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The New Year's Evil Edition II
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, January 1, 1998, Issue #27
http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contrib/Editor: Steve Hoeltzel <mailto:hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contrib/Editor: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contrib/Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@mks.com>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Drew Schinzel <mailto:drew@magpage.com>
Contributor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:tom.s@mcmail.com>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder
NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
'Details' section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #27 Contents, 1/1/98
--------------------------
- Editorial
- Loud Letters
- Deadly Dialogues
-- Brutal Truth: Still Not Loud Enough, Still Not Fast Enough
-- Hypocrisy: It Ain't Over 'til The Fat Lady Sings
-- Rotting Christ: Seen One Season, Felt Only Cold
-- Edge Of Sanity: On With The Saga
-- Katatonia: Words From The Discouraged
-- Godgory: Sea Of Shadows
-- 16 - _Blaze of Incompetence_
-- Abyssos - _Together We Summon the Dark_
-- Acumen Nation - _More Human Heart_
-- Amon - _El Khela_
-- Angizia - _Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin_
-- Atrax Morgue - _Slush of a Maniac_
-- Caustic Infibulation - _Caustic Infibulation_
-- Coercion - _Forever Dead_
-- Day In the Life - _Day In The Life_
-- De Infernali - _Symphonia De Infernali_
-- Deathkids - _Born in Hell_
-- Deicide - _Serpents of the Light_
-- Dismal Euphony - _Soria Moria Slott_ (ltd. edition re-release)
-- Dominion - _Blackout_
-- Entombed - _To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!_
-- Face Down - _The Twisted Rule The Wicked_
-- For the Love of Suffering - _Not Affected by Pain_
-- Fu Manchu - _The Action Is Go!_
-- Grabesmond - _Mordenheim_
-- Grave - _Extremely Rotten Live_
-- M. J. Harris & Martyn Bates - _Murder Ballads (Passages)_
-- Heidenreich - _A Death Gate Cycle_
-- Hidden Pride - _Brutal Advice_
-- Infernal Torment - _Birthrate Zero_
-- In Flames - _Whoracle_
-- Internal Bleeding - _The Extinction of Benevolence_
-- Iron Monkey - _Iron Monkey_
-- Kreator - _Outcast_
-- Laibach - _M. B._
-- Manifest Destiny - _What You Fear_
-- Various - _Masters of Misery - Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute_
-- Meshuggah - _The True Human Design_
-- Moonspell - _Second Skin_
-- Mortiis - _Crypt of the Wizard_
-- Night In Gales - _Towards The Twilight_
-- Old Grandad - _Old Grandad_ EP + San Francisco Bootleg
-- Old Man's Child - _The Pagan Prosperity_
-- Paolo di Cioccio - _Images_
-- P.O.V. Secondhand - _Fraction Of Faith_
-- Pyrexia - _System Of The Animal_
-- Ragnarok - _Arising Realm_
-- Raison D'Etre - _In Sadness, Silence and Solitude_
-- Sacred Reich - _Still Ignorant: Live 1987-1997_
-- Sadus - _Chronicles Of Chaos_
-- Scrub - _Wake Up!_
-- Sea of Tranquility/Pax Mortis - _Dead of Winter_ / _Defiant_ Split
-- Sigh - _Hail Horror Hail_
-- Testament - _Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament_
-- Thelema - _Night of Pan_
-- Various Artists - _Trial By Dawn_
-- Agon - _Silent Cries_
-- Celestial Dark - _Perpetual Tears (The End)_
-- Sarcastic - _The Tale Begins..._
-- Tristania - _Tristania_
-- Various - _Untitled (ten)_
-- Vader - _Black To The Blind_
-- Various - _A Declaration of Independence_
-- Various Artists - _Watchmen Recording Studios: The Compilation_
-- Association Area - _Tundra_ 7"
-- Ephemeron - _Ephemeron_
-- From the Depths - Promo demo 97
-- Malamor - _Condemn the Rising_
-- Millennium - _Wilderness In White_
-- Nocturnal Symphony - _Monsoon Winds_
-- Obscenus - _Nocturnus Exordio_
-- Pain Lab - _Magenetic Chaos of Parallel Psychosis_
-- The Lost Paradise? Paradise Lost play Lisbon, Portugal
-- Portuguese Potential Part 3: Genocide and Withering
-- A Night Of Conquering: Abstract and Night Conquers Day
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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/ /) , , /)
)__ _(/ _/_ _____ _ //
/ (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_
(_____)
by: Adam Wasylyk
To whom it may concern,
Occasionally, someone who runs a web page (particularly those who run
web pages for bands) ask the CoC staff for permission to reprint
copies of our written material. However, some individuals have taken
advantage of our goodwill. Some of our material has been taken and
added to web pages without our consent and/or knowledge. On top of
this, the individual writer(s) weren't credited for their
work/material. It isn't too much to ask for those who want to use CoC
material to ask first and then inform the writer when it's actually
posted. I think it's safe to assume that most, if not all, writers at
CoC will lend material to those who have web pages, but please ask
before borrowing and have the courtesy to e-mail the writer after the
material has been posted.
Thank you,
Adam Wasylyk
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
M""MMMMMMMM dP
M MMMMMMMM 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88
M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88
M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88
M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8
MMMMMMMMMMM
M""MMMMMMMM dP dP
M MMMMMMMM 88 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b.
M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo.
M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88
M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P'
MMMMMMMMMMM
This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here, e-mail it to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com> and enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 1997
From: Damodred <manek@ece.utexas.edu>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Greetings,
I have just subscribed to CoC, just received #26, and just started
jumping up and down in joy. *This* is what I have been looking
for...a thorough zine deidcated to black and death metal...I'll start
looking for the new Edge of Sanity album right away..thanks. In
reponse to Silent Scribe, I'd recommend telnetting to
cdconnection.com or musicexpress.com in search of albums. They're
both quite well stocked, and don't charge very much...in response to
Travis' question, the new Vader album *does* have a lot of
blasting...except the last two pieces...the last piece is a remake of
Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath" (ripped off Type O Negative's remake,
in my opinion), and the next to last is a strange song which sounds a
bit like Depeche Mode on DOOM, or Vader on crack...I dunno...but the
rest is pretty standard. Happy listening!
Draconion
Date: Tue, 2 Dec 97 17:44:59 CST
From: ky@cyrix.com
Subject: attn loud letters
Hi, I enjoyed reading the last COC issue, as usual. Regarding the
Trey Azagthoth interview, where he talks about his recent side
project 'Chewing Inc' perhaps the name of his collaborator was Mike
Davis? I sure hope so because I thought his playing was phenomenal
with Nocturnus. But I was hoping you could answer something else for
me. I heard somewhere that Chris Barnes, whom you also interviewed in
this issue, played one of the main characters in the 'Bad News Bears'
movies from the 1970s. You probably think I'm joking, but I am
serious; was that the same Chris Barnes, or someone else who happens
to have the same name? Thanks & keep up the good work.
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STILL NOT LOUD ENOUGH, STILL NOT FAST ENOUGH
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Rich Hoak of Brutal Truth
by: Paul Schwarz
Brutal Truth began in Dan Lilker's home studio. He wanted to make
music similar to the likes of English bands like Napalm Death and
Carcass and American bands like Terrorizer: grindcore. BT was formed
to some degree as a side project but, for various reasons, became
Lilker's primary concern. After the release of their debut _Extreme
Conditions Demand Extreme Responses_ in 1992, BT were placed at the
forefront of this genre when it was in its days of popularity. This
year BT unleashed their new record _Sounds of the Animal Kingdom_,
their first full-length in 3 years, in quite different conditions.
Most of the bands that were part of the original grindcore wave have
now split up or, in the case of Napalm Death, no longer play
grindcore as such. In these (extreme) conditions, _SotAK_ was BT's
(extreme) response, and through this record they have pushed
grindcore to a new level in much the same way that the original
grindcore bands pushed metal/hardcore/punk to a new level: everything
appears to have come full circle. I got the chance to talk to drummer
Rich Hoak (with the band since 1994's _Need To Control_), and the
results now lie before you.
CoC: Is the cover of _SotAK_ a drawing or a photo merge?
RH: I got the idea, but the graphic designer made it look even more
than I thought it would look like. The gorilla half is from a
stock photo, and the guy is the UPS driver to the Relapse office.
They used Photo Shop to morph them together.
CoC: What do you think sets _SotAK_ apart from previous releases?
RH: _SotAK_ is where everything has come together for us. We had the
tunes, Kevin had the lyrics, we had the ideas that gave us the
ideas for the cover [and] for the songs, we have the record label
behind us, we have a new van, we have a booking agent, the
production is there -- we have everything at this time. _KTS_ had
almost all those things, but it had to be recorded in six days on
a $5,000 budget, so essentially [it was] set up, play, record,
mix.
CoC: What was the budget for _SotAK_?
RH: I don't know the numbers, but _KTS_ was 22 minutes of music
recorded in six 12-hour days, [while for] _SotAK_ we had 12 or 14
hours a day, or more if we wanted it, and eight to ten days to
record, another six or eight to mix. Plus we had just finished
doing _KTS_ with Billy Anderson, and both albums were recorded
with the same procedure. With _SotAK_, for the first day we
didn't do anything but just work with the drums to get the kick
drum sound, the snare sound, the tom sound. We changed the tom
sound for certain songs; we spent a day getting the guitar sound,
a half day getting the bass sound. With _KTS_ I had my drum
tracks recorded before the second day was through, whereas [on
_SotAK_] I spent four or five days and I could do all the takes I
wanted.
CoC: What about "Prey"? What was the idea behind that?
RH: When we did the sequencing for the record, we did it for the
vinyl double LP, and we wanted to have a locked groove at the
end, so we sampled a blast beat from the middle of "Average
People" and we digitised and looped it so at the end of side four
it goes to a locked groove. Then after we got into it, we decided
to add the other noise and make it get a little louder [on the
CD]. It's the grand finale of the record for the BT fan who has
been able to have his head pummelled for the last 50 minutes.
When we do our tour of Japan in February I want to do a show,
before or after the real show, where we do a noise or improv show
and perform "Prey" live. When I go get a CD and it has a cool
cover on it or it has a hidden track at the end -- _KTS_ had
tracks hidden after it -- or it has covers on it or weird things
on it, that's always cool, you know. I like getting that kinda
stuff, and I think it is really cool to put it on CDs that I
make. We all do.
CoC: Is there a concept running through _SotAK_? There's the Desmond
Morris quote...
RH: Some people get the wrong idea. They're like, "Wow, this is a
concept record. They based their whole album around this
concept."
CoC: Some are calling it a concept record.
RH: Nothing would have fit together this well if we had planned it
this way. Everything on _SotAK_ has come from the base of our
brain. It all started out with us in the rehearsal room, New York
city, drinking beer, smoking pot, writing riffs. What sounded
good, stuff we jam, what pops out of the bottom of our heads goes
on to the guitar, goes on to the drums. We keep what we like, and
once we've got rough tracks we give that to Kevin. Kevin listens
to the music, gets into it, fits words he has with it, or makes
up words to go with it. We'd finally got it all recorded [and] we
didn't have a title or cover, so me and Kevin went back over the
songs and talked. I asked him what each song was about, and from
that Danny or Gurn got _SotAK_ [as a title] and we kept that.
Taking all that information, I went to the library for two weeks
just brainstorming for ideas. I had one full cover done, and on
the second to last day I found _The Naked Ape_ [by Desmond
Morris]. I had read it in school, and I thought "This dude is
saying exactly what we're saying with a lot of these songs." When
Kevin and I went through it, we figured that 70-80% of these
songs have something to do with the animal within man being
confronted with problems caused in society which are based on
technology. In other words, the intellect coming out of that
animal -- it's kinda like the Yin and Yang, the separate but
whole. It was after -that- we talked about the concept and the
Desmond Morris quote. I had the idea for the cover and went to
the guy at Relapse with it. It all sort of goes backward; it's
all based on smokin' pot, hangin' out, and letting your mind
flow.
CoC: Do you strive to change with each new release?
RH: No, it comes out of us the way it comes.
CoC: You weren't present on _ECDER_...
RH: Scott wasn't there too much either. <laughs>
CoC: From _ECDER_ to _NtC_ there is a big gap.
RH: Yeah, there is.
CoC: At the time, _ECDER_ was very extreme and quite different, but
it was still "grindcore death metal", whereas _NtC_ is like,
"What is it?" I asked a friend to describe it, and he said
"Uh... weird... uh... punk."
RH: Yeah, a lot of people didn't get it, man.
CoC: I like it, but I couldn't classify it easily.
RH: There are always people who come up to us...like last week after
the show, and they're like "Dude, man, BT rule, and I like all
you guys' shit man, but uh... _Extreme Conditions_, you know,
can't you guys make the next record like _Extreme Conditions_?"
<I laugh>, and we couldn't if we wanted to: that record is a
snapshot of BT at that time. One reason Scott left the band was a
musical difference; it wasn't just a personal difference. Scott
would say, "I'm not going to play that drumbeat -- that's not a
death metal / grindcore drumbeat," whereas when I came into the
band I was like "I'm in a band, I'll play whatever."
CoC: If you tried to re-make _ECDER_, it might not work out, because
it's not what you want to do with BT?
RH: We don't know what we want to do now. We've been writing songs
for the past two years. _NtC_ came out, we toured for a year, we
came back and found that Earache wasn't working out and we'd be
able to get out of our deal. In those two years [after leaving
Earache] we were sitting in the rehearsal room waiting, and we
wrote songs. There are a couple of songs on _SotAK_ that were
written two months before we went into the studio, [but] when we
got to _KTS_ we took ten and recorded those. "Machine Parts" was
released on the 7-inch demo way before _KTS_. When I joined BT, a
third or half of _NtC_ was written. Dan had most of it on his
drum machine. He was like "Here, listen to this beat: this is
what I call the Discharge beat. Scott won't play that because he
says it's punk." I'd never really played metal, death metal, or
grindcore before. I'd always played punk or hardcore. When I
[used to] listen to metal, I'd listen to Motorhead or Venom or
Black Sabbath. The next half of [_NtC_] was written in a more
collaborative way with a free flow of ideas, where Dan would say
play like -this- and I would say play like -this- and Gurn would
say play like -this- and it wouldn't be any problem. I think that
has a big influence on the songwriting. Some of the songs on
_ECDER_ go back to when Dan was in Nuclear Assault and sitting at
home in his bedroom studio going "Wow, listen to this Napalm
Death/Carcass stuff -- I wanna make a side project like that."
CoC: And in the end Dan just preferred BT.
RH: Nuclear Assault had a lot of problems. I could tell you Nuclear
Assault stories and BT stories from before I was in the band just
from hearing them over and over.
CoC: A lot of people think you've gotten -more- extreme. Do you think
BT will ever turn into stuff that you just can't hear [i.e.,
noise]?
RH: We don't -plan- what we write, and we don't -plan- to make a
change like that, [but] the one thought at the back of our heads
when writing songs is "Let's make this tune as extreme as
possible -- as crazy, fucked up as we can make it." I've learned
to play drums better since I've done like 800 shows over the past
four years, and we've learned new ways to play extremely. Where
_ECDER_ was just extremely fast and extremely heavy, now we
[sometimes] play extremely slow or with an extremely quick tempo
change or extreme chord structure. We find different ways to
reach for the crazyfuckedupedness of our music. We recorded this
record, we took three months vacation -- our first one that long
since I joined the band -- and only in the last couple of weeks
we've started practicing to start touring _SotAK_. I don't know
what the next songs are going to be like.
CoC: Are the lyrics unplanned as well? They're not so political on
_SotAK_ as on _ECDER_.
RH: It's more politically conscious than outright political. I don't
wanna speak for Kevin, but it is hard to keep shouting the same
things over and over, because no matter how positive a message a
band presents it's really hard to change the world. It's like do
right by yourself, be a responsible person, and try to leave the
world in a little better shape or at least not make it worse.
That's what we're trying to do, through our music and through our
lives. Our lives don't fit the status quo, and that's the whole
thing -- even the human animal versus technology thing, that's
about people coming to terms with themselves, and there's going
to be a problem with someone who watches 12 hours of television a
day, and there's a problem where people let a member of their
tribe be taken and attached to machines and kept alive for years
after they're supposed to be. Technology causes those problems,
but the main concept of the BT lyrics from day one [is]: think
for yourself, be responsible, take care of the people in your
family, shit like that. I say "family" loosely -- like the
"tribe", the other people that you should take care of. Desmond
Morris [also] wrote a book called _The Human Zoo_, and he uses
the analogy where a city is like a zoo. If you put too many
monkeys in a cage too small for them, they exhibit anti-social
behaviour. Instead of living in a regular family group, they
commit violent acts against each other or don't take care of
their children or eat their children. Monkeys do that in a zoo
where they're too crowded. Humans are animals too -- you put them
in too crowded of a cage and you have them feeding on their
children. It's the same thing.
CoC: I heard BT were into black metal and Dan went down to Norway and
met the guys from the bands.
RH: Right on, man. Yeah, he went to Norway. I [had] never heard of
black metal until I joined BT and Danny turned me onto _Ugra
Karma_, the first Impaled Nazarene record, and some of the other
bands.
CoC: I just recently got the new Emperor.
RH: I haven't got too much of the new black metal except for this
band called Usurper. You've got to get a Usurper CD or vinyl --
it's killer, man.
CoC: Do you think black metal influences the band?
RH: Sure it influences us. Whatever we listen to does. When we're
rehearsing, I'll be like "Dan, weren't you playing sort of a
black metal sort of riff, and I was going to put the hardcore
drumbeat to that." There are certain bands in the black metal
thing which are really good with killer music. Certain bands... I
don't agree with their politics, but I won't get into that
because that's been done to death. I first looked at black metal
like Kiss, because Dan goes "These guys wear corpse paint," and I
go "What's corpse paint?" "They paint their faces white." "Like
Kiss?" "Yeah, look at this!" Mayhem and Burzum and Impaled
Nazarene [are] the originals of that wave, and there are a
million bands which sound like each one. There's even a fourth
wave of really good black metal bands coming out of the states
like Usurper, Absu and Demonic Christ. Danny sometimes plays bass
under the name of Balse [not sure of the spelling here --P.S.]
for this band called Hemlock. It's not really a side project of
Dan's, but he jams with them, so that's where he gets out his
black metal frustrations.
CoC: Who in the band has side projects?
RH: Danny is playing in Hemlock, and I played in this band before BT
called Ninefinger, [which] was sort of Black Flag meets Black
Sabbath. I've got a solo noise project called Caveman. I got
drunk one night and made this 8-track tape of cavemen music, and
it's just people beating on drums and grunting, man. There's a
song called "Mating" and "Stone-Age Warrior" and "Worship of the
Sun".
CoC: Is this private, or are you going to release it?
RH: I've been sending it out on cassette to whoever will take one.
I'd like to do it over at CD quality and put it out or get
somebody to put it out. We'll see.
CoC: What do you listen to yourself?
RH: I listen to whatever. I'm still a vinyl collector, so I've been
listening to tons of underground grindcore and punk singles. I
mean punk rock, not Green Day. When I first got into music, I
decided to become a punk. I saw Black Flag, The Bad Brains and
The Dead Kennedys; I had a mohawk or I shaved my head, and I was
punk. Then I found out about straightedge bands and UK Discharge
bands.
CoC: What do you think of the current state of metal, what with
decreased play on MTV etc.?
RH: Underground music is never going to be mainstream. That's why
it's underground; we realise that. I've thought over the past
while I've heard metal coming back: Jag Panzer's reforming,
there's a new Overkill record, Testament's on tour, Flotsam and
Jetsam's on tour. None of those bands are death metal bands or
underground. They were popular the way Metallica were before they
became a rock group. The music that BT and bands like us are
playing I don't think is going to be mainstream. We got close
with the "Godplayer" video: they played that on MTV Europe and
MTV South America, but that wouldn't even get on Headbangers'
Ball in the States at that time. Headbangers' Ball was playing
Nirvana, Tool, Soundgarden.
CoC: You've shown you're a band with longevity. Do you feel more
alone, now that death metal and grindcore bands are less
popular? Or is the underground still full of bands?
