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CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, February 13, 1999, Issue #37
http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@riff.fe.up.pt>
Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:anguish@mindspring.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Aaron McKay <mailto:aaronm@trxinc.com>
Contributor: David Rocher <mailto:el_rojo@dial.oleane.com>
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez <mailto:mwnoise@yahoo.com>
Contributor: Alex Cantwell <mailto:cvantwell@juno.com>
NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the
'Details' section at the end of this issue.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Issue #37 Contents, 2/13/99
---------------------------
- Editorial
- Loud Letters
- Deadly Dialogues
-- Bathory: The Countess' Favorite Band Lives On!
-- Aura Noir: Of Thrash and Trueness
-- Ritual Carnage: The Great Eastern Trendkill
-- Night in Gales: A Night to Remember
-- Madder Mortem: Crimson Dreams
-- Another Nothing - _New Breed_
-- Apophis - _Heliopolis_
-- Aura Noir - _Deep Tracts of Hell_
-- Autumn Tears - _Love Poems for Dying Children... Act I (Reprise
MCMXCVIII)_
-- Bewitched - _Hell Comes to Essen_
-- Bob Marinelli / Facialmess - _Split_
-- Castigate - _Bring Me the Head of Jesus Christ_
-- Cauldron - _Tampering With the Unnatural_
-- Claymords - _... More Sombre Than Life_
-- Daemon - _The Second Coming_
-- Darklands - _A Memory of You_
-- Descend - _Beyond thy Realm of Throes_
-- Dichotic - _Collapse Into Despair_
-- Dreamsfear - _Prelude to Destiny_
-- Droys - _And if..._
-- Evoken - _Embrace the Emptiness_
-- Flotsam and Jetsam - _Unnatural Selection_
-- Forced to Decay - _Perkussive Perlokution_
-- Various - _Full Moon Productions Sampler CD_
-- Groinchurn - _Fink_
-- In Solitude - _Eternal_
-- In the Woods... - _Strange in Stereo_
-- James Murphy - _Feeding the Machine_
-- Lasse Marhaug - _Audio Explosions Every 10 Seconds_
-- Madder Mortem - _Mercury_
-- Morningstar - _Hell_
-- MO*TE/TADM - _Split_
-- Nomad - _The Tail of Substance_
-- One Dark Eye / Macronympha - _Split_
-- Overlife - _Between Passion and Madness_
-- Path of Debris - _In the Eyes of the Basilisk_
-- Power of Omens - _Eyes of the Oracle_
-- Puya - _Fundamental_
-- Rok - _This Is Satanik_
-- Sacramentum - _Thy Black Destiny_
-- Salutary - _Violated Holiness_
-- Shango - _Metal Mafia_
-- Sinister - _Aggressive Measures_
-- Soil - _El Chupacabra!_
-- Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_
-- Tefilla - _Grievous Anguish_
-- Temple - _Bloodletting_
-- The Protagonist - _A Rebours_
-- The Rita - _Crusty Etruscans_
-- Thorazine - _C17H19CO2S1N_
-- Trail of Tears - _Disclosure in Red_
-- Apocalyptic - _Apocalyptic_
-- Bill the Death Metal Cowboy - _Rustling Up Some Metal_
-- Crucifer - _III_
-- Sirius - _... The Eclipse_
-- Like Fathers, Like Sons: Black Sabbath, Pantera, Slayer, Megadeth
- What We Have Cranked
- Details
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
M""MMMMMMMM dP
M MMMMMMMM 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88
M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88
M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88
M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8
MMMMMMMMMMM
M""MMMMMMMM dP dP
M MMMMMMMM 88 88
M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b.
M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo.
M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88
M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P'
MMMMMMMMMMM
This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here, e-mail it to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com> and enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1998
From: Eugene Boitsov <ewgenij@cityline.ru>
Subject: Thanx
Hail to CoC from snow-ridden, frost-bitten, crisis-crippled Mother
Russia!
You guys are doing a great job! I've tried a lot of shiny, colorful
Web-zines to rummage for information (mostly reviews), but CoC is the
best in this respect. Always the bull's eye. Just imagine that there
is only ONE shop in Moscow (about 11 million people) where one can
get black/grind/death/doom CDs or tapes! Hordes of metalheads listen
to a dozen of commercial bands, not even remotely suspecting about
the existence of such Maestros as Primigenium (Spain), Tartaros,
Fleshgrind (Brasil), etc., and I wouldn't know shit from piss if not
for your sniper-like reviews.
Thank you no end,
Eugene Boitsov, Moscow
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1999
From: gajo <gajo@EUnet.yu>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Greetings to the CoC team, you're still the best thing ever!
In the previous number (36) you've wrote about the new Sepultura in a
positive and negative way, which is very good, but it left me
undecided what should I do (buy the album or not).
Sepultura's been my favorite band since their release of
Schizophrenia, and when Max left the band I thought everything's
gonna be OK, but I guess it won't be :( I have bought SoulFly's first
album and I was a little bit disappointed, since the A side was quite
boring, and the B just couldn't make me get all my anger out. Because
of this I still haven't bought Sepulturas' "Against", because they
still are my favorite band, and I don't want to have another
disappointment and turn to Aaron Carter or even worse: THE SMURFS.
So, could you just tell me, based on all opinions and charts and
stuff like that: is Against a good album?
Thanx, Csaba gajo@eunet.yu
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1999
From: djkelt@earthlink.net
Subject: yea!
killer zine bro, Hats way the hell off for the BT interview. I dig
the fact that the stuck with Karl (Martin is a wanker). I do miss
Andy, but the drums were decent just the same. Why does Boltthrower
rule...cause "if it aint broke, dont fix it!)
Please Please...do you know of anywhere I could pick up a Boltthrower
longsleeve. If not, do you at least have an email of somewhere I
could contact the band to get one??
also does Alex have an email addy?
Thanks alot for kicking my ass
Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999
From: Iain Pattinson <iainpattinson@weeks.co.uk>
Subject: Enslaved new album
In your interview with Enslaved in issue #36 you asked Grutle about
the noise at the end of Blodhemn and he didn't tell. Well I reckon I
know what it is. I think it is someone roller skating in a dark-damp
tunnel with the mix really low so you can't hear it to well. But with
headphones you can distinctly hear when the wheels of the roller
skates hit the concrete floor. Of course I could be wrong!
Iain.
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 1999
From: Janek Hellqvist <janek@slaytanic.com>
Subject: CoC
Thanks for a great issue of Chronicles of Chaos (#36), but please
don't forget to upload it (and the updated index file) to the FTP
server!
I have all past issues of CoC on my hard drive, which makes it easy
to look through the review without going online or even starting the
mail program...
I only need to do a quick search through the index file and the view
the right issue in a text editor. Feel free to share this tip with
the CoC readers if you think it's useful (I do!). :)
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999
From: Minda Lapinskas <wounded@takas.lt>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters
Aye! Hey, I was reading your CoC since issue 32 or something and
never came round to writing some comments. Basically, I always wanted
to say how fuckin' good it is, loads of fresh intviews and
well-written reviews, but when I was just ready to stay as another
anonymous and appreciative reader I spotted a major fuck up and just
thought "I must tell to those dudes!" yeah, well, so in CoC #36 I'm
reading all these reviews and all of a sudden I see some poofter
named Alex Cantwell slagging PURE METAL band SCEPTER for being what?
TOO METAL?? Now, c'mon, everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but
this Alex dude goes on about his family, kids, job, viewpoints and
what made me really angry he starts to PRAY! This is way too much!!
The bloke p'bly never understood what Metal is all about anyway and I
believe STYX was his fave band. He thinks that metal must be created
according to his views and then he'll like it, right? No "bad" and
"wrong" lyrics that'll make your kids scarred and wife angry? That's
just a load of shite!!! I mean, SCEPTER dudes p'bly are laughin about
that idiot and me getting all hot over it, but I feel I must say that
their album "I'M Going To Hell" is definitely one of the most catchy,
no-bullshit, ass-kicking METAL releases from last year! Sure, it has
CELTIC FROST and MANOWAR vibes shining through, but it's damn heavy,
right?! I was doing Wounded zine for 6 years and during that time
heard lots of good and bad bands, and believe me - SCEPTER will
fucking RULE!!! It's because they put their hearts into Metal, unlike
those materialistic and oh so politically correct cunts who are
criticizing them. That's about it, keep up a good work and take it
easy!! Cheerzz to Paul Schwarz for excellent and truly intelligent
reviews.
Smokin' regards,
Minda "Plix" Lapinskas mailto:wounded@takas.lt
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THE COUNTESS' FAVORITE BAND LIVES ON!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC talks to the legendary Quorthon
by: Adam Wasylyk
A band that needs very little introduction, Bathory's influence
on metal today is undeniable. With their contemporaries, bands like
Celtic Frost and Possessed, they've carved a path of aggressive,
hateful music that bands still follow and adhere to today. But unlike
the aforementioned bands, Bathory aren't done quite just yet. Not by
a long shot.
Bathory's music has been well documented over the years, from
its early primitive black metal to its intermediate Viking metal
period to its latter day speed/thrash metal. The Jubileum compilation
albums (I and II, released in '92 and '93 respectively) showcased
material from all of Bathory's albums up to _Twilight of the Gods_,
accompanied by rare or previously unreleased material. Bathory's
newest release, _Jubileum Volume III_, contains material from the
past five years (off _Requiem_, _Octagon_ and _Blood on Ice_) along
with more unreleased and rare material, the highlights being "Satan
My Master" and "Witchcraft", two tracks recorded in the early '80s
that never found their way onto any official Bathory recording. Like
the two previous compilations, _Jubileum Volume III_ features music
from each stage of the band's existence (black, thrash, Viking, etc.)
which fans should definitely take the time to check out, and gives
the uninitiated a way to hear why this band is a legend to many.
Quorthon is a bit restless as of late. Along with watching
hockey on TV, which he can't do without, he informs me that he, along
with the rest of Sweden, is "buried under six feet of snow". He also
lets me know that this release has been one of the less promoted
albums in Bathory's history, so I got the impression that he really
wanted to get all of his points across and give me the full story on
what's happening with the band. Here's what he had to say.
CoC: Tell me about the new Bathory release, _Jubileum Volume III_,
and what your thoughts are on it.
Quorthon: When the first two Jubileum albums came out, they were to
celebrate Bathory's ten year existence. We thought, at the
time, "To celebrate ten years, wouldn't it be great to put
out some sort of compilation album?" It was also a good
idea to put it out at that time, as I didn't have too many
ideas for the next Bathory album, and my mind was also in
the solo project as well. Now celebrating fifteen years,
we're doing basically the same thing with the exception
being we're not looking as far back as we did with the
first two Jubileum albums; we're just picking tracks from
the past five years. I dug deep in the archives to find
some demos and stuff that were worth releasing. There were
two tracks there recorded before the first album was even
recorded, in a proper studio. We figured that the fans
would really like to hear what we sounded like before
anyone had heard of us. So that's what the album's about;
to celebrate fifteen years and give our loyal fans a peak
into what we've done the past five years and what we did
before with some unreleased stuff.
CoC: With the release of this record, does that mean that the Bathory
vaults are now officially clean, or have you left room for a
Volume IV?
Q: Well, there's plenty of shit down there! <laughs> We're just sort
of airing what you could call the least "stenchy" parts. Whenever
I talk about a new album I say "the new slab of shit" and people
were getting the idea that we thought that Bathory was just shit.
Well, the archive is of course full of shit! I don't know whether
the fans would really like to hear the black metal album that was
never released, the Viking album that was never released... There
was an album recorded between two other albums that was never
released, there's a lot of projects on tape that were never
released. Of course, if there would be a substantial amount of
people in another five or ten years who would like to hear that,
it wouldn't cost much to put it down on disk.
CoC: Could you go into some detail on the tracks off _Jubileum..._,
like personal highlights or why some of the tracks were chosen?
Q: Actually, the fans are responsible for the track listing. For the
first two [volumes], what we did was ask a lot of people whose
opinion we trusted, people who wrote us who we were sure weren't
just trying to flatter us and tell us that everything we do is
great. We asked them if they'd like to sit down and check out the
albums and write down which five or six tracks they'd like to hear
on a future compilation album. We did just about the same thing
this time. They picked their favorite tracks off the last album
and [tracks from] the last five years, and I filled out the rest
of the CD by including six unreleased tracks, some of which were
recorded during the _Requiem_ and _Octagon_ recording sessions.
CoC: It has been a few years since Bathory released new material,
since the last two releases have been _Blood on Ice_ [originally
recorded in 1988/89] and now _Jubileum Volume 3_. What do you
have in store for fans as far as newly recorded material?
Q: Actually, someone just told me recently it has been three years
since anyone heard anything new from Bathory. I can't believe it
has been three years, as it's felt like just one year. But sitting
down and thinking about it, I've realized that I've been doing so
many different things and being involved in so many projects that
have nothing to do with the side project or Bathory. Probably what
I needed was to get away from it all. You need to feel aggressive
and the hunger when you write music, and that hasn't been the case
for the past three years, so we said "The hell with it! We won't
do anything until we feel that hunger again." As far as material
for the next album, I have a bunch of songs, probably a hundred,
which we have been working on to a certain extent. We haven't
added vocals or guitar solos or anything, just [outlined] the
basic tracks. And they range from everything; from the most
hell-paced stuff we've ever done to some experimental stuff. So as
far as the next album [goes], it's hard to put a finger on it and
say this is exactly what it's going to be about; probably a
combination of all sorts of stuff.
CoC: Did I hear you right? A hundred songs?
Q: Yeah. Three years... a hundred songs. Sure.
CoC: So, specifically, how does the new material compare musically to
_Octagon_ [Bathory's last official studio album]?
Q: I'm going to talk to a lot of fans whose opinion I trust, through
e-mail and letters, and try to make out, at street level, what the
fans would probably want to hear. Because every time Bathory
release an album, 50% of the record buyers will be disappointed
because they'd want the black, Satanic shit, hell-paced stuff. And
the other 50% would want the Viking, slow, heavy with sound
effects and twelve minute songs. Regardless of what the Bathory
album sounded like, it doesn't feel good to have 50% of your
potential record buyers being disappointed when you've been
working for a couple of months in the studio. So the combination
of both sides of Bathory would be a very good solution, but with a
new 21st century sound or approach to the material.
CoC: Any idea on when it could be released?
Q: The first time Black Mark was making it public that a new Bathory
album was going to be released was in August ['98], then they said
October, then January, February and now March or May. That's just
another way for them to say that Bathory hasn't entered the studio
yet! <laughs> Winter isn't a great time to record an album, since
I would be riding my bike to the studio, as I don't have a car, so
the Summertime is more likely, or a place where we wouldn't have
to spend a lot of money.
CoC: Has an album title been chosen?
Q: We had an album title during the summer, _Nemesis_, but then I
found out the ex-Slayer drummer produced an album with the same
title [referring to Grip Inc.]. So the new title is _Destroyer of
Worlds_. I read these science fiction items that laid as a
foundation to the manuscript for the movie "Independence Day". It
was also from a Hindu script; when Oppenheimer constructed the
atomic bomb, so it exploded in the Nevada Desert, he said "I have
become death", [which] is also from that Hindu script.
