightforward, but the jazz influence creeps in both rhythmically
and tonally, ranging from very dissonant and strange to pretty
technical. Vocals are shouted and not very guttural, but distorted,
and fit the music well. Guitar and bass work are solid, and the
drumming is excellent: really moving some of the sections along. It's
usually dense and varied, with some occasionally fast double bass
work. The album as a whole has a little too much jazz for me, as
approximately half of the (45-minute) disc are taken up by pure jazz
(including the last 10 minutes of the last track), but a lot of the
metallic parts are excellent.
Cathedral - _Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)_
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Earache Records, May 1996)
So, Cathedral releases this limited EP, _Hopkins: The Witchfinder
General_, a grouping of four newly recorded songs and one of the
better Sabbath-laced tracks of their brilliant 1995 release _The
Carnival Bizarre_, and at the same time presents their fans with
scare tactics... sort of. Starting off with the movie trailer/spoken
intro of late, great actor Vincent Price saying "I am Matthew
Hopkins, witchfinder...", this 5-song EP kicks off with the title
track and then from that point on the album switches gears, dilly
dallying between multiple music styles, everything from jazz/funk
("The Devil's Summit"), an 80s rock styled number (the slowly
hypnotic "Purple Wonderland") and even a cover of Crazy World of
Arthur Brown's psychedelic song "Fire". But don't be alarmed though,
Cathedral fans. The record company bio (paraphrased) says this desire
by the band to play this music does not suggest this to be the band's
musical direction in the future. Experimentation is the name of this
game here with Dorrian and his gang of metallic henchmen, and like
most albums' material, some things work and some don't (most notably
"The Devil's Summit") but the need to branch out sometimes is the
best remedy to keep things fresh within a band. Good call Lee.
Decoryah - _Fall-Dark Waters_ (Metal Blade, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
Finland's Decoryah's sophomore effort, _Fall-Dark Waters_, flows with
a captivating essence throughout, rarely losing the listener and
always releasing bitter-sweet bursts of classically balanced guitar,
violin and cello orchestrations that piece together quite the
collection of material. More focused and better produced than their
debut album for Metal Blade, 1995's _Wisdom Floats_, _FDW_ is 9-song
ride into the world and visions of this three-piece. Classical death
metal (much like Orphanage) may be the best assessment of the
material found on their latest LP with the musical interludes, the
use of angelic female vocalist/singers and strong songwriting.
Standouts include title track, "Gloria Absurdiah" and "Some Drops
Beyond the Essence". A recommended listen for those that enjoy long
intricate atmospheric metallic numbers.
Doughnuts - _Equalize Nature_ (Victory/Cargo, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)
If you like hardcore music (in the same vein as Snapcase), L7
attitude/style of music and bands with female musicians in them, then
this four-piece from Umea, Sweden are exactly what you need. With
just five songs on this release, these four lasses kick out some
heavy hardcore-based numbers like "Spread It", "Agony" and "Windows"
- a sure-fire source of energy in any mosh pit. Roughly shaped and
sculpted, _EN_, does the job for the 13:30 that it plays and that is
good enough for me.
Grave - _Hating Life_ (Century Media, May 1996)
by: Adam Wasylyk (6 out of 10)
Suffering the loss of bassist/vocalist Jorgen Sandstrom who left to
play in Entombed, listening to _Hating Life_, I had mixed feelings as
to whether it was a mixed blessing or not. Guitarist Ola Lindgren has
taken over vocal duties (who was the vocalist of Grave in the band's
beginning stages), but doesn't capture the vocal ferocity that Jorgen
had. Musically, I did enjoy it a lot more than their prior release
_Soulless_ because _Hating Life_ is more catchy and aggressive.
Recorded at Sunlight Studios by Tomas Skogsberg (who has produced
bands like Entombed and Amorphis), this greatly adds to the sound as
the production on here is very clean. Exactly 33 minutes long, the
tracks "Worth the Wait", "Restrained", "Snowfilled Moon" and "Harvest
Day" were good, but not much else was very different or even worthy
of mention. Most of the songs are done in the same sort of way; it
did get stale at times to hear. A little more experimentation is
recommended.
