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Seventh Anniversary Mega-Issue
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 1, 2002, Issue #59
http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti
Copy Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Contributor: Adrian Bromley
Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Contributor: Quentin Kalis
Contributor: Vincent Eldefors
Neophyte: Xander Hoose
Neophyte: Adam Lineker
Spiritual Guidance: Alain M. Gaudrault
The individual writers can be reached by e-mail at
firstname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com ("firstname" must be replaced by the
respective writer's first name, e.g. Gino@ChroniclesOfChaos.com).
NOTE: You may unsubscribe from Chronicles of Chaos at any time by
sending a blank e-mail to <Unsubscribe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.
For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
Details section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #59 Contents, 9/1/02
--------------------------
- Editorial
- Loud Letters
- Deadly Dialogues
-- Dark Tranquillity: Of Damage Done and Introspection
-- Arch Enemy: Receiving Payment for Crimes Against God
-- Hypocrisy: Ten Years and Still Humble
-- Soulfly: Heartfelt Intensity
-- W.A.S.P.: Dark Reflections
-- Kittie: Still Purring
-- Nocturnal Rites: Growth Through Experience
-- Dream Evil: From Knob Twirling to Guitar Playing
-- Doro: Fighting for the Metal Fans
-- Atari Teenage Riot: Intelligence Meets Sacrifice
- Independent Interrogations
-- The Chasm: Is the Deathcult Damned?
-- Vinterriket: The Voice of Vinterriket
-- Agalloch - _The Mantle_
-- Agoraphobic Nosebleed - _Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope_
-- Arghoslent - _Incorrigible Bigotry_
-- Armageddon - _Three_
-- Autumn Clan - _Requiem to the Sun_
-- Barcode - _Hardcore_
-- Blackness - _Dawn of the New Sun_
-- Bloodshed - _Inhabitants of Dis_
-- Botch - _An Anthology of Dead Ends_
-- Breathe In - _From This Day On_
-- Carpe Tenebrum - _Dreaded Chaotic Reign_
-- Centinex - _Diabolical Desolation_
-- Daemon - _Eye for an Eye (and the World Turns Blind)_
-- Danse Macabre - _Matters of the Heart_
-- Dark Tranquillity - _Damage Done_
-- Darkmoon - _.308 Antichrist_
-- Dead Soul Tribe - _Dead Soul Tribe_
-- Deathwitch - _Deathfuck Rituals_
-- Demigod - _Shadow Mechanics_
-- Demons of Dirt - _Killer Engine_
-- Desire - _Locus Horrendus_
-- Dolorian - _Dolorian_
-- Empyrium - _Weiland_
-- Entwine - _Time of Despair_
-- Eternal Oath - _Righteous_
-- Freebase - _My Life, My Rules_
-- Godless Truth - _Self-Realisation_
-- Gorguts - _From Wisdom to Hate_
-- Hagalaz' Runedance - _Frigga's Web_
-- Harkonen - _Grizz_
-- High on Fire - _Surrounded by Thieves_
-- Human Abstrakt - _Psychological Blindness_
-- Immortal Symphony - _Time Is Not Forever_
-- In Flames - _Reroute to Remain_
-- Intervalle Bizarre - _Unexpected Awakening of Impassive Mass_
- Malignancy - _Frailty of the Human Condition_
-- Korum - _Son of the Breed_
-- Limbonic Art - _The Ultimate Death Worship_
-- Mercenary - _Everblack_
-- Moonsorrow - _Voimasta ja Kunniasta_
-- Morifade - _Imaginarium_
-- Morser - _10,000 Bad Guys Dead_
-- Mourning Beloveth - _Dust_
-- Naked City - _Live Vol. 1: Knitting Factory 1989_
-- Negate - _The Dead Guy Palace_
-- Nomicon - _Halla_
-- Orthrelm - _Asristir Vieldriox_
-- Primordial - _Storm Before Calm_
-- Ram-Zet - _Escape_
-- Raunchy - _Velvet Noise_
-- Raventhrone - _Endless Conflict Theorem_
-- Ritual Carnage - _The Birth of Tragedy_
-- Scarve - _Luminiferous_
-- Serenade - _The Serpent's Dance_
-- Severe Torture - _Butchery of the Soul_
-- Silver Seraph - _Silver Seraph_
-- Skyfire - _Timeless Departure_
-- Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - _Grand Opening and Closing_
-- Spine - _Restoration_
-- Sunseth Sphere - _Storm Before Silence_
-- Talamasca - _Ascension_
-- The Berzerker - _Dissimulate_
-- The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Irony Is a Dead Scene_
-- The Elysian Fields - _12 Ablaze_
-- The Forsaken - _Arts of Desolation_
-- The Great Deceiver - _A Venom Well Designed_
-- Thornspawn - _Wrath of War_
-- Tzefa - _Feed Me_
-- Vile - _Depopulate_
-- Yyrkoon - _Dying Sun_
-- Black Rock - _Clutching at Straws_
-- Geared 4 - _Natural Selection_
-- Hellblazer - _Promo Summer 2002_
-- Know Fear - _Know Fear_
-- Spancer - _Countdown to Victory_
-- Vinterriket - _Herbstnebel_
- Vinterriket - <split with Northaunt>
- Vinterriket - <split with Manifesto>
- What We Have Cranked
- Details
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_____)
/ /) , , /)
)__ _(/ _/_ _____ _ //
/ (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_
(_____)
by: Gino Filicetti
The time has finally arrived. Working day, night and all hours
in between, our incredible copy editor Pedro Azevedo has managed
to finish putting together Chronicles of Chaos #59, our SEVENTH
Anniversary Mega-Issue.
This issue is also a bittersweet one for us, as we say goodbye
to some very familiar faces which have graced our pages from the very
beginning. After thinking it through for many months, Adrian Bromley
has decided to part ways with Chronicles of Chaos to concentrate more
fully on his freelance work (after submitting a shit-load of material
for this anniversary issue, that is). Although Adrian will be sorely
missed, something tells me that we haven't seen the last of "The
Energizer".
Also officially departing is Adam Wasylyk, who's been with us
since CoC #11. Many factors have lead to Adam's departure, including
his growing commitment to his own magazine, which eats up most of his
free time.
Some of our more recent additions who are leaving are Vincent
Eldefors, who is leaving to concentrate on his own zine, and Kirsty
Buchanan, who just doesn't have the free time to commit to CoC
anymore.
This issue does however feature the debut of two new writers:
Xander Hoose and Adam Lineker. Xander comes to us from the chocolate
houses and wooden shoe factories of Holland, where he was able to
hone his craft by working on his stories under the crimson lights of
the Red Light District. Adam, on the other hand, comes from the balmy
land of tropical beaches and eternal sunshine known as London,
England. Not only is Adam a prolific writer, but the sheer strength
and stamina he demonstrates just being friends with Paul Schwarz is
impressive in its own right.
That's about it from me. I'll keep this one short, as you've
already heard from me a couple of weeks ago on our actual anniversary
date: August 12. It seems like just yesterday we got this snowball
started. Thanks to everyone involved at one time or another during
the past 7 years, and especially to those of you who've been reading
our pages again and again. Enjoy.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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
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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:LoudLetters@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.
All letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of
Chronicles of Chaos.
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002
From: "Nile 577" <nile577@hotmail.com>
Subject: A reply to Ray Ruenes on the issues of Christian metal
Nietzsche proposed that Dionysiac music (synthesised by the
individual from the de-localised state of amoral nihilism) would
usually embrace melodic structuralism, and, when made bearable for
human consumption by the steadying aid of Apolline materialism (in
the form of actors or singers), would allow mankind to confront
the gaping nihilistic gulf of chance and fate which threatened
to otherwise overwhelm him by allowing him to understand it
aesthetically.
Good death metal is raw nihilism sculpted into sonic dissonance. The
apparent atonal, chromatic chaos of death metal would apparently
distance it from the melodic condensation that Nietzshe believed
integral to the formation of high nihilistic art, yet upon
examination is can be seen that alongside experimental jazz, metal is
the definitive form of nihilistic expression within music. Where
Nietzsche�s one-time hero, Wagner, and his much adored tragic
composers instilled melody into the music to ease human consumption,
good death metal negates this facet, replacing melody not with
humanistic expression of characters - as does Opera - but with archly
nihilistic lyricism.
As Gorguts write on perhaps the definitive expression of nihilism
within music:
"Flesh, the feeble flesh, confines the pain and soul,
Vault in which, the earthly way, I bear
Earthly love my denial"
"Once My Earthly Past,
Over and stuck in the past
I Will become one with the ground,
Dust I�ll be...
The carnal state; my only grief"
From, "Earthly Love" and "The Carnal State", Obscura 1998
Human life itself is something of a universal anomaly, representing,
in its creation, a reverse in the trend of entropy - which
on a universal scale is increasing radically (the glass never
spontaneously recombines after being thrown from the table etc...).
By endowing life with sacred qualities, Christianity rejects Chaos in
favour of order, and thus, pathetically, attempts to damn the
nihilistic tide of universally increasing entropy.
The structured chaos of technical Death Metal mimics the random,
shifting quagmire of change, unordered occurrence and inconceivable
complexity that is the universe, yet synthesises it into an
ordered form of sonic dissonance allowing mankind to confront his
irrelevance.
Christianity, a moralistic depravation cult that seeks to reward
self-denial with eternal life, is innately non-nihilist in its
outlook and hence has no place being orated from the scaffold of
metallic dissonance offered by Death Metal. Christian ideals bolted
onto a metal framework hence appear in total contrast to their
musical surround - as salad appears on burger, a loan bastion on
nourishment that seeks to label the entire product nutritious.
Because metal does not create a successful hybrid with Christianity,
does not mean that it must inevitably therefore be Satanic. Many
bands assuming an anti-Christian stance simply adopt this view as a
counterpoint to the confining and annoying moralism of Christianity,
without professing devout belief in an anti-Christian deity. Belief
in any form of deity, race, culture, nationality or humanity itself
is completely non nihilist, and hence has no place within the Death
Metal genre.
Of course this neatly leads onto the issue of racism in metal and
particularly NSBM, which can be seen as a perversion of the nihilist
aesthetic, appearing akin to religion in its slavish dedication to an
obscure gene cult on an irrelevant planet. (But still fitting within
the limited ideology of black metal and its desire to return to a
system of beliefs before that imposed upon Europe by Catholicism).
Its another topic really, but Black Metal could be argued to be
morally nihilistic, whilst good Death Metal is both morally, and
existentially nihilistic; forsaking human concerns in favour of
representing the chaos of universal existence. In celebrating Death
as a removal from organic weaknesses (e.g. emotions), Death Metal
seeks to lead humanity to the Nietzschean state of Dionysiac ecstasy,
achieved when one becomes at one with the universal flow itself and
embraces acts of creation, destruction, death, birth, movement,
stillness and chance without the filter of humanist rationality and
emotion.
Whilst I�m sure there is much SRProzak will disagree with in this
post, I can only offer agreement with his belief that Christianity
has no place within the metal genre and also urge people to view his
work before resulting to the baseness of profanity to justify
arguments, for he remains perhaps the greatest metal journalist of
all... (ok brown nosing over heh)
Buy Gorguts - Obscura, soon
Thanks, take care
Nile577
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2002
From: prozak@anus.com
Subject: greetings / xian metal
Greetings,
It seems my last missive to the CoC letters section generated some
rage and irrational anger from some of the people here. This is in my
opinion positive; for laughs, I'll remind us all that we're debating
whether Christians have the "right" to duplicate the sound of metal
while insert Christian propaganda in its lyrics. My contention is
that no art is without ideology, and that in the case of metal,
Christianity is as alien as KKK rantings would be to rap music.
>Well, it probably is good for the extreme music scene to talk about
>ideas and beliefs, cause if we don't do it, the press and right
>extremists or other opportunists will do it for us. So here's my
>point of view. I get quite pissed off when i hear anybody talk about
>what a "real" metal fan should think or about any pseudo-ideology as
>a part of this music genre. Metal means a lot of things to
>everybody, but it is definately not an ideology.
What inspires metal to sound different from other music? Some people
would say it's just "angry music" but there's a lot of angry music
that doesn't sound like metal. My argument is that metal is a
resurrection of a Romanticist tradition in philosophy, art and music
which stretches back to Greco-Roman times.
Given the predilection of even heavy metal guitarists for arcane
scale structures and classical music rips in their playing, in
my view it's completely illogical to argue against neoclassical
inspiration for the metal movement.
Further, I'd argue that after the hardcore movement occurred and
metal hybridized with hardcore music, ideology has been a central
tenet of both genres.
>Maybe some artists are musically inspired by their ideas; so if
>burzum's thoughts are what inspire burzum's music, well fine, it
>contributes to the whole scene, just like max cavalera's cultural
>background made him write his masterpieces (fuck soulfly :).
Maybe all of the great metal artists have on some level been inspired
by their ideas, whether aesthetic (Quorthon, Darkthrone) or of
outright ideological passion like Burzum or Carcass or Death or
Morbid Angel or Destruction or Sodom or Kreator or Incantation or
Immolation.
>And if anybody tells me he's his own god, or that he prays to a roll
>of toiletpaper, congratulations, good for them.
What if his god tells him to eradicate you? Do you still respect his
view?
No, you can't; therefore, you say his view crosses some imaginary
boundary such as "respect for human life" - but this is then an
imposition of your view (which has no necessary logical grounding)
over his.
>But it's just sad to hear people who have little enough personnality
>to start reading an album cover as if it were the fucking bible. I
>hate being told about the Truth by an brainwashed evangelist just as
>i hate being told about Metal ideology by a narrow-minded metalhead.
What's narrow minded about reading the lyrics, talking to musicians,
and writing about metal? I think you're inventing excuses here.
>Maybe some people think you need to have some kind of beliefs in
>order to create violent music. First of all, there isn't enough
>theory to create an ideology, and then try to imagine excluding
>anybody who isn't considered a true satanist, well there wouldn't be
>much left for CoC to review...
I think you're confused here. Who said you had to be a Satanist?
Also, ideologies come in a range of colors and flavors. Ancient
Romans, Greeks, Nordics and Indian Hindus agreed on most of the
basics of a spiritual belief system, but they weren't homogenous.
>I'm not saying metal is about tolerance, but it isn't about satanism
>nor paganism nor witchery nor viking blood either.
What about the cross-section of all four, as distinguished from the
current dominant ideology of our time?
>It's rather pitiful when people with an ideological axe to grind
>seek to instill it into, or see it reflected in, every hobby or
>endeavor, no matter how unrelated to their politics they might be,
>that they undertake, to the absolute exclusion of any concepts that
>might disturb their uniform reverie.
Since I'm sure you'll make good upon this accusation, in what other
hobbies have I "projected" this view?
>Prozak admits that conflict is necessary for any ideology's health,
>but then goes on to call for the rejection of any ideology that
>conflicts with his own in the realm of metal, which itself is
>derived in large part and over several decades from Gospel music.
>Watch any documentary on the history of rock and roll and you should
>find ample acknowledgement of Gospel music's role in its creation.
>Is Prozak thus calling for his ideology to become reduced to "tired
>homilies repeated by the embittered" by eliminating conflict?
Let's separate conflict within an ideology, known as "discussion,"
from external influences on that ideology which disagree entirely
with it and seek to supplant it with an older ideology it was
designed to replace. Further, rock music does not constitute metal
wholly, nor was rock music wholly derived from gospel music.
>Musicians are free to bring their own causes and beliefs to the
>table and articulate them through their musical talent if they so
>wish, despite Prozak's insistent but unjustifiable objections, and
>will continue to do so unless people of Prozak's rather totalitarian
>disposition wing their way into positions of authority within the
>music industry from which they can censor any disagreeable voices.
I think your disposition is as totalitarian, if not more: Ray Ruenes
says that no ideology is free to be independent from the mainstream
ideology of humanism as a whole, which states that every individual
is "free" to have whatever beliefs they want wherever they want. I
don't think this is logical considering that humans have never agreed
on a single collective path, and the only way to cultivate an
ideology is to form a separate group and start working to internally
develop that ideology within it. Why do you want to stop metal from
forming an ideological presence that is different from that of the
mainstream?
>People, I ask that you apply the same level of critical thinking to
>Prozak's manifestos as he would expect you to use when confronted
>with anything he dislikes, including Christian expressions of
>metal and its various offshoots. Learn to identify unsubstantiated
>allegations, such as the supposed lack of a soul or future that he
>attaches to "parts of the genre" which he despises.
What about your paragraph above starting with "Musicians are free
to"? That's clearly an unsubstantiated allegation.
>He's just stating his opinion masked as an axiom. Don't accept on
>blind faith his dichotomy between Christianity and intellectualism,
>nor his other canards about Christians being "degenerates." Get
>acquainted with elementary reasoning; don't fall for ipse dixit,
>argumentum ad captandum, argumentum ad hominem, false alternative,
>apriorisms, and any other of the host of logical fallacies upon
>which Prozak relies as a poor substitute for rationalism, despite
>his attempts to redefine the word so that it permits his contrary
>mental maneuvers.
While you make these accusations, you provide no examples and exhibit
many of these tendencies yourself. What makes you a credible critic?
>What's this, fans should stop trying to "accept ideologies like
>christianity, humanism and heavy metal in black/death metal"? Am I
>wrong in interpreting that to mean that heavy metal's an ideology,
>and no trace of heavy metal should be present in black and death
>metal?
"Heavy metal" is a different genre, and a different ideological
background, as I've said from the beginning.
>Metal's not some plot of land for an ideologue to plant a stake in
>and then shoot all trespassers. Metal is a trespass. It offends, it
>crosses over, and it encroaches (audibly).
So metal is being defensive? Aren't you arguing an overall ideology
for metal, then? If you're going to cite logical fallacies, don't
make them yourself.
>The fact that the Christian manifestation of metal triggers such a
>desperate knee-jerk reaction on the part of some self-styled metal
>"purists" (and who gave them such authority, anyway?) is evidence
>enough that Christian metal is certainly carrying on the metal
>tradition; their uproar will not herald its death knell, rest
>assured.
Let's see, I: - DJ'd metal for six years offline - DJ'd metal for
three years online - Have the oldest metal site on the net - Have
interviewed and written about some of the classic names in metal -
Remain active in the scene with projects like GAY CHRIST RECORDS and
headbanger cultural activities.
What's your beef with my credentials again?
>"i think drew johnston (conformity@aol.com) exemplifies this
>phenomenon best. while he's spitting with venom against nazis, for
>example, he is "tolerant" of religions and parts of the genre which
>have no soul or future. by behaving in this manner, he is crushing
>attempts for this genre to determine what it does believe, and thus
>to cease tolerating the rest. metal is an ideological genre, but
>that doesn't mean we forget the music." ... >From what I gather, and
please feel free to correct me, is that >you're angry about the fact
that I pay no attention to the lyrics of >a song or the "spiritual
ideology" behind it.
No, my point is that you're arguing that metal has an ideology of the
status quo instead of a distinct identity.
>You really think you're going to get your music to move onward into
>it's own RESPECTABLE artistic category by intolerance towards the
>ideas of others?
Intolerance toward the ideas of others? I believe what I said was
that not every idea has a place in metal; I'm perfectly tolerant of
their ideas, provided that they practice them elsewhere. You're the
one who is arguing that metal cannot separate itself from the status
quo method of thinking, which is to my mind a fascistic, conformist
and sickeningly gutless assertion.
S.R. Prozak
--
Backup Rider of the Apocalypse
www.anus.com/metal/
DEATH AND BLACK METAL
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002
From: "a-mad-house" <a-mad-house@supanet.com>
Subject: Conquest of Steel Review
Greetings,
Having read your review of Conquest of Steels demo, 'Priests of
Metal' I feel I have to point out that you have completely missed the
point of the band. Maybe the word Irony doesn't exist to the reviewer
of this CD but It should be blatantly obvious from the lyrics alone,
let alone the inlay artwork that this band aren't entirely serious
with their imagery. If you listen to the album from a viewpoint of
having a great laught whilst knocking back a few beers you'll find
that it's one of the most fun and rocking releases you'll have heard
in a while. Shame that you'll unlikely ever get to see them live,
even bettter than on CD!
If you take a step back and have a good look at your own subculture
you'll find that the world of METAL is a very silly place indeed, and
if you can't poke fun at yourselves and your heroes and see the funny
side then it's a sad day indeed.
GAVIN.
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O F D A M A G E D O N E A N D I N T R O S P E C T I O N
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Dark Tranquillity's own Mikael Stanne
by: David Rocher
Dark Tranquillity's history, akin to that of In Flames or At the
Gates, is intimately meshed with the history of the infamous
Gothenburg death metal genre itself; indeed, Dark Tranquillity's
vintage 1993 _Skydancer_ and 1996 classic _The Gallery_ -- alongside
milestones such as _Slaughter of the Soul_ or _Subterranean_ (both of
which were released in 1995) count among the referential death
metal landmarks which most eminently contributed to forming and
crystallising the essence of the "Gothenburg sound", which countless
formations throughout the whole world now thrive on.
As the now six-headed Dark Tranquillity were poised to release
their new album, heir to their much-debated electronic offering
_Haven_, I was offered the rare opportunity to discuss the past,
present and future of an inevitable and quite simply crucial
component of the melodic death metal scene's history -- for, with
no less than five full-length recordings in their bags, Dark
Tranquillity are, beyond any doubt, one of the most emblematic
formations the Gothenburg scene ever produced.
Calling from his apartment in Gothenburg, Mikael seems extremely
restless and enthused in his reply to my altogether rather banal and
predictable opening interrogation regarding the album's impending
release -- "yeah, yeah, exactly, finally!", he voices. "It's been a
hard wait. It's still frustrating to finish it off and just wait for
the release, but we know that it's finally recorded."
Judging from Mikael's underlying exasperation, I can only guess
that _Damage Done_ has been hammered on reels for quite some time
now, so what might Dark Tranquillity's energetic frontman care to
tell me about it? "The recording was finished on the first week of
March", he explains; "it's been one and a half years in the making
-- that was the most focused writing period, because we'd been
experimenting before. We had two new members in the band, we all
wanted so many different things to be on the album, so you kind of
reach in all directions all the time, and eventually you come to a
compromise."
With two new band members indeed, the walls of Dark
Tranquillity's rehearsal haven would most likely tell the tale of
renewed conflicts arising from the proverbial musical differences and
of all-out musical blanket-tugging; so how did the whole songwriting
process figure out in time, in Mikael's opinion? "With this album,
after two or three songs were written, we kinda realised that was the
way to go, and everybody had the same image of how the album should
sound, and where we were heading", comes the reply. "It's a great
experience, being on the same page, and really focusing on making the
songs, and making it as intense and as perfect as possible" -- which,
beyond all doubt, explains why _Damage Done_ has been in the works
for so long, Mikael? "It takes some time, as we all had to agree on
everything before moving on to the next part", comes the almost weary
reply; to which the frontman follows, on a more enthused note, "but
you know, it sounds really good!"
Agreed, the sound on _Damage Done_ really is huge, definitely
one of the most ample worlds of sounds ever to emanate from the famed
Fredman studios -- so is there anything I should know about the
recording process per se? "The recording stuff was just one month of
putting it down on tape, you know -- boring as hell!".
A release as unexpected and discussed in Dark Tranquillity's
career -- and an event whose similarity in style to the release of
_34.778%... Complete_ in My Dying Bride's existence is quite striking
to my eyes --, the distinctly electronic-tinged _Haven_ welcomed, as
Mikael earlier evoked, two new members to the Dark Tranquillity fold.
But what exactly occurred within the band, I wonder? "Well", replies
Mikael, "Fredrik [Johansson (guitars), who first appears on the _Of
Chaos and Eternal Night MCD -- David] didn't really work out, so we
had to tell him to leave the band -- which was sad, but necessary. We
needed another guitar player, so Martin [Henriksson], who played bass
before, went over to the guitar, so then we needed a bass player!"
Ah, the enrapturing thrills and spills of musical chair
sessions within a band... The competition among enthusiastic bassists
auditioning for a slot in Dark Tranquillity must have been of untold
fierceness, but how did the Swedes finally come across a suitable
replacement for Fredrik Johansson on bass? "We tried some [bassists]
out, but the obvious choice was an old friend of ours, who's been a
fan of the band for ever", replies Stanne.
So much for the band's low-end issues, then -- but how did the
enrollment of full-time personnel on electronics occur? "[It's]
something we'd wanted for many years", comes the unexpected reply;
"[we] just couldn't find someone who'd fit in."
As it occurs, the discreet Martin Brandstrom is an old friend of
the band's, who had been helping out with recording sessions on
several occasions, so... "we asked him if he wanted to join full
time, and he said yes!" But the question that's on every Dark
Tranquillity fan's lips is, "what's with the keyboards in the first
place?"
"Oh, it's just [for the sake of] having another instrument to
play around with. Adding a new layer of sound, and experimenting
further. We always used keyboards to some extent, so it's just
something that would eventually happen anyway", Mikael explains.
Is Dark Tranquillity about experimenting with sound, then, or
does this tampering just of occur more or less unwittingly? "There is
of course a will to experiment and expand. We won't keep playing
unless we find it intriguing, or exciting and challenging", replies
Mikael. "After touring for an album, doing all the stuff, and coming
back and writing new stuff, we tend to wipe the slate clean and start
off anew, start off as fresh as possible and see what happens. If it
feels good, we continue, and if it doesn't, we'll wait until the spot
comes, until the inspiration comes."
True enough, Dark Tranquillity always seemed to take their time
in preparing new material from the confines of their rehearsal room
and, love them or hate them, each of their consecutive releases has
found them pushing the boundaries of their previous recordings, in a
way or another. "There's always a long time between the albums",
Mikael concedes, "but we need to find something new to do, something
different that will challenge us musically and lyrically."
Experimentation also obviously takes it toll at some point --
Dark Tranquillity's inclination to tamper with their own sound, in
particular on their two previous releases (_Projector_ and _Haven_)
has estranged them with the more rabid fringe of the hardened death
metal pack following their every move. Having not thought that
much of _Haven_ at the time of its release, I am eager to
learn about the forms of pressure that may have built up in
the wake of Dark Tranquillity's first "electronic" venture --
which incidentally happened to be released consecutively to another
tentatively "experimental" masterpiece, namely _Projector_.
"A lot of people who listened to this album [_Damage Done_] said
they were expecting something totally different, and expected the new
album to be more electronic, perhaps", muses Stanne -- and quite
rightly so. However, much as _Damage Done_ is still heavily loaded
with synthetics, it also presents a harsher, distinctly more rugged
edge, quite typical of a Gothenburg death metal act. "We just went
where we felt right and did what we wanted to do, so we didn't feel
any pressure. And after a while, we realised it was something people
might get into; it was something a lot of people had been asking for
for years, something that would perhaps remind them of _The Mind's I_
or _The Gallery_ -- more in tone with the aggressiveness, and speed,
and intensity [on those releases]."
_The Gallery_, as you may recall, turned out to be one of
the more surprising releases from the cult French label Osmose
Productions back at the time and, I guess, certainly the release
which set Dark Tranquillity on their stellar course to recognition. I
feel compelled to question Mikael about those good old times on the
thriving Osmose roster, back at the time of _The Gallery_ and _The
Mind's I_; it must after all have been quite a strange period for
Dark Tranquillity, who were, as it seems, one of the few bands on
Osmose not to be decked out in corpsepaint and studded leather attire
-- and also one of the few acts on the Osmose roster not to pride
themselves in a terrible "true" sound!
"Oh yeah, it was kinda weird", Mikael chuckles; "but I don't
recall it as being -that- odd; it's just that after a while, we
thought we didn't really fit in, so to speak, and I guess that's when
we switched labels", he explains about to the changeover to Germany's
Century Media, who released all of Dark Tranquillity's material
posterior to the _Enter Suicidal Angels_ EP (including _Damage
Done_). "But that was a good time, you know", he concludes. "We
released two albums and a MCD; they worked well, and the company did
everything in their power to promote them."
After this brief trip down memory lane, I return to one of the
new CD's more intriguing points -- its very title, _Damage Done_. "It
has to do with the lyrics, and also the whole writing process",
Mikael explains. "We spent so much time making everything's perfect,
defecting every single note...", he trails off; "eventually, you put
it down on tape, and it's there --there's no way you can go back.
Then we move on to the next phase, [on to the] next songs." So, the
expression "damage done" alludes, at least in part, to the anguish of
leaving the studio with your new release on tape, and knowing that
the next people to hear it will be the grouchy critics and demanding,
starving fans -- but there's more to it, as Mikael continues: "as for
the lyrics... most of the songs [deal with] that thing -- old
choices and old failures, things that you missed in your life, the
irreversible nature of things. There's no going back, and rather than
dwelling on the past and the mystery of things that you've done, you
might as well look ahead, forget about it and move on. It's the kind
of one-way thinking that the album deals about."
As the introspective nature of Mikael's lyrics becomes apparent,
I ponder on whether the mistakes he mentions also encompass the
band's evolution in itself -- "no, there are really no regrets when
it comes to the band. It's more on a personal note, things around
us... stupid mistakes; stupid life choices people have made, based on
inexperience and lack of insight, and lack of knowledge, I guess...
and that could be avoided."
Although I'm not altogether swept off my feet in surprise as I
learn about the brooding yet forward-looking thoughts that animate
Dark Tranquillity, I'm quite intrigued by the contrast that appears
between the generally intense music on _Damage Done_ and the lyrical
contents it conceals. As a matter of a fact, I venture, the darker,
moodier material on _Projector_ might have befitted such topics with
maybe even greater accuracy. "Yeah, that could be!", Mikael laughs
good-heartedly; "yes, it would [fit]; it could work equally, I guess.
[_Projector_] kinda deals with some of the same things", he ponders
-- which brings me to voice another interrogation lingering at the
back of my mind. _Projector_ -is- a damn strange title for a heavy,
melancholic death metal album, isn't it?
"We wanted it to be different, but we also wanted it to
represent the whole album, how the whole process of writing felt",
Mikael explains; "the blowing up of every single little thing, the
sleepless nights and problems and anxieties that came with it -- it's
suddenly like all projected on a big screen, and you can defect
everything, take it apart, and put in on paper; and eventually,
scream your lungs out to it", Mikael comments with a smile in his
intonation.
It's funny, then, how titles such as _Projector_ and _Damage
Done_ reflect a definitely unsuspected and rather surprising sense of
insecurity coming from the band -- the pressure on Dark Tranquillity
can't be that insignificant, after all. But further, how do they
relate in contrast to a "reassuring" tile, such as _Haven_?
"That's where our music comes from, explains Mikael; "we write
out of a most safe place, I guess -- our rehearsal rooms, our
bedrooms... And when we're together in our rehearsal room, that's our
haven; we just shut everything out from there. It's great to get out
of everything -- it's a quiet place where we can make loud music!",
comes the reply.
Having more or less assessed all I need to know about _Damage
Done_, I turn to a lighter topic and broach Dark Tranquillity's stay
at the 2001 edition of Germany's "Kult" festival, the Wacken
Open Air, at which the Swedes made a very lively and successful
appearance. At the time, their performance had struck me as lacking
the energy inherent to the death metal genre, yet also possessing
something that death metal couldn't offer -- a more aesthetic,
emotional sensation, quite typical of Dark Tranquillity's material,
but nonetheless quite difficult to pinpoint. And precisely as I was
dwelling on a mitigated, unsatisfactory sentiment consecutive to
their show that day, some nearby Germans coined the expression
providing the key to unlatch the irritating feeling my mind failed to
point out by itself -- they had found Dark Tranquillity's show
"wunderschon" -- wondrously beautiful.
I am of course tempted to ask Mikael what he thinks of this
opinion voiced on their performance at the W.O.A. "Wunderschon? Ja!",
he laughs. "Well, my impression of the show is that it was a
wonderful thing -- just playing that early [1:00pm on August 4th --
David], and getting people up out of their tents... A wonderful stage
like that, and all these beautiful people who'd come around to see us
-- we couldn't have been happier. The whole festival was just a
blast, it's a wonderful experience", Mikael fondly recalls.
The interview now draws to its good end, so I ask Mikael for any
closing words. "I'm anxious to get out and meet all the people that
have been so cool to us over the years", he replies with tangible
impatience in his voice. "Now, we're going to player longer sets,
with all the songs people have been missing for three years... I hope
you people will get into the album -- at least give it a chance", he
fervently continues, obviously aware that the album has a foot set in
at least two different musical worlds, and that some of Dark
Tranquillity's fans will most likely fail to adhere to their sense of
musical compromise.
But there is still time for one most crucial, existential
question -- "Mikael, what do you think the guys in Septic Broiler
would have thought of _Damage Done_?" After a resounding burst of
good-natured, low-case laughter, Mikael confidently voices, "They
would have probably -loved- it."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
RECEIVING PAYMENT FOR CRIMES AGAINST GOD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Mike Amott and Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy
by: Paul Schwarz
Whatever you think about Arch Enemy, forget it. Even if you thought
1999's _Burning Bridges_ [CoC #41] was a fantastic melding of
Carcass chop and 'Maiden-esque melodic excess -- even if it was
among your twenty favourite records of that year; even if _Black
Earth_ was, for you, one of the most significant moments in
late-Nineties Swedish death metal; or even if you never got what all
the fuss with Arch Enemy was about in the first place. Forget
it all, because _Wages of Sin_ [CoC #55] makes any previous
opinion on Arch Enemy as close to irrelevant as makes no odds.
Now, before you even think it: no, I am -not- making all this
fuss just because Angela Gossow -- a woman, as I'm sure you've
noticed... -- has taken over vocal duties from founding member and
former Furbowl frontman Johan Liiva. Arch Enemy's newly-blossomed
level of excellence is not simply down to the subtraction of
_Burning Bridges_'s (retrospectively) rather weak-sounding, Fredrik
Nordstrom-mixed sonic sheen; nor the corresponding addition of
_Wages of Sin_'s steroid-injected Andy Sneap special; nor even the
replacement of Liiva's powerful-yet-relatively-faceless death howl
with Gossow's more personal, more versatile, and, most importantly,
more -powerful- demonic vocal tirade. The fact is, Arch Enemy are "on
fire", "in the zone", "at the top of their game"; in that space where
everything just seems to come together and work. At least, that's how
it seems from the outside. Despite the strong impression that, once
Angela Gossow had joined, Arch Enemy began an inexorable march
towards making the greatest album of their career -- and, for my
money, the most significant aggressive Swedish metal album in the
fine tradition of _Slaughter of the Soul_ since -at least- The
Haunted's self-titled debut [CoC #34] -- there's no doubt in my mind
that a lot of hard work must have gone into making _Wages of Sin_.
And yet, I just can't stop drawing crude, hyperbolic, but yet
illustrative comparisons in my mind between the "vibe" in the studio
that brought Arch Enemy's five minds into the brutal harmony you can
hear on their fourth album, and the "collective mind" sensation the
Fremen experience during the "Water of Life" ritual in Frank
Herbert's "Dune" novel.[*(1)] Arch Enemy -- as a -whole- -- have
reached a new level of cohesion. I arranged phoners with both Mike
Amott and Angela Gossow to find out as much as I could about Arch
Enemy's fantastic fourth album, and the newly-reborn band who made
it.
Dodsmetal Dropouts?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Opinions on the present state of Swedish metal vary. However,
though many would doubtless hold up the success, popularity, and even
recent output of the likes of In Flames, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork
and HammerFall as evidence that it has never been healthier, I at
least must beg to differ. There are still an inordinate amount of
Swedish bands doing amazing things with metal, but for my money the
country's trademark melodic death style is only being pumped out in
vibrant, perfected form by a meagre few in the country of its origin.
Arch Enemy are one of the greatest exceptions that prove the rule
that most of the -past- leaders of the "NWOSMDM"[*(2)], are leaders
no more in musical terms. Opinions are divided on whether the Swedish
melodic death metal scene is indeed "healthy", or in desperate need
of a shot in the arm -- perhaps like the one _Slaughter of the Soul_
provided ten years ago. The Swedish scene isn't dying, but -- as Mike
Amott points out when I qualify the negativity expressed above with
this fact -- it is "getting pretty fucking boring"; In Flames have
lost the unpredictable, exciting vibrancy which their earliest
releases teemed full of; newer bands like Soilwork, though very
proficient, sound overly processed, lacking essential immediacy.
"You're putting words into my mouth", confesses Mike. "That's
how we feel, because we -live- and -breathe- this stuff. It's not
thought out, we're not cynical in our songwriting approach. We play
what we love and we love what we play. And we're still huge fans of
metal. We just love it so much: I think you can probably hear that. I
think we've managed to escape going into a formulated way of writing;
there is no set formula for writing Arch Enemy songs. It is
frustrating at times because it'll take us some time to work over
arrangements over and over again. Our arrangements don't really stray
too far from normal rock arrangements, but we're always experimenting
with harmonies and different moods and different ways of attacking,
trying to get the whole aspect which I started with in Carcass,
really."
Mike's years in Carcass involved him in the seminal British
death metal band's two greatest albums, _Necroticism: Descanting the
Insalubrious_ and _Heartwork_. He learnt much from the experience,
and Carcass gained much from his involvement: 40% of _Heartwork_ was
Amott-authored.
"Bill Steer was my mentor at that time: they taught me new ways
of trying to get something interesting, some hooks and melodies, into
the death metal", remembers the then-only-ex-Carnage guitarist. "And
that's really what intrigues me about this kind of music: the
contrast. We'll never have a power metal vocalist in Arch Enemy: it
wouldn't be that interesting. There's enough of that crap out there
anyway, I think."
Well, I prefer Death's _Symbolic_ over the Control Denied
album...
"Oh yeah! Any day, any time. The contrast has always been the
fascination for me: new ways of just trying to get a little bit more
melody in there, somehow -- without breaking out into some kind of
power metal vocals in the chorus."
The Leaving of Liiva and the Gaining of Gossow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 1: The Purging
Despite how pleased everyone -- myself very much included --
seems to be with Angela Gossow's performance on _Wages of Sin_, there
are no doubt many who bemoan the loss of Johan Liiva -- and I expect
many more who'd at least like to know the circumstances surrounding
his departure from the band.
"It was a band decision: we relieved him of his services", says
Mike unevasively. "Why? It was a few things, one being that we felt
we'd taken things as far as we could with him really, musically --
and somehow he wasn't developing at the same rate as the rest of the
band. He also didn't have what you'd call a natural drive to be the
-front- -man-", Mike playfully exploits the contextual irony of the
final word, "which isn't his fault. We took it as far as we could
with him and we got to play bigger and bigger stages in some places
and he just wasn't up for the job somehow. That was from our point of
view. From the fans' point of view, and from the media's: if somebody
complained about the old Arch Enemy line-up, it was always the
vocals. People weren't really into the way he was fronting the band
and people weren't that much into his vocals on the albums either.
Sure, he had his fans, but they were easily outnumbered by the people
that thought he sucked. After three studio albums and countless
amounts of touring, the coin finally dropped, I guess. When we were
writing for _Wages of Sin_ we felt we were coming up with stuff that
was so much better than anything we had done before, musically
speaking. And our manager threw a question into the mix: "Is Johan
the right guy to sing these songs?" When he said that, our reaction
was "Yeah, of course he is: he's our singer." But then when we
started thinking about it we figured maybe it was time to start the
next chapter of the band. That's when our -world- -wide- search for a
new singer began." Mike chuckles as he finishes, the dry but
endearing sarcasm which is characteristic of him (in interviews, at
least) disguising the hints of truth his statement contained.
The Leaving of Liiva and the Gaining of Gossow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2: Premonitive Promotion
I'm guessing the question you want answered is -why- did Arch
Enemy come to choose a German female as their new vocalist, am I
right?
"That was such a surprise to us, and to me: it turned out to be
someone who's German, for Christ's sake!" Mike laughs liberally. "And
also someone of the female gender. We are happy about that now --
obviously -- but at the time it was not something that we went out
looking for."
One issue some (silly) people might have with Angela taking over
from Johan is whether she could sing in as low a register as the
Swede noted by some for the low-end virtues of his voice.
"Actually, in her old band in Germany she sang -deeper- than
Johan does", returns Mike. "It was more the Cannibal Corpse type of
stuff. I'm not so much into the super-deep growling", he continues,
shifting focus, "so we told her what we were looking for and she went
more for the higher screams and stuff like that. It sounded a bit
more fresh and a bit more brutal somehow."
Comparisons can certainly be drawn between Angela's voice as
heard on _WoS_, and Jeff Walker in his Carcass days...
"Yeah," agrees Mike. "When we first met Angela she said her
vocal influences were David Vincent in Morbid Angel, Jeff Walker from
Carcass, and also Chuck Schuldiner. At that point -- the first time I
spoke to her -- she was actually interviewing -me-, when I was doing
the _Burning Bridges_ promotion in Germany in '99. At the end of the
interview she said she was in a band too; the usual small-talk after
an interview, waiting for the next one to happen. So she said, "My
vocal influences are so and so", and I was like, "OK, I'd like to
hear that!" Later, she sent us a video tape of a show with her band
at the time in Germany, and I just called my brother and said, "Hey,
I got this video-tape from a girl who's singing in a brutal death
metal band, d'you wanna come over and check it out?" So we stuck
it in and put it on and it just totally floored us. We were
flabbergasted, we were like, "Wow! Pretty intense." 'Cause there were
like fifty people in the crowd -- like a small underground show --
and the band had the real underground death metal-type sound, but she
was totally going for it and the charisma that she had on stage in
front of these fifty people was like she was standing in front of a
2000-seater full of raging metalheads. She really had a lot of
charisma and the voice was extremely brutal and intense. So I wrote
her an e-mail back and said it was pretty cool: we weren't looking
for a singer at that point. We just continued touring with Johan for
the _Burning Bridges_ album, and when we came back the last bit of
touring we did was with Nevermore in the States. That was a really,
really cool tour and everything and, you know, they're one of our
favourite bands. Great guys as well. So we came back and -- like I
said -- we started writing for the _Wages of Sin_ album and had
discussions... you know, about the singer issue."