RH: The underground is still full of bands. I could think of 20 bands
off the top of my head: Rupture, Burn the Priest, Spazz, Man is
the Bastard, Capitalist Casualties, Unholy Grave, Agathocles,
Groinchurn... None of those bands are metal -- they're all coming
from the grindcore/punk thing. They're not coming from the death
metal thing, and there are tons of death metal bands around
still.
CoC: It seems like the bands have gone underground again.
RH: I don't know what I can say about that, but we have noticed at
our shows we don't get just a death metal crowd. You can see all
sorts of people at a BT show: punkers, skaters, noise freaks,
crusty punks, there's [also] plenty of death metal people. When
we went on that Cannibal Corpse tour, you could tell that if
there were a thousand people there, there were like 150 people
'round the edges who were BT fans.
CoC: Sounds good to have all those people at Cannibal Corpse.
RH: It was cool. Now, I don't wanna say "the state of the metal
scene", 'cause there is like an 'extreme music' scene that's come
around. There are people who are into death metal, grindcore,
extreme hardcore or punk and like crazy noise like Merzbow and
who are into crazy black metal. If you were to go out on tour and
take BT, a death metal band, a black metal band, and a
punk/grindcore band, you're going to have an awesome show 'cause
you'll have tons of people coming going "This is -my- favourite
band -- I've got to see them," and tons of people going "Look at
all these -four- bands! It's like each different thing at the
same time man, awesome!!!!!" Not like where you're watching four
bands playing the same kind of music in a row. That did a world
of good for us on that Cannibal Corpse tour, 'cause [you had]
Oppressor, Immolation, BT, and then Cannibal Corpse. And
Oppressor, Immolation and Cannibal Corpse are all awesome bands,
but you gotta say they're death metal bands, and they look like
death metal bands: they all have long hair and huge drumsets and
full stacks. When we went on that tour I had a little drumset
with only one kickdrum and one rackpalm and I used a double
pedal, and Kevin had his hair short and was wearing a cowboy hat,
and we had half stacks because were travelling in a van, just us
and our soundman. We would come out, be settin' up our stuff, and
people would be standin' there looking at us [going] "Look at
that drumset. What are these people going to do?" Then you come
out, and then <explosion noise>! It gave us a chance to wallop
people who weren't expecting it.
CoC: How important is the live setting to BT?
RH: Well, that's what it's all about. For us, it's not just the live
thing. We like to travel and meet new people and go to a
different party every night.
CoC: A friend of mine who is not into metal but mostly into drum'n'
bass really got into _SotAK_. Why do you think that is?
RH: I think BT has become a lot more musical; our songs are more like
songs. Even though we'll have a song that has a super-fast blast
beat, when you're thinking about it later, taking a shower, you
can sing it in your head.
CoC: So what's your favourite album this year?
RH: It's hard to say. I am into a lot of weird stuff. I go with my
mom on weekends to flea markets. You know the song "Blue World"?
I put that together from junk sale records: the ocean's from an
environmental sounds record, there's a Molly Hatchet sample, a
Telly Savalas sample, there's the musical Oliver! and that's the
bit on the song where it goes "I'm so high, I'm so high, I'm so
high." It's hard to say what I listen to. I've been really
diggin' this Usurper record, the Groinchurn is fuckin' killer,
the Candiria is fuckin' killer, the Black Army Jacket / Hemlock
split is killer. Disassociate rules. There's this band called
Burn The Priest, and I wandered into one of their shows drunk and
I was just blown away. I'm releasing a single by them on my
label; it's the Agents of Satan / Burn the Priest split 7".
They're a fuckin' amazing band.
CoC: So you've got your own label?
RH: Well, it's a hobby. Def American Wreck recordings is a hobby. In
five years I've put out 3 records. I only put out bands I am
friends with or bands I really, really like.
CoC: So, how much does smokin' pot influence your music? You have the
"Smoke, Grind, Sleep" studio.
RH: Well, because that's all we do there. Kevin doesn't come to a lot
of practices when we're just working on music. Me and Gurn travel
into New York city. We meet in New York City, we smoke out, we
grind, and then I pass out on the floor for two hours. Then we
wake up, practice again, smoke, practice, then Gurn and I crash
out there on the floor at night. We wake up next morning, smoke
out, have some breakfast, and practice again. In three days we'd
try to fit the maximum number of rehearsals... that's five
rehearsals, four or five hours long each, in two and a half days.
So we'd go there, we'd smoke, grind, and sleep, and that's how
the studio got the name. We write songs about smokin' pot 'cause
we do it and have to drive around in a truck being hassled. It's
this ridiculous hypocrisy of laws in the states: you can go buy a
six pack of beer, but you can't buy a joint. A lot of that goes
back to the day when William Randolph Hearst owned all the
forests and wanted hemp to be illegal so he could make money
selling paper. "Postulate Then Liberate" and "Promise" are both
songs about the hypocrisy of hemp laws, and the tune "4:20" is a
slang word -- at 4:20 everybody meet up to get high, and at
4:20am true stoners wake up and get high. We thought it would be
a good spot on the CD to leave a blank space for people to light
up and smoke a little bit before the final assault of the record.
CoC: Do you want to talk about any of the other songs on _SotAK_?
RH: "It's After the End of the World" is a cover of Sun Ra. Sun Ra is
a man; it's Sun Ra and his orchestra, and he started out in the
50s and 60s playin' bebop jazz. Then in the mid 60s he got into
psychedelic drugs and music and African and ethnic instruments
and instrumentation and also the first noise, Merzbow type
oscillators, in the late 60s.
CoC: Is there anything particular you want to say to the readers of
CoC?
RH: Thanks to all the people in the underground who have been
supporting us in the past, buyin' our stuff. We are totally
psyched about _SotAK_ and hope to be playing it live fuckin'
everywhere.
CoC: Are you gonna be in the UK anytime soon?
RH: We have a couple of weeks in December where we are doing four
shows in Canada and a bunch on the east coast and up to Chicago.
January we might do some shows in the south and towards Texas;
February is Japan, and after that it is unknown. We are trying to
hook up another gig like the Cannibal Corpse thing where we're
opening up for somebody bigger than us, and we want to do an
extensive tour of the US and Europe. Definitely within the next
four or five months you're gonna see us everywhere, man.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
IT AIN'T OVER 'TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC Interviews Peter Tagtgren of Hypocrisy
by: Adrian Bromley
Is it actually over? Many people had been calling the Swedish
metaller's latest LP _The Final Chapter_ the final chapter in the
band's successful career. Was this true? Was there to be no more
Hypocrisy? Fear spread amongst the metal masses. In search of the
truth behind the band's supposed end and the latest LP, Chronicles of
Chaos tracked down Hypocrisy front man, guitarist, and mastermind
Peter Tagtgren to find out the real truth about where Hypocrisy was
headed.
So Peter, is this the final chapter? "Well, sort of. This right
now is the last full-length Hypocrisy effort. Who knows? That might
change [note: Tagtgren plans to continue on with his solo
industrial-driven outfit Pain]. But what we are planning on doing
this summer is releasing a leftover album of songs from different
albums that never made them onto record. Demos and older stuff from
like 1985 [Peter's earliest material] will be there. Lots of goodies
for our fans."
When asked about the new Hypocrisy material, Tagtgren replies
that "I have already started to write some new material for the band.
We'll see if it makes the light of day."
He continues to shed more light on the possible continuation of
the band: "After the success of playing Milwaukee Metal Fest this
year and doing some shows in the U.S. and Mexico, I think we started
to feel a turning point for us and our music. Before doing those
shows, we hadn't played together for like a year and a half. I was
mad at that point a few years back 'cause I was the only one writing
songs and it was pissing me off. I was angry 'cause I was doing all
the work for Hypocrisy and playing all the instruments. The others
[bassist Mikael Hedlund and Lars Szoke on drums] had a hard time
keeping up with their instruments because they don't practice enough.
So the whole thing came about this being the last album 'cause I was
like, 'Fuck you guys! Fine...this is the last album for Hypocrisy.'
But things changed for us, and we had a blast at it and decided to
continue on... well maybe?"
Maybe? "Yeah... it's funny. I am still into doing this Hypocrisy
stuff but I don't want to do it solo. Every time I talk to the other
guys I say, 'How is the writing going? I hope you got some ideas that
we can work on. I can't do this alone.' We'll see if it works out. I
am into doing this by myself if I have to."
On the music of _TFC_, Tagtgren explains that Hypocrisy has
tried to never give into following predictable styles and sounds with
each of its releases. "It's funny about this album 'cause people
thought we would have more softer songs, much like the last song on
_Abducted_ ("Drained") and we didn't do that. We came out flying from
the gates; fists pumping and an all-out metal rage. If we do ever
follow with what people are expecting us to do, where would the fun
be? You gotta be unpredictable in this profession or you don't get
far."
"I think this record captures the best performance we have ever
been able to capture from the band. It's so rough and raw and
in-your-face. But we also mixed in the clean vocals and the harmonies
as well. We kept it diverse and I like that. I like the variety."
I mentioned that people have compared _TFC_ to their last effort
(1996's _Abducted_), and he also sees the similarities. "I would say
that this record is a development from that last record. This is the
next step. We didn't want to have too big of a leap from what we had
done with _Abducted_, but we still wanted to keep it a step ahead of
what we had done before. I think honestly with the other works that
we have done -- _Penetralia_ (1992), _Osculum Obscenum_ (1993), the
Ep _Inferior Devoties_ (1994), and 1994's _The Fourth Dimension_ --
there is a big gap between records and people get confused. People
start wondering what we are thinking. I really didn't sculpt my music
for this LP around what people wanted to hear. I wrote and recorded
material that I wanted for this LP and music that I would like if I
were to put this record on to listen to it. This record rules in my
book. The rawness of it alone gets me going."
On the direction and multiple styles of Hypocrisy over the
years, Tagtgren accounts, "I am always trying to do a lot of
different things as we went on as a band. We were getting better as
musicians and I was trying to bring that out in the music we were
creating. I was twenty-two when we did the first LP and now I am
twenty-seven. The thought that goes into music at that young age is
far different from where you are when you get older. That maturity in
song writing and thought of what I am doing obviously carries over
into the music. It's interesting to see where we go as the years come
along."
Did Tagtgren ever previously imagine he would be in this
situation when he was twenty-seven? "Not really... I never really
knew where I was headed but it was always a dream for me as a kid to
be here. I always manage to do the things I want to do, the way I
want, and that brings out results. It's in my life and in my music. A
lot of the things I have dreamt about have come true and that is a
good thing. I feel good about that."
"All I am looking for in this industry is respect. Respect is
success for me," he notes, "Respect can be measured by several
things, most notably album sales and positive reviews too. Those give
you respect in this industry and you can continue to work on that
success if you are true to what you do. We believe in the band and
where we are headed. I don't really care much about album sales. I
like to read the reviews and see how people interpret our music."
How do the bad reviews affect Tagtgren? "Um... I think they
don't really affect me much. I am proud of what I do and that is all
that matters. If some journalist rags on the record saying that it is
shit I can only feel sorry for them. I am a firm believer in what I
do and that stands above all good or bad reviews. I made the music,
and I live with my decisions. I put all the sweat and hard work into
it, and that's all that matters. To put it simply: it's not what the
album is made up of or how it carries itself to me, it is more
important on what went into the recording of the album to make it
what it is."
When asked about the state of music nowadays, Tagtgren answers
with a pause. This seems quite funny because, for a guy who does so
much with so many bands, whether it be in the studio or on tour,
Tagtgren is pretty much out of touch with the music industry. And
he's the first to admit it. "To be honest with you, I really have no
idea what is in or out with metal music nowadays. I only hear music
nowadays from the music that I work on in the studio -- be it my own
or bands I am producing in the studio." He adds, "In terms of the way
music should affect people, I think people should just go out and
create music, and if it makes the creator of the music happy, then
keep it that way. Keep it simple folks and don't follow trends."
Since Tagtgren has no real interest or contact with what is
transpiring outside of his studio, is his music affected by the
material of bands he works with? "Yes," says Tagtgren confidently,
"Of course I am. I think it just grows on you. For doing all of that
work on specific songs or arrangements, there is no way it can't have
an effect on you. Sometimes I'll be working on material and it will
work it's way into my music and I will have to figure out where it
came from. I like working with bands 'cause they not only create a
situation to deal with, but also nurture your intellect of music and
how people go about morphing it."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
S E E N O N E S E A S O N , F E L T O N L Y C O L D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Sakis of Rotting Christ
by: Pedro Azevedo
Ever since their 1991 debut, _Passage to Arcturo_, Rotting Christ has
established themselves as one of the best metal bands from Greece --
in the opinion of many, -the- best. After _Thy Mighty Contract_ and
_Non-Serviam_, Rotting Christ has been seeing much more of the
spotlight following the release of _Triarchy of the Lost Lovers_ and
the concerts they played with bands such as Samael and Moonspell, all
on Century Media (See my review of _Out of the Dark_ in CoC #20). Now
that they have completed their latest work, _A Dead Poem_, Rotting
Christ has managed to release three albums in the last three years.
While some will say this is their best album to date, some others
will argue that the band's underground feel is gone. I talked to
vocalist/guitarist Sakis over the phone to know more of Rotting
Christ's current situation; here's the result.
CoC: What improvements would you say _A Dead Poem_ shows relatively
to your past albums?
Sakis: In my opinion, _A Dead Poem_ is the best album we have done so
far. The reason is that we have worked a lot on this, so we
are more mature as a band. We have a new inspiration and have
made an evolution. Also, it was recorded in Woodhouse Studios,
which are very good. So I think it's by far our best album.
CoC: You mentioned that _A Dead Poem_ was recorded in Woodhouse
Studios; why was Xy [from Samael] chosen to produce it?
S: Yes, it was really nice. He's a friend of mine, a nice person,
nice musician, and it's better to work with people like that -- we
used to work with people that are strangers. We had a really nice
collaboration with him, and I think the result is much, much
better.
CoC: What's the story behind Fernando Ribeiro's [Moonspell vocalist]
appearance in one of your new songs?
S: I consider Moonspell as our brother band; they are really cool
guys, nice persons, so we asked him. It was not something we had
planned before, it happened really suddenly. We were in Dortmund,
they were in Dortmund as well, I asked Fernando to sing in one
song, and he accepted very pleasantly. So he made it, and I think
it was really good.
CoC: Are you completely happy with _A Dead Poem_, or do you think it
could still have been better?
S: I think that, for now, we are happy, but within a year we won't be
happy [anymore]. It's this thing that musicians have, you know;
when they have the album out, they're satisfied, but after one
year they find something bad. But until now we are really
satisfied, because it was our goal as a band to record such an
album.
CoC: How do you feel about having the _Darkness We Feel_ [bonus
Century Media compilation] CD together with your new album?
S: In the beginning, we were a bit scared, you know? We didn't know
if the people would buy the album just for us or just for the
compilation. But right now, I think the people are buying the
album because it's Rotting Christ. But it's a good opportunity for
us, and for the other bands too.
CoC: What's your personal favorite track in that bonus CD?
S: Well, of course I like the Moonspell song very much, I think that
everything Moonspell have recorded is really perfect. I really
like Samael, of course, and Alastis, Tiamat... I like a lot of
bands, but these are the best, in my opinion.
CoC: Many bands have recently quit using distorted vocals, but, even
though your music has become more melodic, you have kept using
distorted vocals. What are your feelings on this issue?
S: We don't want to betray our old fans, and I'm really into doing
this kind of vocals, because it's really extreme and I always like
extreme things.
CoC: About touring, how well has it been going?
S: We have played about 48 shows in 60 days all over Europe... and I
think that's our goal as a band, to play live, because that's the
only way to get in touch with the people, with our fans, and we're
always looking to play more and more, and we also hope to play in
Portugal someday.
CoC: Yes, I hope so. Well, about Greece, how's the metal scene over
there right now?
S: There are a lot of bands, really cool musicians, and I think the
people in Europe should pay more attention to Greek bands, because
they are really cool, in my opinion. But, of course, the only
problem is that we're so far away; it's really difficult, it's a
pain in the ass to play in Europe.
CoC: You have are frequently regarded by the press as being, or
having been, a black metal band. Would you say you have always
been a black metal band, ever since the start, and still are?
S: I can call our music metal; people can call it what they want. In
the beginning, when we were playing _Thy Mighty Contract_, we were
playing black metal, but I don't think our latest album is black
metal. On the other hand, I don't like to put those labels on our
music, so I can call our music metal.
CoC: I was curious about that, because it's usually taken as a fact
that black metal's roots lie upon Northern landscapes, cold
weather and all that, something you don't have in Greece...
S: Yes, and a lot of people make me nervous, saying that black metal
should be played only in Norway, in Scandinavia, and that in
Southern Europe people don't deserve to play black metal. I have
heard some shitty things like this, and I think that music has no
borders. I'm really into Southern Europe black metal; -metal-, at
least, because it's more melodic and more emotional, and I'm
really into it.
CoC: What black metal bands have you been listening to lately, then?
S: Black metal bands? I like the Dimmu Borgir album... and Emperor...
also Moonspell, of course, I think their first album is black
metal.
CoC: This might be a strange question, but considering the music
you're playing now, do you still think that Rotting Christ is a
good name for your band?
S: <sighs> It's not a strange question... it's a pain in the ass for
us, you know? <laughs on both sides> Maybe this name doesn't suit
our music very well now, but we keep it to avoid disappointing our
old fans, the ones who have followed Rotting Christ all these
years, and on the other hand, I think metal music needs extreme
names, and this way we show our indifference towards any religion
[I can't quite catch every word here, but I think this is what he
said --Pedro]. So we keep this name, and if someone won't listen
to the band [because of the name], we won't give a shit about him.
<laughs>
CoC: You seem to be quite worried about your old fans, I like that...
S: Of course, you have to worry about your old fans.
CoC: I mean, there's been a lot of bands lately saying "so we've lost
a lot of our old fans, but there's new ones in their place now
so it doesn't matter, and we'll probably sell more..."
S: I know, that means that people don't have feelings. First of all,
we are humans.
CoC: What are your hopes and wishes for the future of your band?
S: Touring... and touring. <laughs> Nothing else. That's the most
important thing for us; playing live is what's most important. By
the way, our first album, _Thy Mighty Contract_, is being released
again, because a lot of people were looking for it. And that's
all.
CoC: How concerned are you about sales?
S: Everyone that plays in a band is concerned about that... not
because of money, because we don't get money from our sales. Can
you believe it? Believe me. It's so that we can feel proud. We
don't play music to be rich or something like that, believe me. We
like to check our sales once in a while just to see what our power
as a band is, to see if the people like it. That's the only thing
that's important about sales, we don't give a shit about money and
stuff like that. We have a really poor living, because we don't
get enough money from the band, and we have to find a proper job
now. We can't work right now and then take a month off because we
have to play in a band... We have to quit everything so we can
play in our band.
CoC: Doesn't that pressure you to make music that's more commercial,
that'll sell more...?
S: No pressure. I'm not pressured. I just want to play my music, the
music I want, and if the people like it, they like it... if they
don't like it, I don't give a shit.
CoC: OK, that's it. Any final messages?
S: I want to say hello to Portuguese people, I'm really looking
forward to playing there someday, in front of Lusitanian people...
and I just want to say hello, and keep the flame burning, that's
very important for me.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
O N W I T H T H E S A G A
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC Chats with Edge Of Sanity
by: Adrian Bromley
What a dilemma. Your main songwriter/lyricist/singer leaves the
band. Suggestions, anyone?
Well, that was the case for Swedish metallers Edge Of Sanity
when singer Dan Swano fled the coup to continue on with his solo band
(Nightingale) and/or other future music endeavors away from working
with EoS. Was this the end of EoS? I am pretty sure that was what was
running through thousands of fans' heads who have latched onto the
numerous LPs of the band over the years. The band's momentum and
creativity (much to do with Swano's direction) paved the way for
metal music today, as it opened up what could be done with music and
laced it with Swano's delicacy and ingenuity. EoS were not only
trendsetters to some degree, but an important element in the metal
scene. How could they go away after hitting such landmark goals with
many of their six LPs? There had to be a way to avoid dissolving the
band. There was. His name: Robert "Robban" Karlsson.