Grotus - _Mass_ (London Records, Late 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (8 out of 10)
Never heard the name Grotus before? Well, unless you are into the
industrial/techno "vibe" going on, then it's no wonder. Grotus has
been around for the last five years, and started off their careers as
nothing more than another copy cat band ripping off the industrial
beats of the era. However, this band - lead by Lars Fox - has evolved
into an entity that is truly unique. _Mass_ is Grotus' debut full
length with London Records, and marks a significant change for the
band. With this release, Grotus elected to take on a more human
approach to their music. Wishing to distance themselves from the
hordes of mechanical industrial monsters dominating the scene, the
band brought in a flesh and blood drummer replacing their previous
drum machine, and changed their sound to a more down to earth
approach. Some of the lyrics on _Mass_ are pure genius, like _Collect
'Em All_ which is about the workings of a psychotic mind or _The
Bottom Line_ which shows how everyone in our world is hypnotized by
the mass media (such as evil electronic publications like Chronicles
of Chaos!). The music on this release is hard to describe; it dances
the fine line between techno, rock and grindy industrial.
Experimentation is a high priority on Grotus' list, and the band
never ceases to captivate the listener. This album is definitely
something different, but interesting nonetheless.
Mysticum - _In the Streams of Inferno_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (4 out of 10) (Full Moon Prod., February 1996)
There are quite a few black metal bands whose sound really grows on
you over time, once you've become used to their bleak, savage, and
typically under-produced style. After giving the debut from Mysticum
its fair share of spins, though, I'd put these guys in the class of
bands who just get slightly less annoying. The main reason is their
reliance on a drum machine which produces about as much sonic power
as a typewriter can. Plus, the guitar sound is incredibly high and
thin, and the vocalist sounds like he's really been hitting the
helium too. Still it's not really their squeaky recording that holds
these guys back. As we all know, it takes a lot more than crappy
sound to keep a good black metal band down! No, the problem is that
Mysticum's songs are simply monotonous. There is a huge shortage of
engaging riffs and interesting changes in tempo, and whatever
atmosphere the band manages to create with keyboards rapidly becomes
stale. If your idea of a great black metal jam is to repeatedly blast
Emperor's most one-dimensional songs with the bass turned all the way
down and the treble cranked, then these guys are for you. Otherwise,
look elsewhere.
Naglfar - _Vittra_ (Wrong Again Records, 1995)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)
Within any genre, there are the inventors, the innovators, and the
clones. These guys fall into the last category, sounding almost
exactly like Dissection. The playing is good (although the drumming
is average... he could be a little more interesting), the vocals are
fine, the guitar and bass work are precise, and the songs are good,
but these guys don't really add anything new to the genre. The songs
are a little "catchier" than Dawn (see CoC #8), but not quite as
catchy as Dissection. They have a few neat tricks, such as the intro
to "Emerging from Her Weepings", which is acoustic guitar with double
bass drums under it (yeah, it's been done before, but it's still
pretty cool) and some keyboards for atmosphere, but it's a sound
you've heard before. I even feel that some of the melodies seemed a
little too familiar, as if I'd heard them before, but couldn't quite
figure out where. Still, with the excellent production and relative
youth of the death/black genre, this is worth getting. Those of you
who can't get enough of Dissection won't be disappointed.
Obliveon - _Cybervoid_ (A.S.A./Cargo, March 1996)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (10 out of 10)
A friend of mine made the astute observation that Obliveon want to be
Voivod. Now that may very well be so, but in my opinion, they're
doing a damn fine job of making phenomenal music in the process.
_Cybervoid_ is the third outing from these Montreal
technical-deathsters-come-cyber/groove-metallers, and may well become
my top pick of 1996. Sure, there are heavier albums out there, and I
love them as well, but Obliveon seem to have found the perfect blend
of aggression, technicality, and groove, combined with a harsh, yet
mechanically melodic vocal deliver thanks to newcomer Bruno Bernier.
The production, thanks to guitarist Pierre Remillard, is thick yet
clear, and very guitar-heavy, with ambient electronic bits used often
as a percussive element. The drumming is solid and diverse, hardly
boring, but the massive guitar riffs so excellently crafted and
molded into cohesive structures simply flatten me. I've had an
advance copy of this album for a number of months, and I've recently
come back to it to write this review. It still blows me away. A word
of warning to old fans of the band, though. Obliveon is not pursuing
death metal any longer, as is evident in their choice of new
vocalist, who seems to be coming from a death background while adding
a sense of melody uncommon to the average death vocalist. If you're
expecting brutal death metal, or even technical death, you might be
disappointed, although perhaps not if you aren't averse to a healthy
infusion of speed metal and groove. My favourite cuts off the album
are "Sombre Phase" and "Biomecanique", both of which would make good
choices as potential singles, although the latter's inclusion of
French lyrics might prevent it from being so. All in all, _Cybervoid_
is heavy, and has enough originality to impress the cynic in me. If
you're able to sample this album in your favourite music store, do
so. Then buy it.