Mike's euphemistic final words are delivered in a guarded,
diplomatic tone, but the shift from open, cheery dialogue to
political-style statements was only momentary.
"At that point we just kind of made a -dream- list; once we'd
got rid of Johan we made a list of things that we were interested in.
We put everybody's name on there, just off the top of our head
anybody that we thought would be cool. We had Jeff Walker and David
Vincent. We even put Rob Halford's name on there! We were just having
fun with it, just making a list, getting drunk, but throwing
anybody's name on there that we thought would be cool, that we really
like and respect. But obviously, when we were more sober, I looked at
the list and the list of people that we had were people that we know
already in the Swedish scene -- that front and sing in bands here and
are well into their careers of fronting other bands. It just felt a
little bit boring, somehow."
The Leaving of Liiva and the Gaining of Gossow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 3: The Search for a Shock
Now, some of you may wonder why Mike Amott didn't just go
straight to former bandmate Jeff Walker when Arch Enemy were short a
singer. The reason is simple.
"He's out of the music scene totally", reveals Mike. "He quit
years ago. He's doing something completely different now."
In any case, Arch Enemy were looking for more than a safe
option: they were searching for someone who'd be a revelation to
their fans -and- to them.
"What we were looking for was obviously this one singer, out
there, in the shadows, who nobody knows about, who's just going to
step into the light and kick everybody's ass and totally impress
everybody -- -and- is gonna be a great front-person on stage. And
also have like a really, really killer voice that's gonna take this
band to the next level, and have that full-on, metal attitude. And
then we were like, "Ummmm, yeeaah... right... where we gonna find
that?!""
Certainly not in Sweden, it seems.
"I mean, say what you want about Swedish musicians", begins
Mike, a playful challenge offered by a split-second pause, "but
Swedish singers? The quality of musicianship is very high in Sweden,
but there are no real, great front-fighters that are really cool live
stage personalities. I have yet to see one, really. You hear the CD,
and you wanna check it out live, but they just don't have what...
Hey, I love some of these people, but they're not like natural
fucking -stars- on stage, you know?"
Perhaps they're just a bit shy?
"Yeah, shy and stuff like that. Even if somebody walks into a
room, either they're a fucking star or they're not, you know? We
called Angela. We decided to put her name on the list. Chris -- the
guitar in Arch Enemy, my brother, he put her name on the list and he
was really pushing for her 'cause he really liked her angle: the
beast -in- the beauty. You know what I mean? She's got this demon
voice and she looks really great and everything. My first reaction
was kind of sceptical and kind of negative. I'm probably just a small
minded metal moron, but I thought it was probably too off-the-wall --
just a little bit -too- different -- people are gonna think it's some
kind of gimmick or something. But you know, once we started
discussing her we just couldn't stop talking about it. We thought it
would really separate us from a lot of the other bands out there. I
mean, it's not a Swedish guy with a beard with greasy hair and a
beer-gut. It's something special -- from a visual point of view, plus
she had a really cool voice as well. We wanted to try her so we gave
her a call and she was obviously quite surprised -- it came out of
the blue, really. She came up and played with us and auditioned with
us and we ran through a list of old songs we'd given her to try out
on. She came and sang on that and it was pretty mind-blowing, because
she was twice as loud, twice as aggressive and tighter than our
previous singer. So we knew she had the voice -- it didn't take a
brain surgeon to work that one out."
The Leaving of Liiva and the Gaining of Gossow
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 4: A Question of Focus
"She eventually hung out with us a little bit", continues Mike.
"It was important that there was good chemistry going on with
everybody in the band. She's got a big personality, you know, a lot
of charisma, and often that comes with the LSD syndrome: the Lead
Singer Disease. We didn't want a fucking -prima donna-; we didn't
want somebody in the band that we'd have to treat with kid-gloves all
the time. But she's been playing extreme metal for coming up for ten
years now, and she knows how guys work, and she's really funny; she's
totally got both feet on the ground, so it's pretty solid."
Nonetheless, worries of some Spinal Tap-esque nightmare
occurring, whereby Angela -- having become romantically entangled
with one of her male bandmates -- begins interfering with the smooth
running of the band are doubtless still prevalent in the minds of
some.
"From my point of view, it's usually the wives of the musicians
though, isn't it?", responds Mike, good-humouredly. "Angela's
actually in the band as a creative force. I know what you mean --
that -was- obviously one of our concerns -- but it has worked out
great: everybody is happy."
Personally, I didn't think it would be an issue, but I did feel
that many rock/metal listeners might see it as one.
"Yeah", agrees Mike. "I mean, we get the odd e-mail, "Who is
banging the chick?" and all this kind of stuff..." he stammers,
momentarily incredulous and seemingly lost for words, "...which is
funny."
Angela Gossow herself is similarly unconcerned with comments
made by a few unenlightened individuals. I asked her if she felt any
trepidation about becoming Arch Enemy's new singer.
"No", she replies. "Somebody wrote me a cruel mail. It said, "We
think it's gonna be a hard job for you to actually step into Johan's
boots." But obviously, you're wearing your own boots, you don't need
his, you know?", she laughs without any sign of nervousness. "It's
not like I have to try to catch up with him or whatever. It's not
like when Bruce Dickinson left Iron Maiden. I mean, poor Blaze; he
tried to be like Bruce and it didn't really work out. But I'm a
woman, and nobody will expect that I'll try to look and sound like
Johan. So I have the absolute freedom to build up my own image and
have my own vocal style. Arch Enemy gave me the freedom too: that's
what they wanted for the new album. I am building up my own image
now. Johan never had a strong image, anyway. He wasn't this
super-strong frontman with lots of charisma and people knew a lot
about him; he's a shy guy. So it wasn't like I have to lift up to a
huge personality, really: I guess mine is bigger than his, anyway. My
ego, anyway", Angela laughs again.
With all this talk of images and egos, I expect doubts and fears
are brewing in many scenesters minds. Will Angela Gossow become the
focus of Arch Enemy? Will the shifting of focus involve tedious
life-style-type spreads in popular music magazines who insist on
adorning such "stories" with scantily-clad, genital-tickling pics?
Angela is adamant that this will not happen.
"I don't wanna be like Rock Bitch or the Genitorturers -- that
SM domination thing, or naked stuff", returns Angela. "But I wanna
still look good and have clothes with rock 'n' roll attitude. We were
really thinking about this. I will not look like the guys on stage.
I'm gonna wear different colours and sort of tight clothes, but I'm
not gonna just wear a bra and a slip! I will not have a whip! And not
like Rachael from Sinister: she looks like a guy. She's a beautiful
woman but she wears -huge-, black, Cannibal Corpse T-shirts, military
boots and military trousers. That's not what I want either. I'm a
fashion-type, anyway. I'm totally into fashion: I'm shopping all the
time. I've got lots of clothes. I'm a bit orientated like the normal
-pop- women are: just good-looking, sexy somehow, but I'm not gothic
and I'm not SM."
"We will not build this pin-up in the front surrounded by some
guys making music", Angela continues, countering one of rock's
recently-much-rifled cash-cow cliches. "Arch Enemy is still writing
really cool music and the good thing is that Michael, especially, has
a very strong personality too. He always has something to say; he
doesn't wanna get out of the media focus. It will always be split
between us and we will check that there's gonna be a balanced sort of
thing -- we pay attention to this -- so that in the end it's not
someone just asking me what kind of food I'm eating and how I watch
my weight and which kind of exercise I do in the gym, in a metal
magazine. We're very conscious about this."
...For All the Right Reasons?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the end, the only really important question left to answer
about Angela Gossow becoming the new Arch Enemy singer is: can she
cut it live? Whatever the prevailing opinions might be on whether
Johan was any good or not, they'll doubtless be many to whom Angela
will have to prove herself 'worthy'.
"They're gonna check me out very, very particularly, because if
they've seen the band with Johan they'll wanna find out the
difference", agrees the singer. "To some people, this band will be
new anyway, when we tour now. I think for every band, as soon as
there's a woman around -- it's a male dominated business -- it's like
some kind of freak somehow. Still. So people are gonna concentrate on
me a bit more than they did before on the vocalist. But I can put up
with this: I'm not afraid, really."
Angela may not be afraid of Arch Enemy's crowds, but one wonders
whether Mike Amott is afraid of her influence on the focus of the
band's press coverage. Is there a worry in Mike's mind that a -wider-
interest in _WoS_ might be produced largely because Angela, a woman,
is Arch Enemy's new singer?
"It's too early to say, but with this album it seems like
there's more interest than ever. Maybe that's got something to do
with the new singer and the fact that we jumped up a couple of
notches in production and stuff like that and made a better album --
that's what we like to think, anyway."
The production of _Wages of Sin_ is, to my ears, faultless. Arch
Enemy chose to record, as ever, with Fredrik Nordstrom at studio
Fredman. But for the mixing of _Wages of Sin_ they went elsewhere: to
Backstage Studios in the UK to work with ex-Sabbat man Andy Sneap.
"And God we are so happy that we did that!", says Mike Amott,
letting out a cheery, contented wave of laughter. Andy Sneap's
production has added crunch and impact to Arch Enemy's sound which
can only properly be gauged when one subsequently replays _Burning
Bridges_; _Wages of Sin' is in a new league of sonic excellence; that
distinctive -punch- and -crunch- which is so distinctive of Sneap's
productions for such bands Nevermore and Testament, has infused Arch
Enemy's melodic metal with a new-found vitality.
"Actually, I kept nagging Nevermore to use Andy Sneap -- and
they got 'round to using him before we did", reveals Mike. "They were
being very, very skeptical, then the next thing I know, they're in
the studio with him -- and they make a fucking awesome album! That
just turned me on even more, because I love Nevermore. But it was
when I heard _The Gathering_, the Testament album; I heard the first
track off that, I was pinned against the wall! I was like, "Holy
shit! Who mixed this fucking album?" It was on a sampler and it
didn't really say anything else. I found out it was Andy Sneap, and I
thought that was cool because I knew who he was -- from Sleep, Sabbat
and onwards. I knew that he was working with studio stuff nowadays,
but I had no -idea- that he was so fucking incredible. That was just
an incredible album, _The Gathering_, and I just thought: when we do
our next album, this is who's gonna mix it."
But why didn't you go the whole hog and -record- at Backstage
studios? Why stick with Fredman at all?
"Well, I heard that Testament recorded elsewhere and then he
came over and mixed it at Sneap's facility. We just basically
repeated that trick of recording in a setting which is like a second
home -- you go in and it's really relaxed, and it's sort of
close-to-home, you know? -- and then just go and beef it up in the
mix. So me and the drummer, Daniel, we went over to England and mixed
it with Andy and it was just incredible."
Daniel Erlandsson's presence at the mixing desk might explain
why his drums are so prominent in _Wages of Sin_'s final mix -- or it
could just be down to the fact that he hits them so fucking hard. But
perhaps the reasons are more general...
"We wanted a harder sound because _Burning Bridges_ was about as
soft as we're ever going to get", says Mike of the reasons Arch Enemy
spurned the Fredman mixing desk. "I think _Burning Bridges_ has got a
softer, rounder, hard rock-type edge to the guitars and drums. We
just wanna get fucking harder and more extreme now; we don't see any
reason to be overly poppy or anything."
It seems initially strange that a band should -avoid- Fredman
studios because they want a hard production; _Slaughter of the Soul_
had an exclusively Fredman sound.
"Yeah, but he hasn't really made an album like that since",
counters Mike. "I mean, the first album we did, _Black Earth_, was
pretty fucking in-your-face as well and that's probably the one that
Fredrik's done that I'm most happy with. The second one, _Stigmata_,
sucked big-time I think, and that was a really big disappointment, at
the time, for us. The chemistry just wasn't right within the band and
we strayed into territories where we pretty quickly found out we
weren't happy with being in: the more progressive-type stuff, which
was a big fucking yawn for me. _Burning Bridges_ we were back on
track, more into playing raw metal the way we should be, and there
was a lot of melody in there, obviously. And now, with this album,
it's kind of like -- I mean, I get asked all the time, "Do you see
this as a logical progression from _Burning Bridges_ or is it like
the next chapter?" Somehow, I think you can still hear it's Arch
Enemy..."
My two cents? Most definitely.
"...but somehow it feels -- Angela's just been a kick in the
arse for us as well."
Arch Enemy haven't held back on _Wages of Sin_. They haven't
held back on their class-A, delicately frantic pure-melody solos;
they haven't held back on making the album sound and -feel- as heavy
as it possibly could.
"Basically they became harder", says Angela, summing things up.
"Me and Daniel have the most extreme metal tastes in this band; Chris
and Michael are totally into all this Seventies stuff -- all sorts of
-weird- music -- and I'm basically a death metal bastard! I guess I
brought in freshness and aggression somehow -- and the arrangements
changed a bit."
"Angela came in at the end of the writing and actually helped us
with the arrangements -- in some ways because she came from a fan
point of view", explains Mike. "It was kind of interesting because
she was saying like, "This is a typical -boring- Arch Enemy part: you
should get rid of it." And we were like, "Okay...". She is pretty
opinionated and wasn't holding back at all. And we thought maybe she
was right. That was interesting, actually, because I think the level
of musicianship is incredibly high in Arch Enemy, and sometimes our
heads get stuck up in places where they probably shouldn't be... You
know: we can just noodle away forever on little instrumental parts
and stuff. Yeah, it's a lot of fun to play, but is it fun to listen
to? That's more Angela's point of view. It strikes a good balance."
"We just wanna be in-your-face, basically", Mike adds. "We put a
lot of thought into the arrangements and putting it all together, but
this kind of music -flows- naturally out of us; it's not very
preconceived or cynical. We didn't spent too much time thinking about
what kind of music we were gonna play. We might say an album has to
be 'extreme' or 'heavy' -- and its gotta be exciting to listen to."
But exciting for whom? Arch Enemy have many fans, but it is
unlikely that the band are demographically microcosmic of their
fanbase. Who needs to enjoy an Arch Enemy album for it to be a good
one, ultimately?
"We try to please ourselves but we also think about what our
fans want, because I think the fans are a part of the band, somehow",
muses Mike. "That's the people we're playing for. If you don't think
that the fans are a part of the whole thing, then why don't you just
not sign a record deal -- and please, just burn CDs for you and your
mates. The fans are a part of the whole deal really, and we do think
about them when we write music. We tried to turn down on the whole
guitar-shredding aspect of the band a little bit because it was just
getting a little bit out of control. Everybody knows now that we are
the best: enough of that! We just play for the song now, and what
works in the song. We were quite confident, and a little bit cocky,
about our band. We'd go to bed every night -truly- believing that
Arch Enemy is the best metal band in the world. If we didn't think
that, there would be no point; I've always thought that about
everything I'm involved with", he laughs good-humouredly at his own
self-conviction. "Even if I hear somebody that's pretty good I'll
always find ways to justify that we're number one."
"Sin, Sin With a Range!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
_Wages of Sin_ is not only the most powerful Arch Enemy
album to date, it is also the most complete one. When I
first put it on, it hooked me with "Enemy Within"'s pounding,
classic-Swedish-melodic-death-riffing opening licks, and held me in
its grasp until -- forty-five minutes later -- it faded away into
"Shadows and Dust". Usually when that happens, repeated spins of the
album in question produce progressively diminishing returns. But such
was not the case with _Wages of Sin_: it just got better. Now, six
months later, it already feels like a classic. One of the album's
true virtues is that its songwriting is consistent in quality while
being impressively varied in approach, and yet -always- retains the
feeling that there is a single, defined-entity -- a -band- in the
truest sense -- behind it all.
"Even though you can hear it's the same band all the way
through, a song like "Savage Messiah" is very different from "Burning
Angel"; "The First Deadly Sin" is very different from "Behind the
Smile", or "Shadows and Dust"", affirms Mike. "It goes into different
areas a little bit; we don't break out in a big funky sort of rap
thing!"
Neither do Arch Enemy reprise the total-contrast trick they
utilised on their debut with the song "Cosmic Retribution" -- which
suddenly broke storming Swedish death metal character to go all jazzy
and acoustic-guitar laden: a very Atheist-esque move...
"Yeah, I loved those guys back then", says Mike. "We still get
off on that stuff. We still like any death metal stuff, really. I'd
rather listen to _Altars of Madness_ than the latest in melodic
Swedish death metal. I just like more evil-sounding stuff -- though
I'm not that big on black metal. I'm sure there's stuff out there
that's really, really cool, but in '96 I went out looking and I
bought a lot of black metal stuff because I'd loved the image. The
image factor is amazing. I love all the make-up, all the spikes and
leather. I think that's so cool! I love all that, but it seemed like
the guys that were not good enough to play death metal. I don't know
why that is; it's just sloppy drumming and not very good guitar
playing, and it just didn't do it for me. Some of these classic black
metal releases that people rave about, it's like, "Yeah. But fuck,
listen to _Altars of Madness_, or the first _Deicide_: you've got
fucking evil shit going on because the musicianship is fucking
incredible at the same time.""
Angela's tastes lie primarily in the death metal genre.
"Mostly English bands, really", she comments. "When I first
started listening it was just Carcass, Bolt Thrower, Napalm Death,
Extreme Noise Terror. I was always listening to Morbid Angel,
Testament, Slayer, that kind of stuff. I like the old Cannibal Corpse
stuff; _Eaten Back to Life_ is my favourite. But the new really
brutal death metal -- like the new Cannibal Corpse stuff for example,
I can't listen to more than two songs. I miss the groove. I can't
really get into it; my foot doesn't start tapping."
_Wages of Sin_ certainly prompts foot tapping; furious
headbanging too, if I'm to be honest. Though it is of course the
music itself which rightfully takes primary responsibility for such
effects, Angela's varied and charismatic vocals supply a vital part
of the puzzle. Indeed, one of the reasons that Arch Enemy's identity
as a band is assured throughout _Wages of Sin_, despite the varied
platter of music on offer, is the defined-yet-varied character of
Angela's charismatic tirade.
"This album I discovered -- somehow -- a bit more vocal range
for me", comments the woman herself. "My old bands were quite
limited: we were just trying to do Bolt Thrower-meets-Unleashed;
early stuff, death metal. Then you're kind of limited with your
vocals anyway; everything's just deep and low and slow, somehow.
There aren't really melodies and whatever. When I joined Arch Enemy
there were lots of melodies and lines I had to follow, somehow: I
can't ignore these melodies. We worked this out in the studio. They
didn't want to have deep growling, because they had that already with
Johan. So I had to change a bit -- and I'm quite happy about this now
because I never had the chance before to work on more screaming and
more aggressiveness. We've been working together for one-and-a-half
years now and I've changed my style already a bit. I had vocal
coaching anyway the last six months because I had a vocal-chord
problem. Things changed there too, you know: my pronunciation's gonna
be totally different. We were working a lot. I have never been so
many times in rehearsal rooms before, and they're working so
seriously on the lyrics and how the vocalisation is actually gonna
be. So we'll see how it turns out when we record a new album later
this year, but I guess it's gonna be even better."
Who wrote the lyrics for this record?
"I wrote four", answers Angela. "Two alone, and two together
with Michael. I had three weeks to get into the Arch Enemy material
before we went into the studio, so I was quite happy I didn't have to
write any more! The next album's gonna be different too because, I
mean, I already wrote all the lyrics. I don't mind singing other
people's lyrics as long as I can understand them and relate to them.
As long as it's not like "Seeds of Hate": "I'm not the man I used to
be." These kind of lines I shouldn't sing, because I'm not a man!"
The Extra Incentive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While we're on the subject of pre-_WoS_ Arch Enemy material, I
should mention that for the record's release in the West (via Century
Media in March of this year; it was first released in South East Asia
on Dream On records in August of 2001) the band (and label) have not
only added the video for the track "Ravenous" and a bonus track
("Lament of a Mortal Soul") to make up for the time lag; a bonus CD
of rare and unreleased material is included with the European /
North American edition of _WoS_, and even includes the video for
_Burning Bridges_' opener, "The Immortal". Despite totaling a mere 26
minutes and comprising only seven tracks, _A Collection of Rare and
Unreleased Songs From the Arch Enemy Vault_ will doubtless be a
welcome addition to all but the most dedicated Arch Enemy fan's
collection -- although it's a mystery to me why other rare tracks
like "Losing Faith" (from War Music's _Wardance_ compilation) have
not been included. _ACoRaUSFtAEV_ offers four original "b-sides", a
'99 re-recording of "Fields of Desolation" from Arch Enemy's 1996
debut _Black Earth_, and covers of two classic trad metal tracks:
"Aces High" by Iron Maiden and "Starbreaker" by Judas Priest.
It's interesting to hear Arch Enemy's rendition of Judas Priest's
"Starbreaker" and realise that though Halford is certainly a more
accomplished vocalist than Johan Liiva ever will be, the Amott
brothers -do- surpass Tipton and Downing in terms of sheer technical
ability. Any offended 'Priest-worshippers should check out the
spectacular Swedish-axe-masturbation and Carcass-squeals the brothers
Amott have inserted into 'Priest's classic: the Arch Enemy rendition
may not be -better-, but I'd bet you 'Priest would need a good month
of practice before they could play it. But I digress: you're probably
more interested in knowing how this CD addition to _WoS_ came about
than listening to my musings.
"As soon as we got wind of it, we decided to get involved in the
second-CD project", states Mike. "I am really fan-orientated as a
person -- even though I know that might sound cheesy. I'm a big fan
of music myself and I really appreciate when a band gets involved in
every aspect of their work, the presentation and everything. Instead
of having the second CD be just a pure record company job where they
just put a CD with whatever they can find, we actually got involved
and dug out some stuff that wouldn't have been on there otherwise. If
you're gonna do it, you should do it right -- we also put some
additional packaging and liner notes in there."
Well Mike, that's about all I have: if there's anything I
haven't touched on that you'd like to mention...
"I won't be doing any touching here, sorry", interrupts Mike,
chuckling.
[*(1)] If you don't understand, do yourself a favour: read "Dune"!
[*(2)] "New Wave of Swedish Melodic Death Metal"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T E N Y E A R S A N D S T I L L H U M B L E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Peter Tagtgren of Hypocrisy/Pain
by: Paul Schwarz
When Hypocrisy began as a death metal band fronted by the
demonically deep-voiced Masse Broberg (currently better known under
the name "Emperor Magus Caligula" for his work with Dark Funeral)
they were just one among many new hopefuls of the second wave of
Swedish death metal. Hypocrisy's major difference from most was
an odd one: instead of sounding Swedish, here was a Swedish
death metal band whose direct intention was, contrastingly, to
sound American. Thankfully, Hypocrisy managed to dodge the obvious
stumbling block of such an approach: sounding too derivative. Even
their _Penetralia_ debut had flecks of a personal stamp clinging to
it, while their 1993 follow-up, _Osculum Obscenum_, showcased a sound
so demonically brutal in its intent that it set it apart even from
the likes of Suffocation -- Hypocrisy weren't -better-, but they were
different, obscure. However, following their rather lacklustre -- but
nonetheless rather popular, especially in Germany -- third album,
_The Fourth Dimension_, Hypocrisy moved into a new "bracket": their
attitude never changed, according to Peter Tagtgren -- and the
evidence seems on his side -- but their prospects did.
By the time 1996's _Abducted_ [CoC #7] had been released, Peter
had his Abyss studio up and running -- using it to record Hypocrisy's
fourth album. The sterling sound of _Abducted_ only added to
Tagtgren's already growing reputation as a producer, while the sheer
quality of the material established Hypocrisy not only as a band
capable of transcending the underground realms from which they had
come, but potentially of coming to dominate them. I never quite saw
Hypocrisy as being -- or as -likely- to become -- a -dominating-
force in the underground myself, but their "special" status for many
-- the vast majority not in Britain, but on the continent -- cannot
be ignored by appealing to personal aesthetic judgements. Hypocrisy's
next album, _The Final Chapter_ [CoC #26], benefited much from the
elevated status _Abducted_ had bestowed upon the band. It was
rightfully critically acclaimed, and it seemed for a while like
Hypocrisy might really crack the "next level" -- equal the sales,
popularity and press attention paid to the likes of Fear Factory or
Machine Head, for example. But it was not to be. The band split; the
album's title -had- been symbolic.
Though Hypocrisy had dissolved, Peter Tagtgren's ascendancy in
the metal scene was not to be slowed. He went on to produce many of
the finest and most successful bands in Scandinavian metal --
including Dawn and Immortal -- in the year and a bit before Hypocrisy
got back together and recorded their sixth, self-titled album [CoC
#40 & #41]. Some were sceptical of the motives; others were simply
blown away by the results. Whatever your opinion though, you had to
admit one thing: Hypocrisy were back. But still the breakthrough
didn't come -- or at least, it didn't come for -Hypocrisy-.
Interestingly, Peter Tagtgren's Pain "project" -- after delivering a
crudely composed, Fear Factory-esque self-titled debut in 1996 --
-did- make the popular charts ahead of Nine Inch Nails (in Sweden, at
least) with the release of their second album, _Rebirth_ [CoC #48].
But nonetheless Tagtgren remained committed to Hypocrisy -- who
released their seventh album, the back-to-the-roots-ish _Into the
Abyss_ [CoC #48] that same year. Last year the band was silent --
though Tagtgren produced what he considers to be some of the finest
albums of his career with bands such as Immortal [CoC #58], Dark
Funeral and Wolf. However, this year Hypocrisy are making their bid
for the big leagues... by releasing a record which is cathartic,
angry and, lyrically, a backlash against the persona which has been
made of Tagtgren, for the most part. _Catch 22_ is a mixed return to
a number of the bands previous stages of development, and a
substantial attempt to step into the future.
With the album still to be released, I chatted with Peter
Tagtgren about its content, Hypocrisy's hopes for the future, their
previous seven albums and Peter's own producing work at Abyss, among
other things, in January of this year.
CoC: I read an interview where you commented that what had happened
to you over the last year really contributed to what came
together in _Catch 22_. In your own words, what major events or
things caused that?
Peter Tagtgren: Yeah, it's been fucking two years of hectic things
and like... painting myself into a corner, y'know?
Without even realising it. And that's my own fault.
CoC: You mean in terms of the Abyss studio?
PT: That also: I do love everything I've done in the studio. There's
nothing I regret and I've been very fortunate to have done all
these great bands. So it's not that, it's just like... This year
I'm definitely gonna be equal -- and really put all the cards on
myself. And actually, this summer, I'm going to be outside! <he
chuckles>. Isn't -that- unbelievable? I'm going to be able to see
a summer! <said with an undertone of sarcasm>
CoC: So you think partially it was just overwork?
PT: Yeah, for sure.
CoC: Nervous exhaustion and things like that?
PT: Yeah, no shit!
CoC: OK. The other thing I got from the lyrics: you've been doing
Abyss studio since around '95 with the first Dark Funeral EP?
PT: Yeah.
CoC: Since then it's become this huge studio that a lot of top black
metal bands and other bands have gone to. And the impression
that the lyrics to "Don't Judge Me" and "Destroyed" give me is
that you're kind of irritated with the public persona that's
been made out of you?
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I think that's partially through your producing and partially
possibly through the very quick success of Pain on the second
album.
PT: Yeahnotreally: Pain has not so much to do with it. I think it's
just the business around the shit, y'know?
CoC: Right.
PT: Around the producing, and the trademark, and the selling point of
my name and stuff like that. And it's nothing, really, that I
wanted: I'm still as underground-thinking as I've always been,
y'know?
CoC: Yeah, exactly, that was what I was thinking. I was thinking how
Abyss became almost like a trend that people would then go like:
oh no, that's -fashionable-...
PT: And then you start getting pressure that you have to do...
like... really amazing stuff, y'know?
CoC: Yeah, exactly.
PT: And then you're going: how the hell am I supposed to do that? How
can you bake 2000 different cakes with the same ingredients? And
it becomes really frustrating, 'cause when I do things I really
wanna do 'em 100% -- and I do! But, y'know, sometimes it's like
impossible.
CoC: I've always got the impression that you've kept a very
underground spirit in yourself in the sense of not just doing
stuff because you do it...
PT: Yeah.
CoC: But because you like to do it...
PT: Yeah.
CoC: And 'cause you wanna do it, not because it's money or it's trend
or whatever. So I can see where lyrics like, "So sick of tired
of people telling me, who I am and what to be" come from. Would
you say that _Catch 22_ is part of this as well because one of
the things that seems to have happened in certain people's eyes
is that because Hypocrisy broke up [soon after 1997's _The Final
Chapter_ -- Paul] near the time that Abyss really, really
took off, people have marginalised Hypocrisy because of your
producing work? Hypocrisy is like, "The band that Peter Tagtgren
(who's really a producer) does", to some people.
PT: <dispiritedly> Yeah.
CoC: Did that come into your thinking at all when you wrote a lot of
the lyrics to _Catch 22_?
PT: Yeah, I mean, it's very hard to explain but it's like I just...
for once I opened my heart and started writing lyrics about what
I was thinking. It's kind of, "What the hell did I do? Why did I
do it?" And I was only doing it for the pleasure, y'know. And
also I was caught up in this business that I -didn't- wanna be
involved with -- OK, it's nice to have money and shit, but it's
not only that. It should be pure pleasure or else everything is
gone.
CoC: I see what you mean; with the album, it sounds a lot more, sort
of, -true-, in one sense, or -spiritual- than other Hypocrisy
albums of late.
PT: Yeah...
CoC: I think that's partially to do with your whole thing of writing
straight.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: When you were first writing Hypocrisy it was very much Satanic.
It had a very Satanic bent. I think based around your love at
the time for American death metal.
PT: Yeah. Right.
CoC: The _Abducted_ stuff is a lot of alien landing stuff;
personally, I didn't really get into those lyrics. This album I
really like because you really feel like you're saying something
and it's kind of pumping up the music.
PT: Yeah, and it's a serious album. It's what's going on in my life
and plus the attitude in the riffs of the songs and the
production makes it really real.
CoC: Totally. I mean, I haven't heard the band sound this -hungry-
since _Abducted_, or possibly the first album...
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I mean, I went back and listened to every album after I started
enjoying this one...
PT: Oh really?! That's cool.
CoC: Except for _The Fourth Dimension_ which I never really got into.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: It's really hungry.
PT: It is.
CoC: Just the way "Don't Judge Me' starts out: it's pounding!
PT: Yeah, it's like a fist in the face. I mean, like I said, the
whole attitude in the album is really like, "Get this serious",
y'know?
CoC: Yeah, totally. It's very furious and very angry at a lot of
times, but it also sounds kind of -- not relaxed, but it sounds
very -comfortable-. You sound like you guys have finally kind
of...
PT: Maybe we're finding our style, I dunno...
CoC: Maybe. I think it's definitely one of the first really
mature-sounding Hypocrisy albums. I mean, for me personally
_Hypocrisy_ [CoC #41] and what I heard of _Into the Abyss_ [CoC
#48] -- which I've got to admit wasn't that much -- sounded a
little forced. I find this one really -vibrant-, in comparison,
and I really, really like that.
PT: That's cool man.
CoC: I think that's really good. But you have managed to incorporate
all the different elements; you haven't done a "back to the
roots" album -- which would have been a bit lame: if you'd just
started playing like _Penetralia_.
PT: Yeah. No, I mean, that's not really what it's all about anymore.
CoC: Exactly.
PT: And not because it wouldn't sell or whatever -- maybe it would. I
don't know, but it's just like, we always have to go forward, and
it's very important for us to develop, and adapt.
CoC: How did you find the songwriting went this time? Did you find
that you thought a lot about it or did you find you just wrote
it from your head and it just came out?
PT: Yeah, actually it just came out. The only thing I wanted was to
have more -chugging- on the guitar. I wanted to make it more
chugging, and the production I wanted to do something that I'd
never done with any band before.
CoC: What's that?
PT: A more American style of production: more dry and in your face,
y'know? And yeah, it felt natural to do that and it fitted very
good to the riffs. And then I just went totally 180 degrees on
the choruses, made them very catchy.
CoC: Exactly: "Don't Judge Me" starts off with this huge pounding...
PT: <gleefully> Yeah...
CoC: But the chorus is very kind of... for want of a better word,
it's quite classically Swedish.
PT: Yeah, yeah.
CoC: You can really sing along to it but it's still heavy...
PT: Yeah.
CoC: ...in that really basic, nice way.
PT: Exactly.
CoC: It's definitely a very well-rounded album in that sense. Why did
you decide to call it _Catch 22_? Was that a reflection of the
situation you were in?
PT: Yeah, exactly. You know the saying, right?
CoC: "Catch 22" from the book by Joseph Heller?
PT: Nonono, the English saying for...
CoC: A "Catch 22" situation?
PT: Yeah.
CoC: You know where it's from?
PT: No, not really.
CoC: It's from the book, "Catch 22", by Joseph Heller.
PT: Oh, really?
CoC: Joseph Heller wrote this book called "Catch 22". It's set in
wartime and a specific situation involving the supply of
airplane pilots is coined as being "Catch 22".
PT: We called this album _Catch 22_ because every time we were
sitting and talking to people about how this Hypocrisy album has
a very good opportunity to become a very successful album -- if
we work it and promote it, because we never do -- they'd go,
"Well if you close down your studio because you wanna go on tour
with Hypocrisy and make it successful then you're not going to be
able to afford eating", y'know? But if we don't go out on tour
and make it successful, how the hell can we ever become
successful? So it's a "Catch 22".
CoC: It's a "Catch 22" situation, indeed.
[I agreed at the time, but on reflection I don't believe Hypocrisy's
predicament is a true "Catch 22"; I don't believe its conditions
match those of the defining "Catch 22" described in Heller's book --
Paul]
PT: It's like eating your cookie and still having it.
CoC: You can't eat your cake and have it.
PT: Yeah, exactly.
CoC: Indeed. It's an interesting one. It's one of those difficult
things. You've had a very strange sort of career in the sense
that a lot of Swedish musicians have sort of started off very
big -- like Entombed and that sort of thing -- and a lot of the
second-tier bands disappeared, they kind of faded away. And
Hypocrisy were really growing -up-...
PT: Yeah, yeah.
CoC: Getting there.
PT: Yeah, yeah.
CoC: With _Abducted_, for example. And then Abyss took off -- and
suddenly Hypocrisy kind of became a bit marginalised in a
strange way -- because Hypocrisy are still really popular.
PT: Yeah, I mean actually, if you look at sales and stuff like that,
I think the last album -- if it wasn't the most successful it was
very close. So it's just kept on going, all the time from the
beginning -- which is good, and we have a good platform to stand
on without being a newcomer and just all suddenly blow up and
lose our heads and shit, y'know?
CoC: Absolutely, but did you ever feel that with Hypocrisy you
weren't really challenged, because one of the things I've found,
in the underground at least, is that people just expect the new
Hypocrisy album to be good.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I mean, ever since _Abducted_, Hypocrisy has been "good".
PT: Yeah. I don't know... <half laughs>
CoC: It's like, I remember Emperor saying this when they were making
_Prometheus..._. Ihsahn just said, "Well, I don't really feel
challenged anymore, 'cause if anyone gets an Emperor album,
they're going to say it's a good album."
PT: Yeah... hmm, that's very self-confident.
CoC: It is, but it's also a reflection of the way people, I find, are
very reverent of some bands...
PT: ... No, I'm always wondering: how the hell are people gonna take
this album?
CoC: Right right.
PT: And I really have no clue what's gonna happen with it until it's
out and a couple of months later.
CoC: I'll be really interested as well.
PT: It's always fucking terror before the month is over so you knowf
i it went good or bad. But usually... It's always been going.
good So maybe this time it will go all to hell: I don't know .
CoC: But I think this time Hypocrisy are in a very good situation in
terms of the kind of band they are and the kind of climate that
they're being pushed into. I mean, when I first got into
Hypocrisy, I got into _Osculum Obscenum_. And I just loved how
completely visceral and ripping it was. And however much there
were debts to other bands, this was -so- full on death metal.
And when I got into _Abducted_ it was very different, but this
album has definitely got the Hypocrisy trademark, the trademark
that you get with _Abducted_ -- the rich guitars. It's very well
arranged and put together. I find Hypocrisy always sound
professional...
PT: Oh, cool!
CoC: Even if... I didn't enjoy _Hypocrisy_ the album that much
because I found personally that it was a kind of "put together";
that there was one song like this and one song like that. But it
always sounds good. This albums is interesting because it's a
lot more in-your-face and aggressive. Coming onto probably the
song you've been asked about more than any others, "Turn the
Page"...
PT: Yeah.
CoC: It does start off with a riff that -could- -- if maybe they were
better <under my breath> -- have been penned by a nu metal band.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: You could imagine a nu metal song starting out like this -- but
you couldn't really imagine "Turn the Page" being a nu metal
song.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: Not in totality. Did you find that that was a conscious
influence or did you find you wrote it and then people went,
"Hey, that sounds like... Slipknot!" or something?
PT: Yeah. I mean, I'm going to see Slipknot tomorrow so... No, I
mean, I was just like... It was one of those bands that really
kicked my ass for a long time, y'know? And maybe I got influenced
by it -- I have no clue, y'know, because that's probably the only
nu metal band that I really like.
CoC: Interesting. Is it the music, or is it also the whole ethos and
image?
PT: No, I think it's the aggression in the music; I wouldn't care if
they had masks or not, y'know? It's just the music and the
drummer and the vocalist and PHEW! It's almost like: Glen Benton,
step aside!
CoC: It's interesting, isn't it, because I'm not personally the
hugest fan of Slipknot, but I've gotta agree that they're
definitely really aggressive.
PT: Yeah, it's like: holy shit! It was the same shit when I heard
Deicide the first time, I had the same feeling, y'know and...
CoC: Interesting.
PT: It's really fucked up, y'know, because it's so intense it's...
CoC: Are you surprised that a band like Slipknot became so popular?
PT: Yeah. Yeah, because you know, anyone who says it's commercialised
and shit like that: listen to the album, you'll really know
what's going on. It's fucking violent music.
CoC: With closing Abyss, are you gonna completely abstain from
production duties or are you just gonna see how Hypocrisy goes
and see how you can fit in touring and then work it around that?
Are you kinda sick of the production stuff?
PT: Not sick but it's -- like I said, you know, it's very hard to
bake a different cake.
CoC: Yeah.
PT: And I -know- if I stay away from it for a year and start
recording again it's gonna sound different; you know, it's gonna
influence me a lot and make me even more hungry. And maybe I get
some more influence when it comes to productions and sounds and
stuff like that.
CoC: Definitely.
PT: I think it's very important for me also career-wise to take a
break now -- if I wanna keep on going or if I wanna be a
Morrisound or, you know, one of the other ones.
CoC: Absolutely. I think since you did _Hypocrisy_, the self-titled
album, you've been working exceptionally hard. You've done an
album every year, you've done many albums at Abyss, and it
probably does stifle your creativity after a while...
PT: Yeah, exactly.
CoC: ... because you can't produce that much stuff, y'know, you can't
have that many ideas, and that sort of thing. Was _Catch 22_
done at Abyss?
PT: Yeah-yeah, it is.
CoC: So would this be one of the last ones?
PT: For a while, until the next Hypocrisy, I think. Actually, over
the last year when I did the Dark Funeral album and the Wolf
album and the Immortal album and Destruction: the shit that I did
last year actually got their own sound.
CoC: I was gonna say: Immortal sounds absolutely brilliant.
PT: Yeah, and I mean every album sounds different from each other
considering its been done over the same year. I'm really starting
to find the difference between the bands and renew myself, I
think.
CoC: Yeah.
PT: And then it's also good to stop. I can think about it even more.
cI an keep on going that way and maybe find some other stuff that
could influence me and make it even more different.
CoC: Definitely. I think taking a break definitely is a good idea.
PT: I think I proved myself.
CoC: Yeah! I think you've -definitely- done that.
PT: And the funny thing is, Abbath from Immortal he goes, "Peter, you
can't produce every band in the world, you know: slow down!"
CoC: He's got a lot of sensible suggestions, Abbath.
PT: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. But what can I do? It's... it's a
routine, kind of, you know, it's... and then also I have started
thinking like, "Shit, it's becoming fast food."
CoC: Right, yeah. Do you find that the bands would come in and just
want the "Abyss sound" and not want you to do much with it?
PT: Yeah, but still there is nothing like the "Abyss sound"; there is
no button there that I press. It's just, as soon as I'm involved
I have my kind of tastes, you know, and it just becomes like that
and I always ask the band, "Do you like this?" and they go
"Yeah". Or "No", you know, and then we change it a little bit
until everybody is happy. But like I said, year 2001, I think I
have the most diverse sound from all these six bands that I did,
you know?
