_________ .__ .__ .__ \_ ___ \| |_________ ____ ____ |__| ____ | | ____ ______ / \ \/| | \_ __ \/ _ \ / \| |/ ___\| | _/ __ \ / ___/ \ \___| Y \ | \( <_> ) | \ \ \___| |_\ ___/ \___ \ \______ /___| /__| \____/|___| /__|\___ >____/\___ >____ > \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ _____ _________ .__ _____/ ____\ \_ ___ \| |__ _____ ____ ______ / _ \ __\ / \ \/| | \\__ \ / _ \/ ___/ ( <_> ) | \ \___| Y \/ __ \( <_> )___ \ \____/|__| \______ /___| (____ /\____/____ > \/ \/ \/ \/ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, March 10, 1998, Issue #29 http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Cont./Editor: Steve Hoeltzel Contributor/Editor: Andrew Lewandowski Contributor/Editor: Pedro Azevedo Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Adam Wasylyk Contributor: Drew Schinzel Contributor: Paul Schwarz 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 #29 Contents, 3/10/98 ---------------------------- * Editorial * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- King Diamond: The Curse of the King -- Morbid Angel: Hellspawn Reborn -- In Flames: The Flame of Ingenuity * Album Asylum -- Abigor - _Supreme Immortal Art_ -- Ablaze My Sorrow - _The Plague_ -- Alio Die - _The Hidden Spring_ -- Amon Amarth - _Once Sent from the Golden Hall_ -- Various Artists - _Area 51_ -- Black Funeral - _Empire of Blood_ -- Bongzilla - _Methods For Attaining Extreme Attitudes_ -- Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_ -- Defleshed - _Under the Blade_ -- Demonic - _The Empire of Agony_ -- Diaboli - _Towards Damnation_ -- The Everdawn - _Poems - Burn the Past_ -- Guillotine - _Under the Guillotine_ -- Indungeon - _Machinegunnery of Doom_ -- Keep of Kalessin - _Through Times of War_ -- Lux Occulta - _Dionysos_ -- Maeror Tri - _Emotional Engramm_ -- Mental Home - _Vale_ -- Various Artists - _A Mercyful Fate Tribute_ -- Midvinter - _At the Sight of the Apocalypse Dragon_ -- Mithotyn - _In the Sign of the Ravens_ -- Moonspell - _Sin/Pecado_ -- Nagelfar - _Hunengrab im Herbst_ -- Nebula - _Let It Burn_ -- Nightstick - _Ultimatum_ -- Officium Triste - _Ne Vivam_ -- Otyg - _Alvefard_ -- Pro-Pain - _Pro-Pain_ -- Pungent Stench - _Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins_ -- Sadness - _Evangelion_ -- Sentenced - _Story: A Recollection_ -- Social Degeneration of Poets - _Martyrdom_ -- Solefald - _The Linear Scaffold_ -- Stuck Mojo - _Rising_ -- Tura Satana - _Relief Through Release_ -- Uncreation - _Uncreation_ -- Unnatural - _Throne of Anguish_ -- Unsane - _Occupational Hazard_ -- War - _Total War_ * New Noise -- Coarse - _Downwards_ -- Destroyer - _demo_ -- Gandalf - _Snakebite_ -- Kekal - _Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams_ -- Kormoss - _Screams From Night-Mary_ -- Kronos - _Outrance_ -- Oathean - _demo_ -- Shadows Fall - _Shadows Fall_ -- Vorpal Bunny - _Reign Of The Lupus_ * Chaotic Concerts -- Entombed's Not Egregious: Entombed at Coney Island High * What We Have Cranked * Details =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M""MMMMMMMM dP M MMMMMMMM 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88 M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88 M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88 M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8 MMMMMMMMMMM M""MMMMMMMM dP dP M MMMMMMMM 88 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b. M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo. M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88 M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P' MMMMMMMMMMM This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative, ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own letter here, e-mail it to and enter 'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Subject: The Ancient review in CoC... Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 23:44:03 PST From: "Steven Cannon" To: ginof@interlog.com Hey dude! Steven Cannon here from Vibrations of Doom Magazine. Have to say NICE work on yer latest issue, that Razor interview was VERY thorough! You actually beat US to the punch, we were going to try and get a Razor interview (Their "Violent Restitution" is truly a brutal masterpiece!) but we haven't heard from them yet! We ARE going to try and do an Exciter interview very soon, since we know how to get in touch with them! One gripe I had was with the review of Ancient's "Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends." WHY OH WHY did this album HAVE to be a zero? It sounds like the only thing the reviewer had in mind was their lyrical stance? What about the MUSIC, which I thought was very well composed! And a few songs had some rather interesting fantasy topics as well, it wasn't the usual "Christianity sucks, Lucifer is god" spiel we've all had to endure from countless black metal acts. I mean, let's face it, if Venom had released their "Black Metal" album today, people would be griping about the song "Teacher's Pet" for god's sakes! Or they'd probably say that Venom's lyrics weren't satanic enough! SHeesh! While we're at it we just want all our readers to know that we DO have a new web site address, and this site will be featuring RealVideo clips from various concerts we have filmed, another first that only Vibrations of Doom will offer for its readers! Thanks so much for putting out great issues, and I'll always be a fan! Our new web site address is: http://www.doom.org/vod/index.shtml... It won't totally replace the old kmf.org address, but it WILL be linked up so you can still use the old address, but the new site will be the one that updates will be done to FIRST... Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #28 Date: Fri, 06 Feb 1998 13:44:18 -0800 From: "A.N.U.S." To: ginof@interlog.com howdy, it was with great delight that i opened a new CoC in my mailbox. my complaints are none with the publication and my commendations are hefty for once again offering a great service to the metal underground. i have a virulent disagreement with one of the petitioners in your "loud letters" section, however; his assertion follows: > No diatribes other than one for the 1-HAND WONDER who cups his > thesaurus into a masturbation aid.This returning and perverse image > coupled with this person's ridiculously inappropriate poetic > ramblings, makes it impossible for me to read past the album title > and his long name without laughing at him. Slay thyself,Andrew. The > time is ripe. Keep on PULLING through guys. Great e-mag.Wotan sends > his blessings. To this (fellow) reader i would only note: what is easily mistaken for masturbation is an innovation in the precision of language, which, despite its seemingly high overhead of memorization and textual processing provides a protocol through which a reviewer can have a more enlightened and useful dialogue with the reader, granting to said reader a more informed ability to make choices. this seems trivial until you consider the sheer number of releases, the high percentage that are worthless, and the damage done to metal every year by misinformed fans promoting musically inferior or compositionally derivative bands. my congratulations to CoC for making a decision to pursue a more complex and more rewarding technique of reviewing rather than a simpler but less-useful commonly accepted substitute. take care, EVIL GOAT ]-------------------------------------------------------[ ] The Dark Legions Archive / Death and Black Metal [ ] [ ] Brought to you by the Oration of Disorder [ ] Friday 10-midnight on KSPC, 88.7 FM in Los Angeles [ ]-------------------------------------------------------[ Subject: Impaled Nazarene in Monterrey N.L. Mexico Date: Mon, 9 Feb 1998 19:49:49 -0600 (CST) From: Alvarez Castillo David Edwin To: ginof@interlog.com Greetings. First of all i have to congratulate you for your great electronical magazine, which i personally consider the best one, and i believe it can be compared to other long time magazines like metal maniacs and terrorizer. Well, this is not the first time i write to you. I have been reading the magazine since its beginning. I was one of the lucky persons who got the World Domination II Promotonial CD. Well, the aim of this email is inform you that this February 21st Impaled Nazarene will be landing here on Monterrey Nuevo Leon. Some local bands will be openers and there will be chaos and destruction. I offer myself to interview them if you want to know something about them. All you have to tell me is what to ask them. I also offer myself to write a document about the concert. I wanna do this because i consider some local bands play great and they deserve to be known. Well if you decide to send me the questions i will do my best to interview them. For now its all, i will be waiting for your next number of CoC. Subject: Attention Loud letters Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 15:57:25 EST From: "VODENITCHAROV,GUEORGUI A,MR" To: Hi All, First of all - great e-zine. I'm just writing in response to the letter you guys got from some stupid Cryptopsy fan that wants a better looking zine.Doesn't that person realise that it's all volunteer work and he benefits from it every month? I think it's more important to support the scene by spreading the word rather than spending time on fancy design and shit... And Cryptopsy are soon going to be filling up the bargain CD bins at HMV, hehehe... Thanks. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ T H E C U R S E O F T H E K I N G ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with King Diamond by: Adrian Bromley Talking to King Diamond was quite a thrill for me. Not only has King Diamond and his bands (via his solo career and with Mercyful Fate) help shape the sound of metal music during the 1980's and into the 1990's, but also brought a threatrical and storytelling twist (concept albums) to metal music -- a trait few bands have successfully accomplished. King Diamond's tales of evil, death and the occult has fascinated us for almost two decades and it seems fitting that as we head into the year 2000 his latest release _Voodoo_ is probably his best work to date. Sure it might be hard to top such classics as _Abigail_ (1987), _Them_ (1988) or _Fatal Portrait_ (1986), but _Voodoo_ lays claim to some of the best musical arrangement in years and is a truly eerie and quite scary story. The story, set in 1932 Louisiana, revolves around David Lafayette and his pregnant wife Sarah, along with grandpa, moving into a house north of Baton Rouge. They soon discover they are in the heart of Voodooville with cults, exorcists and spells everywhere they turn. King Diamond has presented us with a tale that'll tear at your inner psyche and bring out your biggest fears. This is priceless King Diamond storytelling. So, the phone call comes in from King Diamond at 5:30pm on Friday the 13th and the chat begins. For once, someone has talked more than I have during an interview. I can hardly keep up with King Diamond as he talks about his tales and the creation process of his music. It was an interesting chat, please read on: CoC: Being in Dallas, Texas (having recorded at the Nomad Studios), have you ever done any kind of research or study into the 'Day of the Dead' culture that is a very integral part of the Mexican culture? I lived there (in Mexico City) for ten years and found it quite fascinating, but scary at the same time. Seeing that you live in Texas and are right there near Mexico, and part of a community with a lot of Mexican people, have you ever opted to explore that idea for a record? King Diamond: I have only been to Mexico City once for a Mercyful Fate show and it was basically in and out for me. Some of the guys in the band stayed behind a couple of days and saw the pyramids. I would love to do that if we ever get there again. As for that theme to come into an album idea, you never know. I guess it depends on how it strikes me when I started reading about it and getting ideas going... CoC: ... there are a lot of things going on within that culture, and many people don't really understand what is going on in that phenomenon under the surface. It is a very spiritual thing for the people to take part in. It's quite fascinating, but, as I said before, scary as well. KD: I know what you mean. The whole idea of the 'Day of the Dead' is fascinating, but, as I mentioned, I have not really done much study into it. CoC: Let's talk about _Voodoo_. In terms of song writing, opposed to what you had done with last year's _The Graveyard_ and other past efforts, what was the approach to this record? Obviously, the story line is different as is the setting, but what is it about this time period and part of the United States that fascinated you to write _Voodoo_? KD: I have always had a fascination with voodoo, but I never really knew much about it. Voodoo, to me, had always been about pins in dolls, zombies and people acting all crazy and stuff. I never really knew about it. I hadn't really known much. So this all happened last year when our bass player was doing some work at a university nearby and I asked him to grab me some books on voodoo from the library. Reading up on voodoo really surprised me on how deep it was. It was truly amazing to read and learn about the spiritual side of voodoo and its unwritten laws. Learning about curses and all that other fascinating stuff. I was like 'Wow!,' I thought to myself that this would really make a good story and that was pretty much it. That is where the basis of the album started. From that reading I took into account a fact that turns out to be a problem for those in the story. The fact that people who believe in voodoo believe that you have to feed the dead. In many voodoo cemeteries, you will find food and wine by the tombstones. They really believe that if you don't feed the dead they are gonna come after you. That is also a part of the unwritten law that if you own a piece of land with a voodoo burial ground on it you should exclude the burial segment from the sale so that people can still come to it and respect the dead. And those facts became part of the story. I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to bring to the story. I started out with the idea for this record by drawing a map of the area and then started creating people in the story, giving them life. From there, the story of _Voodoo_ pretty much took off by itself. As I went along writing the story, I had to create more people to go along with it. And I didn't even have an ending to the story, it just all fell into place for me. CoC: A lot of people have always mentioned that the work of King Diamond is not just elaborate in the storytelling, but equally in the music. How do you scope out what sounds and/or vocal arrangements you will use for a certain song or concept record? KD: It is just like a big puzzle. One thing that King Diamond always makes an emphasis in using is a lot of mood and emotion throughout the record. Of course, the music sometimes seems to have a role in what a song will be about with the mood it radiates. I had written the music for _Voodoo_ before the ideas were to be added to it. It had that kind of feel to it. It has real tribal, voodoo-like feel to the music and that also helps bring out other different ideas when song writing. Like I said, the music of King Diamond is full of different ideas and emotions, but in the end it all comes together as one big puzzle. I have the music ideas flowing and then I write the story. When I do write the story, I constantly have the music on my mind. When the story is written, I then divide it up in many different chapters as needed and then I will find what chapters will suit what music. I try to team them up to the best of my ability. It takes time to do this, but it helps make the story an interesting one to hear as well as follow. CoC: Now I know you did some research on voodoo with books; did you by chance go to Louisiana to do some in-person research for the LP? KD: I had been there before. I mean, I have never attended a voodoo ritual, but I would love to. I didn't really have to go there and research. I had been there before with tours and I remember the whole atmosphere and the crickets chirping in the night. I remember the hot, damp summer feeling that radiated from there. CoC: So I guess from having been there before and experiencing the feel of the territory, you knew what you wanted to express with this LP and the story? KD: You get a better feel for the atmosphere if you have been there before. I mean, you can get that feeling from a book as well, but it just ain't the same. It is not like I packed up and went down there to do research when I started writing this album. I didn't do that. I just had a good background and feel to what Louisiana was all about. CoC: You have written some very memorable records with great story lines. Very elaborate and descriptive tales of evil and the occult. This seems to be very easy for you. Is it? Do you ever get writer's block? If so, how do you get past that writer's block? KD: It rarely happens when I am writing the story or lyrics; it happens quite a bit when I am writing the music for an album. I can sit down and work on the music for a song and just get to a point where I am not in the mood any more. At that point I just stop and try to start back another day working on the material. It happens, though. I don't just sit down and say, 'Okay, I am going to write all the music for the record now.' No. If I am in the mood, I will sit down and write with my guitar or keyboard. I'm just jamming and if ideas come from that jam session then I will try to put them into arrangements. It might just be an intro and a verse and no more. But that is where it all starts at that time. I also have gotten to know by now that if it all seems to be going nowhere to just stop and go watch some TV or something. I'll come back to it later on. But sometimes I will work three days back to back and that will happen 'cause I am in the mood and right frame of mind to create. CoC: How long does the process take for King Diamond to get the ideas in your head and into a finished product? What is the time frame? KD: It varies so much from album to album. Sometimes I record or write down stuff that won't be used at all, or just put away till the end of a recording session. I have a box of tapes with all of these ideas in my basement with all these choruses or verses. They are on those tapes put away because I really didn't feel the need to continue on and pursue something at that point in time. Sometimes I will take those tapes out and just give them a listen to what is on there and I get a real feeling of excitement when I play back that stuff and hear the ideas I created. It's great to dabble into unfinished material sometimes. Actually, I think three guitar riffs from _The Graveyard_ are from this stack of demo tapes I have, material that dates back to 1987. I picked up the tape and wondered what was on it and it was me just playing guitar in my apartment in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was one guitar. I listened carefully and I heard the intro to "Abigail", another riff and then part of the song "Welcome Home" on one tape. I was ecstatic. I wondered how I had never used this riff in the middle. I just started jamming and a lot of new stuff appeared around that one riff. I don't know what it turned into, but it became part of my newer material. It is really hard to say how long it takes to do a record, 'cause there is research involved and you need to be in a mood too. Ideas need to be floating around before you can start on a piece. This has so much to do with an inner mood. _Abigail_, for instance, was almost all written in one night. I wrote 90% of that record in one night. I woke up during a thunderstorm and I had so many ideas. I started to write it all down. I decided I should go back and lie down but I couldn't do so. Ideas just kept popping up out of my brain. I wanted to go back to sleep... but I couldn't. I needed to get all of that out onto paper. And you know what? That has never happened since then. CoC: There is a lot of use of the macabre, the occult and evil spread throughout the material of King Diamond -- does stuff you create scare you? KD: Mostly when we are recording the music, I am totally into the mood for creating the music and bringing out emotions in what we are working on. Later on, when I do play back my material, it doesn't affect me much. I know what I need to do certain arrangements and creating the mood. When I play back _Abigail_ today I don't think about the actual feel of the record, because I was part of the actual creation of the record. I get much more into looking at a photo album of the band and the career we have done. I start remembering all of the places