Following Swano and his many accomplishments with EoS (1993's _A
Spectral Sorrows_, 1994's _Purgatory Afterglow_ or the brilliant
40-minute opus of 1996 _Crimson_) is Karlsson and his pipes as he
guides his new bandmates (past EoS crew rounded out by guitarists
Sami Nerberg and Andreas Axelsson, bassist Anders Linberg and drummer
Benny Larsson) through a gut-wrenching and powerful EoS effort titled
_Cryptic_. Falling back to the older era of EoS with the growls and
vocals, _Cryptic_ loses its taste of melody to some degree and leaps
and hurls its weight with such force to make a bold statement of
where EoS are headed back to. Back to brutal music.
On the phone from Sweden calls guitar player Sami Nerberg to
talk about _Cryptic_, the 'new guy' and Swano's departure. Read on:
CoC: Talk to me about the new record _Cryptic_. What are your
feelings about the new LP with the new vocalist?
Sami Nerberg: To start, for people to know, the record is only
35-minutes (eight tracks) and that is because we had
such a small amount of time in the studio to work and
record the material. I wish it could have been longer,
but at least we got the record recorded and out. We
seemed rushed at first, but we then realized that
things were clicking for us quite quickly. It was a
weird situation. But nonetheless, we did get down to
business and put a lot of energy and soul into the
material. This is a brutal record from start to finish.
This is like _Purgatory Afterglow_ in some ways, at
least in the sound department, I think. This record
works off the ability to combine brutal and heaviness.
It's more of an intense record than EoS have delivered
in the past.
CoC: And what about not working with Swano this time out? Did that
feel strange?
SN: When Dan was in the band he did everything. He was always in
control of doing everything and with him out of the lineup it has
allowed us to be able to work as a team and be able to feed off
each other. The music has gone away from what he brought to the
band and made it more brutal and not symphonic. I am very happy
with the way the band and its music has progressed and gone to
with _Cryptic_. The band is quite happy too.
CoC: Did Robban just fit right in as new singer? How was that worked
out that he would sing for EoS?
SN: He used to be the singer for Pan-Thy-Monium and lives in the same
city as us, so we have known him for quite some time. We knew he
was a fan of EoS and asked him if he wanted to try out. He came
down to the studio, tried out some songs and we were happy with
what he was able to do with the new material and its sound.
CoC: What is it about Robban's voice that you like?
SN: First off, he is a good singer. He can sing in many different
voices. Another reason for us to bring him into the fold was that
we knew him as a friend and knew that he was a hard worker. For
him to come into the band and make it work we all needed to get
things going in the same direction.
CoC: When Dan Swano did finally decide to leave, did that come as a
shock to you? Did you not know what was going to happen to you?
Were you concerned about continuing on with EoS?
SN: It was weird. We didn't know how to react. We thought that was it
-- the band was over. But then we realized we had booked some
studio time to record already and were indeed going to have to
continue on. We searched out for a singer, found Robban and
finished up the recording. We are now more than ever determined
to keep EoS alive and well.
CoC: You said earlier, and I agree, that _Cryptic_ is a brutal
record. Was being brutal almost throughout intentional on the
band's part to get away from the melodic death metal that Swano
had been known to work with?
SN: It was quite natural and premeditated that we wanted to go back
to the more brutal death metal stuff. Dan was really getting into
the symphonic stuff, with melodies and all, and we all were
really digging the heavy brutal stuff. When he left, we
eliminated a lot of the melody and keyed in on brutality.
CoC: How was the recording process for the record?
SN: It was pretty simple for us to gather material and ideas for the
record. The stuff just flowed right out of us and into the
studio. We really had a lot of fun making this record. The ideas
kept mounting up for us and that was making it easier for us to
sift through ideas that would work best for us on _Cryptic_.
CoC: Having been in a band that helped forge the way for a lot of
bands to follow, what is your take on today's music scene? Any
bands you are into?
SN: I think the music scene has changed quite a bit. I am into metal
still, but I prefer to buy older metal than any new stuff that is
coming out. I think that older, earlier metal is better. Right
now there are so many bands that are not doing anything original.
Nothing out there grabs me.
CoC: So why should people listen to EoS? Are you original in sound
and style?
SN: I think people will listen to us if they like us and what EoS has
done in the past. I think what we do now and will continue to do
is create brutal music. Sure it may have been done before, but we
add our own EoS sound to the material. Basically, we think we are
moving forward in creativity, with brutalness being the major
attribute to focus on for future EoS material.
CoC: So will new material be like the music found here on _Cryptic_?
SN: I would assume so. As I said before, we are aiming to making EoS
brutal once again, but who knows? We may incorporate a bunch of
new ideas into what we do next time we go into the studio. We'll
see. I'm just glad to see EoS back into a brutal groove again and
I am sure fans of EoS are too.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
W O R D S F R O M T H E D I S C O U R A G E D
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Blackheim of Katatonia
by: Forlorn Soul <mailto:forlorn@mindspring.com>
Gateways of Bereavement: http://www.mindspring.com/~forlorn/
[Katatonia. Undoubtedly one of the most unique bands ever, and one
that has managed to transform feelings of doom and utter sadness into
music in such a way that sound and sorrow cannot be severed apart.
"Words From the Discouraged" - the Katatonia interview - in
Chronicles of Chaos, courtesy of Forlorn Soul, whose words about
Katatonia now follow... -- Pedro Azevedo]
It is said that fans of death metal are the most dedicated fans in
the world. At the same time, the majority of the world looks down
upon death metal, for it is something they just don't understand. The
exact same can be said of the godly band from Stockholm, Sweden,
Katatonia. Since I have been running my Katatonia web page, I've
talked with many fans of this band and I've discovered something
about them which is truly incredible. There is some instant inner
connection that is made between the fans. It's as if we have
discovered some wonder of the world, some sacred element that has
never been found before. Katatonia is able to describe our feelings,
bring them out, examine them and then fade away into the next. Not
one component is weak. Even the album covers; the lyrics; the
atmosphere that is setup... and then in the center is this music
which tears out pure sadness, your dark desires, and then your soul.
The dark gothic influence in Katatonia stands strong and gives the
music the power to truly reach your raw emotions. The melancholic
chords which slowly stream over flowing melodies are perfect, in
every way. Katatonia is amazing with dynamics as well, one minute
forceful chords of sadness are in your face, the next clean chords
loaded with effects calm you instantly. One thing I have found that
is stunning, is that Katatonia is not widely hailed and worshiped in
the metal community. In fact, to see negative comments of them on the
web or elsewhere is common. Upon talking to people who make these
statements, I've come to a conclusion. That is either people feel
violated by a music that is able to tap deep into one's soul and
emotion. It brings out things which they wish to keep buried. Or the
people who make these statements are shallow. They laugh at the idea
of music being able to bring out raw emotion. They believe metal is
for aggression only - to get up and fucking mosh! I can't say I'm
upset these types of people don't understand Katatonia. I'm happy
with the way things are... it's as if I've discovered the eighth
wonder of the world. This band is very sacred to me and I think I
would be a very different person if I hadn't heard them. To be able
to interview the main man of Katatonia, Blackheim, was something
unreal for me. Prepare yourself for an interview of a man, whose band
Katatonia has truly changed my life.
CoC: Thank you, Blackheim, for taking some time and allowing me to
interview you. To begin, can you tell me your age? I have no
idea...
Blackheim: I'm soon to be 23 years old, just as most of the others in
the band as well. Still young and far away from the decays
of age.
CoC: In my eyes - and I know many others' - Katatonia is able to
create the *perfect* atmosphere for melancholic and depressive
feelings. The very name Katatonia (from English word
"catatonic") is the perfect name for the music which you create.
Even the album covers and layout are extremely fitting. What
inspires you to think of such masterful creations?
B: We simply know exactly HOW we want things to turn out! We've
always followed a certain link from the very beginning. Creativity
isn't something unfamiliar to us 'cause you see, we've inspiration
coming to us throughout the whole year. I'm talking about the
nights, of course! And especially right now, in the Autumn months,
when even the days are darker and colder, our minds descend into a
constructive state. No matter if it's by intention or
subconsciousness. We make our sound Dark and Melancholic! We like
wrapping up things in a deep atmosphere! What we create is the
tunes we want to hear, the tunes that nobody else creates for us!
THAT'S what Katatonia is all about... Obviously this also goes for
the visual side of the band. The artwork should display the vibes
of the music. If you see one of our album covers and you think it
looks obscure, you can be damned sure the music is too!
CoC: Many of the bands from Sweden and Norway now seem to be stealing
ideas from one another. Katatonia has always been immensely
different from any other band. Comparing you to other bands is
almost impossible. This originality is looked very highly on by
thousands of bands and fans. With such an original style, what
was the initial reaction to Katatonia through the first few
albums?
B: What can I say... The response on _Jhva Elohim Meth_ and _Dance of
December Souls_ was enormously strong! With these two releases we
created ourselves our following and a high position in the scene.
We were early with our musical style. There was only one or maybe
two bands before us comparable to our style, but far not as Dark!
We knew what we were up to. We'd instincts to be the most Dark and
Melancholic band ever! The originality spawned from our sincerity
in our work. We focused on the essence!
CoC: Katatonia has always had a strong gothic influence. The most
obvious sign of this would be the song "Scarlet Heavens", from
the Katatonia / Primordial 10". Katatonia has gotten heavier
almost every album but still retaining a very gothic feel.
However, I have heard that Katatonia is going to change music
styles drastically in the future, similar to the style of the
song "Day" [from _Brave Murder Day_]. Is this true? When will
this happen?
B: When we did "Scarlet Heavens" we were determined to do a 100% goth
based album, but we never got the chance to realize it. Now, I
don't think we'll ever do it. At this point we've some other
plans. We're out to challenge ourselves in another way.
CoC: From my eyes, Opeth and Katatonia have always seemed to have
some kind of bind with each other. How did you two meet? I heard
Mike [Akerfeldt, singer/guitarist of Opeth] played some guitars
for Katatonia live, is this true? Why did you decide to have
Mike sing on _Brave Murder Day_? Will he be involved in future
Katatonia projects?
B: I think we first met Mike through all the underground gigs that
took place in the early 90's and we got introduced to Opeth. I
instantly realized that this unknown band was absolutely killer,
so I helped them out by spreading their name and rehearsal
recordings in order to get them signed... and they ended up on
Candlelight. At that time Katatonia searched for a second guitar
player. We needed to complete the line-up to be able to perform
some gigs that awaited us, but since we weren't able to find
anyone, as I would say is our usual way of luck, we asked Mike to
join us on second guitar for a couple of gigs as a session
musician. Later on, during the _Brave Murder Day_ studio session,
it appeared that Renkse [the Katatonia vocalist/drummer] had
totally lost all the ability to scream/growl and it even went so
far that he lost his own natural voice when still trying. I had
given a holy promise that I would not be involved with the vocals,
so we considered Mike due to his monstrous vocal style and asked
him to fill in for Renkse and do the job. The result was just
perfect! Even though I missed the vocal style from our earlier
works I think the new songs with the touch of Mike's voice really
set a new sound, so we figured that Mike should do the vocals
again for _Sounds of Decay_. There the story ends. Mike is now
fully occupied with Opeth and we've our original singer back in
front, yes the guy who fucked-up with the growls, but the whole
thing is much different now, as we don't use growling vocals
anymore...
CoC: Please give us any details you can on the upcoming full-length
_Discouraged Ones_.
B: The new album was recorded at Sunlight studios this Summer. There
are 11 songs on it (about 46 minutes) which is a couple of more
songs than before, but on the other hand, they're a lot shorter.
They have a very logical arrangement and a really heavy
sound/production. There are some major surprises on the vocal part
which displays the very natural evolution of the band. Other than
that, it's easy to identify the typical Katatonia feeling which
lurks within all the songs. The one who decides to ignore this
album, denies himself...
CoC: I heard a rumor that none other than Glenn Danzig said some very
kind things of Katatonia. I've heard many conflicting stories,
can you clear this up?
B: Hey, this is absolute news to my ears. Haven't heard anything
about it before. Perhaps Mr. Danzig should clear this up for us...
Couldn't imagine him saying this. I don't even think he could tell
whether Katatonia is a band or a fucking candybar!
CoC: Do you view Katatonia as your main band? Or do you view it
equally with other projects such as Diabolical Masquerade?
B: Katatonia is my main band. Always has been and always will be as
long as we exist. Katatonia is number one priority and no other
band can interfere with that. This is exactly the case of
Bewitched, one of my other bands. Bewitched is really up and
coming now with tours and stuff interfering with the Katatonia
linked activities and that's why I just left that band. Diabolical
Masquerade is equally important to Katatonia in musical terms.
It's very sincere and I put a lot of work into this project as
well, but I can keep Diabolical Masquerade on a comfortably low
level. Only studio visits, no gigs, no tours... Yet!
CoC: Katatonia was recently signed to Century Media. How did this
come about? Why did you choose Century Media over other big
labels that undoubtedly approached you? (Good choice I must
say...)
B: Well, we're still signed to Avantgarde Music in Europe and Century
Media only in the States. Century Media has a good reputation and
seems to be handling their work very well. We decided to go for
the deal. Eventually things for the band can be moving on now.
CoC: The last track on _For Funerals to Come..._, "Epistel", sounds
like a bunch of noise... at times sounding like it's in reverse.
What exactly is this? It is a shock after coming from such a
mournful instrumental as "For Funerals to Come...". (Yes, I've
tried to digitize it and play it backwards... heh).
B: A shock yes! It's nothing but a shock of reversed noise! Well
actually it's the end of the world... Listen to it backwards and
figure it out...
CoC: What happened to the lyrics of "Tomb of Insomnia" inside the
inlay of _Dance of December Souls_?
B: The lyrics to "Tomb of Insomnia" were never completed and would
therefore not justify the dignity of the remaining lyrics on the
album with a full print on the inlay, so we dropped it.
CoC: Why did you decide to change the name of the song "Black
Erotica" (from the _W.A.R. Compilation Vol. 1_) to "12"?
B: Actually, this was all Renkse's decision. When we decided to
re-record that track for _Brave Murder Day_ he didn't approve in
keeping the title as he wasn't very fond of it. To make it fit
with both the concept of the song and the new album we got it
changed to "12".
CoC: What does "elohim meth" mean? I've been asked this countless
times and I have no idea myself...
B: Well, as you know, we entitled our demotape _Jhva Elohim Meth_.
These three words were supposed to be the ultimate profanity(!)
since it's message is best described as something like "God is
Dead"! Then, on the debut album we chose to entitle a short
instrumental track "Elohim Meth", focusing more on the subject
death than God, however our obvious silly "wordplay" didn't make
any sense 'cause these two words can not be translated into
something else on their own, but who cares? It was 4 years ago...
CoC: Throughout the history of Katatonia, there have always been
numerous line-up changes. At one point, it only consisted of
YOU! Many rumors of Katatonia's breakup floated around. Was
there any point at which it looked as if Katatonia was no more?
B: Not really, no, because back then I'd made up my mind to continue
even if only by myself. Katatonia was on ice for a while though,
but never terminated. Wonder what the situation would be like if I
hadn't continued the band and instead officially declared that
Katatonia was put down the grave...? However, the current line-up
is ok. It's Me on guitars and stuff, Renkse on drums/vocals along
with Fred Norrman on second guitar and a guy called Mike Oretoft
on bass. Don't know how long it'll last though.
CoC: Looking towards the future, where do you see Katatonia in five
years? Any guesses?
B: As discouraged, underrated and misunderstood as this band is, we
might just be dead in a year or two....
CoC: Thank you so much for this interview, Blackheim. I can't wait to
hear the new material, hope you keep me updated. Hail and
farewell.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
S E A O F S H A D O W S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Matte Andersson of Godgory
by: Pedro Azevedo
The full-length debut of this death metal band from Sweden happened
in 1995 with the release of _Sea of Dreams_ on Invasion Records.
Playing mid-paced death and including a well above average amount of
acoustic guitars, Godgory produced an interesting mix of death and
some doom. Toward the end of last year, a new full-length album was
released: _Shadow's Dance_, again on Invasion. It showed a clear
change in Godgory's sound as it departed from the more conventional
death metal of _Sea of Dreams_ into more experimental fields. Still
mostly death metal, _Shadow's Dance_ had a frequently different
rhythmic approach and also a different kind of guitar work -- mostly
due to the rhythmic changes. The very frequent acoustic guitars of
_Sea of Dreams_ were replaced by keyboards and, occasionally, clean
vocals in _Shadow's Dance_. Although it is a reasonable album, I did
find an annoying problem in _Shadow's Dance_: most of the songs are
just too repetitive and tend to move around in circles instead of
actually going somewhere. Nevertheless, after releasing two competent
albums, Godgory have signed a deal with a major label, Nuclear Blast
and are currently going through major line-up changes. I discussed
some of Godgory's past, present, and future with vocalist Matte
Andersson.
CoC: In your opinion, what are the main differences between _Sea of
Dreams_ and _Shadow's Dance_?
Matte Andersson: The main difference is the recording [method]. On
_Sea of Dreams_ we recorded almost everything live
and we only had a weekend to do it with much
overtime, but anyway... On _Shadow's Dance_ we
recorded every instrument separately. Stefan played
all rhythm and acoustic guitars and made one solo in
the song "God's Punishment". Micke could then
concentrate on the other solos and this time we had
a keyboard player - and the most important thing,
three weeks in the studio. Then of course there's a
difference: the songs on _Shadow's Dance_ are much
better arranged and heavier.
CoC: There was extensive use of acoustic guitars in _Sea of Dreams_,
something which doesn't happen so much in _Shadow's Dance_; why?
MA: There's lots of acoustic guitars on _Shadow's Dance_ too, but
there's much more keyboard behind, so it isn't as obvious as it
was before, I think.
CoC: How well has _Shadow's Dance_ been received?
MA: _SD_ has been very well received in mags and zines around the
world. I think we got 10 out of 10 in Rockhard and we also ended
up on the 7th place in Rockhard's Dynamite list. We have sold
around 8000 copies.
CoC: Did you achieve the sound you wanted with it?
MA: We're pretty satisfied with the sound, but the guitar sound could
have been a little better. We were pleased with the sound when we
left the studio, but now we have noticed that it could have been
better. Next time we will have a sound that will make you shiver.
CoC: Looking back now, what would you change in _Sea of Dreams_?
MA: If we could re-record _SoD_ we would do like we did on _Shadow's
Dance_: record the instruments separately, maybe re-arrange the
songs a bit. It's difficult to say what we would change, but I
can guarantee you it wouldn't be worse.
CoC: Some of the songs in that album were nearly what I'd call
doom/death. Was that blending of death with some doom metal a
conscious decision? If so, which doom metal bands influenced
you?
MA: I don't think it was a conscious decision 'cause Erik, the
drummer who writes all the material, is not a big doom fan, but I
love doom metal. The only doom I can think of that inspired Erik
is Memento Mori, but I don't think of them as pure Doom.
CoC: It seems to me that most of the songs in _Shadow's Dance_ are
quite repetitive, as they follow a very tight chorus-based
structure; why did you choose to make them that way?
MA: It's hard for me to answer that question, 'cause it's Erik, the
drummer, who writes all the songs, and it's pretty hard to know
what's going on in his weird head. <laughs>
CoC: What's your opinion about the current Swedish metal scene?
MA: I think we have many great bands here in Sweden, such as Therion,
In Flames, Dismember, Entombed, Edge of Sanity, Katatonia, Count
Raven, Terra Firma.
CoC: What are your plans for touring in the near future?
MA: I don't really know at the moment, 'cause there's only Erik and
me left in the band, so we are searching for members, but
otherwise we are now signed to Nuclear Blast, so I think we have
a bigger chance to go on tours now -- if we get members. Let's
wait and see what happens.
CoC: About your next album: any dates yet?
MA: Yes, as a matter of fact we will be entering the Abyss studio the
1st of October 1998 to record our third CD, and this time for
Nuclear Blast. We don't know when it will be released, but we are
looking forward to work with Peter Tagtgren -- he seems to be a
very good producer.
CoC: Will you keep moving away from death metal in the future or
would you say anything is possible?