CoC: Yeah, I think that's definitely right [I had no grounds to say
this, since I have -only- the Immortal album of the above
listed, but I was in the flow of conversation -- and the
Immortal album blew me away -- so I just said what I said,
that's all I can say... -- Paul]. I mean, certainly as Immortal
goes. I thought _At the Heart of Winter_ [CoC #39] was great and
_Damned in Black_ [CoC #47] I didn't like so much but the sound
-- not mentioning the music -- on _Sons of Northern Darkness_
[CoC #58] is really incredible.
PT: Yeah, but also I'm a freak of trying to get -- the only thing
that's been a challenge for me really, I mean like a -true-
challenge over the last couple of years or from the beginning is
not to use too much triggering.
CoC: Right.
PT: You know? To get the -acoustic- sound of the drums and I think,
if you listen to the Immortal album and it's all acoustic: I
would like to hear another studio do that without any triggering,
you know?
CoC: Absolutely.
PT: So that was also a challenge and it feels like, "Oh, I don't know
if I can do better than that..."
CoC: Definitely.
PT: And then I just finished up the new Susperia album.
CoC: Ah!
PT: And that one sounds killer also because then I went the other
way: I triggered the whole drumset but I still kept the acoustic
sound also and I mixed it together and it's like a kind of
futuristic sound in it, you know? And that also came out really
different from what is "normal" from Abyss. So that was really
cool.
CoC: _Catch 22_ included, what is your favourite Hypocrisy album?
Would you say at the moment this one, probably?
PT: Yeah.
CoC: After that, which album were you most happy with? Was there any
album you kind of -based- this one on, at all?
PT: Hmmm, not really. Like I said, this one became more a
-statement-. Like, "-fuck you!-", you know? And that's I think
what the whole attitude is in the songs and the production also.
And it's very dry and very dirty but still very powerful, you
know?
CoC: Absolutely, but it also gets very kind of melodic, especially
towards the end of the album with "Seeds of the Chosen One" and
"All Turns Black".
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I mean, it's very seeped in melody and a lot of emotion, I
think.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: A different kind of emotion 'cause the earlier stuff is very
angry.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I mean, what were the kind of feelings and the lyrical ideas
behind "Seeds of the Chosen One" and especially "All Turns
Black"?
PT: Yeah. I mean, actually "Seeds of the Chosen One" is probably the
only science -- no, not science fiction, but it's about making
the perfect person, y'know?
CoC: Right. Cloning, right?
PT: Yeah, but that's already happened so it's -not- science fiction,
you know?
CoC: Sure.
PT: But I think it's not a good idea, and so basically everything is
what I feel, you know. "All Turns Black" was the last song I
wrote lyrics on and I was totally empty and, like I said you
know, my life hasn't been the best over the last year for one or
another reason and I just, you know, basically wrote that. You
know, when you have this kind of period when nothing goes your
way?
CoC: Absolutely, yeah. That feeling of emptiness.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: That sort of thing. Would you mind remarking on the other
Hypocrisy albums?
PT: OK.
CoC: Just say what first comes to your mind about what you think of
them starting with: _Penetralia_?
PT: Ummm, very influenced by Morbid [Angel], Deicide and also
Entombed.
CoC: How original would you say it was?
PT: Not at all.
CoC: How much do you enjoy it nowadays?
PT: I think it's still cool. The only thing I have a problem with, I
guess, is the production and how lousy musicians we were. You
know, what the hell can you do?
CoC: I still really enjoy it. It's got a nice...
PT: It's got a charm, I guess.
CoC: Yeah, I know what you mean.
PT: But I still like the songs, you know, and every time we play it
live it feels really very good.
CoC: _Osculum Obscenum_?
PT: Uh, "OK, let's do the fucking most brutal album ever."
CoC: <I laugh>
PT: That was the only thing we were thinking about.
CoC: <I continue to laugh>
PT: Definitely, you know.
CoC: The production went a bit funny on that one, right?
PT: Yeah, it's weird, but that was cool because it became a little
bit of an original kind of sound. I don't know if there's any
other band who had that kind of guitar sound or drum sound or
whatever, you know?
CoC: Definitely. It very much stood out at the time.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: The only thing that was a bit weird about it was there was some
weird error in one of the songs.
PT: Yeah, exactly! We did discover that when it was printed and I was
like, "Uhh, well, what the hell was that?!".
CoC: <laughs> Yeah, exactly, it's like, "What the fuck?!".
PT: Yeah. We were listening to it when we got it and we were like,
"Why didn't anyone tell us that?"
CoC: Frustrating. Going on to _The Fourth Dimension_, which is kind
of a big step...
PT: Yeah. Ummmm, we start discovering keyboards and stuff and
melodies and all of a sudden we started writing these -slow-
songs and stuff. And uh, still from a musician point of view it
was very bad.
CoC: Uh-huh.
PT: And production-wise it was terrible. It was the -worst-
production -ever- in our history. And that was the only time
where we went to another studio -- and a big studio in Stockholm
called "Parks" studio. A lot of big bands recorded there and it's
not a matter of the studio, it's a matter of who sits behind it,
you know?
CoC: Yeah, totally.
PT: And, I guess they convinced us, "This is cool?", you know, and we
were like, "Oh yeah, cool, you know." And then it cost like -- I
don't know, 20,000 dollars to make it, for two weeks or something
like that.
CoC: Woah! That must have been a bit of an eye-opener. I mean, did
that kind of influence you to really beef up Abyss?
PT: Yeah, 'cause the two first albums I recorded in this studio, my
friend's studio, and he wanted to sell it, after we did _TFD_,
for a very cheap price, you know? And I was like, "Yeah, sure,
I'll buy it." -No-one- believed me that I could make it, you
know. They were like, "You're crazy." And I got this kind of help
from the government to start my own business and stuff like that
and everybody's like, "Fuck that! It's not going to happen!" And
I just started to work on it.
CoC: And I mean, with _Abducted_ you probably got quite a good
result. How do you feel about _Abducted_ these days?
PT: It's a very good production if you listen to it. It really sticks
out, you know?
CoC: Absolutely.
PT: I mean, if you compare the difference between _Fourth Dimension_
and that one, it's like night and day, you know?
CoC: Absolutely.
PT: And also that was an album that we recorded like three or four
times, and threw away songs all the time. I think we had like --
pssshh, I don't know, twenty-five songs for that album.
CoC: Wow!
PT: And in the beginning we had nine songs and we listened to it and
the production wasn't good and we were gonna re-record it. Then
we started writing new songs and threw away four or five of them.
And then we did the same thing one more time and we started
throwing away new songs and writing new songs and, you know, at
the end, it came out this way. And it took a long time to record
it, you know, but I think it was worth it.
CoC: Absolutely.
PT: And it was a learning process for me as a studio owner and
producer because that was really one of the first ones that I
really worked very, very hard on. The other albums were always
like one-and-a-half or two weeks recording and mixing, you know,
and that's why: you had to live with the budget that you got, you
know.
CoC: Yeah: that's the advantage of doing it in your own studio.
PT: Yeah, but then, you know, with Hypocrisy we got a big advance,
you know, so we could keep on going as long as we wanted almost.
The other guys, you know, could take off work and we still can
make money out of it, you know?
CoC: That's cool.
PT: To live on it while we recorded and did it in our time.
CoC: Absolutely. That's great.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: Then: _The Final Chapter_?
PT: Yeah, _The Final Chapter_ it was... uh, I think, then we started
to think about writing -- I don't know: still keep the fast
stuff. Maybe it was a little bit afraid of moving away even
further.
CoC: Right. Progressing too fast?
PT: Yeah. We wanted to do these two kind of different things like do
one of these slow, Pink Floyd songs -but- in a metal way, you
know? But then also really try to save the -death metal- stuff,
you know?
CoC: The aggression.
PT: Yeah, and with the production we wanted to go the opposite way
and make it dirtier than the previous album, not so produced.
CoC: Ah, I see what you mean. Yeah, it does have a slightly rawer
edge.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: It's emphasised on that Razor cover that you did, "Evil
Invaders".
PT: Yeah.
CoC: Then: _Hypocrisy_ -- right after you'd dissolved the band and
reformed it.
PT: Yeah, and then we said, "Umm, maybe we should do a little bit
more heavier songs", because we didn't feel that the fast songs
were so good on the previous album. And we said, "You know, maybe
we're better -heavy- songwriters." You know, like -gothic-...
-death-, err, writers, you know? So we started doing that and we
only did like two fast songs because we... Actually, we did like
five or six fast songs, but they weren't so good anymore. Maybe
we didn't have the fire in us to make good fast songs. You know,
we concentrate more on the slow songs -- and I think the
slow songs are really, really cool in a way, because they're
depressive and stuff, you know?
CoC: Yeah, I think they really stick out as being by far the best
material on that record.
PT: Yeah. But then, you know, people were expecting us to keep on
developing the gothic side of us and then we said, "If we go even
further with this gothic, then we're gonna change our style into
like -- I don't know: early Paradise Lost and stuff."
CoC: Rightrightright.
PT: And we were like, "Shit, man! We're a death metal band! What the
hell?"
CoC: <I laugh>
PT: So we reversed 180 and did the most brutal album we could do at
the time. You know, since _Osculum Obscenum_? And that was _Into
the Abyss_.
CoC: Did that have any reference to The Abyss, the band that you used
to do?
PT: Uh, no, not at all.
CoC: OK, just curious. So this new album is kind of a reconciling of
the two, in a way?
PT: Yeah.
CoC: I mean, there's a lot of thrash and death metal lying around but
there's also, you know, the pianos that begin "Edge of Darkness"
and things like that.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: It's all come together, I think.
PT: Yeah, I think so. It's just like a bunch of different song-styles
from the past but also a lot of new stuff in there as well that I
think is also very important, you know, for us as developing
songwriters.
CoC: Absolutely. When are you intending to tour the album? This album
seems like something that's very good for live play.
PT: Yeah.
CoC: It sounds like the kind of stuff that you're really gonna come
out well with.
PT: Exactly.
CoC: So are you doing full tours for this one?
PT: Yeah, we're doing like -- I don't know: four weeks in Europe,
every fucking country, you know.
CoC: Cool.
PT: And we're also coming to England. But we were also supposed to
try to get to England a week before and try to do like five or
six gigs but I guess it didn't happen so...
CoC: Damn.
PT: Yeah. In certain territories we really want to work this album.
CoC: Absolutely.
PT: Because you -always- work it in Germany, you know?
CoC: Exactly, yeah.
PT: It's because we've been so lazy: we just went on these Nuclear
Blast festivals. You know: it's easy to set up, it's well paid
and we don't have to worry too much.
CoC: Right.
PT: But this time we definitely wanna go to the territories...
CoC: ... and do the clubs?
PT: Yeah, and really work the countries, you know?
CoC: Yeah, that'd be great.
PT: And I think it has very big potential in England, this album.
CoC: Absolutely, I think so.
PT: Much more than it ever had before, you know?
CoC: Yeah, I think so.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
H E A R T F E L T I N T E N S I T Y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Max Cavalera of Soulfly
by: Adrian Bromley
Soulfly singer Max Cavalera has a theory. By the time a band
hits their third album, they have hit a solid stride, a feeling has
come over their creative energy as a band and they hit the mark on
the bullseye. Just look at the bands that have put out some of their
best material with their third albums: Black Sabbath with _Masters of
Reality_ (1971), Metallica with _Master of Puppets_ (1986) and Iron
Maiden with _Number of the Beast (1982).
Well, you can now add Soulfly to that list of bands with
the band's third album _3_. Much heavier than its predecessors
_Primitive_ and the self-titled debut, _3_ sees Soulfly's momentum
rise to magnificent levels of heart-pounding aggression on new songs
like "Enterfaith", "Call to Arms" and "L.O.T.M." (think heavier
Soulfly, Sepultura _Chaos A.D._-era and Nailbomb), but at the same
time tone things down a bit and expand the Soulfly sound into new
directions (i.e. "One" and "Tree of Pain").
Pumped and ready to go, Soulfly has already taken Europe by
storm with the new album and tour, and now it is time for North
America to get a beating at the hands of Soulfly's electric and heavy
charge. Cavalera contacted Chronicles of Chaos while at a tour stop
in Worcester, Massachusetts on the much talked about summer tour with
Slayer and Sweden's In Flames.
CoC: How is the tour going? This is such a solid bill for fans to
come out and experience a hearty metal show. What diversity. Are
you having fun?
Max Cavalera: Man, the tour is going over real well. It is an awesome
tour. It has been killer every night and sold out
shows. I am excited to see the fans turn it up like
this and really get into the show. It is cool to see
bands like Slayer, Soulfly and In Flames going out
there every night and packing the place and it is a
good sign that heavy music is here and that trendy
music can push it away.
CoC: I bet every band on the bill is winning new fans with this tour?
MC: Exactly! Every night fans are being exposed to all this music. We
bring our fans to the shows who may not have seen Slayer before
and they get right into what we are doing and what Slayer is
doing and vice versa. Fans of Slayer come to the show to see
Slayer and get drawn into the intensity and tribal aspect of what
Soulfly does. And the same goes for the In Flames' fans. At the
end of the show it seems like everyone is going away having
enjoyed a great show.
CoC: How is the new stuff on _3_ going over live?
MC: Killer! I was a little nervous, to tell you the truth, because we
have a lot of classics that we play and we don't want the new
songs to be better than them in a live environment, we want them
to work well off one another. We do a lot of the new stuff live
because I want people coming to the show to experience the new
album's intensity, as well as some classic stuff. I want them to
feel the anger on the new disc. I like the fact that we can play
a lot of _3_ live because there are less guests on the album and
I think the fans appreciate that as well.
CoC: In terms of what you have done with _3_, where do you see
Soulfly now, musically and spiritually?
MC: I feel very happy with this record. I am very happy with what we
are doing with the band. I think we are starting to get a good
balance of what we want to do with Soulfly. The album goes from
heavy to tribal onto melodic ideas. I like all of those elements
of what we do. I'm a fan of all types of music and I like to
experience them all and just get so much out of what they have to
offer. I think the great thing about this band is that we can go
from one extreme to another, north to south, very naturally
without it seeming like it is forced. I don't want to force the
music on people. The heart of the music is the main thing for me.
It just has to feel right coming out of me, no matter which
direction it goes.
CoC: Do you look back at the earlier stuff of Soulfly and kind of
feel awkward about the ideas you brought into the band, or are
you pretty confident with the way the band has evolved?
MC: Of course there are things that we have done that could have been
done much differently, but I try not to look back as much because
then you really start to dissect the music. People that do that
become predictable. I don't want to be predictable. I think about
what I have done, but I don't go back and analyze everything I
have done up to this point. I don't know where we are going with
this band, but we are trying new things. A song like "Tree of
Pain" [a moving, atmospheric song featuring singer Asha and
Cavalera's stepson Ritchie -- Adrian] is a good example of that.
We just need to carry on and not hold onto old ideas. I need to
try something new each time out.
CoC: While the album is much heavier than past Soulfly albums, there
is a definite vibe of diversity flowing throughout. How do you
think the Soulfly fans will react to _3_?
MC: I really don't know how people will react. I think most Soulfly
fans expect different shit from me every time, so they won't be
surprised. But at the same time, I like to try and expose them to
new things and that is why there is material like "One" and "Tree
of Pain". Those ideas are new and they haven't heard them on any
Soulfly album before. For myself, I think it will be exciting to
see how they will react to it and what songs they get into. What
I also like about this record is the typical Max songs where I
dig deep into my cassettes of four track recordings and find
riffs that drive people and myself. I really tried hard to find
some classic guitar riffs to turn some of these songs into
powerhouse numbers.
CoC: What about all of the people out there who have lashed out
against Soulfly in the past, calling the band a nu-metal and a
"jump-up-and-down" kind of band? How do you feel about that,
with people saying Max should get back to playing metal and not
this Soulfly stuff?
MC: I have to deal with it. It is something that is gonna happen and
it does. I was thinking about this the other day while watching
an NHL hockey game. There was some player from another team who
people hated and were booing because he was on the other team and
was scoring goals. I kind of feel like that sometimes. The anger
and aggression towards me is like fuel and just pushes me even
harder to keep carrying on with my music as it does with the
hockey player on the ice trying to score goals for his team. I
don't want to be the loved guy. I want to be the guy who not
everyone likes and when I get pissed off about the way things are
going, I go back in the studio and write a song like "Eye for an
Eye". I write music because I love music and I want to share
metal music with people. If there are some people out there who
don't like what I do, I can't do anything about it. Not everyone
can like Soulfly. From day one it has been like that. I had to
put up with people who didn't like Sepultura too. <laughs>
CoC: Let's talk about Sepultura for a bit. Do you think you'd be
where you are today with Soulfly if it hadn't been for the
success of Sepultura?
MC: I never planned to leave Sepultura [he left in 1997 -- Adrian]. I
planned to stay in the band for a long time, but I didn't plan a
lot of things in life. These things just happen, kind of like the
way we came out of Belo Horizonte [their hometown in Brazil --
Adrian] and became successful. It was amazing. It was a lot of
work and a lot of fun. I was pleased with the success of
the band, but I think Sepultura and Nailbomb [the band Max
collaborated on with ex-Fudge Tunnel member Alex Newport for the
1994 release _Point Blank_ -- Adrian] really helped me find my
place in music and where I am today. It was like a school where
you learn from your mistakes and how and why things happen and I
really enjoy what I am doing with Soulfly right now.
CoC: It must feel good to see where you are today after leaving
Sepultura five years ago. There must be some kind of vindication
in what you are doing now?...
MC: I don't know how to respond to that. One thing I never considered
was to stop playing music [with the split from Sepultura] and
with that on my mind I carried on. I wanted and needed to do
this. It is still on my mind, the stress about trying to stay
focused on what I am doing, but it is cool to see how people are
actually started to get into and understand what Soulfly is all
about.
CoC: Is Sepultura still on your mind or do you not care?
MC: I still care about Sepultura in my heart. I am proud of what we
did with the band. It is kind of like Ozzy is still a part of
Black Sabbath, even though there were other singers in the band.
Ozzy is still into what he did with Black Sabbath and I will
always be into what Sepultura did, but at the same time I think
it is important not to live from the past. It is more important
to live for the future.
CoC: When you play back your Soulfly albums, do you ever hear any
Sepultura riffs or patterns in the music, or do you think
Soulfly has distanced itself from Sepultura musically?
MC: I hear it all the time. Both of those bands are connected in some
way or another. All of the Soulfly records you can hear that
Sepultura sound at one time or another, but like I said before,
there are also ideas and sounds on Soulfly albums that we'd never
done with Sepultura and I'm proud of that. It is exciting to try
new things and expand the sound of a band.
CoC: Right now, with the tour and the response to the new album,
things seem to be clicking for Soulfly. Am I right?
MC: It is starting to pick up in North America. It is really sick in
Europe. Things are crazy over there. We are on the charts in
France, Germany and Italy. I have never been on the charts that
long with Sepultura ever, so I guess it says that Soulfly is
bigger than Sepultura ever was there. I am a very patient man and
I think this music that we play takes time for people to get
exposed to it. We don't have a lot of support as other big bands
do and a lot of the success for the band has come from word of
mouth by the fans. Eventually I think we will find our place in
the sun. We planted our seeds long ago and now we are seeing the
fruits from all the work we have done with _3_.
CoC: Having been in the music industry for so long now, what are the
things that you despise about it currently?
MC: I am sick of the same old shit. The same type of bands that get
played because there is so much money behind it. I can't believe
some of the shitty bands that people are so into. But it has
always been like that. I remember years ago when Sepultura was
starting to get big and there were bands like Ugly Kid Joe that
sucked but were huge. Where are they now? Those bands are big,
but they never last. I'm more into having a lot of integrity and
having your heart in what you do than be a huge success and sell
tons of records.
CoC: So what do you think has been the success of Soulfly?
MC: I think the success of Soulfly has been that I have done what I
wanted to do. I could have easily stuck to one style of music and
created some great music but not really have gone as far as I
have with Soulfly. I didn't do what people told me to do, I did
the exact opposite. When bands listen to what people tell them to
do, that just ruins a band. They become something else, far way
from what they had originally started out as. You got to stick to
your guns. As long as I know what I am playing is coming from
here <Max taps his heart> then I can be proud of anything Soulfly
does. I'm glad that I have never been afraid to go into
unexplored territories and see what happens.
CoC: So what is left for Max Cavalera? What are your goals?
MC: I don't have many big goals, really. I am very patient and I just
want this to last as long as I can. I see musicians like Carlos
Santana and B.B. King who are old but still doing this and loving
it. I want to be like that. I don't care about having one huge
record and riding in limos and having all this money. I just want
to enjoy my music and play it as long as I can. My goal is to be
old and playing music. I want to be in my wheelchair and still
jamming to my guitar.
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D A R K R E F L E C T I O N S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Blackie Lawless of W.A.S.P.
by: Adrian Bromley
There has been a lot of change in the world since September
11th, 2001. Think of how things are now. Everything is different. We
as people have changed, the way we live our lives has changed and
even our perceptions of people (good and bad) have changed. It will
be a long time before things get back to the way they used to be.
Hell, they may never be the same.
W.A.S.P. bassist/singer/frontman/lyricist Blackie Lawless
himself too has experienced the pain and suffering that has risen
from such a tragic event and instead of signing up to go overseas to
carry a gun and fight a new war, he put the pen to the paper and has
assembled one of the most intense and brutally honest W.A.S.P.
records to date: _Dying for the World_.
"This truly is a great record. It is very powerful and it says a
lot about what we are doing as W.A.S.P. right now", begins the always
straight-to-the-point frontman. "When we finished recording the album
and we were in the studio playing back the final mix, Frankie
[Banali, drums] looked stunned. He was stunned for about 30 seconds
and said, "This is the beginning of the third chapter for W.A.S.P.",
and it took me a while to see what he meant. I eventually understood.
We had the "I Wanna Be Somebody" phase when we started off and then
we moved into new ground and material with _The Headless Children_
(1989) and _The Crimson Idol_ (1992), and now we have this record. I
think it says a lot about what we can do with the band's music."
I agree. I think doing a really heavy, emotional record like
this shows people that W.A.S.P. isn't just some run-of-the-mill band.
There is definite room to try new things -- as the band has done in
the past -- and keep expanding the sounds and visions, while at the
same time keeping the core of the band alive and kicking.
This record holds a lot of emotions within; how hard was it to
assemble this album? "I poured a lot of myself into this record. I
went down to ground zero of the World Trade Center a month after the
attacks and I just stood there in shock. The song "Hollow Ground"
came to me right away. The smell was awful and it was just a mess. A
huge pile of wires, rubble and metal. I didn't know how to feel after
being there, but I knew I had to write about the experience. About a
month later, after the shock had worn off, my sadness turned to
anger. I thought very long and hard and I came to the conclusion that
I didn't want to make a record that was reactive. With one song like
"Hollow Ground" it is okay to pay homage to it, but I didn't want to
react and write a whole album about what happened. That is an emotion
that can get you into trouble big time. I tried to think of this as
clearly as I could. If I was in a position of power, say in the
Pentagon, you are not going to try and think with your heart, you are
gonna think with your head. I know why this happened. What is done is
already done and I can't fix that. Where are we going? What does it
mean? Where is this all taking us? And then I started thinking that
we are dealing with is a culture that is seven or eight centuries
behind us and thinks that anything Western is evil. Let me tell you
something, man. If anybody has the balls to do what they did, them
motherfuckers are dangerous. They came into your front yard and did
this. They are capable of anything."
There seems to be a lot of people dedicating their work and time
to remembering those who lost their lives and the tragic events. It
is good to see, kind of like a healing process don't you think? "I
think it is up to the individual how they want to go about handling
it. I wrote one song about what happened and it meant a lot for me to
write it", he says. "My focus now is, "What do we do about it now?"
There is a song on the new album called "Revengeance" and it is
giving into that emotion somewhat, but I am trying to look at this as
level-headed as possible. Where is this going? This is not going
where we want it to go and we are going to eventually have to deal
with it. This is a big problem for the Western world, not just the
US, countries like Canada and countries in Europe are affected too.
Basically if you don't agree with their edict, you are on the wrong
side."
"This record to me is more about what is getting ready to happen
in the future, in the sense that I want people to get their heads out
of the sand and to think just what may happen", Lawless explains. "I
understand people want to get on with their lives, but this is going
to be around for a while and is part of the new generation. We need
to tackle these problems head on."
And what better way to get one's thoughts across than with.
music It has been that way for generations and continues on...
Responds Lawless, "Rock 'n' roll doesn't really change anything
except for the individuals listening to it, and then the individuals
go out and make a change. Music is a powerful tool and it has scared
governments all over the world. When music is doing that, then it is
doing what it is supposed to do."
As I mentioned before, _Dying for the World_ is one W.A.S.P.
record that offers me everything I ever wanted in a record by the
band and more. It has grittiness, a drive to it, power and a message.
The message within this album is not something Lawless intends to ram
down people's throats, moreso messages that get you thinking.
"No one out there is thinking nowadays. It is a scarce
commodity", points out Lawless. "Everything out there in the music
scene nowadays is fueled by Nintendo and there is very little effort.
People are given people pre-packaged ideas to consume. People need to
think and get out being told to be a certain way and just grasp what
is going on. I hope people get something out of this record. I am
sure they will."
Fans of the band will note that with _Dying for the World_
longtime guitarist Chris Holmes is out of the band -- replaced by
Darrell Roberts (bassist Mike Duda rounds out the band). About the
new axe-slinger, Lawless says: "It must have been tough for Darrell
who had toured and played guitar with us, but had never worked in the
studio. He was given the inevitable task of joining a band that has
been around for almost twenty years. It is kind of walking into a
movie that is halfway done", chuckles Lawless. "He was expected to
fit in immediately and it was tough, I'm sure. That is a gig I
wouldn't want."
"As time went on in the studio, after the initial uncertainty of
joining the band in the studio environment, he started to get good
feel of what was going on and what was going to come out of this
experience. In all honesty, after the whole record was done and I
played it back, I told him I thought the best thing on this record
was the guitar playing. I may feel differently a year from now, but
right now when I hear his guitar work I think it is pretty damn
good."
One thing I have noticed about Blackie Lawless having talked to
him numerous times over the years is that he doesn't bullshit you. He
always tells it like it is. He knows he has made mistakes and he
knows that not all that W.A.S.P. has done has been stellar, but he
also knows that the music he creates comes from the heart and what he
is feeling at that particular time in his career. I have been 50/50
with the past few albums by the band, but something must have clicked
this time around. No doubt certain events easily pushed Lawless into
a serious mode of thinking/creativity.
"I can't tell you if we did anything good. The only thing I can
do is trust my initial instinct of what I got when I first wrote the
material and that will see usually me through", he ends off. "I got a
good sense of trust with what I was doing with the material here on
_Dying for the World_ and went with it. It seems to have paid off."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
S T I L L P U R R I N G
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Morgan and Mercedes Lander of Kittie
by: Adrian Bromley
While London, Ontario all-girl aggressive metal trio Kittie may
not be the favourite band for most of the Chronicles of Chaos staff,
I myself don't mind them and think that they deserve a story in CoC.
To each their own, I suppose.
The band -- singer/guitarist Morgan Lander, drummer and sister
Mercedes and new bassist Jennifer J. Arruyo -- couldn't be happier in
2002. They just returned from a successful tour in Europe, they have
already done numerous US tours, and their sophomore effort -- 2001's
_Oracle_ -- showcases a stronger follow-up to the wildly successful
_Spit_ album a few years back. The new disc finds the band adding a
bit more aggression to the fold, while at the same time adhering
to the melodic, aggressive swaying of their sound. Much more
strengthened and equally as brutal sonically as before, these "metal
kittens" are rabidly fierce from the get go, especially on songs like
"Mouthful of Poison", "Severed" and the ultra-cool cover of Pink
Floyd's dark number "Run Like Hell".
"I think this record was just something that had to be done,
right then and now, and I think it came out great", starts Mercedes
about _Oracle_. "It had been a few years since our debut album and we
were just starved for writing music. We toured quite a bit and when
we needed to make this album it all came together quite quickly and
in a short period of time."
"Like any album you make, you can only do your best and we did
that with the new album", chimes in Morgan. "If people don't like
this new album and prefer the old stuff, whatever. We were pretty
confident with what we were writing for the new album and excited
that it was a lot different than the last album."
And what about the line-up changes that have occurred with the
band over the last little while, how did that affect the music
creation process? "This record is a lot more progressive than the
last one", says Morgan. Mercedes juts in: "As for the bandmember
changes? The members in the band that sucked are no longer in the
band." Both siblings laugh.
Continues Morgan, "I think things happen for a reason and maybe
it was fate's way of helping us out by telling us to go in a
direction that we wanted to go to. Not to say we couldn't go in the
direction we wanted; maybe at that point in time we didn't have the
right talent, and now we do."
"Our new bassist Jen is a great bass player and a great addition
to the band. It was all about hooking up with the right person,
someone who is mature and has the right vision. She has been in
numerous bands and toured the US several times and just has that
experience and knows what being in a band is all about. She knows
that we might not always be on a bus or get good food on the road or
get the red carpet treatment wherever we go. I think when we do
decide to work on the next album and start writing, she will
contribute a lot of strong ideas to the music. She has already
adjusted the bass lines on songs to make them heavier and much
tighter and not simple like they were originally recorded for
_Oracle_."
I remember seeing Kittie at Milwaukee MetalFest a few years ago
and your bass player at the time was walking around with a blowup
doll. "I'm sorry to hear that", says Mercedes. "That was just wrong",
she laughs.
Things have definitely changed since then. The band has grown
musically and I think the new album crushes the debut. Do you sense a
drastic amount of change in the music of Kittie?
Morgan starts, "I think a lot of people are surprised by what we
did with this album. It came out the way we wanted it to be and we
are just so much more into evolving the sound come next album. I
think people will be happy to know that we plan to become more brutal
next time around."
The one thing a lot of fans like about Kittie is the meshing of
melody and aggression. Do the Lander sisters think one day Kittie
will be full on death metal growls or do they like the mixture of
vocal stylings?
"I think the mixture of styles is what makes us who we are",
says Morgan. "There is a dynamic and aspect of the way we write that
allows us to be melodic and at the same time be heavy and scream. I
think as things go along for us it will get heavier as times goes on,
as well as the melodic parts will be worked on to bring some variety
to what we do. These ideas and changes brought into the music of
Kittie is all about the evolution of what we want to do as a band."
Are the members of Kittie still running into music fans who
don't like them and/or still don't get what they are doing musically?
Mercedes states, "Yeah, there are still people out there who are
not into us and lash out for the sake of lashing out. I think if all
those people who wrote off the first record heard this one they might
be into what we are doing now. I also think if you were to throw on
our record an not tell a non-Kittie fan who it was and played it,
they'd be like. "Who the fuck is this? This is good!""
"When we first came out we were a lot different and a lot less
experienced than we are now", adds Morgan. "I think it is quite sad
that people out there still won't give our new album a chance and
because they wrote us off the first time we don't mean anything and
they avoid our album. It was the best we could do at ages of 12 and
14 and with the material we had. It is a shame as I think the
material on this album is quite good and technical."
"I know a lot of people talk shit about us, but I'd like to see
other 12 to 14 year old kids write good music like we had on _Spit_",
ends off Mercedes. "I don't think they could. We worked hard to make
it happen for Kittie. We've got a good thing going and it has only
gotten better. The future looks good for us three girls. Bring it
on!"
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G R O W T H T H R O U G H E X P E R I E N C E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC talks to Nils Eriksson of Nocturnal Rites
by: Adrian Bromley
There are very few bands out there nowadays that have the
momentum to produce consecutive solid albums. Swedish power metal
sextet Nocturnal Rites have been pretty lucky over the last few
years, issuing forth three powerful records, one after another. The
momentum began with 1999's breathtaking _The Sacred Talisman_,
carried through with 2000's strong _Afterlife_ and now finds the band
in 2002 with the triumphant _Shadowland_. What is the secret? Bassist
Nils Eriksson talks to Chronicles of Chaos about the music, the
creativity and the emotions that run wild and free in Nocturnal
Rites. Their heavy metal passion runs deep!
"The great thing about us is that we are always growing with our
sound", starts the bassist. "If you play back the last few albums,
which I love all the same, you can really hear the difference in our
music. A gradual evolution of the sound of Nocturnal Rites. I
think we [the band is rounded out by vocalist Jonny Lindkvist,
guitarists Nils Norberg and Fredrik Mannberg, drummer Owe Lingvall
and keyboardist Mattias Bernhardsson -- Adrian] always make an effort
to, not really go out and do it, but maybe subconsciously, try to
make each album stand out on its own and offer something new but
still sound like us."
You don't want to change too much, eh? "Yeah", says Eriksson.
"We have a really good style and there is only so much we do and
evolve before it gets away from you and won't fit into the music
people like us to play."
And do you enjoy the recording process or is it something very
intimidating each time out? "Recording an album is something I don't
find to be too fun", notes Eriksson. "Sometimes it is okay, but it
can be very stressful. I mean, we love to work on the album, but the
finished product is what we look forward to, and being able to take
that new material out on the road with us."
"The thing about every new album is that you basically have to
start from scratch. I mean, you have a general idea of where things
are with the band and sound, but you need to expand on that and that
is the difficult task sometimes. We never really look back at what we
have done once we start writing and working on a new album. We need
to just put our heads down and write what is coming from our heart
and hopefully we can capture those emotions on disc."
He adds, "I think a lot of bands out there look back at what
they did with their last recording and try to recreate the emotions
and ideas. We don't care how it turns out; as long as it has the
Nocturnal Rites' sound to it, we are happy."
Are there certain things you try to avoid in the studio? "There
are lots of bands who try to do all of these fancy things in the
studios and try new techniques and new ideas and we aren't like that
at all. We just sit down, write music and record it. It would be
difficult for us to actually try to come up with all of these other
ideas and try to make it work together when we already have a simple
technique of assembling songs."
For the first time in their career, Nocturnal Rites worked on
_Shadowland_ with producer Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, Strapping
Young Lad, Stuck Mojo) at Dug-Out Studios. He is a great producer.
That must have been an experience? "Yeah, he was a lot of fun to work
with", states the bassist. "He really helped add a nice sound to our
music. We've done all of our previous albums in our hometown (Umea,
Sweden) and we just needed a change and needed to get out of this
crappy city to record _Shadowland_ in Uppsala, Sweden with Daniel. We
tried everything we could here at home and just needed some new ideas
to bring to the band."
"He was really excited about working with us, just as we were
about working with him. He came up to talk with us about the new
album and right away we knew he was the right guy to work with. He
had a lot of great ideas to help further the sound and power of
Nocturnal Rites' music."
"Recording this album -- other than the new city and producer --
was pretty much the same as it has always been for us. We really
didn't have much time to any thing else in the new surroundings other
than concentrate 100% on finishing up the album in the allotted
time."
What reaction did Eriksson have to _Shadowland_ when he played
it back the first time? "I felt really good about the album when I
heard it. For the first time with any of our recordings I could sit
back and listen to an album all the way through and be really into
it. I think that we did a really good job of creating an album that
offers up a lot of variety. Not one song on the album sounds like
another and by having the album assembled like that we are able to
bring about a lot of different moods and emotions within our music. I
think people expect most albums to have variety, but that isn't
always the case with new releases. I am proud to say that every song
on _Shadowland_ sounds new and fresh and I love it."
And how does he want the Nocturnal Rites' fans to react to the
new disc? He finishes, "I just want them to be really excited about
the new album and be really into like we all are. I think the music,
the power and the production of the album will blow people away. I
think it is easily our strongest and most complete Nocturnal Rites
album to date. Enjoy!"
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FROM KNOB TWIRLING TO GUITAR PLAYING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Fredrik Nordstrom of Dream Evil
by: Adrian Bromley
Change is good.
If you don't believe me, just ask Fredrik Nordstrom (producer of
some of most groundbreaking releases from heavies like Dimmu Borgir,
In Flames, and At the Gates), and he'll tell you that breaking away
from what you do normally from time to time, taking that step towards
change, makes life that much more enjoyable.
"It wasn't that hard for me to go from working with bands and
running my own studio [Studio Fredman] to doing this", starts
Nordstrom about his leap from behind the production board to guitar
player in heavy metal group Dream Evil, who have just released their
Century Media debut _Dragon Slayer_. "Years ago, before the studio
was going, I was teaching music to kids. I basically quit that job to
work full-time at running the studio. Eventually as the years went on
and I worked with bands like Ceremonial Oath, In Flames and At the
Gates to name a few, I kind of forgot about the music I was playing
and wanted to explore. <laughs> When I opened my studio I wanted to
make my own album eventually, and that never happened. I had a band a
few years ago that used to play around and do covers, and then a few
years back I guess the idea of Dream Evil came about and it just
ignited my interest once again to play music and make some original
music."
"From that excitement of starting a band things just grew for
Dream Evil. Next thing I knew, I was writing songs and the people I
had played the music to were excited that it was "heavy metal". I was
excited too."
And then came the formation of the band...
"I met Gus G. (guitarist) while in Greece and he told me he was
planning to come and visit Sweden; so when he did, we hooked up and
started writing songs. I had only planned for this to be a studio
project, but I needed a singer, so I called Niklas [Istfeldt; backing
vocalist for HammerFall] and he came down to sing for us. He was
telling me how great the songs were and that we needed to form a
band, so he called Peter [bassist; Stalfors] and he came down. Then
we needed a drummer and eventually recruited Snowy Shaw. It was a
strange way for a band to come together, but it worked out."
He adds, "This was the right time for me to do this band because
I found the right people. I don't expect this band to be hugely
successful as, say, Blind Guardian or In Flames. I mean, In Flames
tours for like six months a year and I am not sure I am prepared to
sacrifice my family and studio work for that."
When Nordstrom and Dream Evil started demoing the material and
sending it to labels, did Nordstrom find people to be very receptive
to his new band or were they very pessimistic about the idea of a
band working out for Nordstrom?
He laughs. "I didn't care what people were thinking about the
music, really. I know I was proud of it, so that was all that was
important to me", he says. "I played a lot of the music to musicians
who were recording in my studio; a lot of them really liked it.
Response from the bands was always good, so I pursued it. I had even
thought about approaching Alexi Laiho [Children of Bodom, Sinergy] to
play guitar for us."
Oh man, I am glad you didn't. I hate his bands and I think he
isn't all that good of a guitar player. Just flashy.
"Really? I think he is a great person and a great guitar player.
I understand that you are not a fan, but it would have been
interesting had he played with us, don't you think?"
I guess so...
About the making of the record, he comments, "I just wanted to
make a record that was very simple. I wanted to make a record that
fans of heavy metal music would like and want to hear. I have seen a
lot of bands that get so involved with their recording in the studio
that they just seem to lose grip of what is going on. I know what
fans want to hear and I went out of my way to make a record that
delivered the goods to them. I've always written heavy metal music
and I was glad that I could do that with Dream Evil. It just felt
right."
Heavy metal music seems to be timeless, really, don't you think?
I mean, even now I can put on an Iron Maiden album (i.e. 1983's
_Piece of Mind_) and still feel like I had just put it on for the
first time.
"I still remember being a teenager and buying all those records.
I love that era of metal. I just want to play that stuff. I love
writing and working with this type of music or music that is very
melancholic. We're all fans of the heavy metal era, so it shouldn't
be a surprise that when we got together this is the music that came
out of it. It wasn't a decision to make this type of music, it just
happened that way. HammerFall really opened the door for this kind of
music. Four or five years ago the heavy metal scene was dead and now
it is very vibrant."
_Dragon Slayer_ is getting a lot of rave reviews. Not bad for a
debut disc. Does that surprise you, how people are reacting to your
music?
"Yeah, we have gotten so many great reviews for this album and I
couldn't be happier. I would say mostly everyone is into what we are
doing, though there was one funny review that said, "Fredrik, stay
behind the console." <laughs> It made me laugh and it doesn't hurt
me. People have a right to react how they want to my music and it
just makes me happy to see people feel the same way about Dream Evil
as I do."
With the next record, is the band more confident with what they
can do now, seeing as though the first album is behind them?
"I'm actually a bit nervous", he reveals. "I mean, I know how we
sound now, but I am not sure where we are going to take it. I think
it will be similar, but I think the music will build from the ideas
that we did this last time. I also want the studio experience to be
pretty much the same, not too technical. I see bands coming in all
the time and sweating and fighting over music because they can't get
the right parts down, etc. Gus is a very technical player and when he
comes in with ideas that I think are too difficult to work with I
have him make them a little simpler."
In other news, Nordstrom's wife recently gave birth to a baby
boy (this interview was rescheduled twice because of the birth) and
while he couldn't be happier welcoming a new addition to the family,
he admits that there is some struggling going on to keep a balance
with his family life and his role as a producer and musician.
"It is quite hard to juggle the family life with my job as a
producer and musician, but it is working out", he ends off. "I'm my
own boss and I can pretty much set my own times. It works out in the
end and I can pretty much handle both at the same time without major
complications. Both music and my family are very important to me and
I will do my best to make sure both get all the attention they need."
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F I G H T I N G F O R T H E M E T A L F A N S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Doro
by: Adrian Bromley
It is 2002 and German metal singer Doro Pesch still has some
fight left in her after all these years in the music business. All
hail Doro!
"When I started to write this record I just got a lot out of my
system. I had a lot to say about a lot of topics and the music was
just taking on this real heavy vibe to it and I liked it", says Doro
in a thick German accent down the line from New York during press
days for her new album _Fight_ (SPV). "I knew that this album was
shaping up to something good and I was glad that we were gonna record
it live and not be too technical in what we were doing, which was
something that I didn't like with the last album [2000's _Calling the
Wild_]. This was back to the basics. This was the album I wanted to
make."