CoC: Since the last time we talked there have been a couple of
Bathory tribute albums released. One being the Metal Invader
tribute _Hellas Salute the Vikings_ and Hellspawn Records' _In
Conspiracy With Satan_. I was wondering if you had a chance to
hear either and what you thought of them.
Q: I heard the Greek one [referring to _HStV_]. I found it very, very
exciting to hear the bands play Bathory material. I was very
surprised and happy that [the bands] sat down and worked their
guts out to make it as close as possible and yet be their personal
interpretation of the material. The [Hellspawn] one I haven't
heard yet, but I understand there is some court stuff going on
between Black Mark and the persons responsible for the _In
Conspiracy With Satan_ tribute album. I don't know whether that
will be on the market for a long time. Those who actually bought
it should hold on to it, as probably they're going to cut down the
release or the availability of it.
CoC: It's actually quite good; it contains some of the bigger names
of black metal, like Emperor, Marduk, Satyricon...
Q: I know Black Mark got a copy of it, but they sent it to their
lawyer for an upcoming trial, so I haven't myself heard it yet. I
understand a lot of those young or second/third generation black
metal bands that are getting some coverage in these magazines
contributed a Bathory track. What [Hellspawn] did was use the
Bathory logo and goat head, which is copyright stuff. We tried to
discuss with them about two years ago, "You can do this and that,
but you cannot do this or you cannot do that", as far as
copyrights, logo types and registered trademarks are concerned.
Down the line, they didn't meet our agreement, they went their own
way, cut the communications, and the album just appeared on the
market, opposing everything we had been talking about.
CoC: And finally, do you feel added pressure when writing new
material, with these high expectations being placed on you by
fans who consider you a legend?
Q: It's an added pressure, yeah, but you have to realize that that
pressure or legendary status comes from what's in the past, and
for anybody to compare the past with the future is a mistake. When
there's a new Black Sabbath album, with the exception of the new
live one, I sort of say "What's better than the old days?", so I
instead think about their stuff from '72/'73. So, from that point
of view, I'm certainly making those same mistakes myself when I'm
referring to some groups as well. When people say "the good ol'
days" as far as Bathory is concerned, they're thinking about the
'80s. That's a long time ago, that's more than ten years ago, and
in some respects more than fifteen years ago. You have to look
into the future.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
O F T H R A S H A N D T R U E N E S S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC talks to Appolyon from Aura Noir
by: Paul Schwarz
A "new" genre has, in recent years, appeared in the extreme
metal community. "Retro-thrash", as this backward looking genre has
been dubbed, has given birth to bands, such as Inferno and Bewitched,
who wanted to re-create the '80s thrash metal feeling, though
unfortunately many bands used the same riffs to do so. Many of these
"retro-thrash" bands are made up of people who also play in black
metal bands in Norway or Sweden. Since any fool knows that the
Norwegian black metal scene of the '90s was heavily influenced by
'80s thrash bands ("Satanic" or otherwise) like Celtic Frost, Bathory
and Venom, it is curious that, with "retro-thrash", some black
metallers seem to be stepping back into their past, instead of using
their past as a stepping stone to the future.
With their debut album, _Black Thrash Attack_ [CoC #21], Aura
Noir seemed to be heading down the "retro-thrash" path, though in
much more style and with more skill than the majority of the
"retro-thrash" scene. Late last year, their second full length _Deep
Tracts of Hell_ [reviewed in this issue] saw the light of day on
Hammerheart, a new label for the band. Blasphemer, of Mayhem fame,
who played bass on _Black Thrash Attack_ and toured with the band,
took no part in _Deep Tracts of Hell_. _DToH_ features only Appolyon
(Dodheimsgard) and Aggressor (Ved Buens Ende, Inferno), who have been
the core of the band right from the start. They have always been a
little different, too: Appolyon and Aggressor each write half the
songs, sing and play guitar on half the songs (the ones they write),
and play drums on half the songs (the ones they don't). Thus, each
record is an interesting (though not intrusively noticeable) mix of
their two writing, singing and playing styles. This songwriting core
of the band has not changed for the making of _DToH_, but the sound
has. Aura Noir have added a vicious black metal edge to their sound.
They haven't lost the thrashy brilliance of their debut, but they
also haven't let their previous musical formula stagnate, so that
now, instead of "BTA vol.2", we have the aggressive, thrashy,
blackened mass of metal that is _Deep Tracts of Hell_.
Appolyon (who I sometimes refer to by his "nickname" OJ),
relaxing in Norway's Elm Street (the gathering place for a number of
the black metal scene's musicians), happily answered my questions,
even though he had to fight off small winged beasts to do so in any
comfort.
CoC: Could you give a brief history of Aura Noir, for those who may
not know the band, and how the "project" came about originally?
Appolyon: That is always a hard question, because I don't know. I get
confused. It's me and Carl Michael (Aggressor). He actually
started it and it was meant to be a side-project from -- he
plays in Ved Buens Ende. This was supposed to be even
stranger music than Ved Buens Ende was. He did some songs,
he went to the studio with them, and he wanted me to help
him with some guitar stuff, which I did. And, I think,
while we were in the studio, he figured that "Hey, I don't
wanna do this anyway, so let's just play old thrash metal.
No one else does that nowadays and everybody should like
it." So, we started playing thrash metal, black thrash
metal, and (I can't remember when this was, but should be
'94/'95 or something) we released our first album, on the
Norwegian label called Hot Records. That was a mini-CD
called _Dreams Like Deserts_. After that we did some gigs
here in Oslo and since we were only two guys we had to have
some other guy on stage with us to fill in. We asked
Blasphemer from Mayhem and he wanted to join us, and
suddenly he was in the band. Then we changed labels to
Malicious Records Germany and we made a new album, _Black
Thrash Attack_, with the new line-up and everything. Now we
have just released... umm, what's it called? [With sarcasm
in his voice as he looks at my t-shirt, adorned by the
album cover] _Deep Tracts of Hell_ on Hammerheart Records.
Blasphemer is not on that album because he was in the
States [with Mayhem].
CoC: So has he left the band?
A: No, he hasn't left, I think now he's back again. Even though he
may not be on further albums, he will always play live with us.
CoC: So he will certainly be there for the live playing?
A: I think he will be in the band for the next album.
CoC: With this new album, in comparison to previously doing _BTA_,
how do you think the music has changed, how do you think it has
developed from _BTA_? I think _BTA_ is a little catchier, it's
in a slightly different style.
A: I think, at least, Carl Michael's songs are more complex than on
_BTA_. And also, both our songs are somewhat harder -- it is more
black metal, actually. That's, I think, only because old thrash
metal, the good thrash metal riffs, are starting to get well used
by now.
CoC: Used up.
A: Yeah. But there are also some songs that are even more catchy
maybe, some of my songs, the slow ones. But I don't know; some
people say this is our best album and some people say _BTA_ is the
best one. But I think maybe if you put both of the albums together
and take the best songs from both of the albums it would be our
perfect album or something. <laughs>
CoC: On the album, and in previous times, you've always swapped
instruments, you and Carl Michael, from drums to guitar and
vocals; why did you choose not to have a concrete "set-up" for
doing the band, is it because you both enjoy doing both things?
A: Yeah, more or less, and also it's easier in the studio, 'cause we
don't practice that much, so we just make half the songs each. So
if he makes a song I will play drums and he does all the rest, and
the other way around [for me]. So we don't have to rehearse that
much before we go into the studio. <laughs> But it's also probably
mostly because we enjoy doing both things.
CoC: Do you think that makes a big difference to the vocals on the
album, because there are two different vocalists throughout the
album, or do you think it still sounds quite consistent?
A: You can hear, at least now, our songs are quite different. I think
it is more the songs [than the vocals]. It doesn't sound that
boring, you know, with different vocals. Not that it's boring to
hear one vocalist throughout the whole album, but, maybe -- I
don't know. <laughs>
CoC: How do you feel Hammerheart is supporting you with touring and
general promotion?
A: I think they've done a good job so far. We haven't heard -- we
only just released the album, but we have already been on tour,
which was the main reason why we left Malicious Records: because
they didn't want to send us on tour. We think it is very important
for every band to go on tour if they have something to show on
stage, and we consider ourselves a pretty good live band, so it's
very important for us to go on tour. I think they [Hammerheart]
have treated us well, but, you know, it's only just been released,
so we don't know anything about -- yeah, I think we sold 3500
after one week or something. [OJ makes a point about the sales
which didn't come out on my tape, then adding "at least they're
out there". -- Paul]
CoC: That's cool. So, you've also got an upcoming tour with Vader,
Malevolent Creation and some other bands?
A: Yeah... our record company guy said that he hoped to get us on
that tour. We don't know anything yet. We hope so.
CoC: You said when you wanted to do Aura Noir you were doing old
thrash. What, of your older influences, influenced you and Carl
to do old thrash, and how does it differ from the other bands
you do, like Dodheimsgard?
[OJ is bothered by a fly and attempts to exterminate it.]
A: Could I have the first part of the question again?
CoC: Sure. What were you influenced by when you were doing something
that was thrash based?
A: Bands? I don't know if we both listen to them, but Kreator, Slayer
and everything. Early German stuff, but I don't think we are just
influenced by all of them [but by] good music in general. We
think... it's confusing me, this fly shit. <laughs> [More flailing
at the fly on OJ's part.] We just make riffs and we try to make as
good riffs as possible and it's just coincidental that they sound
very similar to old stuff. I don't know how to explain this, I
could do it better in Norwegian.
CoC: To put it a different way, do you think Aura Noir fit into being
a "retro" band, do you think they belong to a scene which is
quite current now, or do you think it is just a retro-thrash
band?
A: No, it is not just a retro-thrash band, because there is sort of
-- it is sort of a black metal band, but, you know, we consider
the old thrash metal bands black metal, or at least very
influential, or should be, for a black metal band. People have
started to play all this moving shit, not shit, but um... it goes
in another direction now, most of the scene, so we thought "Let's
do the aggressive thing again", 'cause we think that this kind of
music gives us the most black metal feeling.
CoC: Does Aura Noir conflict with your other bands, either yours or
Carl's?
A: I was a bit sceptical about Dodheimsgard, 'cause we use
synthesizers and now we will use... drum programming on our next
album. But I was in the studio, a couple of days ago, and heard at
least one of the songs, and did the basswork, and it sounds really
great, so I don't think so, I am just nervous that... I -was-
nervous that it would sound too melodic and too nice. Because it
would be sort of treason or betrayal, to say that in Aura Noir
interviews. I think this Dodheimsgard [album] sounds so different,
but still very aggressive.
CoC: So what would you say to people who haven't heard Aura Noir, who
are thinking of checking them out? Who would you say should
check it out and what would you say generally... about the band?
A: What would I say to people who want to check it out?
CoC: Or who read this interview or whatever and think "hmm, maybe
I'll check that band out." [I turn my dictaphone off and OJ
takes a while to think and kill flies.]
A: If you like old thrash metal bands, you should check it out, at
least. If you don't, if you're only into the new wave of black
metal, you should either check us or the old thrash metal bands,
and maybe them first. Really old, like Slayer, Kreator and stuff,
of course, everybody should have heard of it, but really the first
album of all those guys -- Destruction, Sodom, whatever. Then
check us out. It's really aggressive music, the way it should be
played. I think our strongest side is maybe our live act, so come
check out the shows as well.
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T H E G R E A T E A S T E R N T R E N D K I L L
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC chats with Damian Montgomery of Ritual Carnage
by: David Rocher
Many bands suddenly seem to be developing pretentious ideals of
bringing the "true spirit" of heavy metal back to life, and merely
use this new philosophy in life as a pretext to rip the sleeves of
their jeans jackets and align a few simplistic, unimaginative riffs
and solos. However, Ritual Carnage's first offering, _The Highest
Law_, stood out among the tasteless mass of generally lame
revival/tribute bands, with its sweaty, ultra mean leather n' spikes
attitude, simple but incredibly addictive songs, and, last but not
least, its excellently cliched cover. Obviously enough, bassist,
grunter in chief and band mastermind Damian Montgomery proved to be
an authentic, no-frills, poseur-bashing, nun-devouring kind of
gentleman, an enthusiastic metalhead truly in love with the lifestyle
he preaches... and unquestionably practises. The following interview
was heroically performed during Driller Killer's soundcheck in Le
Gibus, in Paris, France, with the assistance of the mighty Joey
Jaffrezic ("JJ"), who co-hosts the Breton radio show "Metal Invasion".
CoC: What is the history of the band?
Damian Montgomery: I started the band in 1994 -- I formed it, so it's
kind of my band. The original members didn't last
too long; the first bassist was a Finnish guy
living in Japan, and he went back to Finland about
a year later, and our first drummer had another
band -- he couldn't dedicate himself to [Ritual
Carnage] full-time, so we went separate ways.
While I was doing Ritual Carnage, I was also
playing with another Japanese band called Tyrant
[signed on Singapore's Pulverised Records --
David], and I left that band just before they
recorded their album -- I had more confidence in
Ritual Carnage. In 1996, [we found] Eddie, our
guitarist, and Hamaii, our drummer. They had a
band called Krakkbrain, that had been together for
quite a while. After it broke up, I told them what
I wanted to do with Ritual Carnage, so they
joined, and Shige, our other guitarist, joined the
band this February. On _The Highest Law_, I play
guitars; we had a bassist at the time, but he left
the band in July due to personal problems, so I'm
doing the bass and vocals right now. Eddie and
Shige do the lead guitars.
CoC: How did you get signed by Osmose? Were no American or Japanese
labels interested?
DM: Actually, there are no labels in Japan at all that do anything
for any extreme metal bands. After we recorded the album in
January, I sent four songs from the album to labels we respected,
but... from the beginning, we wanted to be on Osmose, we love all
the bands on the label. I don't think there are any poseur bands
on that label, which is very important -- and Osmose was the
first label that contacted us, about a week after I sent it out.
We had other offers that we didn't follow, because we wanted to
be on Osmose, period! So -- it's a dream come true! <laughs>
CoC: How did you choose the name Ritual Carnage, and your album
cover? Don't you think they sound kind of cliched?
DM: The name was actually something I thought of years ago, probably
back in the early '90s. I got the idea from a newspaper,
something about Algeria, the crazy Muslims killing all the
people, and there was the name Ritual Carnage -- so I stole it.
CoC: What about the album cover?
DM: I guess we're not offended to hear it's a cliched jacket, but
back when we were young -- I'm 32 years old -- [we listened] to
bands like Manowar, Saxon, Motorhead... it's -that- metal image
we wanted. The '90s metal image has kind of worn out a bit.
CoC: There are quite a few bands now who play '80s metal with a '90s
edge to it, pretty much like Children of Bodom; do you
appreciate this kind of music?
DM: Yeah, I like Children of Bodom, and I really like '80s metal more
than the brutal stuff -- I'm not really into brutal music, I like
-real- heavy metal you can bang your fucking head to! I like
those bands... but they really need to give the keyboards up!
<laughs>
CoC: Don't you think keyboards have a place in metal?