Prong - _Rude Awakening_ (Epic/Sony, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Much more focused and straightforward than their last effort,
_Cleansing_ (1993), New York City hard-grooved metal trio return with
a story and sound, revealed and emphasized through the sounds
emerging from their new LP, _Rude Awakening_. The music here is not
hidden behind screams of rage or loud crashes of music. It's rather
raw and virgin-like, assembled slightly with a feeling of uniqueness
in sound and lyrical content. The obvious changes of the band are
shown through the sound and direction of the band. While less
bombastic than previous efforts such as _Beg To Differ_ (1990) and
1991's breakthrough LP _Prove You Wrong_, the music of _RA_ stills
breathes of heaviness. Sampler and keyboardist Charlie Clauser (of
NIN fame) adds his own blend of trippiness and oddity into the rough
vocals of singer/guitarist Tommy Victor and the tight riffs and
strides of power provided by the band. From start to finish, the 13
track's of Prong's latest glides nicely with numbers like
"Controller", "Innocence Gone", "Face Value" and the title track.
Though some of the material sounds very similar at times (take note
and you'll hear it after a few listens), this album deserves to be
taken as masterpiece of performance by a band that for years has
shapeshifted and tried so hard to perfect their sound. No need to
work at it any more as _RA_ can finally claim fame to a unique sound
that can only call Prong's guidance and deliverance home.
Ramp - _Intersection_ (Uniao Lisboa Edicoes, 1995)
by: Gino Filicetti (5 out of 10)
This Portugese quintet aren't newcomers to the scene. Ramp has been
in existence since 1989, but a multitude of unlucky setbacks has keep
this band in the shadows since that time. The only other Ramp release
that has seen the light of day was the _Thoughts Was Released_ EP
which came out through Polygram. However, the band was never
satisfied with the unfriendly and commercial feel of the label, so
they decided to part ways and join up with a young upstart Portugese
label, Uniao Lisboa Edicoes. The result: _Intersection_, an album
that has all the power and musicianship any band could hope for, but
one that came just a little too late to matter. On _Intersection_,
Ramp seem hopelessly buried in the early 90's thrash sound. The
vocals on this release are clean but lack that certain touch that
would make them memorable. The music is superbly executed and the
various guitar solos are top notch. But like I said, this album
already sounds dated, and I think Ramp should look forward to the
future and use their talents to pursue greener pastures.
Testify - _Mmmyaooo_ (Van Richter Records, May 1996)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
First the band sounded a lot like NIN with their 1994 debut _01_ and
their remix album, _Ballroom Killer_, and now with their sophomore
record, _Mmmyaooo_ (great name eh?), they sound like Ministry. What's
next down the line of industrial bands to imitate? But hold on...
hold on. The axe ain't gonna fall too quickly on Testify, not this
time at least. Beyond my negative points of this record stands strong
a solid, hard-hitting dose of fierce industrial music. From the
get-go of opener "Pink Goblin" onto "Head of Compassion" and "Block
in the Eye", Testify rarely slows it down, bit by bit breaking the
listener into a heaping pile of human flesh. Samples, loud bangs,
screams and solid riffs pour out of this rather surprisingly
enjoyable second outing. Also, the help of co-producer Adam Grossman
(singer/guitarist of Skrew) helped strengthen many of the band's
flaws off the first album. _Mmmyaooo_ radiates industrial music and
channelled noise to the best of their ability. Good effort.
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/ \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
/ /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/
\_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___|
Your best source of information on the newest of the new, and the
deepest of the underground, New Noise is the place to read about all
the coolest shit you never thought existed! And 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: ***** -- I see a record deal in the future
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Blood of Christ - _The Lonely Flowers of Autumn_ (4-song demo)
by: Adam Wasylyk (*****)
In the fine tradition of other Canadian death metal bands such as
Kataklysm and Cryptopsy, Blood of Christ, with this professionally
laid-out four-song demo (with songs "Autumn's Twilight", "In the
Distance", "Moonshroud... the Cresent Glow" and "As the Roses
Wither"), demonstrate they have the talent to continue successfully
in their footsteps. Combining death, black and doom (along with
intelligent lyrics), Blood of Christ deliver a rich, unique sound
through great production and talented playing. Acoustic and organ
passages accentuate the music nicely. This will satisfy many, as
there are some blast beats along with nice melodic parts. A very
impressive release to say the least. With not only great music but
with great layout, this is about as good as demos can get.