But is she a fan of the studio experience?
"I don't mind spending the time doing the album in a studio and
making it all come together for the final product, but playing out
live and meeting up with the fans is something very special to me.
What I do like about being in the studio is when it all comes
together nicely -- that was something I sensed with _Fight_."
After all these years, she seems to be still excited about doing
all of this, case in point the footage of Doro playing with Motorhead
during the song "Born to Raise Hell" (with ex-UKJ/LOA singer
Whitfield Crane as well) on the new Motorhead DVD _Boneshaker_. You
still can rock out, sister!
She laughs. "Yeah, that was a lot of fun, but I was so nervous.
I just went to the show to see Motorhead play. I was asked by Lemmy
to sing with them and I didn't know if I could do it. It was an
honour to sing with them, though. I had fun."
After so many years of being in the music business -- with
Warlock and her solo career -- does Doro find things getting easier
for her?
"I don't know why, but I still feel the same as I did when I
first started playing in a band and singing. There is much that I get
out of playing and creating music. I mean, it has always been hard to
get things going and to make music and be a part of the business, but
when things start to get harder for me I get more focused and more
energetic and into what I am doing."
She adds, "If I knew I wasn't into it or the fans weren't into
it, I wouldn't do this; but I know the fans are still there and I am
still here doing this. If fans come away from each album with a song
or a few songs they like, then I am happy about all of that. I just
want my fans to get something out of my music."
The thing that sets Doro's _Fight_ album apart from her past
release is the rawness and heavy set tone and deliverance of the
lyrics and vocals, not to mention the heavy guitar work, making this
album stand out as one of her heaviest ones in memory. The title
track is awesome, as is the duet with Type O Negative's Peter Steele
("Descent") and the songs "Legends Never Die" and her favourite,
"Fight by Your Side". Does the singer ever look back at her career
and try to analyze what she has done, or does she always look to the
future with her music?
"That is a good question. I mean, I can't ignore what I have
done and I am proud of a lot of the records I have made, but each
record is a new experience and made up of a lot of situations and
events that have happened to me around the time of the recording. I
never really compare stuff and I always try to make the best record
that I can at that time in my life, and I know my fans know that."
But after years of performing, are there still people out there
not willing to give Doro a chance because she is female?
"Yeah, I still get that, but you know what? I have fans who like
me and my music and that is fine for me. People can say what they
want, but as long as my fans keep buying my music and supporting me,
then I'll be here. There is so much going on in this music industry
and everyone struggles, but all you can do is keep making your music
and rocking out. I never really cared for how people in the music
business perceived me. I just want people to get something out of my
music."
"I have learned so much about how this business works since I
started in it", she continues on. "I mean, you learn a lot from just
having to work alongside a label and release records, etc. It was
totally new to me and I just jumped right into it. I am very into the
music business and my career and I keep in touch with what is going
on. I don't have a family or kids, so this is all that I have -- this
is my family. I am so into it and I think it still shows after all
these years. You can tell when singers or bands are getting tired of
it, because they seem to make the same albums. I never want to get to
that point in my career, so that is why I am always trying to bring
fresh ideas to the Doro sound but still sound like Doro. It is always
something very emotional for me when making a record."
And the emotions she gets from _Fight_?
Doro concludes, "I just get this real feeling of being able to
let loose and make a record that is heavy, emotional and really true
to my heart. I think I really was able to channel a lot of my deep
down emotions into this album and have it work out superbly in the
end. I couldn't have asked for a better record in 2002."
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I N T E L L I G E N C E M E E T S S A C R I F I C E
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Alec Empire of Atari Teenage Riot
by: Xander Hoose
I got acquainted with Atari Teenage Riot somewhere in 1998. How
exactly it happened I forgot, but it must have been the ATR/Slayer
collab on the Spawn soundtrack that caught my initial attention and
forced me to purchase the two ATR albums that were out at that time,
_Delete Yourself_ and _The Future of War_. I derived much joy from
these two albums, although I would never consider myself being a
'fan' of their music. Alec Empire's solo material, especially the The
Destroyer album, did more for me, as I was more into harsh
electronics than punky sounds at that time. When I received a copy of
ATR's 1999 album _60 Second Wipeout_, it even took me two weeks
before I gave it a first spin, but from that moment on it had me
hooked. The thrashy sound was exactly what I was looking for, and
even to this day it remains my favourite album. But the real shock
came with the live recording of Brixton Academy 1999: it showed a
band that was near the end of the road, exhausted and almost totally
destroyed. No more songs, no more structure, just a wall of
electronic noise that would have made Merzbow and Masonna nod their
heads in total agreement. The liner notes of that album reflected the
music as well as the state that the band was in. Things were not
going well...
"The show at Brixton Academy was one of our last in a long
series of shows. By that time, we knew we had to make a decision:
whether or not to stop touring, because we were physically too
exhausted. Carl Craig had very bad psychosis attacks; and with the
increasing success of the band, the problems in the band were getting
bigger. We just did too much, touring for years and building up a
fanbase without help from commercial radio and TV -- it gave us a
physical burn-out. I was on pain-killers for months on stage, up to
the point were the doctors said my immune system was nearly destroyed
and they warned me that if I didn't stop with what I was doing I
wouldn't survive it. Still, I continued touring for another eight
months."
"Another thing that made me realize I wanted to get out of it
for a while was the _Intelligence & Sacrifice_ album that I started
working on. I had all these ideas, and it was really frustrating
being on tour and not being able to record, so I told the band that I
-had- to do this album and then we decided to take a break. We would
take a look again at ATR three years later, in 2003, and until then
we would be doing our own things. Carl Craig was supposed to do
long-term therapy, and after that record parts for the album, but it
never came to that."
Carl Craig was found dead in his apartment in Berlin on
September 6th 2001, a month after the recording of _Intelligence &
Sacrifice_ was completed and a month before its scheduled release.
Understandably, the release was postponed, giving the band time to
recuperate from the terrible news.
"When Carl died, the album was the last thing on our minds. I
was supposed to do promotion, but I decided to let that pass. On top
of that, nearly a week later, another shock came with the September
11th terrorist attacks in the United States. It was all very strange,
because I had just made it through some very dark times in my life
where I felt suicidal and didn't find anything worth living for. With
the creation of my album, I had found a reason to stay alive again
and things were getting better: I was getting my energy back and even
looking forward to playing shows, and then it all collapsed in
September."
"What made it even more difficult was that the whole world
was in shock, many people were coping with depression from the
September 11th aftermath, so it wasn't really possible to find any
understanding for our situation. People were like, "yeah whatever,
many people have died and there's a war". We felt very alone at that
time."
With Carl Craig being an integral part of the band, his decease
-- added to the fact that ATR was already on hiatus -- has made fans
speculate on whether or not ATR will ever come back together.
"I don't think we should replace Carl. It would feel wrong to
try and find someone who would fill the gap he has left, and I also
think fans wouldn't accept it. But that's not necessarily a problem:
we did a lot of things without him. To be honest, _60 Second Wipeout_
was already done with very little input from his side. Still, at the
moment it still feels wrong to think about that kind of stuff. We'll
have to wait until the moment when we will know what to do, maybe
wait until we meet someone who can bring something fresh into the
band."
Many people who have listened to the _Intelligence & Sacrifice_
album, or at least to the first CD, have said that it does sound a
lot like what ATR was doing and is very much unlike Alec Empire's
previous solo outings. Alec Empire himself doesn't share this view,
however.
"I think the first CD of _I&S_ is a different step from ATR.
Songs like "The Ride", "Addicted to You", "Killing Machine", all
these songs would never be ATR songs. I think it's a case of people
looking at my role in ATR. If you isolate me, you get a very big
portion of the band, especially in sound and vocals. The metal
element, the punkrock element, the harsh sounds, that is my part of
the music and you'll find that on both ATR and my solo albums indeed.
But there still is a big difference, also in production: it's
recorded very differently, the sound is very different. I think the
only thing that both my album and ATR albums share is that they stand
out very prominently from mainstream music."
"Lyrically, my solo work differs from ATR in where ATR can be
described as "demonstration", "messages" and "inciting people to do
something". With my solo work it would never be so direct, it's not
the language I would use. My songs do not have to be political, and
that gives me much more freedom to bring up other things as well."
The music featured on _I&S_'s second album is quite different
from the first; a usually-mellow-sometimes-harsher mix of electronic
landscapes, ambient drones and patterns, even some click and cut. The
appeal of this music to metal-minded people is probably very limited,
but one can't deny that there's at least a little bit of genius
needed to create all this. It would be hard to pinpoint influences or
similar artists, but as far as 'atmosphere' is concerned one can
think of Squarepusher and DJ Spooky. Also quite unexpected for those
still thinking along the lines of the two previous full-lengths (_The
Destoryer_ and _Squeeze the Trigger_).
"Yes, the second part of _I&S_ is more style-oriented towards my
Mille Plateaux work. A lot of people don't know where to get that
material, but we re-released it on our Geist label. But anyway, that
material was a big reason for doing this album: I wanted to bring
both styles together in some way. They are two very different sides
of my personality and they can't live without each other even though
they're very separated. The Mille Plateaux releases have always been
ignored by the press, and I have always felt cornered by their
attempts to push me into the corner labelling me as "the guy who does
this one thing". Hopefully, they won't be able to deny my work on
this kind of music anymore, as well as the many collaborations I did
with a wide range of musicians. Bjork, Nicolette, Einsturtzende
Neubauten, Anti-Pop..."
Considering Alec Empire has been remixing artists in very
diverse music styles, one might wonder what he himself likes to
listen to when he's not working. Obviously, there must be some
interest in both electronic music as well as punk, but what does he
really consider to be a good listen?
"At the moment I listen to a lot of jazz, especially Sun Ra, but
on the other hand I listen to a lot of rock as well. Usually the very
dumb stuff, like AC/DC, but also metal bands like Annihilator.
Honestly, I don't really listen to a lot of electronic music myself.
We get sent a lot of stuff for our label, and I'm very often not that
excited about it. There's a considerable lack of personality in
electronic music nowadays. Most artists make music with a laptop, and
I am really against that philosophy. You cannot create that physical
energy that music is all about. On the other hand, there's a good
upcoming digital hardcore scene in the United States and I think
they're doing things with a fresh approach."
Now that the album has been released worldwide and some shows
have been played (and there are more to come), one might wonder if
the effect that _I&S_ has had on the fans has been as good as hoped.
All the shows I have seen ATR play in the Netherlands were usually
sold-out or jam-packed, but will Alec Empire solo draw the same
audience as with ATR?
"This time around, we've had some really positive reactions from
Germany, which is the most surprising thing we could think of. It
might sound strange, but Germany has always been difficult territory
for us. People don't understand our English. Actually, since last
week the record _The Future of War_ is on the sales blacklist in
Germany. We're still going to court to fight that decision, but what
happened is that some school teacher found the booklet of that album
on one of his students and he thought we were dangerous. The whole
situation reminds me of how jazz music was treated in the Third
Reich, it's ridiculous."
"Anyway, the reason we also didn't actively promote ourselves in
Germany is because we have always gotten better offers from America,
Japan, England and other countries, so we never really played that
much in Germany. We never did a Germany tour to begin with. Nowadays,
it's turned into a love/hate relationship, because now that the
Beastie Boys have promoted us people suddenly start to like us as
well. But now I want to build Germany."
"Japanese people have always been good to us, but they are very
difficult. If they 'love' you, they go insane, almost over the top.
If they 'like' you, they don't show any emotions. I've seen bands
play in front of audiences where everybody is just standing there and
not even applauding, but that still doesn't mean they don't like the
music. It's very strange. But I don't think there's any country which
has been particularly easy for us. I can however name you countries
that have been difficult for us: besides Germany, it has always been
difficult to get a gig in Finland! Same with Norway, although I don't
know why. But this time around, we're going to do our best. We're
going to destroy every country, I can assure you!"
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|- -| | _| -_| _| _| . | . | .'| _| | . | |_ -|
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I S T H E D E A T H C U L T D A M N E D ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Daniel Corchado from The Chasm
by: Paul Schwarz
No, we haven't made a mistake; The Chasm are in -Independent-
Interrogations for a reason. You see, when I conducted this interview
with Daniel Corchado on December 24th of last year, The Chasm were
without a label -- and Daniel Corchado was dubious about the
possibility that the band would sign with one again. The story of The
Chasm's career is a long tale of struggle against the odds; that may
sound melodramatic, may immediately prompt the counter-point that all
underground bands struggle, but the statement does not represent mere
spin. Beginning in Mexico in 1993 when Daniel Corchado vacated his
position as singer of Cenotaph -- after just one album, _The
Gloomy Reflection of Our Hidden Sorrows_ -- The Chasm were formed
with the intent of doing something different: Corchado hadn't
left Cenotaph over mere personality issues, he needed to move
in a different direction creatively. That _Awaiting the Day of
Liberation_, The Chasm's first demo, perhaps didn't suggest as
much is easily amenable to their inexperience. Indeed, that the
likenable-to-Cenotaph early-Entombed-isms were all but gone on 1994's
_Procreation of the Inner Temple_ -- replaced with a towering,
technical, progressive and yet sublimely dark and mysterious approach
-- spoke volumes of The Chasm's drive to move forward with their
sound. Unfortunately, production expertise and facilities were sorely
lacking; _PotIT_ suffered at the hands of its sound. Production
problems have plagued The Chasm for many years -- though their
trappings are well overcome on all their releases respectively.
Today, funding problems persist, but the expertise issue has been
solved: Daniel Corchado showed that he himself knows how to get the
right sound for The Chasm's death-cultic metal hymns by producing the
band's last release -- 2001's _Reaching the Veil of Death_ MCD [CoC
#56] which came out under the band's own Lux Inframundis imprint.
However, when the band recorded their second album, 1996's _From the
Lost Years_ [CoC #13], the result was far rougher. The album has an
air of mystery, escaping like a rare gas from under an avalanche of
sorrowful, lengthy and heavily doom-infused songs. _From the Lost
Years_ may have raised a few underground eyebrows and even the odd
"smile", but it wasn't until _Deathcult for the Eternity: The
Triumph_ [CoC #40] that a substantial number of people began
to take notice of The Chasm, especially outside of Mexico. The
album's release in 1998 with the line-up of Corchado, founding (and
still-present) drummer Antonio Leon, and Erick Diaz was no major
thing: people hadn't been anticipating it. But _DfE:tT_ was picked up
for more than its profoundly brilliant realisation of new form for
The Chasm -- transmitted through a vastly improved and finely-suited
production. It was picked up by more people, myself included, because
Daniel's own talents as a vocalist, lyricist and very briefly
songwriter, were evidenced that same year on one of the best death
metal albums of 1998, Incantation's _Diabolical Conquest_. Daniel had
already played with the band briefly in 1995 -- when Incantation were
having trouble with their singer -- completing a Mexican tour with
Kataklysm and a few dates in the USA and Canada while learning guitar
parts and lyrics on the road. Later, in 1997, the band contacted
Daniel again for help, this time to complete a European tour. Daniel
was subsequently signed up as a permanent member. Ultimately, Daniel
did not remain long in Incantation, but he left his mark with
_Diabolical Conquest_ -- Incantation's best album, among the two of
theirs I still own (haven't heard the new one yet...). By mid-1999
The Chasm had relocated to Chicago, added ex-Cenotaph axe-man Julio
Viterbo to the deathcult, and recorded new songs: a four-track promo
[CoC #43] of tracks from their forthcoming fourth record, _Procession
to the Infraworld_. But in the meantime, many had had their
attentions drawn to The Chasm's third, and sometimes second, records.
By the time the band had signed with Dwell -- who delayed the release
of _PTTI_ (completed in late-1999) until a good few months into 2000
-- interest was brewing, and it was the right kind of interest. Music
critics and/or metal maniacs alike -listened- to The Chasm -- paying
no heed to any connections to other bands -- and heard something
incredible. But despite glowing critical appraisal and a considerably
increased (though still limited) fanbase arriving in the wake of
_PTTI_'s release, The Chasm remained on the fringes: not a band that
many people -know-. Musically complex and intricate, The Chasm can
deliver unpretentious, brutal metal one minute -- think Autopsy,
Dismember, Slayer and Kreator if you've never heard a note -- and
launch into beautifully-arranged, stirring and intensely melodic --
often doom-infused -- passages, and whole sections, without skipping
a heartbeat. Dwell obviously didn't get it, dropping their best ever
band by far after only one album. Well, fuck them. Understandably
pissed-off but refusing to give up, The Chasm went it alone. And they
have triumphed. _RtVoD_ could have sold better, but the fears Daniel
expresses in this interview won't come to pass yet. The Chasm signed
to Witches Brew in Germany in June of this year, have now finished
recording their fifth album _Conjuration of the Spectral Empire_, and
should release it at the end of August of this year. So, enjoy this
interview though it is out of date, and rest assured that CoC #60
will bring not only another chat with Daniel Corchado -- in the
-right- section this time -- but also what I'm sure will be a lengthy
review of _CotSE_. Preparation is recommended.
CoC: I don't really know where to start -- there's a lot to get
through -- but let's start on a relatively easy topic. How
much has Julio Viterbo [ex-Cenotaph, ex-Shub Niggurath --
Paul] had an influence on how the music has developed over
the years? I think there's a distinct jump, in some ways,
between _Deathcult..._ [CoC #40] which Erick played on and
_Procession..._ [CoC #45] where Viterbo came in.
Daniel Corchado: Yeah.
CoC: So what would you say about that?
DC: Well, before Julio got into the band I was writing all the music
-- pretty much all by myself. I mean, the demo and the other
CDs...
CoC: _Procreation..._ and _From the Lost Years_ [CoC #13].
DC: Yeah, correct. I was doing all the music by myself and uh...
Well, when Julio got into the band he came -- I'm not sure if
you're familiar with Shub Niggurath?
CoC: Yeah, I remember them.
DC: Yeah, and I mean, it was a very, very good band, you know, a
really kick-ass band. And he was doing a lot of music there -- I
mean, pretty much he was doing everything by himself with the
music. He was in Cenotaph for like two or three years too and he
was a very important piece there too. So when he decided to join
the band for good -- you know, to stay with -us- -- I knew we
should use his talents, you know?
CoC: Yeah, absolutely.
DC: So he was starting to do music for _Procession..._, but the thing
was I already had a lot of music written because when I was with
Incantation I was recording nothing for The Chasm, so...
CoC: Of course. And you did quite a few of the things for
Incantation, right?
DC: It was like a half part for a song and lyrics for one song.
CoC: I remember it having a profound influence on Incantation;
_Diabolical Conquest_ [CoC #33] stands very much head and
shoulders above the other albums, to my mind: I really thought
it was the best Incantation album. And it's interesting, because
_DC_ has a certain amount of what goes into The Chasm; making
the transition from _DC_ to _Procession..._ or _Deathcult..._
isn't that hard. But then again, there's a massive, massive
difference, on another level. It's kind of hard to describe, but
I think your vocals carry over quite well; I think you gave
Incantation, on _DC_, a really good vocal style which, if one
was into Incantation, one could then transfer some of that to
The Chasm, in a way. But in a strange way, obviously.
DC: Well yeah, probably... I mean, yeah, you're right, you know, I
mean, I put some of my input into Incantation but, as I said when
I was with those guys, The Chasm was on hold.
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: We were doing nothing and I was just writing music in my mind and
do some riff here or there or once in a while on tape -- I'd
tape-record it -- and that's why, when we got The Chasm together
again, and Julio was in the band, I'd say like seventy percent of
the music was already done. So he had some input too but not as
much as now, you know?
CoC: Right, of course.
DC: Right now it's like fifty-fifty.
CoC: Do you think that's what's had such a profound impact on
_Reaching..._ [CoC #56], because on the two full new songs that
are there -- I don't know whether this is the whole band or
whether this is a lot to do with your and Viterbo's joining in
song-writing properly -- there's a very strong, tight, hard,
death metal sound -- a sound which is very The Chasm, but very
hard and tight, really compressed into itself -- and then it
also explodes into these wonderful melodic, um, harmonies and
things like that. It has become very defined. Do you think
that's a lot to do with the band being a very strong unit now
where it may not have been, so much, before?
DC: Yeah, yeah, definitely man, because right now we are a total
unity. This line-up has been together since we got here, to
Chicago. With the exception of the bass player [Alfonso Polo,
whose appearance on _RtVoD_ is his first on a Chasm release --
Paul], the line-up has been the same since we got to Chicago. I
mean, Antonio [Leon, drums] is a founding member and Julio, he's
not new to the business, he knows what he's doing. As I said,
when he got into the band I told him, "Dude, you can write your
music, you know, as much as you want but just try to, you know,
get into our concept and style."
CoC: Absolutely, and The Chasm is one of those wonderful bands -- and
I think almost all of my favourite bands are like this --
there's such a defined identity of what The Chasm is, but yet
that identity is malleable. I mean, The Chasm will change, but
it will always be The Chasm. Even though, especially _FtLY_,
sounds -so- different from _RtVoD_, just in terms of production
and sound, and even the style -- there are a lot of songs which
are near-eight minutes long and which never sort of develop to a
really high speed and a really high, powerful intensity -- it's
beautiful how you can kind of draw a parallel between that and
some of the songs on _Procession..._ where, you know, they're
incredibly long, but they're so tightly woven together and
extremely powerful. It's interesting that you can still hear
that it's the same band. I think there's definitely something
that's musically there, instrumentally there -- and that's
wonderful. There's also the case of your voice which, I think,
has a defined identity apart from most -- and it fits with the
music and I think it identifies The Chasm better than anything
but along with everything else, I guess.
DC: Yeah, I mean, that's good to hear: that some people -really-,
-really- understand what we are doing, you know, because as you
say, with _FtLY_, it was much more depressive-sounding, probably.
But as I always say: when I write music it's the way I feel it,
you know?
CoC: Yeah.
DC: And I remember when we were creating _FtLY_. In those times I was
back -- -we- were back -- in Mexico, and the situation there
wasn't the best, you know? I mean, right now I'm fucked. But I
think right now -- let's say I'm in a bad situation -- but it's
like, the economy and stuff like that. And back in the day, in
the _FtLY_-era, it was more like a state of mind, like a very
depressive state of mind.
CoC: Right, I understand.
DC: I think it shows in the music and that's what makes a band
authentic: when they're playing from the heart, from soul,
through a state of mind where they believe in what they
are doing. I mean, that's pretty much our ideology and our
philosophy, and it has always been the same: just play whatever
you feel. You know, as long as it's what we call "metal of
death", because we're not like your usual band, you know, as you
say.
CoC: Right, absolutely.
DC: I think we're death metal -of course-; I'm always gonna say that
we are a total death metal band. But you gotta recognise some of
the loss of true heavy metal, you know?
CoC: Absolutely, I think that's one of the reasons I used that phrase
in the review that I wrote [see CoC #56] -- for me at least, The
Chasm is the best death metal band in the world today because
there's a sense in which nothing you guys do goes outside of
death metal, but on the same level it kind of exemplifies what
Dave Vincent once said about death metal: that it's limitless.
DC: Right.
CoC: You know, you can do whatever you want but whenever you do
something there's something about it that's pure metal, and pure
death metal. And it's really interesting too -- I remember you
saying in an interview, "We are heavy metal warriors" and things
like that, and there is that sort of really convicted, powerful
aspect of metal running through what you do, and running through
the way you think about it, I think.
DC: Exactly. As I said in those interviews, that's where we came
from, you know? I mean, we were growing up in shit fucking
listening first to just pure heavy metal, you know?
CoC: Right.
DC: And then going to thrash, black and death back in the day, the
Eighties. I mean that's <long intake of breath>, that's, you
know, like... fuck man, it's hard to explain, but that's how I
became what I am now, you know?
CoC: Yeah. I mean, I really know what you mean 'cause I, and I
think a lot of other people have -- in very, very different
circumstances -- had same sort of experience, -of metal-. You
know? Of discovering something that you really like, this sound
that you can't get your head out of. And you watch it develop
and you enjoy coming along with it. And that's a very crude way
of putting it in words, but that's how it feels, I think, a lot
of the time.
DC: Yeah, yeah, definitely man, because it's really hard -- you know,
the situation with the band right now. I mean, being without a
label, you know, no support and everything like that.
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: And as you said, the problem for the band is that for people who
really like brutal stuff, we're not that brutal. And, you
know, for the black metal people we're not, probably, that
<tentatively> -blacky-, you know?
CoC: Yeah, I know what you mean, basically. I can't explain it, but
yeah.
DC: Yeah. I mean, of course we're not gonna change our style or
anything, at this point, after all these fucking years. I mean,
I've seen a lot of shit going on and I know how the scene was a
few years ago, and how it is -now-. And -fuck it-, we're not
gonna change for just trying to sell more copies or be a bigger
band or something. That would be stupid. And that's what people
don't understand sometimes; being a "true heavy metal warrior"
probably sounds kinda cheesy but I don't give a shit -- that's
the real thing, you know?
CoC: Absolutely, I know what you mean.
DC: It doesn't mean that we're fucking stupid airheads like the
stereotypical...
CoC: Manowar.
DC: Yeah. Well, I don't know man. Some people think like, "Oh yeah,
Manowar: they're so lame!", and they don't know what they're
talking about. Some people think that if you're a "metal warrior"
then you don't have enough education or culture to know what
you're doing.
CoC: Absolutely, and I think that's one of the problems -- when
people talk about heavy metal there are two problems. There's
the heritage of metal and how it's seen from the popular
perspective -- you know, the average person's vision is always
of these kind of dumb-ass guys drinking beer and getting
groupies. And there's a certain portion of the metal scene who
wanna propagate that image -- which is kind of the second
problem. But in the end, there are so many metal musicians who
do so many brilliant, brilliant things, and a lot of that gets
forgotten; when you talk about pure heavy metal people think
you're talking about stupidity sometimes, and that's ridiculous.
And a lot of people who wanna be kind of "out there", especially
in the last seven to nine years, have tried to distance
themselves from heavy metal per se. And recently some bands have
sort of said, "Oh, now we're heavy metal again", 'cause it's OK
to be heavy metal now.
DC: Oh yeah, that's... <disgusted noises>
CoC: But I totally know what you mean. I think the intelligence and
the thought that goes into something like The Chasm -- and the
-feeling- that goes into The Chasm -- is self-evident if you
really listen to the music. And certainly, reading your lyrics:
whatever they come across as, they don't come across as
ill-thought-out, or spoken by someone who has no idea what
they're talking about, you know?
DC: Hm.
CoC: Whatever you read into them, there is definitely lots of
consideration. I was thinking about the lyrics today actually,
and it's very interesting as well as strange: a lot of the style
you use means your lyrics are written either from a -personal-
narrative perspective, or as a kind of proclamation. It's very
interesting; it's very unlike a lot of bands -- like, for
example, Angelcorpse have a certain amount of Pete Helmkamp's --
quote/unquote -- "philosophical ideas"...
DC: OK, yeah, yeah, yeah.
CoC: I find yours are very -personal-, but I think they maybe express
something that's bigger than themselves. What would you say?
DC: Yeah. I mean, the thing with the lyrics is that since the
beginning of the band I always just tried to express what I was
feeling inside myself, you know? Like, getting back to _FtLY_, I
was feeling like shit, totally. I mean, I still do because
everybody has their own problems and personalities and shit like
that. And sometimes even if you are having, let's say, a good,
regular, nice life on the outside -- in the regular world --
inside it's a total different perspective, it's a total different
world. I mean, I just write what I am feeling at the time and
sometimes it just comes out very bizarre and very -- how can I
say? -- sometimes it doesn't really make sense, you know?
CoC: Yeah, it's very -abstract-?
DC: Yeah, exactly, that's the word: abstract. You're right, man. And
I'm like, "Man, dude, how could I write these?" But then, after
some days I remember why I wrote it, and I'm like, "Well, it
makes sense to me and that's the bottom line" -- if I'm writing
how I feel and what I'm feeling. That's another important point
in the identity of the band: that it's just pure musical and
lyrical expression, but it's totally personal, you know?
CoC: Right, right.
DC: I mean, as I say, with the music we have this really, really
strong inspiration -- not a big -influence- anymore. How can I
explain? I don't wanna say influence because when you say
influence you're saying you sound like this or like that, you
know? So it's more -inspiration-. I mean, I am totally, totally
-so- addicted to heavy metal and to all kinds of true heavy,
death, thrash and black metal, whatever. And it's the same with
the lyrics, you know: my main inspiration is just myself, as I
say, "my inner temple". You know, the fucking chaos that is going
on inside. And that's the bottom line: to express my inner
feelings.
CoC: Yeah, and it's interesting because I think there's almost a sort
of language of metaphor that you use which has certain -- not
boundaries -- but a certain space in which you use certain
-kinds- of metaphors and certain -kinds- of ways to express
yourself. And in sort of a "cultural" sense rather than an
academic sense, it's very poetic. You know, you say -- and I
think it shows -- that you write from the heart, and it's
interesting because you write from the heart in a -metaphorical-
way, and you have a lot of related ideas coming into The Chasm.
Lines like, "I must find the root of my damnation in every drop
of the torrid seas of sin" are very poetically put; it's not
like you're writing about what you did today or what you did
yesterday, or how your life has changed in the "real" world.
You're talking about things in a sort of projected way, I think.
DC: Yeah, you're totally right. That sentence, the one you just
mentioned, it's fucking powerful, you know?
CoC: Yeah.
DC: As you said, it's abstract -- it shows the way I felt in those
days when I wrote it but still it makes sense to me right now,
you know?
CoC: Yeah, and I think someone like myself who isn't privy to your
inner thoughts might interpret it wrong, but I do get the idea,
I think. If you pick through the metaphors you can get a sense
for what's going on, but you can interpret it in a lot of ways
and some of them would be very odd. But I think it's a good way
of writing because one of the things that it does a lot is
produce wonderful lyrics which are wonderfully followable; for
me at least, as a death metal listener, that's the kind of
lyrics I really enjoy. You know, I sing along to things like "I
must find the root of my damnation..." and that sort of thing.
Which is kind of strange, but...
DC: <chuckles>
CoC: ...maybe you can understand, I don't know.
DC: Yeah, yes, you're right man -- and it's really good to hear that.
As I said, sometimes I really think my lyrics don't make any
fucking sense at all; it's good to know that there is somebody
out there who gets really into them. And, as you say, it's
probably something that I wrote and it was supposed to mean
something, and you take it differently, but it's still valid
because, as you said, I'm writing in a metaphoric way. I'm not
writing like, "Well, I feel like shit these days, my life..." or
blah, blah, blah.
CoC: Not like hardcore lyrics...
DC: Yeah, exactly. When you want to do something, when you want to
create a total, you know, destructive, immortal entity -- I'm
talking about my band, you know -- you have to go for the best.
And as with the music, so with the lyrics: I'm not trying to
force myself to write something that sounds really different, but
it's the way I have been educating myself to do it, you know?
Like, trying to be as different as possible but without being
stupid or cheesy or totally awkward -- because when a band is
trying to do something just to -- how do you say? Fuck... Like
they are forcing it...?
CoC: Contriving.
DC: Yeah, exactly. That's why there are so many bands right now who
are just playing crap, you know? There is no feeling at all and
there is no real fucking understanding.
CoC: Yeah, I mean think of an extreme example like -Primal Fear-. You
know them?
DC: <chuckles>
CoC: Fucking terrible band on Nuclear Blast who just wanna sound like
_Painkiller_-era 'Priest?
DC: Exactly! <on-the-brink-of-laughter-incredulity> What the fuck is
up with that?
CoC: It's ridiculous. It's like, you could have designed this band on
a computer. It's so ludicrous. It has got no spirit to it at all.
DC: Exactly. I mean, what is the meaning of doing something that has
already been done?
CoC: And trying to do it -exactly the same-.
DC: Exactly. I mean, they're trying to sound like the godfathers of
that sound: 'Priest. That's a fucking sin. <laughs>
CoC: Exactly. It's fucking ridiculous. And what I hate about it as
well is that so many people who like 'Priest -- or like thrash
if they hear retro bands -- they say, "Yeah, but this is the
sound I wanna hear." And I'll turn around and say, "Yeah, but
you can hear all those sounds in brilliant modern music, like,
you can hear all those sounds in The Chasm..." I mean, I can
hear Dismember and Autopsy -and- I can hear bizarrely, bizarrely
twisted bits of 'Priest. I can hear that this is obviously a
band who listened to 'Priest at some point, that this is
obviously a band who listened to Manowar at some point...
DC: Oh, totally.
CoC: I totally love Manowar.
DC: Oh yeah!
CoC: And I do find them wonderful but cheesy. They're strange.
They're something that should be a contradiction, but it isn't.
DC: Yeah.
CoC: And it's the same with that line ["I must find the root of my
Damnation in every drop of the Torrid seas of Sin / and in every
night of soulless winds... / Bathe in Restless Flames / Crush
and Slaughter the False ones" -- Paul] that's on the back of the
_Deathcult for Eternity..._ T-shirt: I love it. I love wearing
this thing on the back of my T-shirt for all these different,
contradicting reasons, but it all works, you know?
DC: Yeah, yeah. I mean, totally. It's like, you mentioned Judas
Priest or Manowar: I know their image was kinda over the top,
and, as you say, cheesy, but when you go back to _Battle Hymns_
[CoC #48, Classic Carnage] or _Hail to England_ [CoC #48, CC]
there are some fucking amazing riffs there, man.
CoC: Absolutely, man.
DC: I mean, that was fucking heavy metal to the best, you know?
CoC: Yeah, and I mean I will literally get up out of my seat and bang
my fist on my chest and love it.
DC: Fuck yeah.
CoC: And feel serious. Even though I know that to anyone else I must
look really silly, to me I feel like a metal warrior, or
whatever, you know. And it works. And in a way I can laugh at
myself, but in a way I don't need to, you know?
DC: Yeah, yeah, totally. I mean, you're right, and it's, as you said,
with these kind of bands trying to sound like the old bands, I
really don't know how they can sell that many records, you know?
I mean, I understand because a lot of young kids are listening to
them, you know?
CoC: Sure, sure.
DC: And it's new for them, you know, and it's cool, you know.
CoC: But what's funny is that a lot of older people are listening to
them as well. I know people who are old listeners of 'Priest and
Saxon who love Primal Fear -- and I can't understand how someone
in that position can love Primal Fear. Me and Matthias from CoC
were at Wacken just laughing our asses off <Daniel laughs>
watching [from a distance, and briefly, it should be noted --
Paul] Primal Fear and HammerFall 'cause there was nothing else
to do. And it was just terrible, you know, these people in capes
and armour... it's just ridiculous. But loads of old metalheads
really get into this and they're like, "This is the sound I
wanna hear."
DC: Oh man yeah, that's a big problem -- a big, big problem with us.
It's like those retro bands -- I don't wanna say names because
people are so fucking gay and they get offended, you know.
CoC: <laughs> I know what you mean.
DC: You know, this guy thinks he's a big star or a big dick, or
whatever. I mean, the problem is that a lot of black or
supposedly thrash bands of today sell much more than us because,
like you said, old people want to hear that sound.
CoC: Quite a lot, yeah.
DC: I mean, OK, I understand because sometimes I can listen to one or
two songs of those mainstream bands 'cause they remind me of the
old days; but of course I'm gonna prefer to hear the original,
you know, the authentic band.
CoC: It always makes me wanna put on the original band.
DC: Exactly. You've already heard, you -know- who are the masters:
why don't you look for something that is in that style but with
something fresh and something new to offer to your fucking head,
you know, to your mind? Some people are just like that, you know:
closed minded. I mean, I was just talking with one of my friends,
and another problem is that those kind of people come from
supposedly the old school of metal. I mean, let's talk about
black metal, like Bathory and Venom and shit like that. Now bands
are playing and it's like: the more simple they are, the better
they are, the most underground. And I love simplicity too, you
know, if it's well done -- and as I said, the most important
thing is that it has feeling, a feeling of hatred, a feeling of
sadness, whatever -- but like, I don't know if you have heard or
if you like Nifelheim?
CoC: I've heard bits. People have told me they're really good.
DC: I like all of their releases, but the new one, _Servants of
Darkness_, it's like -- oh man, it's so, -so- fucking simple, the
riffing, <his voice takes on a fond, almost euphoric, tone> but
it's so good, man.
CoC: Yeah. It can work, and I've been told that Nifelheim does work
so I've been meaning to check them out properly.
DC: Yeah, that's not a fucking retro band dude, that's like... oh
man, those guys... It's unbelievable.
CoC: Yeah. I think for me the major difference is always between a
band who sound, in terms of copying, like old bands, and bands
who retain the spirit of the old bands.
DC: Exactly, exactly.
CoC: Like I fucking -loved- Angelcorpse, even though Angelcorpse took
a lot of their sound from Possessed and Morbid Angel.
DC: Yeah-yeah, I know.
CoC: But I fucking loved it: I can always put on Angelcorpse albums
and just go, "Yes! This is it!"
DC: Yeah, yeah exactly, 'cause those guys...
CoC: I think they did some of the best death metal in the whole of
the Nineties, they just did it -after- everyone else did it.
DC: Totally, 'cause there was quality instead of quantity and they
have this true fucking feeling of aggression and you can feel it!
CoC: Yeah, totally.
DC: And -- I don't know the truth, but I think one of the reasons
they split-up was because they thought they weren't getting the
recognition they deserve.
CoC: The thing about Angelcorpse -- I love their music, but I really
don't get on with the members. I mean, I've never hung out with
them for long periods of time, but every time I've talked to
them on the phone, met them or read interviews with them, I just
don't get their whole world-view. They're very much into the old
bands, but to me they always seem very proud and arrogant in
ways that annoy me, plus I really don't get where Pete Helmkamp
is coming from with his whole world outlook 'cause I study
philosophy and I find that a lot of his stuff is just very
weakly put together Nietzchean dopplegangering, which I don't
like [though I very much like Nietzsche's work -- Paul]. But I
love the band. I'll sing along to all of his crazy-ass, weird
lyrics even though I may not like them, because I just totally,
totally love the band. And it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the
music, it just means that I'm not that interested in finding out
what's there 'cause I think a lot of it's just writing from the
heart but not writing from the head as much, if you know what I
mean?
DC: Mhm. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know what you're saying because I
knew the guys in Angelcorpse and they were cool with us and
everything but they were kinda strange, you know? But that's
cool, I respect that -- I respect what they did actually. I think
they split because they were disappointed with the scene.
CoC: I can understand that.
DC: I understand, and I respect it a lot, man.
CoC: Also I respect their decision if it was the case that they just
didn't have the interest to go on doing it themselves, because
if you're not happy making music together as a band -- i.e. your
music will probably turn out less good than what you did before
-- it is a good thing to finish it. In a simple, crude way it's
like TV shows and films: when the idea has run out of steam,
kill it.
DC: Oh yeah.
CoC: You can always start on a new concept. I was sad Angelcorpse
split up because _The Inexorable_ was such a good record, but in
the end, maybe they couldn't top that. Maybe that's what they
had to do: they had to finish writing Angelcorpse.
DC: Yeah, yeah exactly. It's like what happened with Possessed, man.
You know, they were at the best, and then they just decided to
quit. And that's it. That's another thing I'm feeling for the
band. I mean right now, in the situation we are it's like, I've
been thinking about quitting. But not the band itself: the scene,
you know?
CoC: Yeah, I can understand that. I think Angelcorpse would have done
that if they hadn't split up.
DC: Yeah. Yeah, because it's so hard, man, and to tell you the truth:
why not? I mean, the CD came out like a month-and-a-half ago and
the people who have heard it are very impressed, and I'm glad
with that. But, to tell you the truth, it's going so slow, man. I
mean, the orders are so very few, you know?
CoC: I know. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised: it's a real -arse-,
and there's so fucking little to do about it, you know?
DC: Yeah.
CoC: There's all sorts of stuff you can try. I mean, in the end it's
a lot to do with just where the scene is. The Chasm as a musical
part of the scene don't really exist -- they're kind of outside
of it, and because of that I think it's hard to get people into
it; it's not what's happening now. So many great bands split up
because of that and it would be sad if you guys did. But
remember when Cynic did _Focus_ [CoC #48, CC]?
DC: Mhm.
CoC: And when Atheist did _Unquestionable Presence_? No-one really
got it.
DC: OK, I remember.
CoC: Everyone was like, "uhneehmmmI'm gonna go listen to Cannibal
Corpse, OK?"
DC: <laughs> Yeah, and that's something we've been talking about just
recently. I'm just gonna wait a couple of months more to see how
it goes with the mini-CD, but definitely if, say, by summer -- by
June/July -- we haven't at least sold a thousand -- because I
print 1500 -- I think that's it, man. I mean, we're gonna record
a new one, and we're gonna keep recording music, but it's just
gonna be like: if you want it, I'll send you a CD-R, you know?
CoC: Sure.
DC: And that's it! Because we can't afford to put down some more
money that we're gonna lose, you know?
CoC: Yeah, I know what you mean.
DC: And it's kinda sad, you know: other, newer bands who ain't worth
shit sell lots of copies, tour and blah blah blah, you know?
CoC: Yeah, totally. I guess, in the end it's a case of doing the best
you can. And as far as doing CD-Rs goes, I think that's fair in
the end, if that's what it comes to. I guess what you need is
for one band to take you on the road with them or whatever.