DM: Not in heavy metal!
JJ: Black metal?
DM: Well, even the "symphonic" stuff... <pauses> The band that used a
keyboard to the best effect was Emperor, on their first album, it
was fucking perfect! It wasn't too loud, it wasn't too soft, it
was great! But now, well... the way Cradle of Filth use them is
pretty cool, but you've got to be careful with how you use them.
JJ: Since Loudness, Japanese metal seems to be having difficulties
exporting to Europe and America. How do you explain that?
DM: From my point of view -- I'm not Japanese, so I don't know what
the Japanese think of it, but I know the guys in the band don't
like Loudness, they laugh at it, and I do too! The early '80s
just totally -fucked- metal; the big record companies and stuff
did it all for fucking money, you know, and I can't look at a
band like Loudness and say "Wow, they were great!" I think it was
a band that was nothing original; I guess the thing that helped
them a lot was that they were Japanese, that's what made people
become interested in them. To an extent, I think it's the same
for Ritual Carnage, Tyrant and Sigh. Westerners have an interest
in the East, you don't hear a lot from bands from there, so when
something comes out, people look at it, and think that even if it
doesn't have a lot of originality, it's not westerners playing it
-- and that draws a lot of interest.
CoC: Why is it that so many old, unsuccessful metal bands seem to
have great success over in Japan?
DM: I think that's another thing with the record companies, they
really push [bands], and after a record company pushes one and
puts it in the kids' minds and fans' minds that they should
listen to it, they do! And I think that, to an extent, it's the
same with Ritual Carnage, because we're busting our ass to
promote the record in Japan, and it's selling very well. We
haven't had somebody to promote us in Japan, we're doing
everything ourselves; and the most influent record chain in
Japan, Discunion, really like the band, and they're really
helping us.
CoC: What do you think of the practice that consists in releasing
Japanese versions of CDs that feature between two and five bonus
tracks when compared to the European version?
DM: I think it's fucked, I think the West should get them too.
Another thing with Japan is when they release those CDs with the
bonus tracks, they're paying an extra five dollars for the CD,
so... Our CD sells in record shops for about 17 or 18 US dollars.
JJ: Your first album is extremely fast and violent; don't you think
it can be dangerous releasing this kind of a first album, as if
Slayer had first released _Reign in Blood_?
DM: Well, it was weird, the way everything in the band formed the way
it did... Our first drummer really held us back from our
capabilities. We had so much we could do, but he didn't want to
play fast stuff, so when Krakkbrain broke up, Eddie joined the
band, and we still had our old drummer -- and we knew that he
wasn't going to work out, so we had him leave the band, and then
Hamaii joined, and we just started with the real aggressive stuff
that we wanted to do, and that's what came out! I mean, we didn't
say "hey, let's do something like _Reign in Blood_!" I think you
can get so much more done in a song if you just fucking cut out
all the bullshit, just go right at it, and that's what we did!
Most of our songs on _The Highest Law_ only have five riffs at
most, and a couple of songs only have three riffs -- so you can
just work with three to five riffs, and do killer stuff!
CoC: What do you think of the way cult bands like Metallica, Slayer
and Sepultura have gone?
DM: Ah, I fucking hate it! <laughs> I was really pissed when
Metallica fell -- I can tolerate them up to _... And Justice for
All_, but after that, if they want to go the money way and live
off the band, that's their choice, but at the same time, they're
loosing fans -- they've lost me! We do a Metallica cover ["Hit
the Lights"] because we love their first album, but... it's the
same with Slayer, I was really disappointed with the new record,
there's a couple of really aggressive songs, but on most parts,
they sold out. I love _Divine Intervention_, but on the new
record, it sounds like they're rapping or something, you know,
ta-dam, ta-dam, ta-dam! -- like Machine Head and Korn and stuff
like that. I was really pissed off that -they- did that. And even
in style, they've just gone... I love the metal style, man! The
leather, the spikes and shit like that -- I bought the first
Slayer record, not because I knew what they sounded like, but I
looked at the back and saw what they were wearing, and thought,
"this must be a killer!"
JJ: To me, Saxon's _Unleash the Beast_ was one of the best albums of
1997, a comeback to true heavy metal; did you listen to it?
DM: Yeah, it's cool, I like it. It's a lot better than some of their
older stuff. But I think the best comeback -- they're on the same
label as us -- was Exciter's _The Dark Command_. I'm so pissed
off that so many magazines just turned their backs to that album,
it's fucking brilliant, man! Razor, they released _Decibels_ last
year, well, it's a piece of shit; Infernal Majesty's released a
new album, which is total shit. But the fucking Exciter is a
killer, I love every song on that album, it's great, man!
JJ: Do you know Nasty Savage have reformed?
DM: <Amazed> No way?!
JJ: Really! Last September, they played at a gig in Germany.
DM: Killer! Ritual Carnage used to do a Nasty Savage cover, "Metal
Knights"! <laughs>
CoC: Yeah, heavy metal is resurfacing now, with wimpish bands like
Ratt and shit like that who are reforming... What do you think
of this new trend in the metal scene?
DM: Well, to me, Ratt are not a fucking metal band, that's -not-
heavy metal! I come from the early '80s -- heavy metal, to me,
was Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Saxon, stuff like that. I'm not
into any of that Los Angeles bullshit, it totally killed true
heavy metal.
CoC: And what do you think of the endless succession of trends in
metal?
DM: When I played with Tyrant, I told the guys in the band that we
should do something a little different, and put some more heavy
metal influences into it, because black metal has hit its peak --
you can't go anywhere else with it. I told them that they should
try something different, but they weren't interested, they'd
rather go the way they did. I knew it was gonna happen, and I
predicted that; a big example was Immortal's _Blizzard Beasts_,
they totally went over to more of a death metal sound.
JJ: What do you think of the bands on Osmose who try to give older
metal a second life, like Bewitched or Demoniac? Do you like them?
DM: Oh yeah, I fucking love Bewitched, they're one of my favorite
bands, actually!
CoC: How is extreme metal perceived by the masses in Japan?
DM: Actually, it's unbelievable, the American record companies have
so much money and so much fucking power in Japan, that they force
it into the kids' heads to listen to stuff that is so fucking
boring it's unbelievable! I did an interview with a German
magazine, and they said most Germans laugh at Helloween, but in
Japan, they're fucking -huge-! They sell out all their shows, and
it's just the record companies that are influencing this.
JJ: How did you convince Eric Rutan and George "Corpsegrinder" to
play with you?
DM: Well, I first met George back in '96, when Cannibal Corpse toured
Japan. We hung out, drank some beers and traded a few letters,
and when we recorded our album, in January, Cannibal Corpse were
recording their album at the same time, so when they were mixing
their record, we were hanging out with them and bullshitting...
They were mixing the Sacrifice cover, and I told George we were
doing an cover of Onslaught. And he said "great, man!", and I
just said "hey, wanna sing with me on it?" and he said
"allright". And I met Eric in a record store, we started talking,
I asked him if he wanted to play leads too, and he was all up for
it, so it was cool! <laughs>
JJ: I have heard that when Deep Purple played in Japan in the early
'70s, the Japanese crowds were very still, and I'd like to know
if things have changed.
DM: It wasn't even the early '70s -- when I first went over [to
Japan] in 1988, Anthrax came over, and I went to see the show.
It's the security, with the insurance and responsibility; if
people start stagediving and stuff and get hurt, they can sue
[the organisers]. It was the security and promoters, they
wouldn't let people leave their seats! Morbid Angel and Death all
came over and played in venues that were basically free for all
-- you come in, you're on your own, there were signs and stuff
saying that they were not responsible if you got hurt, so people
knew they had better not stay in front if they couldn't handle
the intensity -- but it's pretty crazy!
CoC: Your CD mentions that you "vomit on Buddha, shit on the star and
desecrate the cross". You only mention monotheistic religions,
what is your opinion on forms of paganism?
DM: I don't know -- the religions that I attacked on the album are
the ones that affected me. I've grown up around religion, and
when I first went to Japan, I was in the military -- my
grandfather fought in World War II, my father was in Vietnam --
so I joined the military basically out of respect for them, you
know? They did something for their country, and in America, there
are a lot of religions -- obviously there's Christianism and
Judaism, but [there are] also Muslims, and Hindus, and Buddhists,
and I lost an awful lot of respect for those religions -- they
can live in America, but -they- would not do anything for their
country. I'm not a right-winger or anything like that, but those
religions, the laws and stuff that they follow are out of hand,
if you ask me. For example, everybody right now is dealing with
the Asian collapse in the economy, most Japanese are Buddhists,
but these supposedly Buddhist businessmen are totally fucking
greedy, and they caused all these scandals and rip-offs --
they've fucked the whole country, you know?
JJ: I have the impression you are a kind of father for the other
members of the band; am I right, are you a kind of leader for
them?
DM: Yeah, obviously, I have to do everything here, because none of
them can speak English, but I'm not the leader to say "hey, you
do this, you play that!" Basically, the songwriting and the image
we want for the band is what I have control over, but they live
their lives and do what they want. But as far as the songs are
concerned, when they write a riff, I may tell them "I don't think
it's Ritual Carnage-sounding" -- I make that decision, if it's
Ritual Carnage or not, so that's basically what my leadership
within the band is.
CoC: I guess you are getting new material ready; what's it going to
be like?
DM: Our music's still gonna be aggressive, like on _The Highest Law_,
but the Judas Priest and Metallica influences will definitely
come out more. With _The Highest Law_, we went back to our roots,
but on the next album, we plan to use those roots and go back
even a little bit further with it all, new wave of British heavy
metal sounds and stuff like that!
CoC: What do you think of bands that don't really seem to evolve,
like Iron Maiden?
DM: Well, I don't know... Even off the latest stuff by Iron Maiden,
there are good songs, but there's also stuff that I'm bored with.
But I have no problems with their song structures and the way
they arrange their music -- if they did it any differently, it
wouldn't be Iron Maiden!
CoC: Like Bolt Thrower.
DM: Yeah, like Bolt Thrower -- I think the new album's fucking
brilliant, you know? I think they're a great band, and they're a
good example of a band that stays by its original sound. They
might add a couple of little things, but you still know it's Bolt
Thrower.
CoC: Concerning the attitude you demonstrate on your album, what do
you think of all these bands that try acting "evil"?
DM: When it gets real childish in the interviews and the kids try to
sound like they're larger than life, I think that's really so
cheesy! I personally believe in Satanism in the same ways as King
Diamond does, you know? I feel that I am my own god and creator,
but I feel that a lot of these bands, like Graveland, they take
Satanism and make it sound like it's a game. But I look at
Satanism as intelligence and rational thinking -- when I see
something I don't like, I can just laugh at it, and not attack it
to the point that it gets stupid and brings out the unintelligent
side of me.
CoC: Okay! Last words?
DM: I hope everybody likes our record... Our next record is gonna be
just as good, definitely better; if you like lead guitars,
there's gonna be twice as many leads -- everywhere I'm not
singing, there's gonna be leads, so it's gonna be a real fun
album!
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A N I G H T T O R E M E M B E R
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Deutschland's Night in Gales
by: Adrian Bromley
When I first heard German metal outfit Night in Gales' debut for
Nuclear Blast, titled _Towards the Twilight_, I was taken aback by
the band's aggressive, yet melodic, music. Think In Flames mixed with
At the Gates and you pretty much get the idea of their debut disc.
The band explored many cool ideas within the LP and showed that they
had worked hard as musicians to make sure their abilities shined from
every angle. I was impressed, to say the least.
I'll be honest, though, upon hearing the band's quickly
assembled follow-up _Thunderbeast_, I was miffed by the fact that the
band had latched onto a stronger, volatile attitude with the music,
more aggressive and raw in every aspect, thus losing the melodic tone
throughout the release. Had the band shot themselves in the foot by
moving onto a new sound? Was the death metal style infiltrating their
melodic metal angle? Who knows? It was a mediocre effort in my mind,
until I gave it another chance. How do I see the LP now? As an
excellent homage to fast-paced death metal, with a pinch of melody
thrown in for good measure. The band edged out their soft side,
gearing things up for a riotous ruckus for the most part. I'm hooked
now more than ever.
"This record seems a bit rushed at times", admits bassist Tobbe
Bruchmann early on in the interview, "but that's the way things go.
We were touring extensively with numerous bands and just needed to
get some ideas into the studio. When we had some time we went in and
here is the final result. We wanted to get this out as fast as we
could, to show the fans that we really enjoy making music. I am
totally satisfied with what we did here. There is so much more here
than what we did with the last record."
"The new record is being worked on as we speak", admits
Bruchmann, "but we need time to get things going and then properly
record. The music has to come from our hearts before we can attempt
to record [the album] properly. There are a lot of ideas flowing
right now, it just takes time to get them to take shape."
Bruchmann and the rest of Night in Gales -- guitarists Jens and
Frank Basten, drummer Christian Bab and singer Bjorn Goobes --
couldn't be happier with the way things are headed for the band. "We
are just so happy to be back out there with [new] material. Showing
people that we mean business. It's tough to keep people interested
with what you do. Hopefully people take note of what we did here with
_Thunderbeast_."
One thing Bruchmann is adamant about with his band is to avoid
following trends. His love for trendy bands is non-existent. "We aim
to focus on our influences, rather than what the new sound of today
is. We are one half heavy metal band, the other half a brutal death
metal band. It has a bit of melody and harmonic guitar lines, paired
up with a serious death metal overtone. There are not a lot of bands
here in Germany that sound like we do. Many go with the trends.
That's just not us. We'd rather stick to our roots and influences and
bring that back into the music that we create."
"It's been a great last few years. The band's musical skills
have developed quite a bit over the years", he says. "The new
material, compared to the old stuff, sounds much better. It sounds
better, we played better and even the production is top notch. When
we were starting out early on with our debut 7" and demo CD
_Sylphlike_, we were a little ignorant of how things worked. We
wondered how to get the sound and production to sound so good. It was
a learning experience and I think with _Thunderbeast_ people will
hear that and see that we mastered the art of making music. We've
brought changes to this band, but not enough to [fuel] the notion
that we jumped on any trend. Fuck going with trends. Music is about
creating your own ideas. We follow that philosophy, I wish others
would too."
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C R I M S O N D R E A M S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CoC interviews Sigurd Nielsen of Madder Mortem
by: Pedro Azevedo
Madder Mortem's first full-length _Mercury_ [reviewed in this
issue] reveals another Norwegian band whose lead singer is female,
but a band that is not only very talented, but also determined to
avoid falling into the synth dependency that most of the genre's
bands have. In a way that occasionally brings to mind early The 3rd
and the Mortal, Madder Mortem's music is based on guitar work and the
female vocalist does not perform any duets with a growler (as a
matter of fact, there are hardly any male vocals to be found). The
result, thanks to the band's musical skills, is refreshing and very
enjoyable. I e-mailed drummer Sigurd Nielsen some questions about his
band and _Mercury_; here is the result.
CoC: What's the meaning of your band's name, Madder Mortem? I suppose
it has something to do with madder, the plant?