Contact: BLOOD OF CHRIST, c/o Jeff Longo
27 Century Place, London, Ontario, Canada, N6H-4W9
(send $5 US for a copy)
7th Gate - _The Funeral Delight_ (8-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (*****)
This is one of the best demos I've heard. Ever. Granted, the
production isn't great. In fact, according to the liner notes,
"[this] tape was done without: fuckin' effects..., fuckin' overdubs,
fuckin' mastering, simply no studio, just live playing." And play
they do. 7th Gate have created an interesting combination of brutal
American-style death, with plenty of European-style melody, and the
occasional grindcore vocal to boot. The musicianship is pretty tight,
and the sound uncommonly clear for this type of recording. I'll admit
that my first impressions were mixed. While the packaging is
excellent for a DiY job, the song titles threw me off, particularly
"Mutilation of a Pregnant Bitch", which sounded downright insipid. My
first listen left me a bit flat, but it's upon repeated listenings
that I grew to love this tape. It hasn't left the deck for a week.
There's just so much cool stuff happening here, that it's worth
hearing over and over again. The highlight of the demo, for me, has
to be "Open Crypt" with its various tempo and texture changes as well
as the almost trance-like state it induces. This comes highly
recommended to those who love good grinding technical death metal.
Hailing from Austria, these guys need all the encouragement they can
get, so I urge everyone to contact them and get a copy of this
wonderful release.
Contact: 7TH GATE, Rainer Zimmermann, Bergerweb 5
A-4400 Steyr, Austria, Voice: +43(0)7252/53143
e-mail: rainer.zimmermann@telecom.at
Red Sun Project - _Red Sun Project_ (4-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (***--)
Red Sun Project is actually 7th Gate (see review in this issue) in
disguise. Fronted by a different vocalist, the band plays a decidedly
more mainstream style of metal. While still retaining a thick,
crunching sound, this demo incorporates elements more commonly found
in heavy alternative acts, without the uni-dimensional simplistic
playing displayed by said bands. And again, as with 7th Gate, the
demo was recorded without the aid of effects, overdubbing, etc, "just
live playing." Unfortunately, the weak link in Red Sun Project has to
be their vocalist. While his singing voice is decent in places, his
screams are beyond annoying, and his rap has to go, although it could
be argued that it fits the music. I would readily disagree. In any
case, this is a pretty cool showcasing of talent, and certainly
displays the diversity of the musicians, particularly after having
sampled their alter-ego, 7th Gate. If you were thinking about
ordering the latter's demo, consider Red Sun Project's as well, if
only to hear the breadth of their writing abilities.
Contact: RED SUN PROJECT, Rainer Zimmermann, Bergerweb 5
A-4400 Steyr, Austria, Voice: +43(0)7252/53143
e-mail: rainer.zimmermann@telecom.at
Vicious Crowd - _Vicious Crowd_ (11-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (**---)
First off, this is metal with strong hard rock tendencies, which
isn't an inherently bad thing, mind you, but overly susceptible to
cheesiness. While that isn't the case with Vicious Crowd, other
problems abound. The first few spins of this CD weren't too
favourable. A few of the songs hit the mark with a good vocal line
and a handful of excellent riffs, but the rest of the songs are
either too samey, or the riffs become downright annoying halfway
through the song. The musicianship is another sore point; sloppiness
is readily apparent, and given the lack of density of the music, it
shows considerably more. The guitar in particular seems in places
overly simple, although solos are usually clean and tasteful. The
vocals set this release apart from other bands of this genre with its
quasi-hardcore flavour, tinged with hard rock melody. Personally, I
feel the band should concentrate on fewer songs in order to develop
them further, to give them their own distinct personalities, instead
of producing a full-length album's worth of mediocre tunes as they
have done.