That's one option.
DC: Totally.
CoC: The weird thing about The Chasm is that I don't see a hell of a
lot in magazines, necessarily, about you guys, but whenever I
talk to various people around the scene -- in the US and Europe
-- there's always someone who's like, "Yeah, fucking amazing
band!" It's weird, select people, especially people whose
musical opinion I respect, will like it, but when you walk into
a venue you don't see a hundred Chasm shirts.
DC: <laughs> Right. I mean in a way it's so good man, to be like part
of an elite, you know.
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: That's why I printed 1500. I mean, that's -nothing- worldwide.
But still, for us it's a lot, you know. <laughs, slightly
incredulous> It makes you think, "What the fuck is going on?",
you know?
CoC: Yeah, you must be torn between, on the one hand, it being
financially pretty much between impossible and very, very taxing
to do it if you don't sell enough...
DC: Yeah.
CoC: And on the other hand feeling that you want to because there are
people out there who wanna hear it. But in the end, if it comes
down to doing CD-Rs, you can do artwork on computers and send it
to people, and they can make their own CDs.
DC: Yeah.
CoC: So, whichever way it goes, as long as you still wanna make the
music -- and you still -do- make the music -- I think that's the
most important thing.
DC: Yeah, definitely, because the day we decide to stop playing,
it'll be because we don't have the motivation to do it anymore.
We don't wanna just fucking do it just to keep going. Fuck it! We
gotta do it because we feel it, that's the bottom line. And as
you say, if we come to just burn CDs for people that really,
really believe in the band, let's do it! For me, as I said, I
still believe -- it's hard to say, but I still believe in the
word "underground", you know?
CoC: Right.
DC: I am so glad that people who like new fucking gay trendy bands
don't like The Chasm. I'm so fucking proud of that. I'm so proud
that, if you go to a show, just one guy listens to our music and
understands what we're doing -- and hopefully in the future we'll
just be remembered as an obscure, cult band. A lot of bands in
the Eighties were so fucking amazing man, and they just released
one or two or probably three albums. Nobody knows them. I mean,
in the -mainstream- nobody fucking knows them. And I will be so
glad to be something like that: remembered by a few people who'll
say, "These guys were the shit. These guys were fucking good." I
mean, I don't wanna be the best, I just want to do the music that
is best for myself and be remembered for -that-, you know?
CoC: Exactly. And in the end, on the one level, if you're pleased
with it that's the wonderful thing, and if people appreciate it
that's wonderful, but as you say, it doesn't mean that your ego
becomes this unimaginable thing. It just means that you love it
and other people love it and you appreciate that, I guess.
DC: Yeah, exactly, and that's the bottom line: just to keep playing
music from your fucking dark soul, you know?
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: And keep going until you're done, you know, until you don't wanna
do it anymore and don't feel it anymore. That's it. Not keep
pushing and pushing like other bands out there that just wanna
keep releasing stuff that sounds so hasty, you know?
CoC: Yeah. I think in the end that's one of the things I've always
loved about underground music but especially death metal, not in
-some- of its eras but in its era now and in its great era of
not being commercial. Even if you're in a band like Vader --
quite big in the death metal scene now -- there's no reason to
be in a death metal band if you want a career, there's only
reason to be there if you wanna play music. Even Nile, who are
doing pretty damn well, still have to work nine to five jobs,
still have to work their asses off to keep it all going. And
they may have motivation to do that because of what they sell,
but in the end it's a hell of a lot of work for not much return.
So they're always gonna be doing it because they want to and I
think that's magnified -- but that, essentially, it's exactly
the same, in principle, for The Chasm.
DC: Yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, as you said, let's say Nile, at least they
are having return, they are having -tours-, you know? And that's
fucking great and for us we're having -- I don't wanna sound like
a cry-baby, like, <adopts distressed child voice> "Oh, we're
having nothing!" <he laughs, as do I> -- but we're having shit!
We're just having the fucking support and response of people --
it's really great when you hear that stuff.
[Daniel and I chat about non-interview stuff before talking about The
Chasm's current situation as far as promotion goes.]
DC: Right now, all the promotion comes from reviews and from the
e-mails I send and in a way, business-wise, the right thing to do
is to do more promotion. But still, at the same time, the market
is so saturated. It makes you think twice before putting
five-hundred bucks in an add, you know? You don't know if it's
gonna be worth it. We'll see what happens. I am hoping for the
worst, as usual. <he laughs>
CoC: That's usually a way not to get disappointed; if you have low
expectations but you work hard you tend to be quite satisfied
with what you end up with, because you make the best of what you
get. I think that's a good way to go through things. Thanks for
continuing with The Chasm: it's always great to get something
new by a band you love. So, as long as you can, please keep
continuing doing The Chasm.
DC: That's so cool, man. Yeah, yeah I know because I feel the same
when I hear something new from a band I really, really like. It's
so great to see that there are a few guys out there who are
really excited to get the new CD. It was something that had to be
done: doing it by yourself. And finally we did it and it's a
total fucking victory for us, you know?
CoC: And considering that you did it all on your own, it's come out
with a good package. One thing I think you've learnt as a band
is to make very much the best of what you have, not only as
concerns the music but also as concerns presentation. The
records look good. They look simple in some respects, but
they're well worked-on. Even _Reaching..._ -- which you did
completely on your own -- I fucking loved when I got it.
DC: It's great when you finally have it in your hands. If it was for
me, man, I wouldn't care if I didn't sell it, you know? If I had
the money, I would do it for free to the real followers. But it's
not the case and it's sad.
CoC: But, in theory, you're not averse to promoting yourselves. I
think that's definitely one of the things I do like about The
Chasm: that it's not -self-containedly- underground. You know,
some bands make a big thing of not doing interviews and stuff
like that. When you had the chance to do promotion -- like when
you were on Dwell -- you went for it. Coming back to the music,
let's talk about your influences. I know it's always hard to
name specific bands, but who would you regard, musically, as
your influences -- if you can think of specifics?
DC: Well, I have to mention two which are very popular but... I mean,
I still don't know how they came up with that music! One should
be your compadres, fucking Black Sabbath, and the other would be
Slayer. Slayer definitely. _Hell Awaits_ [CoC #16, CC] is like
the ultimate -- I mean, for me it's the best record ever.
CoC: Wow!
DC: Nobody has done something better. I mean, for me, of course. I'm
a fuckinnng [sic] -- I don't know -- freak! But I should mention
-- besides those two which are very important, I will say
'Priest of course, you know; classic heavy metal like Accept
and Saxon and Manowar and stuff like that. And pretty much
more the beginning of the death/thrash/black-era. Like Bathory,
Destruction and 'Frost. And also the Brazilian bands. I'm not
gonna say they are a big influence in our -sound-, but they were
a fucking big inspiration, you know?
CoC: Of course: coming from Mexico and from Latin America, right?
DC: Yeah, yeah. First Sepultura, Sarcophago, Mutilator and Panic;
stuff like that was so extreme, dude. I mean, that was some
fucking serious shit!
CoC: It was really crazy at the time.
DC: Yeah.
CoC: When you see the _Morbid Visions_ LP where there's Sepultura
playing in that little, like, house, with "BHDM" on the wall:
"Belo Horizonte Death Metal". [*(1)]
DC: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
CoC: It's so fucking underground. It's hilarious.
DC: Oh man!
CoC: It's great!
DC: Yeah, it's great! At the beginning of the Nineties too, you know,
the bands from Sweden, when they were strong, you know? Like, oh
fuck!
CoC: Entombed and Dismember and that.
DC: Yeah, even before.
CoC: You notice that on the first Cenotaph [_The Gloomy Reflection of
Our Hidden Sorrows_ from 1992, Daniel's first appearance on an
officially released recorded work -- Paul] a lot as well.
DC: Yeah, yeah exactly. When we started with Cenotaph it was more
like -- as I said: when you're young, you're trying to sound more
like what you're hearing.
CoC: Totally.
DC: Because you're starting to create your own style.
CoC: Absolutely, yeah. I think that's why you left Cenotaph, because
it went in a direction that didn't really suit you. With (The
Chasm's first demo) _Awaiting the Day of Liberation_ you were
still finding a sound, and then _Procreation..._ was, for want
of a better word, -progressive-. <Daniel laughs> It's so fucking
bizarre and technical.
DC: Yeah, man.
CoC: And _FtLY_ is so different. _Procreation..._ is an insane,
insane album.
DC: Yeah man, I know. I love it dude. And it's -so- sad that the
fucking production is so weak, man.
CoC: Yeah, it's a pity.
DC: Yeah, it sucks. You mentioned progressive: I'm a big, big fan of
progressive music. You know, like the Italian bands and obscure
bands from England and shit like that. I was trying to put
something of that progressive feeling into _Procreation..._. I
always try to put in something different and experimental -- but
I know those albums are not -so- death metal -sounding-. For
me, as I said, The Chasm is a death metal band, but with
_Procreation..._ I was trying to go, like, nuts-over-the-top, you
know? Like, "Fuck everybody! We're gonna be the most fucking
insane death metal band in the world". I mean, we even used two
bassists on that recording. <he laughs> I mean, it came weird and
fucked up, and it's just sad that the fucking production sucks.
CoC: It would be interesting to redo those songs like you did with
"The Gravefields", 'cause the version of "The Gravefields" on
_RtVoD_ is really incredible: the power you get out of that
song! I mean, the structuring is different as well -- a lot of
the solos on the _FtLY_ version very much -cut into- you where
the ones on the _RtVoD_ version flow over you and consume you.
The way that "The Gravefields" comes out sounding on _RtVoD_ is
incredible.
DC: That's great to hear that, man, because, if it was for me, I
would record a whole album, you know?
CoC: Right.
DC: I mean, we were having plans to do something now but we couldn't
do the whole album because since I recorded _Reaching..._ by
myself I wanted first to test myself.
CoC: Totally.
DC: Yeah. So we didn't want to go and do the whole album, probably
ending with a fucking really shitty production.
CoC: In the end, it's hard to get 'round to doing re-recordings
because they are probably never gonna sell -- and you don't
wanna let it get in the way of doing new music.
DC: Exactly.
CoC: But in theory, if at some point you don't feel like writing
anything and you have the money to go to a recording studio, it
would be interesting to hear it.
DC: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
CoC: 'Cause _Procreation..._ has a wonderfully obscure sound for what
it is, but the power is maybe a bit low. That's one of the
things that I find interesting -- _Deathcult..._ starts it,
_Procession..._ continues it and _Reaching..._ is definitely the
pinnacle so far, but you've really been pushing forward on the
power angle of the music.
DC: Oh yeah, because as time goes by you are just finding yourself
more and more, you know? And you are finding your style more and
more too. Some people have told me that the _Reaching..._ EP is
very in-your-face. I know it's much more intense and probably not
as sophisticated as our older stuff, but that's the way it was
supposed to be; that's why we chose those songs, you know?
CoC: Right, right, right.
DC: And actually, when we do the new one, it's gonna be
back-to-the-basics; it's gonna be weird, and technical, and
experimental; intense, but really dark. Ah, fuck! I can't wait to
record it, man.
CoC: I'm really looking forward to it myself.
DC: Yeah, I'm hoping for -- I mean, we were supposed to start
recording it this month, but I'm just not in the right frame of
mind.
CoC: Sure. I think that's very important, you know?
DC: Yeah, I don't wanna fuck it up, you know?
CoC: Mmhm.
DC: Because when we did _Reaching..._ I was so focussed, I was so
into the recording and it came pretty decent, you know?
CoC: Yeah. I think the actual sound comes through really well.
DC: Uh huh.
CoC: I think it's a really good sound for The Chasm. I think all the
different elements come through wonderfully. The drums come
through beautifully. One of the things I found, listening to it
the first time -- because you'd been talking about how fucking
angry you were with the scene and the labels and various other
things, one part of me was wondering whether you were gonna go
for a really powerful "fuck you!"-death-metal thing.
DC: <laughs>
CoC: The first two minutes I thought, "This is really powerful,
but..." -- and then suddenly it explodes into one of those
things that just -is very- The Chasm: this incredible solo and
the melodies and all these sort of things. Where does that
influence come from? Because on _FtLY_ you can hear some of the
more doomy aspects, but it's very unusual -- the kind of
melodies and harmonies that you use sometimes -- -for- a lot of
death metal. It's not what a lot of people would think death
metal is about -- if they listen to Monstrosity or something,
you know? Where do you think that influence comes from, really?
DC: Fuck, man! I...
CoC: Just years and years?
DC: Yeah, yeah because it just comes: right now, it's just natural.
But the aspect of the melody and, you know, when you hear that
feeling? It comes totally from like Iron Maiden and stuff like
that, man. Actually, that solo in "Reaching the Veil of Death": I
wanted to do something like fucking Dave Murray or something like
that. I didn't want to be Iron Maiden but I was like: fuck! I
mean, we're death metal of course, but "metal" -- just the pure
meaning of the word. So right now it's like, we have nothing to
lose, right? I mean, we do this or that, who's gonna care? I
mean, who's gonna be like, "Oh, you guys suck, you won't sell
more copies, you're gonna go down in the scene." I'm like: fuck
everything and everybody and just do what I feel.
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: And yeah, totally, when we use twin harmonies or leads that are
so melodic -- Julio, for example, he's a fucking demon on the
guitar, in my eyes, and he's using a lot of more classical
sounding melodies.
CoC: Yeah, I can hear that.
DC: Like Yngwie [I think Daniel said "Yngwie", and the reference to
Malmsteen makes sense in the context -- Paul] and stuff like
that. I'm not trying to say like, "Oh, yeah, we're gonna go so
technical now". It just comes from fucking heavy metal, man.
That's -it-. My heart, my main, main source of inspiration is
death/thrash, but it doesn't mean that I won't use fucking heavy
metal in my creations, you know?
CoC: I think maybe that's what The Chasm -is-. It's its own entity in
its own way, but also, very crudely speaking, it's a marrying of
the power and the aggression, -and- the melodies of metal. What
I find is interesting from what you were just saying there was
that I was thinking that when you write solos and when you write
things it comes naturally because it's very similar to what I
think a lot of people like 'Maiden were writing in the sense
that they were writing it from their hearts, you know? And it
came out sounding like that because they're Iron Maiden. What
I've always liked about The Chasm is that when there's melody it
sounds like a -genuine- part of the sound, whereas in other
bands it's just Iron Maiden put onto a death metal song. Like In
Flames...
DC: <thoughtfully> Oh, yeah...
CoC: I really like the first In Flames album...
DC: Yeah, the first one was genius, man.
CoC: Yeah, but some of the later ones -- I like bits of _Clayman_
[CoC #48], _Whoracle_ [CoC #27] and _Colony_ [CoC #40], but
they're very, very Iron Maiden. You know: they're very much the
same melodies put onto death metal songs with a death metal
vocalist, and they're just not as experimental and interesting
as the early stuff.
DC: Oh yeah.
CoC: Or as experimental and interesting as -Dawn-, who I absolutely
adore. You know Dawn from Sweden?
DC: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
CoC: With the vocalist from the first In Flames EP?
DC: Mhm.
CoC: I just think those bands put something of their own into that.
You know, something that -they- really do. Dawn's stuff and the
first two In Flames releases have that. And that's what I think
comes out in The Chasm as well -- that you're just writing
something that's your own and that sounds really -new-, in a
bizarre sort of way, even though you can hear the old.
DC: As we said with Primal Fear: what is the point of doing something
that has already been done? I mean, the thing with In Flames and
the whole fucking Swedish scene right now is that it's so, so, so
melodic, but in a... gay way. <he laughs>
CoC: Yeah.
DC: You know? Like, I love melodies, man, but you know what I'm
talking about.
CoC: Yeah, totally. In the Swedish scene today I think there are a
really small number of fucking -great- bands that are doing
their own thing, and a really -huge- crowd behind them, some of
whom aren't bad. Soilwork, I think, are OK, and I think Darkane
are pretty good. But I think, say, The Crown are really fucking
cool. I really like what The Crown do, between thrash, and
melodies, and some of what Dark Tranquillity were doing -seven-
years ago that they're totally not doing now.
DC: Yeah, well... exactly, yeah.
CoC: I mean, Dark Tranquillity and In Flames have just become, kind
of, somewhere between a rock band and a heavy metal band. I
don't know -- I almost feel like they're creating albums so that
they can play festivals in Germany, or something.
DC: Exactly. Yeah, I mean... shit! It's so... I don't know, dude. I
mean, I don't wanna talk shit about anything or anybody, but why
do they wanna sound like this? It's plastic, you know? There's no
magic, dude, there's no fucking magic in the music. As you said,
they're probably just releasing albums to go to Japan and tour
the world and, you know, at this point, make some money.
CoC: Yeah.
DC: But I don't know -- maybe I'm fucking wrong, but that's the way
it sounds, you know?
CoC: Yeah. The same feeling with me. I can understand that some of
these bands might really wanna do some of these things but
it's just that for me the music doesn't connect. When Dark
Tranquillity did _The Gallery_ [CoC #7 & CoC #48, CC] I thought
it was wonderful. What they do now, I don't find interesting.
DC: Yeah, yeah.
CoC: In our own way, I guess we come up with ways to explain it --
like their commercial success. Sometimes you're right, sometimes
you're not, but in the end it's the fact that the music just
doesn't connect with you anymore, you know?
DC: Yeah.
CoC: It doesn't -do- all those wonderful things that it did before. I
mean, whatever Dark Tranquillity say about what they wanna play,
nothing they do now sounds as beautifully progressive and
wonderful as _The Gallery_.
DC: Mhm.
CoC: For me, at least.
DC: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand what you're saying.
CoC: You were talking about the Brazilians and their influence. I can
see how, coming from Mexico, that is a certain aspect, but also
there's something -vaguely- culturally -Mexican- in The Chasm --
though there's also a strong theme of darkness and -death-, and
also this sort of -cosmic- aspect to it.
DC: Mhm.
CoC: Starting with the Mexican aspect: there's "Spectral Sons of the
Mictlan" [the opening track of _PttI_ -- Paul] and on _FtLY_
there's the -- I think it's Mayan, isn't it? The golden face up
in the top right-hand corner?
DC: Uh-huh.
CoC: I was wondering how the heritage of Mexico -- which has various
historical eras, but if you think about the civilisations you
associate with that idea, they're quite mysterious and quite
unusual, and have a lot of -- not exactly -death-cultic-, but
they certainly believed in human sacrifice...
DC: Yeah, totally.
CoC: And a lot of symbolism between the sun and various other things.
DC: Uh-huh.
CoC: So how much would you say that that culture which is "behind"
the country you come from affects you?
DC: Well, pretty much it's just like -- how can I say? When you're
reading and you get into your history. I mean, I was so impressed
with the power. These guys, besides being strong, were so noble.
They had a lot of pride, you know?
COC: Yeah.
DC: And they were fuckin' -- how can I say? Oh shit, I don't have the
words. I don't even remember the word in Spanish?! <he laughs>
CoC: Are you thinking maybe of the way they're quite unusual, they're
quite esoteric, but they're also -- like a lot of the near
eastern civilisations -- very knowledgeable. In terms of their
calendar systems and engineering, their "science", they weren't
what we'd call "barbarians".
DC: Ah-hah.
CoC: The whole vision of the barbarian is pretty ridiculous in
itself, but d'you know what I mean? They're not walking around
with clubs, dragging their wives by the hair. These are
intelligent people with a very developed civilisation -- which,
of course, then gets totally crushed by the Spanish.
DC: Oh yeah!
CoC: But that's a different story.
DC: Oh, fuck yeah! And you know what? I mean, they got crushed, like
you say, by the fucking Spanish because they were respectful, you
know?
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: They saw these guys and they thought they were gods, of course;
they were friendly, you know? They had this sense of respect for
a different human being or a different race. And these fuckers
betrayed them and crushed them because... you know how people
are, you know? <he laughs>
CoC: It's really sad. It's really, really sad how much of culture in
the world is destroyed by things like that -- and how much a lot
of Western academic and cultural heritage propagates the belief
that these were useless civilisations.
DC: Oh man...
CoC: That's the thing, from the Assyrians and the Babylonians and
the Persians, the Incas and the Mayans and all the various
civilisations of Mexico, no-one really takes any account of this
-- and people take even less account of it because the only
people that -do- take account of it are these crazy-ass people
who think that aliens landed, which always gets on my nerves. Do
you know what I mean? So few people take the Incas seriously in
the first place, and then the only thing that someone writes
about them is some really long-assed, stupid theory about alien
landings and all that sort of stuff.
DC: Yeah, man. I mean, that's something that, as you say, is really
sad. There is not enough recognition for the authentic genius of
some of these cultures and for me, that's like a main inspiration
for being true to myself and being strong and doing the fucking
best that I can, you know? Because these guys were just like
total architects, architects of an empire that was so fucking
powerful, man, and so rich in -- how you say? -- wisdom,
knowledge. And they were totally into sacrifice and shit. I mean,
that's something -- it makes sense, you know: fucking pagan rites
and shit like that. But at the same time, they were not fucking
stupid, you know?
CoC: Totally.
DC: And it's something that really inspires me. I respect that a lot.
CoC: It's not of crucial importance, but I felt it was pertinent to
ask: are you of Spanish or "Indian" [Native or Indigenous
Mexican if you prefer -- Paul] quote/unquote heritage?
DC: Well, I gotta say, I'm both. My hair is straight and I don't have
fucking facial hair -- you know, like the Aztecs -- but I'm not
that dark, you know?
CoC: I noticed in the pictures that you didn't look homogeneously
Spanish so I figured it was something like that.
[Daniel and I chat on about Mexico, Latin America and the common
perceptions of them. I mention that I love Mexico]
DC: I love Mexico too, but oh man! The situation. The economy is so
low, so down, so fucked up. I mean, you can hear it in our
records; we didn't have enough money to record something better.
Also, the country, the guys down there didn't have money to get a
really decent studio -- all the equipment was so fucking cheap. I
came from a family who were in a good situation. We were not
poor. We were not rich. We were middle-class. I never suffered
from not having money in our family. I decided to do my own life
-- it as about time, you know? And I decided to come to the
States. You know: the stupid American Dream It's about money, you
know, because it sucks that a lot of shit depends on money, but
that's how it is. And we moved here and everything, and we're
doing good, we're doing much better, but I hate to live here,
man.
CoC: There is definitely more opportunity to do a lot of things in
terms of anything financial in the states. The ability to create
incredible music, as you can in the States, is quite a good
reason to live there. It seems strange, but it's just one of the
unfortunate facts when it comes down to it. Unless you were a
millionaire in Mexico, you'd just never be able to do it.
DC: Yeah, exactly. I mean, here of course you have to work to make
your living -- everywhere that's the same. But at least you make
enough to make a nice living, and then you can concentrate on
doing your fucking music. I mean, I'm worried now in the
situation I am, but you don't have to be worried about what
you're gonna eat tomorrow or how you're gonna pay your rent.
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: That's pretty much why we chose to move here.
CoC: Coming back to The Chasm: there's a whole theme of skulls and
skeletons. I was wondering, generally, how that fitted in, but
also how the whole quote/unquote "Deathcult philosophy" works:
what it is to you and how it comes out?
DC: It's like a symbol, you know, like some kind of representation. I
mean, when you're fucking dead, that's the last thing: your
bones, your skeleton, your skull. And since I was a kid, I was so
fascinated by that, you know? And it just to stayed with me. I
know it's probably cheesy -- everybody is saying this and that.
CoC: I think it works, for you. That's my view.
DC: I really believe it's like a representation of death. I'm always
thinking -- I mean, a lot of people think about it: how it's
gonna be after you're gone from this world, as we know it. And
I'm just so fascinated by the other systems, you know, that are
supposed to be after this one. And I'm using, pretty much the
skulls like... You know the Santa Muerte?
CoC: Oh! Day of the Dead?
DC: Yeah.
CoC: Yeah, absolutely. It's an incredible, incredible thing -- I've
always wanted to be in Mexico for it. I've seen an exhibition on
it in the British Museum. I love it because I always think
that the sombre and melancholic but still happy and positive
celebration of death is a good thing.
DC: Yeah exactly, I grew up with all that kind of stuff and I always
thought about death as a liberation. That's why I titled the demo
like that, because it says everything, "Awaiting the Day of
Liberation" [The first Chasm demo's title -- Paul]. And, as I
said, when I was writing that demo, for example, I was in a
different mood. But I still have a... I don't know, man. I'm very
-- how can I say? -- very negative. You know, always thinking and
expecting the worst. And -- I don't know -- to tell you the
truth, I don't wanna even reach forty years old, man. I don't see
any point, you know? That's the way I see it right now. I mean,
probably I will change my mind...
CoC: But you mean that for you maybe there's no essential good in the
continuance of life for its own sake?
DC: Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah.
CoC: If you can create or if you can -do- something which is
significant -in itself-, that's maybe worth something. But
simply to live for the sake of living...
DC: Oh, yeah...
CoC: ... It's not...
DC: ... It's not worth it.
CoC: Right, I see what you're saying.
DC: Like right now I'm playing heavy metal because I love it, you
know? But also I'm playing music because it's creative. I'm
really a very creative person. That's why I was doing tattoos; it
was something artistic and at the same time creative, you know?
CoC: Right.
DC: My point, the thing I think I was born for was to create
something, you know? I'm not a materialistic person. I don't care
about having new cars, or a lot of stuff or money or shit like
that. I'm more into the spiritual side of things and I'm also
very into the creativity side of things. And that's one thing I'm
saying about -- I mean, I'm sure the band is gonna come to an
end... one of these days.
CoC: Yeah, absolutely.
DC: And if at that point, let's say, I'm just working a regular
factory job, it won't be worth it <he laughs> to be here... just
like a fucking zombie, you know?
CoC: Unless there's something else in your life.
DC: Yeah, exactly: if I'm doing something that's a symbol of
creativity, and I'm happy with that, I'll keep going. If I'm
saying this band is a cult -- a cult of death -- I'm saying that
because that's the way I see it. I'm very fascinated and kinda --
how can I say? Errr, fuck! Those words like...
CoC: "Consumed"?
DC: Yeah, probably, you know really into, like fascinated -- well,
whatever.
CoC: I think I understand where you're coming from.
DC: Everybody has their own fantasies and illusions and for me it's
just to reach the other side, man. You know? I mean, it's not
like I'm thinking about that every day, because it will happen,
of course -- everybody: that's our destiny. But sometimes I think
about provoking, you know? And it was worse back in the day. At
the moment it's not like that. We were talking about the reality
of life, you know? It makes you think about other things...
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: And it keeps your feet right here in this world, you know?
CoC: Yeah, yeah.
DC: I think that's another point about saying that we're true heavy
metal of death: because we're embracing death and I'm talking
about death, about extinction of life, you know? But I'm
not talking about "total armageddon" and shit like that like
some bands. It's extinction, probably, of my life, you know?
<chuckles> And what I'm trying to express too is what I'm gonna
see at the other side, you know?
CoC: Absolutely.
DC: When we reach the Infraworld. So, pretty much, that's it with our
skulls and everything. Probably -- I don't know: I'm thinking
about changing it, trying to get something different in the
upcoming albums. But I don't know, because it's part of our
concept, you know?
CoC: Yeah. It is also something that you can alter and develop and
change. I mean, _FtLY_ has volcanoes and a red sky and smoke,
but the albums from there go along what I'd call more or less a
theme of "death and portals" -- and there's a very sort of
astral aspect to it.
DC: Yeah, exactly.
CoC: These landscapes -- and you have songs like "Cosmic Landscape of
Sorrow".
DC: I mean, besides the theme of having the universe, The Chasm is
influenced just in when you look at the stars and you get really,
really into it. It makes you think.
CoC: Yeah, well, you think about yourself in relation to all of that,
for a start.
DC: Mhm. And I'm using cosmic images because I think it's going to be
something like that, probably. Probably we're just gonna go
there, you know? I'm representing something that I think is going
to look like that. Like let's say, when I start my journey, I
think it's gonna be something like that. I mean, just to make a
representation, because I really don't know how it's gonna be,
you know?
CoC: Absolutely. That's more than understandable.
DC: Then, you know, the skulls, in some ancient cultures they thought
that it was the house for the soul, you know? So, I mean, that's
where I'm gonna live, forever... in my own fucking skull. It's
hard to explain, man.
CoC: But I see what you mean, coming down to the crude realities of
it: for the covers there is metaphor, and there is explanation.
DC: Exactly, like a connection, you know? Because your bones, your
skeleton is material, matter.
CoC: But the representation is there.
DC: Yeah, exactly. But it's like the link between this world and the
other, you know? When you go to the next level is when you're
gone -- of course -- from here and when you start the journey
and you start to go through these portals and through these
fucking... I don't know man. Dimensions, or whatever. It's hard
to explain.
[*(1)] Credit must go to Matthias Noll for showing me this sight on
the reverse of his _Morbid Visions_ original LP.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
T H E V O I C E O F V I N T E R R I K E T
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Christoph Ziegler of Vinterriket
by: Quentin Kalis
Most CoC readers are probably unaware of the existence of dark
ambient act Vinterriket, so a brief introduction would not go
amiss. Vinterriket was first unleashed with the release of the
_Gjennon Takete Skogen_ demo, in May 2000. This was followed
by _Det Svake Lys_, a three track EP which contains possibly
Vinterriket's strongest moment to date, namely the beautiful sadness
of "Nattefrost". In November 2001 this was followed by a second demo,
_Sturme der letzen Stille_, a startingly original work rooted in dark
ambience but incorporating elements from black metal. brilliant as
the Vinterriket's demo releases have not been in vain and has managed
to secure a deal with avant-garde specialists Falcata Galia records
for a full-length album to be released this winter. In the meantime a
fair number of 7" EPs are due for release [see reviews in New Noise].
Until fairly recently I too was unaware of the existence of this
extraordinary individual and musician. In order to gain an insight
into the workings of such a unique individual I conducted the
interview below with Christoph Ziegler, the visionary and sole member
of Vinterriket. If you have even the slightest interest in music of a
dark ambient nature, then please read on. I hope you enjoy it.
CoC: How did Vinterriket come into being?
Christoph Ziegler: The start of Vinterriket is nothing special, I
think -- well, actually, I started Vinterriket
back in 1996 due to my eternal love for dark,
melancholic, atmospheric and moody music. Way back
then the whole project was not that serious. I
recorded some stuff, sometimes only parts and
fragments for myself. In 1999 the whole thing
became more serious and I started to work more
professionally on new songs, because I got better
equipment and recording possibilities. I am a
total nature-lover and the first demo _Gjennom
Takete Skogen_ is totally inspired by the dark
side of Mother Nature. The songs have been created
during my darkest hours of depression, melancholy
and loneliness. I must be in the right mood to
compose songs, you know. I often walk around in
the darkest places of Mother Nature in order to
get inspiration and ideas. I am living here in a
very small village not far away from the woods. I
like this very much, because in a way I am quite a
misanthropic person. I hate big masses of people
and big towns. I also totally hate big parties and
stuff like that. Most of my time I spend alone and
only a few very close persons.
CoC: Who or what have served as your influences?
CZ: Vinterriket is only influenced by nature, nothing else! I often
make trips to our local, mysterious moors and woods. It's good to
relax, to get new inspiration and to feel the strong force of
nature. Sure, you get influenced by many things around you, you
can even say by all things around you: friends, books, films,
landscapes, pictures, etc. But my main source is nature. We have
a lot of great dark and powerful places here in our area where
you can really feel the energy and might of nature! Of course I
prefer dark, melancholic, moody places and landscapes. I really
like to walk around in Autumn and Winter through stormy,
snowy, misty and cold woods. This is why I love Scandinavia
(Sweden/Norway) so much. For me, this is paradise on Earth,
nature-wise.
CoC: I understand that you're covering a Graveland song and you have
already covered a latter-day Burzum song. Burzum is an obvious
influence, but what influence (if any) has Graveland had on
Vinterriket?
CZ: There is not much to say about this Graveland cover song. In July
2001 I had recorded this which will be featured on the Graveland
tribute to be released by Nawlia Productions as either an intro
or outro. It is a great synth-track, I think! I made the
cover-song in just two or three days. I like all the Graveland
stuff very much, but I think there is no influence from this band
on Vinterriket. Graveland and Vinterriket are totally different.
Some Graveland stuff sounds similar to other Graveland stuff, but
all in all Graveland is a very good band! Therefore I have made
this cover "Forge of Souls" from _Following the Voice of Blood_.
The Pagan Graveland stuff is better than the black metal
Graveland stuff, I think. There was no special reason for the
cover song. I was just talking to the guy from Nawlia about this
tribute CD and we decided to add Vinterriket...
CoC: English is the predominant language of the music world. However,
many bands have eschewed the use of English in favour of their
mother tongue. But on your first demo and subsequent EP you have
chosen to utilise neither English nor your native German, but
Norwegian instead. Why have you chosen this particular language?
CZ: The reason why I used Norwegian titles on the demo tape _Gjennom
Takete Skogen_ and on the EP _Det Svake Lys_ is quite simple: I
just felt I had to do so! In my eyes Norway has the best nature
on the whole Earth. I am totally fascinated by the vast, endless
woods, the mysterious and misty fjords, the majestic mountains
and the atmosphere up there! You know, Vinterriket is totally
influenced by Mother Nature, as I told you before. Therefore I
thought that the Norwegian titles would best fit the whole
concept on the demo tape. The band picture was taken in Norway,
too, and the front cover was drawn by the famous Norwegian artist
Theodor Kittelsen. I do what I want, depending on my current
mood. Maybe the some lyrics or titles will be in Swedish, or
whatever! All the new song titles and lyrics are entirely written
in German. I am a big fan of all the Germanic languages, like
German, Swedish and Norwegian. They have a very hard accent, if
you know what I mean. When people speak English it sounds like
they have ten chewing gums in their mouths! <laughs> I simply do
not like it! The German languages are hard-sounding and spread a
kind of power and might. It's actually too hard to explain. I
hope some might get my point. I also have plans to move to Norway
when my studies are over here in Germania. I hope this will
happen in 24 months... Now I ask you: why is, for example, Varg
Vikernes using German lyrics and titles on his CDs? Right, just
because he felt to do so and because he is fascinated by the
German language, though being of Norwegian blood. Maybe the use
of Norwegian and German titles and texts on my releases could
also be regarded as a sign against all the Americanism in our
German language and culture! I hate it!
CoC: On your second demo, some additional elements such as clean male
vocals, guitars and drums were used. I understand that you have
scrapped the use of these elements in upcoming releases. Why
were they incorporated in the first place? Do you plan to use
them again in future release?
CZ: Some of the new, upcoming stuff is ambient, some is in more of a
black metal vein. The material on the upcoming _Herbstnebel_ 7"
EP is in the vein of _Sturme der letzten Stille_ (more black
metal), the split with Manifesto and the split with Northaunt is
ambient and the _Kalte_ 7" EP is in the Burzum _Filosofem_ /
_Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_ vein. I just do what I like! Maybe some
future stuff will be more industrial, more experimental, I do
not know. Concerning _Sturme der letzten Stille_: you know,
principally I make music only for myself. I make the music I like
and this depends in which mood I am. I just felt like including
guitars, drums, vocals, etc. Be sure that the next stuff will
again be different. I hate bands doing the same on every album. I
like individuality, progression and originality. Therefore I
always try to explore new musical horizons and realms. I am sure
that every Vinterriket release will sound different in the
future. If people like my music, OK, if not I really don't
care, because I make music for myself and not for others!
Vinterriket should always be dark, atmospheric and moody, and it
doesn't matter which style. Just that these parameters should be
fulfilled!
CoC: Could you tell us a bit more about your record label, Neodawn
Productions? Apart from releasing Vinterriket material, what is
its purpose and aims? Now that Vinterriket has an album coming
out later this year on Falcata Galia Records will Neodawn
Productions now cease to exist?
CZ: The story of Neodawn Productions is closely connected to
Vinterriket. Because Vinterriket was totally unknown in the
beginning, I thought it would be the best to release the first
demo tape myself. Therefore I founded Neodawn Productions and
released the demo in a limited edition of only 100 copies just to
check the reactions and the response from the underground scene.
And from this point on Neodawn was born! There is no special goal
concerning Neodawn. I am supporting a few bands, which are
worth the support, nothing more. I am also running a little
distribution, by the way. People can send promo stuff for a
possible distribution/release, why not! But the possibility of a
release is limited: I just release what I get in my hands and
what I like 1000%. When I release something I stand absolutely
behind the music/attitude of the band. It should be possible to
identify oneself with the music. I mean, it is possible that I'll
get an offer from a band and that I am immediately fascinated by
their music. Then the possibility is very high that I'll release
it if the conditions are good. I'll release -no- stuff just for
making a fast buck because most of the people like it even though
I don't like it that much. The most important thing is that
I am fascinated by the music. Neodawn is a hobby, nothing
more. Neodawn will not cease to exist with the CD release of
Vinterriket on Falcata Galia! There are still plans to release
more Vinterriket stuff before and after the CD: for example, a
split 7" EP in early 2003 with Swedish ambient act Fjelltrone.
CoC: Will the upcoming debut CD feature entirely new material or will
it be reworkings of songs from the demos?
CZ: The material on the upcoming CD will be 100% new and never
released tracks. No re-works or remixes, etc. Sound-wise the stuff
will be only ambient: dark, sinister, symphonic, moody, orchestral
and atmospheric synth-soundscapes. The album will be a concept
based upon different parts dealing with the "Nightfall".
CoC: I understand that Morfeus [Limbonic Art] did the cover for the
_Sturme der letzen Stille_ demo. How did that come about?
CZ: Mmmh, no special story: I was/am fascinated by the drawings he
did for Odium and Limbonic Art and I thought that a picture by
him would fit demo #2 perfectly. I was talking to him on a gig
here in Germany some years ago about his drawings etc., and when
the release of demo #2 came closer I decided to contact him and
ask about a cover. He agreed immediately and now you can see the
result! I am of the opinion that it looks great! It fits, because
on demo #2 I have used some astral elements besides the
nature-themes, and also themes of the dark abyss of the human
soul. But the basis is still Nature!
CoC: On your web page, I see there are plans to make a video of
"Nattefrost" from the EP. What is the video going to be like?
Considering the nature of "Nattefrost", I imagine it to be a
montage of evocative scenes highlighting the beauty of nature...
CZ: Yeah, there are plans to make this video clip. Nox Infandus
Records wants to do this. It was supposed to be done this Winter,
but because of last Winter being shitty in Norway, they couldn't
film the best scenes and clips. Everything in the clip will be
-really- dark, made out of the following elements: majestic
endless and vast woods, mysterious landscapes, maybe fog, full
moon, night, and maybe some old castle ruins. No persons, no
"human things" like houses in the video. At least this is what is
planned. But I have no idea about the final result yet! We have
to make the storyboard first, which will be done this year. Then,
let's wait until the next Winter. <laughs> I really hope that
this will turn out fine!
CoC: What are Vinterriket�s plans for 2003?
CZ: Okay, these are the plans for 2002 and 2003: Summer sees the
release of a split 7" with Manifesto (Swe). This will be followed
by another split EP, this time with Northaunt (Nor). This will be
followed by the _Herbstnebel_ 7" EP. Winter 2003 will see the
release of a third split EP with Fjelltrone. All will be
available in a limited edition of 500 copies each. Summer 2002
will also see the release of the _Kalte_ 7" EP. Winter 2002/2003
will see the release of Vinterriket's debut full-length on
Falcata Galia Records _...und die Nacht kam schweren Schrittes_.
I'll also participate on some compilations on different labels.
None of the tracks to be used are new.
CoC: The floor is yours! Any last words?
CZ: Thanx for giving me the opportunity to tell your readers all this
stuff. All readers should check out all the Vinterriket releases
and the other releases on Neodawn Prod. Germanic Hails!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_____ .__ ___.
/ _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____
/ /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \
/ | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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!
Agalloch - _The Mantle_ (The End, August 2002)
by: Aaron McKay (9.5 out of 10)
Few albums come along that instill this kind of powerful inspiration
upon a listener. Twist all the finest elements of Ulver's liquid
madness with the serenity of Borknagar and the illusive nature of
Agalloch begins to take shape. Darkness imbues every sunken pore on
this hauntingly crevice sounding outpouring leaving you drained and
fulfilled at the same time upon _The Mantle_'s conclusion. Words are
a total failure when faced with describing Agalloch's gossamer depth.
Believe me when I say the conceptual instrumentation on this CD opens
before you like a hypnotic display from Pandora's box. Each and every
one of the nine tracks play out on _The Mantle_ like passionate
movements from a dream of emphatic longing and self-discovery.
Nothing short of enrapture will suffice when overcome by the waves of
heavy-hearted, nightshade-laced emotion _The Mantle_ delivers. Truly
an offering to be taken in fully and -felt- rather than simply
listened to. If this is Agalloch's sophomore effort, I'm unsure I
will scarcely be able to comprehend what's to come...
Agoraphobic Nosebleed - _Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope_
by: Aaron McKay (8.5 out of 10) (Relapse, 2002)
While I've been accused of having all the attention span of a
recovering narcoleptic ADD patient, Agoraphobic Nosebleed's newest
offering is enough to send a parking meter into spastic convolutions.