MA: No, we won't be moving away from death metal. As a matter of
fact, I think we will move in again on the rawer territory, not
the most brutal, but a little more to the roots. I'm not quite
sure about this but it sounds so on Erik['s part] when I speak to
him, that's the way he feels and it suits me too.
CoC: What does Godgory, as a band, mean to you?
MA: Godgory means very much to me. I'm very glad to be part of it and
we have had so much fun in the studio -- and outside too, by the
way. It's a reason to live.
CoC: And what does "Godgory", as a word, mean to you?
MA: Godgory is two words put together: "God" and "gory". I came up
with this name when I was sitting with a dictionary, and I
thought that if I put these two words together, the chance is
smaller that another band had thought of the same thing. I think
it's a good name, even if it's not exactly representative of our
music.
CoC: That's it... any final messages?
MA: Thanks to you Pedro for this interview, and good luck with your
zine. Look out for our third CD. I don't know when it's coming
out yet, but remember, if you're waiting for something you always
have something to look forward to. If you want info about Godgory
or my one man project Grave Flowers, just write to me, but please
include IRCs 'cause the postage is so fuckin' expensive. Take
care.
Contact: GODGORY, c/o Matte Andersson
Hagagatan 14 B, 652 20 Karlstad, SWEDEN
mailto:matteandersson@swipnet.se
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_____ .__ ___.
/ _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____
/ /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \
/ | \ |_| \_\ \ | / Y Y \
\____|__ /____/___ /____/|__|_| /
\/ \/ \/
_____ .__
/ _ \ _________.__.| | __ __ _____
/ /_\ \ / ___< | || | | | \/ \
/ | \\___ \ \___ || |_| | / Y Y \
\____|__ /____ >/ ____||____/____/|__|_| /
\/ \/ \/ \/
Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed
9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended
7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities
5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into
0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs!
16 - _Blaze of Incompetence_ (Theologian Records, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Having only heard a bit of 16's debut disc _Drop Out_ from a year
back, I had not really gotten into the band or remembered much of
their sound. Was I on crack then? I dunno, but the fact of the matter
is that this record (and band) rocks out big time! Kind of a match
between the throat-wretching assault of Machine Head and the
distorted Fudge Tunnel sound (Alex Newport produces), but add in the
grooves and riff-heavy power and diversity of any SoCal band. I even
hear shades of Only Living Witness (whom I cherish). Nonetheless, the
music hits you right between the eyes. Sounds cliche but this fucker
flies off the handle from the get-go. Not many bands can keep a heavy
thing like this under control, but 16 manages to keep the music very
rounded and versatile - still keeping the listener interested. Sounds
like a full-scale riot if ya ask me. Heaviness prevails once again
and I'm praying that 16 hopefully does see some more exposure in the
future as they do deserve it. Good record and a good thing the band
has the right feel to creating music.
Contact: 16, P.O. Box 1070 Hermosa Beach, CA USA 90254
WWW: http://theologianrecords.com
Abyssos - _Together We Summon the Dark_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10) (Cacophonous Records, October 1997)
Egad, it's the love children of Dissection and Anne Rice... I had
been thinking of poking fun at the cover of this CD (or my promo
copy, at any rate), which, according to the band's bio, features
"some of the most spectacular Vampyric artwork ever to be seen in
this genre." But then, alas, I saw the cover of the new, pathetically
titled album from Ancient: a photograph so unbelievably trendy, it
leaves the Abyssos cover, which is merely kinda silly, in the dust.
Anyway, enough about packaging. Musically, Abyssos sounds uncannily
like Dissection -- uncannily like an uncannily large number of other
bands from Sweden, I must say. Regardless, this trio does have a
great talent for mixing together dark, infectious, wintry melodies;
catchy vocal phrasings; and nimble, fluid speed. The best songs (in
particular, the first three plus the fifth) contain plenty of
excellent riffs and crafty time changes. But, crafty or not,
everything on this record follows a musical path that's already been
beaten right into the ground; thus, only the best songs stand out as
anything special. The rest is too derivative in feel and sound to
have lasting impact (on me, anyway), though the quality of
performance and production is high. And then there's this whole
frilly-shirted, perfectly-manicured vampire routine, which has become
quite the trend... Don't even get me started on that.
Acumen Nation - _More Human Heart_
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Conscience Records, November 1997)
I was really surprised how much I got into this record. Not an
overall great record, but the techno/electronic sound over the sharp
stop n' start riffs are a nice coupling and make it more than just an
average listen. Matching the nice electronic blend are some sinister
snarls and melodic vocal styles (very similar to the style of, say,
Marilyn Manson or My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult) that rise and
fall with the music's momentum. A dark eerieness engulfs the music
for the most part, as we are taken through a rough ride of blending
rock/metal sounds. Think Bowie, though heavier but equally as trippy
as the 'Thin White Duke' displays in his music. Obvious influences of
the industrial and metal genre fall into place here and AN really
seem to have the heart and soul in trying to make their music not
only come off appealing but also original in its own right. Fans of
techno-driven metal may want to search this out. Standouts include
"Cancerine" and "Fuck Yer Brains Out".
Contact: ACUMEN NATION, 7 W. 22nd St. New York, New York USA 100010
mailto:info@conscience.com
WWW: http://www.conscience.com/
Amon - _El Khela_ (Eibon Records, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (8 out of 10)
First of all, this Amon is not the Swedish black metal band, rather
an Italian dark ambient band. Amon's version of ambient is not
"dark", which implies the existence of a substance capable of
producing darkness, as much as desolate. The only palpable sounds are
an occasional susurration, carnal growl, obscure bang, or prolonged
drown -- a description which, if nothing else, proves that the
ambient genre eschews verbal delineation. While not the most
revolutionary of ambient works, the barren, subterranean soundscapes
invoked by Amon are consistently beguiling, and the infrequency of
sound only imbues the more active moments with a monolithic,
horrifying quality.
Angizia - _Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin_
by: Steve Hoeltzel (5.5 out of 10) (Napalm Records, September 1997)
Ah, another Angizia release: another eccentric, verbose, and
occasionally silly sounding fusion of elements of chamber music,
theater, and metal. Not that there's much of the latter, mind you:
hollow rhythm guitar, very restrained drumming, and intermittent
black metal shrieking are all the (so-called) metal we get. Rather,
placid piano melodies, melodramatic male singing, and well done
female soprano vocals dominate the sound, so that the overall
impression is that of a chamber music ensemble who've cordially
invited Glenn Tipton and Count Grishnackh over for a little Sunday
afternoon melody making. There's a great deal of wordiness to this
band, for whom the melody lines serve not as the music's primary
focus, but rather as mere backdrops for nearly incessant vocalizing
-- in this case, three vocalists using Russian, German, and English
to fill us in on the fictitious biography of a 19th-century Russian
pauper. Anyway, at least they've done away with the horrid tenor
vocalist from their last album; as well, the melodies offered here
are much less cloying and sing-songy than those on the band's
previous releases. As a result, this album sounds much more mature
and much less foolish than those earlier efforts. Still, this stuff
is nowhere near as artistically advanced or innovative as the band
seems to think, and as classical/metal fusions go, it's pretty heavy
on fairly tepid classical and very light on the metal, especially
when compared to superior albums like Dismal Euphony's _Soria Moria
Slott_ or Master's Hammer's _The Filemnice Occultist_. In any case,
this is a noticeable improvement over Angizia's earlier material.
Atrax Morgue - _Slush of a Maniac_ (Crowd Control, October 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (4.5 out of 10)
Although this may be Atrax Morgue's best CD to date, the work of
Marco Corbelli, who composes under the pseudonym of Atrax Morgue
(and, by the way, also owns Slaughter Productions), has never
impressed me, and _Slush of a Maniac_ fails to evince his supposed
talent. Just as with all of his other digitized (a few of his
numerous cassette releases are comparatively memorable) output,
_SoaM_ never evokes the homicidal ambiance implied on his CD covers.
Corbelli structures his music (quasi noise, perhaps?) around the
juxtaposition of silence - a singular sonic pattern if not a complete
absence of sound - with vociferous punctures, but instead of
catapulting the listener from the somnolence of an evanescent
respite, his feeble attempts at layering sounds are rarely any less
vaporous than the silence. Stolid drones and inconsequential waves of
static proliferate throughout the album, yet even during the rare
moments when the textured sounds possess any substance, Corbelli has
not shed his affinity for the puerile drones, bloops, or bleeps which
tarnished _Cut My Throat_ (reviewed in _CoC_ #15). Unfortunately,
incompetence alone can not satiate Corbelli; he also submits to the
most nettlesome of industrial trends: the insertion of vocal samples.
Over a decade after Lille Roger, of whom AM is a mere simulacra,
augmented his moribund ambiance with samples, Corbelli attempts the
same prosaic act, yet this creates one of the album's few highlights:
the savage screams of "After Murder," the album's sole track to
sufficiently invoke the self-effacing indignation and psychotic vim
suggested by "slush of a maniac" (although the association of "slush"
with "maniac" leaves my mind as bereft of any transgressive impetus
as the music does).
Caustic Infibulation - _Caustic Infibulation_
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10) (Independent, November 1997)
Warned early on by creator Bill Norris of the infancy of material
found on this LP, I took all that into account when playing this for
the first time. I was quite pleased to hear such a complex sound
flowing from the music. Bill... this isn't infant-staged music, to
say the least. Complex and eerie in the sense of many ambient-styled
outfits (Soma, Trail Of The Bow, Juno Reactor), Caustic Infibulation
seems to radiate an aura of dark emotions and explores many of life's
experiences. The problems I had with the music found on this debut CD
is the certain degree of holding back in the music. It seems staged
at times, staged to a point where barriers have been set up and
abided by. I think what CI needs to do is break down those barriers
and explore. Maybe this is just an infant state and the band really
does have bigger and better plans. I dunno. I'm interested and want
to hear more, guys. Show me you can progress rather than stay
stagnant and unmotivated. Good ideas, just lacking something --
though the track "Harsh Acid Injection" rules supreme.
Contact: Bill Norris, c/o National Toxicology Group
P.O.Box 913, Dunedin, New Zealand
For a copy of this CD send: $10 + IRC
Coercion - _Forever Dead_ (Perverted Taste, September 1997)
by: Adam Wasylyk (7 out of 10)
Embodying the Swedish death metal sound made famous by bands like
Entombed and Dismember, Coercion execute some stylish metal here by
mixing faster and slower tempos while injecting more than a few
interesting riffs. Signing to Perverted Taste after a failed record
deal with House of Kicks, _Forever Dead_ is the debut for their new
label, and a rather impressive one, I must say. Combining elements of
early Entombed, Fleshcrawl and even some latter-day Gorefest,
Coercion are able to avoid the tag of ripping off a sound made
popular years ago. Production by Dan Swano at his Unisound Studio
(presumably one of his last productions) accounts for the good sound
on this disc. My only problem with _Forever Dead_ was with the last
track, "Grief (Beyond Grief)", a 23-minute track which contains 10
minutes of clock chiming (???). Anyhow, in the end that leaves you
with 40 minutes of Swedish death metal worth listening to.
Day In the Life - _Day In The Life_ (TVT/Building, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10)
More hard-core from the fine people at TVT Records and unlike the
pop/rock feel of hard core outfit Stillsuit (who, by the way, had a
great debut LP this year: _At The Speed Of Light_), DItL seem to
steamroll through the hard grooves with very little effort. The music
is heavy and durable but is it worth multiple listens? Yes and no.
Much like a lot of hard core out there nowadays, DItL really seem to
be more centered on the notion of hitting us fast and furious,
without ever really focusing on the control or direction of the
music. It seems the faster and more intensely the hard core grooves
are delivered, the better. Not the case. Groove and momentum must be
controlled and set aside from any trendy sounds or one-notion ideals
to make it good and memorable. Think loud n' proud but keep it
strong. This record is good, but there are better albums of this
genre worth slapping in the boombox. Groove is apparent, but that's
as good as it gets here, people.
De Infernali - _Symphonia De Infernali_
by: Adam Wasylyk (4 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, November 1997)
With this being the side project of Dissection's Jon Nodtveidt, I was
expecting something much better than what came out of my speakers. It
could be said that there are two halves to this release; half of it
being instrumental/keyboard tracks, the other half being industrial
techno. On _Symphonia De Infernali_, a pattern arises: musically, it
shifts from keyboard track to techno track to keyboard track and so
on. This meant with every track it went from good to bad to good and
so on. The keyboard pieces (like "Into the Labyrinths of Desolation",
"Orcus Cursus", and "Rivival/...") are well composed and thought out,
but what was Jon thinking with techno dribble like "Ave Satan", "Sign
of the Dark" and "Atomic Age", which sounded so contrived it wasn't
funny? I'm not even going to talk about the last track, entitled "X".
This is so bad, maybe this explains why Jon Nodtveidt's name is
nowhere to be found in the CD sleeve????
Deathkids - _Born in Hell_ (Independent, 1997)
by: Adam Wasylyk (2 out of 10)
Yeahman #1: Look at this, it's the Deathkids!
Yeahman #2: Who?
Yeahman #1: The Deathkids!
Yeahman #2: What's so special about them?
Yeahman #1: It has a 10 and a 12 year old in the band.
Yeahman #2: That's really cool!
Yeahman #1: Yeah, and the father of one of the kids is in the band
too!
Yeahman #2: Really?
Yeahman #1: Yeah, and he looks just like Glen Benton!
Yeahman #2: Wow! What kind of music do the Deathkids play?
Yeahman #1: They play shitty, boring, sub-standard death metal that
only yeahmen like us are stupid enough to appreciate and
pay good money for.
Yeahman #2: You sold me! How do I get my copy!!!???!!!
Contact: Aardvark Records, P.O. Box 139, Lindenhurst, NY 11757, USA
Deicide - _Serpents of the Light_ (Roadrunner, October 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10)
I have been very divided in my opinion of Deicide since they produced
_Legion_. At the time _L_ was undoubtedly their best album, and
_SotL_, their fourth album, does nothing to change this fact. _Once
Upon the Cross_ was a definite disappointment to fans of _Legion_'s
hyperspeed and extreme technicality. _SotL_ will not really bring
back any of the fans who abandoned Deicide then, but for those of us
who, if sometimes tentatively, stuck with them, _SotL_ is our reward.
_SotL_ retains the simpler guitar lines and prominence of vocals
which _OUtC_ and the band's self-titled debut also displayed. The
differences on _SotL_ come in the guitar sound, which has a buzzy,
almost Swedish death metal feel to it, and the overall production,
which is far less dense than on previous albums. _SotL_ has a
thrashy, almost hardcore feel to it and is the band's most accessible
album to date. Songs like "Slave To The Cross" and "Blame It On God"
have very distinct, simple choruses and sections which I have at
times caught myself humming along to. But don't let all this talk of
catchiness fool you, though. This is Deicide -- the music is still
brutal, and Glen Benton is still -very- angry. Deicide have stuck
with the theory that simple is best, and although I wouldn't agree
that this is true in their case, _SotL_ has shown me that simple is
pretty damn good, and I think we can blame that on God.
Dismal Euphony - _Soria Moria Slott_ (ltd. edition re-release)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) (Napalm Records, October 1997)
What can I write about _Soria Moria Slott_ that Steve hasn't already
written in his review in CoC #15? He accurately described the quality
of Dismal Euphony's music (by the way, Steve would like to mention
that he'd rate _SMS_ 9 out of 10 now), but I'll add a few words of my
own and proceed to describe what's new in this re-release. One of the
best symphonic black metal bands I've heard so far, Dismal Euphony
stand out from the black masses through their extraordinary use of
keyboards, acoustics, and female vocals. Some may say keyboards and
femme vox are vulgar by now; who cares, if they can (when wisely
used) mean such a great enhancement of an album's melodic and
atmospheric qualities? In this re-release of _SMS_, you get a new
cover, an extra track, and a new mix. The new cover is a (not
entirely revealing) nude picture of DE's female vocalist, Keltziva (I
think), plus another picture on the other side. Keltziva and the
other female band member, Elin (keyboardist), adorn some of the inner
booklet pages as well. The original booklet remains unchanged beneath
this new cover, which consists of a single sheet detached from the
booklet. The extra track, "Fortidssjeledrepte?", fits in nicely. It
starts powerfully before eventually evolving into DE's typically
great melodies and some acoustics as well. Finally, the new mix
essentially brings up the guitar sound, which was little more than a
background buzz in the original version. This gives the album a
stronger feel, and, fortunately, the melody remains intact and does
not disappear beneath the increased guitar sound. However, three
needless faults are to be found in the second track: there's a 5
second gap after the intro which decreases the storming start of "Et
Vintereventyr" (which suddenly erupted from "Prolog" in the original
version) and, 4:36 and 4:45 into the track, there are two very
strange sudden sound problems that are hard to describe. Both last
for less than a second, but it's still annoying, even though barely
noticeable without headphones. If you already have _SMS_, whether or
not you buy this new version will depend upon how much you liked it
and if the poor guitar sound bothered you; if you don't have the
original version, I strongly recommended this album.
Dominion - _Blackout_ (Peaceville, November 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
After their successful debut, _Interface_, Dominion take the
dangerous step of releasing a second album. Higher expectations
always follow a successful debut; _Blackout_ turns out to be a very
good album, but not a breakthrough. Their unique use of female vocals
still makes Dominion stand out from the rest -- the vocals don't
feature the usual chanting, soprano-like style usually heard in
melodic doom and symphonic black metal (a vocal style which I usually
like). Rather, and while they also use male vocals, the female voices
attempt to fit the music and not just provide strong contrast with
the background sound, even though some of the contrast is still
there, of course, as the vocals are mostly very melodic. That's well
achieved by Dominion's female singer (and model in the nice album
cover), Michelle -- who has also done some vocals for Anathema in
their _Eternity_ (which I'd now rate 9 out of 10). The album has a
great production and the sound is as heavy as before, if not heavier;
furthermore, _Blackout_ has fewer melodic parts than _Interface_. The
band relies more on rhythmic sequences to captivate the listener than
on melodies. Notice the highly talented drumming, especially on
"Down", "Prism", and "Threshold", and the quality bass work. By the
way, Dominion's drummer, Bill Law, is expected to be responsible for
the drumming on the next My Dying Bride album. A final note on the
rating: having rated _Blackout_ 8 out of 10, it'd be unfair for
_Interface_ to remain rated 7; in fact, I should have given the debut
an 8 out of 10 as well [see CoC #18], as I still like it slightly
better than _Blackout_. This way both albums get the rating they
deserve.
Entombed - _To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!_
by: Adam Wasylyk (9 out of 10) (Music for Nations, November 1997)
This review may seem somewhat dated as this release has been
available on import since March, but with the good people at BMG
giving _To Ride..._ the domestic treatment here in Canada I thought
I'd review it. Not to mention that this was one of the best records
of 1997; those who haven't heard this gem of a record should keep
reading. _To Ride..._ truly embodies the phrase "death n' roll" as it
has been accurately described. Simply put: this rocks! The guitars
are still heavy (check out the opening title track) and L-G's vocals
are as powerful as they've always been. Tracks such as "Like this
with the Devil", "Damn Deal Done" and the rampaging closer "Wreckage"
(the name of Entombed's new EP) show how Entombed have grown and can
still belt out some heavy ditties. Production-wise this sounds a
little rougher than the band's last outing _Wolverine Blues_, but
then again, who says rock and roll was pretty? Entombed are a force
to be reckoned with, so those who haven't picked this up yet are
urged to do so immediately. As for what's happening with the band
now? The latest news is that drummer Nicke Andersson has left the
band to devote his time to his other project The Hellacopters. Plans
for Entombed to play North America haven't as yet been cancelled, so
early next year you may be able to see this band crush at a club near
you. In the meantime, check out their last release and bask in the
heaviness that is Entombed.
Face Down - _The Twisted Rule The Wicked_
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, November 1997)
_TTRtW_ seems to be where everything has come together for Face Down.