Contact: Vicious Crowd c/o Jean-Christophe Marchal
1147 Chaussee de Louvain, Bruxelles 1200 WSL, Belgium
e-mail: jean@hpuxit96.brussels.hp.com
Obscene Crisis - _Silence of the Mind_ (9-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (*****)
Succinctly put, this demo gives the listener a 25-minute barrage of
chainsaw guitars. I half expected a generic offering of bland death
metal, despite being quite impressed with their live set, opening for
Suffocation in London, Ontario. Luckily for me, Obscene Crisis
deliver the goods with this independently produced CD. The twin
guitars of brothers Stephane and Jean-Pierre Cote shred, combining a
heavy speed metal influence with death metal structures. Granted, it
took me awhile to really learn to appreciate their music, but after
repeated listenings, I was floored. The rhythms are complex, and the
musicians are of high enough caliber to pull everything off
beautifully. While their sound most closely resembles the North
American death genre, there's a subtle sense of melody that just
creeps up on you once you've familiarized yourself with the songs,
keeping you coming back for more. Of course, there's the occasional
sloppy moment, and the very mildly muddy production, but this is one
damn fine listen. Eric Fiset's vocals vary from gurgling death growls
to high grind screams, both occasionally multi-tracked together,
offering both extremes simultaneously. And lo and behold, I can
actually hear the *bassist* (Chrystian Boyer) running interesting
lines throughout the tracks. I was particularly impressed by the
drummer's live performance; Stephane Chartrand does not disappoint in
the studio, as the flurry of rolls and double-bass clearly show.
Montreal just seems to consistently ooze quality metal, and Obscene
Crisis are further proof of this. Given more time in the studio and a
bigger budget, they could very easily, in my opinion, become major
contenders in metal realms. Already garnering acclaim in Europe,
according to the band, this is one group to keep an eye and ear out
for. Do yourself a favour and seek out a copy of this mini-album.
Contact: OBSCENE CRISIS, c/o Eric Fiset (enclose 1 IRC for reply)
9230 Lajeunesse #2, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2M 1S2
e-mail: frphnet@vir.com
WWW: http://www.vir.com/~frphnet/obscene/index.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
____ __ __
/\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __
\ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___
\ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\
\ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
\ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\
\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/
____ __
/\ _`\ /\ \__
\ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____
\ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\
\ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/
\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/
Here is where Chronicles of Chaos gives you the lowdown on the latest
shows coming your way. Check out Chaotic Concerts every month for the
scoop on the bands brutalizing the masses with their own form of
terror.
H E A V Y M E T A L N O V E L T Y N I G H T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gwar, The Meatmen, and Brutal Juice
At the Big Dog's in Cedar Rapids, IA, May 4, 1996
by: Steve Hoeltzel
A big fan of the Meatmen from way back in their mid-80s days of
snot-encrusted glory, I went to this event thinking that it had been
quite some time since Iowa had hosted any really great displays of
brutal music--since Morbid Angel's _Covenant_ tour stopped in Cedar
Rapids, to be exact. Unfortunately, I guess I left this show thinking
pretty much the same thing--and I'm certain that I'll never waste my
time on a Gwar performance again.
I must say, though, that openers Brutal Juice, whom I had never
heard before, impressed the hell out of me. This band's creative,
potent style is practically impossible to describe. I wouldn't
exactly call them a metal band, since their polyrhythmic and darkly
dreamy sound derives equally from edgier "alternative" bands like
Jane's Addiction and perhaps from some more artful punk bands as
well. Anyway, one thing I -definitely- wouldn't call these guys is
wimpy. No, they rocked, no question about it, and they had a great
sound, too. By turns they were steamroller heavy, witch-doctor
creepy, and rattlesnake vicious, with lots of great-sounding leads,
killer percussion, and catchy vocal phrasings. Musically speaking, I
think these guys basically stole the show.
But I was there to see the Meatmen, having (mis)spent many an
adolescent hour cranking up their obnoxious punk/metal and doubling
over in laughter at main meat honcho Tesco Vee's hilarious hardcore
diatribes against everything and everybody. I haven't really kept up
with their more recent stuff, but this was no problem, as their set
was chock full of old chestnuts like "True Grit", "Abba, God, and
Me", and of course "We're the Meatmen and You Suck". But, oh,
Tesco--where were "Come On Over to Mah Crib" and "War of the
Superbikes"?! The 1996 Meatmen lineup definitely rocks pretty hard,
and newer numbers like "Morrissey Must Die" sounded great. And Tesco
still projects as much attitude as ever, manically prowling the stage
decked out in white fur pants, dangling earrings, and a
carrot-colored jarhead buzz cut. I was a bit disappointed, though, to
hear him recycling old stage banter between songs (references to
"your puckered starfish," "diesel flab glaciers," and all that).