Sigurd Nielsen: Hmmmm... I've never heard about the plant. [Madder is
indeed a plant, the colour obtained from which dyes
as "crimson madder", which explains what you are
about to read. -- Pedro] Agnete [Kirkevaag, vocalist]
was the one who created the band name and she got it
from one of the colours her father uses, as he does
some art painting. Madder is actually some kind of
red colour. If you were to translate it, it would be
"red death", but the name isn't meant to be that way.
We decided to go for it because it sounded cool and
not for what it means, because "red death" doesn't
describe what we do.
CoC: What was the idea behind _Mercury_'s cover, an autumnal image
with three dark figures walking beneath some trees?
SN: The idea behind the cover wasn't anything in particular. We
wanted a cover that didn't look like it had been made entirely on
a computer. It was natural to use photographs. If you see our
full cover, it has a lot of these red/orange pictures all taken
at the same place. In the back, you have the text printed on a
composition of many pictures in blue. They make a great contrast
effect with the red/orange ones. The pictures were taken in
Norway at a place where they've just built a twenty meter high
protection over some ruins of a medieval cathedral. You can see
this building made of glass and steel inside the cover. I think
there is a lot of harmony between the cover art and the music.
CoC: You have released a self-financed MCD called _Misty Sleep_ in
1997; since then, you have signed for Misanthropy and released
your first full-length album, _Mercury_. Was everything as
smooth for the band as this indicates, or did you have any
problems finding a label and releasing a full-length album?
SN: To be honest, I think it all went too smoothly. I see bands
struggling so much to find a label and all that. We've just been
concerned with making the music. Misanthropy gave us a quick
response after we gave them our demo CD, and we were very
satisfied with that, of course.
CoC: So are you happy with Misanthropy Records now?
SN: As I said, we were happy and we still are. They give us a lot of
artistic freedom. The only thing they control is money. <laughs>
They really have a good promotion network and give their bands a
lot of support that way. Another positive thing is that they only
sign a few good bands, instead of a hundred shitty ones.
CoC: What would you say your musical evolution was since the MCD,
considering that some of its tracks have been included in the
full-length _Mercury_?
SN: We've had time to work on our material very much, so every song
you hear on _Mercury_ has gone through a long process, during
which we have tried to be as critical as possible. Our goal was
to make the songs come out exactly the way they should be. We
achieved this on _Mercury_, I think.
CoC: How satisfied are you with _Mercury_? What areas will you try to
improve the most in future recordings?
SN: Right now, I don't listen to the record at all. I need to get
away from it for a while before I can say what I really think
about it. A lot of things happened in the studio; good things and
bad things. You'll never be satisfied enough while you're working
in the studio, but what is important is to think about the whole
production. That way, I'm very satisfied.
CoC: There are, of course, many Norwegian metal bands using female
vocals right now. However, you don't depend on keyboards as much
as most of them do; there's more guitar work in Madder Mortem
than usual in the genre. Some of the album's softer parts even
remind me of early (i.e., Kari Rueslatten's) The 3rd and the
Mortal, whereas most bands in the genre nowadays opt for a more
"symphonic" sound; but your sound is usually quite different
from most of what's being done in the genre right now. What are
your thoughts on all this?
SN: I'm glad you don't categorize us as a symphonic band. We started
without a synth and that way we discovered what sounded good
without one. After a while we wanted the synth, but only to
improve some parts of the music. We have never used the synth as
the basis for a song. It's very easy to move in the wrong
direction with a synthesizer, and this way we've done well, I
think. The effects should be added, not used as a basis. The 3rd
and the Mortal does this very well.
CoC: What are your plans for the near future, now that _Mercury_ is
being released?
SN: We will do anything we can to tour with another band. Apart from
that, we are already rehearsing new material. Right now, we are
preparing our release party in Oslo.
CoC: Any concluding remarks?
SN: Nope, since I'm extremely tired right now. Have a nice one...
Contact: mailto:drugis@hotmail.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_____ .__ ___.
/ _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____
/ /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \
/ | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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!
Another Nothing - _New Breed_ (Chord, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
After a lot of the stuff I heard for this issue of CoC, it was
refreshing to put on and listen to Another Nothing. It was intense,
in-yer-face noise core metal music that didn't pansy itself upon the
notion of being a metal wanker with their material, as did some of
the music that I reviewed in this issue. This is music that really
stands strong on its own, each track glistening with powerful
concoctions of ample noise and metal parts, with a definite knack for
adding eccentric quality to the sound here and there. For the most
part, Another Nothing really repeats what a lot of bands out there
are doing (V.O.D., Converge, Hatebreed), but it's the band's gritty
character that sets them apart within numerous tracks on _NB_. Choice
cuts: "Still the Same" and "Facade". I'm pretty sure this'll be a
band that'll have a future if they play their cards right.
Contact: P.O. Box 15793 Philadelphia, PA USA 19103
WWW: http://www.chordrecordings.com
mailto:toodhype@aol.com
Apophis - _Heliopolis_ (Morbid, November 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10)
Despite the Egyptian styled (though somewhat poor) cover artwork,
Apophis are not, as I initially suspected, a clone of Nile. Apophis'
sound has some grounding in the melodic Swedish death movement, but
with deeper vocals than is typical for, say, In Flames, and less
vitriol than those of the more brutal side -- A Canorous Quintet
would be a prime example of this. Doom metal is an influence and
affects the progression of their playing most; they use melodic
chords, as opposed to the more percussive brutal death style, and
tend to choose downward progressions. An overall comparison I found
prominent was to Hypocrisy, on their last three albums. Apophis are
not as skilled as Hypocrisy but they do attempt, and are sometimes
successful in, combining keyboards, catchy riffs and melody. "Behold
My Arrival" borrows from Hypocrisy without sounding like a rejected
b-side, while "Reincarnation of the Serpent God" nails a catchy vocal
line and backs it up with a solid riff in a Hypocrisy-reminiscent
fashion. Overall, _Heliopolis_ mostly lacks sparkle -- by the time
you are into the final ten or fifteen minutes it is beginning to drag
and some of the songs suffer from being somewhat excessively long.
Apophis nail some solid riffs, show overall technical proficiency and
combine brutal playing with a good use of melody (including some
pretty good, and often slow, lead guitar work). Unfortunately,
Apophis don't excel sufficiently in any of the styles they choose to
play to beat those who have come before them. So, when they augment a
heavy riff with keyboards, for example, the thought that goes through
my head is "It sounds good, but not as good as Nocturnus." Apophis
have dared to set out on a difficult path, and for that I give them
credit, but they are not finding the journey to be without
difficulty. This is their third album; I haven't heard their first or
second, and though they should be picking up the pace by now, I think
_Heliopolis_ could be their final stepping stone to doing a truly
worthwhile album.
Contact: Morbid Records, Postfach 3, 03114 Drebkau, Germany
fax: (0) 35602/20636
WWW: http://www.morbidrecords.de
mailto:morbidrecords@ranet.de
Aura Noir - _Deep Tracts of Hell_ (Hammerheart, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10)
This release conclusively proves to me that being heavily influenced
by '80s music doesn't exclude you from being able to make an album
which is both endearing and relevant in 1998. _Deep Tracts of Hell_
reeks of the '80s, it reeks of the black, twisted roots which '90s
black metal had in the last decade's early innovators, but it also
shows its youth in that it doesn't preclude the '90s scene and does
have a distinctly modern aspect to its primary, overall old-school,
flavour. Appolyon and Aggressor's songwriting is tight, with the
alternating they partake in (see the interview in this issue for
details) giving the album all the more colour, rather than making it
seem disjointed, as I had feared might be the case. OK, fair enough,
_DToH_ is not really original, it is not like this style of music has
never been tackled before; it has, and by greater and lesser bands,
but the fact remains that _DToH_ is a raging, catchy and more than
worthwhile near-40 minute ordeal of thrash metal excellence.
Contact: Hammerheart Rec., PO Box 277, 6300 AG. Valkenburg, Holland
mailto:hhr@xs4all.nl
WWW: http://www.xs4all.nl/~hhr
Autumn Tears - _Love Poems for Dying Children... Act I (Reprise
MCMXCVIII)_ (Dark Symphonies, November 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
This re-release of the originally limited to 2000 copies Autumn Tears
debut is a fine opportunity for anyone who is unaware of the band's
existence (or just doesn't have this CD) to discover the _Love Poems
for Dying Children_ trilogy. Of course, for those who originally did
buy the first edition, this may be considered rather unfair, since
this reprise features better production, new artwork and a new song
-- enough to make this better than the original, but probably not
enough to justify a purchase for someone who owns the original
version on CD. Then again, those who do own that first version don't
actually -lose- anything because of this re-release (they'll still
have the limited edition, in a strange way), and those who are
interested in beautiful, dramatic, dark classical music potentially
have a lot to gain. Following the brilliant opening track "They Watch
With Closed Eyes", "Ode to My Forthcoming Winter", "One Tender Kiss
(The Lost Seasons)" and "Carfax Abbey" are especially good, but the
other songs (namely "The Eloquent Sleep" and "And Then the
Whispering...") are also quite good, making this album highly
enjoyable from start to finish. Skilled keyboard playing and talented
male and female vocals combine to create excellent atmospheres and
very enjoyable music throughout the album; the female vocals are,
again, like in _The Garden of Crystalline Dreams_ [CoC #23],
especially remarkable, although there Erika doesn't perform any black
vox here. Also included is a new song, which promises a superb third
act and features the new lead female vocalist -- Erika will perform
only guest backing vocals on the next album. Although I find Erika's
vocals just slightly more enjoyable, Jennifer seems perfectly able to
handle the task. As for this reprise, I strongly recommend it to
those who are prone to enjoy this kind of music and didn't purchase
the original version.
Bewitched - _Hell Comes to Essen_ (Osmose, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10)
I saw Bewitched on the tour on which this live document was recorded.
As my review [CoC #28] indicated, I found Bewitched to be an
impressive live band. Since that gig I got hold of their most recent
_Pentagram Prayer_ album and, though a little too backward-looking
for my liking, I found it a catchy and marginally worthy retro-thrash
workout which utilises melody well. _Hell Comes to Essen_ combines
ten tracks from their live concert in Essen in 1997 with the
unreleased "Sabbath of Sin" (to be on their new album in a different
version) and a cover of "Born to Be Wild" in a thrash style.
Unfortunately, although Bewitched had impact when I saw them live,
this live disc really has little musical attraction. The songs are
different, this is Bewitched "entirely live" apparently, but most of
what is different is worse. A lot of the skilled melodic
manipulation, which is what makes the songs on _Pentagram Prayer_
worthy of note, is lost and replaced by thrash metal rage and drive.
I am beginning to find the owning of live albums hard to justify in
any case, and in this one I think point is lost. "Sabbath of Sin" is
a decent, catchy and melodic thrash number, but it's far from special
or massively different from Bewitched's other output, and only serves
to show how weak the songs sound, performed live, on disc. The "Born
to Be Wild" cover is, as always, no patch on the original and is the
kind of thing which, ironically, would sound better pulled off as a
surprise at the end of a live set. I can't find a reason to recommend
this to anyone.
Bob Marinelli / Facialmess - _Split_ (Distorted Vision, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8.5 out of 10)
As much as I am open to covering as many different acts as possible,
it is hard not to keep returning to past favorites when their output
is this damn good. Distorted Vision Records brings together the
chaotic noise workings of Bob Marinelli with one of Japan's leading
(and somewhat unsung) noise master Facialmess. Marinelli's side
provides more of the excellent fast paced sound swirls that have made
him (in my mind) one of the single best artists in the United States
today. The collage of noise provided can best be described as the
beautiful sound your '86 Ford Taurus' factory speakers make as the
busted tape deck devours your brand spanking new Winger cassette
while you simultaneously experience the thrills of a ten car pile up
accident occurring right in front you. In other words, it is nothing
short of orgasmic. Facialmess, in turn, slow the pace down a bit
while still providing a number of quick changes to their sound and
still managing to kick up the harshness another level. Everything
from boomy bass explosions, therapeutic feedback, and distorted voice
manipulation for good measure come dancing out of the audio channels,
not giving two shits or a flying fuck what poor creature's ear drums
are in their way. Could this be love? I think so. This is definitely
a release any noise junkie will want to get their grubby little hands
on, not to mention newbies to the genre fixing to kick back, relax,
and blow their $2,000 speaker systems.
Contact: Distorted Vision Records, 300 West Fourth St.
Mt. Carmel, PA 17851, USA
mailto:tgbob@sunlink.net
Castigate - _Bring Me the Head of Jesus Christ_
by: David Rocher (2.5 out of 10) (Pavement Music, December 1998)
Now, there's not much in this vile world that may even hope to equal
the exquisite pleasure of wrecking your neck to the roaring axe
attacks and battering rhythmic assaults of a titanic death metal
album. And, quite naturally, this is precisely what makes sitting
through half an hour of the pathetic, discordant gruntfest named
_BMtHoJC_ such a tedious act of abnegation. Castigate claim to be
brutal; I merely call this messy -- somehow, I just don't see that
being "brutal" is an excuse for each musician to seemingly be trying
to race through his part faster than anybody else. Castigate aren't
-always- worse than some bands out there, but with the great number
of high-level violent/brutal death metal acts the actual extreme
scene is graced with (Cryptopsy, Malevolent Creation, Dying Fetus and
others), paying attention to this gurgling, immature, rampaging metal
field trip would be nothing more than a waste of everybody's time --
but then again, the lads and lasses who called Suffocation's
_Breeding the Spawn_ a great death metal album will probably crave
for _BMtHoJC_... No big deal, really.
Cauldron - _Tampering With the Unnatural_
by: Adrian Bromley (1 out of 10) (Headrush Records, January 1999)
I hate it when bands -try- to be metal and think they're doing a good
job. Cauldron is one of those bands. This is the band that gets the
first shellacking of 1999: they stink. The rock/thrash metal style is
horrible, the vocals are so cheesy and the band's originality is
non-existent. Where did this band go wrong? Many places. The key to
bands starting out should be that you can offer something new and
fresh to the metal scene. Not the case here. Listening to this is as
bad as shitting your pants. It's an awful mess and you don't know
what to do with it.
Contact: 712 Pemberton Detroit, Michigan 48230
mailto:cauldron_metal@hotmail.com
Claymords - _... More Sombre Than Life_ (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Not sure how to make out the music of this bizarre outfit from
Norway. It's a lil' bit country and a lil' bit rock 'n' roll. (I'm
joking! That's a Donnie & Marie saying. IGNORE!) Anyway, this trio of
musicians really do go out on a limb and bring quite a vast array of
ideas and sounds into the fold with this six-song recording. From the
darkened ways of black metal onto thrashing / speed metal injections
and a varied gothic overtone scattered throughout, Claymords really
gets the blood going. You're excited when you hear this. Also, the
band's vocal style (very death metal-ish) makes their punch just a
tad bit stronger, as songs like "Breathe With Me", "First Convulsion"
and "Aftermath" plow over you like a freight train out of control.
Variety is the true masterpiece of this outing. A label deal is not
far off.