Any Scott Hall (Pig Destroyer) afficionado will recognize the
adrenaline rush present on _FCSWD_ that fans have come to expect
from these third floor Sing-Sing escapees. Never left beached on
lucidity's sandbar even for split second, Agoraphobic Nosebleed
shoves you head first in a barbed-wire shit-storm of hallucinogenic
proportions throughout the thirty-eight cuts on this disc. Aside from
the utterly unbalanced distraction this shard-laced slice of cow pie
presents, ANb rattles your cage with unhinged vocals and some
brainsick assistance from various friends. Killjoy, Lenzig, Pete
Beumb, Danny Lilker, and of course, JR Hayes all slit a vein to bleed
their own unique essence into _Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope_.
Even at just under thirty-four minutes, repeated listens to this
concentrated intensity will surely corrupt your ability to function
normally in society. So who's crazy now?
Arghoslent - _Incorrigible Bigotry_ (Drakkar Productions, May 2002)
by: Quentin Kalis (8 out of 10)
Yet another in a seemingly never-ending flood of quality black and
death releases from Drakkar Productions. American death metallers
Arghoslent are not unlike labelmates Grand Belial's Key, playing
similar frills-free -- i.e. no superfluous keyboards or insipid
horror movie samples -- high quality death metal. _Incorrigible
Bigotry_ is characterized by memorable riffs, more than adequate
musicianship and decent production. This high quality is maintained
throughout the album with no significant drops in quality. Lyrically
they appear to be motivated by real-life historical incidents of
violence (they have tackled issues such as the trans-Atlantic slave
trade and colonization on a previous releases), as opposed to the
cartoon gore of, say, Cannibal Corpse. This is one of those of few
albums whereby it is hard to explain exactly what makes the music so
riveting. Certainly, the elements mentioned above contribute towards
the composition of such an excellent album, but they are not the sole
reasons for this album's quality. I tried to pin down exactly what
would this album a worthwhile purchase, but I couldn't. Despite this
album evading adequate description, it is definitely one of the
better death metal albums to be released this year.
Armageddon - _Three_ (Toy's Factory, 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10)
I remember my amazement when I first listened to Armageddon's
_Crossing the Rubicon_ album back in 1997; the perfect mix between
death metal and the Gothenburg sound, consisting of the masters of
Sweden (Chris and Michael Amott, Peter Wildoer, Fredrik Nordstrom and
Jonas Nyren). As this was supposed to be a one-off project, I never
paid much attention to them anymore apart from the occasional listen
to the album. My surprise was great when I discovered this Armageddon
album, the third already. Curiously, it has been released in Japan
only, with no plans for release in other parts of the world. Even
stranger is that almost all the original members are gone, so that
Armageddon now functions as a trio: Christopher Amott, Tobias
Gustaffson and Daniel Erlandsson. Christopher has taken over the
vocals, and with his high-pitched vocal style turned the band from
death metal to a definitely heavy metallish course. Perhaps Japanese
people are really eager for this kind of Blind Guardian / Helloween
style of music, and I reckon that _Three_ will do really well with
fans of those bands, but for me Armageddon has lost its appeal. Don't
buy this if you're expecting something in the vein of the first
album; instead, try to give the new Darkane a shot.
Autumn Clan - _Requiem to the Sun_ (W.A.B. Records, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors (8 out of 10)
It is not very often these days that I am impressed with anything in
the gothic genre, whether it is rock, metal or darkwave we are
talking about, but this is one of the very few releases this year
that sounds fresh and interesting. Autumn Clan is a band from Austria
that made its entrance into this world in 1997. Prior to signing with
their native Wait and Bleed Records (a new label that is working very
closely with Napalm Records) they have recorded two demos and played
more than 50 live shows to get their name and music out in the open.
Wait and Bleed focuses mainly on gothic and alternative rock, but
this album is still very heavy at times and those riffs they churn
out help maintain a steady flow throughout all fourteen tracks.
Autumn Clan do however have all the trademarks of a gothic rock band
-- passionate deep vocals, lyrics that are meant to move the listener
and a very melancholic, gloomy atmosphere. Autumn Clan may sound like
a band who is built on nothing but cliches and dull gray music, but
that is far from the truth. Throughout this album they make the
gothic rock scene seem alive and I do not for a second doubt that
_Requiem to the Sun_ will find its way to the heart of many of you
who like the newer work from the Swedish masters of doom, Katatonia.
Autumn Clan may be newcomers to the scene but they seem like a very
mature band and hopefully this will not be the last time we hear
about them.
Contact: http://www.autumnclan.com
Barcode - _Hardcore_ (Diehard/Hardboiled, August 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (8 out of 10)
It would seem that Barcode are self-consciously trying to be
as hardcore as possible. Rhyming phrases all about attitude and
drinking, proudly sporting Freebase [see elsewhere in this issue's
review section] T-shirts and frequently using the word "hardcore", to
the extent that it is the title of this very album. You have to give
them points for enthusiasm. Metallic and aggressive, Barcode have a
slight punkish edge but a lot more guts. Also, they have a strong
sense for penning accessible songs. Opener "Supreme" is short and
catchy; automatically you get the feeling that _Hardcore_ will not be
a chore to get into. The songs progress fluidly and without
awkwardness, effectively fluctuating in tempo and giving the songs a
palpable sense of structure and organisation. On their own the vocal
lines are nothing groundbreaking, but they fit perfectly with the
music and are performed with passion that complements the attitude
and aggressive spirit. The riffage on _Hardcore_ is tinged with
thrash, and some stylish touches in the lead echo strongly of Slayer.
This is an enjoyable record. Admittedly it doesn't sound as if it's
going to change the face of the world, but Barcode fly the flag for
hardcore with pride and this element shines through the music. With
the spirit of this record being so prominent, Barcode sound like they
could be a lot of fun in the live environment. The momentum is more
or less kept up throughout _Hardcore_, yet the band rarely sound like
they are recycling riffs. It seems to drop ever so slightly when
lengthy songs "Ride Like Hell" and "Representin'" arrive back-to-back
at the albums midpoint, but otherwise the songs are strong with hooks
in abundance. As you get into the record it becomes apparent that the
mix is both strong and effective. Each instrument is matched together
and of equal prominence so the sound is accessible but never
weak or flaccid as it is commendably performed. Lyrically and
conceptually _Hardcore_ can range from worn-out unoriginality to the
downright hilarious -- check out "VCRHCHO", Barcode's tribute to
porn queen Jenna Jameson. Yet this only adds to the overall
entertainment. _Hardcore_ is one of the more enjoyable, err...
"hardcore" experiences out there and you can bet Barcode are proud of
it.
Blackness - _Dawn of the New Sun_ (Thundering/Wagram, June 2002)
by: David Rocher (9 out of 10)
Much as I'll gladly agree that the whole thrash and heavy metal
revival phenomenon has now totally degenerated into an irritating
"taedium retrorum" drag, some releases affiliated to this genre will
sporadically turn up and unexpectedly bully me into a frantic
neck-wrecking and air-guitaring session in the intimacy of my
own metal sanctum -- and this is precisely the effect that
Blackness' second effort, _Dawn of the New Sun_, produced on me.
Skilfully fusing massive German thrash-influenced rhythmical chugging
with the more melodic blazing aggression of contemporary "thrash
metal" releases, this young French quartet also cleverly avoid the
headlong and oh-so-prejudicial spiraling dives into worlds of melodic
cheesiness which tentatively "retro" and heavy acts like Children of
Bodom now specialise in -- tight, fast and always rabidly heavy,
_Dawn of the New Sun_ boasts a proud 11 tracks of excellently
executed, inspired and compelling death metal-tinged -thrash
metal-, rapturously devoid of painted fingernails, heroic stances,
infuriating misused keyboards or whimsical attempts to assert a
non-existent musical personality; the adrenaline-laced and definitely
no-frills cover of Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" speaks for itself in
this regard. In addition to these vastly enjoyable qualities, former
Loudblast axeman and vocalist Stephane Buriez has crafted a chunky,
growling and razor-sharp sound for this release, a tight sonic wall
of growling bass and vocals, scything guitars and punishing drums
which definitely ranks among his finest productions to date. Granting
every mean bite 'n' gash delivered by Blackness' material optimum
depth -- from the intense Kreator-style power delivered by the rhythm
section to the brilliant, sparkling leads spun by both Blackness'
axemen --, the production on this sophomore release is the icing on
an already gloriously enjoyable cake. I can now only hope that
Thundering Records will grant this genuinely superior thrash act the
distribution and support they deserve to help them spread their
thrashing meanness way beyond French borders -- headbang your way
over to www.blacknessthrash.com to turn yourself in!
Bloodshed - _Inhabitants of Dis_ (Code666, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors (7 out of 10)
As if there weren't enough Swedish metal bands around already, we are
told the name of yet another new act that is about to show the world
what they are capable of on an almost daily basis. Perhaps I am
exaggerating just slightly here, but this is almost what the metal
scene is like today, and being a Swede myself I couldn't be happier.
To be honest, however, not that many of the new Swedish bands impress
me as much as their counterparts did five or ten years ago, but
Bloodshed is one of the more promising new names to keep in mind.
That is if you like the kind of ultra-tight, brutal but still melodic
death metal that Necrophobic have developed over the years. Bloodshed
are also from Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and released a mini
album called _Skullcrusher_ last year which showed a great deal of
potential for this young band, something that the Italian label
Code666 were very eager to get their hands on. This is a label that
you should really keep track of if you are interested in finding
extreme metal acts who don't sound like the usual run of the mill
bands. Bloodshed may not be the most unique-sounding band on the
label, but they are still very good at what they do. Necrophobic may
be the closest band to what Bloodshed display on their full-length
debut, but the music of Bloodshed is more epic and you can find
little twists and turns in almost every song that make bands like
recent Marduk, old Entombed and old Opeth come to mind. If you enjoy
well executed death metal with a solid Sunlight production and high
quality songwriting, then this is one of the hottest Swedish
newcomers right now.
Contact: http://www.bloodshed.info
Botch - _An Anthology of Dead Ends_ (Hydrahead Records, August 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10)
_An Anthology of Dead Ends_ is Botch's final statement to the world
before calling it quits. Yes, you're reading it correctly, Botch is
no more. Three full albums of insane noisecore/metal and plenty of
excellent shows and that's it. But Botch aren't leaving the stage
unnoticed; _An Anthology of Dead Ends_ is an excellent piece of work
that shows the way Botch had progressed since their late 1999 _We Are
the Romans_ album. In six songs titled "Spaim", "Japam", "Framce",
"Vietmam", "Afghamistam" and "Micaragua" they show more diversity and
an even better instrument control then ever before, leaving you
banging your head and gasping for breath, your brain saturated with
strange tunes and rhythms with such a crystal clear production that
other bands could take an example of this. Devote fanatics of _WAtR_
can blindly purchase _AAoDE_; for the others, this album comes highly
recommended. And if it's still too hard to say goodbye to this band,
keep your eyes open for the re-release of _Unifying Themes_ out on
Excursion Records anytime soon.
Breathe In - _From This Day On_ (Bridge Nine, December 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (7.5 out of 10)
Beginning with a whine of feedback and a sample, before exploding
into some dirty, nasty punk, Breathe In perform with lashings of
spite and possess a vocalist who makes Johnny Rotten sound like a
choirboy. The lyrics go deeper than the traditional punk concepts of
attacking order and authority, verging on tortured poetry that even
has gothic shades. The mixing on _From This Day On_ somewhat
bizarrely, seems to vary between a strong and rounded sound on tracks
like "D-Minus" and then an altogether more unbalanced and weak
production with the vocals fading in and out of audibility on tracks
such as "Inside Out"; the fact that these mentioned tracks are back
to back can only emphasise the contrast even more. Whether this was
intentional or not is lost on me, but it creates the impression that
this was sloppily recorded in bits at different venues. However,
regardless of what instruments are fading in and out randomly, the
mix is consistently raw. The bass only becomes prominent when it is
doing something different to the guitars; otherwise it merely fills
out the sound. Also, Breathe In cannot seem to make up their minds
what kind of style they are aiming for, as they vary between the
nastiest blasts of dirty punk fury to sneering their way through
Sum'-'Day-'182 friendly tunes, even including vocal harmonies on such
tracks; it's just performed in a more dirty and aggressive fashion
than the aforementioned pop bands. In the middle of all this we get
some emotive and powerful works with a more melodic edge; musically,
these are the better tracks. "Doppler Effect" stands out the most,
showcasing how emotive this band can be as it explores some dark
chord progressions. Breathe In have a lot more feeling and innards
than many of the bands that usually compose songs of this style.
However, _From This Day On_ seems to stutter along as an album, and
although it maintains interest in the offered variety and the flashes
of tortured inspiration, it still lacks a sense of all-round
solidity. As the album ends it feels like it didn't get to where it
was going, leaving too many loose ends along the way. I guess Breathe
In don't want to make you comfortable by tidying up for you.
Nevertheless, _From This Day On_ offers some strong material and an
enjoyable, spiteful performance.
Carpe Tenebrum - _Dreaded Chaotic Reign_ (Hammerheart, 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (7 out of 10)
Opening track "Abiding Our Time" features a hammering motif akin to
banging a door with a lead pipe that sets the tone without need for
intro; Astennu's third Carpe Tenebrum album is no-frills death metal.
The source of his power is the sharp and prominent drum sound that
provides most of the impact. Guitar sound is raw but not crushingly
heavy and while it is harsh and cold, it is too ill-defined and
woolly-edged to stand alongside the icy trains of Immortal. The bass
is a constant metallic growl underneath everything, giving overall
depth and doing its job. Astennu growls out husky vocal over his
guitars, as they carve out the melody. There are no keyboards, save
for on instrumental "Aetherial Benefaction" and these are not in the
league of Dimmu Borgir but they still paint an adequate picture.
There is some effective lyrical imagery and Astennu must be commended
for trying to make it all rhyme, but sometimes this leads to awkward
turns of phrase. As with a lot of death metal, the lyrics are
only comprehensible when read from the booklet, a result of the
traditional vocal style. There is use of the old one-two stereo
imaging in guitar lines, a very traditional technique for texture,
but sometimes the single guitar line can seem too weak in contrast to
the metal produced with all instruments in conjunction; this may be
because of the employed distortion. Rather than "ripping everything
to shreds" as the bio professes, this album feels more brooding. "To
See Your Name" showcases some of those black metal roots, in
Astennu's blending of harmonies and discords. "The Telling" boasts
one of the more immediate hooks, and more hammering figures -- an
emerging trait of this album. This is solid death metal, somewhat
devoid of bassy splurge but not as clean as the Florida sound. Dark
and atmospheric with some degree of power, Astennu shows that he can
shred effectively but his style is not explosive or aggressive. It is
also easy enough to understand but suffers in its lack of exciting
moments. "What of This Place" has some of the more aggressive and
powerful riffage and "Hope Is Near" conjures up the faintest images
of Slayer. We are treated to expansive passages of chord progression
and kick drumming that has more cold Immortal shades in "Conscious
Hide!". Astennu varies styles and changes and also controls tempo
fluctuation, often in accordance with lyrical phrasing. In this
manner he prevents his songs from being too plodding or too thrashy.
We get guitar solos on occasion, which are effectively employed.
There are moments that shine brighter than others, often those more
melodic moments amongst perfectly respectable death metal riffs. It
is a shame there aren't more of these. Also, the album is dogged by a
number of detrimental fade-outs. It is a shame the first track fades
out, when using the hammering figure would have been a perfect
closure to a solid work of metal. The last track also fades out,
leaving a slight air of dissatisfaction. A third album under Carpe
Tenebrum finished and Astennu has offered up a work of consistent
quality that would easily fit into anyone's collection; having said
this, it isn't the most inspiring or absorbing death metal release in
the world and I doubt it would have anyone running out to buy
T-shirts, but he probably doesn't have any available anyway.
Centinex - _Diabolical Desolation_ (Candlelight, 2002)
by: Alvin Wee (5.5 out of 10)
These Swedish deathsters' latest fling marks their move away from
Repulse Records and a sojourn into more commercial worlds of metal.
The band show a marked penchant for mainstream black metal this time
round, and while not entirely denying their death metal roots,
they come off as assuredly mellower creatures than before. The
introduction of Norwegian-style keyboard soarings slams home the fact
that Centinex have been listening to way too much Dimmu Borgir
lately. In fact, synth-dominated tracks like "Forthcoming Terror" and
"On Violent Soil" fail to deliver the aggression their titles
promise, and instead fit right into a scene dominated by similarly
softcore pseudo-black/death metal acts. The band opt to hide their
claws on this largely mid-paced release, with much of the material
coming across as forgettable and derivative: pleasant elevator metal,
nothing more, nothing less. The guitar work here reflects the melding
of black and death styles so popular in the mainstream these days,
and is a far cry from the dark and atmospheric conjurations on their
Dissection-tinged debut. The boys' experience is evident in the
polished structures and stellar musicianship, and the uninspired
nature of the material is perhaps the critical thing that drags this
entire album down. Bland Gothenburg slush contributing to the
downfall of the scene, and a completely unnecessary album that will
nonetheless probably get killer reviews in the major press.
Daemon - _Eye for an Eye (and the World Turns Blind)_
by: Adam Lineker (9 out of 10) (Diehard, May 2002)
Getting things off on the right foot with a truly horrible intro,
which they swear was done before September the 11th, the bio picks up
on the immediate theme of terrorist repercussions by talking about
Daemon delivering missiles of highly explosive death metal and
showing no mercy. Rather than being cheap and sick, it throws an
effective context on the mood of these songs. Thankfully, the metal
is good enough to do such a description justice and is very powerful.
The vocals are guttural and butch but mostly comprehensible; these
are belted out over a chunky guitar sound that fills out the mix
but is not too messy. Daemon boast some well-constructed riff
progressions, pieced together with effective compositional touches
such as short drum fills in the pauses. The lead solos have shades of
both Slayer and Pantera; it quickly becomes apparent that these guys
are good musicians. The drum lines are littered with breaks and fills
and they are complex enough underneath all the embellishment. This
metal seems performed with controlled aggression; it never goes out
of control but maintains a strong intensity. The majority of the
songs are energetic and fast paced and the pace doesn't let up. The
first few songs seem to leave nothing more than a feeling of quality,
being impressively progressive enough but with some gutsy hooks. Yet
there is melody here, a certain powerful groove to the crafted riffs,
which is engrossing. _EfaE(atWTB)_ is well-produced with good use of
vocal effects to give an inventive but classy touch to the phrases.
This album speaks volumes of creative flair and it is all well
performed, particularly the guitar solos, which seem vital to the
music and are an actual pleasure to hear. The drums seem a little low
in the mix from what they could have been, but this album has enough
impact to compensate for what may have been lost here; though still
odd considering that it is ex-Death, Dark Angel, Testament and SYL
drummer Gene Hoglan. This metal has a modern edge -- Pantera fans
would feel at home with this. Daemon sound accomplished and in
control. This is very good metal, enjoyable and absorbing. "Kingdom
of Fools" has a crushing opening riff and very effective layered
guitar constructions; it is a true stand out track. "Truth Be Known"
has some of the more striking chord progressions and one the best
manipulations of the fade-out technique I have ever heard. There
is great sample usage on "Cursed", although the actual melodic
introductory passage borrows heavily from Slayer. This album is not
only worthy of multiple listens; it is worth your money. It maintains
the same mood throughout ten tracks and only seems to get better.
This metal never seems to plod away or become pedestrian, even over
ten proper tracks. Give _Eye for an Eye_ your attention, and then
give Daemon your cash so they can make another one like this.
Danse Macabre - _Matters of the Heart_ (Hammerheart, May 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (1.5 out of 10)
There are certain things a band has to get right to be taken
seriously. You would think that the least this lot could have done
was to get their own name pronounced correctly, especially as it
cheesily dominates the choruses of two songs on this EP. But alas, it
was not to be and Danse Macabre, or should that be Danse McCarbrer,
literally fall at the first hurdle. There are many things wrong with
this band, and even more things wrong with this EP which they have
created. The music, despite being entirely unimaginative, is about
one of the only things they come close to getting right, as it
possesses a somewhat danceable goth groove. The guitar sound is warm
but fuzzy, only achieving punch when joined with the bass and drums.
Nothing else is allowed to shine however, as it is all wrapped in a
cloying fog of pretentious and misguided gothic nuances that would
warrant them a good kicking in any other profession. The singer's
voice is nothing but totally embarrassing; rather than sounding like
Sisters of Mercy or Him, it is just sickeningly over-the-top and
cringe-inducing. The lyrics are poor enough to make even Manowar look
away and blush. It is always best to put remixes at the end of the
record as bonus tracks, as most artists do, or even cash in by
releasing a remix album, which a lot of artists also do. This little
lot stick a remix of Danse Macabre on straight after the original. It
is just awful. The song is basically the same but sounds like
early-'90s dance. The impact of the guitars and drums that gave the
original some sort of danceable groove is now lost and the whole
texture is thinned out. Add in some very awkward swinging in the
stereo imaging, an unbelievably poor MC mutilation of the lyrics
("Da-Da-Da-Danse McCarbrer") and a silly title ("Lonely Puppet
Remix") and you are lost for words or, at worst, driven to end your
life. The use of effects and samples is quite poor all round,
although most of the music isn't really too bad. It is just that the
techniques, embellishments, vocals and remixes are just so kitsch.
Even though all previous artistic "flair" has gone horribly wrong,
they have quoted themselves inside the sleeve in a nauseating display
of arrogance and backslapping. By the time you reach the "Addicted
Heart Remix" of "Oblivion" you have to wonder if they are having a
laugh. Yet another remix follows, this time of "Trojan Horse" (dear
God -- the "Hungry Ghost Remix"), all of which is recited in a voice
which makes Dani Filth's stage voice seem respectable and serious.
The music is so full of cheese it is outclassed by most action
game-show themes -- particularly The Crystal Maze. This is terrible.
Only one track attains anything close to respectability; "And I
Bleed" is just a little better that its contemporaries, simply
because it is not as embarrassing. That's barely one out of five.
This EP is not worth your attention, let alone your money. Please
Hammerheart, no more.
Dark Tranquillity - _Damage Done_ (Century Media, July 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
Albums such as 1995's masterpiece _The Gallery_ or 1997's brilliant
_The Mind's I_ must not be an easy legacy for Dark Tranquillity;
indeed, I suspect that they may even burden their creative process
somewhat, much as the band may try to avoid it. For the past couple
of albums (_Projector_ [CoC #41] and _Haven_ [CoC #49]), they have
been trying hard to introduce new elements into their music: first
keyboards and clean vocals, then electronics. They tried to keep
moving on instead of going back and trying to outdo themselves by
writing an even better _The Gallery_ or _The Mind's I_. This has
earned them mixed reactions from fans and critics alike, but
personally I have an unusually soft spot for _Projector_ and I also
find _Haven_ a very enjoyable disc in its own right. When I first
heard that _Damage Done_ would be, to a considerable extent,
something like Dark Tranquillity's return to their roots, I felt
simultaneously eager to hear it and unsure of whether it would be a
good option for them -- simply because their past efforts still stand
as major landmarks in the metal world to this day. Ultimately,
_Damage Done_ does harken back to _The Mind's I_ more than its
predecessors; a couple of riffs bear some resemblance to _Projector_,
and the use of electronics is akin to that on _Haven_, even though
they normally take the back seat in the music. _Damage Done_ is
overall more aggressive than _Projector_ and _Haven_, but without
shedding the electronic nuances the band has been using lately. These
are generally unobtrusive throughout the album and complement some of
the slower tracks nicely. Mikael Stanne's distinctive vocals are
again in top shape, this time in a slightly lower range than he has
used in the past. In addition to the irreproachable technical aspects
of the music, the production on _Damage Done_ is -very- powerful
while still retaining all the necessary clarity for everything to
shine through. The opening track, "Final Resistance", is among the
best tracks Dark Tranquillity have written in a long while, and the
material on _Damage Done_ is generally up to the standard set by the
band's last couple of records, some of it standing out as highlights
from that set of albums -- which is saying a lot. The mixture of
quick-and-aggressive, quick-and-melodic and mid-paced material is
wisely scattered on the disc, which comes wrapped in excellent
artwork -- possibly Niklas Sundin's best work ever in that field. The
same cannot really be said of the band's output (one has to consider
albums such as _The Gallery_), but _Damage Done_ certainly does
not disappoint either. It is not revolutionary, and it is not
-everything- I hoped for from Dark Tranquillity (which would have
been a 10 out of 10), but it is still a thoroughly enjoyable piece of
modern Swedish melodic death metal.
[David Rocher: "Dark Tranquillity's sixth release leaves me to dwell
on an irritating feeling of very mitigated appreciation. Despite
possessing, in appearance at least, all the components crucial to a
good Gothenburg death metal release -- aggressive, melodic and
powerful riffs, powerful drums, Mikael Stanne's unique vocal style
and a murderous production with roaring low-end tonalities --,
_Damage Done_ flows pleasantly past one's eardrums, yet deals
precisely too little raging aural damage to remain memorable. Niklas
Sundin's and Martin Henriksson's very melodious guitar work sadly
doesn't strike me as groundbreaking or distinctive, and Martin
Brandstrom's now very widespread electronic incursions only display
shining inspiration on a very sporadic basis, hence mollifying
_Damage Done_ more than they invigorate it with new force. Although
a sadly meagre number of tracks do hit their mark (as the muscular
opener "Final Resistance" or the intricate "White Noise / Black
Silence") with great accuracy, the final notes of _Damage Done_ form
closure to an album which, in my mind, lies shrouded in a veil of
agreeable, yet mostly indifferent musical emotion."]
Darkmoon - _.308 Antichrist_ (Tribunal Records, March 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis (8 out of 10)
In a market flooded with MCDs containing a mere one or two new studio
tracks accompanied by a host of lame remixes, live tracks, insipid
cover versions and the like, it was pleasing to note that all four
songs on this MCD are new studio tracks. Great stuff. _.308
Antichrist_ consists of death-tinged black metal, a largely brutal
and violent work, which does however permit the occasional melody to
surface. Whilst Darkmoon won't devastate the metal world with their
originality, their music contains enough personal quirks to enable it
to stand apart from the like-minded masses. This MCD deals with the
notion of war against Christianity, of course -- they are black
metal, after all -- and several effects are adopted to successfully
enhance this notion. One is the rigid drumming, which imbues the
songs with a strong militaristic feel, and is particularly effective
in "Patriots of Fire" and "Impenetrable", also the best songs on this
MCD. Appropriate samples augment the pervasive sense of war. Their
focus on modern day war would explain the lack of medieval influences
and touches that littered their previous work, while melody competes
with outright aggression for dominance of this record. A worthy
addition to the increasing numbers of American black metal acts.
Contact: http://www.ncmusic.com/tribunal/
Dead Soul Tribe - _Dead Soul Tribe_ (Inside Out, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon (6 out of 10)
Dead Soul Tribe is the brainchild of Devon Graves (formerly known as
Buddy Lackey, ex-vocalist of Psychotic Waltz). The music is a mix of
'70s and '90s rock, with a sound that isn't particularly derivative
of any one band, but nonetheless sounds familiar. It has some
similarities to Psychotic Waltz's later efforts, but the music is
less progressive and more straightforward. Of course, it also
contains one obligatory track ("Empty") with Jethro Tull-style
flute. The playing is solid, but not particularly challenging. The
production is clear and fits the music well. Ultimately, there was
not much here to grab my attention, either in a good way or a bad
way. Fans of Psychotic Waltz might find this worth picking up, but
there's little else here that will appeal to metal fans.
Deathwitch - _Deathfuck Rituals_ (Hellspawn Records, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors (7 out of 10)
What do you think about an album where the tracks are carry nice
cozy titles like "Satanic Orgasm Abyss", "Mayhem Masturbator" and
"Erection of Lucifer"? Not much, I guess, but Swedish black metal
musicians have never been that keen on learning the ways of
Shakespeare or Bysshe Shelley. Deathwitch is all in all a very
predictable band and the album starts off with a mandatory "evil"
sounding intro that is one of the worst pieces of noise I've ever
heard. Fortunately for Deathwitch, I do not base my reviews on the
quality of the intro or the lyrical content -- the music is always my
main concern. Deathwitch is as you may already know one of the
many bands where Nicklas "Terror" Rudolfsson resides, one of the
most important key figures on the black/death metal scene around
Gothenburg, Sweden. This scene has brought life to bands like
Dissection, Runemagick, Swordmaster, Sacramentum, Deathstars (well, I
know I shouldn't have mentioned them...) and many others. The
former Dissection drummer Peter Palmdahl actually used to play with
Deathwitch as well. After a number of releases for Necropolis
Records, Deathwitch have now trusted David Parland's label Hellspawn
Records with their fifth full-length release. This does not have much
in common with the beautiful melodic work from Dissection. Deathwitch
is more of a Satanic playground where influences from thrash, death
and black metal are mixed together. Sometimes it sounds really good,
some other times it sounds like you've heard it a hundred times
before. This will definitely not be something new to most of you, but
Deathwitch do what they do best and they do it really well.
Contact: http://come.to/deathwitch/
Demigod - _Shadow Mechanics_ (Spikefarm / XIII Bis, June 2002)
by: David Rocher (7 out of 10)
With Demigod's cult debut _Slumber of Sullen Eyes_ released no less
than a full decade ago (before the band dislocated and partly mutated
into the equally cult Adramelech), the expectations related to these
Finnish death-metallers' heralded return were unquestionably high.
Opening fire in pure Scandinavian death metal tradition with the
downright impressive "My Blood, Your Blood", _Shadow Mechanics_
rapidly takes to a far less predictable orientation; straying
from the old school death metal aggression reminiscent of their
vintage first release, further excerpts from _Shadow Mechanics_
witness Demigod venture down more melodic, brooding and doom-laden
pathways -- not unsimilar in style to Edge of Sanity's slower,
"ballad"-style numbers --, alas with only mitigated success. Whereas
this seven-Finn act's potent, driving low-case heavy death metal
material indeed proves to dispense pure surges of death metal-laced
adrenaline (thanks to an excellent vocalist and a monstrous Finnvox
production), their more solemn, tentatively moody songs sadly miss
their mark, and merely awaken a slightly dispirited shadow of
boredom. _Shadow Mechanics_ is fortunately enough punctuated with a
number of full-fledged scorchers such as the blasting "Gates of
Lamentation" midway through the album, but is mostly articulated
around massively heavy mid-tempo numbers, which sadly fail to shake
me out of the wearied torpor induced by the dreaded slow, clear
vocal-laden ventures interspersed throughout this finally sadly tepid
release. Hence, as the final track on Demigod's much-awaited comeback
closes off, I'm left craving for some more pure old school death
metal done the Demigod way, and can only hope that the Finns will
return to deliver some more streamlined, angered, low-case pure death
metal akin to that on _Slumber of Sullen Eyes_... and, hopefully,
before another decade has passed us by.
Demons of Dirt - _Killer Engine_ (Hammerheart, February 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (6.5 out of 10)
Opening with a distorted blues riff, this band have
immediately-evident Pantera influences, with the vocalist even
sounding like Anselmo in phrasing and style. The guitars have a
Pantera-esque overdrive and the hooks are very groovy, but the verse
and filler sections have standard generic thrashy riffs. The drums
are blessed with a tight mix, particularly on the overly prominent
snare, but a loose cymbal sound. And they are too quiet, detracting
from the impact of the riffs; couple this with the bass being
splurged with an excess of twang, and the overall mix feels
sloppy around the edges. This proves to obscure some of the
construed harmonies. The title track is unremarkable, and between the
bluesy opening riff of "Demon Blues", it takes until fourth track
"Repetitions" to give something that grabs the attention, being a
rather slick and groovy work of metal, with a more trad feel.
Lyrically they have the attitude but ruin it with stupidity -- "Bow
your heads to the Devil's reign / It fucks your brain / Wings of
Pain"! Demons of Dirt knock out power groove with oddments of other
metal styling thrown in. It works in bits but can be uninteresting
and in this way, the quality of the songwriting is inconsistent,
although the mood and constituency aren't. There are occasional
flashes of quality amongst the unimaginative dirge of riffs; this
band do best when they avoid the more thrashy elements and come up
with groovy bridges and riffs. And it has to be said, the double-time
snare drumming is very annoying and they totally rip off Slayer's
"Seasons in the Abyss" during "Disrespect". There is some tight
musicianship and stomping riffs to get the head bobbing but this is
only just above average. It throws up some decent moments, but it's
telling that they only seem to catch your attention when they sound
like Pantera.
Desire - _Locus Horrendus_ (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
Desire were not an easy band to get into back when their debut
_Infinity_ [CoC #17] was released in 1996, and as far as I am aware
the album was poorly distributed outside Portugal. It consisted of
very slow, symphonic, tragically romantic doom metal, much the same
as _Pentacrow_ [CoC #30] -- the only sign of activity from the band
since their debut. But now, six years later, a full-length successor
has been released. This is, to the best of my knowledge, a
self-financed, independent release, but it certainly doesn't come
across as cheap: the thick booklet (thanks both to the number of
pages itself and also the glossy paper they used) and the fact that
the album was mastered at Finnvox Studios in Helsinki contribute to
that. The description above still suits their music nicely --
symphonic, tragic and romantic it still is, and definitely doom metal
--, only now it's not quite as slow as it used to be. This affects
the death vocals as well: previously each syllable seemed to take
forever to be uttered (which wasn't necessarily unpleasant). Despite
the good quality of the death grunts, the black vocals still strike
me as slightly cartoonish and not entirely convincing, which,
considering how much of the music has vocals on top, tends to detract
somewhat from the effectiveness of Desire's tragic soundscapes.
The same can be said about the annoying accent on the spoken
passages. More female vocals would have been welcome, as they are
used too sparingly in this 70 minute record. The band is very
fond of harvesting inspiration from the movie "The Crow" (samples
included) and quoting Fernando Pessoa, who was one of the greatest
Portuguese poets that ever lived and one who appeared to have a
desperately melancholic soul. Of course these quotes won't mean much
to non-Portuguese speakers, but in fact they work really well with
the music and provide a welcome break from the lyrics themselves. The
lengthy and slow-to-mid-paced song structures may challenge the
patience of some listeners, but those who usually enjoy doom metal
should not have a problem here. This record is not without its flaws,
but it is a great effort from a dedicated band and deserves attention
from darkly romantic doom metal enthusiasts.
Contact: http://thecrowshelter-desire.planetaclix.pt
Dolorian - _Dolorian_ (Wounded Love Records, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
These Finns' debut _When All the Laughter Has Gone_ [CoC #40] showed
plenty of promise, but also a lot of rough edges, namely in the
occasionally annoying keyboard lines. This self-titled follow-up
wipes all of that away: there are no superfluous embellishments in
the music of present day Dolorian, keyboard or otherwise. This is a
-bleak- form of music we have here; something that can be called doom
metal for the lack of a better description, but as far as I am aware,
there isn't really an album in the whole genre that can be compared
to _Dolorian_. This is an unrelentingly bleak mixture of heavier
metal-like sections and hypnotic string-plucking passages, all laced
with a strong ambient music component that dwells in the background.
Nothing is upbeat, and anything you could call a hook is very unusual
on _Dolorian_, the main exception occurring early in the album
with the superb "Blue Unknown". Vocals are subdued, whispered and
spoken rather than sung, while Dolorian's dirges merge into one
another to form a continuous composition. There is little point in
discussing whether the music ever becomes repetitive; it sometimes
does, but only because they want it to. With titles like "Grey
Rain", "Cold/Colourless", "Ambiguous Ambivalence" and "Seclusion",
minimalist black and white artwork and matching lyrics, you'll be
sure to know what to expect before you hear the music. Dolorian have
created a complete package of misery entirely different from the
hordes of more or less listener-friendly, commercially-oriented music
that is created all the time. This all sounds detached, alienated,
hopeless, fallen deep into despair; bleak. A remarkable achievement
by Dolorian.
Empyrium - _Weiland_ (Prophecy Productions, May 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
Gone are Empyrium's metallic days, when memorable works such as
_Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_ [CoC #30] were created. Andreas Bach
-- one half of the duo -- has since left the project, as Ulf Theodor
Schwadorf is now joined by a classical vocalist (Thomas Helm) as well
as Nadine Wolter (who, as usual, helps out with the flutes) and
three other guests. This is an entirely acoustic album, like its
predecessor _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_ [CoC #42]. But
whereas _WtNtWGP_ was supposed to be a one-off acoustic record and
ended up suffering from just that, _Weiland_ is a full-bodied,
lengthy, involved album. The music is at times chillingly evocative
of majestic open spaces or dark forests, driven mostly by acoustic
guitar lines, some occasional percussion, flutes, violin, cello and
(later in the album) piano. And, of course, vocals. These are
essentially of three qualities: Schwadorf's spoken passages, his
blackened vox (which are used sparingly and work very well indeed
with the delicate music), and the classical vocals provided by Thomas
Helm. Schwadorf's contribution fits very well in the music, and his
delivery is very good. As for Helm's classical vocals, they seem
technically irreproachable, but to me they tend to sound somewhat
jarring amidst the sombre atmosphere of present day Empyrium's tragic
neo-folk. Fortunately, these vocals are also used sparingly enough to
avoid becoming a major annoyance. _Weiland_ is divided into three
chapters and subtitled "Naturmystik in Drei Kapiteln", which is where
an uncanny Ulver connection starts: Ulver's _Bergtatt_ is divided in
five chapters, and their dark folk album _Kveldsfanger_ contains a
song titled "Naturmystikk" -- which, give or take a "k", is a bit of
a coincidence already, only the superb _Weiland_ booklet itself is
quite reminiscent of the interior of Ulver's own _Nattens Madrigal_
booklet. Anyway, _Weiland_'s first chapter contains a few short
tracks that don't really seem to go anywhere (also known as the
_Kveldsfanger_ syndrome) and a couple of longer, more involved ones,
both of them very good. The second chapter consists of the seventh
track, which is a 14 minute song. Despite its length, it flows very
well and contains plenty of variety. Midway through the song, a sad,
stirring string section reminds me of Samuel Barber's Adagio --
powerful stuff. The final chapter is slightly more sombre (not that
the previous two weren't sombre already) and contains more bits of
sullen piano, which can't be heard on the first two chapters. This
is my favourite part of the album, but _Weiland_ has the very
pleasant quality of starting out nicely, though somewhat irregularly,
improving with the second chapter, and finishing with a really good
set of tracks. Some of these are also quite short, but work together
very well. The classical vocals on the first half of the record will
probably take some getting used to, but overall this is a superb
release for anyone into dark acoustic atmospheres. The closest album
I can think of as a reference is Tenhi's also excellent _Kauan_,
though _Weiland_ shows slightly less folk influences. I can't really
recommend one over the other; both are definitely worth having in
case the description above sparks your interest. It is a loss that
Empyrium are no longer a metal band, but at least they have mutated
into something similarly interesting.
Contact: http://www.empyrium.de
Entwine - _Time of Despair_ (Spikefarm / XIII Bis, July 2002)
by: David Rocher (2 out of 10)
Entwine's second full-length is the archetype of a release which
epitomises the most irritating aspects of the gothic metal scene -- a
quintet of eyeliner-enhanced pretty boys graced with the presence of
an awesomely sexy gothic ivory-tickling chick, Entwine indulge in a
nine-track collection of feeble melancholic dirges consisting of
merely tolerable keyboard melodies vaguely attempting to enlighten
prosaic, linear and tentatively heavy guitar work overlain with
irritatingly smooth, testosterone-suppurating male vocals and the
occasional oh-so-predictable half-hearted female chorus. Add to
this enrapturing landscape the juvenile lovelorn lyrics, glamorous
posturing and obnoxious musical facileness this disc exudes -- capped
off by official distributor XIII Bis' infuriating habit of rudely
cutting Spinefarm's traditionally lush booklets down to a lame and
meaningless two-page inlay --, and you're faced with a failsafe
method to obtain 43 minutes of sugar-coated romantic "gothic"
pop metal, with the probably unrequested bonus of a distinctly
exasperated reviewer.
[Quentin Kalis: "Yet another helping of bland goth-inspired metal.
_ToD_ is, in almost all respects, the same as its unremarkable
predecessor, right down to the inclusion of the same formulaic song
structures and embarrassing attempts at creating a woeful sound.
Entwine have the potential to produce an album infinitely better
than this insipid release, but until they move beyond the confines
of their comfort zone, this is unlikely to happen."]
Eternal Oath - _Righteous_ (Greater Art Records, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors (7.5 out of 10)
Eternal Oath are one of the veteran bands on the Swedish metal scene
and they have been around for more than ten years now. They have not
been very productive during their long career, though, partly because
of band members being active in other projects outside the band.
Formed in 1991, a demo in 1993, a mini album in 1996, a full-length
in 1999 and another one now in the year 2002. I actually thought the
band had broken up until their new album landed in my mailbox one
day... Still, this is not of much importance to you and me who first
and foremost just want to enjoy the music, but I guess it must affect
both the band members and the label. Label problems is another thing
that has been haunting Eternal Oath throughout the years, and their
previous album _Through the Eyes of Hatred_ was released on the
Singapore-based label Pulverised Records, who closed their doors one
or two years ago. The new album _Righteous_ continues pretty much
where the band left off in 1999, but the newer material is more solid
and it feels as if the band is more comfortable with their own music
this time. Eternal Oath do of course play melodic death metal, but
they are still just a copy of bands like Dark Tranquillity or In
Flames. The vocal approach of Joni Maensivu, one of the three
founding members who are still in the band, is more brutal than what
we are used to hearing from bands in this genre and the overall sound
is also a little rougher and less polished. The vocals actually sound
very much like Aaron Stainthorpe in the early days of My Dying
Bride's career. My Dying Bride is one of my favorite bands, but
Eternal Oath hasn't quite reached their level yet in my critical
eyes. There are also some well performed female vocals on two of the
tracks and, believe it or not, male clean vocals, but most of the
vocals are growled as usual. Recommended if you are a fan of melodic
death metal who would like to hear something that doesn't end with
Tranquillity or Flames. In any case, you must listen to the title
track of this album, because that particular song is absolutely
beautiful. Other noteworthy tracks are "Preserve the Emotions" and
"Crown of Emptiness".