I have been and how I felt then at a certain period of time. I remember about the making of the records and all the stuff that was a part of my life then at that time period. I can remember so many things. Stuff like who I would hang out with, what bars I went to, what car I drove. All these things pop up and affect me when I look at photos. I don't get any feelings generally from albums. It's just the way it is. I wish I wasn't a part of this band so I could put on a record and experience it for myself, without having had a hand in on the making of the record. I will never experience that. You know what it is like? It is like when we play shows, I have no idea what it looks like. Even if people record the show with a video camera, it never gives the true recollection of standing at the show and watching it. It is just a weird thing for me to deal with... CoC: ... unless of course you have an outer body experience, right? KD: Yeah... ... I guess that would be the only way to experience it. CoC: Maybe that could be a theme idea for the next King Diamond record? KD: Maybe so... maybe I should get out my guitar right now and start jamming. CoC: You have been living in the United States for over six years now; how has that change in environment (from native Denmark to Texas) affected your ways as a person or a musician? KD: I have always been able to easily adapt to other cultures and customs. Living in Los Angeles was not really my cup of tea 'cause everything was too strange to what I was used to in Denmark. Texas is very laid-back and the attitude of the people is very similar to what I was used to back home. CoC: Are you a celebrity in Texas? Do people pick you out at the mall or something? KD: It happens to me, but I see it as no problem. CoC: How do you feel about censorship in today's music? KD: I usually just hear about what is going on, 'cause we as a band never really experienced it much. I think it all comes to the fact that parents have no real idea of what their kids are all about. I think they don't spend time talking to their kids or asking them why they listen to bands like Marilyn Manson or King Diamond. Why not learn about the music they listen to and find out there is just nothing wrong or dangerous with it? I think parents are too busy making the big bucks and buying a new car to care about their kids. They don't care about their kids. They feel that they have to make all of their decisions for kids in respect to what they should listen to and/or like. 'Hello!...' this is a different generation, people. The world is far different compared to when those parents grew up. All of the values are different. This is a whole new ball game. I think parents should find out what kids are into and what they like and why, instead of forbidding them from listening to all of this stuff. Give them more credit than what you provide them with already, folks. CoC: A lot of people who I have talked to about _Voodoo_ have said this is one of your best works in ten years. How do you feel about that assumption? Do you agree? KD: I understand 100% what people are saying about _Voodoo_. I don't think it is a matter of whether an album is really good or bad, I mean, we always put our best effort into every LP. I know what they mean, though. I have come to the same conclusion that is being talked about _Voodoo_. People are talking about the attitude of the album. This is the same attitude that was part of King Diamond from the 80's. This is the same quality of stuff that _Abigail_ had, an aggressive approach with stronger arrangements, far different from what was found on _The Graveyard_ or _Spider's Lullabye_. The arrangements and guitar solos and the vocal arrangements are much more elaborate and stronger than past efforts. CoC: And why do you think that is? KD: A lot has to do with us getting a new drummer. John (Luke Hebert), who is from Louisiana, filled in for Darrin Anthony when he left the band. Darrin had been involved in a bad car accident and wasn't able to drum for us. We found John and when we started rehearsing for the European tour last Spring. He just played the songs exactly like they are on the record, which is something Darrin wasn't able to do. And hearing that sound of old material played so well brought back many memories. I heard that song that was written in 1987 sound exactly like we were back in that time frame, but played in 1997. It was incredible. A great feeling came over me. And all the old stuff we played brought out the same feeling in me over and over. Suddenly everything became genuine again. CoC: I guess the whole feeling inspired you to bring that sound and feeling back into the King Diamond record? KD: Yeah. And being on tour and playing those numbers live once again was bringing back all of that again. Bringing back memories of touring Europe in the back of a van. Coming off that recent tour and just going into the writing, it seems so natural to get back to that era of King Diamond. I didn't even question the writing at the time, it just flowed out with the attitude of old Diamond. The fact that we also changed studios this time around also played a part in bringing back emotion to the King Diamond material. We changed studios from the Dallas Sound Lab Studios, which was like a small studio in a huge complex, to Nomad Recording Studios, which is one studio. You are there alone with no one to bother you. It has a very intimate feel to it. It has this real metal quality to the studio. It was kind of like walking into the same kind of studio as _Fatal Portrait_ and _Abigail_. They were done in some smaller studios in Denmark. Even Andy [La Rocque, guitar] said so the first time he stepped in there. When Andy set foot in the studio, he was like, 'God, man this reminds me so much of Denmark.' When you record in a space that has that kind of atmosphere, it just brings out something in you that might not come out most of the time. It's not like you tried any harder, it just may have been a different level of concentration subconsciously. All of what comes out of you comes from deep within you. The inspiration flows from your surroundings and it does come out in the work. All of those points I made before have a lot to do with this album being a lot more King Diamond than there has been in sometime. I haven't done anything different with the past few albums. I am just sensing these feelings that I should have. I recognize this feeling of what my music should be like in a very big way. This is exactly the direction I want to take my music. It feels great. It's like, 'Oh yeah! I'm home again...' CoC: Was _Voodoo_ always the working title for this record or was there another name being thrown around? KD: There was another one. The very first thing I tried to write about was the plague. But every time I got into writing the material, I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. The record idea I had was a difficult one to do and would have to have been approached a different way than this time around. I wouldn't exclude the idea of starting up again and doing a album called The Plague, but who knows? CoC: You said you break down the story into chapters before adding the music to it and putting it into the final product. How much of the story you had written changed during recording? KD: Nothing really was taken away from the story. I would say more was added than taken out while recording the LP. CoC: On the topic of song writing and making LPs, you do double-duty in both your own band as well as Mercyful Fate. How do you juggle both bands? KD: I see an extreme difference between the two very clearly. For me, as the songwriter and being involved in everything, I see such a clear line. They act as two different entities for me. I have been very fortunate to work with both bands, both styles and I enjoy the ability to do so. It takes a lot of work but by God it is very rewarding. CoC: Last question. How would you describe _Voodoo_ to longtime fans of King Diamond, as well as to new fans who may want to pick this up? How would you describe the record? KD: Before I answer, I want to add this. For the first time I mastered both the King Diamond and Mercyful Fate LPs and that allowed me to know about the procedure that goes into mastering the LP and I noticed they really like to compress the shit out of the music. This record is a very clean one, with very little compression. It sounds good, better than past King Diamond records. Now... to get to your question: what do I think about the record? Well, the _Voodoo_ record is a lot scarier of a story than _The Graveyard_ and _Spider's Lullabye_. I think it is the scariest of all the stories I have been a part of writing. At the same time, the packaging you are going to get with this record is very elaborate. You will see a map of the area where this takes place as well as drawings of the characters on tarot cards. For the first time you will know exactly what these people look like when you hear their names called on the record. I am very satisfied with the way the packaging has turned out. Also, the music has a lot more vocals and solos. There is pretty much a lot more of everything with _Voodoo_ and that is a first for any King Diamond record in a long time. And the most important thing: this record is genuinely done. CoC: It's just as people say, 'If you are happy doing something it shows,' and obviously you are happy making the music and telling the story of _Voodoo_. Am I right? KD: That is so true, Adrian. We really, really love what we do and I know it shows with our records. Note: Roadrunner Record has recently issued a 'REMASTERED' series of both Kind Diamond and Mercyful Fate albums. They are digitally remastered gold discs, with new photos, liner notes, full lyrics and bonus tracks. Here are the LPs being reissued: KING DIAMOND (available now) ~~~~~~~~~~~~ * _Fatal Portrait_ - features the tracks "No Presents For Christmas" and "The Lake" * _Abigail_ - features rough mixes of "A Mansion In Darkness", "The Family Ghost" and "The Posession" * _Conspiracy_ - features "At the Graves" (alternative mix) and a live version of "Cremation" * _The Eye_ - Remastered only * _Them_ - features a rehearsal versions of "The Invisible Ghosts" and "Bye, Bye Missy" * _Live In Concert '87_ - Remastered only MERCYFUL FATE (available in the summer of 1998) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * _The Beginning_ - features the track "Black Funeral" * _Melissa_ - Remastered only * _Don't Break The Oath_ - features the demo of "Death Kiss" =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= H E L L S P A W N R E B O R N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Pete Sandoval of Morbid Angel by: Paul Schwarz Does Morbid Angel really need an introduction? Well, I suppose there might be some new extreme music fans out there or just people who've been dead for the last 9 years who don't know who they are. Morbid Angel are, in my humble opinion, one of the finest and most consistent death metal bands ever. From the originality and brutality of their (official) _Altars of Madness_ debut through classics like _Blessed Are the Sick_ and _Covenant_ and now with the much praised _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_, Morbid Angel have always been one step ahead of the competition and are never afraid to add something new and different into their melting pot of musical creativity. _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_ is set to be released onto an expecting, but still only mortal, world, and Morbid Angel are ready to claim their throne once again. With Morbid Angel keeping a low profile throughout 1997 and new vocalist/bassist Steve Tucker having to fill the size 12 boots David Vincent left behind, is the new Morbid Angel better than ever and ready to crush the mediocre, or just a shadow of its former glory? I talked to legendary human drum machine Pete 'Commando' Sandoval (also a part of the grindcore legend that was Terrorizer) about the new album and other matters both Morbid and otherwise to give those of you in doubt a helping hand. (And if you read Adam's short interview (issue #27) with Trey and, after this, are still not satisfied, pick up a copy of _FFttF_: I have a feeling you won't be disappointed.) CoC: Morbid Angel have always led and not followed in the death metal scene: does _FFttF_ continue in this tradition? Pete Sandoval: Yeah, I believe so, I believe our new album delivers all those points in those areas and a lot more. This new album is, I think, one of the strongest ones we've ever done -- I think it is going to do really well. It's got a lot of good things. CoC: About the production: Trey's been saying that it's more live and less processed than _Domination_ was; do you think that applies [overall] and how do you think that applies to the way the drums came out on _FFttF_? PS: I believe the production on this new album is really good, I mean you know there's always the thing when you do something, you do a record, you wish you could have done something better. There's always this kind of thing that happens. I think for the overall thing this album has so much; there are so many things going on in these songs, I think the production is good enough for the songs because all the speed, all the chaos going on it's like so hard to produce something to bring it as close to perfect as you can, but I think the drums, they came out as good as they would have come, I think the drums were good enough. Like I said, there are things I could have done better but that's how we learn from one album to another: we take it step by step. CoC: What about the solo drum track which you wrote for the new album? How did that come out? PS: The solo drums? My tribal drum piece? It came out all right, but I didn't have enough time to work on it in the studio because it was one of the last things I was doing. It was going to be a little bit longer, but unfortunately it didn't end up that way. But I think it is good enough for its purpose, because the purpose of it was to show the world what I can do, what is in me; it is the Latin part of me, in my blood, my Spanish blood and that is my representation right there of what I am, like a tribal dance ritual, so I am very happy with that one even though it wasn't as long as I expected it to [be], but there are other times to overdo it again and add some more things, which I wanted to in the beginning; I was going to add some voices as well, but I think it was good the way it came out because it was just different, so unique: it's just drums, just drums. CoC: Considering this is the first thing that you've been credited for on a Morbid Angel album, because usually Trey gets credited for the music, do you think in the future you will play more of a part in writing the music or do you think Trey will continue to write nearly all of it? PS: You mean the main music, the death metal, the hard music, the music in general? Well Trey's been the one from the very beginning, the first one, the one who started it all. So I have no idea, we worked together on this new album, we started from the very bottom me and him, just playing riffs and riffs and coming up with songs with rhythms and putting them together and just working and recording them day and day. I think as a team right now it has worked pretty good, because Trey is a very smart person, he's very intelligent and he is a very intelligent writer: he writes such incredible music, but yes, I think this will allow me to do more and want to do more in the future and help out as far as the songs [go], it is an open way for me, and I believe so, I would love to, and I will try to put more of my part onto the songs for the future. Of course, this gives me a motivation to want to do more than what I have done in the past, so like you said, it is just the beginning, it is the first record where I am credited for these couple of things and there's always a beginning, a new beginning; so I assume, yeah. I will work harder for the future, for the next record and see what I can come up with for the music in general. CoC: How do you feel about going on the road again and playing the new songs live? PS: I feel very excited, I can't wait man, because live is the way to prove the songs; you write an album, and you have a new record but you have to go and prove that you can do these songs live. That alone is such a great excitement, and also the excitement of being around the crowd who loves you, that cheers you up, and who wanna hear you live; all that energy kind of gets in you and [then] there's more energy and more excitement. So I can't wait for this tour to start and go play these songs because they are going to be really good live, they're gonna sound very powerful, it's a point we're gonna prove, and I do want to prove myself, live. Yeah, we're getting ready man. CoC: Trey has talked quite a bit already about the ideas expressed in the lyrics of the album, about the Living Continuum and the Ancient Ones: do you share those beliefs? PS: Yeah, I share those beliefs with him, I share those beliefs with Morbid Angel 'cause Morbid Angel is a team, it is a unit. I am with him in all that because if one of us is not on the same track the whole unit would not be as powerful. Yes, I am with Trey, with the Living Continuum and the Ancient Ones: they have to do with the energy and the power of this band and it's definitely in the beliefs. CoC: And Steve fits into that well? PS: Of course, of course. He has to sing all these songs. Yeah, definitely, I believe so, he is very serious about it as well. I think it is a very interesting philosophy, it is very genuine and original and also very powerful in itself. If you believe that and if you believe that we are the instruments of the Ancient Ones, it's like an energy, it's like a good thing that you feel inside when you write these songs and in the words, the meaning, the messages of these songs it is much more positive and is much more powerful than ever. That alone gives you more energy, more power, you get more motivated to do these things with more conviction. It is a very positive idea; as long as it is very positive, in the winning positive, it's good. Why not, why not be part of something that is positive, that is going to give us success, that will give us new ideas in the future, that is going to keep us going, getting ahead with our lives? CoC: You said that the belief gives you some sort of energy. Along with that, what sort of music inspired you to play originally and what music still inspires you to carry on? PS: What sort of music? CoC: Yeah, you talked about your Spanish heritage for example. PS: I listen to all kinds of music man, I listen to a lot of classical music, a lot of jazz, I listen to some Spanish music of course, I listen to some alternative techno music. Whatever is inspiring and whatever is original, there are a lot of things out there which are original and as long as it's original and it's got something good in there [I listen to it]. I don't just like one kind of music. I am into different types of music; whatever sounds good to me I like and whatever has a good meaning of course. I just listen to different kinds of things. Also experiences in life influence you and get you in the mood of writing. So all these things influence me in my life, in our lives. CoC: Why do you think Morbid Angel have lasted throughout the rise and fall of death metal? A lot of bands who were around in the early _Altars of Madness_ days have either changed or split up, but you're still here; what do you think is the reason for this? PS: The specific reason is that we have never given up, we have kept on writing songs and material that is different [on each album]. We have just continued writing songs which are very powerful, I believe and our belief just keeps us going, and our hard work, because a lot of bands just give up when things are not happening for them, and they probably stop working as hard as they should. With Morbid Angel, especially with Trey and with us too, [it is] that we keep on working hard every day writing songs and believing that one day we were gonna record those songs and it was gonna be a good album, but we had to work hard every day man, just working on songs, just changing them every day, just changing bars and it is definitely that belief in working hard, not ever giving up and trying to write something that is not as common, something that is original and that's the thing that sets bands apart from others: their originality. A lot of bands, they write one album, they a write a second album, third album and it's kinda the same, it's kinda the same thing; not much change. Every album we have tried to make something new, something different, or add new things to it -- like on the new