Contact: Nils Ivar Martila, Wiers Jenssens V. 33 b N-5030,
Landas, Norway
mailto:claymords@online.no
Daemon - _The Second Coming_ (Diehard, February 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10)
_Seven Deadly Sins_ did seem to have its five minutes of novelty fame
and then, at least for me, sink without a trace. It surprised me that
a second Daemon album appeared at all, so imagine my shock when I
found that I really liked it, too. _The Second Coming_ still reeks of
old Entombed (Nicke Andersson's departure has not altered this), but
not only is there more depth to the Entombed-a-like songs, many songs
also draw on somewhat different influences. As a result, _TSC_
doesn't sound like an inferior Entombed album, a syndrome which _SDS_
suffered badly from. It probably helps that Daemon are now, at least
to me, a better listen than Entombed with their current output.
Unfortunately, "My Kingdom Is a Sacred Place", with its attempts at
soft/loud dynamics, doesn't really work, and the record clocks in at
just under half an hour, if you exclude the "Symptom of the Universe"
cover, so it is far from a perfect purchase. Additionally, if you are
looking for _Clandestine_-esque material, you'd do better to
investigate A Canorous Quintet, Impious or others of Sweden's new
breed. However, if the longing for "new" old (as in mid-period)
Entombed is already suffocating you, _The Second Coming_ is one of
your best options and it's a damn rocking album in its own right to
boot.
Darklands - _A Memory of You_ (Heathendoom Music, February 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (1 out of 10)
If Peter Steele of Type O Negative ever had a kid brother who wanted
to rock out, start a band and be like his big brother, this would be
his band. Unimaginative gothic rock/metal that really goes nowhere at
all. Like a cat in heat moaning on a fence in your backyard,
Darklands need to get a shoe (or something a lot bigger) thrown at
them to make this atrocity stop. Blah!
Contact: Box 36, S114 79 Stockholm, Sweden
WWW: http://www.surf.to/darklands
mailto:heathendoom.music@swipnet.se
Descend - _Beyond thy Realm of Throes_
by: David Rocher (7.5 out of 10) (Black Lotus Records, December 1998)
The Greek four-piece Descend were until last year known as Epidemic,
a thrash outfit whose two releases _Artificial Peace_ and
_Industrial_ proudly displayed their noble influences -- early
Kreator and Sacred Reich, two bands for which Epidemic actually
opened live. Despite their name changing, Descend's musical
influences obviously remain pretty much the same, although this fine
mid-tempo melodic death/thrash now bears the mark a certain
melancholy. The ten tracks of _BtRoT_ are creative, finely
constructed with hard, rapid low-case riffing -- fans of _Pleasure to
Kill_ and such works of art should definitely cast an ear on this
band -- and nice melodic leads, and cleverly include alternating
schemes of quiet, mildly sorrowful parts and all-out rushing thrash
assaults. In fact, the only real loss on _BtRoT_ is due to the mix,
which tends to completely drown the already rather "tame" guitar tone
in the rabid vocals, which in turn get to be a little invasive. The
precise drumwork is also sadly a little feeble in the mix --
nonetheless, it goes to show that if _BtRoT_ had been granted
improved means and therefore a more powerful sound, we would be
facing a crushing release indeed. However, Descend's first offspring
leaves great room for further evolution, and that is definitely an
asset not many present-day bands may claim to detain.
Dichotic - _Collapse Into Despair_ (Discorporate Music, January 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10)
Okay... my ass has been kicked. Holy mother from hell, is this
powerful stuff from Eastern Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia, to be
exact). No remorse and no regret is etched in the minds of all those
taking part of the musical ways of impressive outfit Dichotic.
Slamming down a driving force equal to that of a tornado, Dichotic
lash out at the listener with fierce death metal anguish, rallying
behind killer riffing and a vocal style that could peel paint off a
wall. Are they this good? Yes. Many others I know are praising the
ways of this truly talented band and it's definitely worthy of going
ape-shit over. The band just totally delivers with thunderous numbers
like "Solely on Opposites", "Heed to Instincts" and "Love Stained
Splatter". Saviors of metal in Canada? Who knows... but at least
they're making their mark. Death metal fans who itch for sheer power
and a touch of variety, look no further. Canadian bred, yet death
metal led. Stunning record. Others should have their asses kicked by
Dichotic. What are you waiting for?
Contact: Discorporate Music / Dichotic, 2476 Robie Street, #8,
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 4N1 Canada
WWW: http://is2.dal.ca/~rfguy/dichotic/
mailto:guy@cs.dal.ca
Dreamsfear - _Prelude to Destiny_ (Ill-Omen Records, November 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10)
Although this is described in the promotional material as
power/thrash, only the first song, "Ruins", comes close to fitting
such a description. The next two songs, "Bleak Horizons" and "As
Darkness Falls", are mid-paced and semi-doomy, and the last song of
this nearly 30 minutes long MCD, "Burning Bridges", even sounds a bit
too much like a "power ballad" for my taste. Dreamsfear are from
Ireland, but the doom elements in their music are completely
different from those of the excellent, and also Irish, Primordial.
(Speaking of doomy influences in Dreamsfear's music, one of the band
members is actually wearing a My Dying Bride t-shirt in the band
photo, which is unusual for a power/thrash band -- and the t-shirt is
even from the _Turn Loose the Swans_ era!) Anyway, after the
reasonably well done but not very interesting opener, "Bleak
Horizons" shows those doomier elements. The clean vocals seem more
effective here than on the opening track, and the song itself
generally flows better. However, the track that I ended up enjoying
the most was clearly the third one, "As Darkness Falls", which
combines what the band does best in each of the first two songs. The
chorus is especially good, although simple. In the booklet, the band
thanks "everyone involved in the recording and production of this
misadventure" and also "almost everyone of you for your lack of
belief and encouragement, without which this would not have been
possible". Well, I don't know how serious they were when they wrote
that, but I personally do think that there may be hope for Dreamsfear
-if- they concentrate on the kind of music that constitutes the best
parts of this MCD -- namely some of "Bleak Horizons" and "As Darkness
Falls" -- and find better ways to keep the heaviness level
sufficiently high.
Droys - _And if..._ (Polymorphe, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Droys hail from France, and this is their second release, following
1995's _Experience_ MCD, which was released on the now defunct
X-Label Records. Three of the four tracks from _Experience_ are on
this release, though. Their style is technical thrash, in the vein of
bands like Quo Vadis, Obliveon (_From This Day Forward_) and Sadus
(_A Vision of Misery_, especially). Their vocalist has a slightly
distorted shouting style, which reminds me of U.P.'s vocalist on
_Mindfailure_. There are some clean vocals, but they are used
sparingly. Although I find the vocals one of the weaker parts of the
album, they don't make the music unlistenable. The songs are usually
quite fast. Occasionally, the parts are very technical and
experimental, but at others it's just straightforward thrash. They do
some very nice melodic and acoustic interludes, which gives the album
a fair amount of diversity. They also sprinkle melodic elements
throughout the heavier sections. I particularly like the way the
guitars harmonize complex parts, as well as the way they develop
sections using harmonies. In general, the songs flow pretty well,
although at times they cobble riffs together without a clear purpose.
The playing is great on all counts, with the guitarists and bassist
handling even the most difficult sections competently. Even the
guitar solos are done well; they're appropriate and tasteful. The
band is very tight, and the parts are difficult enough to make that
quite a statement. The production could be a little better, as it's
lacking in power. It's clean, but could be fuller and heavier. While
I wouldn't call this album essential, it is a very good album, and is
recommended for fans of technical thrash.
Evoken - _Embrace the Emptiness_ (Elegy, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (8.5 out of 10)
Evoken play doom of such crushing magnitude that it takes the
listener straight into the depths of sorrow, or something like that.
I just can't review a doom album without sounding like an A&R guy
from a label, I guess. Like all well composed doom metal CDs,
_Embrace the Emptiness_ is grandiose, yet subtle; beautiful, but
dark; it's also dreadfully heavy and clocks in at over 70 minutes
with just seven songs. Evoken also make use of keyboards quite a bit,
creating sombre atmospheres and dark soundscapes as the backdrop to
these tales of sorrow and tragedy. The sound is huge, and the rhythms
sometimes become bombasts; cannons of war. In the thirteen minute
long "Ascend Into the Maelstrom", there is even a guitar solo -- a
rarity in doom metal for sure. The vocals are primarily growled, but
sometimes a monotone clean vocal style is used. The lyrics are poetic
in form; each song being a different path toward sorrow and woe, and
although written for fantasy, the emotions are real. The cover says a
lot about this CD. Lacking a flashy logo, it is simply a black and
white photo of a figure draped in black shroud, knelt before a
tombstone in an ancient graveyard of burial mounds, uttering last
regrets and grieving.
Contact: Elegy Records, 248 Lakeview Ave., Suite 319
Clifton, NJ 07011 USA
mailto:Elegy666@aol.com
Flotsam and Jetsam - _Unnatural Selection_
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Metal Blade, February 1999)
Well, it just seems to be going pretty good for Flotsam and Jetsam
these days. Over the last few years, the band has managed to put out
some quality material, breaking away from the generic sound of metal
music and adding their own sound/style into the fold. Their last LP
_High_ was a kick-ass record that fueled the intensity of their music
with rampant sounds of complicated riffs meshed with a sinister vocal
snarl. It was addictive. With _US_ we see F&J continuing on with
their trademark sound, but venturing off just a tad bit with the
material and not being afraid to add some eccentric ideas into the
fold. Y'know? Make the music breathe some creativity every once in a
while. The production is clear and, when mixed with a truly intense
guitar sound, _US_ sounds top notch. Fans of the band will no doubt
be pleased and other metal music fans will probably dig it as well.
Forced to Decay - _Perkussive Perlokution_
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) (System Shock/Pavement, December 1998)
This is strange stuff. Though I hear hints of the hardcore-apocalypse
style of Bloodlet and elements of Neurosis, especially with the
chosen acoustic style, Forced to Decay can, to some extent, be termed
"death metal". They owe nothing to the Floridian take on the style,
being totally devoid of bass heavy production or relentless
kick-drumming, but do hark back to those of a more death/grind
persuasion. Vocals alternate between very harsh screaming and quite
melodic singing of sorts. When you listen carefully and "explore"
_Perkussive Perlokution_, it is pretty interesting. The use of
dynamics is commendable, though not unique, and the overall feel the
album emanates is one of discomfort, which seems likely to have been
one of the aims. Ultimately, my problem is that it doesn't strike the
right balance with me. If the band achieved what they were trying to,
then I have insufficient interest in their chosen style of music.
Forced to Decay seem to have put quite a bit of effort into this with
some success, and that is always commendable.
Various - _Full Moon Productions Sampler CD_ (Full Moon, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (8.5 out of 10)
I was surprised by the quality of the bands on this sampler. Full
Moon Productions is perhaps more known for being a distribution
service than a label, and this sampler should provide some exposure
for all of the bands that they have signed. Their line-up is varied,
but not so much in musical style as in talent. You have your standard
black metal in Diaboli, Soulreaper, Mysticum and Algaion. You have
your blackened thrash from Hades and Primigenium, but the standouts
in this category and for the album as a whole would have to be
Swordmaster and Indungeon, whom I liked way more than I thought I
might -- both do an incredible job of blending old with new. Everdark
and Argentum play Satanic dark metal, with a Yngwie protege playing
leads for the latter. Some people appreciate black metal in its
rawest form, and I'm not opposed to it; I just hate the bad
production that accompanies it. Such is the case with Black Funeral,
a one man project of "vampyric" black metal that is simple in form
and not flashy in the least bit. Apollyon is the angle of the
bottomless pit of hell, but in this case I suppose it's just an
extremely fast black metal band. There is something that puzzled me,
though, and that is that there are three instrumental tracks from
Abruptum, Lord Wind, and Octinomos, which I thought were strange to
find on a sampler CD. Are these tracks representative of what their
entire albums sound like? Who can know? The Lord Wind track is
actually another highlight, with its medieval instrumentation. All in
all, this CD provides a good sampling of many quality under-exposed
underground bands.
Contact: Full Moon Productions, 2039 Roxburgh Ct,
Lakeland, FL 33813, USA
Groinchurn - _Fink_ (Morbid, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10)
If you, like me, were feeling the first pang of jonesing for more of
Brutal Truth's brilliant brand of grindcore when the news that the
band had split surfaced, then you, like me, need some Groinchurn in
your life. Groinchurn borrow from New York's finest in parts, but the
main comparison between the two bands lies in the raw talent, not the
exact sounds they produce (although, as the mark indicates,
Groinchurn still have a while to go before they match the masters).
_Fink_ unleashes some mean beasts from Grindcore Heaven (or Hell?),
like the simple "Being Ripped Off", the blasting "The Clock Is
Ticking" or the warped playing style of "Generic", which proceed to
mangle any unsuspecting listener's mind for 36 odd minutes. A little
humour, a lot of rage, and a touch of the eclectic make Groinchurn
one of the world's premiere grindcore concerns.
Contact: Morbid Records, Postfach 3, 03114 Drebkau, Germany
fax: (0) 35602/20636
WWW: http://www.morbidrecords.de
mailto:morbidrecords@ranet.de
In Solitude - _Eternal_ (Grade / Independent Records, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (8 out of 10)
In Solitude have been around since 1995, but this is their first
full-length album. They play very creative, keyboard driven European
metal that is mid-tempo throughout the entirety of _Eternal_. The
music is very well played, and I say "European" because, as everyone
should realize by now, European musicians create melodies and guitar
lines that no one else would ever think of. The songs are all very
catchy after a few listens, but the standout is "My Daisy", which has
a killer, killer riff and is not a song from the Dukes of Hazard. The
backing vocals definitely take some getting used to, as they are sung
in a trembly, gypsy-sounding style, but they help to set this band
apart. My opinion is that the main vocals are holding this band back,
but they have the potential to be improved upon. During vocalist
Sergio Martins' good moments, hints of Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost)
can be heard.
Contact: Independent Records, Rua Sa' da Bandeira, 311-10T,
4400 Gaia, Portugal
mailto:ind.rec@esoterica.pt
In the Woods... - _Strange in Stereo_ (Misanthropy, February 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10)
_Omnio_ [CoC #25] is an outstanding album, but one that requires
plenty of listens in order to fully appreciate its quality. As I
listened to its successor _Strange in Stereo_, I kept that in mind;
however, it turns out that _SiS_ overall just isn't as brilliant as
_Omnio_. The songs are generally shorter than before, but apparently
quite loosely structured; strange arrangements abound, although
fortunately the results are usually good and often contribute to a
reasonably pleasant atmosphere (i.e., not a happy one), and some fine
atmospheres are occasionally achieved. Although the musical
ingredients are somewhat similar to _Omnio_'s, they are mixed in a
very different way: there is basically much less metal and more
experimentation now, which is hardly a surprise nowadays. Contrarily
to what has been happening with several other bands recently, this
choice had (and still has, for future albums) a lot of potential with
In the Woods..., considering _SiS_'s best moments, but unfortunately
the female vocals and classical strings aren't used as frequently as
I would have liked. Most of my reasons for saying this can be heard
in "Basement Corridors" and especially "Cell", not to mention
_Omnio_. The same can be said about the metal elements (is this
really the same band who made _HEart of the Ages_?), which also sound
rather weak as well. Nevertheless, quality is kept high during the
first six tracks, but after the sixth track (of twelve), the album
tends to quickly lose the listener's interest, which is the main
problem with _SiS_. Although the first half of the album has some
excellent sequences, _SiS_ is hardly ever as great as _Omnio_, and
it's also a much more irregular album quality-wise. Overall, I
expected a lot better from the band, but _SiS_ is still a good album.
In fact, a whole album as good as _SiS_'s best moments would have
been excellent, and, in my opinion, that's what the band should aim
to achieve in the future -- which, considering _Omnio_'s overall
quality, is by no means impossible for them.
James Murphy - _Feeding the Machine_ (Diehard, January 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10)
I would be lying if I said that I had -not- expected James Murphy's
newest solo album to be technical work-out. Despite penning a number
of great riffs while doing stints (often short) in such bands as
Cancer, Obituary, Death, and more recently Konkhra, it has been
James' often ridiculously good and, particularly, complex leads which
have, in a Spinal Tap-ish kind of way, become his trademark. It is
hard to know what I should have expected from _Feeding the Machine_.
Despite making quite a name for himself in the death metal scene,
James has shown over the years that he is also heavily thrash
influenced as a guitarist. It is the thrashy side which shows itself
on _FtM_, which to some extent is one of my regrets about the album.
Groove-ridden thrash is what one might term the musical extreme of
_FtM_ riff-wise. Songs like "Feeding the Machine" and "No One Can
Tell You" have the hardest riffs and the hardest vocals on the album,
and there is still a considerable amount of melody in these. The
majority of the time, though, solid chugging riffs are not what James
opts for. Many of the tracks are instrumentals and the riffs on these
are rarely basic metal ones (except in cases like "Race With the
Devil on Spanish Highway", where a simple riff is used to bring
attention to complex percussion). "Oddesy"'s acoustic passages are
reminiscent of Rush and on this track and "Epoch" (in fact, on most
tracks, a singer is forsaken), riffs are almost not present and are
replaced by technical runs. This often works very well, though the
runs can boggle the mind. Progressive elements, like "spacey"
keyboards and guitar synths, as well as jazzy breakdowns, also show
themselves in the instrumentals. The sung songs, which contain the
simple repetitive riffs (though they also usually feature exceptional
technical backdrops), can be the weakest tracks. The vocals and
lyrical content on "Visitors" are both very poor and the song itself
is ponderous. "Feeding the Machine" and "No One Can Tell You" get the
best mix of the two and feature my favorite vocal performances, from
Clark Brown (Geezer) and Chuck Billy (Testament) respectively.
Assessed as a whole, I find the album good, and of course technically
stunning, but lacking in flow and also confused. The basic riffs are
never that stunning and the technical passages are often only good to
marvel at and less easy to actually enjoy in the proper sense. James
doesn't get close to capturing the mix of death metal, progressive
elements, jazz and technicality which Cynic completely mastered,
though I wish he had, and I think that if he were to intentionally go
more in this direction in the future, he would, judging by _FtM_, be
one of the most likely people to succeed as Cynic did.
Lasse Marhaug - _Audio Explosions Every 10 Seconds_
by: Gabriel Sanchez (6.5 out of 10) (Extraction, 1998)
With a title like that, you'd almost be expecting a (dun dun dun)
noise concept album! However, instead the album (mis)treats its
listeners to rather simplistic (though at times interesting) tracks
of noise which tend not to feature many changes, but luckily don't
drone on too long. In some senses, this album is a borderline case of
that fine noise/ambient hybrid which so many artists are diving into
these days, though at others there is a clear distinction with the
harshness and attempts at using some elements of sound varying and
textures (including a noise standard pornography sample of some fine
young lass doing her best to fake orgasms). At best, the tracks
featured on here can be called harsh surrealism, though perhaps that
is taking a step a bit too far in a positive direction. For Lasse,
this is the same old deal which any previous fan of the project can
easily identify with, and perhaps even herald as one of the better
recordings of the artist out there. However, on the grander scale of
judging noise, this is a better than average work that is screaming
for some better work on the audio sequencing and changes so it may
take a leap forward into the more prominent circles of the field.
Bottom line: good, but nothing to go sucking the artist's dick over.
Contact: Extraction Records, PO Box 1213
Quogue, NY 11959, USA
mailto:irzine@aol.com
Madder Mortem - _Mercury_ (Misanthropy Records, February 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10)
Although Madder Mortem play a form of doomy metal with female vocals,
they did not choose the more symphonic path that several bands have
been taking lately. Instead, _Mercury_ reminds me more of a generally
heavier version of early The 3rd and the Mortal at times. In "He Who
Longed for the Stars" and "The Grinding Silence", two excellent
tracks, the resemblance is uncanny, although the rest of the album
doesn't suffer too much from lack of originality (at least
considering most of what comes out these days). Like The 3rd and the
Mortal, Madder Mortem don't depend on keyboard melodies as much as
other bands in the genre, although _Mercury_ does have plenty of
melody, too. It comes mostly from the guitars and good vocals, as the
keys take a secondary role and the guitars are the main instruments
behind Agnete Kirkevaag's very enjoyable voice. Nevertheless,
although they may not use keyboards as frequently as one might
expect, they're still very well handled and planned ("These Mortal
Sins" being a fine example). Acoustic parts are also occasionally,
and successfully, thrown in. The band seems more concerned with
creating their own music than with following trends, something that
applies not only to the instrumental part but also to Agnete's very
interesting work. Although there are exceptions to this description,
there is a lot of melancholy and emotion in _Mercury_, which is very
important, as well as musical quality to back it up. Except for the
weaker "Remnants" and some other occasional sections that appear
during the second half of the album, the quality level is usually
very high and there are plenty of delightful moments scattered
throughout _Mercury_ that contribute for a remarkable overall result.
Morningstar - _Hell_ (R.I.P., 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (6 out of 10)
These lads from Finland play basic '80s thrash that some would deem
as being "classic sounding", while others would say it was generic,
outdated, boring, redundant, etc.. I seem to fall in the middle
somewhere, because while this CD had me playing air guitar and
headbanging through its entirety upon my first listen, I must admit
that the music is a bit redundant. I do have to say, though, that I
haven't heard a thrash album like this in a long time, and some of
the songs hearken memories of Celtic Frost's _Morbid Tales_,
especially "Metalstorm". Most of the songs are okay, but then there
are some stupid ones as well, such as "Speed Demon", "Heavy Metal
Heretics", and "Booze and Hate", which happen to be the first three
songs -- things can only get better from there, I suppose. Although
played well, the mistitled _Hell_ (there's really nothing about
"hell" on the whole CD) is comprised of basic thrash, so unless
you've really been jonesin' on Xentrix and Detritus lately, I would
say "pass" on this one.
Contact: R.I.P. Records, P.O. Box 41182, Chicago, IL 60641 USA
MO*TE/TADM - _Split_ (Uncut, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8 out of 10)
This fine split release from Japan's MO*TE and Canada's finest noise
artist TADM gives the listener two complete tapes, each one featuring
that particular artist's work. MO*TE's tape begins with an
interesting wail with a variety of surrealistic audio layerings and
channel flipping before breaking into the usual crunchy noise /
cosmic sound mix that is the cornerstone of MO*TE's mighty
antimusical style. MO*TE even manages to hit Incapacitants level a
number of times for "incoherent, unpatterned, harsh noise".
Impressive. TADM chooses to kick of his madness very low key before
ripping a gigantic hole in the silence. TADM also share the
philosophy of placing no restrictions on the chaos one can produce
with noise, and, in doing so, creates two mighty tracks which are
filled to the brim with stunningly beautiful layers of static,
feedback, and at least a half dozen other electronic pissings. With
each passing moment, the track seems to scream "Fuck you!" to the
plethora of "noise" artists who try to pass off second rate power
electronics slop as the latest, darkest, most evil sound around. You
want evil? You want destruction? You want to feel like someone just
belted you in the testicles with a jackhammer? TADM is your hook-up.
This split release is most certainly one intended for the hardcore
noise junkie, as anyone less would find this type of release to be
uncivilized. Great shit.
Contact: Uncut, 56 Takahisa, Yoshikawa-shi
Saitama 342, Japan
Nomad - _The Tail of Substance_ (Nomadic Hell, January 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10)
Pulling straight into the pummelling fast lane of bass-heavy death
metal riffing out of their serene, orchestrated intro, Nomad ask for
around 45 minutes of one's time to show what they can do. A lot of
the time Nomad do little, in the sense that they chug along, in the
sense that much as they have good riffs, they really give you nothing
too out of the ordinary. However, there are quite a few times, and
they stick in your head, on _The Tail of Substance_, where the band
do something memorable. They pull some great leads out of the
tumultuous hat of their sound, and execute good build-ups. Of course,
like many Polish bands these days, it seems (Yattering, Vader), the
band utilise Andy Bomba's considerable talents at the production helm
and thus no subtleties are "lost in the mix". The band also avoid
sounding like a Vader or Yattering-a-like via their songwriting or
Bomba's production, which scores them additional points. I do feel
the band could be less arrogant than attempting to give their style
such a unique and defining moniker as "Nomadic Hell Metal" and I hope
that there was some element of humour behind this press release
statement. A pleasing start and a debut which will be interesting to
look back to.
Contact: Nomad, PO Box 69, 26-300 Opoczno, Poland
One Dark Eye / Macronympha - _Split_ (Spite, 1999)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (8 out of 10)
Americanoise pioneer Joe Roemer brings two of his projects together
for an excellent split which delivers the dark crusty ambience of One
Dark Eye with the unrelenting, unyielding pure aural assault of
Macronympha. When I first popped this into my tape deck, I had fully
anticipated One Dark Eye being along the lines of other "harsh
ambient" acts whose sound, while unarguably brutal, tends to get
punishingly boring. One Dark Eye, however, features a number of
interesting changes through their electronic composition of mental
madness. The sounds are surrealistic enough and employ enough minimal
repetition to keep it ambient, but the harshness mixed with the
occasional unexpected change makes the piece a highly enjoyable
antimusic experience. On the flip side of this tape, Roemer's
Macronympha once again tear the house down with one gigantic noise
thrust that will leave any listener who has the testicular fortitude
to withstand the brutality craving for more. This is worthy to check
out not only for the amazing noise captured on tape but also for the
fact it brings together two sides of Roemer's creative personality
which retain their own distinct features but also retain all of the
harsh qualities which has brought him so much praise.
Contact: Spite, PO Box 51653
Kalamazoo, MI 49005, USA
mailto:mononanie@aol.com
Overlife - _Between Passion and Madness_ (Goldtrack, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (4 out of 10)
If the music wasn't very good thrash, this would have no redeeming
value at all. Overlife can pretty much be described as Queen gone
metal with a Spanish accent. That's all I can say.
Contact: Goldtrack Records, P.O. Box 37062, 28080 Madrid, Spain
mailto:goldttrack@arrakis.es
Path of Debris - _In the Eyes of the Basilisk_
by: David Rocher (7.5 out of 10) (System Shock, December 1998)
Path of Debris' first effort, despite the band's less-than-convincing
name and the album's dramatically feeble cover, reveals a potential
in this band that is far greater than in the average trivial newcomer
death metal act. Path of Debris' epic heavy/death metal is graced
with a clear, powerful sound crafted by producer Andy Classen, and
this greatly enhances the power the nine tracks of _ItEotB_ deliver.
Even though the song structures are on the whole fairly predictable,
and the arrangements definitely do not stand out as the most original
I've heard to this day, the musical efficiency of these Germans is
pretty impressive, even if all songs do not always stand out as being
equally interesting. Path of Debris' huge metallic wall of sound is
mildly tempered by interspersed keyboard parts (church organs, epic
percussive elements and eerie synthetic veils of sound), which are
never overused, and therefore never make _ItEotB_ sound cheesy or
effeminate a la Dimmu Borgir. These lads definitely know how to write
a raging, bombastic death metal track, and my guess is that their
next efforts, if they turn out the way they should, should have these
guys standing somewhere near the front of the overcrowded death metal
scene -- so don't cheese out, people!
Power of Omens - _Eyes of the Oracle_ (Elevate, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10)
Power of Omens are from San Antonio, Texas (USA), and play a dark
style of progmetal. All of the standard progmetal elements are here:
a Geoff Tate-ish vocalist (who is quite good), long songs with long
instrumental sections, keyboard solos, the obligatory Dream Theater
(_When Dream and Day Unite_ era) and Queensryche references, etc.
However, one element that sets Power of Omens apart is the darkness
of their music. The tone is more like _Operation: Mindcrime_ or
Vauxdvihl than happier bands like Altura and Shadow Gallery. There
are some happier moments, but the overall tone is dark. Their style
is moderately diverse: the album retains a consistent sound, but
still manages to throw in enough different material to avoid getting
monotonous. In particular, the almost-20-minute "Test of Wills"
offers many interesting stylistic changes and some excellent
development. The songs generally flow very well; it's clear that the
band put a lot of effort into arranging the songs, and they're far
above other bands in their genre in this respect. The music
frequently uses keyboards for added atmosphere, but also for the
countermelodies and the occasional solo. The drumming is very good,
although a little more complex than the music seems to deserve, but
his playing is very solid and quite interesting. The guitar work is
excellent; it's melodic, precise, agile, and even occasionally
flashy. The bass work is quite good as well, showing a higher profile
than usual: he takes a few fills here and there and keeps up during
the fast parts. While the production could be a little stronger, it's
at least clear, and all of the intricacies of the music are audible.
Overall, this is an excellent debut, if not terribly original, and I
look forward to future releases from this band.
Contact: WWW: http://members.xoom.com/PowerOfOmens/
Puya - _Fundamental_ (MCA, January 1999)
by: Jody Webb (8 out of 10)
Those looking for serious headbanging inspiration or technical
wizardry should look elsewhere, but adventurous listeners should read
on. Puya is a Puerto Rican foursome displaying an intriguing
combination of metal and latin music. _Fundamental_ may throw you for
a loop at first, because one does not expect a pounding riff to segue
into a tasty salsa beat, but that is the core idea on this album. The
band opts to alternate between the two styles most of the time,
although some meshing does occur at points. The minor latin
percussion and unmistakable signature of brass horns in the latin
parts contrast nicely with the chord oriented mid-paced metal
grooves, resulting in a thoroughly listenable album that won't burn
you out after a couple of songs. The Spanish speaking vocalist
attains a catchy vocal prosody, and he certainly turns the tables on
us English speakers, making me appreciate what it must be like when
kids in other countries listen to their Iron Maiden CDs. Recommended
listening includes "Oasis", "Fake" and the title track.
Rok - _This Is Satanik_ (Osmose, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (2 out of 10)
The crazy Australian who fronts death metal band Sadistik Exekution
now releases this, his first solo album. With others of considerably
more lengthy pseudonyms in tow (The Imposter, Princess Heinkel
Hellfukker, Hellaxe Snot Hammer and Piston Thunderblood), he ploughs
through nine tracks in only just over 30 minutes. In this short time,
there is about 25 minutes of standard songs. This material is mostly
reminiscent of (early) Venom, though it is not up to the same
standard, and other raw thrash bands. Other than this, the album is
filled up by what I would call a lot of unnecessary and very
unexciting tracks. "Fukked" is a load of bad organ playing with a guy
screaming in mock agony behind it and then shouting, in what I find a
rather amusing Australian accent, "Fuck off with your pufta, fuckin'
keyboard, fuckin' shit". This would be a trashy album in any case,
but when I got to track eight ("Multidimensional Mentality") and
found that it was a total rip-off of Celtic Frost's "Danse Macabre",
I was ready to smash the disc into pieces -- it irritated me that
much. I guess the fact that "Pestilence of Insanity Backwards" is a
total Frost rip-off song shouldn't really have surprised me after
that. Though the album's beginning seems to have some good, straight
ahead thrashy metal tunes, none of it is an original formula, there
are a whole shitload of bands who can do it better and I don't
imagine, considering the riff rip-offs I -have- managed to spot, that
all of these riffs are original anyway. If you have -every- drunk and
angry thrash album in existence and you're -still- not satisfied,
maybe there is a reason for you to want this. If not, I can't see a
reason to fill space with it.
Sacramentum - _Thy Black Destiny_ (Century Media, February 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10)
The Swedish four piece are back with their third offering of Swedish
death/black metal. Since 1997's _The Coming of Chaos_, Sacramentum
seem to have dropped many of the black metal-isms of their sound and,
today, sound considerably less like Dissection and considerably
closer to Dismember or Unleashed. The band have also opted for a more
frenetic approach on many songs ("Shun the Light", "The
Manifestation"), really displaying their technical competency. This
is not to suggest that the album is entirely fast -- in fact, _Thy
Black Destiny_ has a better overall dynamic than _The Coming of
Chaos_ did. The band have also thankfully opted to leave out of the
equation any kind of pointless outro, a symptom _The Coming of Chaos_
-really- suffered from. Sacramentum have improved considerably in my
eyes, and, although they still aren't a patch on classic old bands
(Dissection, Dismember, etc.) or equal to the cream of the newer crop
(A Canorous Quintet, Dawn), they occupy the middle ground of the
scene with a certain degree of dominance.
Salutary - _Violated Holiness_ (The Corner Company, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (6 out of 10)
_Violated Holiness_ is the first release from Holland's Salutary,
which is actually their demo on CD, plus four live tracks. In their
bio, Salutary falsely compare themselves to many great bands with
which they have nothing in common. That is not to say that they are a
bad band; they are just smiling upon themselves perhaps a bit too
much. _VH_ features primarily thrash, or what the band refers to as
"thrashcore", that is played well and successfully drew me in, but it
seemed as though I had heard it all before. Detritus' _Perpetual
Defiance_ comes to mind frequently during a listen. The vocals are
shouted/sung, and for a short time in "Hysterical Manifestation"
backed by growls. The live tracks, two of which are also part of the
four studio tracks, actually have good production, but the guitars
are noticeably out of tune. The professional layout helps the overall
package, and I will keep an eye on these guys, as they have
reportedly gotten heavier.
Contact: The Corner Company, P.O. Box 1039, NL-2410 CA Bodegraven,
The Netherlands
mailto:Arjan.Nihot@tip.NL
Shango - _Metal Mafia_ (Back Room, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (0 out of 10)
This is a joke, right? According to all the literature they sent me,
Shango is the best thing since freakin' sliced bread. Not so, says
me. If there is one thing I still respect about Metallica, it's that
in their tour programs for the "black album" tour, they printed all
of their bad reviews, which I thought was not only hilarious, but
also proving that they had some humility. Then here comes some band
called Shango (heavy name, huh?) sending me all of these reviews
about how they will be the next big thing, and that their music is
just really great. Nice propaganda, boys. In summary, _Metal Mafia_
is terribly generic, lame "metal", and, in my opinion, is the worst
thing I've heard in 1998. Shango is a garage band that should never
have had the privilege of recording a CD.
Contact: Metal Mafia USA, 1330 54th St., Brooklyn, NY 11219
mailto:MetalMafia@aol.com
Sinister - _Aggressive Measures_ (Nuclear Blast, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10)
Sinister use a formula similar to the one used by Malevolent Creation
on 1992's _Retribution_ to construct this latest offering of brutal
death metal. The sinister (pardon the pun) intro is followed by a
relentless volley of pummelling, percussive riffs, vocal lines and
drum thwacks. Sinister are no match for the likes of Malevolent
Creation in the consistency department; they pen some good riffs
("Beyond the Superstition" highlights this fact), but they also fall
prey to many a boring guitar line (the title track, "Emerged With
Hate") and the one-facedness of the vocals does little to help. The
rhythm section is more than competent but does little creatively to
assist the overall effect, or lack thereof. Sinister have done better
than this, as have many greater bands, but there is still a mean
streak and a number of good riffs present which place Sinister far
above the mass of mediocrity which dwells at the bottom of the death
metal scene's collective barrel.
Soil - _El Chupacabra!_ (MIA Records, January 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
I know there has been some talk amongst some of my metal friends and
esteemed music critic colleagues that they really didn't dig this
music too much, found something wrong with what Soil was doing with
this five-song EP or what have you. But I gotta be honest with you
kids, this is the shit! Busting out with the incredibly reckless
"F-Hole" and continuing on with the ultra-heavy "Broken Wings", Soil
have done nothing wrong here. It's all good shit. While the EP tones
down the aggression towards its middle half, offering another look at
the band's musical ability, the band ends in style with a thrashy
rock 'n' groove ditty called "Two Cent Friend". A great offering and
a band I'm definitely marking down as one to watch for as 1999
unfolds.
Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_ (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10)
The band's demo from last year, a three-song sample of what was to
come, was a good mix of Slayer-like riffs, intense vocals and a real
solid groove. The full-length LP showcases just where the band was
headed with the demo material. From start to finish, the material off
Suicide Culture's debut disc kicks you in the teeth, leaving you
bloody and scarred as they tread all over you and even kick you when
you are down. Brutish momentum helps make this metal charge electric
over and over again. Good marks also go out to the band's solid song
writing. Choice cuts: "Mothercursedearth" (off their demo) and
"Puncture". A worthy thrash metal band to give into.
Contact: P.O. Box 807566 Seattle, WA USA 98107
Tefilla - _Grievous Anguish_ (Fear Dark, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (8 out of 10)
Tefilla are quickly becoming known in their homeland of The
Netherlands and beyond as a rising force in metal. I was very shocked
upon my first listen of _Grievous Anguish_ as to how high quality it
was in musical as well as production value. I always get excited
about hearing new bands, and this is a band that I will remain
excited about for some time to come. Tefilla's guitar sound is
remarkably close to fellow countrymen Decision D's, a feat which I
thought impossible, since it is such an original sound. Another
comparison must be made to Decision D, and that is the abundant use
of bizarro-world chords that make for some interesting songs for
sure, especially when the moodier parts roll in. It is good when a
band can lay technical music, but make it accessible and memorable to
the listener, which this release accomplishes; no problem. This band
should have a good future ahead of them, as they play emotionally
fueled, technically proficient metal that will appeal to the hard
metal fan, as well as the hardcore fan.
Contact: Fear Dark, Chopinlaan 30, 2742 BJ Waddinxveen,
The Netherlands
mailto:feardark@hotmail.com
Temple - _Bloodletting_ (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
Another one man outfit (see The Protagonist review) and I am
wondering, as Ned Flanders on The Simpsons might say, "What's the
dealio?" I am all for one man outfits, there just seems to be a large
abundance of them out there nowadays. Do bands even exist anymore? I
guess with computer / studio equipment becoming more affordable,
almost anyone can do this. But few can pull it off, right? Case in
point, the latest offering _Bloodletting_ from Austin, Texas-based
Temple. Produced, recorded and written entirely by metal head Dan
Temple, his solo outfit is basking in strong songwriting and some
very intricate arrangements. Throw in a killer, off centered death
metal rasp vocal style and you've got the goods on Temple. The key to
the success of this solo project is Temple's knack for keeping things
tight and in-yer-face, something quite easy with Temple's jaw
dropping thrash/speed metal flare, touched up tightly by death
metal-esque arrangements. It's not about wanking off and showing what
he can do, but about having the balls to keep people going from the
get go. I'm all for artists like Temple that need to express
themselves with their music but don't come off all pretentious. All
guts 'n' glory here. Check out "Before You Die", "Murder in the Black
Hall" and "The Followers". Dan Temple should be proud of his work.
The Protagonist - _A Rebours_ (Cold Meat Industry, January 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10)
With a definite knack for themes based on tragedy and the passions of
sombreness comes the eloquent ways of The Protagonist, a one man
outfit that shines ultra-bright in the creative department.
Well-orchestrated arrangements, mixed with enchanting violin work and
rumbles of drumming, echo throughout this release, drawing the
listener further in as each arrangement is played. This is powerful
music to explore, though music that only the die-hard
ambient/orchestral music fans would pick up on. I can't see the
classic death metal fan really getting into this, though many metal
heads out there do have a wide spectrum of metal music. Some do --
not all. Anyway, The Protagonist glides with eloquence through its
eight tracks, never really slowing down. Reading like an epic motion
picture soundtrack, _A Rebours_ is packed to the hilt with
brilliance, just waiting for the many who give it a spin to fall head
first into the emotions displayed here.
The Rita - _Crusty Etruscans_ (Spite, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10)
Canadian crunchy noise master Sam McKinlay's The Rita initially
impressed me with their track on the Mother Savage compilation
_Underground Canada_ and this release proves to be no exception. The
Rita outpours one massive assault of some of the crunchiest, low-end
noise you are likely to ever hear. The sound chooses not to alter
itself or even fluctuate, but remains a steady stream of sub-woofer
rumbling harshness from start to finish. While no one can certainly
call The Rita the most dynamic noise artist out there, one has to
respect their desire to stay unyieldingly harsh. Despite the lack of
broad accessibility, The Rita are certainly worth checking for those
fans of other similar low-end noise artists such as Macronympha or
fellow Canadian artists TADM and Knurl.
Contact: Spite, PO Box 51653,
Kalamazoo, MI 49005, USA
mailto:mononanie@aol.com
Thorazine - _C17H19CO2S1N_ (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Miika Kuusinen <mega@lut.fi> (7 out of 10)
These six tracks on this advance tape are taken from the fourteen
song debut of Thorazine, a young band whose name will get bigger for
sure. One could easily imagine that everything has been done in the
death metal genre, but bands like Thorazine are expanding it and
taking it to whole new dimensions. The album topic deals with the end
of the world and the music fits the feeling more than well. It is
cold and rather technical, yet not in the Fear Factory vein, where
industrial and dance elements are mixed with the aggression.
Thorazine are technical, they use two vocal styles and the songs are
mainly mid-tempo with hypnotic drum patterns. They almost remind me
of VoiVod gone death metal around _Killing Technology_ or _Dimension
Hatross_. Thorazine takes a lot from the listener as it isn't easy
listening, due to complex song structures, weird rhythm and tempo
changes and songs that end abruptly. Bands like Thorazine and Nile
are needed to stir up the bowels and gore of the otherwise quite
stagnant death metal scene.
Contact: WWW: http://bbs.tdp.net/thorazine/
mailto:matilda@tdp.net (Don)
mailto:drifter@tdp.net (Shane)
Trail of Tears - _Disclosure in Red_ (DSFA Records, December 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10)
Despite Theatre of Tragedy's apparent departure from metal with their
mediocre _Aegis_, the number of new bands using death and female
vocals as well as keyboards in metal has been remarkable lately.
Trail of Tears are another Norwegian band who have chosen those basic
ingredients for their music and, similarly to what happens with most
other new bands in the genre, tried to add just a little something of
their own -- in this case, mainly Helena Iren Michaelsen's vocals,
which are more varied than usual (in "The Day We Drowned", for
example), including some impressive operatic vox, which I feel should
have been used more often throughout the album. Trail of Tears also
use some -relatively- heavy and busy guitars and faster parts, and,
similar to their labelmates Within Temptation, their music can get
quite "bombastic" at times. Although the second half of the album is
overall inferior to the excellent first half (enough to make them
lose one mark), Trail of Tears' debut album still flows well enough.
_Disclosure in Red_ offers plenty of musical quality and well
achieved arrangements, even some traces of originality here and
there, and it can be very enjoyable.
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If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if
you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's header.
Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo
**** -- Great piece of work
*** -- Good effort
** -- A major overhaul is in order
* -- A career change is advisable
Apocalyptic - _Apocalyptic_ (5-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz (**---)
This demo contains death metal which is set very solidly in the
American template of the style. Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, these are
the bands which have most influenced Apocalyptic, or at least the
bands whose influence they have shown in their own recorded material
the most. The riffs are generally derivative, although a somewhat
rolling drum style allows for the occasional break or fill to be of
some interest. The production isolates drums, vocals and guitars from
each other, leading to a disjointed feel. One bonus is the occasional
solo: some of these are not just standard widdling-by-numbers but
actually have had some thought put into them. The vocals,
unfortunately, only enhance the disjointed, uninteresting feel by
being almost completely the same throughout the entire demo. There is
hope for Apocalyptic, but they have a long way to go and a lot of
catching up to do.
Contact: Penas, c/o Errebalbur No. 6 3o c,
Ermua (Bizkaia), C.P. 48260, Spain
Bill the Death Metal Cowboy - _Rustling Up Some Metal_
by: Adrian Bromley (*****) (Scratch Bladder Productions)
It's always a pleasure to hear new material from Bill Sannwald. It's
been a while since any of the material he has sent me has been
reviewed in Chronicles of Chaos. Well people, it's time to give
praise to his detailed and hard work once again. While I got two demo
tapes in the mail (his black metal outfit Meth will be reviewed in
the next issue), I opted to review _RUSM_ only 'cause of its very
eerie sense of musical madness. And for the fact that it is his
-BEST- work to date. While _RUSM_ is pretty much in the same vein as
a lot of Sannwald's projects (meaning the absurd oddness like his
Amish Mafia project), _RUSM_ is truly a gripping and totally weird
outing. I love it! There is the powerful aggression of the guitar
tones, run amuck by some serious DJ scratching, sinister vocals and a
total off-the-wall amount of sound clips. Fuck! I even hear rapping.
It's mayhem and Sannwald (the crafty lil' fuck that he is) wouldn't
want it any other way. You truly have to give this a spin to see how
Sannwald's wheels of creativity continue to move forward in
blistering fashion. Sannwald, take a bow. Is there anyone out there
that is so dedicated to making music? I think not. Cheers!
Contact: 3538 Paseo Salamoner, La Mesa, CA 91941, USA
mailto:Keirka@hotmail.com
Crucifer - _III_ (4-track demo)
by: Miika Kuusinen <mega@lut.fi> (**---)
Judging the band by their name, I was expecting to get vicious '80s
dirty thrash, but boy was I wrong. Apparently this is Crucifer's
third demo, so we aren't exactly talking about a new band here. After
listening to a couple of songs, the band's style has been defined as
something like a mixture between hard and street rock with some
influences from '80s thrash. The melodies and song structures are
hard rock-like, yet the guitar work owes quite a lot to '80s
speed/thrash. Riffs aren't catchy, yet they manage to sound quite
mean and dirty. The whole concept is rather interesting and original,
but unfortunately the result seriously lacks attitude and power,
which are essential for music like this. The production is clear and
clean, but perhaps partly because of this the "kick ass" feeling and
atmosphere is never there. Clean and a bit amateurish vocals do fit
the music, but like the rest of the music, they do not manage to
boost up the aggression and energy level. Overall, the music leaves
you desiring something more and tastes as refreshing as tepid water.
Contact: Crucifer c/o Anders Custafson, Glasmastarv. 7
S-12553 Alvsjo, Stockholm, Sweden
mailto:crucifer3@hotmail.com
Sirius - _... The Eclipse_ (4-track demo)
by: Nuno Almeida <messiah@pulhas.org> (*****)
Let me start this review by saying that this release blew me away!
It's very hard to find a new band achieving this kind of quality in
such a short amount of time. _... The Eclipse_ is Sirius' second
release, after an instrumental promo version of "Fiery Strife at the
Cosmic Gates of Armageddon", released a few months ago. Although
clearly influenced by the likes of early Emperor, Setherial's
_Nord..._ and Limbonic Art, Sirius don't follow the copycat approach
that is so common nowadays. Instead, they picked the best parts of
Emperor's and Setherial's frozen landscapes, Limbonic Art's majestic
symphonies, injected them with their own style and created the best
demo I've listened to in years! The music is very fast and very tight
most of the time, with agonizing high-pitched screams from Lord
Gornoth, interluded with slower acoustic guitar and clean/whispered
vocals. Keyboards play a major role in Sirius' music, as beautiful
orchestrations and melodies flow throughout the entire demo. After
"Fiery Strife..." and "Out of the Serpent Line" comes a beautiful
instrumental synth piece, "The Quest for Dreamfore Essence", and
"Unveiled the Path of Algol, the Riddles Beyond the Stars", the
demo's best track, in my opinion. The production is the only flaw,
but it's quite acceptable for a demo. Having been released by
Andromeda Creations, who already carry Angrenost under their wing, is
almost enough proof of Sirius' quality. Killer release!
Contact: Carl Draconiis, Quinta das Flores, Lt 12, 6C,
2670 Sto. Antonio Cavaleiros, Portugal
mailto:Draconiis@geocities.com
Contact: Andromeda Creations, PO Box 366, 2775 Carcavelos, Portugal
Phone/fax: 351 1 4562292
maito:kosmosis@mail.telepac.pt
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\ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\
\ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
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\/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/
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\ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\
\ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
\ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/
\/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/
L I K E F A T H E R S , L I K E S O N S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black Sabbath, Pantera, Megadeth, Slayer, Soulfly
At Bank One Ballpark in Phoenix, Arizona on December 31, 1998
by: Jody Webb
I am outside, in line and buying my ticket, when the tribal
chant starts, tipping off everyone outside that Soulfly is taking the
stage. Phoenix is Soulfly's base of operations, you might say, and,
as such, I could read the anxiety on some of the prisoners' faces,
myself included. Actually, I was barely containing some cursing,
because I was stuck behind this threesome of 40 year old Ozzy fans
who were dicking around and making me miss Soulfly!
The deciblage increased and, wasting no time with courtesy, I
grabbed my ticket and rushed for the gates. I got inside and was
knocking down slowpokes and pumping my fist while running down
through the stands onto the grass to the stage. I jump in a big
swirly pit but I've never seen so many Soulfly fans. The sound was
bad, the guitars were noise, but I didn't care much because the
atmosphere was balls out. Jump kick! About midway through their set,
the tribe breaks out the drums and busts into a percussion jam with
some guy who looked suspiciously like Chino Moreno of Deftones. Then
Marcello Rap breaks his bass, but like I said the sound was so bad I
don't think anybody but the bass tech noticed. The quote of the set
was Max Cavalera's patented "Fuck hootie and the blowfish!" For
interested parties, here is the set: "Eye for an Eye", "No Hope = No
Fear", "Bleed", "Spit" (Sepultura), "Tribe", "Bumba", "Attitude"
(Sepultura), a medley ("Headup" (Deftones), "Territory" (Sepultura),
"Cockroaches" (Nailbomb)) and "No".
During the interlude I had a chance to survey the scene. Crowds
didn't just fill the ballpark. They packed it. A seasoned friend of
mine on the event staff estimated the crowd at forty thousand!
Accompanying the big crowd were big names in metal. Reported to be in
attendance were Rob Halford and Rob Zombie, as well as members of
Tool, Anthrax, Coal Chamber and others.
The stage was on the field, about 1/3 of the way out from the
center field wall, and facing home plate. Security had set up the
moat-style barrier that is common in big shows. I heard there was
supposed to be a marching band competition at the stadium the next
day. Hah! Good luck with the grass. The stadium dome was closed,
which made the already bad acoustics downright cavernous. The PA
loudspeakers were not beefy enough. They were the right size for an
arena, but not a stadium. Between the stage and the sound pavilion
things were loud enough, but way back at the seats just on the edge
of field, the show was kinda quiet. Well, if you consider 100
decibels quiet. In other words, no need for plugs if you have to have
it LOUD, like me.
Chants of "Slayer, Slayer" echoed through the joint and finally
Tom Araya and company commanded the stage. At first, I was just
loitering far back from the action, waiting for the right song to
inspire. The sound is atrocious, worse than Soulfly, but the frenzied
fans indigenous to these habitats don't seem to care. Envision a
violent European soccer riot. A friend observing the melee from one
of the sections above noted: "I counted twelve distinct pits all at
the same time!" By the third song, the engineers had improved the mix
from atrocious to not so fuckin' good, and somebody starts a fire at
the center of my pit, burning off discarded cups, t-shirts and hats.
Flames dance six feet into the air and atmosphere is pure
exhilaration. Setlist: "Bitter Peace", "Death's Head", "War
Ensemble", "Die by the Sword", "Stain of Mind", "South of Heaven",
some song I didn't know, "Dead Skin Mask", "Mandatory Suicide",
another song I didn't know and "Angel of Death".
Now the Megadeth fans started in with their rally calls and
pressing forward to the barrier. For the first time in the evening,
the house lights drop. A loud cheer resounds. The PA blares a brief
symphony piece which the band has adopted. Dave Mustaine hammers out
the first notes of "Holy Wars" and it's on. Even though I don't like
Megadeth very much, I think the first two minutes of "Holy Wars" is
the baddest moment in metal. I get a neck workout of Schwarzenneger
proportions. Megadeth has a tendency to be shrill and scream at the
ears, and tonight was no exception for the first couple of cuts.
Finally the guys behind the boards got things right. Guitars were
crunching, drums were punching, and metal was in full force. These
boys just don't draw the ferocity out of people like Slayer, though,
and the crowd reflected the more civilized behaviour that I'm sure
the stadium staff preferred. You know, the ones that don't light
fires and shit. My chief complaint here was the band's tendency to
engage in long masturbatory sessions with their instruments. Thanks
to the fans who helped me identify the songs as they were played.
Nobody knew what one of the songs was, but Mustaine at least gave us
a clue: "This ain't no Shania Twain!" Setlist: "Holy Wars", "My
Darkest Hour", "Reckoning Day", the song nobody seemed to know,
"Hangar 18", "Secret Place", "Angry Again", "Sea Wolf", "A Tout le
Monde", "Almost Honest", "Trust", "Sweating Bullets" and "Peace
Sells".
Now some serious stuff was afoot. Roadies hoisted a large
Pantera banner boasting "Hell Patrol". A country song was played over
the PA, no doubt a taunt ordered by Phil Anselmo himself. At last the
terror from Texas took the stage and blitzkrieged the place with the
pulverizing "Domination", an excellent choice for opener. Though I'm
not much of a Pantera fan, the spirit of metal possessed me. I
slammed full steam into the nearest 250 pound mosher and blasted 'em
backwards. Then somebody steps on the heel of my shoe, I raise my
leg, and my goddamn Nike vanishes into thin air! After a brief search
in a state of confusion, I give up. Argh! Fucking livid, I skulk into
the stands and plop into a bleacher seat. I wanted to just go home. I
mean, some people may be saying "So what, you lost a shoe, why would
that stop you from having fun?" Bah. They need to walk a mile in my
shoes, haha. Losing my shoe at this show was like being at the
biggest drinking convention of the decade and then losing your mouth
or something. You can't mosh. You get scared about stepping on sharp
objects. You can't take a leak unless you like the sweaty urinal stew
on the ground in the john.
But allow me to show my professionalism by changing the topic
from my woes back to the show in progress. Logan Madder from Soulfly
did a cameo vocal on "Walk", then Scott Ian from Anthrax and Kerry
King from Slayer appeared to help bang out "Fucking Hostile" and
"This Love". Anselmo revealed plans to release an album in '99 and
offered up an excellent line at the end of the set: "It's new year's,
everybody eat pussy until your jaw breaks." Set: "Domination", "New
Level", "Walk", "Becoming", "Use My Third Arm", "War Nerve", "Fucking
Hostile", "This Love", "Cowboys From Hell" and "Mouth for War".
In the interlude, several strangers remarked: "Dude, I think I
saw your shoe. It got chucked." Thanks for the pointers, you
fucksauce gobblers! While I contemplated my next move, I realized an
event of major gravity was about to occur. I pressed myself into the
crowd, heading for the barrier, recruiting an army of teens and
twentysomethings, while the old timers in the crowd protested
vehemently. Above the stage, a video screen sprang to life with
photos and film of Sabbath in the '70s, while sound bits from the
first eight studio albums played over the PA. Then "Supertzar" was
played from CD over the PA, light effects began to weave magic into
the air, and poof, BLACK SABBATH. The eerie beginning of "After
Forever" cranked out at full amplification, the most brutally
crushing push pit ever commenced, and I was in the thick of things
with my silly one-shoed self. After being trapped in an unimaginably
dense sea of people for the opener, I crowd-surfed to a safe distance
to witness the madness.
The sound was right on and the effect amazing. Unearthly
heaviness had been achieved. Johnny Osbourne was up there conducting
the crowd with his customary "Let me see your hands! You are number
one!" Thankfully I wasn't looking when he mooned the audience! Butler
and Iommi botched a few parts and it was pretty funny to watch
Osbourne trying to get Iommi to laugh whenever he messed up. Bill
Ward pounded out a rockin' rhythm or three and seemed to actually
have learned some new tricks, sporting a double kick attack on a song
or two, not to mention the catchy solo he knocked out. I tell you,
that guy has as much to do with the Sabbath groove as anyone. Just
look at all the rappers over the years that have stolen his many
tremendous beats.
The boys kind of missed the point of the show and played right
on through the stroke of midnight, not skipping a beat. As they were
closing with "Paranoid", I noticed a draft but could not find the
source until I looked up and saw the stadium dome parting. Then a
fireworks display went off right inside the building, creating so
much smoke I couldn't see more than fifteen feet. Sabbath left the
stage, the house lights stayed off, the song "Changes" was played
over the PA, and I experienced 36 hours of mild tinnitus. Setlist:
"After Forever", "Into the Void", "Snowblind", "War Pigs", bass solo,
"NIB", "Faires Wear Boots", "Killing Yourself to Live", "Electric
Funeral", "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath", "Lord of This World", "Black
Sabbath", a medley ("Sweatleef", "Symptom of the Universe",
"Supernaut"), drum solo, "Iron Man", "Children of the Grave" and
"Paranoid".
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W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gino's Top 5
1. Black Sabbath - _The Ozzy Osbourne Years_ 3-disc compilation
2. Bethlehem - _Sardomischer Untergang un Zeichen irreligioser
Darbietung_
3. Absu - _In The Eyes of Ioldanach_
4. Pitchshifter - _Desensitized_
5. Sheavy - _The Electric Sleep_
Adrian's Top 5
1. Queens of the Stone Age - _Queens of the Stone Age_
2. Tchort - _The Heavens Are Showing the Glory of Tchort_
3. Zeke - _Zeke_
4. Faith No More - _King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime_
5. The Gathering - _How to Measure a Planet?_
Brian's Top 5
1. Gorguts - _Obscura_
2. Power of Omens - _Eyes of the Oracle_
3. Droys - _And if..._
4. Nomicon - _Yellow_
5. Oxiplegatz - _Fairytales_
Alain's Top 5
1. Zimmer's Hole - _Bound by Fire_
2. Oppressor - _Elements of Corrosion_
3. Devin Townsend - _Infinity_
4. Ocean Machine - _Biomech_
5. Jerry Cantrell - _Boggy Depot_
Adam's Top 5
1. My Dying Bride - _34.788%... Complete_
2. Bathory - _Jubileum Volume III_
3. Katatonia - _Discouraged Ones_
4. Defecation - _Purity Dilution_
5. War - _Total War_
Pedro's Top 5
1. Anathema - _The Silent Enigma_
2. The Elysian Fields - _We... the Enlightened_
3. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
4. In the Woods... - _HEart of the Ages_
5. Carcass - _Heartwork_
[In Ruins' _Four Seasons of Grey_ incorrectly appeared in 9th place in
my top 10 of 1998 (CoC #36). In Battle's _The Rage of the Northmen_
should have been there instead. Due to a mistake of my own,
Sculpture's _Like a Dead Flower_ was left out (I thought it was a 1997
release). It should have been ranked at number 6. -- Pedro]
Paul's Top 5
1. Cynic - _Focus_
2. Exit-13 - _Smoking Songs_
3. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
4. Manowar - _Hail to England_
5. Spinal Tap - _Spinal Tap Soundtrack_
Aaron's Top 5
1. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
2. Ancient Wisdom - _The Calling_
3. Epoch of Unlight - _What Will Be Has Been_
4. Ablaze My Sorrow - _The Plague_
5. Ripping Corpse - _Dreaming With the Dead_
David's Top 5
1. Amon Amarth - _Once Sent From the Golden Hall_
2. Rhapsody - _Symphony of Enchanted Lands_
3. Nokturnal Mortum - _Goat Horns_
4. Grip Inc. - _Solidify_
5. Running Wild - _Masquerade_
Gabriel's Top 5
1. Bob Marinelli / Facialmess - _Split_
2. Various - _WWF - The Music Vol. 3_
3. One Dark Eye / Macronympha - _Split_
4. New Order - _The Rest of New Order_
5. Humectant Interruption - _Internal Feedback_
Alex's Top 5
1. Extol -_Burial_
2. Deuteronomium - _Street Corner Queen_
3. Galactic Cowboys -_At the End of the Day_
4. Katatonia -_Discouraged Ones_
5. Tefilla -_Grievous Anguish_
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Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos
--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
57 Lexfield Ave
Downsview Ont.
M3M-1M6, Canada
Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517
e-mail: ginof@interlog.com
----
Our European Office can be reached at:
CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe)
Urb. Souto n.20 Anta
4500 Espinho, PORTUGAL
e-mail: ei94048@riff.fe.up.pt
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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as classic and progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of album reviews from a
wide range of bands, as well as interviews with some of the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #37
All contents copyright 1998 by individual creators of included work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.