Actually, I felt a bit let down by these guys in general. They did
play a solid, really hard-rocking set, but the overall insanity level
just wasn't quite what I'd come to expect from Tesco and the boys.
Of course, in-concert insanity is supposed to be the specialty
of headliners Gwar. And I guess they lived up to that reputation on
this night--but really I found Gwar to be a great deal more annoying
than entertaining. Although they definitely performed it with skill,
their music has never done anything for me at all. In fact, I don't
like them. Still, I thought it would be fun to check out their stage
show, and it was--for about five minutes. See, the novelty of
watching geysers of fake body fluids spurt all over the audience from
fake latex necks, cocks, and so on, wears off pretty fast. Of course,
Gwar try to make up for this by building up their set around a story
line involving various monster-suited characters and their
misadventures. But the problem is that the mentality level of this
whole production is so astonishingly low that it rapidly becomes
nothing more than obnoxious, and in the worst fifth-grade-humor-level
kind of way. If you crack up over guys in rubber suits telling lame
jokes about AIDS, abortion, and child molestation, and if your idea
of hilarity includes gags that are really demeaning to women, then
you'll bust a gut over Gwar. Otherwise, if you go see them, prepare
to have your intelligence insulted--and a lot more than just your
intelligence, if you happen to be a woman. Yeah, okay, I know: the
whole Gwar thing is supposed to be a big joke. But if you ask me,
this joke sucked.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
O V E R K I L L I N G T H E M A S S E S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Overkill at Player's Nightclub in Raleigh, NC, May 10, 1996
with guests Life of Agony
by: Ernest Crvich
Sometime ago, around 1987, your friend and humble narrator had
the fortune of hearing a song called "Wrecking Crew" on a compilation
(_Power Chords_, if I'm not mistaken) obtained through a record club.
Overkill's album _Taking Over_ soon found itself in my collection,
followed over the years by all of their other releases, from _Feel
The Fire_ to _The Killing Kind_. You could say I was hooked.
Almost a decade later, with _The Killing Kind_ as the newest
disc on the shelf, the wrecking crew is still hard at work, albeit
with only two of its original members remaining. After all this time,
I'd never had the opportunity to see them live. I had, of course,
heard their two live recordings (_!!!Fuck You!!!_ and _Wrecking Your
Neck_), but that surely couldn't compare to the real thing, right?
Finally, on May 10th, 1996, Player's Nightclub in North
Carolina's capital city of Raleigh hosted Overkill, along with
opening act Life Of Agony. It was a night to remember for local
Overkill fans; impressive for most and disappointing to only a few.
Due to a somewhat late arrival, I apparently missed two local bands
who performed before Life Of Agony. My apologies to both bands for my
lack of coverage here.
When Brooklyn's Life Of Agony hit the stage, the small crowd
(anywhere from 50 to 100 people) was visibly excited. A tiny and
rather tame pit instantly began in front of the stage, but died down
soon after. The band simply wasn't fast enough or violent enough to
give most of the crowd what they needed. The clean, crooning vocals
certainly didn't help the situation. Although the band played well,
the sound quality was good, and the guitarist was enthusiastic, their
musical style just wasn't heavy enough to incite mayhem. Another
disappointment was the lighting; after the first song, the typical
display of flashing colors ceased, leaving a few on, unchanging, for
the rest of the set. No one appeared concerned or interested in
fixing them (one of the bright white lights shone into the crowd,
resulting in dozens of people squinting or otherwise trying to avoid
the glare). Applause was sparse between each song, but at the end of
their 30-minute set, a more respectable ovation was given. No shouts
of "Encore!," but no insults were heard either.
The crowd was then treated to over a half an hour of waiting
while roadies prepared for Blitz, Verni, Mallare, Comeau, and Marino.
Very little of this time was spent doing sound checks; it was
primarily for making sure everything was in its place: drum kit,
guitar stands, picks, mic stands, videocams, etc. Near the end, the
lights were tested (fortunately, they were now working properly) and
a smoke pump fired a few times.
The lights went out, and Overkill's intro theme thundered
through the small arena (the identical one as can be heard on their
live album _Wrecking Your Neck_). Tim Mallare could be seen walking
on stage, waving to the cheering crowd before he took his position
behind the drums. And suddenly the song "Battle" roared to life and
the lights were ablaze. The pit pretty much went crazy instantly, the
people on the perimeter banging their heads violently while the
center was a torrent of flailing body parts.