Their debut didn't make the kind of dent that an album like Machine
Head's _Burn My Eyes_ did, and so Face Down was left with solid, but
not phenomenal, sales and a good live reputation. _TTRtW_ has a
production which better represents the band and lives up to their
live power. Songs like "Waste", "Dread Bleed" and "Cleansweep" have
an energy bursting from them which should elevate Face Down to the
next level of both popularity and critical acclaim. Face Down have
not only written a selection of excellent songs, but they have also
constructed an excellent album. They use samples brilliantly to glue
the songs together and also choose to have an acoustic,
keyboard-assisted track, "Autumn Scars", before another vicious
storming number; this gives the album shape and keeps the listener on
your toes. Face Down move beyond the power groove metal norm through
lyrics that are far deeper and more personal than their peers. They
speak of sorrow and anger as opposed to how hard they became in order
to survive the streets. Marco Aro's delivery is also far more pained
and less macho than the average power groove vocalist. Performances
by all members, including the now sadly departed drummer, Peter
Stjarnvind, are sterling. Face Down have not only produced a brutally
heavy album in traditional metal terms but they have also added an
extra dimension to the tried and tested sub-genre of "power groove"
by making an album that is truly dark in a way that Biohazard or
Machine Head can only dream of.
For the Love of Suffering - _Not Affected by Pain_
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) (Independent, 1997)
Man oh man! I think this is probably one of the few independent bands
I have really been into in a long while. This band rules. Fans of old
school metal (old Sepultura, Sacred Reich and Annihilator) take note.
The riffs, the vocals, the attitude. Everything rules on this CD and
what good hard work went into this. With some really good production
work, FtLoS manage to take their speed/thrash metal into a higher
realm of true grit and bone-crushing speed. Slick riffs and growling
vocals sneer at us with such force that all we can do is stand back
and take the blows as they come. Nothing prepared me for this and I
think that is why I am so into it. Old school metal with a modern
kick. Just what the doctor ordered, eh? While some of the material
(music and lyrics) may seem dated -- this just being a small
percentage of the music found on the record -- everything seems to
fall in place here. Not once are we left hanging with the band's
sound. Crank up the momentum with "In the Face", the title track or
"The Itching and the Burning". And if this band doesn't radiate
metal, I don't know who does. Powerful and hard-hitting -- this is
what I like. Metal fans converge on this and feel the aura of metal
it radiates. Good indie metal, but, most importantly, it's metal.
Contact: FOR THE LOVE OF SUFFERING, P.O. Box 47071
Seattle, WA, USA, 98146-7071
mailto:jimmeftols@juno.com
WWW: http://seattlemusicweb.com/ftlos.html/
Fu Manchu - _The Action Is Go!_ (Mammoth/Attic, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (4 out of 10)
Disappointment with a capital 'D'! Left with my jaw on the floor from
the band's past two releases (1994's _Daredevil_ and 1995's brilliant
_In Search of..._), I was almost in tears and in a state of shock
with what I was given here with the SoCal stoner rock outfit's latest
effort, _The Action Is Go!_. Um... no it's not, guys. No action here.
The music found on _TAIG!_ is wrappped around mundane sounds and
lackluster melodies. Sure thick riffs are present, but where is the
groove, guys? Everything seems so flat and uninspired. I dunno, maybe
I was expecting a lot from this band or I just don't get it (probably
the latter), but I want my old Fu Manchu back. Something is not right
here. Producer J. Yuenger (guitarist for White Zombie) did a great
job producing it, so I ain't blaming him. Maybe this is just a bad
dream 'cause something as good as Fu Manchu can't reach
mediocre/below average standards. Or can they?
Grabesmond - _Mordenheim_ (Draenor Productions, 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (4 out of 10)
Here we have 13 synthesizer pieces which are supposed to represent
"all which can be linked with the realms of darkness, the hidden and
unknown beings, and forces of night" -- and which end up sounding
more like a CD full of song introductions than an album's worth of
self-standing compositions. This isn't garbage or anything, but I
can't see why anyone would choose Grabesmond over the much more
distinctive and developed efforts of similarly-styled artists like
Mortiis, The Soil Bleeds Black, Proscriptor, and so on. Some of the
individual pieces have a nice nocturnal charm, but most are simply
too short to harbor any musical development or create any real
atmosphere. More to the point, these works all come across, to me
anyway, as rudimentary and fairly generic exercises in
keyboard-craft, with nothing original or individual that might set
them apart from the thousands of other unremarkable synth pieces
which have appeared on many a metal album of late. Neither especially
dark nor especially ambient -- nor especially recommended.
Grave - _Extremely Rotten Live_ (Century Media, September 1997)
by: Adam Wasylyk (5 out of 10)
Grave. A band synonymous of Swedish death metal. Although not even
close to being one of Sweden's best exports, Grave, however, do an
average job on their new album (live of course), entitled _Extremely
Rotten Live_. I'll be the first to admit I'd rather hear the latest
albums from Edge of Sanity, Entombed or even Dismember before I'd
ever put this on. Grave are a band that just never held well with me.
To me they seem like a third-rate death metal band, well past it's
prime and 3 years past the time when they should have broken up. Why
this band keeps trudging on I'll never know. I can't fault the band
for it's energy and enthusiasm in a live situation, but I can fault
them for boring the shit out of me. Tracks like "Extremely Rotten
Flesh", "Hating Life", "You'll Never See" and "And Here I Die..."
aren't terrible, but they don't prompt me into hearing them again,
either. Horribly bland.
M. J. Harris & Martyn Bates - _Murder Ballads (Passages)_
by: Andrew Lewandowski (8 out of 10) (Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1997)
Although it may not seem like the most novel of ideas, this
collaboration between Mick Harris and Martyn Bates is one of the
first isolationist ambient projects to feature lyrical vocals. While
Harris wafts ethereal drones and distant, yet disturbing, rumblings
through the air, Bates softly whispers folk tales of murder in a
silken English accent which augments Harris' ambiance. The two
seemingly incompatible elements of folk singing and dark ambiance
coalesce congruously as both provide an archaic, nebulous delineation
of a human incarcerated in the repetitive, despondent world of the
dark ages. Bates' haunting vocals arise from the background ambiance
as the music's definite focal point. The addition of vocals injects a
human presence in a genre which, by definition, eschews such an overt
inclusion of man in the music, for the artist translates his psyche
into the ambiance and allows the listener to imbue the music with its
emotional content through subjective interpretation. Every emotive
aspect becomes explicit due to the vocals and lyrics, which overtly
(two examples: the chorus of "all alone and so lonely" in "The Cruel
Mother" or "her bleeding, mangled body lay beneath the red barn
floor" from "The Murder of Maria Marten") deal with topics generally
evinced within the music itself. The inclusion of vocals is a novel
idea, but you can call me conservative, for Bates' vocals sever the
album's connection to the ambient genre, and the music is too
distinctly ambient to succeed at any other level. As an ambient work,
this is one of Harris' best works to date.
Heidenreich - _A Death Gate Cycle_ (Napalm Records, November 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7.5 out of 10)
I once had a bunch of teeth pulled by a dentist named Heidenreich.
Clearly this is some kind of sign... Heidenreich, the band, is a
two-man project: Peter K. from Abigor and Thurisaz from Amestigon
team up to create a somewhat experimental variant of black metal,
featuring creepy samples, fuzzed-out guitars, some brutal programmed
beats, occasional clean vocals, odd vocal layering, and so on. In
some ways, this reminds me of the latest CD from Nastrond, but with
the fiercer and more emotive tone of Abigor's mighty _Orkblut -- The
Retaliation_. If you ask me, though, _A Death Gate Cycle_ is not as
good as the best Abigor stuff. It's a 27-minute MCD which gets
stronger and stranger as it progresses, although it's weighed down a
bit by a pair of keyboard instrumentals which don't really go
anywhere. Also, the clean vocals occasionally misfire. They're
well-conceived, but as with so many other metal-affiliated projects,
their delivery is a bit on the shaky side. (I've heard much worse,
though.) The sampling is very effective: selective and skillfully
employed, with zero repetition and none of the overdone triteness of
the sci-fi-thriller and "true crime" samples so prevalent elsewhere.
There's some good, odd use of guitars, too, as in my favorite "The
Goat Shrine" and the final track "Memories of a Descending Moon". All
in all, I think this is pretty cool -- nothing truly groundbreaking,
but harsh and interesting enough to stand out a bit. Still, I can't
quite bring myself to give this an eight... One more thing: I now
think that Thurisaz's band Amestigon (RIP?) is cooler than my
original review (CoC #13) gave them credit for. They're nothing
original, but for some reason I've been finding their icy,
unpretentious approach to black metal especially enjoyable of late.
Hidden Pride - _Brutal Advice_ (Independent, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (6 out of 10)
In my review of their demo, _The Encounter of the First Kind_, I
noted that the band could deliver the goods technically, but that
songwriting efforts, both musically and lyrically, needed an
overhaul. Sad to say, but I see no evidence of improvement.
Admittedly, this is expertly played death/grind, tight and clear, but
in the end, directionless. Then again, Cryptopsy's _None So Vile_ has
raised the bar so damn high with respect to lyrics, songwriting, and
musicianship, that most material in this genre tends to pale in
comparison. My advice to grinding bands today: 1) write memorable
songs, 2) write lucid lyrics. And if you're only going to put 28
minutes of music on your CD, for crying out loud, don't pad the
release with 45 minutes of silence (okay, so there's an inane
three-minute French xmas song hidden amongst the silence)... Making
your release inconvenient to listen to is not conducive to further
listens.
Contact: E.S.T. Management c/o Michel Monette
755 Muir, Suite 205, St-Laurent, Quebec, Canada H4L 5G9
Voice: 514-747-5247
mailto:hiddenpride@viamtl.com
Infernal Torment - _Birthrate Zero_ (Diehard, November 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10)
When I slapped _Birthrate Zero_ into my stereo I was a bit miffed as
to where this band got the idea, expounded in their press release,
that they were -so- death metal and -so- brutal. The album isn't easy
listening, but it follows the ideas presented on Death's _Symbolic_
album. I don't dislike _Symbolic_, but it is not "pure death metal",
and neither is _BZ_. _BZ_ is not a bad album; it has some cool riffs
(the opening chords to "Product of Society" being a definite high
point), and the vocals, although rather lacking in variation, are not
all that bad. The thing which brings the whole album down, though, is
the drumming, which is slow, simple, repetitive and boring. There are
cool riffs, this is true, but the songs are definitely longer than
can be justified, and you find yourself wondering why the band don't
end at the three minute mark and instead often carry on to the six
minute mark. Nothing wrong with this in theory (Carcass' "Forensic
Clinicism" is 7:09, and I don't get bored of this), but none of the
songs here add anything more after about three minutes -- or they
just spend the first three playing samey riffs and -then- change to
some other for the next three minutes. Maybe their love for Iron
Maiden, whose "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son" they cover after the
final, ridiculously titled track "Fuck The Whales", drives them to
write songs like this -- who knows? But, then again, who really
cares?
In Flames - _Whoracle_ (Nuclear Blast, October 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
If you're a fan of the brilliant Gothenburg sound, you surely must
know In Flames by now. _Whoracle_ is In Flames' new gift to all those
who have been captured by this melodic, aggressive, technical, and
dynamic style of metal. As any In Flames fan will immediately know
(as if he didn't already expect it) after listening to the first
minute or so of the brilliant opener "Jotun", _Whoracle_ is another
great work. Just like before, In Flames deliver a large set of
extremely catchy melodies and riffs that just won't let go of you and
team up with very competent rhythmic work and Anders Friden's
'desperate ma non troppo' voice (although it sometimes does get quite
desperate, but not as much as some others) -- rated in the Swedish
metal vocals range, that is. In relation to their promising debut,
_Lunar Strain_, and the great _Subterranean_ EP, _The Jester Race_
(which I like even better than those two) featured many changes, but
no radical changes were made this time. The sound and musical style
are nearly the same in _TJR_ and _Whoracle_. No complaints here,
since, similarly to the newest albums from their country mates Dark
Tranquillity and Hypocrisy, there's no need to change greatness, as
only small adjustments should be made. Despite both having been
recorded and produced at Studio Fredman, _Whoracle_ seems to have a
somewhat stronger sound than the excellent _The Jester Race_. Just
like what happened in the latest Hypocrisy, _The Final Chapter_,
there's one cover song, and, again, it's the weakest track. It's a
cover of a Depeche Mode song (no, I'm not confused here; I know this
is not my Moonspell _Second Skin_ review), and while the re-worked
song itself is reasonably good, the chorus is very poor. A final note
about the departure of Johan Larsson (bass) and Glenn Ljungstrom
(rhythm guitar): after the recording of _Whoracle_, Niklas Engelin
and Peter Iwers will replace them.
Internal Bleeding - _The Extinction of Benevolence_
By: Adam Wasylyk (5 out of 10) (November 1997, Pavement)
Geez, this record took a long time to release. I remember vocalist
Frank Rini talking about their upcoming record _The Extinction of
Benevolence_ in between songs during Internal Bleeding's set at the
1996 Milwaukee Metal Fest. Somehow I don't think he saw it being
released over a year later, but hey, it's finally out. But was it
worth the wait? Their debut was just plain horrible, not even famed
producer Scott Burns could stop the "bleeding" (pun not intended). I
must say _TEoB_ is an improved effort, although they could have
released almost anything and it would be better then their debut.
What you can find on _Extinction..._ are a lot of moshy, heavy,
sludgy riffs with Frank's unintelligible growls and some speed to
boot. For what it has, what it doesn't have are enough hooks or
highlights, rather Internal Bleeding trudge through each track in the
same manner, each song having the same result: which isn't much.
Frank Rini's recent departure from the band won't help matters
either. Internal Bleeding fans will eat this up; unfortunately, I
can't count myself among them.
Iron Monkey - _Iron Monkey_ (Earache, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10)
If I had to pick one band that really kicked me hard and to the floor
in no time flat this year, it would be Iron Monkey. Heavy as fuck,
this British sludge-core quintet lash out with furious might on this
6-song debut EP of theirs. Thank God it was an EP or I'd be in
intensive care for a week. Shades of Korn (not a lot but the
aggro-rock feel is there), though most predominantly the stylings of
Black Sabbath and Eyehategod, are what run rampant and abuse our ears
on this release. Heavier and louder than a lot of shit out there
nowadays. Short review, two words: violently potent. Get this and get
this now, kids. I'm *eagerly* awaiting a full-length follow-up (out
early/spring 1998). Damn! It's gonna be a long winter.
Kreator - _Outcast_ (F.A.D./St. Clair, October 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
Still slugging away is Germany thrash outfit Kreator. Another LP, you
say? Isn't this like the 10th LP in ten years? Yes, kids, it's true,
they are hard workers. Let the metal begin! The band that helped put
the momentum in thrash metal music has returned once again with a
powerful onslaught of thrash metal that'll surely stir up some
interest amongst the metal community. The music blaring from
_Outcast_ is very violent, yet eerie. A sense of wrongdoing and
negativity flows from the music/lyrics as we, the listeners, are
thrown into a world where negativity seems to be the main contributor
to our existence. Fuck... I mean, look at the song titles: "Phobia",
"Nonconformist", "Ruin of Life" and "Leave the World Behind" -- does
that not say what we are getting ourselves into with each listen? We
feel this sense of vileness and being depraved with _Outcast_, and we
live it quite vividly through the thirteen tracks here. While I was
never a real fan of Kreator, having heard a few of their records in
the past, I'm into what the band has provided us with in 1997. Modern
sounding thrash metal (much like Overkill's _From the Underground and
Below_) that lends itself to its own characteristics and sound. Worth
a listen.
Laibach - _M. B._ (Mute Records, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (6 out of 10)
Long before Laibach dabbled in techno, covered an entire Beatles
album (_Let It Be_), remixed two Morbid Angel songs ("Rapture" and
"God of Emptiness"), and released a metal album (_Jesus Christ
Superstar_), they created extreme - from an early '80's vantage
point, at least - industrial noise. _M. B._, a collection of nine
live pieces originally performed in 1984 and 1985, documents Laibach
during one of their most lugubrious and aggressive moments; harsh
anarchic percussion is layered upon a desolate ambiance generated by
monolithic waves of dissonance. Blasts from a clarinet and screams
poisoned with vitriol occasionally augment an aesthetic akin to that
of not only early industrial demiurges such as SPK or Z'ev, but, more
importantly, improvisational free jazz performers. Yet
"Sila/Dokumenti" - an archetypal example of industrial percussion -
is the only piece which conveys the impetuous chaos generated by a
live performance of improvisational noise; all of the other eight
tracks are surprisingly refined as Laibach apparently focused on the
vicarious thrust of an exorbitant amount of low end dissonance, which
is impossible to authentically translate to a home stereo, and a
visual presentation instead of musical quality.
Manifest Destiny - _What You Fear_ (Crazy Life, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
This is good shit. Look in the vein of Pantera and Machine Head,
augment the sound with Nevermore's vocalist, shake some Iron Maiden
riffage into the mix, and you pretty much have the formula for
Manifest Destiny and their music. Heart pounding numbers echo from
the band's sophomore effort as the Oklahoman quintet pulls no punches
when hitting us with well-planned numbers, hearty dosages of metal
riffs, and memorable choruses. Having also attained a copy of the
band's debut LP, _All Life All Minds_, with this LP, I was able to
hear how much the band has improved their music over the course of a
year. Quite a bit I would say as this second effort shows that the
band isn't afraid to hold back and clobber us with tremendous blows.
But the repetitiveness of the material harms the album. More variety
in certain places, such as in the choruses and guitar riffs, might
shine some light on the creative forces that are apparent here.
Nonetheless, this is good material and, most importantly, it's heavy.
Contact: MANIFEST DESTINY c/o Makk Short
2123 W. Sherwood Stillwater, OK USA 74074
mailto:shortdog@ionet.net
WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Club/7527
Various - _Masters of Misery - Black Sabbath: The Earache Tribute_
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (7 out of 10) (Earache Records, 1997)
It's about fucking time Earache released this puppy outside of Japan.
For those of you who are into tribute albums, Black Sabbath, and
Earache's roster, this slab was custom-made just for you. Not
surprisingly, I fit that mold reasonably well myself, so I once again
had the opportunity to get into these tracks, and fine tracks they
are, for the most part. A few of the renditions tend to drag
slightly, but all in all, I applaud most of the bands for giving a
personal touch to these Sab-classics. Not everything works here
(Confessor's vocalist has -got- to go), but when it does, you just
can't prevent a huge pot-smokin' grin from creasing your mug. Those
who own the original Japanese release should note that there are
differences in track listings: namely, the loss of "Shock Wave" by
Cathedral (too bad, I rather liked that rendition) and "Sweet Leaf"
by Cadaver (no big loss). Four tracks, "Wheels of Confusion" by
Cathedral (passable), "Killing Yourself to Live" by Anal Cunt
(despite my hatred of this band, this track works, in part because of
the vocals), "Paranoid" by Ultraviolence (pure heresy, albeit
original, I guess), and "Cornucopia" by Iron Monkey, replace the two
losses. Completists, open your wallets.
Meshuggah - _The True Human Design_ (Nuclear Blast, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (6 out of 10)
This is the customary interim EP to tide fans over until the next
full-length release, which apparently isn't going to happen until
well into 1998. All you get is one new track and five, count 'em,
five versions of the same damn single off their previous studio
release, _Destroy Erase Improve_. "Sane", the new track, doesn't
break any new ground at all, and could be considered good, but isn't
really very engaging: strictly B-side material if you ask me (which,
of course, you are in a way since you're reading this review).
"Future Breed Machine" then takes over the remainder of the disc,
beginning with a live version which is well-executed and not much far
off the studio recording. Then comes the "Mayhem Version" which,
ironically, seems to be a drawn-out, slowed-down rendition with added
aural effects. The outcome isn't too bad, but not spectacular. Then
comes the far more interesting "Campfire Version", which is actually
titled "Futile Bread Machine"; completely acoustic in nature, it
features simply hilarious schmaltzy background vocals and whacked out
squeaky lead vox, but will likely tire the ears of most fans after
only a few listens. That's it for the listed tracks, yet the band has
tacked on two way-way-techno re-mixes of "FBM", which are mostly
forgettable, unless, I suppose, you're a techno fan. Only recommended
for the die-hards.