Contact: http://www.eternaloath.com
Freebase - _My Life, My Rules_ (Diehard/Hardboiled, September 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (8.5 out of 10)
The title speaks for itself and Freebase live up to it in a fine
fashion; any band that can pen a song about a rapist called "Cunt
Hunter" and still manage to pull it off deserve some modicum of
praise. The drums seem a little muffled, but the guitars are powerful
and harsh as they bang out riffs that are strong and effective
alongside vocals that roar and growl with a powerful hardcore style.
You could seriously slam to this band. Lyrically, it is aggressive
and controversial but positive; songs like "The Cull" and "SOS" are a
call to arms to do something about modern day injustices of society.
Freebase proclaim what they believe and what they feel in one loud
voice. These songs are well-written and interesting; like Barcode,
these guys write accessible and enjoyable hardcore. The mix is such
that vocals are very prominent and the instrumental mix is very
centred on the guitars, with the bass being a constant low rumble.
The drums come across a little muffled and quiet but not so they
sound weak -- they are still somewhat tight. Admittedly the backing
vocals sound like shouting, which is exactly the point. Freebase's
particular brand of hardcore really is a delight for those sick of
the sound of nu-metal and modern day rock. "Stay Away From Me"
satisfyingly sticks two fingers in the face of every shoe-gazing Kurt
Cobain wannabe and "Nothing to Regret" stands tall as Freebase bang
out stomping riffage with aplomb that puts Slipknot and Soulfly in
the shade. Other tracks boast many thrash-tinged riff progressions
and fills, especially in the Lombardo-esque beats of "Respect 2002",
an aggressive dismissal of bigotry and trends. The great thing about
Freebase is the way it all comes across so personal and honest; raw
hardcore performed from the heart. It's a mark of a good band when
they can take riffs that are nothing special in essence and turn them
into something more. "Weakness of Thought" is crushing and doomy,
feeling barely restrained. "Blood for Blood" is aggressive and
thrashy. "My Life, My Rules" shows variety in mood and styling
although it all remains very hardcore. These touches give a sense of
meaning to the construed riffs; subject and style is well put
together. Freebase occasionally add a little something else to
characterise their songs with mixed results; while the stereo imaging
at the end of "Suicide Note" falls flat, the "Silence of the Lambs"
sampling in "Cunt Hunter" gives an edge to an already unsettling
song. Overall, this is very well done, enjoyable hardcore, and
judging by the banter at the beginning and end, Freebase are having a
good time doing it.
Godless Truth - _Self-Realisation_ (Shindy, April 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (9 out of 10)
This offering from Godless Truth starts ominously, being both dark
and brutal. The guitar sound is solid and heavy and makes a
substantial impact. Snare rimshots rattle away and shape into a
rhythm as we recognise the subtle accents. All the time we have a
steady, gut-shot crunch of guitars over hammering kick drums. The
second track comes out of nowhere and rips into a complex riff. It
quickly stands out that the Godless Truth guys play with weird time
signatures but keep the reigns taut in a dark and splurging sound
that hits you hard. The drums have attacking prominence and though
the snare sound is bright and metallic, it segues well into the mix
rather than becoming irritating. The vocals are rather different to
the usual metal roaring; with a combination of wet throaty rasps and
a low range, it is hard to tell if this is always totally natural.
Godless Truth create a dark and unpleasant sound. It is nasty and
brooding and cold but totally engrossing, despite the initial
impregnability of the songs. This density emphasises the more
prominent melodic passages when they briefly arise. The bones of this
work are made of heavily progressive and haunting metal, with epic
scope and a sick touch. Lyrically this is deeply sick and unpleasant,
with violent and perverse imagery. It works very well indeed. Godless
Truth offer up something different and fresh with their brand of
disturbing metal and it feels like a blast of fresh air after
listening to so much that is entirely generic. _Self-Realisation_
explores many musical patterns and riff progressions, even though it
manages to sustain a black mood. We get solos, blast beats, hyper
kick-drumming, snarling bass lines and vocals to haunt the dreams
of most other death vocalists. We get shredding riffs, churning
hammer-blows, tutti runs and violent licks and yet it all feels so
controlled and measured as if the floodgates are never truly opened.
This adds to the anticipation and keeps the interest. This band
possesses some extreme power. It is impossible to pick a stand-out
track because the quality is maintained throughout. Not once did I
want to reach for the stop button. It is not always accessible, I
can't whistle back much of this, but I know that I have enjoyed every
little figure and blast. Listen to this. Now.
Gorguts - _From Wisdom to Hate_ (Olympic, 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (7 out of 10)
Opening with a bizarre riff, including guitar harmonics that sound
more like a squeaky gate and a snare drum that sounds more like
someone tapping a pot with a pencil, Gorguts create raw, intense
feelings and complex riffs, but nothing stands out on its own and the
song structure is merely identified by sections, i.e. this is the
fast bit, this is the slow bit and this is the solo. The riff
progressions and melodies are occasionally impenetrable and it is
nigh on impossible to whistle any of this. We have a limited bio that
claims their previous opus _Obscura_ was like nothing that had been
done before and that _From Wisdom to Hate_ is a progression of this.
What we have in reality is rough and very progressive death metal.
The musicianship of this band is in evidence as they almost go
overboard on complexity, with time signatures and dissonance aplenty.
The sound is dark and ominous in a style akin to Nile. We often get
similar-sounding riff progressions in harmonic minor, which creates
the ambience. The mix is raw in a way that makes early Deicide
sound slickly produced and the drums suffer particularly, with the
otherwise tight kick-drums lacking prominence and the gated snare
sounding plain annoying when they blast. The guitars lack the razor
edge that can mean so much in terms of impact, becoming sludgy, and
the vocals are powerful but lamentably monotone. Musically this is
occasionally enjoyable and in equal measure not so. The complexity of
the music is the most prominent stylistic trait and sometimes this
makes for an inspirational musical experience, but occasionally
lapses into an unattractive cacophony. Consequently this is only half
absorbing, particularly as the songs are lengthy. It is all very
extreme and full credit must be given to the effort and craft gone
into producing this work, but the quality is variable. I enjoyed
"Elusive Treasures" a lot, with its many dark corridors of expression
and mood, but found opening track "Inverted" nothing short of a chore
to sit through. In many songs, specific sections stand out as the
music ebbs and flows with your interest levels. The last track is one
of the few that kept my interest and, somewhat tellingly, it was an
instrumental. _From Wisdom to Hate_ is dark, extreme and progressive
but it doesn't always translate into a vital musical experience. It's
good stuff but it has been done better.
[Brian Meloon: "After the masterful _Obscura_, I think anything
Gorguts released would be considered a disappointment. _From Wisdom
to Hate_ isn't a groundbreaking album, preferring to stay close to
the formula that _Obscura_ developed and tweaking a little around
the edges. Ultimately, this album offers little that Gorguts haven't
done before."]
Hagalaz' Runedance - _Frigga's Web_ (Hammerheart, April 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (8 out of 10)
This work opens with a passage of music called "The Crossing". It's
safe to say that some epic metal bands would kill for such emotive
vocal harmony as this possesses. I was expecting something similar to
Nightwish, which in my book is always a good thing. Forgive me for
being mildly disappointed then when I soon realised that this
album wasn't folk-influenced metal but Nordic folk music, painting
spiritual images of nature myth with a distinctive Northern tone.
Which as I soon learned, is also quite a good thing. Prominently
featuring tribal drumming, bagpipes, flutes, lyres, harps and a whole
host of medieval and folk instruments, Hagalaz' Runedance have
created some engrossing landscapes in sound, that at times are both
haunting and beautiful. In true style to the characteristics of
this kind of music, it is mostly performed entirely in one key.
High-register instruments and the vocals carry the melody over a
sustained drone; this is essential for capturing the essence of this
music. All credit must go to Andrea Nebel Haugen, this music being
her creation and passion. She achieves her aims and creates her
imagery very successfully as she explores pagan concepts of nature
and femininity. Her vocals are truly effective and explore a variety
of styles and even languages; from choral polyphony to Dorian
yodeling. All of the music is soulfully performed and proves
absorbing. Whether this sort of music sounds attractive to the
specific listener is something I cannot account for and being
unfamiliar to the artists of such a particular sort of music I have
nothing to compare this to, except possibly Enya. I think this works,
it's definitely rather different to everything else in my record
collection. For me, I would give this a solid 8 out of 10 as it is
ambitious, emotive and solid in execution, but flawed in the way that
there is absolutely no chord progression which means my attention
wavers, but then, there isn't meant to be. If this stuff is your
thing, this may well deserve full marks. It is, it has to be said,
very relaxing.
Harkonen - _Grizz_ (HydraHead, 2001)
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10)
A big, dirty, bassy, riff-drive kicks off _Grizz_'s eponymous opening
track, but though the song continues to bludgeon and drone in
simplistic rotation, Harkonen's instrumental execution and rich sound
assure that they are not merely palmed off as another average
band flailing in the wake of noisecore/metalcore's primary tidal
wave generators. There is a cohesion present on this EP that
you rarely hear. The songs are all be essentially simple on
-one- level, but Harkonen can make more from less with the best
of them; throughout the dissonance, the melody-mangling and the
frequent occasions when the three-piece choose to 'rock out', an
effectively dense and ever-enticing atmosphere is retained. Whether
it's the noisecore-for-stoners stylings of "Kildow's Song", the
Speedhorn-esque stomp of "Thunder Appeal", the mutilated garage punk
dirge of "Townache" or even the mad-jammin', Kylie-plundering -- you
listen to the main riff that enters at 2:04 and tell me it's not
"Locomotion"! -- finale, "Hey You Millionaires, Get Out of That
Garbage", Harkonen always deliver the goods with style. Definitely a
band to watch.
High on Fire - _Surrounded by Thieves_ (Relapse, June 2002)
by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10)
Not being quite as drawn out as Sleep -- in however a good way that
is -- High on Fire's work is better described as prolonged when
compared to "normality"; their compostions are almost upbeat or
snappy put alongside Khanate or Sunn 0)) respectively; but this is
not to level negative criticism at them. That distinctively raw,
fuzzy, 'stoner doom' sound is here, but the emphasis is firmly on
-doom-. This ain't Kyuss -- though we loved 'em, didn't we? -- and it
sure as hell ain't no QoTSA -- thank god! _Surrounded by Thieves_ is
bleak -- it hounds you with droning chords and bad-trip vocals -- but
yet it -rocks-. The concoction HoF whip up is intoxicating; _SbT_ is
a must-try for all enthusiasts of Sleep, Eyehategod, early and latest
Cathedral, Old Grandad and their ilk. Furthermore, it will be a trip,
if possibly a bad one, for anyone who's not heard any rumblings from
the genre that seems to house all Sabbath's most excessively -- yet
-successfully- -- inbred offspring.
Human Abstrakt - _Psychological Blindness_ (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Last time reviewed Human Abstrakt it was in CoC #55 for a two-song
demo they had submitted, and I was less than impressed with the
submission, only taking a liking to the song "Vice". But what do you
expect when you are set to review a release with only two songs? It
can be hard to really get a good feel of a band after two songs. I am
glad to say that their new release features nine songs and is truly
leaps and bounds above the last submission. Now a three-piece, Human
Abstrakt has strengthened their sound, managing to mesh together a
very powerful mix of darkened thrash metal and power metal, kind of
along the lines of Nevermore or early Queensryche. You can hear the
creative juices running wild on this album, most notably on songs
like strong opener "Dissention", "Blind Disciples" and "Prosperous
Fool". I have been listening to this record on and off for the last
few weeks and every time I come back to it I hear something different
within the walls of their creative musical energy. And to think I
once was ho-hum about this band. Thanks for sticking to your guns,
Human Abstrakt, and coming back a few CoC issues later to kick my
ass.
Contact: http://human-abstrakt.8m.net
Immortal Symphony - _Time Is Not Forever_ (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley (4 out of 10)
Holy fuck! What kind of production is this? As the opening notes to
Immortal Symphony's release began, it had this chilling doomy/gothic
swagger too it, a nice guitar riff slowly and cautiously flowing as
hypnotic doomy vocals whispered, and then BAM! Shitty production
accompanied by some weak, poorly attempted death metal growls. What
gives? But it doesn't stop there, as the band's production seems to
fall apart as "Dying Faith" and "Crucifixion of Love" play out. I
know it says in the bio that the album was recorded on a single track
ADAT in a garage, but I have heard better sounding records from
one-man bands that have recorded them in their bedrooms while
sleeping under a blanket and with a three-day old cold. In all
seriousness, this doomy/atmospheric/death metal band has some fine
points and if they can try to get out of the garage and lose (or at
least fix) some of their song characteristics (i.e. death vocal
growls) then something could come out of this. Get crackin' boys.
Contact: http://www.immortalsymphony.cjb.net
In Flames - _Reroute to Remain_ (Nuclear Blast, August 2002)
by: Chris Flaaten (6 out of 10)
I thoroughly liked _The Jester Race_ and thought they improved on
each album up to and including _Colony_. On _Clayman_ [CoC #48],
which -is- a good album, I sensed a small drop in intensity and
enthusiasm. It sounded slightly more calculated, rushed and less
elaborate. This time, these traits aren't something I just -sense-;
they're staring me in the face! _Reroute to Remain_ starts as one
would expect, with a bombardment of riffs and trademark Stromblad
guitar melodies. The verse feels quite staccato though, and the
chorus gives me nothing. In Flames continue to use more and more
clean/semi-clean vocals. While this proves they're unafraid to
explore new areas and adds a new dimension to their music, it would
be so much more successful if Friden only knew how to sing.
Throughout the album, most verses are uneventful, while the choruses
are too easy listening. I have no problem with their formula, but
they need more punch, contrasts and intensity in their music to make
it work. While I enjoy this album more than the hopeless _The Tokyo
Showdown_ [CoC #55], _RtR_ is the bigger disappointment. Two strikes
in a row guys, your next release better be good!
[Adrian Bromley: "I know, I know... everyone out there wants to hate
the new In Flames album. Some say the band is becoming too
commercial, others say it is because they toured with Slipknot in
Europe. I admit I was very apprehensive about the new album, as I
wasn't too into their last album _Clayman_. But with a new burst of
energy and a clever title too, these Swedes find a lot of cool ideas
to work with on the new disc, be it the bizarre vocal stylings,
catchy choruses or some electronic elements. The success of this
album relies on the fact that the band set out to make a record full
of variety, to kind of step away from what had been part of their
sound for so many albums, but at the same time not lose a grip on
the "traditional" In Flames sound. This is one of the best albums of
the year, not only because it is good but also for the fact that the
band didn't follow any trend and did what they wanted to do. And for
that reason alone, they remain one of the best metal outfits out
there nowadays."]
[Pedro Azevedo: "Having seen _Clayman_ as a great record and an
improvement upon its predecessor, I must now say _Reroute to Remain_
strikes me as a more sudden lurch downwards than one will be able to
find in many a rollercoaster ride. Somewhere between the worthless
nu-metal leanings and the sheer mediocrity -- by In Flames'
standards -- of the remaining music, this record conquers its place
as one of the biggest letdowns I've ever found in metal."]
Intervalle Bizarre - _Unexpected Awakening of Impassive Mass_
Malignancy - _Frailty of the Human Condition_ <split CD>
by: Adam Lineker (7 out of 10) (Shindy, August 2001)
Intervalle Bizarre start their half of this split effort firing
on all cylinders; straight in with a powerful and hammering mix,
growling bass and battering drums underpin a shredding guitar. The
vocals are very heavy, and vary from a rasping delivery to deep lows
in a manner similar to that of Akercocke. Heavy and aggressive as it
may be, its melodic qualities are not always obvious, lost in the mix
as guitars churn and shred; riffs develop into a swirling barrage,
punctuated with harmonics and glissandos. Without the prominence of
the drums more of this would be lost, and the vocal figures become
important to identify figures and motifs. The subject matter is as
grisly as the music, particularly on opener "Abortion by Muriatic
Acid". The songs are lengthy and consist of riff after churning riff,
with a fair dose of blast beats and the occasional bass figure or
lead solo. Not all of this penetrates the psyche of the listener but
it can be absorbing. Some of the better riffs are worn out through
similarity and an excess of embellishment; others never catch your
attention. With four songs of their own and a Brutal Truth cover,
Intervalle Bizarre provide the blackened goods for their side of the
split, but there are incomprehensible movements; fittingly, the title
of the fourth track. Having accepted this as their style, it must
also be recognised that they have some good ideas and the nerve to
suffuse the music with complex time signatures. All of which equals
potential. I am left with the afterthought that a little polishing
could make or break this material.
Since Malignancy have a vocal style very similar to that of
Mortician, in that it is so low it fades in and out of audibility and
is never once comprehensible, the accompanying music cannot be
expected to be anything other than brutal. Yet while this is indeed
the case, there is some clarity and definition in the guitars, but
the distortion does sound like an angry wasp in a bucket. The bass
establishes itself well, adding power and making up for a drum mix
that seems just a tad too quiet. Consequently we get heavy complex
riffs dominating, while the vocals actually take a back seat and
complement the riffage. It's good stuff, although it must be said
that they take a lot of cues from Mortician, to the extent that Roger
J. Beaujard guests on drums. Also of the five songs, three are
re-recordings and only two are new which somewhat lightens the
significance of their contribution; Intervalle Bizzarre have at least
given fans a motive to buy this.
Overall, this split turns out respectable performances from both
bands. Malignancy sound more polished but have not offered much new
material, whereas Intervalle Bizarre have a lot going for them but it
doesn't always come across. So it's a case of swings and roundabouts
that brutal death fans might want to check out.
Korum - _Son of the Breed_ (Sekhmet, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Korum are a French band who play a mix of thrash, death and hardcore.
Their style alternates between riffs which are straightforward and
bludgeoning and those that are technical and intricate. The vocals
alternate between a shouted style and a deeper growling style, at
times using both concurrently. The rhythm section is tight, and
though there aren't any guitar solos, the guitars do have a chance to
show off occasionally. Given the technicality of some parts of the
material, the performances are excellent. The songs are generally
fast-paced and short, with non-standard structures that get right to
the point and keep the intensity up fairly well. The production is
very good and clear: all of the instruments are clearly audible,
especially the bass. This should be enjoyed by a wide variety of
metal fans. There's enough technicality here to satisfy those looking
for it, but not too much to take away from the more brutal aspects of
the album.
Limbonic Art - _The Ultimate Death Worship_ (8 out of 10)
by: Chris Flaaten (Nocturnal Art, August 2002)
Limbonic Art surprised a few people with their previous record _Ad
Noctum: Dynasty of Death_ [CoC #45], where they shifted focus from
epic, synth-driven pieces and instead attacked with furious riffs and
hyper-speed drums. While the quality was still undeniable, many hoped
for a return to their past of majestic symphonies this time -- or
perhaps a blend of the two styles. Well, Limbonic Art has continued
from the style on _Ad Noctum_. The guitar orientation is still there,
but it is more defined now. They have slowed everything down a couple
of notches and deliver some highly enjoyable, slow and heavy riffs.
The synths are even more distant this time, and this does strip away
some of the depth and atmosphere we have come to expect from Limbonic
Art. The album still grows on each listen, though -- there are loads
of details to discover. Limbonic Art has never had a great production
on any of their albums and it's perhaps even more blurred than usual
this time, but their music doesn't really demand a crisp, clear and
perfect production. _The Ultimate Death Worship_ is not as grand as
their first two albums and not as intense as their previous one, but
it is still a very solid release that demands your investment.
Mercenary - _Everblack_ (Hammerheart, March 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (6.5 out of 10)
This Hammerheart release seems to have more guts and power than the
usual. Sporting a hard-edged guitar sound alike to that of In Flames,
they thrash out strains of melodic death. The harmonic constructions
are also decidedly In Flames-ish, as are the metal riffs. Mercenary
play with a crunch and bassy pulse alongside twin vocal parts, the
bassist providing the distorted vocals and the high-pitched metal
vocalist also performing his role adequately. Keyboards occasionally
emerge to fill out the background, adding more layers of sound whilst
impressive guitar runs and metal harmonies take their place at the
forefront. The choruses seem to be the focus of the more emotive
progressions and harmonies. These central passages are surrounded by
generic metal riffing and themed with entirely metal concepts. The
music is let down by the length of the individual songs -- they are
too drawn out and the unremarkable nature of the riffage make this
un-absorbing. The melodic progressions feel similar and overused with
the guitar soloing usually standing out more. The lead licks have
emotive strains that verge on being over the top but then again, this
is metal. It is easy to knock this band for being highly derivative
of In Flames, especially as they lack an absorbing feel. The
riffs are well performed and musically complex but they don't
break barriers or grab hold of you. And there is a degree of
repetitiveness. The mood is either aggressive and dark or dark and
melancholic but this album is rather un-progressive. Most of the
phrasing is rather generic and similar and though it maintains the
same level of intensity, once you are used to the impact of the
riffs, you don't feel much more throughout the album. "Screaming From
the Heavens" and "Bloodrush" have more about them; the former has one
of the better instrumental runs of the work. "Dead.com" erupts out of
the closing piano figure of "Screaming..." and that works well but
the minute this album catches your attention, it lets it go before it
can engross you. With the musicianship on display, the quality
of this album is disappointing. The riffs are churned out with
enthusiasm and for the most part they avoid sounding cheesy, but
unfortunately they don't quite grasp that all-important infusion of
excitement and inventiveness that I find so necessary to metal. Only
with improved songwriting could comparisons to In Flames become a
positive thing.
Moonsorrow - _Voimasta ja Kunniasta_ (Spikefarm, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis (9 out of 10)
Creating an epic sound in metal is nothing new, and a prerequisite
for inclusion under the Viking metal banner. But few bands have
managed to create a sound as brilliantly epic in its scope as
Moonsorrow have. Moonsorrow effortlessly draw the listener into their
world, a world where war was seen as glorious, and where to die in
battle was considered the greatest honour. Although it may be based
in history, it is no less enchanting or mystical then a fantasy
world created by the likes of Mortiis. The last and best track,
"Sankaritarina" -- an ode to a fallen warrior -- is a particularly
impressive and moving song. Not since Pestilence's _Testimony of the
Ancients_ has there been a more appropriate or powerful closer to any
metal album. Whilst Moonsorrow sing in their native Finnish, this
does not detract in any way from my enjoyment of the album.
In addition to the traditional metal instruments and the almost
obligatory keyboards, folk instruments such as the accordion and the
mouth harp are also used throughout the songs. These are fully
integrated into the songs and are not used merely for interludes or
Cradle of Filth-esque fillers. If this album truly receives the
attention it deserves in years to come, it will be seen as the
blueprint for creating a Viking metal album and should well be
regarded as a definitive album of the genre.
Morifade - _Imaginarium_ (Hammerheart, August 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (6.5 out of 10)
Yet another Hammerheart power metal group, but to their credit
Morifade boast some impressive skill, especially in the guitar solos
and licks. Also they show understanding of harmonic construction in
vocals and guitars and the vocalist has a quite distinctive voice
that is very treble but very un-aggressive and so avoids sounding
like Rob Halford. The guitar sound is dull and the keyboards seem
slightly low in the mix, but the production is solid overall. The
song structures have a progressive touch, not necessarily being too
explorative but preventing boredom. In phrasing, syllables at the end
of phrases are extended and usually harmonised. Although eventually
predictable, it is an effective element of the Morifade sound.
Lyrically this is nothing special and most of the song concepts are
tried and tested ideas, but they get away with it because they do it
quite well. However, the keyboard sound is a little unconvincing and
although the bass line can give punch in places, this record seems
uninspiring for the listener. Also Morifade can come across as
very hammy indeed, particularly in opener "Lost Within a Shade".
"Nevermore" is very pedestrian and drawn out and you glean the
impression that a classical feel is probably aimed for but not quite
pulled off. This power metal seems to lack the power, going for pomp
instead. This is nothing to headbang to, but nevertheless this is
still a pleasant listen. Never poor and mostly better than average
but very lacking in its capacity to send shivers down the spine. The
rhythm parts can be a little uninspiring and although it attempts an
epic (see "In Martyria - A Gladiator Song"), the keyboard motif in
this song reminds me more of some kids adventure cartoon, probably
Pokemon. And it can be so hammy in the overblown polyphony of the
vocal lines. The melodies and constructions become repetitive and
betray the band entirely; the ultimate enemy of the power metaller is
unoriginality. _Imaginarium_ isn't consistently imaginative enough to
entirely avoid this.
Morser - _10,000 Bad Guys Dead_ (Chrome St. Magnus, 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (9.5 out of 10)
Straight in with a metal explosive to launch the album into orbit, it
is apt to say that opener "The Sharpest Blade" cuts like a knife.
With a violent mix of razor-edged guitars, tight, metallic drums and
three different pitches of lacerating vocal butchery, _10,000 Bad
Guys Dead_ begins as an onslaught of high quality aural battery. The
vital component, which takes this to an exhilarating level, is the
twin bass guitar attack, which acts as a vital lynchpin whilst
never sounding anything but brutal. This is violent and massively
aggressive metal. The music is complex but not obtuse; the band shine
as musicians who carve out killer riffs whilst measuring out just the
right blend of complex time signatures. There is a progressive
element to Morser's work, but the songs are never pretentious or
overly long. What we have are a bunch of musicians thrashing their
songs out at such a level of intensity that it is a wonder that
they don't suffer a haemorrhage. The riffs are engrossing and
masterfully constructed, as works of raw metal seamlessly shift from
style to style. We can experience the different moods of such
violent-yet-still-melodic metal because Morser seem to be able to
change gears mid song in a way that never sounds anything but
natural; I would say effortless but it sounds as if the musicians are
throwing everything into this. It is hard to pick a part that stands
above the rest; the whole album stands so tall. "Rock Oil" is
relentless, "Interactive Solitude" is really crushing and "Strength
in Numbers" is ominous and dark with a head-banging midsection.
"A.M.P" is melodically prominent but it just has to be said that this
entire album kills -- no, brutalises. Lyrically it is simple and full
of attitude, but it is not as if you can hear what they are saying
anyway... Morser thrash out a performance here that blows most live
albums clean away. The energy just radiates from this record. If
_10,000 Bad Guys Dead_ reflects the live sound of this band in any
way shape or form, these guys are going to blaze one hell of a trail.
Never pleasant, always exhilarating and crucially absorbing, Morser
offers one vital metal experience. Check this out now. _10,000 Bad
Guys Dead_ is my personal album of this issue. It is really as simple
as that.
Mourning Beloveth - _Dust_ (Sentinel, July 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
This is the same album I reviewed as an independent release back in
CoC #53 (Bron was just a private label created for the sole purpose
of releasing the record with some label name on it). It has now
been re-released on a label, in greater quantity, and with three
extra tracks that raise the album's total length to just under
75 minutes. These consist of "It Almost Looked Human", which
is a damn good addition to the album, the brief instrumental
"Sinistra" and the lengthy but not especially remarkable "Forever
Lost Emeralds". Assuming the price doesn't change, this obviously
means some extra value for your money. The album didn't originally
seem excessively brief or incomplete without these three tracks, but
they generally have enough quality to deserve their place. However,
after the instrumental track "Sinistra", which could have provided a
nice ending to the album, "Forever Lost Emeralds" seems somewhat
unnecessary. Please consult CoC #53 for further details on the rest
of _Dust_, which still comes strongly recommended for fans of British
doom metal.
Contact: http://www.mourningbeloveth.com
Contact: http://www.sentinelireland.com
Naked City - _Live Vol. 1: Knitting Factory 1989_ (Tzadik, May 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10)
It's a shame that Naked City has always remained in relative
obscurity, because to metalheads it is without doubt John Zorn's most
attractive band. Together with Bill Frisell, Wayne Horovitz, Fred
Frith and Joey Baron plus a plethora of collaborating artists (most
notably Yamatsuka Eye from The Boredoms), the outfit Naked City
produced something that could best be described as a mix between
free jazz, avant-garde and extreme rock. Especially the first two
releases, _Torture Garden_ and _Grand Guignol_, featured many short
songs (most of them in between 10 and 45 seconds) that were basically
grindcore songs performed with jazz instruments under snappy titles
such as "Thrash Jazz Assassin", "Blood Duster", "Hellraiser" and
"Victims of Torture". In 1994, Naked City went dormant with no plans
for revival in the future. While _Live Vol. 1: Knitting Factory 1989_
is not exactly a revival, at least it gives hope for the future.
Featuring the entire concert performed at the Knitting Factory back
in 1989, it gives a clear view of the versatility of the band: easily
shifting from brutal grind assaults to R&B, from punk to blues
improvisations, _LV1:KF1989_ proves to be not just an essential album
for Naked City fans but also a very accessible album for people not
familiar with the material. The fact that all the material on this
album is instrumental doesn't bother, and the excellent production
should be an example for many other bands. Mandatory material.
Negate - _The Dead Guy Palace_ (Good Life Recordings, 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10)
While Belgium is most famous for its grindcore bands, such as
Agathocles, that is not the only musical style Belgians are adept at.
Negate are giving it a shot with their unusual approach to Swedish
thrash metal. _The Dead Guy Palace_ can be judged from two different
angles. First, the brave attempt to add black metal vocals, black
metal keyboards and also hardcore vocals to their Gothenburg melodies
seems highly original. The other side of the coin is that after
repeated listens to _TDGP_, it sounds a little bit too forced, as if
they couldn't decide what they really wanted to do. Even though many
of the songs are of a superb quality, such as "Evil Black Stars" and
"Statement of Aggression", the songs would have had a stronger impact
without that schizophrenic feeling to them. That said, _TDGP_ is
still a very promising album with the potential to get Negate a good
name in the international scene. If they manage to work on their own
identity a little more, they might find a place for themselves in the
gap that Dissection has left behind years ago.
Nomicon - _Halla_ (Sagitarius Productions, 2001)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Finland's avant-garde black metallers Nomicon have returned with
their second full-length album. This album is similar to their debut
_Yellow_, but it seems more accessible. Their sound is keyboard-heavy
black/death metal, comparable to Nokturnal Mortum's excellent _Goat
Horns_ [CoC #31], especially in the way that multiple keyboard parts
are layered. However, Nomicon's keyboards generally go for more of a
spooky vibe, with angular lines and unconventional phrasing. I'm
often reminded of a horror movie soundtrack, or something like
Diabolical Masquerade's _Death's Design_ [CoC #54]. As Nokturnal
Mortum did, Nomicon find a good mix between the guitar-driven and
keyboard-driven parts. Neither dominates their sound, though both
take turns driving the music. The vocals are done in a low-register
raspy style and neither add to nor detract from the music. The
production is clear and powerful, and the playing is competent. This
is a pretty cool disc, and should picked up by those with a taste for
avant-garde black metal.
Orthrelm - _Asristir Vieldriox_ (Troubleman Unlimited, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon (5 out of 10)
Orthrelm is a two-piece band from the Washington, DC area.
Their music can be adequately described as "painfully technical
synchronized guitar and drum blasting". This album contains 99
instrumental tracks which last for slightly more than 12 minutes
altogether. Each song consists of between 5 and 10 seconds of quick
and abrasive guitar lines with corresponding drum parts. The playing
is quite good and the relative tightness that the duo displays is
amazing. Unfortunately, while their style is interesting when the
songs are longer than a minute (as on their previous offering
_Iorxhscimtor_), the lengths of the songs here doesn't give any
chance for the music to develop. The flow created from the songs and
the spaces between them is novel and interesting, but it's ultimately
unsatisfying, as it's nearly impossible to remember any of the songs
or even identify exactly how far into the album you are. If all that
wasn't bad enough, it's not just the music that makes this album
difficult to listen to: the production is very tinny and noisy. This
is one of those albums that's interesting to think about and listen
to once or twice, but it has little to no replay value.
Primordial - _Storm Before Calm_ (Hammerheart, June 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
In my experience, metal bands frequently tend to soften up with each
successive album. Of course there are many more who start out
brutal and just keep searching for more aggression with every new
album, but what I have seldom found is a band who have grown
considerably harsher after debuting in more tranquil fields. Fair
enough, Primordial's debut album _Imrama_ [CoC #8] was quite black,
so they don't entirely fit this pattern; but if one only considers
their other three albums, then they become a bit of an exceptional
case in the metal world. _A Journey's End_ [CoC #33] was much
doomier, more sombre and introspective than _Imrama_. With _Spirit
the Earth Aflame_ their music became more warlike, while still
retaining most of the characteristics of its predecessors. The
opening track on _Storm Before Calm_, however, is easily the fastest
and harshest song Primordial have written since _Imrama_, and the
album as a whole is again heavier than its predecessor. But much as
this fast-paced album opener may be excellent in its own right, it
also serves to greatly enhance the impact of the mid-paced track that
follows: by contrast, "Fallen to Ruin" comes across as an even more
powerful warlike dirge than it would have been capable of on its own.
"Cast to the Pyre" comes next, again slower and more morose than the
previous track. Primordial have no qualms about the length of their
compositions or arranging them in any way they see fit, and although
this particular track is lengthy and to a certain extent repetitive,
it still works very well. But as soon as it finishes, "What Sleeps
Within" makes its demonic appearance and the speed and harshness
levels go up again, only to fade into the album's instrumental track.
This precedes the record's last couple of songs (bear in mind the
average length is about six to seven minutes), which consist of a
mid-paced song with typical Primordial guitar work, and a drawn-out
atmospheric piece. Overall, besides several sped up passages, there
is also significantly less clean singing, replaced by various kinds
of rasped vocals throughout the album. The Primordial touch is
definitely still there though, be it in the highly distinctive bits
of guitar work, drumming or vocals. Ireland's finest aim to sound
more majestic on _Storm Before Calm_, again with a warlike feel to
their music, and succeed at that, coming across as believable,
authentic and inspired. Third winner in a row for Primordial, and an
excellent record indeed.
Ram-Zet - _Escape_ (Spikefarm / XIII Bis, July 2002)
by: David Rocher (9 out of 10)
Ram-Zet's 2000 debut, _Pure Therapy_, was an excellent, distinctly
unnerving venture into landscapes of unparalleled musical
strangeness, the unlikely osmosis of syncopated power-thrash geniuses
Meshuggah with orchestral masterminds Therion. Putting Ram-Zet's
music in words is as close to impossible as it gets, yet in
a nutshell, the anno 2002 sequel _Escape_ very much recaptures
and expands the enormous sound, skullcrushing low-case rhythmical
powerhouse-style songwriting and psychotic harshness which pervaded
Ram-Zet's debut; moreover, with the adjunction of three new members,
including full-time female lead vocalist and keyboard player, band
mastermind Zet has further developed his unique songwriting style,
attaining greater depth in the field of arrangements and song
structures. Hence, as the insane cover art suggests, the conceptual
design of _Escape_ moves with impressive ease through the meanders of
a tortured soul, the expression of which is this gathering of
8 shape-shifting, aggressive, tormented, symphonic and immensely
powerful tracks. Boasting a huge, perfectly balanced and adequately
aggressive production courtesy of Finnvox's Miko Karmilla, _Escape_
is a demanding release, which strays far into uncharted territories
diametrically opposed to braindead party music of the likes of
Pantera or HammerFall; however, much as Ram-Zet's material is truly
unfathomable at a first listen, it is also vastly rewarding -- in
this regard, a trip to www.ram-zet.com provides a highly recommended
opportunity to encounter one of the more captivating, intriguing and
excellent extreme metal bands out there.
Raunchy - _Velvet Noise_ (Drug[s] / Nuclear Blast, July 2002)
by: David Rocher (8 out of 10)
A mere few bars into the muscular opener "Twelve Feet Tall",
uncomfortably striking similarities in Raunchy's massive rhythmic
metal arise with fallen cyber-thrash geniuses Fear Factory;
fortunately though, as the initial onslaught of scepticism recedes,
it soon becomes clearly apparent that Denmark's Raunchy possess
a musical personality to call their own -- and the musical
genius to match, too. Driven by a colossal, storming rhythmic
section (thunderous double bass cavalcades and growling bass
galore), enhanced with strangely atmospheric (rather than cybernetic)
keyboards and vocals shifting from harsh, saturated screams to
melodic chants very similar in style to Burton C. Bell's, _Velvet
Noise_ is the epitome of an outrageously powerful, delightfully
aggressive, murderously groovy and moreover extremely addictive
release. Mutating with uncanny ease from mighty mid-tempo sections
graced with ethereal keyboards to frantic blasting charges, Raunchy's
futuristic metal features atmospheric segues grandiose enough to
raise the hair on your nape in spine-tingling appreciation which
then, in a split second, break into all-out full speed rhythmic
cavalcades unquestionably worthy of the wasted genius of Fear
Factory. Invocator fame producer Jacob Hansen has graced this
excellent energetic release with a powerful, perfectly balanced and
wickedly aggressive sound, which turns each of the nine tracks on
_Velvet Noise_ into a surging chunk of growling fun. Not a milestone,
but a damn enjoyable first onslaught -- I can only hope Raunchy will
play their cards right, and will, in the future, avoid meandering too
far into the dreaded modern metal sonorities that are fortunately
very subdued on this first recording of theirs.
Raventhrone - _Endless Conflict Theorem_ (Avantgarde, March 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (4.5 out of 10)
Raventhrone is the epic metal brainchild of solo artist Ray Wells,
and he composes and performs all the music with the help of Mike
Groeger on drums, and the assistance of Martin Shirenc (Pungent
Stench). The term "epic metal" would seem to suggest that exploration
of styles and moods are in the pipeline and here Raventhrone fulfills
some of its potential. The first track features a heavy death vocal
and only a track later we are given clean vocals. However, it becomes
apparent that this seemingly creative combination is flawed. The
death vocal phrases are monotonous and the lyrical subject matter is
awkward and uninventive. The clean vocals seem a little weak with
unimpressive range and poor texture, and at their worst they are out
of tune. It is obvious from the music that this was not intentional.
When the vocals do not carry the melody, this is left mostly to the
keyboards or lead; unfortunately a lot of these are disappointingly
sparse and could have been lifted from old Super Nintendo games.
Considering the melodic potential the keyboard possesses as an
instrument, the basic level of monophonic composition suggests poor
technology or limited ability. The guitar sound is raw with a very
rough edge, but the riffs are worn out and the bass is only audible
if you concentrate on trying to hear it. The Raventhrone sound feels
hopelessly cold and shallow. Midway through "Soulstorm" and well into
the album, there is a layered keyboard motif in a key that adds some
feeling of suspense, but it's a long wait until we encounter anything
else that could be called emotive or interesting. _Endless Conflict
Theorem_ just doesn't seem to know where it is going; Ray Wells
doesn't seem to be sure if he wants to be a death or a clean
vocalist, the material is plagued with awful fade-outs and the
production cuts some of the songs short before the last notes have
fully rung out. The title track seems to be a shameless rip-off of
the "Braveheart" theme, and although it is intentionally stirring and
emotional, it merely comes across as unoriginal, especially as the
guitar melody is almost identical to one we heard earlier. Epic metal
really should, by definition, have some complexity and exploration of
thematic content, but _Endless Conflict Theorem_ is more akin to sort
of overly long children's book without pictures. "An Oath in Silence"
boasts the first piece of riffage that will make you sit up and take
notice, but it is frustrating when it is it never reprised or
expanded. It would appear that most of the album is written in 4/4
with very unimaginative progressions. The second half of the album is
more effective in realisation of themes; "Dragon of the Nightsky" is
one of the better works incorporating Raventhrone themes, "A Night
Among the Ruins of Basra" explores an Arabian theme, and with synth
effects and chanting. Still the overall construction of the songs
feels poor, lapsing into riffs that go nowhere or failing to reach a
conclusion. It is a real pleasure to hear some strong moments; "The
Wayfarers Song" boasts a good melody but even this is spoiled by yet
another fade out. Proof that bands cannot get by on mood and imagery
alone, Raventhrone show commitment to their otherworldly folk themes
but this is rendered ineffective by a flaccid rhythm section, boring
drumming, inadequate vocals that no amount of harmonising can
disguise and poor song construction.
Ritual Carnage - _The Birth of Tragedy_ (Osmose, 2002)
by: Alvin Wee (7.5 out of 10)
This slab of thrashing madness merits an 8/10 or higher but for the
somewhat annoying post-classic Slayer style of shouted vocals.
Guitarist Wataru Yamada is more satisfyingly accompanied vocally on
his new King's Evil album [CoC #58], and I probably won't be alone in
making that comparison. This minor gripe aside, _The Birth of
Tragedy_ stands together with the previous two albums as perhaps the
best old-school speed/thrash issuing from the States. Needless to
say, originality isn't a trait most highly prized in these circles,
and as usual, this Japamerican combo rip more than a few pages out of
Slayer's metal gospel on their way to perdition. Face-ripping hooks
jump out and tear at unsuspecting listeners (see "Fall of Empire" or
"Grave New World") in an entirely unprecedented way, a testament
of the band's hard work between albums. The up-front production
certainly does nothing to soften the impact of this sledgehammer, and
while, in my opinion, the material never quite attains the raw charm
or terrifying blackness of _The Highest Law_, this power trio pack
enough punch to send countless other retro-clones fleeing for cover.