From there it was one fast song after another, with a only a
couple of slow or mid-paced songs thrown in for a breather. For me,
it was nearly perfect. I've always favored Overkill's speedier,
energetic songs, and that's almost all they played that night. The
song list featured: "Battle", "Where It Hurts", "God-Like", "Coma",
"Bold Face Pagan Stomp", "Hello From the Gutter", "Elimination",
"Supersonic Hate", "Spiritual Void", the medley of "Wrecking Crew"
and "Powersurge", "Burn You Down/To Ashes", "Gasoline Dream", and
finally, "Thanx For Nothin'". Over an hour of pure thrashing
satisfaction.
The band played very tightly, with very few (and very minor)
mistakes. Blitz's voice was in good shape, assuming of course you're
one of those that likes his style (I personally couldn't imagine
Overkill without it, but there are some who don't agree). Guitarist
Sebastian Marino seemed quite disappointed in his acoustic outro on
"Gasoline Dream", but that was mostly because he was a bit out of
tune (he tried valiantly to re-tune while playing). I don't think
most people even noticed.
The only disappointed reactions I witnessed were two separate
complaints that no songs from _Feel the Fire_ were performed (one guy
kept yelling "play some old stuff" between songs, and another
muttered "thanks for nothing" afterwards in a very disgusted manner).
That these fellows expect the band to rehash stuff from ten years
ago, when they've just released a new album, is ridiculous. If they
don't like any of the newer albums, why do they even bother coming to
the show? I guess you just can't please all the people all of the
time... For the rest of us, Overkill was a blast. It's really
impressive that they bothered coming to a relatively small area in a
tiny nightclub with an even smaller metal community. Tickets were
only ten dollars, and with such a small turn-out it's likely they
barely made enough to even buy a beer afterwards. Cheers to the band
for giving us a great show! They definitely wrecked my neck!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
G A S P I N G F O R A I R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suffocation at The Embassy in London, Ont., May 24, 1996
with Fleshgrind, Obscene Crisis and Rotting
by: Alain M. Gaudrault
When I'd originally heard that Suffocation were to be playing at
The Embassy in London, Ontario (check out their web site for more
info at www.shmooze.net/~embassy), the word was out that lead
vocalist Frank Mullen had left the group and had since been replaced.
A few days before the show, I'd heard that Mullen was back in the
band, which was relief as the band just wouldn't be as convincing, I
felt, without the original vocalist at the helm.
The evening went started off with Newmarket, Ontario's Rotting
(featured in CoC #1) who put on a solid set of their uncompromising
music. A decent set, albeit nothing particularly spectacular. Obscene
Crisis, hailing from Canada's metal haven, Montreal, put on what was
easily the second-most impressive set of the night, after
Suffocation, of course. Their brand of grinding/hardcore/death was
expertly delivered, very tight, and very convincing (see New Noise
this month for a review of their demo CD, _Silence of the Mind_).
While the overall mix really sucked, the musicianship shone, as did
Eric Fiset's insane vocal delivery. Next up was Fleshgrind, a band
whom I had written off as a run-of-the-mill, generic death/grind act
from the sound of the first few songs. Slowly, though, I started to
appreciate a bit more what they were doing, and the general gist of
where they were coming from. While their delivery was quite good, I
couldn't help but be annoyed at the constant abuse the lead vocalist
directed towards the crowd who weren't showing as much enthusiasm as
he would have liked. Methinks everybody were simply waiting for the
masters of mayhem to emerge. Good set, and had any of the members
made themselves available for fans/press to speak to them, I might
even have had a demo of their to review.
Suffocation then took the stage. Now they are truly a class act.
Not only could the members be seen roaming about the floor with the
fans before their set, but a few of them were also behind the
merchandise display, selling their wares to the fans and willing to
chat! I'm told that a new EP should be released around September, so
be on the lookout. They've also been dropped from RoadRunner (what is
this world *coming* to?), so it's currently unclear under which label
future material will be released. As for their set, the band was
unstoppable, delivering the goods with the utmost in musicianship,
tight as all Hell, and true to their recordings. From classics such
as "Infecting the Crypts" and "Suspended in Tribulation", to several
cuts from their latest offering _Pierced from Within_, all were
delivered with precision and unending brutality. They are an act to
behold. Seems they've also acquired a new drummer, and if memory
serves, it's Mark Simpson, originally in Malevolent Creation circa
_The Ten Commandments_, but don't hold me to that. As I'd said
earlier, Frank Mullen is back as Suffocation's frontman, although
minus the hair. Frank's going for a new look, which meant shaving off
those golden locks in favour of a skin job. I was told by Terrence
Hobbs (guitar) that he done it for "personal reasons." Whatever that
may be, it hasn't proven to be a Samson-like curse; his ferocity
remains intact.