Moonspell - _Second Skin_ (Century Media, November 1997)
(EP: 4 out of 10; Live CD: 8 out of 10)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)
-- EP: The new song, "Second Skin", opens the first CD of this two
disc digi-pak. So what does it sound like? Well, consider the
changes from _Wolfheart_ to _Irreligious_, and then apply them
to _Irreligious_. Get the picture? An average song with a
boring, repetitive chorus, a very fake-sounding heavy part,
and one interesting drumming sequence. The song has some other
reasonably good touches here and there, but that's about it.
While _Irreligious_ was a disappointing style change, it still
did have a few high quality tracks; however, the upcoming
_Pecado_ will be very disappointing if things don't get better
than this. Besides, the rest of the EP is a total waste, and
that's the main reason for the its very low rating. After
"Second Skin" (the song), there's a pointless "per-version" of
"An Erotic Alchemy" (what's the point in picking up a good
song and dressing it in a clown suit?), pointless Depeche Mode
cover (rather weak), and pointless "video edit" version of
"Second Skin" (same song with one minute cut off). Sure
"Second Skin", the song, deserves more than a 4 and even the
DM cover does, but the rest is truly superfluous. At least
Century Media was smart enough to include a live recording
together with this EP and sell this as a double digi-pak at a
normal full-length CD price.
-- Live CD: This disc is quite good, although I found the choice of
tracks rather disappointing. The fact that "Of Dream and
Drama (Midnight Ride)" and the outstanding classic "Alma
Mater" (Moonspell's best song ever) were the only songs
taken from _Wolfheart_ doesn't please me at all. Nor does
it please me to find the inclusion of a track as poor as
"Herr Spiegelmann" instead of others like "Vampiria",
"Wolfshade", "Love Crimes" or "An Erotic Alchemy" from
_Wolfheart_ and "Full Moon Madness" from _Irreligious_.
Still, the remaining songs taken from _Irreligious_
("Opium", "Awake", "Ruin and Misery", and even
"Mephisto") have enough quality to deserve their place in
the CD, but much of Moonspell's best was left out; 32
minutes is just not enough. The sound quality is similar
to what they achieved in their concert that I reviewed in
CoC #23, even though the guitar sound is somewhat
stronger here.
-- Overall, if this was a stand-alone EP, buying it would have been
an outstanding way to waste money; financially speaking, this
isn't a terrible deal, since the package is priced as a regular
CD. The live CD is much longer than the EP, so it has more weight
in the overall rating, by the way. But I'd rather listen to
_Wolfheart_ any time.
Mortiis - _Crypt of the Wizard_ (Dark Dungeon Music, 1996)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7.5 out of 10)
More good stuff here from one of our favorite trolls. (Or is he some
kind of bat creature now? I'm not sure...) This time around, he of
the pronounced proboscis prances through ten songs adding up to about
sixty minutes of music -- quite a departure from the usual Mortiis
operandi of two twenty-minute tracks per CD. But while _Crypt of the
Wizard_ certainly contains more musical variety than do the older
recordings by the snaggle-toothed one, it also (and as a result)
lacks the sense of vast scope, constantly-thickening ambience, and
epic climax which makes earlier albums like the excellent _Keiser Av
En Dimension Utjent_ so enjoyable. Thus, personally, I find those
earlier, more momentous endeavors more satisfying than this new
collection of much shorter dark dungeon ditties. But on the other
pointy-nailed hand, _Crypt of the Wizard_ does showcase a broader
range of tones and moods -- all the way from the grim, grandiose
majesty typical of those older recordings (see the first three songs)
to downright melodic playfulness (see "Fanget I Krystal" for one of
several examples). A few tracks are yawners, and there is the
occasional overly hokey melody, but on the whole this is a pretty
cool release, one which I found myself liking more and more with
repeated listens. And in keeping with Mortiis tradition, wonderful
packaging provides an excellent visual complement to the music.
Night In Gales - _Towards The Twilight_ (NBA/PHD, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
During an interview with bassist Tobias Bruchmann, he told me that he
felt his band Night In Gales is the new breed of melodic death metal.
He may be onto something. Similar to a hybrid At The Gates or In
Flames with the old school style of Helloween, Night In Gales relies
heavily on music drenched with aggression and true grit to get the
message across. The band's nine-song debut for Nuclear Blast is a
good one that lashes out with sharp riffs that cater not only to fans
of melodic metal but also to us metallers who like our music hard and
uncompromising. From the opener "Towards A Twilight Kiss", Night In
Gales lets loose some memorable songs that not only showcase the
young band's musicianship, but also a band geared at working hard at
keeping the music crisp and in full form. Night In Gales has released
a good debut effort.
Old Grandad - _Old Grandad_ EP + San Francisco Bootleg
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) (Hectic Records, November 1997)
I always love fucked up chaotic doses of rage, and San Fran trio Old
Grandad deliver just that. Fits of rage urged on by thick Sabbath
riffs and menacing howls and screams just beckon for you to crank
this shit and headbang all day. Mix psychedelic rock with death metal
growls and you pretty much go the gist of what this band creates.
Shades of Fu Manchu or Kyuss dipped into satanic images and pure
death metal rampages flow from this release's the five tracks and,
afterwards, leave the listener in dismay. But you'll come back for
more, or, at least, I reckon you will. Also included in this release
(a follow-up to their first effort _Vol. 666_) is a cool 6-song live
bootleg from one of their shows. The production and sound is pretty
good and the band captured their sound very well. This is a
recommended purchase for those that dig thick heavy grooves and
psychedelic rock or just want to sell their soul to the devil. Dig in
kids!
Contact: OLD GRANDAD, P.O. Box 401122 San Francisco, CA USA 4140-1122
mailto: hehtic@hectic.com
WWW: http://www.inreach.com/grandad
Old Man's Child - _The Pagan Prosperity_
by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) (Century Media, September 1997)
Many people, not just Century Media, think OMC are the next
revolution in black metal. Now, although I must admit they are not
generic, I think this implies that OMC are also brilliant, and it is
this second, albeit implied, factor which I have to disagree with. If
you happen to pick up the _Darkness We Feel_ compilation, then you
might be tempted to disagree with me on the strength of "The
Millenium King". This is the best track on _TPP_, and if the whole
album was of this quality, then... But it isn't. The aforementioned
song has a lot of different elements (heaviness, pace, atmospherics,
nice leads), which is what most of the other tracks lack. As _TPP_
progresses, one song begins to blend more or less into another. OMC
play a few more of their trump cards on tracks like "Return of the
Night Creatures" and "Doommaker", but the overall impression is of a
solid but not outstanding album. With Emperor back, Mayhem reformed,
and Dimmu Borgir producing albums like _Enthrone Darkness
Triumphant_, OMC are going to have to do a lot better than this to
get ahead of the pack, although they are at present worthy to run
with it.
Paolo di Cioccio - _Images_ (Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (7 out of 10)
If only music possessed enough power to invert a mood exenterated
from the innards of a tortured soul languishing in the pits of hell,
I would be drifting through the air with each listen of this CD. As
each stirring synth passage (think early Tangerine Dream) and
repetitive pulsation (think Steve Reich) floated through the aural
labyrinths, beyond the obtrusive waves of commercial radio stations,
and into my ear canals, my body, freed of its cumbersome emotions and
intellect, would, with each passing nanosecond, explode in an
undulating menagerie of iridescent - hold your horsey-worsey! These
goddamned beats! Argh, such linear patterns resemble the monotonous
pounding of the minuscule feet of the enslaved blue guys of Willy
Wonka's chocolate factory! My body immured in a cocoon of chains and
brain expunged of its very brain (neurons leading to a yellow sponge
shaped like a feeble brontosaurus waiting, nay, hoping, for the
eradication of its servility at the teeth of a merciless carnivore) -
only at this point can I feel joy? Does this not appear to be yet
another communist plot - or at least a McDonalds' billboard heralding
the arrival of a new 99 cent cheeseburger replete with pickles,
lettuce, and a godforsaken tomato - designed to promote the
infestation of a tyrannical volition into my skull? Without
introspection I may enjoy life without reserve as I exude levity,
but, since this is a music magazine and all, do I want to listen to a
CD devoid of depth? Nope, but the chaotic movements of a
schizophrenic guide di Cioccio's pieces which, although repulsive
amidst an otherwise tranquil whole, add substance to stop the free
fall, and, more importantly, he occasionally pulls an enthralling and
even intricate track such as "Trance Lovers" out of his belt to make
it all worthwhile... Although you will always get a point deducted
for any track which promotes booty-shaking as overtly as the techno-y
(why, Paolo, why?) "Surya Dwara" does...
P.O.V. Secondhand - _Fraction Of Faith_ (Diehard, November 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10)
This is quite a talented band who write catchy goth-rock songs. The
only band I can think of who also play goth music and don't make me
sick to my stomach is Type O Negative, and although not as good, POV
Secondhand possess talent and stand out from the 'crowd'. What POV
Secondhand lack is a good enough mix between heaviness and melody,
something TON have down to a 'T'. The drum and keyboard parts display
POVS' 80s goth influences at times, but I found some odder points of
reference. In "Today" the band almost play -the- riff to G'N'R's
"Civil War", and they close the song with the theme tune to Quantum
Leap. The singer sounds identical to Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) on some
tracks, while other tracks sound disturbingly like Irish folk, which
really doesn't work in my view. Although not really my taste, I don't
feel compelled to hate this record. I won't listen to it again
myself, but if you want something to accompany your old Sisters of
Mercy records (if you have any), then I'd say _FoF_ wouldn't be a bad
addition to your collection.
Pyrexia - _System Of The Animal_
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) (Serious Entertainment, October 1997)
"Oh my fucking God" -- not the Strapping Young Lad song, but a
reaction which I had upon hearing this record. Pyrexia are seriously
-heavy-, a fact illustrated by the downtuned guitars, massive,
pounding kickdrums and powerful vocals which pulsate from _SotA_.
Pyrexia belong to the school of simple but crushingly heavy death
metal, and they certainly play their chosen style well. Some will
probably think that Pyrexia are trying to sound like Korn, but this
would be like believing Testament are trying to sound like Machine
Head: death metal played simple detuned riffs first. Obituary made a
living out of it. _SotA_ does not conform to the misconcieved
stereotype about death metal lyrics (namely, that they are all
"stupid"). This record is intelligently anti-racist, and some tracks
are directed specifically against Reverend Louis Farrakahn, a racist
in Pyrexia's, and my, opinion. A drawback of _SotA_ is that it is
dangerously short even for a death metal album. At a running time of
23:44, this is more like an EP than a full length abum, but it's
definitely worth your time and money if great music, and not length,
is your main concern.
Ragnarok - _Arising Realm_ (Head Not Found, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (7 out of 10)
Once you slash through the dense forest of static which immures the
melodies emitted from Ragnarok's second album on Head Not Found, a
sense of sanguinity is exposed. While Ragnarok is certainly no group
of Christians or ebullient pseudo-decadents [see Thelema review], the
decrepit production and vocalist's virulent virtuosity only belie a
surprisingly peaceful, almost transcendental (in a new age - almost
Enigma-tic - manner), vim. While this frivolous adoration of all
creatures big and small is admittedly the product of slight hyperbole
on my part, I can't help but feeling that Ragnarok have installed
morose superfluities in order to veil an insinuated nature which is
diametrically opposed to all that black metal stands for... As for
the music's quality, the first three tracks (once you skip the
mandatory intro, of course) are all decent, yet the searing
repetition of tracks such as "My Refuge In Darkness" will inevitably
fail whenever the melodies lack the necessary amount of execration of
all humanity. Even so, _Arising Realm_ should entertain fans of
Darkthrone, circa _A Blaze In the Northern Sky_, who have "matured"
into pacified human beings yet still crave a semblance of perdition
and raw violence in their music and are frightened by music of great
originality.
Raison D'Etre - _In Sadness, Silence and Solitude_
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Cold Meat Industries, 1997)
I never really know how to review releases from Cold Meat Industry.
Almost all the music I have ever heard from this label has been
brilliant (i.e. Arcana or Puissance) yet very similar ambient music.
The label's latest release by Raison D'Etre is a wonderful trip into
the wonderfully surreal and haunting world of dark ambient music. Six
songs structured around a truly eerie backdrop of odd dreamscapes
painted black and overflowing with emotional discharge. As with many
other CMI releases, this release has a cathartic effect, which seems
to be the winning factor for most CMI releases. Raison D'Etre is a
wonderful kaleidoscope of emotion, darkness, and understanding. This
is one release you should scope out to find, for the experience will
affect you in many ways.
Sacred Reich - _Still Ignorant: Live 1987-1997_
By: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Metal Blade/Attic, December 1997)
Although I have mixed feelings about Sacred Reich's early material, I
did start to appreciate the band and what they brought to thrash
metal. Their material was exemplary of metal's origins and more
important than the hundreds of clone acts that had fallen by the
roadside over the last decade or so. Phil Rind was a man of metal on
a mission to keep metal alive and intact. This release proves that he
has accomplished mission. Compiling such metal classics as "Surf
Nicaragua", "Independent", and new material off of their last effort
(1996's _Heal_), this 13-song live LP jams out the tunes in true
metal fashion. Slick riffs and rough vocals flow ever so violently. I
like live records, and this effort is pretty well done. Both Rind and
the music sound clear. Fans of Sacred Reich will scoop this up, as
should any metal fan who wants to jump back into the past with a true
metal workhorse.
Sadus - _Chronicles Of Chaos_ (Mascot, October 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (5 out of 10)
Some choose to use words like "legendary" and "groundbreaking" to
describe Sadus' work to date. These words do not describe my feelings
about Sadus after hearing _CoC_: "average" and "painfully out of
date" are the words that I find spring to mind. _CoC_ is 17 tracks
culled from Sadus' deleted three album back-catalogue. Apparently
this is Sadus at their best, and I am not suitably impressed. Tracks
like "Certain Death" and "Undead", from their 1988 debut, may have
sounded fresh at the time, and Sadus' speed and technicality,
especially with Steve DiGiorgio on bass, probably compensated for
their lack of variety and their vocalist's lack of talent. Then we
arrive at track 12. It is 1992. Death metal has begun its reign of
terror, and more is expected of Sadus, who are on to their third
album. Sadus do not deliver the goods, though: lack of variation
still plagues them, and despite adding touches of _Human_ era Death,
these tracks could be from the same album. Unless you like your metal
unvaried and really fast (and you want 70 minutes of really fast,
unvaried metal), I would not recommend _CoC_.
["No" is the answer to the $50,000 question that you all are asking
yourselves right now. Sadus and their new album have ABSOLUTELY
nothing to do with us here at the TRUE Chronicles of Chaos. I guess
no one can pass up a brilliant alliteration... -- Gino]
Scrub - _Wake Up!_ (Sol 3 Records, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
With the surfacing of numerous acts fronted by female singers (for
example, Manhole, NY Loose, and Crisis), it is no wonder that the
floodgates are now open and bands are just popping up with female
singers. Meet Scrub, an aggressive, diverse hard rock band that seems
to possess the attributes that these female fronted bands are
supposed to have: heavy grooves and echoing female vocals which work
off a strong groove. Such is the case of Scrub, except the band
pushes their music away from the standard sound a bit more since the
band not only keeps the screams and groove consistent, but also
remembers to add some diversity to their sound. They mix it up with a
bit more melody. They don't exactly stay away from following trends
and styles, but they still provide us with something a bit different
to chew on.
Contact: SCRUB, 532 East 6th St. Suite GFW New York, New York 10009
Sea of Tranquility/Pax Mortis - _Dead of Winter / Defiant_ Split CD
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) (Cursed Productions, 1997)
Sea of Tranquility start this CD off with six tracks: their demo,
plus the song from their split 7" with Num Skull. I wasn't familiar
with these guys before this, but they play straightforward death
metal. I'd rate them a little bit above average, since the songs are
well executed, but not entirely original. The songs are pretty
consistent in style, with the exception of the fourth track, which is
bluesy death rock. The playing is good and the production is fine,
with a full, powerful sound, and the bass turned up pretty loud. This
is a solid offering, but nothing that you haven't heard before.
Pax Mortis finish the CD with 8 songs. I was familiar with their 1992
demo, _Fear_, and thought it showed potential, despite shoddy
production. Unfortunately, the four songs from that demo appear on
this CD. They've been re-recorded, but the only major difference
besides the production is the inclusion of some patched-in keyboards,
which don't really improve anything. I think they could have been
effective if they had been more fully integrated into the rest of the
music, but as it is, they just sound like an afterthought. The music
is mostly speed/thrash, along the lines of Thanatopsis or Cynic's
1991 demo, but not as technical. The playing is good, and
occasionally pretty interesting. The production could be better: it
seems to change from song to song, and the drum sound on the closing
cut, "Lilith", really sounds hollow. A better production would've
given them the extra aggression that I think they're missing. I still
think these guys have potential, but they need to improve their
lyrics ("Against her will... the crime is violence, not sex!" stands
out as an especially atrocious line), and update their sound to a
more modern, complete one.
Sigh - _Hail Horror Hail_ (Cacophonous, November 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7.5 out of 10)
Listening to this CD is oddly like hearing someone else impatiently
switching between channels on a TV set that gets only four stations:
one featuring darkened, sleaze-ified metalia with screechy vox; one
featuring lush "easy listening" material performed by a really
swinging organist; one showing a film with a bombastic soundtrack;
and one doing a broadcast from some fevered, decadent city center
where all sorts of weirdness is being perpetrated. Indeed, it often
sounds as if there are two TV sets in the room, each tuned to a
different one of these channels... I use the TV analogy because _Hail
Horror Hail_ is a very visual listening experience, a seriously odd,
often chaotic collision of weird metal with just about everything
else on the musical map. The bizarre audio alchemy of this release
originally had me pegging it as at least an eight out of ten, perhaps
even higher than that, but repeated spins have tempered my enthusiasm
somewhat. For one, there's a bit too much of that swinging organist
for my taste. Check out the end of "The Dead Sing" or "Invitation to
Die" and you'll see what I mean: Sigh Plays True Unholy Fox Trot and
Samba Metal Exclusively... In addition -- and with the exception of
the excellent "12 Souls" and the enjoyable "Curse of Izanagi" -- the
metallic backbone of these compositions tends to be rather weak. All
the experimental oddity is a real plus, in that Sigh's metallic chops
are nothing remarkable (at least not on this CD). In any case, this
has a few really cool tracks, and it's certainly the weirdest thing
I've heard come out of the metal scene in quite a while, so if you're
looking for something different, you can't go wrong with this record.
The bio calls it "a soundtrack to a film that will never be made." If
this film ever -does- get made, I suppose I'll stand in line and pay
to get in, if that tells you anything.
Testament - _Signs of Chaos: The Best of Testament_ (Mayhem, 1997)
by: Drew Schinzel (6.5 out of 10)
It was bound to happen. With so many tribute albums and "best of"
compilations flooding the metal market in the past couple of years,
sooner or later someone had to release a Testament collection, and
now here it is. Even though _Demonic_ was disappointing, the
announcement of _SoC_ certainly piqued my interest; for now instead
of picking what Testament albums I want to play and what songs I wish
to hear, I can have someone else's views of the fifteen best
Testament songs placed on one CD for my enjoyment! Of course, as is
the problem with nearly all albums of its ilk, _SoC_ suffers from one
inescapable flaw: poor song selection. The most glaring omission, and
without a doubt the most disappointing to me, is the timeless
"Disciples of the Watch." How the hell can such a classic be
overlooked? Especially when its replacement is the meager at best
"Trial By Fire," a choice which I really don't understand at all.
Moving onwards, the mediocre yet aptly titled "The Ballad" really
deserves no place in such a compilation; its spot would have been
much better reserved for tracks like the aforementioned, or perhaps
"Burnt Offerings," off _The Legacy_. But alas, what we get instead is
a compilation of the band's singles and other more well known songs,
ignoring the lesser known but often better crafted efforts such as
"Trail Of Tears" and "Seven Days in May." I suppose what it all comes
down to is that a band with seven excellent albums (I'm excluding
_The Ritual_ and _Demonic_, my least favorite) and a countless number
of brilliant songs deserves, and should demand, much more than a
fifteen track (well, seventeen, the final two songs are average
covers) "best of" compilation disc; a double-disc would have been
much preferred. Or, if the label was simply too stingy, a much better
solution would have been to just glance at _Live at the Fillmore_;
the seventeen songs presented there -truly- represent the best of
Testament. So if you're an old time Testament fan and absolutely need
a new album, take a look, but make sure you know what songs you're
getting for your cash . If you're someone just getting into the band,
I'd say a better place to start is _LatF_, for sure.
Thelema - _Night of Pan_ (Musica Maxima Magnetica, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski (3 out of 10)
Just as I always feel inclined to either bludgeon little children who
vilify fat boys with glasses or direct ignorant female Hungarian
imports to the local prostitution ring, I wish that I could bequeath
a rating of "10" upon the libido of this Italian band of epicureans.
Although Thelema's version of gothic metal, an idolatry of the
Sisters of Mercy, is a bland amalgamation of the monotony of
desiccated riffs and hilarity of excessively jovial vocals (the
Italian accent is no less ill-suited for singing goth rock than it is
for singing death metal), _Night of Pan_ exemplifies the essential
levity of Pan. Maybe I have inadvertently correlated the
impetuousness which is stereotypically perceived as indicative of the
Italian persona with Thelema's romanticism, but this album exudes an
enigmatic, yet ubiquitous "it" seeping with sensuality and the fetid,
yet alluring stench of genitalia and their corresponding fluids. This
"it" transcends the lyrical content, which embodies the buoyancy and
naive righteousness of idealistic teenage pagans jamming in an
abandoned garage... Unfortunately, this palpable integrity doesn't
negate the fact that this is still a pathetic album. By the third
track, Thelema had already annihilated any chance of inducing me into
enjoying this album. The song "Hidden on Holy Hills" features one of
the worst mastering jobs that I have ever heard (distortion is the
major culprit), while "Unknown" opens with a verbal list of Thelema's
influences (every seminal hard rock band from the Beatles to Black
Flag), which reminds me of the dedication shown by middle school boys
who glue patches of their favorite alternative bands on their
backpacks.
Various Artists - _Trial By Dawn_ (Musica Alternativa, October 1997)
3-CD box consisting of the following EPs:
Agon - _Silent Cries_ (7 out of 10)
Celestial Dark - _Perpetual Tears (The End)_ (8 out of 10)
Sarcastic - _The Tale Begins..._ (7 out of 10)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
-- Agon: Perhaps I can call this dark metal, as some have called this
style of music before: it's doomy, but not exactly doom, has shades
of black but is by no means black metal, and has a considerably dark
atmospheric side. Alternating distorted and spoken vocals, Agon
create a very effective melancholic atmosphere mostly through their
good use of keyboards, which build momentum for interesting faster
guitar/drumming sequences. They achieve some really good moments and
always keep an interesting atmosphere around each song.
-- Celestial Dark: They play mid-paced atmospheric doom/death and do
it very well. The music has highly effective and creative keyboard
work, very talented and powerful drumming, well done grunts,
competent female vocals, very good melodies and arrangements, and a
fine balance of atmosphere and powerful sequences, which adds variety
to the music. Except for some poor vocals at the end of the first
track, high quality sequences just keep flowing with a careful
production helping them. This is a highly impressive debut, clearly
the best of these three EPs.
-- Sarcastic: Melodic metal with very good keyboards that provide
frequent memorable melodies. The result is a very enjoyable and
competently produced EP. However, several weaker sequences prevent a
higher rating. Nevertheless, if all the album had a similar quality
to the keyboard/drumming sequence towards the end of the first track
or the main chorus in the first three songs, they would surely have
gotten a higher rating; it's just that, unfortunately, they have high
quality moments, but aren't constant enough to get a higher score.
Besides, the first three tracks are rather long, taking up almost all
the EP; that in itself isn't bad, but they spend quite a lot of time
repeating some sequences (not just the choruses).
-- All EPs are just above 20 minutes long, and you get 3 quality EPs
for the price of one full-length album. Therefore, _Trial By Dawn_ is
a good deal.
Tristania - _Tristania_ (Napalm Records, November 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10)
This Norwegian sextet plays a mellow, doomy style of metal which
often rings with very gothic tones, owing to the inclusion of
glimmering guitar lines, sprightly keyboard phrases, and female
vocals. In fact, the band often sounds more goth than metal -- but a
metallic foundation is present in the form of crunchy (albeit
slightly muted) rhythm guitar, doomy tempos, and gruff/raspy male
vocals, which thankfully avoid the pompous tones crooned by many a
gothically garbed lothario. Vibeke, the bands female vocalist, also
adds a touch of distinction by singing in an unusually full, warm
voice: definitely more earthy than ethereal, never ghostly, but
occasionally haunting nonetheless. Evocative keyboard melodies are
central to some songs, in a way which reminds me a bit of Limbonic
Art, though Tristania has a much more mellow and organic overall
sound. Whereas your friendly neighborhood black, death, and grind
bands all hammer out a raging cacophony of distortion and speed,
Tristania favor a very open, laid-back, minimally crowded
presentation. This well-produced MCD contains three songs (plus a
well-done intro) and lasts for just under 28 minutes. Seems like a
promising debut to me, and I imagine that some people who especially
like gothic music (or related styles) will really like this a lot.
It's a bit soft and (a bigger problem) a bit conventional in
composition for my tastes, but the band's upcoming full-length is
supposed to be "symphonic goth metal" with black metal elements,
which could be interesting... we'll see.
Various - _Untitled (ten)_ (Extreme Records, November 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
The 2-CD extravaganza _Untitled (ten)_ comes from one of the more
diverse labels, which is also one of my favorites. Ten years of music
has poured from the foundation of Extreme Records, which showcases
ambient, noise, and various multi-cultural styles from all over the
world. Bands like Soma, Merzbow, Fetisch Park, and Social Interiors
have all inflicted the music public with their addictive take on
music. Sounds and visions have been delivered with the utmost
professionalism and the label and band intend to let the music do the
talking. No trends can be found here. This stuff is original and
quite powerful. The _Untitled (ten)_ CD features ten songs by Extreme
artists and offers new songs for this anniversary compilation.
Highlights include Soma's brilliant "Somnabulist's Hand", Merzbow
with "Decomposition 002.1.1", and "Binary" by Groovy. Also, the
limited addition bonus CD features some cool samples, cut-ups, and
remixes by Social Interiors. It's quite the trip. Fans of world,
ambient, and techno music take note, because Extreme Records has
released some quality stuff. Happy Birthday Extreme! To quote Star
Trek's Spock, "Live long and prosper."
Vader - _Black To The Blind_ (Impact, November 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10)
This is a great death metal album with brutality and brilliance
oozing from every pore. In general the songs are shorter and faster
(10 songs/29 minutes approx.) than on previous efforts. Vader have
not, however, neglected to use dynamics: songs like "Carnal" and
"True Names" slow down the pace and successfully punctuate an album
which -could- have become boring and samey. Vader have a very clear
and extremely powerful production, Peter's vocals and Doc's drumming
being gifted with particular menace this time around. _BttB_ is
essential if you loved _De Profundis_ and is also worth checking out
(along with _DP_) if you like Slayer. Vader combine Slayer's energy
with the late 80s grindcore sounds of bands like Terrorizer and
emerge with one of the finest death metal sounds in the scene today.
_DP_ still remains a better album, but this is really the only thing
which brings _BttB_ down a point; it can't be perfect if you've heard
better, especially out of the same band. _DP_ proved to the world
that Vader were one of the most important bands in the death metal
scene today. _Black To The Blind_ backs this up and also shows that
they have the staying power to be around for quite a while yet.
Various - _A Declaration of Independence_
by: Adam Wasylyk (5 out of 10) (Century Media, November 1997)
It appears that someone at Century Media thought CoC was "elite"
enough to receive a video which contains video clips of several bands
on CM's roster. It's about damn time! How many CM bands have you seen
interviewed in the last few issues?? Exactly. Getting back on topic,
I thought I'd review every video on this tape (19 in all). Why I
don't know, but read on.
VIDEO #1: Tiamat - "Cold Seed". It was good to see that Tiamat picked
a good song to do a video around. Unfortunately the video in question
sucked shit. The members of Tiamat play their assigned instruments in
a cage all covered in body paint, no problems yet. But what the
fuck's with the elephant? And what are cheerleaders doing in this
video? I thought I was going to puke when I noticed that the Tiamat
logo was on the cheerleader uniforms. Man oh man, the director should
be strung up for doing this. Great song, fucking lame video.
VIDEO #2: Samael - "Jupiterian Vibe". Now we're getting somewhere.
Samael chose the best song off _Passage_ and have created a dark,
haunting video to enhance this mighty track. Close-ups of Vorph and
quick shots of "pain, torture, war and destruction" as the song goes.
A dark video to accompany a dark song. Top marks go out for
production and video direction.
VIDEO #3: Emperor - "The Loss and Curse of Reverence". Exactly like
the CD-ROM video off the band's EP _Reverence_. I was surprised when
Ihsahn told me in an interview that he was unhappy with the video, as
it's pretty damn good. The band plays in front of a castle, with
shots of forests, fire-breathing and horse-riding (what you've come
to expect from your friendly neighborhood bm band). Good production
also enhanced the pleasure I received out of this video. What bugged
me about this, however, was that it wasn't a full-screen video; it's
contained in a scroll-like shape in the middle of the TV screen.
Still, the video wins out as it appears that some money was invested
in its production, and it pays off.
VIDEO #4: The Gathering - "Leaves". The band's latest release
_Nighttime Birds_ grew on me and it became one of my favorite
releases of the year. This track (from the band's previous record
_Mandylion_) is actually pretty good. Slow, ethereal and soothing.
The singer, to say the least, is easy on the eyes so it won't
surprise you to hear that about 75% of the video contains close-up's
of her face. No complaints here.
VIDEO #5: Stuck Mojo - "Pigwalk". I could have bet the farm that this
would suck. With this being my first taste of Stuck Mojo, I was
actually surprised at how aggressive it was. Mid-paced and
in-yo-face, musically it was quite entertaining. It's too bad the
video was so horrible. I've seen Pauly Shore act better than the
people in this video. A scene which depicts a store robbery had my
finger twitching over the fast forward button. Like the Tiamat video,
good song but bad video.
VIDEO #6: Exodus - "Bonded by Blood (live)". A musical description
isn't necessary, as Exodus have been around for so long you should
know what they sound like. The video is live (duh!), so you should
have a good idea of what to expect. Like it or not, I'll be fast
forwarding the moment I see Baloff's afro start banging.
VIDEO #7: Nevermore - "Next in Line". Another neat surprise, as I
wasn't familiar with this band but was pleasantly surprised by what I
heard. The opening riff has this eerie, almost death metal feel,
while the vocals are power metal-ish and quite bearable (which says a
lot when it comes to my musical tastes). The video compliments the
music very well. Good job.
VIDEO #8: Strapping Young Lad - "Detox". Featuring Gene from Death,
his drumming completes this most chaotic band, led by Devin Townsend.
Industrial/thrash that is meant to be heard at loud volumes. The
video goes along with the chaotic nature of the song, with lots of
close-up's of Devin screaming and the other band members. Worth
seeing.
VIDEO #9: Subzero - "Higher Power". It's hardcore. No comment.
VIDEO #10: Merauder - "Master Killer". Please see above.
VIDEO #11: Morgoth - "Last Laugh". Where some see this band as
turning to shit, I can't get enough of their _Feel Sorry for the
Fanatic_ release. Much more rock-oriented than their past death metal
releases, "Last Laugh" is a good track to exemplify Morgoth's new
sound. A catch ditty, the video ain't so bad either. Pretty good
stuff.
VIDEO #12: Moonspell - "Opium". I dunno, those baritone vocals just
kill any potential enjoyment I could have got out of this. Blaugh.
VIDEO #13: Sentenced - "Noose". Yikes! This is the kind of power
metal I can't stand. Here's a tip: break up.
VIDEO #14: Satyricon - "Mother Earth". Can we say cliche? The
backdrop images to this track (one of the better ones off the
disappointing _Nemesis Divina_) is just so cheesy. One of the members
lights an upside-down cross on fire by spitting fire on it. The band
hold hands as fire circles around them. As the band walk through the
forest, a trail of fire follows them. Do we see a pattern developing?
It also seems that the temptation to use a scantily-clad Norwegian
black metal slut was too powerful to overcome. The Emperor video wins
out over this one, even though both use stereotypical and cliche
images.
VIDEO #15: Sundown - "19". I can't believe Mathias left Cemetary to
create a band like this. I've been listening to Cemetary's _Sundown_
a lot lately and to think that the brilliance of that record inspired
the name of this band boggles the mind. The track "19" isn't a bad
one, but when I recall prior moments of brilliance, this effort
simply falls flat on its face. The video did nothing to aid or
enhance the song. Bland.
VIDEO #16: Chum - "Kindling Kind". Off the band's _Dead to the World_
release, Chum admittedly don't do much for me. I dug a couple of
songs off the aforementioned release, but I haven't heard them since.
And I don't know why the band/label accepted this as a video, as it's
just terrible (am I starting to sound like a broken record?).
VIDEO #17: Turmoil: "Burning (bootleg)". Basically this video was
filmed from a cheap camcorder at the side of the stage. You'd think
that putting "bootleg" in the title of this video would excuse the
fact of it's lame quality. Geez.
VIDEO #18: Trouble - "Plastic Green Head". I've never liked this
band, this video hasn't changed anything.
VIDEO #19: Lions Share - "Shadows". I have yet to receive a
full-length release from this band, perhaps they're an up-and-coming
band. To talk about this band would result in wasted seconds of both
my and your time.
To sum things up, I disliked a whole lot on this (the hardcore bands,
Trouble, Exodus, Sentenced, etc.) but there was some on this that I
did enjoy. I think it could be said that a whole lot of people like
Century Media bands, but very few people like all of them. You could
use that statement for _Declaration of Independence_; some of the
videos you'll like and some you won't. I guess the only thing that
matters is will you plunk your money down for it? That's up for you
to decide.
Various Artists - _Watchmen Recording Studios: The Compilation_
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) (Watchmen, 1997)
This lengthy compilation is a three CD set which clocks in at almost
two hundred minutes. Forty-six bands are represented from the
Rochester, NY area, all of whom have recorded at Watchmen studios.
Standouts include Lethargy (see CoC #4 and #14), Abstract (see
concert review this issue), Windbreed, ...And Here I Lie, Big Hair,
Shroud, Blasphemer and Madison.
The bands are:
Lethargy: like _IHtWwaLH_, but maybe not as catchy or quirky.
Lifebleed: Pantera plays Lethargy: slower and less chaotic.
Chris Dalcin: Heavy thrash with alternative-like clean sections.
Bughouse: Thrash with shouted vox and alternative tendencies.
Abstract: Lethargy with Candiria-like jazz breaks; even a sax solo.
Avulsion: Death/grind with Dueling vox (low/high/hardcore) & Bells?
Mungbeandemon: Fast punk/grindcore. Moderate tempos are rockish/alt.
...And Here I Lie: Long song. Sounds European: slow, doomy & melodic.
Big Hair: Primus-like; goofy, w/violin. Strange, but interesting.
Shaithus: Switches between slow and plodding and grindy and fast.
Snaggletooth: Crowbar-like. "Return to Blood Bayou". Please do.
Inertia: Death with a hardcore influence (a la Mourning Sign).
Competent.
Blasphemer: Death, changing to almost Swedish death/black. Good.
Malice: Metallic/alternative hard rock. Slow.
Symptom Haywire: Generic thrash, 90's style. Mostly mid paced.
Pipe: Short song. Entombed-like (circa _WB_) death rock.
Motherbirth: Low, slow, hc/death metal. Clean out-of-tune/alt vox.
Reconsiled: Slow thrash. Boring, but competent. Repetitive.
Fuel: A heavier Korn... Growled & semi-melodic vox.
Policy 187: Standard but competent death metal.
Girdle: Simplistic Biohazard-like stuff sounds like it's supposed to
be humorous.
Manic: Pantera-like, but more guitar-spankoffish. Decent.
Somethin Wicked: Std. hardcore-inf. death metal. Good hi-hat work.
Innerface: Sloppy, weak-sounding death. Raspy vox. Boring.
No Concept: Hardcore/death metal. Very loud bass guitar.
Shroud: Industrial death. Gloomy, semi-melodic & repetitive.
Three Man: Melodic, upbeat, alternative hard rock.
Clawboard: Hard rocky intro, otherwise very alternative sounding.
Crude Existence: Slow thrash. Moderate tempo, heaviness and vocals.
Desolate Anger: Slow thrash. Not very aggressive. Boring.
Fledgling Death: Slow, tortured grindcore. Distorted vox.
Windbreed: Late 80's thrash mixed with Lethargy. Bad clean vox.
Pigmaster: "Carl Sagan"... Way too long. Silly, alt. hard rock.
Backwards Animation: 90's glam/hard rock. Wannabe Reznor vox.
Kendall: All distorted bass: no guitar. Alternative? Not metal.
Ookla the Mok: College rock w/ cheesy harmonized vox & keys.
Madison: Lethargy-like, but straightforward structures: repetitive.
Ultraviolets: College rock w/ female vox. Typical.
Section 8: Fast, punk-like. Boring.
Mike Best: Talked vocals. Repetitive & syncopative, but interesting.
Quiver: REM-like college rock...
Because: Slow & gloomy... mostly acoustic. Singer kinda like Danzig.
To Be Announced: Green Day gone ska?
Juniper: Alternative-like (Nirvana). More punky: out of tune.
Spice Rack: Pop punk, sorta. Reminds me of "Anarchy in the UK".
Spooked Horse: A heavier new Thought Industry. Gloomy, alternative.
See http://www.thewatch.com for more info on the bands involved.
Witches of Moodus - _Anthropophagia (Coven Records, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (7 out of 10)
I'm still not sure whether I really like this album, because much as
I admit to enjoying the music as I'm listening, I have this gnawing
feeling that as soon as I shelve the thing, it'll collect dust
permanently. But for the time being, I'm kind of getting into this
mish-mash throwback to the eighties. I hear heaps of Venom in many of
the song structures and even the vocals, although not always so much
in overall tone as method of delivery. Misfits, Maiden, the whole
NWOBHM thing is happening here with good helpings of power and speed
metal, surprisingly without sounding too horridly out of touch.
Competent musicianship, I'll concede to, although there really isn't
much in the music that demands shitloads of skill. Nevertheless, they
manage to keep things interesting throughout, avoiding repetition
across tracks. These guys are going for a more party metal sound,
although they'll occasionally delve into darker moods and slight evil
imagery, but always with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Production's
also good, which at least shows effort, as does the packaging, which
is befitting the music: reasonably attractive and complete. If you're
into fun metal albums with a good deal of variety from track to track
and a steady stream of genuinely interesting riffs, you could do a
lot worse. To join "The Coven", send a S.A.S.E. to the address listed
below.
Contact: Witches of Moodus, P.O. Box 2051, Secaucus, NJ, USA 07096
mailto:witches@full-moon.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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/\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___
/ \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
/ /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/
\_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___|
If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if
you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's
header.
Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Association Area - _Tundra_ 7"
by: Adam Wasylyk (****-)
Record players suck. Well, at least mine does. After months of
collecting dust, I had mine fixed and could finally play a couple of
7-inch's that I had obtained up to that time period. Local Toronto
act Association Area's _Tundra_ release was one of the 7-inch's in
question, and I must say it wasn't bad at all, considering that this
sort of music isn't found on the typical CD I throw into my CD
player. A very hard band to describe, it combines elements of
hardcore, punk and perhaps some funk with bands like Faith no More,
Gwar and even a tad of Anal Cunt (hear track three, "Two Can Dine")
into a musical smorgasbord that is completely unpredictable and at
times just plain weird. Guitarist Kevin Panko is also known in the
Toronto area for his zine Doomhauled (a free copy comes with every
7"). I can tell you right now it's one of the funniest and sickest
zines you'll ever read, the topic for the free issue being "midgets".
Simply a must: sick reading and some cool music to boot.
Contact: ASSOCIATION AREA, c/o Kevin Panko
63 Longbow Square, Scarborough, ON, M1W-2W6, CANADA
Ephemeron - _Ephemeron_ (10-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (****-)
This is one band I truly enjoy receiving material from. Plus getting
a free t-shirt with the band demo helps get me motivated more - but
honestly folks, I really dig these guys. Look at past Unrestrained!
issues and scope out a review or two on this band. It rocks!
Distorted noise and feedback permeates throughout the self-titled
demo in large quantities as main man, sole designer and noise
enthusiast Jon Apgar has done a killer job here, forcing odd and
deafening takes on noise into our brains. Passive at times, but
easily shifting to distorted hell at the flick of a switch. An eerie
feeling falls over the material for the most part and you, the
listener, are taking on a ride into the depths of Apgar's twisted,
yet creative, world of noise. Fans of Merzbow, Dead World and even
Blunt Force Trauma will be into this massive consumption of noise.
Proving once again that noise can create emotions, Apgar sets the
tone early on and you better buckle up (how cliche?) 'cause it's
gonna be a bumpy ride. Great stuff.
Contact: EPHEMERON c/o Scratch Bladder Production
mailto:naepesh@aol.com
From the Depths - Promo demo 97 (4-track demo)
by: Steve Hoeltzel (*****)
Even though officially it's only a demo, this four-track cassette
definitely outguns all the other stuff I've reviewed this month, and
I'll be highly annoyed if this excellent performance doesn't garner
some healthy label support for From the Depths. If the band's name
sounds familiar, that may be because they've already released one
cool CD of skillfully blended and tightly performed death and black
metal. This newer material is even better, with the emphasis squarely
on kick-ass riffing and engaging dynamics. In my review of last
year's CD (CoC #17), I griped that the vocals spent too much time in
the driver's seat, often relegating the musicians to what seemed like
a merely supporting role. That vocalist has since been replaced,
though, and this time the balance comes out right: the riffs and
percussion are in charge, with vocals acting as one sonic weapon
among a talented arsenal of equals. And the riffs! There are some
real killers here, my personal favorite being the hella-malificent
black riff which towers over the excellent "Anagoge". But dig the
chugging At the Gates feel of the opening riff to "Bereavement", or
the cunning rips of death metal seamlessly woven into the
blacker-sounding "Absentina". As mentioned above, From the Depths do
a great job of blending black and death techniques -- not in the
boring, undifferentiated manner of many acts who sport the "black
death" tag; rather, in highly articulate, quickened compositions
which incorporate the best of both styles, powerfully performed. Damn
good stuff. Here are some addresses:
CONTACT: From the Depths, P.O. Box 34414 Cleveland, OH 44134 USA
mailto:FTDbereav@aol.com
WWW: http://members.aol.com/frmthedeps/index.htm
Malamor - _Condemn the Rising_ (5-track demo)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault (****-)
Agreed, this thing's a bit old now since it was released in 1996, but
I came into possession of it at this summer's Michigan International
Death Metal Fest after having enjoyed their set and spoken to a few
of the members. It was still their current release at the time,
although there was talk of upcoming material. I should really get off
my butt and e-mail them to ask, but it then it becomes a matter of
justifying why I haven't yet written a review of this thing yet, so
I'll wait until this is published first. As it stands, Malamor
(derived, I believe, from the Latin words for "hate" and "love"; you
do the math) play fairly straightforward death metal; at times it is
a tad homogenous and unimaginative, but it often displays a certain
unmistakable flair that keeps me wanting more. Well built songs are
strongly played and tightly woven, as the whole affair is quite
professional and sports a good recording to boot. The vocals are
traditional, though well-delivered and not grating, grunting death
and the drums make solid use of double-bass and throw in plenty of
interesting fills, but can get a bit sloppy at times. The bass isn't
immediately audible, although it may be filling in the sound more
than is readily perceivable, which would explain how they manage to
get such a full sound with only a single guitarist. Layering is a
possibility, of course, and wouldn't be surprising given the quality
of the overall sound. I'm hoping for bigger and better things from
them next time around, although this demo is certainly no slouch.
Contact: Ben Kolts, P.O. Box 483, Hurley, NY, USA 12443
Voice: 914-334-8563
mailto:bkmalamor@aol.com
Millennium - _Wilderness In White_ (7-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (***--)
A 30 minute demo presented with a large good-looking color booklet is
a good way for the band to show that they are serious about their
project, and Millennium also shows enough personality in their
musical style. Not that the influences aren't there, but they do have
a sound of their own. Lots of atmospheric sections, a clear gothic
feel, female vocals, and keyboards dominate the music, while the
guitar work doesn't stand out at all. Also, they competently use a
drum machine -- although it's not used as well as on Samael's superb
_Passage_. So how well does it work? Sometimes it works quite well,
such as on the intro and next couple of tracks, especially the title
track. But there's several rather uninteresting sequences, and, above
all, the production tends to lower the overall quality. Take the
female vocals as an example -- the vocalist is talented enough, but
her voice doesn't sound as crystalline as it could. Still, in such a
long demo as this, Millennium certainly have their good moments.
Contact: Millennium, P.O. Box 115, 2801 Almada codex, PORTUGAL
Nocturnal Symphony - _Monsoon Winds_ (5-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (****-)
One of the bands I recently saw live and whose demo I now review (the
other being Obscenus), Nocturnal Symphony has created an interesting
demo which benefits from a high quality production to achieve a
consistent sound which enhances the skilled guitar playing and
competent death growls and female vocals. This new band from the
Porto, Portugal, area has their best moments during some of the
female vocal parts, namely during the fine choruses. As I mentioned
before in my concert review [see CoC #26], the similarities to
Theatre of Tragedy are many, but Nocturnal Symphony doesn't have a
keyboardist; therefore, their sound is guitar-based. Fortunately, the
guitar work is very good throughout the demo, something which really
doesn't always happen in demo tapes. Nocturnal Symphony still have a
lot of work ahead of them, namely in the development of song
structures, but this demo does contain some very enjoyable songs.
Contact: Nocturnal Symphony
Rua Visconde das Devesas 36, 3o andar
4400 Vila Nova de Gaia, PORTUGAL
Obscenus - _Nocturnus Exordio_ (4-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo (*****)
What a shame that this is only 17 minutes long, for quality music
fills this demo. As I mentioned in my concert review [see CoC #26],
Obscenus mix doom, black, and some death into their sound, which also
includes a violinist and backing female vocalist. All put together,
Obscenus is an eight-piece band. The opening and closing atmospheric
tracks achieve their purpose very well, and the second song shows
much of what Obscenus are about. But it's the third track that stands
out as the main event here. Sung in Portuguese, it shows how good
Obscenus are at mixing a large array of influences and making it
sound great. The keyboards remind me of Cradle of Filth at times, the
violins made me think of My Dying Bride, the folk-ish clean vocal
part is similar to Moonspell, and the use of female backing vox isn't
a new idea either. But does that really matter? Add blackened vocals,
good guitar work, and a good combination of fast, mid-paced, and
atmospheric sections and, in the end, the fact is that it works, and
this is one of the most professional-sounding demo tapes I have ever
heard, and an exquisitely packaged one. The excellent violins, female
vocals, and melodies clearly hint at Obscenus' very likely signing in
the near future. In fact, if the violins and female chanting were
taken away, Obscenus might still be a good band, but by no means so
remarkable.
Contact: Rui Correia, Av. Antonio Borges, 2F Faja de Baixo
9500 Ponta Delgada, PORTUGAL
Pain Lab - _Magenetic Chaos of Parallel Psychosis_ (10-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (**---)
I can't find the freakin' bio to this demo that we received. No info
on who is in the band or where they hail from. But after from listens
of this noise-infested barrage of material, I can honestly say that
this band (or person) is not from this planet. Like that child's game
Simple Simon meets a bad outtake of Close Encounters of the Third
Kind, this fucked-up ensemble of noise gets really eerie and
agitating as time goes on. My dog was howling to the beats as the
music went on -- weird shit, eh? But this record isn't just squeaky
annoying noise either, it's also a monstrous amount of noise and
feedback thrust into our ears at ear-piercing volumes. Being rather
one-dimensional, this stuff lost me kinda fast and seeing that I
really didn't have much to go on, this was almost a lost cause. My
fault in misplacing the bio (if there was one?), but really, is this
something I should be subjected to? I don't think so. Shades of
Merzbow (who creates noise music and isn't into this guy???) and
Blunt Force Trauma - though not as good.
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____ __ __
/\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __
\ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___
\ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\
\ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
\ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\
\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/
____ __
/\ _`\ /\ \__
\ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____
\ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\
\ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/
\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/
T H E L O S T P A R A D I S E ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paradise Lost with Sundown and Uncle Meat
At the Coliseu dos Recreios,
Lisbon, Portugal, November 16, 1997
by Nuno "Messiah" Almeida <messiah@pulhas.org>
This was the second time I saw Paradise Lost live. The first was
in 1993, when they opened for Sepultura. Since then, things have
changed a lot for them. They released _Draconian Times_, which
revealed a more rock-based sound, and _One Second_, which lead them
even further into a more mainstream sound. Even so, I was expecting a
good show.
First, let me tell you about Coliseu dos Recreios. It's an old
theatre, with a capacity of around 2000 people, that's considered the
best concert room in Lisbon, and it's kind of a mythical room. I
mean, as far as Portuguese bands or artists go, playing there is a
career landmark. And, besides, as far as I can recall, this was the
first metal show in there -- ever!
The show was scheduled for 20:00, but when I entered it at
19:45, Uncle Meat were already doing their set. I didn't know this
band; I only knew they played thrashcore with an industrial edge
because of the use of samplers/keyboards. The room was really empty
by then, and only around 100 people were looking at the band but not
moving at all. The band has 4 members: a front man who is
vocalist/growler and guitarist, a bassist, a sampler/keyboarder, and
a drummer. The front man was a really good guitar player who did some
great riffs and a good solo on the last song. But I guess they
weren't in their environment.
Uncle Meat finished up and I prepared to see Sundown. I knew and
liked Cemetary, but this new project from vocalist Mathias Lodmalm is
a bit different. I had only listened to some songs from their debut,
_Design 19_, so I didn't really know their material. They started
with "I Don't Like to Live Today", which is a great song. The
keyboards (sampled, unfortunately) are very melodic and omnipresent,
which gives a gothic, tragic edge to the music. Sundown continued for
about 30 minutes and received a decent response from the crowd, who,
by then, had increased to around 1000 people). They ended up with
"19". Lodmalm's voice had some failures, but nothing too serious.
After some 30 minutes of delay, the lights went out and Paradise
Lost started their show. All hell broke loose at the first chords of
"Say Just Words" as everybody began jumping and singing with them.
The band continued with "Hallowed Land", "Blood of Another", and
"True Belief", which is my favorite song of theirs. During the show,
they were projecting some pictures on the wall behind them. On that
song, an image of Christ, an elderly Indian, and Buddha were passing
one after the other -- a great moment. The show continued with the
band playing mostly songs from their new album, but songs like
"Elusive Cure", "Remembrance", and "Embers Fire" weren't forgotten.
To my surprise, the crowd sang along with every song, especially on
the new ones. They seemed to know the last 2 albums, but not the
other ones. They didn't play anything from _Lost Paradise_ or
_Gothic_. During "Forever Failure", the picture of Charles Manson
appeared on the wall, while his voice was sampled. On the encore they
played "Embers Fire" and "As I Die", their great classic. They ended
up with "The Last Time", with everyone jumping and cheering them and
screaming "PORTUGAL! PORTUGAL!" and "PARADISE LOST! PARADISE LOST!".
Overall, it was a good show as Greg Mackintosh performed his solos
perfectly and Nick Holmes acted a little different from what he used
to; he's more a rock front man now.
The Coliseu was half empty, but I'm sure noone who went there
was disappointed. All three bands had a great sound quality.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
P O R T U G U E S E P O T E N T I A L , P A R T 3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genocide and Withering
Pixote Bar, Porto, Portugal, October 25, 1997
by: Pedro Azevedo
I'm generally not a huge fan of either thrash or grindcore -- I
do enjoy both, but only under special conditions, for doom, black and
death are clearly my choices. Still, thrash and grindcore were
precisely what this concert was all about, as Withering are a young
thrash band and Genocide have been around the Portuguese scene
playing their death/grindcore for quite a while now (they released a
self-titled CD a few years ago). Among the special conditions that
may cause me to feel like listening to thrash or grindcore, the
strongest one, by far, is the chance of listening to it live (well, I
do listen to some grindcore more often than that, though). So if you
were in a thrash/grindcore concert and considered how suitable
grindcore is for moshing, would you rather be in a large, sparsely
crowded room or in a tiny, low-roofed packed one? Well, in this
particular concert, the room wasn't -too- packed, but it sure was
damn small.
After a surprisingly short delay (of 'just' 40 minutes),
Withering opened the show. Even though they're still a young band in
the demo tape stage, they managed to perform pretty well. I was in
the first row at that time (literally with one foot on the stage),
and the sound was loud, but not enough to become annoying; overall,
the sound quality was very reasonable and better than I expected.
Being a local band, Withering benefited from the fact that some of
the audience knew their songs, although they rarely managed to get
the crowd moving. Several good moments occurred in their concert, and
the playing, despite a few errors, was not bad at all. Not being much
into thrash these days, I wasn't very fond of the typically thrash
metal vocal performance, but Withering did show some quality.
After the break came Genocide, which featured a new guitarist
and was preparing to release a new album. The guitar sound was very
deep, with lots of bass, strong (and fast) drumming, and a competent
combination of thick death growls and typical grindcore screaming.
Needless to say that, by now, I was no longer in the front row, since
it was rather difficult to stay in the same place for more than a
short while, due to the massive moshing that happened throughout
Genocide's anger-packed performance. Including some songs from their
new album, Genocide did deliver what the people wanted: aggression
through both brutal death and ripping blastbeat sections. This was
one of those concerts in which you knew what you would get, and you
did get it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A N I G H T O F C O N Q U E R I N G
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Night Conquers Day and Abstract at the Penny Arcade
Rochester, New York, November 13, 1997
by: Brian Meloon
I went to this show based upon the song I'd heard on the
Watchmen studios compilation (see review in this issue) by Abstract
and my curiosity to see Night Conquers Day, who are apparently
upstate New York's only black metal band. The turnout was small:
about forty people (it was a Thursday night, after all), a good
proportion of whom turned out to be family members of the band
members.
This was the debut show for Night Conquers Day. It was
originally intended to be their CD release party, but the CDs
(released on Hammerheart Records) weren't ready yet. NCD is fronted
by Mikael Bayusik (Shadowcaster, ex-Buried Beneath), and the lineup
features another ex-member of Buried Beneath as well as two members
of another local band, Shadowlord. Their set started shortly after 9
pm (on time!) with a keyboard intro. The stage was mostly dark, lit
by only a few candles, and the band members had their backs turned
toward the audience. As the keyboard intro ended, the band turned
around (in unison -- shades of Warrant's "Down Boys" video) and
ripped into their opening cut. They ran through five songs: four
originals and a cover of Bathory's "Equimanthorn". Their original
songs were long and complex with many different parts, so they didn't
get boring. The playing was very good with some especially impressive
drumming and only one major screw-up (prompting a complete restart of
the song). The sound wasn't good enough for me to make out a lot of
the subtleties of the guitar work, but from the looks of it, their
guitar work shows a depth that most black metal bands lack. I'm
looking forward to hearing their debut CD. That is, pending an
overhaul of some of the vocals. The raspy vocals were fine, but the
King Diamond-like stuff just didn't work. Mikael's voice was very
flat in those parts, and it made me cringe every time he sang that
way. Unfortunately, he had to do that in every song. Still, when he
wasn't singing high, I enjoyed their set. I also found their stage
presence amusing: although Mikael was decked out in full battle gear
(nailbands, corpsepaint, etc.), the other guys in the band weren't.
Their bass player wore the obligatory black T-shirt and jeans, but
the other guitar player and drummer looked like they could be frat
boys. Also, it didn't help their "evil" image to have their parents
there taking pictures of their performance. You can check out some
pictures of the set at: http://www.frontiernet.net/~mikael/MIKAEL.HTM
Abstract was up next, and they sound nothing like Night Conquers
Day. In fact, they really remind me of Sapien (from Rochester), but
they could also be described as some strange cross between Lethargy,
Primus, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Naked
City. What were they doing playing here? Well, one of Abstract's
guitarists is the younger brother of NCD's bass player. These guys
were even more impressive than NCD. Their songs were technical,
interesting, quirky, constantly changing, and very diverse, ranging
from speed/death metal to jazz to semi-commercial hard rock. While I
have a great respect for the playing abilities of all of the band
members, I really couldn't get into some of their songs. Maybe it was
the sax solos, the poppy, commercial quality of some of their
choruses, or maybe their music was just too much to digest upon a
first listen. In any case, the playing was phenomenal; the guitar
work was extremely good: very fluid and interesting, as well as
competent stylistic switches. The drumming was very good too:
powerfully metallic one minute, smooth and jazzy the next.
Unfortunately, one of the guitarists broke a string during the
second song, and while he was tuning back up, the other guitarist's
amp blew out. This caused a long delay while they tried to get things
set up with a new amp, although they eventually decided to forego
that idea and play with one guitarist for the rest of the evening.
That was definitely a disappointment, since I think they would've
been even more impressive with both guitarists. Still, I was very
impressed, and wished that there could've been more people there to
enjoy it.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 5
1. Monster Voodoo Machine - _Suffersystem_
2. Hypocrisy - _The Final Chapter_
3. Proscriptor - _The Venus Bellona_
4. Carcass - _Necroticism: Descanting The Insalubrious_
5. Deftones - _Around The Fur_
Adrian's Top 5
1. Hypocrisy - _The Final Chapter_
2. 16 - _Blaze Of Incompetence_
3. Burzum - _Balder's Dod_
4. Various - _Covered In Black: Industrial Tribute To AC/DC_
5. Kyuss/Queen Of The Stone - _Kyuss/Queen Of The Stone_
Brian's Top 5
1. Sadist - _Crust_
2. Empty Tremor - _Apocolokyntosys_
3. Borknagar - _The Olden Domain_
4. Various Artists - _With Us or Against Us_
5. Crown of Thorns - _The Burning_
Alain's Top 5
1. Various - _Steve Hoetzel's Unholy Black Metal Compilation_
2. Deicide - _Serpents of the Light_
3. Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_
4. Voivod - _Phobos_
5. Orphanage - _Oblivion_
Steve's Top 5
1. Mayhem - _Wolf's Lair Abyss_
2. His Hero Is Gone - _Monuments to Thieves_
3. Various - _A Storm of Drones_
4. Mortiis - _Crypt of the Wizard_
5. Sielwolf - _Nachtstrom_
Adam's Top 5
1. Entombed - _To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!_
2. Katatonia - _Brave Murder Day_
3. Cemetary - _Sundown_
4. Meshuggah - _Destroy, Erase, Improve_
5. Bathory - _Jubileum Vol. 2_
Drew's Top 5
1. Falkenbach - _...magni blandinn ok megintiri..._
2. Samael - _Ceremony of Opposites_
3. Rush - _Retrospective One 1974-1980_
4. Rush - _Moving Pictures_
5. Kvist - _For Kunsten Maa Vi Evig Vike_
Andrew's Top 5
1. Jorge Reyes - _Mort Aux Vaches_
2. M. J. Harris & Martyn Bates - _Murder Ballads (Passages)_
3. Inanna - _Nothing_
4. Brutal Truth - _Sounds of the Animal Kingdom_
5. Cranes - _EP Collection Volumes 1 & 2_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Emperor - _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_
2. Dismal Euphony - _Soria Moria Slott_ (ltd. edition re-release)
3. In Flames - _Whoracle_
4. Anathema - _Eternity_
5. Enchantment - _Dance the Marble Naked_
Paul's Top 5
1. Face Down - _The Twisted Rule The Wicked_
2. Emperor - _Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk_
3. Atrocity - _Blut_
4. Brutal Truth - _Need To Control_
5. Daemon - _Seven Deadly Sins_
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| \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----.
| -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --|
|_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____|
Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as classic and progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of album reviews from a
wide range of bands, as well as interviews with some of the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.
HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a
message with "coc subscribe <your_name_here>" in the SUBJECT of your
message to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. Please note that this command
must NOT be sent to the list address <coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>.
AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is send a message to us at <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X" where 'X'
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #27
All contents copyright 1997 by individual creators of included work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.