Repeated listens pay off, and dedicated listeners will find this
compact piece of mayhem yielding far more satisfaction than expected
on first listen. Overall a killer piece of work once again, and a
great companion to the equally -- if not more -- killer King's Evil
album if you can find it.
Scarve - _Luminiferous_ (Listenable Records, March 2002)
by: David Rocher (9.5 out of 10)
France's prodigal sextet Scarve are back, this time with the true
support and logistics provided by a dedicated label in the guise of
Listenable Records. Scarve's second full-length release once again
demonstrates the incredible technicality, distinctly groundbreaking
personality -- an increasingly rare quality in the trend-driven
extreme metal scene of today -- and incredibly ample scope of
influences. Thriving on the same dissonant, rhythmical and futuristic
thought patterns explored by their 2000 debut _Translucence_ [CoC
#47], _Luminiferous_ delves deeper -- musically, structurally and
lyrically also -- into the confines of the oppressive, intricate and
unfathomable depths of Scarve's absolutely unique art. Soaring on
the ascending musical currents created by equally pioneering acts
such as Meshuggah, Strapping Young Lad, Scarve possess musical
intuition and talent which puts many of their peers to shame
(including unquestionably decent acts such as Satariel -- praise
indeed) and allows them to craft metal anthems with a distinctly
organic, incredibly intricate personality. Backed up as always by
their awe- inspiring drummer Dirk Verbeuren -- an unjustifiably
lesser known musician evolving on the stratospheric planes haunted
by skinthrashing demigods such as Thomas Haake, Gene Hoglan or
Van Williams --, Scarve's stringsmen raise an eerie, raging and
aggressive wall of sound fronted by their peerless combination of two
vocalists, begetting a form of thrashing, progressive, atmospheric,
blasting death metal on ethereal levels which only few bands can
claim to reach. Scarve are much more than a band -- they are an
experience, and _Luminiferous_, a concept revolving around the
threats of nanotechnologies and genetic engineering, is certainly one
of the three most challenging and accomplished extreme metal releases
of the year 2002 -- the kind of release which, as its closing notes
recede into silence, leaves you bedazzled, disorientated and drained;
unrivalled, unsurpassed, genial and quite simply way beyond anything
words may hope to recapture.
Serenade - _The Serpent's Dance_ (Golden Lake Prod., February 2002)
by: Quentin Kalis (7.5 out of 10)
While _The Serpent's Dance_ has undeniable roots in the
grief-stricken and doomy death of early Anathema or My Dying Bride,
Serenade are much more than simply a clone of either band: _TSD_
rarely extends beyond the comfortable confines of the doomy death
genre, but Serenade have nevertheless managed to create their own
distinctly mournful sound. Atmospheric touches abound, enhancing the
mournful feel of the album, although there are a few occasions when
these atmospheric touches fail, most notably on "The March of
Darkness", where the emergence of shrill keyboards about a minute
into the song ruins what would have otherwise been a great song. But
for the most part, the atmospheric elements do enhance the song.
Stand out tracks include the aggressive "Dying Light" and the
evocative final track, "Nevermore". On the downside, the quality of
the album is rather patchy, with some songs, like the aforementioned,
being powerful, memorable numbers, while others are relatively bland
and doomed to well-deserved obscurity. Overall, the scales are tipped
towards the good songs and Serenade are one of the better bands from
this genre.
Contact: http://www.goldenlakeprods.co.uk
Contact: mailto:serenade4@yahoo.co.uk
Severe Torture - _Butchery of the Soul_ (Hammerheart, April 2002)
by: Adam Lineker (5.5 / 6 out of 10)
Stop-gap releases usually seem to be half-hearted affairs. This
release by Severe Torture features a re-mastered track from their
debut _Feasting on Blood_, a video clip of that same track (which,
predictably, will not work on my computer), four other songs taken
from past EPs and a cover of Cannibal Corpse's "Perverse Suffering".
By these credentials alone, it is worth speculating that an already
devoted fan would have to be obsessive to spend cash on this, as it
features no new material. As it is a collection of songs rather than
even a rework, it is understandable that the mix varies. Whereas the
re-mastered song and title track "Butchery of the Soul" sound crisp
and well mixed, the songs taken from the _Pray for Nothing_ EP have a
distinctive cloud of fuzz and badly cut-out endings. Those taken from
_Lambs of a God_ sound a little better, and thankfully a little
heavier. It must be pointed out that the _Pray for Nothing_ songs
seem a touch more aggressively performed. Rather than taking charge
of or rising above the mix, the instruments collectively form an
overall sound. No one instrument strikes upon the psyche of the
listener more than another, excluding the odd peak from the bass, and
the drumming on the _Pray for Nothing_ tracks. This would be no great
thing if the overall mix was breathtaking, but what we have instead
is the feeling that everything is taking a back seat. It's clean and
accessible but seems somewhat lacklustre. Some of the riffage seems a
little unimaginative and has a tendency to become repetitive. It's
all solid enough metal; _Pray for Nothing_ itself stands out more
performance-wise. Still, it never comes close to drawing you in. It's
telling when the best song on the album is the Cannibal Corpse cover.
As an introduction to Severe Torture, _Butchery of the Soul_ serves
some sort of purpose but comes across as more similar to a demo than
anything else.
Silver Seraph - _Silver Seraph_ (Regain Records, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors (7.5 out of 10)
Do you remember what bands like Deep Purple and Rainbow used to sound
like with all those '70s organs and catchy vocal lines? If you don't,
then I suggest that you check out those bands, because you are
missing out on a very important part of the history of metal and
music in general. Why am I telling you this? The thing is that Silver
Seraph, the band I am about to review, have decided that it was about
time that somebody revived the good old spirit of these legendary
bands. Not that this is a cover album, but the song structures,
melodies, vocals, keyboard arrangements and everything else cannot be
regarded as anything other than a retro trip. Silver Seraph is one of
those so-called all-star bands that have been popping up like
mushrooms in the Autumn during the last five years or so. I would say
that some musicians have a little too much self-belief, because you
can not focus on a hundred things at the same time and make
everything sound equally good. I do understand this development,
though, because everyone wants to be able to live off what they
do. Anyway, Silver Seraph is one of the few all-star bands who
have actually impressed me. The line-up consists of Peter Wildoer
(Darkane, Majestic), Pete Sandberg (Alien, Jade, Midnight Sun) and
Richard Andersson (Majestic), names that should be familiar to
everyone with an interest in the Swedish metal and hard rock scenes.
While most of the songs on this album sound very '70s, there are also
modern touches with a fair amount of neo-classical riffs. This is
probably due to certain members in the band being pretty much into
the power metal wave. This is a great debut album, and tracks like
"7th Day of Babylon" and "In the Dark" will help them gain the
attention they deserve. If you love classic hard rock / metal and
wouldn't mind an album that still sounds fresh and modern, then this
is for you.
Contact: http://www.regainrecords.com
Skyfire - _Timeless Departure_ (Hammerheart, August 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (8 out of 10)
In traditional style, _Timeless Departure_ begins with a grandiose
introduction that borders on the cinematic, featuring keyboard
simulation of a large orchestra. It effectively sets the scene and
builds expectation. It only hints at what is to come and it
tantalises the listener with powerful keyboard layering, although it
must be said that the string sound never convinces. Skyfire's music
matches the style of the aforementioned intro; it is totally
overblown power metal. Rasping black metal vocals introduce an
element of aggression and the guitar sounds are equally harsh and
shredding. Keyboards and guitars are layered in both rhythm and lead
parts. Skyfire are also unafraid of hammering out great tutti breaks
and runs at the appropriate moment. Such musical figures used in
conjunction with complex time changes echo loudly of Dream Theater.
The songs appear to be individual passages of explosive metal pomp
pieced together and while this keeps the upbeat aggressive grandeur
prominent, it is noticeable in parts that there are awkward joins.
Bridge passages are scarce, replaced by momentary pauses between each
section; it is as if the band were taking a breath. Again, although
occasionally an effective touch, it mostly comes across as a
compositional flaw. The thick layering of harmonies as melody results
in the instruments seeming to meld into one entity rather than
standing out prominently on their own, but I feel this adds to the
musical style. Skyfire are both competent and progressive, but what
truly shines from this album is the feeling of performance. If these
guys could emulate this energy live, they would soon create a
formidable legion of fans. Skyfire seem to have two speeds -- going
for it and then some more. There are some cheesy melodies and chord
progressions, but it is all performed with such enthusiasm that it
becomes forgivable. All eight tracks are long and consistently strong
in a metal way; as there are only eight songs, _Timeless Departure_
effectively avoids becoming boring. Without doubt, the stand out
track is "Dimensions Unseen". It showcases everything that Skyfire
are about, awash with driving riffs and layered melodics, rich
harmonies and emotive key changes; it is all beautifully OTT. It is a
shame that the other tracks are not as prominent. They all have the
same mood and spirit but are so similar that a lot of the hooks and
licks fail to stay in mind. On occasion the vocals are so raspy they
appear to be totally disregarding the lyrics but it is not as if most
power metal concepts are unpredictable (or make any sense). The
sentiment is already captured. Power metal devotees will love this.
This being their debut album, Skyfire can be commended for such a
positive effort. Any band that is unafraid to create music like this
deserves some measure of praise. When the final break crashes out, we
are left with deafening silence; wanting more is almost unheard of
with most power metal albums. But this is not most other albums.
Skyfire beat the shit out of most pretentious metal that claims to be
epic. There are some great metal moments on this album; admittedly,
you couldn't really give these guys any credit for trying to
modernise power metal but if you are going to play power metal, you
might as well make it as much fun as this.
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - _Grand Opening and Closing_
by: Brian Meloon (6 out of 10) (Seeland/Chaosophy, 2002)
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are from San Francisco, and play what I'd
describe as postmodern (i.e. "weird for the sake of weird") art rock.
The music is not metal at all, though it does have some similarities
to metal and is quite heavy at times. A good starting point for a
comparison from the metal spectrum would be Thought Industry's _Songs
for Insects_, though this album is a lot more dissonant and less
accessible. That's not to say it isn't memorable, because there are
sections which are quite catchy, but large sections of the album try
hard to be difficult to listen to. There's a lot of slow and
painfully dissonant stuff here, which gets to be tedious as the album
drags on. In particular, the last three songs (the last 20 minutes of
the album) seem to really drag on. The playing and production are
fine, but aren't really the focal points for this album. Those into
weird and heavy progrock should check this out, but while that sounds
like something I should like, this album left me longing for
something less annoying.
Spine - _Restoration_ (Loudspeaker Records, 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (7 out of 10)
One of the promising bands in the UKHC scene, Spine has been formed
relatively recently in the year 1998. Having released only an EP
(_Hope Versus Realisation_) and a split with Primate, _Restoration_
is their debut full-length and perhaps a major introduction to a wide
audience. While Spine is fully devoted to hardcore, an undeniable
influence of metal can be found tightly embedded in the songs; but
instead of using metal as a style element and mixing it with hardcore
to create pure aggression, Spine hasn't forgotten that there's more
than that to a song. The final ingredient for _Restoration_ is
melody, and together it forms the basis for ten excellent songs
showing a maturing band that has many different faces but always
their own identity. With songs reminiscent of Deadguy ("Under the
Fury") as well as Madball and even Henry Rollins ("Wash"), they have
proven to be capable enough of expressing their feelings in music.
Unfortunately, the vocals are too prominent in the mix considering
their one-dimensional nature. If the vocals were a little less
forced, _Restoration_ would be a true killer hardcore album, but that
doesn't withhold me from recommending this album to the hardcore
fanatics.
Sunseth Sphere - _Storm Before Silence_ (Hammerheart, April 2001)
by: Adam Lineker (7.5 out of 10)
The intro sets the mood perfectly; Sunseth Sphere's music is suffused
with eeriness. Mournful vocals with a dash of reverb talk over
rustling winds before the instruments take up the theme. The guitar
sound is primitive in places, conjuring inappropriate images of the
'80s. The drums parts are basic and the bass pulses along underneath,
adding more layers to a sound that is full of aural picture-painting.
It is not as if this is complex, but it has been carefully pieced
together. Effects and motifs have been carefully composed and
arranged; as on the first track where we hear driven flange carefully
administered to mark the identity of a subject. While there are riffs
and even guitar solos, the characteristic of Sunseth Sphere is the
way everything works with each other. We have distorted male vocals,
growling away under clean female vocal. We get keyboard, acoustic,
effects and contrasting moods but nothing seems out of place. "Life
After Light" is the most upbeat track on the album, and it is here
that Sunseth Sphere sound almost like a goth rock band. Yet this
is followed by a relaxing and sensitive acoustic piece called
"Arizona". The more prominent style is that of slower riffage and
thick, semi-canonical layering, particularly in the vocals that sing
repeated poetic phrases throughout. There is no aggression or
extremity; this is an altogether subtler affair, in which imagery and
mood is the focus. And it can be absorbing and relaxing, but only to
an extent. For though it is effective in parts, this is not the most
inspiring or outstanding music in the world. Lyrically _Storm Before
Silence_ can become repetitive, and the poetry either doesn't make
sense ("Without a vault I'm yet transcend") or becomes amusing ("I'm
pagan and lazy troll" and "Black is the colour of your enormous
means"). While it can be relaxing, it can also lose your attention as
easily. Some of the musicianship is questionable; it must be said
that Kyrah's voice has a very thin texture. I am, however, inclined
to believe that that was precisely the reason she was chosen. Sunseth
Sphere create music by subtly measuring their ideas. The biggest
impression made is that everything seems very channeled. There are
moments of passionate soloing, there are dark and moody bass figures
and emotive keyboard melody, there is a sense of Egyptian concept but
no particular piece of the puzzle is dominant; this is most
appreciated on the potentially cloying Egyptian theme. Sunseth Sphere
have pooled their creative resources and carefully sculpted music
that paints some absorbing pictures. Only being seven tracks long, it
doesn't have any time to become boring.
Talamasca - _Ascension_ (DCA Records, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
It happens so fast. Right from the get-go, Appleton, Wisconsin
progressive metal act Talamasca come out of the starting gates with
the triumphant "Cry for War", an epic song full of soaring vocals and
stellar musicianship. I almost crapped my pants at the mighty burst
of energy bursting out of the opening track. And this is only the
first song?! As _Ascension_ continues on, we are welcomed by a good
mix of beautifully assembled numbers like "Twisted Strand" and
"Realization", songs that aren't just flashy numbers showcasing the
tight musicianship of Talamasca, rather songs that help keep this
already powerful display of metal high above the Heavens. Fans of Jag
Panzer, Onward, Twisted Tower Dire, October 31 and other strong US
acts making dents in the progressive/power/heavy metal music scene
right now should check out Talamasca, as they really do shine at what
they do and never seem to be following an blueprint of how the band
should deliver the goods. They do it their own way and all we can do
is sit back in total awe as _Ascension_ rumbles from our stereo
speakers. Impressive!
Contact: http://www.dcarecordings.com
The Berzerker - _Dissimulate_ (Earache Records, August 2002)
by: Xander Hoose (7.5 out of 10)
The premise of The Berzerker's music has always been quite promising:
mixing Carcass-era grindcore with gabber beats to create one of the
heaviest forms of music, making you shit your pants and bashing your
brains to a bloody pulp. But unfortunately, The Berzerker's first
album didn't quite deliver the blows it was supposed to deal out.
Sure, it was heavy, but most of the songs lacked structure of any
sorts. Thankfully, with _Dissimulate_ they have taken care of these
flaws and it results in fourteen songs of mindblowing aggression and
intensity. Even though the gabber beats are still present, they have
been pushed a little more to the background, replacing traditional
drumming, while the rest of the music comes from the traditional
instruments (guitar, bass and vocals). This time around the Carcass
influence is undeniable, with the gory vocal style and grinding
guitar riffs. Most songs clock around two minutes, preventing too
much repetition, while the usage of samples has been brought back to
a minimum. A Carcass cover song can also be found, as The Berzerker
provide a technoid cover of "Corporal Jigsaw Quandary". Even though
this album runs for only a little more than 30 minutes, there's a
downside to this sonic slaughter: songs tend to lose their identity
and are somewhat interchangeable during the run of the album.
Nonetheless, _Dissimulate_ is an album that will easily satisfy the
basic urges of the more open-minded death metal and grindcore fans.
The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Irony Is a Dead Scene_
by: Xander Hoose (10 out of 10) (Epitaph Records, August 2002)
I've been listening to many albums featuring Mike Patton in one
function or the other (Mr Bungle, John Zorn, Atomsmasher, Faith No
More) and on every album his influence is pretty clearly audible, but
I doubt that he ever put his label on a band as much as he did with
The Dillinger Escape Plan. For those of you who are devote followers
of this band, as I am, _Irony Is a Dead Scene_ might come as quite a
shock. Where the band used to pursue a mathematically precise course
through hardcore with jazzy aspects, Mike Patton's cooperation seems
to have drifted this band away from both mathematics as well as
hardcore. What remains is a strange and unique hybrid between
noisecore, metal, pop, jazz and even nu-metal and avantgarde. Where
"When Good Dogs Do Bad Things" is a good example of the different
style they have taken on, it still has many of the trademark DEP
touches; the track that might really surprise you is "Pig Latin".
This is what Slipknot would be doing if they were into noisecore, but
Mike Patton does more. Traditional heavy metal singing? Why not.
Without doubt, "Pig Latin" is DEP's most curious and dared song ever.
"Rock Paper" is quite different: with its slightly more conventional
approach, this sounds more like old DEP material, except for the
vocals. But just when you think you're ready for anything, the final
song will throw you off track once more and at least make you raise
your eyebrow. While some may think this is just an utterly strange
song, the more open-minded listeners will immediately recognize this
track as being a cover of Aphex Twin's "Come to Daddy", closely
following the original except in using instruments instead of
electronics. It's a downright shame that Mike Patton's collaboration
was a one-time project now that DEP found a new vocalist, because
_IIaDS_ is one of the most daring, intriguing and psychotic albums
I've heard in a long time.
The Elysian Fields - _12 Ablaze_ (Black Lotus, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7.5 out of 10)
Back in its day, _12 Ablaze_'s predecessor _We... the Enlightened_
[CoC #35] greatly impressed me with its creative flair, stirring
orchestral melodies and intense metallic passages. Recently, the news
of a new album by the Greeks caught my attention. The prospect of
a superior follow-up to _We... the Enlightened_ was definitely
enticing, and my hopes for _12 Ablaze_ ran very high. In hindsight,
they shouldn't have. I had hoped for a similar style to _WtE_, which
is the case; and for a level of quality at least equal to it, which
is unfortunately not the case. I am unsure what caused the band
to leave Earache's Wicked World sub-label after just one album
(especially since it was such a good record) and sign with their
countrymates Black Lotus. Whether or not their budget for recording
_12 Ablaze_ suffered from this change I cannot say, but the
orchestral parts all seem to still be there, so I'm assuming it
didn't. Regardless of the cause, the fact is that _12 Ablaze_ fails
to work on quite the level that _WtE_ did. The synth, piano, violin
and cello arrangements are nicely done and combined with the slower
bits and the blackened passages, but the final result is not the
stirring concoction that is its predecessor. Part of the problem
still lies on the very obviously artificial drums, but that's
something _12A_ shares with _WtE_. Having said that, there are still
some damn good sections to be found, but the impact simply isn't the
same and I find myself wanting to go back to _WtE_ most of the time.
_12 Ablaze_ is certainly not a bad record, but a band that created an
album like _WtE_ should have been able to come up with a more
impressive follow-up than this.
The Forsaken - _Arts of Desolation_ (Century Media, May 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8.5 out of 10)
I was thoroughly impressed and entertained by The Forsaken's highly
enjoyable debut _Manifest of Hate_ [CoC #52], and expected nothing
less than pure excellence in Swedish death metal to pour from my
speakers when I played _Arts of Desolation_ for the first time. Great
expectations are always dangerous, however, and that thought spent a
lot of time in my mind when I first listened to the album. It was
good, technically impressive, but it just wasn't _Manifest of Hate_
-- unfair, certainly, but annoyingly true. _Arts of Desolation_,
being the successor of an excellent debut, had a very tough test to
pass, and while its qualities were undeniable, to my ears it didn't
quite reach the level of accomplishment that _Manifest of Hate_ did.
Even though it has grown on me since then, I still can't seem enjoy
it quite as much as _Manifest of Hate_. A significant part of the
problem lies in the fact that the band's style is often Americanized
on _AoD_ (Morbid Angel perhaps the main influence there), which
despite the aplomb with which they perform those sections doesn't
always turn out to be as enjoyable as the music on _MoH_ -- but that
may be down to a matter of taste. Some other times _AoD_ is thrashier
and often less melodic than _MoH_, but essentially The Forsaken have
maintained a significant part of the sound that is their own. As a
result, _Arts of Desolation_ is neither a simple continuation of its
predecessor nor a disruption of the band's style. A couple of its
tracks don't do much for me -- something that didn't happen on
_Manifest of Hate_ --, but it is still a very solid record, albeit to
my ears a somewhat transitional one. I expect an even better album
from this highly talented band next time -- not technically, but
rather in terms of consolidating their sound a bit more, back to
something as consistent as they had on their debut (even if the style
may be somewhat different). Nevertheless, with numbers such as
"Incubator", "Embedded Insanity" and "Scars", The Forsaken continue
to show that they are definitely a force to be reckoned with in the
death metal world.
The Great Deceiver - _A Venom Well Designed_ (Peaceville, May 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8.5 out of 10)
The Great Deceiver: present day Katatonia meets a harsh mixture of
metal and industrial sounds with a slight At the Gates twang, twisted
and delivered in a sound all their own. This may be far from
accurate, but The Great Deceiver are certainly a tough customer when
it comes to pigeonholing them into a specific genre or sound.
The Great Deceiver is another of ex-At the Gates vocalist Tomas
Lindberg's endeavours, and also includes the musical talents of
Diabolique guitarist and well-known graphical artist Kristian Wahlin.
Most of the At the Gates influence that I mentioned above does come
from the simple fact that we get to hear Lindberg's irreproachable
vocals -- every bit as full of venom, despair and passion as before
--, but the spirit behind a track like AtG's "The Burning Darkness"
also comes to mind at times during _A Venom Well Designed_. But it is
a sound far from death metal that the listener finds here, with
structures and, to a certain degree, bleakness akin to Katatonia. It
is a modern sound, where tastefully arranged melody is interspersed
with hard-hitting riffs and repetitive drum patterns, all of it
communicated through an artificial-sounding (though not in a bad way)
guitar and drum sound. Well thought-out guitar effects play a very
important role throughout, giving The Great Deceiver more than a
touch of uniqueness, as the lead guitar often becomes more of a
synthetized sound. This is an emotional disc for the most part,
though not displaying the frailty in Katatonia's sound -- it
is harder, but nevertheless mostly doom-based, even if not in
the traditional sense. The Great Deceiver have managed to create
something rather unique and certainly enjoyable, though I must say
Lindberg's help in the shape of vocals and lyrics is a substantial
part of their success -- not that the rest of the music is poor, but
I suspect it would be difficult for it to work so well with another
vocalist. Some of the tracks become a tad repetitive and fail to add
much to the album, but others like "Pierced", "The Living End"
(At the Gates, anyone?), "Poisoned Chalice", "Enter the Martyrs",
"Arsenic Dreams" and "Strychnine" contain just the right mix of
harshness and catchiness to raise the disc to a very high quality
level. Give The Great Deceiver a chance with an open mind, and I
doubt you will regret it.
Thornspawn - _Wrath of War_ (Osmose, June 2002)
by: Paul Schwarz (2 out of 10)
It's a sad thing that no band has yet emerged to claim Angelcorpse's
vacated throne over the fifedom of early-Morbid Angel and Possessed
infused, angel dust-addicted death metal; but it's a sadder thing
that a number of the more highly-praised underground names of today
sound at their best when they're ripping them off -- and -still-
don't sound -particularly- good. Abominator, Summon, Conqueror and,
our case in point, Thornspawn, all suffer from this -- while their
more "black metal" elements are similarly surpassed by the likes of
In Battle and Svartsyn. Why such bands are still not only praised but
held up on high by some as sterling examples of underground metal, is
a mystery to me. Thornspawn are one of the worst of this bunch. Their
anti-Christian sentiments are laughably worn on their sleeves -- they
organise the San Antonio "Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child" festival
every year -- Thornspawn are the worst kind of "true", "black metal"
band. They are repetitive to mind-numbing extreme, write boring
riffs, rely on other bands for their good parts, and record with a
rough production which makes them sound crap -- rather than giving
them atmosphere. Had _Wrath of War_ been -any- good, I might have
been tempted to check out Thornspawn's previous two albums (I already
had to endure their _Consecraton of Evil Flesh_ demo when I reviewed
it back in CoC #33). As it is, I not only hope never to hear them
again, I hope they never make another sound again.
Tzefa - _Feed Me_ (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
_Feed Me_ is quite an interesting four-song release from New York act
Tzefa, a unique sounding rock/metal drive that plays up and showcases
the cool duo vocals of singers Slava Popava and Oleg Korenfeld. I
like the sound that stems from when Slava delivers an almost operatic
tone while Oleg comes through with a very snarly rock tone. Check out
opener "Time Bomb" and "Season of the Rain". While some might find
the vocals a tad weak and rough at times, the cool trading back and
forth of vocals between the two brings about a cool aura to the
music, adding an almost hypnotic vibe as the music rolls onward.
Musically, the band plays kind of a thrashy metal mixed with a whole
slew of other influences. In other words, it sounds like nothing
you've heard -- and that is a good thing. While the band could use a
better production, the music itself is strong and worthy of repeated
listens. The band is shopping their music now to labels and I'm
pretty sure someone will bite.
Contact: http://www.tzefa.com
Vile - _Depopulate_ (Listenable Records, July 2002)
by: David Rocher (8.5 out of 10)
Prior to the release of this second blasting monolith of death,
California's Vile had already etched themselves quite a name in the
purulent tables of underground death metal with their potent and
raucous self-released debut, _Stench of the Deceased_. And with the
support of a competent label such as France's Listenable Records,
their dreaded name is, beyond all doubt, doomed to spread further
throughout the death metal microcosm. Boasting nine tracks of
seething, blasting and powerful technical death metal, _Depopulate_
rides the jagged edge of the musical boundaries delineating the
worlds of Morbid Angel (for dissonant undertones), Hate Eternal (for
air-tight blasting rhythms), and their labelmates Aborted (for warped
melodic aggression and tongue-in-cheek utilisation of film samples).
Far more personal in their style than on their massively Cannibal
Corpse-influenced debut, displaying technical skills putting many
bands with whom they share the very populated death metal landscapes
to shame, Vile also boast a very professional and perfectionist
approach to everything their band relates to, including the album's
production; guitarist Colin Davis and colossal vocalist Juan Urteaga
have taken the time to grace _Depopulate_ with a fitting production,
in the guise of a thick wall of layered guitars and bass, clear and
powerful drums, in adjunction to the inevitable pus-sodden layer of
phlegm-churning vocals. Agreed, _Depopulate_ is about as unoriginal
as death metal will ever get; however, the sheer surge of adrenaline
and blasting yet, at times, strangely melodic aggression is delivers
is enough to turn it into a thoroughly enjoyable experience which all
death metal addicts would be well recommended to cast an ear onto. At
a time when former leaders of the American death metal scene such as
Cannibal Corpse or Morbid Angel have let their musical creativity ebb
away into confines of unsatisfactory predictability, Vile are poised
to herald and front the oncoming of a whole new wave of determined,
competent and talented flamebearers.
Yyrkoon - _Dying Sun_ (Anvil Corp / Wagram, July 2002)
by: David Rocher (9.5 out of 10)
It definitely looked as though the French heavy black metallers
Yyrkoon, after releasing their 1997 debut on the defunct Velvet Music
International, had vanished into oblivion, with a vast cohort of
former black metal-affiliated acts; hence, not only is _Dying Sun_ a
testimonial to the band's return to life, it also reveals itself to
be a fantastic offering of keyboard-enhanced thrashing heavy metal!
Whereas _Oniric Transition_ showcased inspired, competently composed
and interpreted -- yet in fine mildly unmemorable -- symphonic black
metal, _Dying Sun_ revels in a coarser, more aggressive and, most
importantly, brilliantly executed fusion of heavy metal and thrash
with progressive metal touches. While Yyrkoon�s twin guitar and
chugging bass rhythmic attack indeed mainly focuses on aggressive
yet melodic heavy metal sonorities, to which Laurent Harrouart's
drumming provides a muscular, dynamic and complex backbone, the
appreciably discrete and always very sagacious interspersion of
synthetic effects and alternating pattern of clear vocals and harsh
growls graces Yyrkoon�s metal with a unique epic slant. Much as
countless keyboard-driven acts such as the dreaded Children of Bodom
or their siblings Warmen hopelessly saturate their music with cheesy,
over-melodic and hopelessly dispensable keyboards (the gruesome,
irreverent musical murder perpetrated by Laiho's bunch on Sepultura's
fantastic "Mass Hypnosis" is proof enough), Yyrkoon's utilisation of
electronics is unsystematic, unpredictable and always graces the
aggressive, chugging throes of _Dying Sun_ with a welcome inspired
epic incline or atmospheric shroud. Technically speaking, _Dying Sun_
is flawless; Yyrkoon prove what a schooled and inspired quintet of
true musicians they have become since their first release -- a streak
of true musical and technical brilliance which already appeared
sporadically at the time of _Oniric Transition_, and now reveals
itself in all its splendour. Filled to the brim with fantastic,
addictive riffs, beautiful leads, awesome drumming and excellent
ivory-tickling performances, _Dying Sun_ embraces a scope of musical
influences and dimensions too ample to be put into words, and will, I
hope, open the gates of a well-earned and much-deserved international
recognition to the geniuses lurking behind this genesis. With truly
excellent acts such as Blackness, Scarve or No Return in its ranks,
the massively uprising French thrash scene is looking toward a bright
future. Check www.yyrkoon.net and this release out -- or risk dying
in ignorance.
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/ \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
/ /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/
\_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___|
If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo, including a
bio, if you want to be reviewed. We accept demos either on
traditional media or MP3 format. E-mail us at
<mailto:Demos@ChroniclesOfChaos.com> to know which is the most
appropriate postal address for you to send your CD or tape, in case
you are sending one, or to indicate the location of a website from
which we can download the MP3 files of your entire demo (but do
NOT send any files attached to your e-mail).
Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Black Rock - _Clutching at Straws_ (5-track demo)
by: Adam Lineker (****1/2)
At first glance, one notices the crop of headlines and credits listed
under the Blackrock logo on the bio sheet. Yet not only the expected
e-zines are featured; high profile mainstream magazines are also
singing the praises of this band. And now I get to add my little bit
to the roll of honour. My copy of this demo begins with the sound of
a record player kicking in. At first I thought this was for effect,
until I realised that this recording is either straight off of vinyl
or is doing damn good impression of it. As a result, the overall mix
has a decidedly warm sound, with the expected rough edges. With a
sound that is both raw but deep, Blackrock carve out some great
bluesy heavy rock and make no mistake, this could easily be early
Black Sabbath were it not for a punkier sneer on the vocals. The
guitars are full of fuzzy bite and the bass really gives the whole
sound a hefty punch that is so reminiscent of Geezer Butler. The
muffled, back-to-basics drum mix adds the final touches; this is the
real essence of rock music. The tunes and hooks are soulful and
banged out roughly; this is an oily, enjoyable performance with
plenty of groove and attitude. "S.O.T.S.O.G." stands out with great
structure and effective motif formulation, but all of the tracks are
equally enjoyable. If Blackrock can conjure up vivid images of
Motorhead and Sabbath at this stage, then it is clear that they have
massive potential. _Clutching at Straws_ is performed with groovy
aplomb and it is all over far too quickly. The guys on the bio didn't
lie (and that's saying something) -- this band should be recognised
as the next big thing in groovy, heavy rock.
Geared 4 - _Natural Selection_ (8-track demo)
by Adam Lineker (***--)
Opening with a thumping bass line and segueing into chords that thump
just as hard, it is clear that Geared 4 want to take no prisoners.
Vocalist (and bassist) Glenn has but the lightest shades of Lemmy
Kilmister and James Hetfield in his voice. The mix is solid enough
with prominent bass, alongside some basic stereo imaging and fade-in
techniques. Opening track "Hold On" holds on for longer than it
should have been allowed to and sounds frightfully basic with its 4/4
drumming and worn out riffage. Thankfully, things pick up by the
second track, the hilarious "Cementhead". Featuring lines like
"Ya fucking Cementhead, ya fuck!", this actually showcases some
musicianship, especially when the guitars dare to solo and the drums
actually start hammering like they mean it. Some of the riffs could
even settle in with Metallica. The style and quality persist to
"Leech" but by the time we get half way through the demo we have
quickly lapsed back into 4/4 riffing, only this time they have pulled
out a punk edge. So what we have is a demo that ungracefully veers
between hardcore, thrash and punk. Sometimes the riffage is frenetic
and aggressive, other times it becomes so tired it almost dies a
death. Hook-wise it has nothing special but it is all belted out with
in-your-face attitude. The most entertainment is provided lyrically,
by lines like "Mad, mad, mad am I / Gonna kill, kill, kill... time to
party", and, somewhat crudely, "Gonna crawl up some fucker's arse".
There are some promising signs of effective writing, especially in
the battering of "Hundred Billion" and some of the melodics in "Death
Thoughts". It is when Geared 4 bring their thrashing metal edge to
the forefront, as on the former track, that they shine. If the band
hone their skills, cut down on length and kill off their urge to
write songs like opener "Hold On", then the just might realise their
potential.
Hellblazer - _Promo Summer 2002_ (5-track demo)
by: Xander Hoose (****-)
Southeast German band Hellblazer was introduced to me on this year's
Obscene Extreme festival in the Czech Republic. Their performance had
aroused my interest, so I was happy to receive this promo for review.
_Promo Summer 2002_ features five songs in a groovy uptempo death
metal style with obvious grind influences. Opener "Four" kicks off
with the mandatory sample from "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas" (why do
all the groups pick samples from this movie lately?) and then "Foul
Is Fair and Fair Is Foul" shows what this band is best at. Two
vocalists, fast guitar riffs and insane rhythms -- this brooding
blend of music sounds very interesting as well as diverse: some of
the guitar work in "Born to Beg" even reminds me vaguely of CSSO. The
downside of this promo is the lacking production. The mix is very raw
and doesn't do justice to the guitar sound at all. With a proper
production, Hellblazer might be one of the better things Germany has
to offer, alongside Crack Up and Disbelief.
Contact: mailto:hblzr@web.de
Know Fear - _Know Fear_ (2-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley (**---)
Nothing against Upstate New York act Know Fear, but after a few spins
of their two-song demo I can't really see anything unique or
different between what they do and the vast amount of death metal
bands making up the music scene. You know? Heavy growls, blasting
drum beats and headache-inducing guitar riffs -- it is all here! Sure
some of the guitar playing is a bit flashier than what you might see
in a death metal band, but the overall flow of the disc is pretty by
the books if you ask me. Maybe there should have been more than two
songs to help gauge this band's approach and style? The band is
working on a new album as I type this -- titled _Meatgarden_ -- so
let's hope they get past the formulaic sound and add some "meat" to
their metal.
Contact: http://www.mp3.com/knowfear/
Spancer - _Countdown to Victory_ (4-track demo)
by: Xander Hoose (*****)
Before I received this album I had never heard from German-based
sludge-doom band Spancer before, but after giving the album a
listen I have to admit I should feel guilty about it. Being
a great sludgecore fan myself, devouring everything in the
Eyehategod/Neurosis/5ive league, Spancer's _Countdown to Victory_
left a -very- strong impression on me. While not as dirty as
Eyehategod because they're lacking the feedbacks and taking on a
higher pace, Spancer might be seen as their doomy little brother.
Especially thanks to the vile vocals and pounding drums, a sinister
and depressing atmosphere is set. Paradoxically, the strange and at
times almost stoner-rockish guitar work enhances this atmosphere by
adding an extra textured layer to the music. Even though this album
contains only four songs, it will provide an excellent introduction
to this band as well as keep you hungry for more. Hopefully, Spancer
will be picked up by a record label soon so we can see them on tour
in Europe.
Vinterriket - _Herbstnebel_ (***--)
Vinterriket - <split with Northaunt> (****-)
Vinterriket - <split with Manifesto> (****-)
by: Quentin Kalis
Although there is a debut album due for release this coming winter,
Vinterriket has nevertheless decided to release a number of limited
7" EPs and split 7" EPs. _Herbstnebel_ consists of two songs from the
recording session for his second demo, _Sturme der letzen Stille_,
and is in the same vein as this demo. If _SdlS_ didn't appeal to you,
then neither will this EP. However, it still remains a highly
original and intriguing mixture of the raw, primitive guitars and
clean vocals characteristic of black metal overlaying a dark ambient
base. With his avantgarde black metal excursion now firmly behind
him, Vinterriket focuses his attention on a return to the melancholic
soundscapes that defined his very first releases. The two split CDs
each contain only one song from Vinterriket. Unfortunately, I do
not possess either Northaunt's or Manifesto's contributions, and
therefore I am unable to comment on their works. However they will
have had to work hard to match the quality of Vinterriket's
selections. These two songs do possess a slight upbeat edge,
although they remain overwhelmingly melancholic. Both of these songs
are instrumentals. All these titles are available from Neodawn
Productions and are limited to 500 each.
Contact: mailto:info@neodawn.de
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W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 5
1. Svartsyn - _His Majesty_
2. Immortal - _Sons of Northern Darkness_
3. Abaddon Incarnate - _Nadir_
4. Rev. Kriss Hades - _The Wind of Orion_
5. Desiderii Marginis - _Deadbeat_
Adrian's Top 5
1. In Flames - _Reroute to Remain_
2. Cattle Decapitation - _To Serve Man_
3. Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_
4. Penance - _Alpha & Omega_
5. Black Widow - _Sacrifice_
Brian's Top 5
1. Nomicon - _Halla_
2. Aesma Daeva - _The Eros of Frigid Beauty_
3. Cadaveria - _The Shadow's Madame_
4. Human Remains - _Where Were You When_
5. Mastodon - _Remission_
Alain's Top 5
1. Tomahawk - _Tomahawk_
2. High on Fire - _Surrounded by Thieves_
3. Alice Cooper - _Dragontown_
4. Black Sabbath - _Past Lives_
5. Averse Sefira - _Homecoming's March_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Dark Tranquillity - _Damage Done_
2. Dolorian - _Dolorian_
3. Empyrium - _Weiland_
4. Primordial - _Storm Before Calm_
5. The Forsaken - _Arts of Desolation_
Paul's Top 5
1. Agalloch - _Pale Folklore_
2. Judas Priest - _Sad Wings of Destiny_
3. Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_
4. The Chasm - _Conjuration of the Spectral Empire_
5. Mastodon - _Remission_
Aaron's Top 5
1. ...And Oceans - _Cypher_
2. Forbidden - _Green_
3. Hate Eternal - _King of All Kings_
4. Laaz Rockit - _Annihilation Principle_
5. In Flames - _Reroute to Remain_ (3-song advance)
David's Top 5
1. Insomnium - _In the Halls of Awaiting_
2. Blackness - _Dawn of the New Sun_
3. Raunchy - _Velvet Noise_
4. Impious - _Terror Succeeds_
5. Foeturpurical - _Disfigured Inhuman Barbak_
Alvin's Top 5
1. Arch Enemy - _Wages of Sin_
2. Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_
3. Morrigan - _Enter the Sea of Flames_
4. Runes Order - _The Art of Scare and Sorrow_
5. Novembers Doom - _The Knowing_
Quentin's Top 5
1. Moonsorrow - _Voimasta Ja Kunmiasta_
2. My Dying Bride - _The Voice of the Wretched_
3. Hagalaz' Runedance - _Frigga's Web_
4. Dark Tranquillity - _Damage Done_
5. Darkmoon - _.308 Antichrist_
Vincent's Top 5
1. Dark Tranquillity - _Damage Done_
2. Kataklysm - _Shadows & Dust_
3. Rotting Christ - _Genesis_
4. Hate Eternal - _King of All Kings_
5. Satarial - _Heidenlarm_
Xander's Top 5
1. Naked City - _Live Vol 1: Knitting Factory 1989_
2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Irony Is a Dead Scene_
3. Otep - _Sevas Tra_
4. Muse - _Hullabaloo_
5. Venetian Snares - _Ultra Higgins Low Funk Glue Track Hits_
Adam's Top 5
1. Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_
2. In Flames - _Subterranean_
3. Immortal - _Sons of Northern Darkness_
4. Godless Truth - _Self Realisation_
5. Slayer - _Seasons in the Abyss_
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Homepage: http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos
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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a FREE monthly magazine electronically
distributed worldwide via the Internet. Seemingly endless interviews,
album reviews and concert reviews encompass the pages of Chronicles
of Chaos. Chronicles of Chaos stringently emphasizes all varieties of
chaotic music ranging from black and death metal to electronic/noise
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to the underground and as such we feature demo reviews from all indie
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #59
All contents copyright 2001 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.