While the night was successful for those who attended, I must
admit that the turnout left much to be desired. There were perhaps
100 people in attendance in a bar that could easily hold two or three
times that many. Part of it is certainly due to lack of promotion,
but a lot of has to do with general inertia on the part of metal
fans, I feel. The Embassy plans on bringing in more death metal acts
over the next few coming months. Kataklysm have already been booked
for June 15th (CD release party, be there!), and gigs featuring
Incantation and Cannibal Corpse are in the works. Be sure to check
out The Embassy's WWW page on a regular basis to get more info.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
________ ________
___ __/_________ ________________ _________ __/
__ / _ __ \ / / /_ ___/_ ___/ _ __ \_ /_
_ / / /_/ / /_/ /_ / _(__ ) / /_/ / __/
/_/ \____/\__,_/ /_/ /____/ \____//_/
________ _____
___ __/______________ /____ _____________
__ / _ __ \_ ___/ __/ / / /_ ___/ _ \
_ / / /_/ / / / /_ / /_/ /_ / / __/
/_/ \____//_/ \__/ \__,_/ /_/ \___/
Welcome to Chronicles of Chaos' tour listing column. Check out Tours
of Torture every month for the scoop on who's coming to town and
where to catch your favorite bands. If you have any information about
upcoming tours, we'd be more than happy to hear about it. Contact us
at <ginof@io.org>.
Obliveon
~~~~~~~~
Jun 15 - (w/ guests Mundane) The Spectrum, Montreal, Quebec
Anthropophagus/Burning Moon/Fearsight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jun 10 - The Generator, Toronto Ontario
Pantera/White Zombie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aug 16 - Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 5
1. Cradle of Filth - _Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein_
2. Malevolent Creation - _Joe Black_
3. Korn - _Korn_
4. Impaled Nazarene - _Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz_
5. Pitchshifter - _Infotainment?_
Adrian's Top 5
1. Pitchshifter - _Infotainment?_
2. Pantera - _The Great Southern Trendkill_
3. Only Living Witness - _Innocents_
4. Prong - _Rude Awakening_
5. Neurosis - _Through Silver In Blood_
Brian's Top 5
1. Cradle of Filth - _Vempire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein_
2. Candiria - _Surrealistic Madness_
3. Sieges Even - _Sophisticated_
4. Don Caballero - _Don Caballero II_
5. Mourning Sign - _Mourning Sign_
Alain's Top 5
1. Slayer - _Undisputed Attitude_
2. Obliveon - _Cybervoid_
3. Obscene Crisis - _Silence of the Mind_ (demo)
4. Prong - _Rude Awakening_
5. At the Gates - _Slaughter of the Soul_
Steve's Top 5
1. Black Funeral - _Vampyr - Throne of the Beast_
2. Accursed - _Meditations Among the Tombs_
3. Mayhem - _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_
4. Malevolent Creation - _Joe Black_
5. Only Living Witness - _Innocents_
Adam's Top 5
1. Bathory - _Blood on Ice_
2. Impaled Nazarene - _Latex Cult_
3. Amorphis - _Elegy_
4. Necromantia - _Scarlet Evil, Witching Black_
5. Blood of Christ - _The Lonely Flowers of Autumn_ (demo)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T H E F I N A L W O R D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, here we are at the end of another fine issue of Chronicles of
Chaos. Did you read this fucker just as fast as you could? Good then,
you should have no problem answering this little trivia question:
Q: Name former the vocalists of Grave, Obliveon, Malevolent Creation,
Morbid Angel and Asphyx.
Yep, that's right folks, it's time for another Chronicles of Chaos
giveaway contest!! This time we are picking five winners, you all
have until June 17, 1996 to e-mail <ginof@io.org> with the correct
answer to the above question. On June 18, 1996 we will be picking
five random winners from everyone who mailed us with the correct
answer. Each winner will win their own personal prize-pak from hell
courtesy of Relapse, Earache, Cargo and Black Mark. Each prize-pak
will be different, but we have shit from Pitchshifter, Neurosis, Grim
Skunk, Amorphis, Bathory and Cathedral to give away.
Good luck everyone, our lucky winners will be announced in CoC #12.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #11