____ _ ____ ____ _ _ ____ _ _____ ____ / _\/ \ /|/ __\/ _ \/ \ /|/ \/ _X \ / __// ___\ | / | |_||| \/|| / \|| |\ ||| || / | | | \ | \ | \__| | ||| /| \_/|| | \||| || \_| |_/\| /_ \___ | \____/\_/ \|\_/\_\\____/\_/ \|\_/\____X____/\____\\____/ ____ _____ / _ \/ / | / \|| __\ | \_/|| | \____/\_/ ____ _ ____ ____ ____ / _\/ \ /|/ _ \/ _ \/ ___\ | / | |_||| / \|| / \|| \ | \__| | ||| |-||| \_/|\___ | \____/\_/ \|\_/ \|\____/\____/ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 14, 1997, Issue #24 http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Assistant Editor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel Contributor: Adam Wasylyk Contributor: Drew Schinzel Contributor: Andrew Lewandowski Contributor: Pedro Azevedo Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the 'Details' section at the end of this issue. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #24 Contents, 9/14/97 --------------------------- * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- Absu: Across Ages Arcane -- Extreme Noise Terrorists -- Crematory: Burn Baby Burn -- Deceased: Night Of The Deceased -- Lord Belial: As Black As They Wanna Be -- Orphanage: At The Mountains Of Madness * Album Asylum -- Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_ -- Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_ -- Blackstar - _Barbed Wire Soul_ -- Civil Defiance - _The Fisher for Souls_ -- Crack Up - _From the Ground_ -- Crisis - _The Hollowing_ -- Decayed Remains - _Moonlight_ -- Dismember - _Death Metal_ -- Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_ -- Flux - _Protoplasmic_ -- Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_ -- Konkhra - _Weed Out the Weak_ -- Life of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_ -- Living Sacrifice - _Reborn_ -- Mainliner - _Mainliner Sonic_ -- Paradise Lost - _One Second_ -- Putrid - _Neck_ -- Satyricon - _Megiddo_ -- Scarve - _Six Tears of Sorrow_ -- Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_ -- Solarus - _Empty Nature_ -- Bishop of Hexen - _Archives of an Enchanted Philosophy_ -- Voivod - _Phobos_ -- Von - _Satanic Blood_ * New Noise -- Death of Millions - _Frozen_ -- In Velvet Clouds - _The Frozen Immensity_ -- Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_ * Chaotic Concerts -- Vital Remains - Unplugged! At The Northwest Hall in Chicago, IL -- Demonic Pigwalk: Testament with Stuck Mojo and Strapping Young Lad * What We Have Cranked =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 and enter 'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 From: Dejan Lekic Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #23 (3/4) Greeting's to all metallians arround the world! When I read interview with Eric (Testament)... I coudn't wait and I immediately wrote the letter for You... When someone say that Alex Skolnick is bad guitarist or 'the latest two Testament LP's is heaviest than other' I want to scream! Look , when Alex Skolnic was in Testament they made the BEST! Low is full of shit! I like only 'Low' and 'Hail mary'... Demonic is better than 'Low'... But in comparison with 'Practice' or 'Souls of black' or whatever You wish from first five LP's, last two LP's are NOTHING! Old Testament, with Alex Skolnic RULES! .......... I was very happy to see an interview with Therion! I haven't liked their old LP's, but 'Teli' is something SPECIAL! I imemediately bought 'real' CD! It is real metal! Therion did the same as Believer... Eastern Europe is full of Metallians! So don't think that You don't have our support! :)) Metal fans here doesn't have enough money even to buy 10 CD's! (Our month payment is arround 10 CD's!) :( But if it is real metal LP we will give our LAST cent for IT! Remember that! :)) And another thing... In my opinion GERMAN METAL RULES! There is few GREAT bends out of German people, but German metal scene is the BEST! Dejan Lekic (Leka) Greetings from Belgrade! Omladinskih brigada 2/2 34300 Arandjelovac Yugoslavia [Dejan, you misunderstood my question. Not once in the question did I say that Alex Skolnick was a bad guitarist. In fact, he's one of my favorites, and I agree with you totally when you say that the last two Testament albums haven't been up to the standard of the earlier ones, primarily because Skolnick is now gone. -- Drew] Date: Sun, 17 Aug 97 From: Richard Karsmakers Subject: Chronicles of Chaos on Jerry Springer Hi Gino, I think what the guy meant was that Gwar was on, who have released a CD called, as you may know, Carnival of Chaos. They were on Springer in January, and the show has been rerun in the US a few times since. Continue the good work! /--------------------------------------------------------------\ | Richard Karsmakers cronos@worldaccess.nl | \--------------------------------------------------------------/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ A C R O S S A G E S A R C A N E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC manifests Absu's Proscriptor McGovern by: Steve Hoeltzel Melding heavy-metallic might with high-minded mysticism, the members of Absu wield a white-hot hybrid of spellcraft and song. Lest you suspect such an utterance to be mere and insincere hype, let it be known that these guys are definitely one of my very favorite metal bands, and have been since I first encountered the titanic thrash and epic esoterica of _The Sun of Tiphareth_, their second full-length release. (I like their debut album as well, but find _The Sun..._ to be much more rapt and radiant.) This year's aptly-titled _Third Storm of Cythraul_ continues and refines the Absu tradition, craftily chanelling gusts of pure, otherworldly energy into blazing vessels of darkened, ultra-electrified thrash. (For a full review see CoC #18, and for lots of info on upcoming Absu material, read on.) I recently spoke - much more nervously than usual, I must say - to percussionist/lyricist Proscriptor McGovern hoping to learn more about projects past and present, as well as the band's myriad mystical motivations. CoC: You take a very unique and individualistic approach to the occult themes and imagery which pervade your work. For the benefit of the un-initiated, could you say a bit to explain the philosophy which informs Absu's sound? PMcG: Absu is strictly, and by far, a mythological, magickal, ancestrally-based cult/band. Our music and philosophies have absolutely nothing to do with the structure of society today, or with the human manifestation. Nothing. It has to do with the roots of magick that we're interested in, with pride, and with our ancestral roots. We are heavily into Mesopotamian and Sumerian mythology, and at the same time we're heavily influenced on our ancestral side by the Celtic traditions - as in Irish, Gaelic, Scottish, Pictish, and whatnot. Our wish is to make our listeners truly experience and feel out-of-body observations, with ancestral customs, magick, and immortality. This is what we're interested in, and what the band is all about. Our goal is to actually put the listener in our shoes, to travel back in time to when time wasn't even an important factor. We want the listeners to trek back to when the sword was the law, when killing was a way of life, but at the same time you worship nothing but yourself... As you know, the band chose the name Absu out of love and admiration toward the great Book of the Dead by Azif - for the overall structure, the power and fascination behind the ancient Sumerian and Assyrian mythology. CoC: What got you started on this particular path? PMcG: It really started happening when the members were heavily getting into finding the first traces of our ancestral roots, way back in the 13th and 14th century in Ireland and Scotland. Ever since then, we're still finding all these parallels between the Ancient Ones from Sumeria and the Celts and the Pagans - incredible similarities. Even now, Equitant and I - our lyrics are making so many analogies between those races and civilizations. So basically, this is what it's about: magick, bloodlust, spellcraft, and ancestral pride. CoC: You describe Absu as equally cult and band. Do you think of performance as a kind of ritual? PMcG: Yes. Yes, in a lot of respects. CoC: What effects are you striving for? PMcG: Well, just like any other band, we release a lot of hateful and painful aggression through the instrumentation while we're playing live. But I also feel, when I'm performing live, that I'm having a lot of out-of-body experiences. When I'm behind the kit, especially when I'm doing drums and singing - I don't think of the human formation anymore. I feel like I'm a serpent. My astrological sign is Gemini, which is also the cadaceus, and it's very important to me. You know, I feel like I'm the left side of the serpent, which is like Apzu... It's hard to explain - it's metaphysical feelings that I feel on stage... CoC: I know that these things are hard to put into words. Though not exactly in the Absu tradition, I'm kind of a mystic myself... PMcG: Yeah, that's the best way that I know that I can treat of these deathless, timeless, perpetual thoughts of non-human formation that are just constantly going through my mind. And like I just said: when I play live, it's a beautiful feeling - but at the same time it's very painful, very warlike... a lot of sensations of battlecraft that I get when we're up on stage. And I think I can speak for the other members of Absu when they're on stage, as well. CoC: Of course, today's extreme metal scene is almost totally permeated by Satanism - of one variety or another. How do you think that Absu's approach relates to the issues, ideas, and so on, that are important, at least to the more thoughtful members of the Satanic contingent? Do you see important similarities, important differences? PMcG: Well, that's based upon the social issue... And, you know, I honestly do not give a shit. I don't give a rat's ass about what other bands say, what they think, what they do. You have to follow your own pathway. If you're a Satanist, follow Satanism, and be sure and praise it as freely as you want to within the lyrical content of your songs. As for us, we're pagans. In our hearts - in our liquid-glass-cased hearts, we're pagans. There's no god but man; we worship ourselves. The Absu cult is based upon magick, bloodlust, and pride. Those are the three basic elements, and we take those three elements and try to create a very innovative, very unambiguous, annihilating force of occult rock'n'roll music. So I'm not trying to be pessimistic on this question, but it's just gotten to the point where I just don't give a shit about the Satanism and whatnot. Of course, there are still so many bands that we share a brotherhood with, throughout this whole globe that the human manifestation classifies as 'earth.' For example, Enslaved. Ourselves, we're not part of any Scandinavian or Norse indulgence or ancestral customs - but they're very, very good brothers of ours, although Absu is outside of the mythology that they study. Or like Deicide. Absu is not classified as a Satanic band: we are more weird, occult, magickal - but you know, I like Deicide a lot. So it just depends. CoC: Have you ever heard any criticism to the effect that Absu's approach involves too much mixing of distinct occult and historical traditions? PMcG: Well, if you've seen as many comparisons as we have [between Sumerian and Celtic traditions especially], then I think one can relate to it. But a lot of people think that we're very pretentious, because we're an American band. They think we can't be "true" - that we're not true, because Absu is an American band. A lot of people in Europe think of Absu, and then they think, "Oh! Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida... Oh! There are a lot of christian churches in America... Oh!" You know, since I abide in Texas, I can't have pure Scottish blood, obviously. But a lot of people in Europe think that they're one hundred percent, that their ancestral customs are strictly limited to themselves. It's bullshit. They're a mixed breed. You know, it's universal. You will not find pure ancestral blood, except maybe in the most rural farm areas, where they're still speaking the old languages. There, I do believe they're still carrying maybe eighty percent pure ancestral blood. So, yeah, we get a lot of shit for it, but we don't care. If people want to dog us, I don't really give a shit. It doesn't bother us; it only makes us stronger. CoC: Any other thoughts on these issues? PMcG: I want people reading this to know that this is how I truly feel. I'm not trying to put on an act. I'm just fascinated with my immortality, and with communicating the many thoughts of non-human formation that are always moving in and out of my conscious and subconscious mind. CoC: I take it that you see your solo project as a real extension of that - a chance to explore all that from a different angle or a different side? [_The Venus Bellona_ is Proscriptor's first solo album, recorded for Cold Meat subsidiary Cruel Moon International.] PMcG: Yeah, basically the idea behind the Proscriptor project is to let the audience know (quote) how I actually became (quote again) Emperor Proscriptor Magikus McGovern. It's not only I, but Equitant and Shaftiel: they have solo projects as well. And basically what it's for us to let the audience know a little bit more about who we are... But, you know, a lot of people are expecting _The Venus Bellona_ to be a metal project, and when they hear it, it's a different concoction - it's a novel about creation through the Venus Bellona. CoC: And even those who simply look at the track listing probably get a bit of a shock when they see the last song on there... [It's a cover of "I Ran (So Far Away)" by eighties wave-rock ensemble A Flock of Seagulls.] PMcG: Yeah. CoC: What led to your decision to do that? PMcG: I'm so indulged and inspired by so many different types of music besides death, black, thrash, and heavy metal in general. I am a keyboardist, and I do a lot of programming. It's a big interest that I've wanted to take up, and this is the perfect time for me to pursue a solo career, because I have time to do it. _The Venus Bellona_ is kind of a subsidiary offshoot of what is studied in Absu: magick and ancestral behaviors based on the Celtic side of the mythology. The Proscriptor project is really pinpointing my Scottish roots, and also focuses on the Dominion Folklore of Thoth. On a lot of the album, I'm heavily influenced by the early eighties wave of pre- and post-wave rock, like A Flock of Seagulls (naturally), Gary Numan, Romeovoid, Bauhaus, and others. But at the same time, it's also got a lot of influence from early to mid-seventies progressive art rock as well... It's experimental music; I can play with the ideology or the theme behind the lyrical content. It can be post-wave rock; it can be art rock; it can be folklore, ambient, experimental. CoC: Will there be another Equimanthorn? [Equimanthorn is the experimental ritual music project consisting of past and present members of Absu, plus certain luminaries from the Greek black metal scene.] PMcG: That's up to Unisound Records - if they can properly negotiate a deal with us. That's totally up in the air; it's a big question mark right now, lingering in the stratosphere. But right now, of course, Absu is the numero uno priority, and Proscriptor falls second. Equimanthorn has got like four songs recorded, but it depends on the labels that will approach us to do another album. So it's just kind of wait and see. CoC: Regarding Absu: what are you guys working on now? I hear you just recorded an Iron Maiden song? PMcG: Yeah, a couple of weeks before the Milwaukee Metal Fest, we recorded "Transylvania", the instrumental track from the first Maiden LP. It's coming out on Dwell Records, part of a CD of Maiden covers. Also, we just did a song for the "Gummo" movie soundtrack; the movie comes out on October 3rd, which is a Friday... Right now, we're about to record the title track from the canceled mini-CD on Osmose. We're going to re-record it - it's called "Thrashstorms" - for a Necropolis compilation called _Thrashing Holocaust_. CoC: Another Eighties revival thing? PMcG: Yeah. CoC: Who else is on this thing? PMcG: It's going to have a demo track from the original Incubus from Louisiana, Infernal Majesty, Inferno, Gehennah, Scepter, Usurper, Sigh, Abigail, Guillotine, Aura Noir, Bewitched, Angel Corpse, Nifelheim, Satanic Slaughter, and about two to four other bands. I think it's a double-disc. CoC: When is it coming out? PMcG: I would guess October or November. After that, we're going to do a five-song mini-CD for Osmose, all new material. The working title right now is _For Ioldanach, With a Crown of Gold_. Then hopefully we'll go back to Europe and support that. And right now, I'm working on a mini-CD for my Proscriptor project. So we're keeping busy at the moment. CoC: So what happened to the _Thrashstorms_ mini-CD? Why was it canceled? PMcG: We recorded it and just decided not to release it. I mean, look at all these bands doing Kreator, Sodom, and - naturally - Frost, Bathory, and Venom covers. CoC: Yeah, that's what I figured... PMcG: We recorded "Flag of Hate" by Kreator, "Bestial Invasion" by Destruction, "Torment in Fire" by Sacrifice - CoC: : Holy Shit!! [That song rules. -- Steve] PMcG: - one by Necrovore, and then the title track. But we decided, you know, if Absu ever releases a box set ten or fifteen years down the road, we could feature those tracks. I just didn't think it would be a good move right then. CoC: Yeah, given the timing, it definitely would have looked like bandwagoning. PMcG: No doubt. It's just like, look at Impaled Nazarene, look at Marduk, look at Bewitched [all of whom put out mini-CDs of covers last year]... CoC: Well, I'm bummed to hear that _Thrashstorms_ won't be coming out, because those are cool choices for songs to cover. PMcG: We've been playing them since well before Absu was formed. There were bands before Absu like Karrion and Karnage - both spelled with a 'K'... wonder why. Like Kreator. We've been playing the songs since '88; it's in our blood, which is why we planned the mini-CD. But, on the other hand, I told Herve the plan, but I never set any release date - then he puts it in a newsletter for Osmose. Then I look in a Relapse catalog, and they claim that they're carrying the _Thrashstorms_ mini-CD. It's never even initially been pressed. So I called up Relapse and fucked with them: 'Yeah, I'll take forty copies.' These people fucking kill me. CoC: As long as we're on the topic of eighties metal, what's your opinion of the way in which that seems to be quite the trend right now? PMcG: Personally, I really do not want to see any more bands deliberately - I hate to use this terminology, but - ripping off the eighties style. I think that the [eighties-inspired] bands that exist right now - Inferno, Usurper, Scepter, Aura Noir, and others - the majority of them are really good. But I hope it stops where it's at right now. You know, I really enjoy the bands that are out now, but I don't really want to see any more bands just do the very same thing... But you know, I am glad to see a lot of the major thrash acts re-uniting, bringing the old spirit back. CoC: How was your recent trip to Mexico? PMcG: Very successful - probably some of the best shows we've ever played. CoC: I heard you had a great reception. PMcG: It was incredible: a lot of violence, big crowds. It was cool. CoC: What did you think of Milwaukee this year? PMcG: Yeah! It was the second time Absu played there. The first time was in '95, and I have to say, the organization, and just everything in general was at least 80 percent better this year than what it was when we were there in '95. CoC: Any definite plans for other recording, after the new mini-CD? PMcG: Well, after we release that, we're going to tour, and anything else that happens after that, we'll just have to wait and see. But basically, I would say that two of the tracks that are going to be on this new CD will present a sort of image of what you'll hear on the fourth album. We just did a new negotiation with Osmose for this mini-CD and the fourth and fifth albums. We're extremely satisfied with the label. CoC: One thing that I like about the band is that all three of your full-lengths have had a fairly distinct sound. That makes me wonder whether you'll go off in yet another (somewhat) different direction on the fourth album. PMcG: Our goal and objective ever since this band began was to have a different style and structure and just overall different sound from album to album. I guarantee the mini-CD will have a different sound; the fourth album will have a different sound, a little bit different style. That also goes for the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth... That's just the goal for us: to have a different production, and a little bit different style, on every release. However, we want to still keep in the same vein of our own style - the Absu style and structure. From _Barathrum V.I.T.R.I.O.L._, to _The Sun of Tiphareth_, to _The Third Storm of Cythraul_ - each album varies, each is a little bit different, but I still feel that they all reinforce each other. CoC: Yeah, I'd definitely agree with that. Continuity through variety. Are you happy with the production that you got on _The Third Storm of Cythraul_? PMcG: The overall production, yes. The drum and percussion engineering portion of it, no, not at all. I've actually been wanting to re-mix the album - not every song, but like half the tracks. For example: "A Magician's Lapis-Lazuli" - the snare drum's completely buried. I really wanted to experiment on this recording, because I used four different snare drums on the recording - a mistake on my part. I should've just kept the snare drum that I wanted to use the most for all the tracks. But the engineer that we used, I don't think that he'd done an extreme, occult metal act before. Another thing is that we've been selfish: ever since the band's career first started, we've self-produced everything. But I think from now on, we're going to need someone else's advice, and we're going to bring in a producer for future recordings for Absu. We've seriously discussed using Harris Johns, the chief engineer at Skylab Studios in Berlin. He's recorded Kreator, Sodom, Voivod, Tankard, Immolation's _Dawn of Possession_, Occult's _The Enemy Within_, and others. [Thanks and cheers to Proscriptor for a very interesting talk, and to Roberta Evans for making it possible. -- Steve] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= E X T R E M E N O I S E T E R R O R I S T S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interview Extreme Noise Terror by: Adam Wasylyk Extreme. Noise. Terror. These are three appropriate words to describe ENT's latest release, _Damage 381_. It's 90s grindcore that takes no prisoners when it comes to speed and outright brutality. The lost art of this most extreme genre has now been resurrected and hopefully, it's here to stay! The band have been making headlines with their line-up troubles, swapping vocalists with Napalm Death but later swapping vocalists yet again! After much speculation and rumor, I had the opportunity to talk to vocalist Dean Jones and to find out the real story about the situation along with asking him about ENT's new record. 'Basically Napalm Death asked Phil (Vane, ENT vocalist) to join about three or four months ago,' Jones begins about the tumultuous line-up changes that were starting to occur. 'Phil accepted and they sacked Barney (Greenway, ND vocalist). This was in the middle of us recording _Damage 381_ so we were without a vocalist for our album, so we thought the logical choice was to ask Barney. So we sent him a tape of what we had done on the album, he really liked it so he came down and did the vocals. Straight after Barney laid down the vocals, I heard that Napalm Death were having trouble with Phil, getting the vocals that they wanted out of him for their album. So then they wanted Barney back! Barney agreed to go back to Napalm under certain terms and Phil was out of a job and we were without a vocalist yet again, so we asked Phil back so everything just went around in a complete circle. Barney ended up singing on the new album and now Phil's back in the band to tour with us. Napalm Death were basically trying to do something different, and Phil was a bit of a guinea pig and he was used and tossed aside. That's really what happened.' Barney's short stay in ENT was a comfortable one, one that reminded him of a time long gone. Jones relates the story to me as if Barney had 'come home' so to speak. 'When he came down to record the vocals, he told us he felt so at home, because the last couple of records with Napalm were the complete opposite as they (the band) were telling him 'Can you mellow your vocals down a bit, Barney?' and 'Can you sing a bit more like Machine Head?' and Barney told me he didn't feel comfortable doing that and he really felt at home during this album because it was back to _Utopia Banished_ for him, which he felt comfortable with. He really enjoyed singing and recording the album with us.' I was surprised to hear that after Phil's departure for greener pastures, no ill-will or bitter feelings by the band were directed towards him. 'Phil had been with the band right from the beginning, we were all really good friends, and he didn't leave on bitter terms at all. We stayed in touch when he was with Napalm. We couldn't blame him, they offered him quite a bit of money and Phil was really in debt at the time, so we couldn't blame him for doing what he did.' Our conversation swung to _Damage 381_, a 90s answer to (coincidentally) Napalm Death's _Scum_. 'The plan was when we started making the album, we felt that the last record, _Retro-bution_, and the one before that, _Phonophobia_, didn't have the chaotic extremities that we used to have like our _Peel Sessions_ album. We basically listened to our older albums and thought 'Wow, if only we could do something as good as what we did on the _Peel Sessions_ again.' We decided that we were going to put back in the scream-style vocals which we hadn't done for two albums, and also the blast beats which we hadn't had for a couple of albums, to really make it more chaotic and more 'Extreme Noise Terror' again 'cause we weren't happy with the last two albums before _Damage 381_ as they weren't extreme enough in our eyes. It has a slightly more metal feel to it than it's ever had before, it's total in-your-face grindcore. No one else is doing it, and we felt there's a big hole in the market for it as lots of kids want to hear extreme music. As far as I know, there hasn't been an extreme grind album for probably three or four years now. Kids are still walking around with Carcass _Symphonies of Sickness_ shirts, early Napalm shirts, and Brutal Truth shirts, and no one is doing that music anymore, so we thought that's what we want to do. It's the music we like, so we're going to do another grindcore album.' The name of ENT's new record actually has an amusing story behind it. 'It came about because for track six (the title track), we just laid down the music when we felt 'we're going to play as fast as we can and keep it up for as long as possible.' We hadn't actually laid the vocals down and I hadn't written any lyrics for it at that point, but the guy in the studio with some computer said 'gee, it's fast, I put [the song] through the computer and it came up '381''. I don't know if the word 'damage' sort of appeared [on the computer], like damaging to the ears, so then it suddenly clicked 'Oh, Damage 381! That has a ring to it!' So we decided to call the song "Damage 381", and after playing that track to Digby (head honcho at Earache), he really loved the track and said we should call the album _Damage 381_ as well. That's how it came about, the song having 381 beats-per-minute at its highest peak.' I wrapped up our talk by asking Jones if the band finally has some stability with its present members, or could something similar to what happened occur down the road? 'I think we're stable now. Everyone is really pleased who's in the band with the album, no one else has day jobs anymore, and no one else is in other bands, both of which were problems in the past. I think we can now work on the next album and we'll be touring soon as well. We're all committed now.' =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= B U R N B A B Y B U R N ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Crematory by: Adrian Bromley "On our latest album, _Awake_, you can hear the development of the band and where we came from since our last record, _Illusions_," begins rather talkative Crematory drummer, Markus, over the phone from Germany. "With _Awake_, you find more melody and a stronger sound. This is probably the best sound we have been able to achieve with Crematory so far." The quintet's latest release, and debut album for Nuclear Blast, is a hard-stridin' dose of darkened gothic metal. Like many of the older and newer goth/metal bands within Europe, e.g. Paradise Lost, EverEve, and Left Hand Solution (the latter two are both on Nuclear Blast, too), Crematory believes deeply in the art of emotions and story-telling. The music of _Awake_ overflows with strong emotional expression and creative story-telling. "This music we create is an emotional dream world for us. It is not reality for us. It is just us having fun and being creative." About _Awake_, he says, "We are very happy with what we have done this time around and I hope we still have a lot of creative juices inside of us for future records and songs. Right now we are the #1 gothic/metal band in Germany and we are trying hard to make that happen for us around the world. We just want to be successful and keep Crematory around for a long time." Even though it took the band several months in the studio to record their latest effort and achieve the sound they were looking for, according to Markus, making _Awake_ was an experience. "We had a lot of fun making this record. We also had a lot of time, almost two months in the studio, to work on this record and experiment in the studio. We carefully etched out what we wanted to do within the studio. We re-did vocals and added keyboards and just experimented to create something strong and interesting for people to hear." About their studio work ethics, he says, "When we go into the studio we have about 80% of what we want on the record already done. We let our imaginations run wild and bring forth all these other ideas into the music to make it brighter. Experimentation plays a key role in the studio work and with what the end results are." Though the band - which is rounded out by singer Felix, keyboardist Katrin, bassist Harald, and guitarist Lotte - enjoys studio work, Markus reveals that like most bands, Crematory finds more enjoyment out on the road. "We are just the type of band that likes to be out on the road performing. It gets so busy and tiring when working on a record in a studio atmosphere, and so playing live is definitely a form of release for us." Seeing that the band garnered a lot of notoriety and respect from the goth metal (and metal) community with their last effort, _Illusions_, does Markus believe that success affected the way the band created material and worked on the new record? He answers, "I don't think the record's success affected the way we created material for _Awake_. I think we are approaching this record in a different way though in terms of marketing and publicity. _Illusions_ did very well for us but right now with _Awake_, we are on Nuclear Blast and we have really good distribution around the world. We are able to get the record out to more people and what we are hoping to achieve is to surpass what we did with _Illusions_ in terms of notoriety and album sales. We'll see." So what is success for Markus and Crematory? "It isn't the money... not at all. We just want to be able to tour and play lots of shows and festivals all over the world. Like I said before, we are in this to create music and reaching as many people as we can. It's important for us to be able to take what we have created in the studio and take it out on the road. If that didn't happen what would be the point of making new music for people to hear? It's hard to be able to do this, go out and tour and all that stuff, but when you get up on stage and there are people screaming and shouting while you play, that is all you need to show you why you do this. Money can't buy that experience." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= N I G H T O F T H E D E C E A S E D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews King Fowley of Deceased by: Drew Schinzel Way back in January of this year I was lucky enough to receive from a friend an advance mix of the new Deceased album (thanks Jim!). The moment I heard the awesome opening riff, I couldn't wait for it to finally be released, and July finally brought that joyous occasion. Once the CD began spinning there was no turning back, it was ten times better than the tape, and confirmed that _Fearless Undead Machines_ was almost definitely going to be in my top five albums for 1997. I was quite lucky to have the opportunity to talk to vocalist/drummer King Fowley about all sorts of things, and among others, I found out that he's one of the funniest and coolest guys in metal I've ever talked to... CoC: What's up? KF: Man, sorry it took me so long, man, I was fuckin' dialing like... I don't know -what- I was doing. I dialed like my own number like six times man. It was insane. By the way, Jim says "waaaazzzzzupp!!" So what's up? CoC: What brought about such a change in your sound? I mean, you guys used to be just like old school death metal, and now it's more melodic heavy metal influenced type of stuff. KF: I don't personally see that big of a change. I think what it is, is the production, man. I think the production just makes it. I was telling this guy a little while ago I think _Blueprints for Madness_ had a lot of old school stuff on it, too. I don't think people heard it because it was just a thundering fuckin' wall of noise. I guess it's a little more speed metal than just blasting death, you know. But I don't know, man, I guess it's just natural, it's just what we wrote. CoC: What's your favorite element of the new album? The more deathy parts, or the melodic sections? KF: I like the melodicness of it. I'm a big melody fan, and I like the harmonies, and I just like the pacing of the album. I think the fast parts are fast enough where it's not so fast where it sounds like Suffocation or something that I don't -want- to sound like. I think that the slow parts sound heavy, and slow, and, you know, good. CoC: Were you influenced by bands like Dissection or Dark Tranquillity at all? It sounds pretty Swedish with the melodies at times, at least to me it does. KF: Yeah, you know what, I guess so for a part, maybe with Mike [Smith]'s guitar playing. I know Mark [Adams] doesn't follow that at all. I know it, but I'm not that inspired by it. I think they're good bands for what they do. But I think those bands, a lot of their stuff is a little bit boring. It's like with Dark Tranquillity, after you hear one album they all kind of start sounding the same. [Well that's something I disagree with totally, but that's okay. - Drew] I think ours has a little more depth and a little more cleverness to it. I'm not knocking those bands because they definitely can play. But I guess so, probably definitely with Mike Smith's guitar playing. CoC: Was the whole zombie thing something you always wanted to do? KF: Oh yeah, it goes back to the second demo, _Birth by Radiation_, in '88, man. It's like we started doing it then, and we did it on the third demo. Then for _Luck of the Corpse_, it was like we didn't have enough room to put it all on there, the whole concept, so we abandoned it. We were like, now is the right time to get back to it, and I wanted to write all new songs for it and just do it now. Yeah I'm a big fuckin' horror freak. CoC: Are you still happy to be on Relapse? It looks like they're kind of moving towards all that ambient/noise stuff. KF: As long as they don't tell us what to do, and accept us for what we are, I have no problem. I get along with the guys great, they're cool, and I support them one-hundred percent. They've been behind us for the new record. I guess we'll be their 'metal band,' and they can put out all that gay fuckin' ambient shit. The guys are cool, but most of their roster, I just don't get it. One of the only bands I think I like anymore on that label I think is Morgion. I like Abscess. Mortician's fucking great. Brutal Truth is cool. Other than that, I don't know, who's on there anymore? CoC: How about Amorphis? They changed a lot. KF: I don't like them at all. I think they fucking blow. They're trying to be progressive. I mean, I grew up on progressive rock as much as metal, I used to listen to that shit all the time, and that shit (Amorphis) is -not- progressive. CoC: What about the old Amorphis? KF: Yeah, I love the first two albums. It's just all these keyboards. I mean, I don't mind keyboards at all, but they just don't play them right or something. Everybody says they sound like Deep Purple. They ain't sound like no fuckin' Deep Purple to me! Sounds like fuckin' Deep Shit! CoC: [after regaining composure from laughing so hard] So what's next for you guys, musically, after such a monumental album like _Fearless Undead Machines_? KF: I have no idea. Actually, we were talking about that last night, me and Mark. We were sitting here after practice, because we've been having a lot of problems with the practice room, the amps have been sounding so bad. But we were talking about that, and how we want to be and how we have to live up to this album (_Fearless Undead Machines_) now, and make it not a fluke. But the next thing we're planning is an EP called _Spirits_. It's going to be really weird. I've already got the titles, it's got five songs. We've got "The Premonition", "The Hanging Soldier", "A Very Familiar Stranger", we've got one called "Mrs. Allerdice" which is based on the movie "Burnt Offerings", then the closing one is called "A Chilling Heartbeat", which is based on "The Telltale Heart", you know, Edgar Allen Poe. You know, it's going to be very morbid. I think it's still going to be very fast, very aggressive, very melodic, very intense. We're going to go from there just to try out some different production just to see how it goes. Then that'll carry us over to the next full-length. We're also planning on doing a live album, and an all-covers album called _Live for Metal_. It's going to be all 80s stuff. We're going to do, like, "Deathrider" from Anthrax, fuckin' crazy shit, Razor, Whiplash, Metal Church, Nasty Savage covers, uhh... I don't even know, Tyrants, who the hell knows. CoC: Any Sodom in there? KF: Nah, there won't be Sodom, but there will be thrash like Whiplash, Razor, etc... Agent Steele , if you want to call them thrash, I guess they were speed metal. Yeah, as for Sodom and stuff, it's just so done, you know? Everybody's done Sodom covers, everybody's done Destruction, Slayer... CoC: Yup, retro... KF: Yeah, kind of cheesy, isn't it? CoC: Yep, totally. It's like with Demoniac, they used to be black metal. KF: Is that the band on Osmose? CoC: Yeah. (Evil Omen is a division of Osmose) KF: Are they still on Osmose? CoC: Yep. KF: Jesus. -Now- they're old school? CoC: Yep. They used to be all corpse-painted. Now they're wearing sunglasses and bandannas... total change. KF: Oh, Jesus. Sounds like Gehennah. But Gehennah seems real. They're definitely cool. Bewitched is okay, Inferno I don't mind, of the Osmose bands. But I don't know what's happening now. I'm turning around every day and someone's play thrash now, and Sodom, Marduk doing Piledriver covers, and I'm like "What the -fuck- happened, man? Play your cheesy shit out dude, just because your fucking day has come when no one likes you anymore, don't try and jump on the next bandwagon." Most people see right through that, at least the fuckin' smart people do. Not those who live in Robotic Village. CoC: For the lyrics to the album, was it -just- a story, or are you trying to convey some message with it? KF: There's lots of little messages in there about telling the world how fucked up it is. I don't know if you seen that. CoC: Yeah, I noticed the one about religion. KF: Oh yeah, It's just the whole world is so damned full of shit, you know? And all we're doing is paving our fuckin' road to death. As far as the lyrics, I wanted it to be traditional horror to a point, but very tastefully done, and very disturbing, because there's no happiness in my lyrics, there never will be. Nothing has a good ending. There's always a fork in the road. In my horror movies, everybody dies. There's no hero that's going to climb out of the rocks going, "I survived!" In mine, he'd climb out of the rocks, and then another rock would just smash his head in. I just want to keep it real dreary, and I want to hear people's interpretations of the story just to see if what I wrote comes across to them as how I wanted it to. Because everybody can take it however they want to, you know? CoC: What was the hardest thing about writing _Fearless Undead Machines_? KF: The hardest thing for us was just getting a solid place where we could just jam all the time. We were jumping from rehearsal space to rehearsal space for _Blueprints..._, and finally we got settled into my house, my basement, to start rehearsing. There was no interference, we could sit there and talk about if we want to change things. It wasn't like, we were at someone's house and they were cooking dinner. We used to jam with Abominog, at their house, and we'd be there practicing and their drummer would come in and start tuning his drums, playing drum solos, that's kind of kooky, you know? But now we're all settled in and we finally got the chance to just the four of us go in this little room, and fuckin' jam and talk about it, and change things. That's all it really took, was just getting settled in. But it kind of came naturally; some songs came together easier, some were instantly written and done, some took a lot of changing, with new riffs, and rewriting. But you know, I'm happy as shit with the album, every song just came out how we wanted it to. CoC: Yeah, well I must say, I think every song is excellent. KF: I appreciate that, man. Any favorites? CoC: Probably "The Psychic". KF: Cool. If I can say this, honestly, that was actually written as the single. I guess we knew that there weren't going to be any real singles, so we just, like, jokingly said, like, well, you know how in the 80s, Iron Maiden would put out _The Trooper_ and have, like, the B-sides, you know? It's like, there's our 12-inch single, you know? We just laughed at it. It just had that vibe, it's very catchy. Relapse is digging "Fearless...", the song, and "Graphic Repulsion" has been getting a lot of good things. Which is kind of strange because when me and Mark wrote that, it was probably my least favorite, but when it came out in the studio, I was really happy with it. That one had a lot of problems. It was -really- fast. At first, it was probably the closest thing we had on the album to blast. I think the next album's going to be very fast. I think it'll be more fast - the next album will be very, very fast. But it'll be very melodic. But it won't be like Dark Tranquillity - fast and melodic, because I don't think speed and melody always work that good together. You have to just move your dynamics around and let it hit at certain times. CoC: What do you think about the Korn and Machine Head-type bands? KF: I don't know how to spell this, but "fuuuyiiillllck." [the best I could do - Drew] I hate that shit. I don't like the personality that comes with it, I don't like the people that listen to it, I don't like the macho fuckin' image it creates. I think it's fuckin' silly. It's just so overrated. I mean, anyone could take an open E, and just chug it, and just scream fuckin' vile shit over it. I don't know, it just doesn't do anything for me. I've never been a fan of that style. If I want to listen to some of that open E stuff, I'll listen to early Annihilator or something. You see, it's good when it sounds good... Van Halen was the master of that. It's just silly, man, too macho for me. CoC: What do you guys have lined up for the rest of this year? KF: Hopefully we'll go on tour. Who knows if that's going to happen. Write this new EP, try and do a live album, try and do this covers thing, all that within the rest of this year. We're just trying to get out and play, too, we really want to get out and play. We're looking for the right tour, but, I don't know, I don't honestly know what to tell you about that, it's just kind of up in the air. CoC: Well, you'll be playing a show with Exodus in New York City on August 21st right? KF: We'll definitely be there, we'll be there kickin' ass. I'm not looking forward to Exodus, though, man. I don't know... I don't like this reunion thing they're doing. They're like "Hey, look, we did one good album and then we sucked for all these years. Now we're back doing the good album again!" Am I supposed to applaud them for wimping out, you know? Oh, it's a big money thing. CoC: Yeah, they're kind of just riding the thrash retro uprising. KF: Exactly, you know what time it is. CoC: Well, that's it King. Anything you want to say to the readers? KF: Just look out for the Deceased album, man. We're as honest a band as we can be. We don't fuckin' bullshit nobody, we don't pull no punches, we just do our thing. And you know just remember, metal rules and it always has, and even when this retro thing is over, it still will. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A S B L A C K A S T H E Y W A N N A B E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Vassago of Lord Belial by: Drew Schinzel After much delay, the sophomore effort of harsh-yet-melodic Swedish black metallers Lord Belial, entitled _Enter the Moonlight Gate_, is finally out. Reviewed in these pages months ago, the advance 4-song tape under scrutiny then was only a mere half of the full-length album, and the newer material does not disappoint at all. Swinging back and forth from violent outbursts of pure speed and aggression, to mid-paced walks through luscious fields of melody enveloped by flute, _EtMG_ is definitely a high-quality release. Guitarist Vassago took some time off to answer our questions. CoC: Since your new album _Enter the Moonlight Gate_ was recently released, what have you been doing in the meantime? Vassago: We have been recording some demo tracks for our next album and we have recorded "Come to the Sabbath" by Mercyful Fate. This cover-version will be featured on a Mercyful Fate-compilation released by Listenable Records. We recorded it in Andy LaRocque's studio, and we are pleased with the result. We will most probably record our next album with Andy. He is great to work with. CoC: Why was there such a delay between the recording of the album (April '96) and its eventual release (July '97)? V: No Fashion signed a lot of bands during a short period of time. This resulted in a chaotic handling of their releases. That is why it was delayed over and over again. CoC: After releasing two albums on No Fashion Records, what is your feeling towards the label? Are you satisfied with them? V: Well, let me assure you; they have not bothered one bit about us until this last month (July '97). The guy who handles us is not involved in the scene at all, he is just a clerk who knows nothing about metal. The staff at House of Kicks is the same staff that runs a mail order company called Sound Pollution; and the distribution of albums in Sweden/Scandinavia, plus No Fashion, Chaos Records, and five or six more small record labels. In my opinion, they should be five times as many people to be able to handle the situation properly. But then they won't make as much money as they are doing at the moment, so I suppose they have decided to stomp on the bands instead. We are -not- satisfied with them. They recently fucked up a tour with Emperor for us. They neglected to answer on time because the clerk that is supposed to run our business was ON VACATION!!! AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! There are a few other labels that want to sign us, and they were so fucking angry when they heard about this, they said "Ahhh, come on, you MUST leave No Fashion now, we will pay the tour at ONCE if you sign for us!" CoC: In music, and especially it seems in metal, maintaining a steady band lineup is sometimes difficult, yet the four members of Lord Belial have been together since the beginning, in '92. Is the band lineup as strong now as it was then? V: Well, actually it is stronger. The bass player has never been involved in metal, that is why he has such a unique style in bass playing, but he has grown into his position completely. We have never been as strong as we are now, and we are getting better and stronger all the time! CoC: It seems that although the new trend is to be retro and very 80s, Lord Belial has remained solidly in the realm of black metal. What's your view of the retro uprising? V: Ha, I suppose it's the kids that grew up with the flood of black metal music that have thought "I wonder what these guys were listening to when they started" and are now finding it cool to plagiarize the "original" metal. I think Lord Belial have some sounds from the 80s as well, though. My personal influences lie in this era. CoC: The band has a great talent for writing majestic melodies, for both the guitar and flute, yet you place them right next to violent, fast sections of the songs, structurally. Which do you find more difficult to write, and which do you prefer, the melodic or the violent? V: Well, the melodies are mostly made by Dark, while I like it more brutal, so my riffs tend to be less melodic. I like it raw and straightforward, but the contrast makes it much better. CoC: Lord Belial is unique in that you incorporate flutes into a harsh black metal environment. Do you foresee use of the flute in the future? V: Oh, I am assured we will use flute on our next album as well, along with a few other "different" instruments. CoC: You placed some female vocals in Enter the Moonlight Gate as well. Can you explain the decision to use them? V: It was Dark's idea. His girlfriend is a singer in a choir, so he came up with this idea to make the contrast between melody and aggression even bigger. CoC: Do you view the band, and music in general, as an emotional attachment to you, or more as a form of self-expression, or both? V: Since Dark finds it difficult to use mine or Sin's lyrics, he generally uses his own nowadays, so I can no longer say that I can express anything in particular more than just feelings in the music. Sometimes, I have a totally different vision in my head than what Dark sings about, though. But mostly, it works very good. CoC: How satisfied are you with Lord Belial's two albums? V: I do not listen so much to _Kiss the Goat_, maybe once every second month. I don't think that this album is representative for Lord Belial anymore. _Enter the Moonlight Gate_, however, is. I was satisfied with _Kiss the Goat_ for one week, then we entered the studio with Vassago to create some pure violent music. _Kiss the Goat_ has its good sides, though. I am quite pleased with _Enter..._, but I know that our next album will be the best we have ever made! CoC: What have you got planned for the next album? Will it continue in the same vein as _Enter the Moonlight Gate_? V: We have five freshly written songs and they sparkle with energy, yet it is not the same drumming, it is much more varied. Sometimes, it is MUCH faster, but it is more mixed with heaviness. The people that have heard our new material think that it is in the vein of _Enter..._, but better still. CoC: What's planned for the rest of this year? V: Rehearsals!!! And hopefully a tour. We are VERY eager to go on tour. We have the album on digi-pack now, but it will also come out on vinyl. We have t-shirts and long sleeves, and they look excellent. Actually, they are the most beautiful shirts on the market, and this is no bragging, it is stating of a fact. Personally, I will go on tour with Sacramentum later on as well. CoC: That's the end, Vassago, thanks a lot. Take this space to say what you wish... V: Buy our works of music and art. It is not just a piece of metal, it is a new world that awaits to be explored! Thanks for the interview. Die Hard!!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A T T H E M O U N T A I N S O F M A D N E S S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Orphanage by: Pedro Azevedo Fresh originality is usually a good thing, and Orphanage have struggled to achieve that since their debut, _Oblivion_, in 1995. Mixing an unusual kind of melody (based mostly on choir singing and keyboards) with an even more unusual rhythmic section was a daring move, as these two might have clashed instead of actually fitting together. But the fact remains that _By Time Alone_, in 1996, was a clear improvement over their debut, while focusing on the same ideals and similar techniques. Orphanage is based around George Oosthoek's death grunts and occasional screams, Rosan van der Aa's female voice, Lex Vogelaar's unusual guitar sound, Guus Eikens' keyboard, Eric Hoogendoorn's bass, and Erwin Polderman's drums. Coming from Holland, this DSFA Records band had a big performance at the Dynamo this year, including a choir in their set; they are now ready to think about their next album. Here is my e-mail interview with bass player Eric Hoogendoorn. CoC: How would you describe the differences between _Oblivion_ and _By Time Alone_? Eric Hoogendoorn: The most important difference between _Oblivion_ and _By Time Alone_ was the fact that we worked with a steady lineup on _By Time Alone_. That's why the album sounds more live and more Orphanage. We made the songs with the whole band and we grew as a band. In a way, we work the same way as on _Oblivion_, but now we do it together, so we can make better songs. CoC: How well have the fans been reacting to your band's rather unusual style? EH: Well, in the beginning of Orphanage (when we made our first demo), the people reacted a little strangely to our music, but at the time we recorded _Oblivion_, more and more people liked our style. In about a year, we had our own fans and that's still going on. Each year that we play in clubs, there are more people coming to see us and like us (magazines always say good things about us, so that helped too). It's going very good for Orphanage, we are very happy with that. CoC: Why did you choose to mix the excellent melodies mainly provided by Rosan and the keyboards with the puzzling (yet good) rhythmic section? EH: When we were thinking about the concept of Orphanage, we wanted to put very heavy guitars, bass, drums, and melody together in a way we had never heard before, so every part had to be original. Lex came up with the polyrhythmic, and Guus came up with the melody. We experimented a lot with that concept, and after some time, we found Orphanage. CoC: Does Rosan have any previous professional singing experience? EH: No. She sang in a choir for a while, that was her experience. CoC: How did you meet her, and why did she choose to join the band? EH: Anthony [van den Berg, DSFA Records] met her and introduced her to the band. She was just the one we were searching for and she liked the band, so she joined us. CoC: I gotta ask you this, about the choir you work(ed) with: what's the story behind a name such as The dB's Monkey Spanking Choir? EH: dB's is the place where we [Orphanage] practice. We have a lot of friends there and we recorded our CD in Studio Moscow, which is part of the dB's building. At the time we were working on "Ancient Rhymes", we asked everyone to sing with us how was in dB's. We called it the Monkey Spanking Choir because of Ren and Stimpy. CoC: What are the chances of further live shows with large choirs? EH: We have done Dynamo Open Air and Best on the Rocks with a big choir (and our CD presentation), but that was only for these concerts. Now we don't do that anymore because we don't want to do something for too long. CoC: Did everything go well for you at the Dynamo this year? EH: Yes. Dynamo was also, as last year, a great experience, but this year we played on the main festival. You wouldn't believe how big that is. When you see so many people there, something happens to you. We played with a big choir and many musicians, and that was a lot of work to practice, to do a concert with so many people, but everything went okay for us and the people loved it, so it was great. CoC: Another DSFA band that played at the Dynamo was Within Temptation. Would you like to tell us more about Orphanage's role in their remarkable debut album, _Enter_? EH: Within Temptation made all the songs themselves, so Orphanage had nothing to do with that. Guus gave some advice about keyboard sounds, Lex played on a song and did the production, and George sung on a song. That's all Orphanage did on the album. I think Within Temptation did a very good job on their album. They are big in Holland already and I think the rest of Europe will follow. CoC: What's your personal opinion about that band after having worked with them? EH: I didn't work with them on their album but I recorded an album with a new band of mine and Erwin's called Siliconhead. Sharon den Adel [*excellent* singer -- Pedro] did a song on our album, so that's the only experience I have with them. I can tell you we had a lot of fun together (Sharon is a great singer). CoC: What's your view on the current Dutch metal scene? EH: There are a lot a good bands right now in Holland. Other countries in Europe see that too, so there is a lot of interest in Dutch bands on this moment. I hope it will stay this way. CoC: Is a new album scheduled yet? EH: We are going to record a new album in February 1998. CoC: Any idea of what will change in your sound? EH: I think not much will change, but the songs will be (also with the last album) better than _By Time Alone_. CoC: No more questions, time for a final message to the readers... EH: Maybe I can express my feelings of what we are about in a live situation, so I hope to see you all on tour, okay? Greetings to all the readers of Chronicles of Chaos. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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! Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_ (Independent, 1997) by: Alain M. Gaudrault (9 out of 10) Another freebie I received at the Milwaukee MetalFest, I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I was handed a copy of this full-length CD. Much to my surprise, I found another slab of amazing sludgy Louisiana metal, borrowing from death, doom, and speed, both in musical and vocal approach. Production is great, clear and thick, yet muddy enough where it needs to be. The vocals are well thought out, always appropriately matched to the music, the different approaches always executed with enough conviction so as to not sound contrived; this guy can sing melodically, without over-emphasizing melody, and can scream and growl effectively and potently. Guitars feature plenty of well-executed speed and death riffs, with occasional trippy psychedelic and acoustic tidbits. While there are two guitar players, they don't stray too far off each other's lines, keeping the interplay to a minimum; the songwriting strengths, though, lie in their ability to keep the intensity and aggression level in the music high throughout by changing the mood via different tempos, styles, and textures. Complexity isn't key to their sound as much as sonic variety within the metal framework. I would say that their sound and even one of the vocal styles aren't entirely dissimilar to fellow Louisianites (is that a word?) Exhorder's, yet more involved and current, unlike Pantera who took the Exhorder sound and dumbed it down for mass consumption. Biggest disappointment for me is the lack of much of a bass presence, although drums come out loud and clear, a good thing since their frenetic nature drives this album along; always competent, well-defined, with superb fills and cymbal work, and luckily, butt-kicking double bass. I think death metal fans with a penchant for speed and/or melodic leanings will flip for Abuse; this could probably even be enjoyed by fans of muscle metal (Pantera, Machine Head, Biohazard), but it attempts to reach further than that, and in many ways, it does; I would love to see fans of that genre take to more thoughtfully written music. Unfortunately, lyrics aren't included in the packaging, but the lyrics I'm able to determine tend to be lucid, dark, and varied in subject matter; no rough and tough machismo lurking around here. Basically, this band seems to function perfectly as a unit, as they swoop and dive through the songs effortlessly, instrumentation very tight, unwavering in their sonic assault. The way in which the songs are put together, the flow of the album from passage to passage, from song to song, is rather unique and quite rewarding to the listener; thoroughly engaging material well worth recommending. Seek this out. Contact: ABUSE c/o Brian Strong, 3708 Stefano Street Metairie, Louisiana USA 70002 Voice: 504-457-0105 (Brian Strong) mailto:hbeast@acadiacom.net http://www.acadiacom.net/hbeast/abuse/abuse.htm Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_ by: Steve Hoeltzel (8 out of 10) (Grinding Peace Records, 1996) I was stoked to see these guys play at the Michigan International Metal Fest, and they definitely didn't disappoint. Boasting ex-members of Masochist, Summon play crafty black metal with excellent, articulate vocals and a keen sense for song structure, plus some sonic twists that distance the band from today's hordes of wannabe-Scandinavian clones. Keyboards are used very sparingly, and the tempos consistently vary within each song. There are no drawn-out hyper-speed marathons, but there are still plenty of well-timed bursts of sharp, skull-drilling snare blasts. Also, Xaphan's riffing technique and guitar sound has more in common with the thrashy morbidity of early Sodom (_Obsessed by Cruelty_ especially) than with the tremolo-happy approach of the Scandinavian second wave. Still, these guys are no mere retro band, and _Dark Descent..._ is NOT just another bandwagon-jumping "black thrash" regurgitation of trademark eighties styles. Songs like "Eve of Anti-Creation" and "Beyond the Gates of Storm" display the strong, varied dynamics typical of some of the great eighties bands, but still maintain a sharpened contemporary edge. Very cool stuff, with a fairly unique sound. Blackstar - _Barbed Wire Soul_ (Peaceville, September 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) I can understand that by using a new name, these guys might not want to be compared with what they've done before, but really... three out of four members are well known for their work in Carcass, they chose their band's name out of the track listing of the last Carcass work, _Swansong_, and even the music sounds slightly like that same album. Sorry, but I can't avoid thinking of this as a follow-up to _Swansong_, even though Carcass is officially 'dead.' Blackstar (who signed with Peaceville) are composed of vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker, guitarist Carlo Regadas, and drummer Ken Owen, all ex-Carcass, and former Cathedral guitarist Mark Griffiths. _Barbed Wire Soul_ is indeed the kind of follow-up I expected to _Swansong_: more rock influences, Walker's vocals are a bit less raspy, and some similarities to _Swansong_ are still, even though at times barely, visible (by the way, check out the BIG surprise to be found in tracks 4 and 8...). So, if you're looking for a re-recording of, say, my favourite Carcass album, _Necroticism..._, you'd better go look somewhere else; however, this doesn't mean _BWS_ isn't good - it is quite good. Rocking with a sharp aggressive edge most of the time, the musical quality is there in every guitar twist and rhythm they use, as _BWS_ is easy to get into and really catchy indeed. "Game Over" and "Sound of Silence" are my choices for best tracks, however several others just aren't so remarkable. Still, Carcass may be dead, but their 'rot n' roll' lives on as Blackstar. Civil Defiance - _The Fisher for Souls_ (Blood Orange, July 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (4 out of 10) I hate to use the words 'odd' and 'cheesy,' but those two words best describe the work of Civil Defiance. Managing to cram progressive rock, metal, 80s riffs and cheesy lyrics into 37 minutes (8 songs) is pretty impressive. It really is, I just wish a lot of the material had been straightforward prog rock/metal instead of spurting out all of this weird, jazzy-riffed shenanigans, rock star vocals, and drum solos on top of the rock/metal sounds. Talk about a smorgasbord of ideas. Some of the songs and ideas I liked ("Death to the Clown" and "Dreams Die Fast") but overall I'm left with a headache and not knowing what just came blaring out of my boom box. Contact: Civil Defense, P.O. Box 1305, Glendale, CA USA 91209 Crack Up - _From the Ground_ (Nuclear Blast, July 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) While this may not be the best case of death metal music I have heard in sometime, something about this German quartet's Nuclear Blast debut album _From the Ground_ (their first full-length, _Blood Is Life_, surfaced on We Bite/SPV) keeps me coming back for more. What could it be? Well, to let you CoC readers in on the secret ingredient of Crack Up: the crazy groove. The band just lets loose thick riffs and catchy melodies coated with death-ish growls (similar to Gorefest and Entombed's style at times), and those real cool vibes help make up for the sometimes annoying and poor vocal styles of singer/bassist Tim. While _FtG_ may not really be groundbreaking, what Crack Up does deliver to us is aggressive music built around a solid groove that'll spark some interest almost every listen. An overall decent release and definitely a young band to look out for. Crisis - _The Hollowing_ (Metal Blade, August 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10) When I talked to Crisis guitarist Afzaal Nasiruddeen way back in CoC #8, we discussed the experimental tendencies of Crisis and the music they create. He mentioned the band's love for bringing multiple styles into their sound. The band's last release, _Deathshead Extermination_, breathed of anarchy and harshness, with lead singer Karyn Crisis detonating huge blasts of anguish and violence through her banshee-like screams. The music itself blended a wide variety of death metal riffs, trippy slow-paced interludes and lots of intensity. The music worked for them. The record did well for the band, too, putting them on tour throughout North America with Voivod and Pro-Pain and helped develop them a pretty good sized following. Now arrives their latest LP, _The Hollowing_, a record not much different than _DE_ as it still caters to the Crisis sound. Singer/screamer Karyn Crisis still growls as the music moves and shapes itself into odd and eccentric entities. After multiple listens, I found _TH_ a much more loose record, where the band has gone off- track with their controlled experimentations and rather than providing us with a very strong, yet versatile release have offered us nothing more than a pot-pourri of sounds and scattered ideas. The band has also lost a bit of their aggression, relying more on a trippy, sedated feel on certain numbers rather than an all-out bursts of mayhem. Don't get me wrong, there is aggression here, and Karyn Crisis' demonic vocals rules, but there is something missing. This album is mediocre in my books and it is as if the band has lost something along the way between records. I hope they can find it come the next recording. Decayed Remains - _Moonlight_ (, July 1997) by: Christopher Bruni (7 out of 10) Decayed Remains have released this noteworthy CD, henceforth expanding and altering the Canadian underground even more along with such Canadian notables as Demence, Necronomicon, and Quo Vadis (all from Quebec). _Moonlight_ is a concept CD based on lycanthropy, where each song flows with a continuity of dark desires. Slightly straying away from their death metal past, Decayed Remains incorporates it all. _Moonlight_ treads forth on their death metal leanings, incorporating metal/thrash influences (Voivod being prime example) and this time adding some black metal and gothic influence. The CD begins with a spoken prologue, ending with an epilogue, of course, as the band tear through their eleven tracks of dark art in a fashionable manner. Whether thrashing it up, breaking into full-blown acoustics, or goth-ing it up with keyboards, originality does surface at some moments as the band make quite an effort to execute their unique and sometimes banal style of metal. All in all, another Canadian hopeful to watch out for. Contact: Radicart Productions c/o Decayed Remains, C.P. 834 St-Tite, Quebec, Canada G0X 3H0 mailto:decayedremains@geocity.com Dismember - _Death Metal_ (Nuclear Blast Records, August 1997) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Bands do not have to progress to be good. Dismember's fourth outing proves this quite conclusively, for they have gone back to where they started, and produced what is probably their best album. This album lives up to its unsubtle title very efficiently. it has the scent of a classic death metal release. Does it sound dated? Well, yes, it does, but the the word 'dated' denotes negativity that is not a factor when considering _Death Metal_, because although no technique is new, the songs are; in fact it's just like picking up a classic death metal album you didn't have. The blend of song tempos means that _Death Metal_ also doesn't become boring and repetitive. The only flaw (and the reason for a 9 and not 10) is tracks 7-10, although none of these are grossly inferior to the rest of the album, the fact that they are all of similar (fast) tempos and arrangements, means that the individual tracks don't stand out as well. Dismember are death metal fans; Matti Karki said 'we want to play death metal the brutal way.' Well, they've done it, and, like the bands they love, they've done it well. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_ (Earache, July 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) This is probably one of the most anticipated releases this year due to the fact that Napalm Death singer Barney Greenway provides a majority of the vocals on _Damage 381_. Recorded with Greenway at the helm after he and Napalm Death parted ways earlier this year to sing for ENT (he eventually went back to ND but the vocals were still kept when original ENT frontman Phil Vane didn't cut it) is a powerhouse assault of grinding grooves and sheer power. The songs are short, brutal, and utterly potent. Nothing seems to fall by the wayside here as ENT has been able to condense all the intensity into one mad rush. Throw in some vocal duties by Vane and new screamer Dean Jones and you got a pretty varied assortment of songs and ideas. While I am a big fan of the new ND release, _Inside the Torn Apart_, I'm finding myself drawn more to _D381_ because it avoids the experimentation of sounds and styles (something _ItTA_ hits upon) and goes right for the throat. Slap this sucker on and run for cover. Flux - _Protoplasmic_ (Release, 1997) by: Andrew Lewandowski (8 out of 10) While other bands alienate their established fan base by revolutionizing their sound while retaining their name, thus guaranteeing that old fanatics will purchase the album on the basis of name recognition alone, James Plotkin provides ample warning that times have altered the style of OLD, the previous moniker of Flux. Surprisingly, _Protoplasmic_ does not drastically diverge from the path of previous OLD albums. In fact, the album can be dubbed as an "ambient pop" version of OLD's best moment, _The Musical Dimension of Sleastak_; the density has been thinned out and slowly evolving soundscapes have supplanted drastic alterations, yet both retain the same emphasis on surreal and mechanistic melodies. The addition of the stoic Ruth Collins on vocals only confirms this dehumanizing aspect, as does the dub-like percussive programming of Scorn's Mick Harris, who handles the production. While this serves to alienate the listener, it also generates the psychedelic aura of each piece. The sparse ambience only accentuates this unreality. Each melody slowly melts into space, before Plotkin's sense of repetition replicates the same melody, before once again disintegrating or supporting a completely unexpected new texture. Also, not only does the prim spoken word style (which states only the most absurd of lyrics, of course) of Collins' vocalizations appear blissfully incongruous amidst the playful melodies, Plotkin occasionally layers or repeats her voice, furthering the nihilistic inhumanity of it all. Anyway, _Protoplasm_ should satisfy most old OLD fans, while others should approach with caution, for it gets a bit odd in here. Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_ (Charnel Music, 1997) by: Andrew Lewandowski (9 out of 10) Ever wonder what would occur if, say, Joan Miro produced the next album of everybody's favorite lugubrious sludgy noise metal trio? Of course not, for the result would carry the abstract into almost incomprehensible depths! Sheer sparsity and desolation, juxtaposed with transient interludes into utter chaos, would reign! I pity the sanity of a man willing to expose his mind to an entire hour of such apocalyptic fervor! Well, tuck away little Bobby and pray that your good wife is vacuuming! Gravitar has unleashed 70 minutes of studio trickery set on deconstructing the mundane formula of rock music, and in the process create one of the most disconcerting soundtracks for suburban nightmares and urban traffic jams yet to originate from the minds of a band which still uses guitars. Although, you will not locate your typically linear guitar structure anywhere on this one. Instead, everything is repulsively disfigured, as the post- apocalyptic desolation of subtle dissonances alternate with virulent waves of dynamic noise and textured ambience. Occasionally, a moment or two can degenerate into sheer experimentation for experimentation's sake, yet this is to be expected considering the vast (and incoherent) array of sounds utilized throughout _NtRoK_. For the most part, they conjure up stimulating and emotive hallucinations, and one needs to look back to the last K.K. Null album in order to hear something even remotely similar to this (and true originality is never a bad thing). Konkhra - _Weed Out the Weak_ (Diehard, August 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Not all good Nordic metal comes from the Sweden / Norway / Finland trio, as Konkhra's fourth full-length (that I know of) proves, even though there's only two Danish members left in the band. Yes, from Denmark they are, but after the _Facelift_ EP and _Spit or Swallow_ (the two albums with that blonde girl on the cover), only vocalist/guitarist Anders Lundemark and bassist Thomas Christensen remain as Danish members, as they chose to search outside Denmark for a guitarist and a drummer. The chosen ones were famous guitarist James Murphy (who also did most of the producing, mixing, and engineering) and former Machine Head drummer, Chris Kontos, whose drumming was recorded in California (together with the additional guitars), while the rest was recorded (and all mixed) in Europe. I'm not sure about the future, as this lineup most likely won't be repeated, but at least they have done _Weed Out the Weak_ (notice the subtle sly in "weed out" / "without"), and the result is worthy of those involved in it. Slick, strong, dynamic, this pack of crushing riffs, lead guitars courtesy of Murphy, and great drumming by Kontos won't let you rest for one minute, my favourite track being "Misery", closely followed by "Time Will Heal" and "Melting". It's a shame that the vocals aren't just good old death grunts, as Lundemark's voice in _WOtW_ ranges from a slightly harsher Rob Flynn to something near a death grunt, and while they're good enough, they don't really add anything extra to such a powerful instrumental sound (thanks to the very well polished and strong production). _WOtW_ may not have that "Northern Europe feel" to it at all, but it's still impressively well done. Life of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_ (Roadrunner, September 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) Whoa! What a different record than the band's previous LPs, their 1993 classic debut _River Runs Red_ and 1995's ill-received but still hard-hitting _Ugly_. Over the last few releases, the band has lost their hardcore roots and geared their music more towards a hard rock outfit. But that doesn't make the band worse. Does it? No. In fact, LoA have actually become really strong songwriters and musicians as the years have gone along. I mean, coming from a brutally honest debut LP like _RRR_ and the soul-searching opus of _Ugly_, the band has needed to grow better to keep up to par with their past writing accomplishments. The songs on _SSS_ are not only catchy and memorable (i.e. "Heroin Dreams" and the wicked first single "Weeds") but saturated in maturity. Some may write this band off as 'sellout' or 'posers,' but I say LoA still have what it takes, and just because they have softened their blows doesn't mean they still can't do the damage. Living Sacrifice - _Reborn_ (Solid State/Tooth & Nail, July 1997) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Totally heavy from the get go, _Reborn_ really gets the ball rolling with a BANG! From opener of "Reborn Empowered" onto heavy numbers like "No Longer" and "Spirit Fall", this hardcore/metal quartet really deliver the goods with strength and conviction. Sounding more like a runaway train than one of the thousands of generic sounding hardcore/metal acts finding home in the music community, Living Sacrifice have done a phenomenal job at keeping the music tight and interesting. The vocals are deadly and the riffs hit you with true blunt force. Not since the strength of Vision of Disorder's Roadrunner Record's self-titled debut have I been enthralled by a band of this music genre. While I'm not really into promoting religion through music - seeing that Living Sacrifice base a lot of their material on the 'man above' - I can honestly say that as long as Living Sacrifice keep the music this heavy, I can keep it cranked. Once it becomes a pulpit, Bible-reading seminar, I then will lose interest. For now, this stuff kicks. Mainliner - _Mainliner Sonic_ (Charnel Music, 1997) by: Andrew Lewandowski (5 out of 10) Here's another question for you: say you have one of the world's better (defined herein as most frenetic) drummers in your band (in this case, Yoshida Tatsuya of the Ruins), would you then jack up the distortion on your guitars, burying the percussion in the bottom of the mix? No? Alas, Mainliner did not heed your warnings. Even though we now have to work a bit harder to discern the drums and thus exploit this album's full potential as a headfuck, the effort is well worth it. Although once you move beyond Tatsuya's efforts, the potency of the rest of Mainliner tends to fluctuate. When Mainliner is at their best, a complete sensory overload will pummel the listener, as the intensity factor approaches the stratosphere once the driving guitar solos and mincing production mesh with the pulsating bass lines and free form percussion of the band's rhythm section. Yet the horrid production results in a homogeneous feel throughout the album's five tracks (which total only thirty minutes of music), and the structure of the album's two title tracks cause both to asphyxiate on a string composed of impotence raveled around the listener's correlating sense of ennui. Paradise Lost - _One Second_ (Music For Nations, August 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Storming straight into #8 in the German top 10, this latest Paradise Lost album will earn them many new (mainstream) fans... and make them lose some of those who were their 'old' fans. This isn't really what I expected after _Draconian Times_, as _One Second_ essentially shows a highly commercial approach, full of pop beats, pop choruses, and pop arrangements, based on a relatively doomy feeling. Most of the time, this isn't metal, just lots of goth influences. "Take Me Down" is a good example of all this, while songs like "Mercy" and "Blood of Another" show the kind of boring pop choruses I mentioned, but what really bothers me is that most tracks do have good moments - the keyboard melodies are usually good throughout _OS_ (as in "Disappear") and are responsible for a great part of their score. "Say Just Words", the promotional single, "please-oh-please-buy-me" as it is, still must get credit for its simple yet effective chorus. Similar credit can go to most other songs, such as "Soul Courageous", "Another Day", "This Cold Life", and "Sane". In my opinion, Paradise Lost had been going downhill ever since _Gothic_ (-clearly- their best work), but right now, I'm not even going to risk comparing _One Second_ to _Draconian Times_. What I can say about _OS_ is that overall, it's not bad, but certainly not as great as many say either. Putrid - _Neck_ (Independent, 1997) by: Alain M. Gaudrault (6 out of 10) My first reaction was not a good one. Guitarist Martin's fuzzy, overdriven guitars, applied to staccato hardcore-lovin' riffs, did nothing to bolster the music's impact on a first-time listener. The lack of punch in the delivery is unfortunate, as it only serves to accentuate how the songs don't quite seem to go anywhere at times, although some people are into that, I suspect. Upon repeated listenings, though, I grew to mildly appreciate the combination of heavy hardcore leanings throughout with metal tendencies and alterna-rock familiarities. Putrid make use of several tempo/mood changes in each of their songs, which explains the lengthy 4- and 5-minute tracks (by hardcore standards, that is). The stuff on this CD is fairly original to my ears; then again, I'm not big into the new breed of hardcore metallers, but this sounds rather varied and experimental, both in the use of instruments and vocal arrangements. The bellowed, hardcore-ish lead vocals (only mildly annoying most times) are complemented by some guy's interjections, often sounding like an ultra-melllowww Mike Muir. Vocalist Sylvain's tone, while mostly gruff, seems to lack depth, and quickly starts being 'the instrument you put up with.' With packaging devoid of lyrics and a flat production, Putrid's themes can be tough to discern, but hardcore-nudgin' titles like "Stateless", "Mousetrap", and "Worse, Work, Wreck" pretty much give it away. Serge puts in an impressive performance on drums, maintaining a solid beat without becoming overly repetitive; lots of juicy, interesting fills and segues to be found. Bass, on the other hand, is hardly audible, and seems mostly to follow the guitar lines, but it's difficult to tell; at first, I thought one of the fuzzy guitar sounds was actually a bass, which would explain the presence of more than one guitar sound with only a single guitarist in the band, but if I strain, I can hear the occasional off-rhythm clean plunking of bass strings. In the end, I'm left sort of lukewarm about this independent production. As a puzzling aside, I must note that the last track, "Seasons", is followed by a minute+ of silence: error, or fruity symbolism? Satyricon - _Megiddo_ (Moonfog Productions, 1997) by: Steve Hoeltzel (4 out of 10) Slammin' global re-mix technology, Norwegian style! The first track on this four-track, 20-minute oddity is "The Dawn of a New Age" - re-mixed by Apoptygma Berzerk to get all those silly guitars out of the way of the booty-bumpin', now beats. Actually, it's not as totally horrid as my sarcasm probably makes it sound, but I still don't like it. I just got done reading Vlad Tepes's awesome, lengthy rant against the mainstreaming of black metal, and I can just imagine what they'd have to say about this... Next up, "Night of Divine Power", which is a re-recorded version of "The Dark Castle in the Deep Forest" from the monumental _Dark Medieval Times_. I don't see the point of this track. The sound is cleaned up a bit, even polished, but much of the original's atmosphere is thereby wiped away. Third song: a live recording of "Forhekset". The sound, though muddy, is better than might be expected from what the liner notes refer to as 'a shitty cassette deck.' Too bad the song itself is the kind of bland and uninspired material which typifies the highly overrated _Nemesis Divina_. Finally, a semi-industrial, sample-packed cover of Motorhead's "Orgasmatron". And the Cold, Misty Forests of Norway (tm) echo with the sounds of... sequencers. Bah! The (formerly) extreme goes mainstream once again. I'm glad I didn't pay for this. I bartered for it - like a Viking! Scarve - _Six Tears of Sorrow_ (, 1996) by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) Apparently, these guys want to be called 'atmospheric progressive death metal,' with perhaps the word 'technical' thrown around, but I really don't find any of those terms (save 'metal') appropriate. What this 30-minute CD contains is six songs of melodic thrash, mostly played at mid-to-fast tempos. The vocals are split pretty evenly between gruff death vocals, and more melodic vocals. The death vocals are fine, but the melodic vocals could be better, as while the singer isn't off-key, he has a slight whine to his voice. At times, he sounds eerily like the singer for Damn the Machine. The production is good: powerful and clean. The playing is tight, and the drumming is very good at times, but there aren't a lot of technical parts to be found. The songs aren't bad, but they're neither progressive nor technical. The band is able to create a moderately unique sound, but does so within the confines of the melodic thrash genre. The songs mostly follow standard forms, and there isn't an overabundance of radical style or tempo shifts, although there are a good variety of moods in the six songs. This is a good disc, but it's not really outstanding in any respect, and it isn't what I've seen it hyped as. Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_ by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Sonic Unyon, August 1997) Hamilton, Ontario heavyweights SND return to the hard music scene of Canada with a crushing release (the follow-up to 1995's superb _Auto Body Crusher_). For those of you who do not know of SND, I suggest you find out fast before I come to your house and bust your chops. This album is great. With a very Fu Manchu/Kyuss dirge sound - a sound full of heavy riffs, powerful vocals (supplied by drummer/singer Tony), and a killer rhythm section to boot - SND is all you need to get you through the day. Crank this shit and forget about all your troubles. Check out the killer instrumental title track, as it doesn't get any heavier than that. Powerhouse music that'll pin ya to the floor. Contact: Sonic Unyon, P.O. Box 57347, Jackson Station Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8P 4X2 mailto:jerks@sonicunyon.com http://www.sonicunyon.com Solarus - _Empty Nature_ (Release, 1997) by: Andrew Lewandowski (3 out of 10) One perk of owning your very own record company is that you can release any mediocre album which features your participation. Bill Yurkiewicz, head honcho of Relapse, has exercised his right to release degenerate shit with the release of _Empty Nature_. While good ambient drills beneath your skin and good psychedelia completely alters your reality structure (see Gravitar or Flux), _EN_ accomplishes neither. Instead, Solarus replicate the art of nothingness; vacuous swirls of ambience and a repetitive beat inconspicuously fester for a few minutes before dissipating into the void in which they hardly arose from in the first place. Even the assistance of James Plotkin on guitars and production couldn't inject life into this travesty. Bishop of Hexen - _Archives of an Enchanted Philosophy_ by: Andrew Lewandowski (7 out of 10) (Hammerheart Prod., 1997) With the possible exception of _The Filemnice Occultist_ by Master's Hammer, no "concept album" has ever truly impressed me. _AoaEP_ is almost the first exception. Throughout the album, Bishop of Hexen closely align the path of their music with that of the story, an original metaphorical tale concerning transcendence achieved through Satanic transgression. While not the most revolutionary of concepts for a black metal band, lead singer Balzamon wields a surprisingly potent grasp of lyricism, although the band's Israeli origins occasionally manifest within a few incongruous phrasings. Musically, the band relies on the keyboard and synthesizer work of Dimrost to provide the story with a background. Dimrost's work benefits from one of the richest keyboard sounds on a metal album, yet this comes at the expense of the guitars and drums. Since they're relegated to inconsequential roles, they add almost nothing to the overall sound. Thus, BoH would benefit from phasing them out completely, and possibly adding some more diverse instrumentation to support the melancholic synths and add further embellishment to the plot. More importantly, I would not have to call BoH a black metal band, nor would I have to waste time inventing a new classification under which BoH can wallow along with every other former "black metal" band that utilizes synthesizers and a clean production. As is, this is still a relatively adventurous endeavor, and BoH undoubtedly succeeds in relating their concept. Voivod - _Phobos_ (Hypnotic, 1997) by: Alain M. Gaudrault (9 out of 10) While I somewhat enjoyed their previous release, _Negatron_, I found it spotty and a bit too 'hard alternative' sounding, too simplified, too unidimensional, particularly for Voivod. I'm glad to report that _Phobos_ is clearly several steps beyond _Negatron_, compositionally. This is a dense album full of complex songs with plenty of odd time signatures and tempo changes. My first impression of _Phobos_ was admittedly not a very good one. I found the songs sort of samey, the overall sound not especially dynamic, but repeated listenings slowly revealed the true nature of this beast. This is Voivod recapturing the style of songwriting their long-time fans have been waiting to hear for almost ten years, while successfully incorporating a fresher sound and edgier attack which relies on mood and strangely memorable passages rather than outright speed, though that's not entirely surprising given their later releases with former frontman Snake. I'm also happy to hear newcomer Eric Forrest's vocals presence downplayed, taking on a more inhuman, mechanical style, yet distinctly analogue nevertheless. Lots of well thought out vocal effects give the right touches at the right times, conveying well the surrounding music's aura. And of the music, Piggy's chops (pardon the pun) are top notch; his undeniably unique way of stringing almost-grating chords together is compelling and always delivered with expert precision and timing. Drumming is excellent as always, if not a bit subdued by the muddy production. Actually, the production is quite decent in general, although I have a difficult time figuring out whether Away's riding the cymbals a bit too much throughout, or whether that's a knob-twiddling problem. From listening to the advance cassette sans lyrics, _Phobos_ seemed to be a concept album, mostly in the way the songs flow into one another; even though difficult to determine without a lyrics sheet, the mood and style of the album, as well as the song titles, sort of led me to believe there was a common thread amongst at least some of the songs, excluding the last two tracks, one co-written with Jason Newsted (Metallica, Flotsam & Jetsam), the other a cover of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" (great cover, great song). According to Away, whom I subsequently bumped into at a gig of theirs in Toronto, it is in fact a concept album; while the lyrics don't seem to make much conventional, lucid sense, they do transmit a matching grimness to the accompanying music. All in all, _Phobos_ harkens back to older, heavier days of the band, without sounding dated nor trendy. A must for metal fans of all genres. Von - _Satanic Blood_ (Hellspawn Records, 1997) by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10) I like this even more than the score might suggest, but in terms of musical prowess, it's pretty low-grade stuff. Also, the sound quality is occasionally spotty; this sounds like it was mastered from a cassette. Still, Von scores big (with me) for its combination of spooky conviction and odd uniqueness. If you've heard Dark Funeral's cover of this cult US band's "Satanic Blood", then you've got the formula for this entire eight-song, 20-minute recording: riffs, beats, and song structures which all define the word 'simplistic,' with an aura of malevolent sickness hanging over everything like an unsettling rotten smell. Proto-black-metal riffs exude menace that mounts through sheer repetition, while death-ish vocals proclaim weird lyrics in a guttural chant. Very cool stuff, likely to be enjoyed if you've got a hunger for the truly feral and raw. On the other hand, if you're annoyed by musicianship of a less-than-professional caliber, you'll have to look elsewhere for the bitchin' chops and sweet licks which you crave. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ _ /\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___ / \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \ / /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/ \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___| If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's header. Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo **** -- Great piece of work *** -- Good effort ** -- A major overhaul is in order * -- A career change is advisable Death of Millions - _Frozen_ (10-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (****-) This demo didn't arrive at CoC HQ like most of our demos do. Instead I received a copy of _Frozen_ from Death of Millions (DoM) at this year's Milwaukee MetalFest and I gladly told the band that I would review it. Well guys... here we are: D-Day! The Texas quintet's 10-song tape is a roller-coaster ride through numerous sounds, styles and speeds - everything from brutal death metal to straightforward death metal to atmospheric metal. Quite a good mixture if you ask me. While the grinding groove and death growls seem to take precedence over slick riffs and brutal intensity, I found a lot of the band's material to be very well orchestrated and planned. It seems as though the band not only likes to deliver crushing blows to our cranium, but also coat their music with interludes and one heavy atmosphere. I'm totally digging this demo and hoping that the band keeps their music this interesting from here on in - stay away from trends guys! Good production also helps makes this onslaught of noise and heapage of brutality a worthwhile listen every time you crank it up. Contact: Death of Millions, 808 Chrisholm Valley Dr., Round Rocks, Texas, USA 78681 Bookings: (512) 441-6065 http://www.io.com/~someguy/ In Velvet Clouds - _The Frozen Immensity_ (5-track demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (***--) When I saw this debuting Portuguese band live [CoC #21], I mentioned the fact that they had two dedicated vocalists (a grunter and a screamer) who provided an entertaining live performance. I also described them as being "an aggressive mix of Cradle of Filth and Brutal Truth." That's how they did sound live, but after listening to their demo tape, I must say that there's no Brutal Truth to their sound, and even the Cradle of Filth influences aren't so huge - still easy to notice, though, namely on the keyboards; however, things are usually slower than CoF. This 30-minute demo tape shows a better balance of aggression and melody than their live set, and my overall opinion about this band is better now, even though they did sound much more powerful live. "... And I Wish to Die" (been listening to early Anathema, guys?) shows what the band is all about: the two vocalists, mid/fast-paced metal with some melodic parts provided by the keyboards and guitar. "With Crows I Fly" is slower, doomier, with a steady (yet a bit simple) keyboard melodic background and a poor attempt at copying Cradle of Filth's female vocals; the lead guitar shows up again, but much less effectively. "Glacier Winter" doesn't add anything new, the bad news being that the quality is again lower than before. However, "Drops of Life" shows In Velvet Clouds back in top shape, as in the first track, and finisher "A Lilt in Your Dream" keeps up the pace. What ends up subtracting one from the 4 out of 5 rating they deserved is the production, which is rather fuzzy, their lack of originality, and a few minor details. Still, a good demo with a few good highlights, clearly better than the average 3 out of 5. Contact: Jose Ricardo, Rua Manuel Fernando Tomas n.17 4760 Vila Nova de Famalicao, Portugal Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_ by: Alain M. Gaudrault (*****) (3-track demo) Turns out this material isn't quite hot off the press, as the first track, "Build Fear", previously appeared on a double seven-inch compilation, while "Swallowhole" and "Gagged Whore" were on a split ten-inch with Grief. Regardless, it's madly infectious grinding, groovy Louisiana sludgecore. Sadly, I've not heard their full-length release on Dwell Records, _Pussysoul_; needless to say, I'm on the lookout. Able to fuse the grooviest, sludgiest riffs seamlessly with grinding blasts of well-controlled ferocity and noggin-banging mid-tempo churning, Soilent Green do not fail to deliver a solid, consistently captivating assault. The variety of vocal styles - from a slightly muted shrieking bark reminiscent of EyeHateGod and Exhorder, to a low gurgle, to muffled spoken word - works remarkably well with the ever-changing tempos and off-beat rhythms found throughout. The guitars have this flowing, buzzsaw quality, detracting from any bass sound, though; unless, of course, the bass is in fact fuzzed out and plainly audible! Drumming is superb, never tiresome, although the drummer may want to lay off the constant cymbals. Yet, the beat is always fresh, and meshes perfectly with the accompanying music, while standing its own ground in the overall sound. My only wish is that the tape didn't end so soon. Kudos to Ben for graciously parting with a copy upon our chance meeting at the Milwaukee MetalFest. Contact: SOILENT GREEN c/o Ben Falgoust, 1332 Apple Street Metairie, Louisiana, USA 70001 Voice: 504-887-3911 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ____ __ __ /\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __ \ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___ \ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\ \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/ \ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/ ____ __ /\ _`\ /\ \__ \ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____ \ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\ \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\ \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/ \/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/ V I T A L R E M A I N S - U N P L U G G E D ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vital Remains, Incantation, and Ember Northwest Hall, Chicago, August 8, 1997 by: Steve Hoeltzel The flyers for this show should have advertised "Vital Remains Unplugged" - because that's exactly what we got to see, as the club's pissed-off head honcho cut the power on the headlining band only four songs into their set. I suppose this was kind of a letdown, but the entire incident was just too funny to result in any real disappointment. First, though, the rest of the story... I managed to score myself a free "in" to this show by tagging along with the Ember guys, who graciously offered me a place to crash for the night in exchange for some help moving gear and whatnot. So, not long after I completed the trek from Iowa City to the suburban Chicago homestead of guitarist Ali and drummer Abbas, it was time to load the band's equipment into Ali's bronco and bassist Allen's car, and head into the city to the club. Joined by Chris, who is temporarily filling in for Abbas on drums, our two-car convoy set out on a little pre-show cruise through one of the, shall we say, less charming sections of town. But despite the rush-hour traffic, and except for the occasional little swerve to miss an obviously crack-addled pedestrian, the ride itself was basically uneventful. (Some street vendor called us "bitches" or something like that, but I suppose that's pretty routine.) Just a few blocks from the club, we stopped at the downtown apartment of vocalist Pete and guitarist Nader, only to find an ambulance parked in front, blocking our way. Classic! It turned out that Pete and Nader had already left, so we piled back in and drove to the hall, finding the two aforementioned thrashers loitering around in front, greeting us with the Sign of the Horns and swilling 22-ouncers of Old English 800 wrapped in paper bags - true inner city style! The club itself was what you might call 'intimate,' with a maximum legal capacity of just over 200, and three damn long flights of stairs to be mounted before gaining entry. And so up those stairs we went, repeatedly, until all the gear was more or less in place. The band then went about getting everything hooked up and doing a bit of sound-checking, before kicking back for what would turn out to be quite a long wait to play. The monotony of this wait was broken up at one point by the appearance of members of the Chicago PD, keeping the city safe from evil by demanding that all of our many spikes, bullet belts, and so on, be removed - not merely from our bodies, but from the premises. According to the cops, these are weapons. Hmmm... funny how most criminals these days prefer guns, when spiked arm bands are cheaper and don't require maintenance or ammunition... Anyway, our unholy little entourage had quite the pile of "weapons" which had to be transferred to Allen's car. Then more waiting around. Eventually, the doors opened and folks started filtering in, and by the time about 50 or 60 people (minus their weapons) were in attendance, Ember finally got to play. They performed an impressive set of their thrashy, blackened material, especially during "These Darkened Wings", "Dance of the Ancients" (my personal fave), and "Divinity". They also played a newer song, "Sheading", as well as a cover of the Misfits' "Earth AD" - a fitting choice, since the Misfits were playing with Megadeth somewhere else in Chicago that very night. (This probably explains why there weren't more than about 75 or 80 people at this show, total.) All in all, I really enjoyed their set, and once they've acquired a bit more live experience and stage presence, along with a bit more vocal endurance on Pete's part, I think they'll be a very convincing live band. (For more description of their sound, etc., see the reviews of their demos in CoC #22 and CoC #17.) After Ember came local black metallers Profanacion - but I missed them, having decided to take a walk with Pete and Nader down to the strangely aromatic liquor store. Our objective: more OE - once again, enjoyed out of a paper bag, the True Underground Wino way. We ended up loitering out on the street for quite a while, looking evil, critiquing the band's performance, taking in the ambiance, and so on. I spent a few minutes chatting with Joe Lewis of Vital Remains about this and that, then helped the Ember guys move some more equipment, then spent some more time curb-side, milling around and watching some neighborhood kid yelling threats and insults at passing motorists. Then it was back upstairs for - more waiting around! A rumor was circulating to the effect that Incantation were waiting to get paid; in any case, they weren't in any hurry to play. Their set definitely proved to be worth the wait, though. They played as a three-piece, with no bass - which greatly enhanced the clarity of the drums and guitars, even if it did take some of the weight out of their sound. (Guitarist John and drummer Kyle are joined on this tour by Daniel, also of The Chasm, on guitar and vocals.) I had been a bit disappointed by these guys in Milwaukee, but on this night they more than delivered. In particular, Kyle's drumming just blew me away! His amazing speed and wicked precision powerfully propelled the band through the many nefarious time changes that crowd their material. The quickened newer stuff like "Shadows from the Ancient Empire" and "Forsaken Mourning of Angelic Anguish" sounded just killer. (See CoC #22 for a review of their new MCD.) Indeed, the whole set was pretty crushing, though closer "Profanation" took a couple tries to get started properly. Regardless, these guys just smoked. Finally, the time came for Vital Remains. As in Milwaukee, I thought that the first two songs of their set were a little bit flat when compared to the incredible "I Am God" and "Battle Ground" which follow them. ("Battle Ground" rules, and if you haven't checked out _Forever Underground_ yet, you're missing out. CD review in CoC #20.) Once again, cool riffs abounded, Joe Lewis roared out great vox, and Joe Suzuki proved to be a true master of the blast beat. Indeed, his blast-mastery was impossible to ignore when the power was cut to the P.A., making the drums the only audible instrument! Let me backtrack a bit here... The house lights had come up during the band's second or third song, but this did nothing to deter them from playing on. Realizing this, the guy in charge of the venue took it upon himself to personally instruct the guys to quit - with quite humorous results. See, this guy was all of about four foot eight, and easily in his fifties, with a good-sized belly, wearing a Hawaiian-print shirt and a very silly-looking eye shade / golf visor thing. Just before the end of Vital Remains' third song, he walked up next to the shirtless, spike-clad Joe Lewis at the mike stand, and as the song ended he bellowed, "The Party's OVER!!!" - which had no effect whatsoever on Joe. The band plowed into their next song, thrashing away, and the poor guy had to just stand there, arms folded, looking -extremely- pissed off at these disobedient long-hairs. Meanwhile, the band just kept on ripping through the song: an eight- or nine-minute piece, during which the guy only seemed to get more and more annoyed. (By the way, I'm not dissing this guy at all - just saying it was funny to see him up there glaring daggers at the band. The dude was MAD.) Finally, after sharing the spotlight with the musicians for five minutes or so, he opted to walk offstage and literally pull the plug on the sound system. The band, however, thrashed on, with Joe going mad on the bass, guitarist Tony running through the crowd shaking hands and slapping fives, and Suzuki finishing out the song perfectly on drums - drawing laughter and roars of approval from the audience. A -classic- ending! [Thanks and cheers to all who helped to make my trip to this show not only possible, but also tons of fun. -- Steve] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= D E M O N I C P I G W A L K ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Testament, Stuck Mojo, and Strapping Young Lad Big Dog's, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 6, 1997 by: Steve Hoeltzel For the sake of honesty, I should start by saying that I am not a fan of any of these bands. So if this review comes across as a bit lackluster, that's why. It's not that anyone played poorly; in fact, all three bands really performed their material well. It's just that I don't really get into said material: I prefer more extreme and artistic metallic manifestations to all this comparatively conventional, unchallenging, 'Headbanger's Ball'-ish stuff. But what the heck - I wanted to see Gene Hoglan play the drums for SYL, and I also figured that watching Testament could be fun in a memory-lane sort of way. (However, don't expect me to lapse into any "those were the good old days" schlock, because as far as I'm concerned, the last five years or so have probably been extreme metal's best ever, at least in terms of the quantity of energy going into the scene and the quality of results coming out. But I digress.) Despite its kind of hokey name, Big Dog's is a great place to catch a show: it's smallish to medium in size, with a pretty big stage and a consistently clear and powerful PA. Seeing Morbid Angel there was awesome. On the other hand, seeing Gwar there sucked. But then again, that's because Gwar sucks. Hmmm... digressing again; sorry. Strapping Young Lad played first. My lack of familiarity with their material limits what I'm able to say about their performance, but all in all, I felt that Gene Hoglan single-handedly - and solely - made watching them worthwhile. Actually, I should say 'double-footedly,' because the guy's double-bass technique is just unbelievable, and it's really cool to watch the crazy moves he pulls off up top while machine-gunning the crap out of the pedals below. Very impressive. I must say, though, this band's material didn't do anything for me. Not that their delivery wasn't full-on and skillful. It's just that the music itself struck me as too gimmicky, in a 'Beyond metal, this is cyber-charged hard music for the 21st century!' kind of way. Not my cup of tea - nor my horn of ale, nor my bucket of blood, if you catch my drift, heheheh... Next up: Stuck Mojo. Based on my experience with other rap-influenced 'metal' bands, I expected to find these guys either totally laughable or highly annoying, and probably both. After seeing them perform, however, I have to give them credit for being a good live act, nowhere near as crappy or irritating as I had expected. The reason: they put much more energy into sharp riffs and hammering percussion than into rap-styled running on at the mouth. Picky bastard that I am, I would hesitate to call them a -metal- band in the purest sense of that term: their material is more grounded in the simpler dynamics of rock, with a heightened emphasis on up-front rhythm (owing to the strong rap influence), plus metal's highly amplified guitar punch. But even if they're a far cry from extreme metal's cutting artistic edge, they do possess the ability to Rock the House; I'll give them that. Loads of energy from everybody on stage, songs packed with hooks, and great drumming, too. Again, it's really not my thing, but it wouldn't be fair to slag their live performance just because I'm not a fan of their songwriting style. Finally, Testament. At least, I think it was Testament - they used such absurd amounts of fog that visual confirmation of their identities was difficult. Anyway, whoever was up there played a good, tight set which didn't skimp on Testament's earliest material, as well as showcasing some of the latest, reputedly much heavier stuff. Indeed, the newest songs were pretty weighty by Testament standards, displaying some definite death metal influences - but, it must be said, never approaching the compositional unorthodoxy or sheer guttural fury of premiere death bands like Cryptopsy or Incantation. No, the new Testament material is mosh metal all the way, even if the vocals occasionally descend into death metal depths. By far, it was the band's oldest stuff that went over the best, with "Over the Wall" and "The New Order" proving especially thrash-able. Chuck Billy's vocals held up superbly (even with all the fog, which I found pretty amazing), and those great thrash guitar breaks rang out loud and clear. And true to tradition, Chuck laid down some pretty wicked air guitar on his cut-off mike stand all through Testament's set. All in all, I'd have to say that all three bands did a solid job of presenting their material - so any real fan of these groups would no doubt have greatly enjoyed the evening. I can't count myself as a member of that particular camp, before or after this show, but hopefully this is still a fair-minded account of the proceedings. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gino's Top 5 1. Proscriptor - _The Venus Bellona_ 2. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_ 3. Brutal Truth - _Need To Control_ 4. Prodigy - _The Fat of the Land_ 5. Monster Magnet - _Spine of God_ Adrian's Top 5 1. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_ 2. Life Of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_ 3. Blunt Force Trauma - _Bled Out_ 4. Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_ 5. Manowar - _Louder Than Hell_ Brian's Top 5 1. Dimmu Borgir - _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_ 2. Ved Buens Ende - _Written In Waters_ 3. Ruins - _Graviyaunosch_ 4. Gates of Ishtar - _The Dawn of Flames_ 5. Dark Reality - _Blossom of Mourning_ Alain's Top 5 1. Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_ 2. Strapping Young Lad - _City_ 3. Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_ 4. Flotsam and Jetsam - _High_ 5. Voivod - _Phobos_ Steve's Top 5 1. Asgaroth - _The Quest for Eldenhor_ 2. Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_ 3. Adramelech - _Psychostasia_ 4. Vlad Tepes / Belketre - split CD 5. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_ Adam's Top 5 1. Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul_ 2. Gehenna - _Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell)_ 3. Morbid Angel - _Covenant_ 4. Immortal - _Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism_ 5. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_ Drew's Top 5 1. Obtained Enslavement - _Witchcraft_ 2. Niden Div. 187 - _Impergium_ 3. Algaion - _General Enmity_ 4. Hypocrisy - _The Fourth Dimension_ 5. Iced Earth - _Days of Purgatory_ Andrew's Top 5 1. Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_ 2. Dissecting Table - _Human Breeding_ 3. Aeturnus - _Beyond the Wandering Moon_ 4. Loren Nerell - _lilin dewa_ 5. Discordance Axis - _Necropolitan_ Pedro's Top 5 1. Dimmu Borgir - _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_ 2. Dark Tranquillity - _The Mind's I_ 3. Katatonia - _Brave Murder Day_ 4. Emperor - _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ 5. Autumn Tears - _LPfDC Act II: The Garden of Crystalline Dreams_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ __ __ __ | \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----. | -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --| |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____| Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos --> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CHRONICLES OF CHAOS 57 Lexfield Ave Downsview Ont. M3M-1M6, Canada Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517 e-mail: ginof@interlog.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= DESCRIPTION ~~~~~~~~~~~ Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically distributed worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all forms of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient, industrial and electronic/noise as well as classic and progressive metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of album reviews from a wide range of bands, as well as interviews with some of the underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews and indie band interviews. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a message with "coc subscribe " in the SUBJECT of your message to . Please note that this command must NOT be sent to the list address . AUTOMATIC FILESERVER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do is send a message to us at . The 'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X" where 'X' is the name of the requested file (do not include the quotes). Back issues are named 'coc-n', where 'n' is the issue number. For a description of all files available through this fileserver, request 'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all file names. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #24 All contents copyright 1997 by individual creators of included work. All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.