record, we've added two pieces, Trey added two pieces of instrumental keyboard [for avid Morbid Angel fans like myself wishing to remind Pete of "Doomsday Celebration" on _Blessed Are the Sick_, I think that the interludes on the new album have a different feel, it is not just that they are played on keyboards that makes them original --PS] and that gives the album more characteristics, more things for the listener to explore. All of these things have to do with that [the hard work] and also a belief in yourself, that's a major thing -- you've gotta believe that you can do it -- and that is our belief, the belief that we already have fixed in our heads before anything is written down. We can do it, because, like Trey says, "everyone has the potential to be a winner" and I think it is just a matter of wanting it and working hard for it and that's what it is man, it [success] shows up for those who work hard: those are the ones that get the prize, man, the medallion. We're gonna keep going and hopefully Steve is gonna stick with us and be part of our team and try to make it as powerful as possible, 'cause it's gonna be his first tour and we'll see what happens, but we are excited about it. Those are good things: the emotions, feelings, excitement, wanting to do things, and wanting to change things, wanting to make things of greatness, that's the big thing. CoC: You've decided to stay with Earache as your record company; were you ever thinking of changing record company? PS: We were just trying to find the best contract, the best deal. That's the best thing, there wasn't a specific company we wanted to go to. We just tried to find whoever would give us the right deal, the fairest deal for us, and that happened to be Earache. Earache gave us the best deal overall, and that's who we stayed with. So I am happy that we stayed with Earache and I hope that they do a good job for us. CoC: Are you taking Richard Brunelle out on tour with you? PS: We are taking him out [with us], yes. We are currently practicing with him every day. CoC: How has that been? PS: He's been doing great. We believe he is coming on the tour with us so that's very positive right there, if he comes out with us he'll do a good job of it, so I think he'll be on the tour. CoC: Which bands will you be taking out with you? PS: I believe for this European tour that the band Vader is gonna open for us. CoC: Really! PS: And one band from Earache, Entwined or something. They're gonna open up and Vader. That's the last thing I heard, for this European tour that we're gonna do. I hope that it is a great tour. CoC: Do you think there will ever be a Terrorizer reunion? PS: Terrorizer reunion? I have no idea man, because Jesse is doing his own thing, he is in Napalm even though I spoke to him a few times a couple a months ago. He still, you know, has this thing in his mind that he would like to do another shot, and I wouldn't mind to do another shot to it, but the thing is it's like Oscar Garcia, the singer, he's married, and he's changed quite a bit so he's not into the whole thing as much as he was. You never know, you know what I mean, Jesse, as far as he is concerned, he's got some songs written down, he's putting them on tape, he's gonna send me a tape of the songs, and I'm gonna check it out and we'll see what happens. You never know man, surprises happen, you never know. That would be a good thing, it would be fun to do. CoC: Black metal is now very popular; do you have an opinion on black metal? PS: Well, the thing is that black metal down here in the states is not as popular, I don't hear much of it, I heard it is mostly in Europe where black metal is big or hyped or whatever. All I see is a magazine here or there and when I check a magazine I see a lot of black metal bands and all of these bands have this makeup and these evil looks and stuff, I just don't bother with it, it doesn't affect my life at all at the moment; I play death metal, I play what I play. There are a few bands out there, a few black metal bands, who are pretty good and they have got a good thing going and it is just a matter of these bands getting over here and doing a tour or something because I have never see them coming over here, probably it is hard for them because they don't have a manager or the backup they deserve. It is much bigger in Europe, that's why I don't have much to say about black metal, but I don't have much idea about whether black metal is rising or going down, what do you think? CoC: I heard recently that it is starting to get into the States because Cradle of Filth, the most popular band from the UK, they just recently did their first tour of the US; Absu from Texas, they're becoming more popular, and Usurper from Chicago as well [to name but a few --PS], so I think it might start to get big in the States. PS: That's good. CoC: What also might happen, which might not change anything [for black metal], it looks like death metal might come back again and be more popular. PS: Death metal, yeah, that would be a great thing. CoC: Vader and some other newer bands have become quite respected playing death metal and then there is the new Morbid Angel album coming out, and Cryptopsy are doing a new album. So we'll see how it goes. PS: Yeah, we'll see what happens man. CoC: Do you have any last words for the readers of CoC? PS: Yeah, I just hope that they pick our _FFttF_ record and that they like it, and that they get the message and enjoy it a lot, and I hope it is powerful enough for their ears, and I hope to see them soon on the road. Where is this magazine from? CoC: Originates in Canada but it's on the Internet, so you get it anywhere in the world free, in Europe, the States, Japan: it's your fans everywhere. PS: I hope to see everyone soon on the road, and beware because this is going to be a very powerful tour. We are going to come and prove, ourselves, that we are the kings of death metal and we are going to be very strong and very powerful live and very fast as well, because we never lost that, that aspect. Peace. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T H E F L A M E O F I N G E N U I T Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Interviews In Flames by: Adrian Bromley "I think there is still a lot of creativity left still for In Flames and the music we create," starts guitarist Jesper Stromblad from the phone overseas when asked about their latest LP, _Whoracle_, and future material. "I am very satisfied with the way this record turned out. It is a great record. And it is good that people are getting into this record 'cause that is what we want. For people to grow with us as we get to be better musicians. At this point right now, we are thinking how we are going to top this record. How are we going to do ten or more songs better than the material on _Whoracle_? I mean, something has to happen with the music now. You can't repeat yourself. In terms of new material, we have written a couple of new songs and I think one of them is the best song we have ever written. It sounds like "Moonshield Part 2" or "Gyroscope Part 2". It is a very good song." He continues on, "What we plan to focus on more with the new LP is the production. We want to make it very fresh in some way. We want to add some ideas. Ninety percent of the material will sound like In Flames, but we'll throw in some samples, drum loops or maybe some more keyboards. We want to maybe try a bit more clearer vocals. Not in the same vein as Amorphis, because I think if you can't sing normal then don't do it 'cause it sounds pathetic. This is something we will try. We already tried it on _Whoracle_ with the clear vocals dubbed over the screaming vocals on "Everything Counts". It worked to some degree. Right now I am writing many guitar riffs where I put simple clear vocals on and demo it. Then we go into the studio and try to add many alternatives to the song like keyboards, etc... If it works, we will keep it. I mean, we want to progress as a band and bring new ideas into In Flames." In Flames -- which includes vocalist Anders Friden, bassist Johan Larsson, drummer Bjorn Gelotte and other guitarist Glenn Ljungstrom -- worked hard to put out _Whoracle_. It was a much needed sound and direction for the band to be able to continue on where they left off with the dazzling 1996 effort _The Jester Race_, a much more melodic death metal LP than their previous efforts _Lunar Strain_ (1993) and the _Subterranean_ EP in 1994. _TJR_ opened up In Flames to a lot of music fans who were captivated by harsh vocals on top of seductive and quite memorable choruses and riffs. In Flames captured a slick quality to melodic death metal -- putting themselves in a category with such acts as Dark Tranquillity -- and felt _Whoracle_ needed to attain that same quality (production/songwriting) somewhat, as Jesper had stated, to move on. What is it about _Whoracle_ that Stromblad finds appealing? "I like the whole feel of this record, but as most musicians will point out about their efforts, I am not 100% happy with the production. It was good, but could have been better. It was just a great feeling to have some fresh material out for people to hear. With _TJR_, we recorded it in 1995 but it didn't see the light of day 'till a year later in 1996, when it was released. The music then felt old to us. This record was recorded quickly and released right away. This stuff seems so new to me that I can enjoy it moreso than when _TJR_ came out." Getting more in-depth about the production of _Whoracle_, Stromblad says, "This was a very quick record for us to assemble. But there were problems first off. I had a writing block for sometime and I didn't know what we were going to do. No ideas were coming to me and I was worried. I didn't write for almost a whole year, though I had written the song "Episode 666" (off _Whoracle_). Then at the start of 1997 I had started to write material and then it all just poured out. To go from total blackness to a new album in less than four weeks. It just came out all at once." Since Jesper is one of the main songwriters for In Flames, I ask him about the initial song idea and how it takes shape on record. Does it change much from initial idea to production and recording of the material for the LP? He responds, "When I have a song idea in my head, I pretty much know how it will end up after we record it and work on it in the studio. I know what has to be done. But song writing this time out was much more relaxed. We had time to work on songs. _TJR_ was recorded in just eleven days, but we really had thirteen days in the studio. We recorded the LP and then had to re-record half the record, so we had to do it exactly as we had rehearsed. This time, with _Whoracle_, we could take as much time as possible to finish it up. We left a lot of parts open to work on in the studio, stuff like melodies and guitar leads. It was great as we could record some stuff and when we grew tired of studio time go home, relax, come back tomorrow and go back to work. It wasn't like that for _TJR_. This time was a much more pleasant experience for us." On his goal as a musician and songwriter, Stromblad has a lot of ideas he wishes to see happen in the next little while for his band. He believes in In Flames and himself, living out a dream of touring and making music for as long as he possibly can. "Music has always been an important part of my life. Ever since I learned to walk, basically. I knew from the beginning I wanted to do this. I stuck by that dream all through school and look where I am at. This is a full-time business for me. I think about music twenty four hours a day. All the time. This is the only thing I can do and the only thing I want to do." And such is the case with Stromblad also having helped (both through writing and playing) on the Hammerfall debut LP, _Glory to the Brave_, an 80s-tinged metal outfit in the vein of Helloween and Iron Maiden. So how does Stromblad work the time out between Hammerfall and In Flames? Jesper quickly explains, "I am not in Hammerfall. They are a real band now and I have no part in the band. They had real problems with people thinking it was a side-project of In Flames. Some even thought it was my band and that I write for them. I mean, I did help them out with their debut record but they have a solid lineup now and all I do is help them out a bit. If I am home when they begin recording their follow-up LP, I may help them engineer the vocals because I helped them do that last time and the vocalist (Joacim Cans) was very comfortable working with me. I'd like to help them out but in no way am I in the band. I just wanted to get that straight." _Whoracle_, next to such early releases as _Lunar Strain_ or _Subterranean_, seems to have such a magnific production quality and to be bursting with top notch musicianship. The growth of the band has been a gradual one, seeing each LP strengthen them as a band and fully adapt their ideas so effortlessly into the evolution of In Flames' material. Has the evolution been an easy transition for the band to evolve? "I never really think about us trying to take our music to a certain place. This all falls into place very naturally. The only time I ever think about where we should take the music is if I draw a blank while writing and need to use our old material as a reference and [choose] where to take it. I don't think the direction of In Flames has ever been planned. I think it has taken a long time for us to find our identity. It is like when you grow up, it takes you a long time to find your identity. You have to grow with the people in the band as well as with your music through numerous releases. It takes a while to find a particular sound that represents our band and I think we are slowly getting there. Our sound is being given shape right now." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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! Abigor - _Supreme Immortal Art_ (Napalm Records, February 1998) by: Steve Hoeltzel (8.5 out of 10) With so many grimly nicknamed clones and "majestic black metal art" fakes clamoring after our coin these days, it's cool that there are still some bands like Abigor who seriously explore the possibilities of the black metal aesthetic, yet without stagnating or incorporating more commercial elements. (For another truly worthy act, check out the Black Funeral review below.) _Supreme Immortal Art_ is definitely the band's most finely textured work yet, retaining Abigor's wounded, wrathful, alien tone, but striving to give those impulses a more multifaceted expression. In lieu of the medieval romanticism of _Nachthymnen_, the fever-dream aura of _Opus IV_, or the unadorned blackness of _Apokalypse_, this one evokes a phantasmagoric array of different but consistently weird and eerie aural feels. (The shrieking vocals are back, by the way.) The closest comparison from the band's back catalog would probably be _Nachthymnen_, but _Supreme Immortal Art_ seems more ambitious and accomplished. Complex song structures tie together manifold well-arranged segments, while constantly shifting synthesizer settings and vocal nuances drape different shades of creepiness over the spiky metallic skeleton of each track. Sampling is employed occasionally, too. Good production balances everything nicely in a clear, detailed mix. Plenty of hyper-speed bursts pepper the tracks, but on the whole this seems more subdued than earlier stuff: Ambience, not aggression, is the principal focus this time. I wasn't exactly blown away by this, and I still prefer _Opus IV_ and the magnificent _Orkblut_, but _Supreme Immortal Art_ has continually grown on me as more and more detail emerges with every listen. Still... I think the essential black metal vibe tends to get lost in compositions as complex as these. But be that as it may, there's real musical quality on display here; no doubt about that. You decide. Ablaze My Sorrow - _The Plague_ (No Fashion, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (6 out of 10) Ablaze My Sorrow are finally back with a new album, but, unfortunately, I can't say that it has been worth the wait at all. Their debut album, _If Emotions Still Burn_, was promising; a solid album of a bit harsher variety of Swedish melodic death, but it suffered from poor vocals and some loose playing. This time around, the playing is a little tighter, but as a whole the album isn't any sizable improvement over _IESB_; in fact, I'd say it's of a somewhat lower quality. The melody is still there, though in lowered amounts, but it seems as if the band has forsaken the unique melodic approach heard on the first album for a more traditional Swedish sound. Luckily, the band's distinctive penchant to switch tempos and/or riffs every ten seconds or so remains intact, definitely keeping the listener on his or her toes, but that's nowhere near enough to salvage _The Plague_ from mediocrity. I was hoping that Ablaze My Sorrow would try to elevate themselves above the other faceless No Fashion bands, but although they remain unique in some respects, their music is just not unique enough to be considered anything fantastic, and when added to the fact that it's simply not great on any sort of musical level anyway, this makes it another average release. Alio Die - _The Hidden Spring_ (Crowd Control Activities, 1998) by: Andrew Lewandowski (6 out of 10) Even if ambient artists don't have to rely on the nasty formulaic song structures of rock-derived genres, ambient bands can easily fall prey to that form of impotence which has turned many a handsome young man into an Alio Die. Despite one or two noteworthy tracks, _THS_ contains few distinction nuances. Instead, AD rely on the same basic pattern -- repetitive, forlorn drones with miscellaneous shards of ambiance strewn about -- which Brian Eno beat into the grown twenty years ago. AD's predecessors have already come damn close to perfecting most of this album's best moments; the simplicity of "Amniotic Pot", the best representation of the album's sound, tries to embrace the sublime, yet lacks the substance of more evolved artists, while the slightly incongruous "Internal Top", easily the most developed and disorienting track, sounds suspiciously similar to a hybrid of Maeror Tri (Stephan Knappe from the band plays gong on the track) and the ethno-ambience of Alio Die. Also, many of the tracks feature annoying sound bites, such as rushing water or bird chirps, which sound like an anemic attempt at invoking an ethnic ambiance. Also, the tracks come across condensed and, as a whole, the album is fragmented -- not surprising since the album was recorded over a four-year period and six tracks have been released on previous albums or compilations. Amon Amarth - _Once Sent from the Golden Hall_ (Metal Blade, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (7 out of 10) I really loved Amon Amarth's debut MCD on Pulverized Records, _Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds_; the album's mix of harmony with death and black metal was a seamless integration. However, on their new release for Metal Blade, Amon Amarth take a turn further towards death metal as this album is -much- heavier than _STtNW_, although not quite as good. The melodic riffing is still there, creating a sense of urgency in the songs and framing the rest of the elements nicely, but something is occasionally missing. Whereas the MCD had a tremendous musical impact and was truly excellent in many respects, _OSftGH_ lacks the consistency of its predecessor. The best songs on the MCD were totally epic, not in length but in feeling, but on this most recent album that sense seems to be gone, and the best songs on _OSftGH_ can't really compare at all to the MCD. This isn't a total condemnation of the album (in fact, it's quite good), but it's really just not up to the standard set by _Sorrow Throughout the Nine Worlds_. _Once Sent from the Golden Hall_ is a quality album, but it's simply not Amon Amarth's best work. Various Artists - _Area 51_ (Victory Records, 1998) by: Zena Tsarfin (8 out of 10) While I won't pretend to understand what the connection between the Area 51 alien conspiracy and hardcore is, I can tell you that the rambunctious blend of European and American bands found on this 54-track, double-CD compilation would scare off any extraterrestrial that made it through our airspace. Although virtually all the included bands' tracks have been released elsewhere, the practicality of _Area 51_ stems from the fact that all of them were released on über-indie, hard-to-find labels (and imports in the case of the Euros), making this set a good sampler for anyone interested in the groups that are only found in the pages of In Effect 'Zine and Ian Glasper's columns in Terrorizer. Although _Area 51_ has its share of filler (Next Step Up, Stigmata), contributions by Deviate, Fahrenheit 451, 59 Times the Pain, Warzone, Will Haven, Despair, Breach and so many others makes it well worthwhile. Black Funeral - _Empire of Blood_ (Full Moon Prod., February 1998) by: Steve Hoeltzel (9 out of 10) AACCKK!! Yes!! This is easily some of the BEST really raw and ultra-ghastly black metal that I have ever heard. I like this better than the mighty Sort Vokter (!!), better than Ildjarn, better even than the Legions Noires bands from France. This band's style is guaranteed to totally alienate the vast majority of listeners, but if you have a taste for the uniquely creepy ambience which severely unrefined black metal can dredge up, then I encourage you to track this down. It's wild music, atmospherically pregnant with the void; you listen to this and marvel that human beings produced something that sounds so far gone. In addition to the sheer weirdness of it all, listening is especially enjoyable on two levels. The most immediately apparent factor is the basement-quality sound. As evidenced by the highly boring nature of all the "sophisticated" style-pirates who play a polished-up version of black metal, highly impure production is by far the superior vehicle for this style, and Black Funeral does a great job with it. (Think of the production on the Emperor/Enslaved split for a good comparison.) But far more important in the long run are the songs themselves -- unformulaic, unearthly constructions crawling with all these weirdly sinister little melodies that irresistibly worm their way into your brain. But be warned!! The songs will sound awfully familiar if you've got the first Black Funeral CD, because six of the tracks on _Empire of Blood_ are re-recorded versions of songs from the debut, though the titles and lyrics have been changed. (I only have a promo version of the CD, so I don't know if the full packaging indicates this or not.) Anyway, I always thought those old songs were cool, and I think the new versions offer enough enhancement to make the repetition quite worthwhile. The sound this time is more spacious, hazier, and stranger, with incredibly abstracted, distorted howling vocals -- so while the debut was a classic of grim, raw black metal, this re-recording is a classic of very ambient grim, raw black metal. Also included are three demo tracks from 1993 -- not quite as good as the new material, but pleasantly ripping all the same. Check out the artwork, too: the calligraphy is just amazing. Killer all around. This should be destined for serious cult status. Bongzilla - _Methods For Attaining Extreme Attitudes_ by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10) (Relapse, February 1998) By the name of the band alone you should have a good idea what kind of music this quartet plays. That's right, pot smokers, here is another band to smoke up to. _MfAEA_ is a small dose (3-song EP) of pot-influenced songs about (what else?) Marijuana. Just look at the song titles -- "MELOVESPOT", "High Like A Dog" and "Smoke / I Love MaryJane" -- and you get a pretty good idea how Bongzilla spend most of their free time. While the songs may be heavy as fuck, overflowing with distortion and odd musical arrangements, it pretty much lacks in the creative department. Think of this as a second rate Neurosis/Melvins band. The only thing creative about Bongzilla are the band member names (Killer Kola Killer, The Big "Bud" Man, Magma Mota and Sensi Spanky) and even that may be a stretch. Potheads unite. All others may want to sample this, but might be better off going to the other side of the room. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_ (Necropolis, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (9 out of 10) The much anticipated, and much delayed, second Dawn full length is now released, and let me be one of the first to declare that it was completely worth the wait. Expanding on their already solid foundation of epic length, high-speed, melodic blackened death metal, Dawn have upped most of the song times to around the eight to ten minute mark, with nary a boring moment filling in the almost one hour of music which constitutes _SCotT_. Commencing with the monumentally fantastic opener "The Knell and the World", _SCotT_ flows along infallibly, achieving a magnificent mixture of extremely high velocity aggression with slower, more sedate passages, though with the former dominating the latter. Dawn excel at composing songs of eminent maturity with more than just a hint of originality as the six works present here will prove; their best asset, the unparalleled way that Dawn combine searing speed and aggression with the perfect amount of melody, never overpowers the song, seems out of place, nor situates the band in the ranks of more melodic groups such as Dissection or Sacramentum. Couple their compositional skills with the tortured, yet subdued, vocals of Henke Forss, one of the best black or death vocalists around, and the improved drumming courtesy of new addition Jocke Petersson (Niden Div 187), and Dawn have produced simply a tremendous album. One of 1998's finest thus far. Defleshed - _Under the Blade_ (Metal Blade, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (6 out of 10) "Solid metal" is what Defleshed claim to play, and though I'm not sure whether they mean it's merely solid in the 'good' sense, or if they've spawned a whole new genre here, "solid metal" sounds a whole lot like 80s thrash/speed-inspired death metal to me. Producing a pretty fat sound for just a three piece band, Defleshed utilize a great raw guitar sound along with some manic drumming to create the harsh tones found on _UtB_. Alternating from blasting death metal sections with pretty standard components into the definitely cooler thrashier material, the problem with _UtB_ is that it's just too intensely divided for its own good. Without hardly any transition at all, the band goes from a Testament "Curse of The Legions of Death"-sounding riff straight into insane death metal, leaving the album sounding totally disjointed, unable to follow up on which sound to go with. This wouldn't be so bad if at least the respective thrash and death parts were particularly -good-, but once one gets past the painful song arrangements, one realizes that none of the riffs, drumming, or vocals are really that great anyway. Plus, unfortunately, when they're not busy deciding on which style to go on to next, Defleshed tend to be downright repetitive, which adds insult to injury. _UtB_ may satisfy those looking for immediate death/thrash gratification, but once you dig down past the surface the album suffers. Demonic - _The Empire of Agony_ (Necropolis Records, February 1998) by: Steve Hoeltzel (6.5 out of 10) Expecting to be led down a well-worn path through some fairly generic Norse blackness, I find myself entering some unexpected (if not exactly uncharted) terrain. This is black metal first and foremost, of course: there's a gratuitous keyboard intro and so on, and the lyrics, from what I can make out, do not deviate one iota from the standard repertoire. Yet this band sounds a bit distinctive in that they give off a conspicuously grinding vibe. The Grieghallen production is surprisingly warm, with more mid-range and bottom end than the typical Norwegian black metal sound. Also, the drums are recorded and mixed with unusual clarity (again, by black metal standards!), with the result that the faster parts have this weird "Nordic tribal thunder grind" feel. This feel is sort of enhanced by the song structures, too; for black metal, the songs are quite short (several around three minutes apiece), and they're mostly built up from alternating slower sections and buzz-saw blasts. The problem is that too many of the riffs on the album just seem rather flat -- so once the novelty of the grinding vibe wears off, I seem to be left with a couple of standout tracks and not much else of lasting interest. Still, this is not a bad album, really -- more a case of potential that doesn't get fulfilled. I think these guys could make a real tough record if they just got stronger in the riffing department. From the promo sleeve: "Release Date: February 14, 1998." Isn't that sweet? Diaboli - _Towards Damnation_ (Full Moon Productions, February 1998) by: Steve Hoeltzel (7 out of 10) I was glad to see that this guy (formerly "Lord Pete", now just "Pete") made a second Diaboli record, because I really enjoyed the first one, _Mesmerized by Darkness_. I bet you'd enjoy that album too, if a blasting mix of early Bathory, old Impaled Nazarene, and just a hint of Darkthrone sounds enticing. This follow-up release is more of the same. Well, actually, in a sense it's a bit -less- of the same, because _Towards Damnation_ is not quite as ferocious or as dark as the Diaboli debut. Don't get me wrong, though: this is pretty cool; it just doesn't hammer you into the ground quite like the first record did. Still, all these little gripes of mine tend to evaporate pretty damn rapidly as I crank this up. A clear, hearty mix dominated by great guitar sound spotlights Pete's uncanny knack for crafting riffs which, no matter how oft-repeated, never get dull, thanks to the subtle rhythmic hooks woven within. The songs can be repetitious, yes, but they're also (and appropriately) mesmerizing -- and I think the slow, pounding sections of Diaboli songs are among the very best slow segments in the black metal genre. Why not give this a higher score, then? Well, as I said, I like the debut a bit better; plus, this contains only five new songs, in addition to one re-recorded track and two disposable keyboard pieces. As I say, though, on the whole this is cool stuff from a band that deserves to be more widely known. The Everdawn - _Poems - Burn the Past_ (Metal Blade, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (5 out of 10) Licensed from Germany's Invasion Records by Metal Blade, The Everdawn's debut full length album _Poems - Burn the Past_ is a pretty thorough rip-off of the final two At The Gates releases, _Terminal Spirit Disease_ and _Slaughter of the Soul_. Similar mix of death, speed, and melody, same screamed vocals, same drum patterns -- The Everdawn have concocted an album virtually vacant of any sense of originality whatsoever. Plus, it's not even a particularly -good- rip-off; whereas Lindberg's vocals were an acquired taste, they were still a perfect match and totally satisfying; The Everdawn's are obviously strained and overproduced. Add this sad fact to other musical caveats, and you've got an all-around disappointing effort. As such, it's very difficult to swallow paying good money for _PBtP_ when you've got a vastly superior alternative in either _TSD_ or the now almost classic _SoTS_. Guillotine - _Under the Guillotine_ (Necropolis, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (8.5 out of 10) Taking the now hopefully waning 80's metal resurgence to its highest degree of musical debauchery, Guillotine have basically completely ripped off all that is Kreator and Sodom. Now here's the funny part: _Under the Guillotine_ totally thrashes. Without an ounce of originality or creativity whatsoever, Guillotine scythe through ten tracks of pure 80's German thrash played, of course, by Swedes in the late 90's. Who would have it any other way? With songs such as the ingeniously titled "Violence" and "Total Mayhem", Guillotine aren't out to prove anything other than the fact that they are unquestionably adept at playing 80s thrash with a sound so obviously ripped from all the early Kreator albums and Sodom's _Persecution Mania_ that the album just screams out "THRASH" through and through. So, if it is such a blatant plagiarism, how can it be so good? Let's get this straight: _UtG_ is great -because- it is such a blatant plagiarism. Since Sodom isn't around anymore (thank God), and Kreator aren't putting out albums like they used to, Guillotine fit precisely into the remaining niche. Lovers of German thrash rejoice, your album for 1998 has arrived. Indungeon - _Machinegunnery of Doom_ (Full Moon Productions, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (7.5 out of 10) I think we should just start with some sort of "assumed retro" rule around here: unless stated otherwise in the first two lines of a review, all albums reviewed from a certain few labels (you should know which) should be assumed to be retro. On a tangent here, if this continues, will their really even -be- a "retro" sound anymore? Won't the sound have become so predominant as to become current as well? Anyway, that said, Indungeon is another in the seemingly unending stream of 80s retro releases, and is pretty good at sewing together very thrash-oriented songs with black vocals and all around competent playing, better than a lot of the other completely crap releases of late. The album, from what I've gathered thus far, follows an innovative "war" theme, and the complex plot is integrated into such songs as "Mayhemic Destruction" (someone give these bands a thesaurus, -please-) and more than just assonant "Desolation Creation". As mentioned, the album actually -is- a cut above the rest, as at least this band recycled -good- riffs from the 80s, and the guitars have a great raw, sharp sound, complemented nicely by vocals of the same nature and production. The songs are fairly basic exercises in thrash; the only thing that'll catch you off guard is the occasional explosion thrown into the middle of a song for good measure. So, _MoD_ is a good, worthwhile album, but is that really enough to truly separate it from any of the others? Keep of Kalessin - _Through Times of War_ (Avantgarde, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (7 out of 10) Although the name bears no meaning to me (I can guess), Keep of Kalessin definitely surprised me with their brand of harsh black metal, rather similar to a combination of Setherial (minus the epic length songs) and Marduk, coupled with a noticeable dose of distinct heaviness rarely seen in black metal. Most of the time kicking away in typical black metal speeds, Keep of Kalessin offer a very effective foray into the now much less densely populated area of fast, strident blackness. Tossing in some sporadic, "whirry" keyboards here and there, the band forges a high quality forty-seven minute opus, but one which really has no unique characteristics or special features to separate it from all the rest out there. That said, _Through Times of War_ is good, but there are plenty of albums out there just like it, or better. Lux Occulta - _Dionysos_ (Pagan Records, December 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) After having impressed me with their _Forever Alone. Immortal._ [CoC #18], Lux Occulta have now released another brilliant piece of epic, doomy, symphonic black metal. Changes in the balance between desolation and grandeur have occurred, though, as some of the doom has been forsaken in exchange for more rapturous symphonies that often reach excellent quality (as before) and elevation levels. Perhaps an increase in pace has happened as well, but this doesn't mean that _Dionysos_ is more of a 'pure' black metal album than its mostly mid-paced predecessor; as a matter of fact, perhaps the opposite is actually true, due to the greater rawness of _FA.I._. Ultimately, though, Lux Occulta have kept the basis of their own distinctive style (whatever name should it have) intact, all changes having been of superficial nature. Perhaps the most significant changes occurred outside the musical domain, concerning the graphical and lyrical direction. Even though both have again been well taken care of, I'm not especially fond of their new subjects (especially when compared to those in _Forever Alone. Immortal._). The production is much better in _Dionysos_, resulting in a far stronger sound, and the guitar work is also better than usual in most keyboard-based black metal albums. Like in _FA.I._, Lux Occulta have done an outstanding triumphant ending for this album, which is indeed full of highlights. Maeror Tri - _Emotional Engramm_ (Iris Light, 1997) by: Andrew Lewandowski (9 out of 10) Once one of the most potent and distinctive ambient groups, Maeror Tri has broken up, and _EE_ captures their dying breathes. While it contains more movement and a greater variety of soundscapes than much of their previous output, _EE_ retains the desolate, melody-based aesthetic characteristic of the MT sound. Former MT albums -- particularly _Mort Aux Vaches_, my favorite -- could delude the apathetic listener into believing that the music was sterile or static, but _EE_'s chaos is explicit and inexorable. Although this album rarely attains the vicious climaxes produced by the buildups with which MT can enthrall the listener, MT's soundscapes still disconcert and, in fact, are more imaginative than ever. As their final effort proves, MT, one of the few ambient artists by whom everyone should own at least one album, has proven that they disintegrated at the height of their talent. Mental Home - _Vale_ (The End, 1997) by: Adam Wasylyk (5 out of 10) After concluding two or so listens to _Vale_, I could honestly say that what had entered my ears left them in a real hurry! Having a mostly doom sound (a slight comparison could be made to Napalm act Visceral Evisceration), it's combined with black metal vocals (used only occasionally) and second-rate My Dying Bride lyric/music influences and comes off sounding disjointed with no real flow or hooks to latch on to. It sounds as if Mental Home just took a bunch of influences and threw them together, which can result in something sounding different but it can also come out sounding jumbled and plain confusing. You wanna buy quality doom? There are many great albums waiting in your nearby store or mail order catalog, but it certainly isn't in the form of _Vale_. Various Artists - _A Mercyful Fate Tribute_ by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) (Listenable, December 1997) Although I have never heard Mercyful Fate, this compilation provided very interesting, not to mention quite good, listening. Production on every track is excellent. It is obvious from listening to this album's 13 bands and 68 minutes of music that each band has injected a little, or a lot, of their own style into the original Mercyful Fate song. The only other thing that could be the case is that Mercyful Fate were 1) 10 years ahead of the norm, or 2) 8 bands in one. What this compilation is, is a collection of very well written songs performed by some of my favourite independant label bands (Deceased, Dark Tranquillity, Emperor, and more, all feature). What I am undecided on is whether this compilation is a good representation of Mercyful Fate and whether it is a good introduction to the band's music. Only a couple of tracks capture the classic 80s feel and attempt King Diamond's eunuch like vocals. Most of the album, although mostly quality music, does not sound like Mercyful Fate but like a new song by the band performing. Gardenian's "A Dangerous Meeting" sounds like a taster of their forthcoming album while Immolation sound like they've dug up one of their old demo tapes to give us "Satan's Fall". Gardenian's track is extremely good and Immolation's is far from shabby, but most of this CD sounds a little too, well, 90s. The pros of this are that it sees bands injecting new and different energy into old songs; the drawback is that it doesn't capture the 80s atmosphere in which the originals were written and recorded. A great value compilation of bands but probably not one for Mercyful Fate fans still stuck firmly in the 80s and rejecting the 90s. Midvinter - _At the Sight of the Apocalypse Dragon_ by: Drew Schinzel (4 out of 10) (Metal Blade, 1998) Considering all of the turmoil that Midvinter went through prior to releasing this record, maybe it would've been better if they'd just broken up instead. _At the Sight of the Apocalypse Dragon_ is a generic album of standard black metal that tries to be majestic, but just ends up being merely forgettable instead. As the band churns out their eight minute "epic" songs, it's pretty easy to see right through their efforts to be "mature" and "atmospheric", and realize that they actually just "suck." I guess you could describe their music as resembling a mix of early Satyricon and Mayhem, with a little more melody thrown into some parts; but don't expect anything remotely as good, because Midvinter aren't really capable of executing anything worthy of remembrance on _AtSotAD_. Not one of my favorites. Mithotyn - _In the Sign of the Ravens_ (Metal Blade, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (9 out of 10) Refill your pint of ale and put down your oars, it's time for another extremely solid album of heavily Viking tinged black metal, this time courtesy of the debut album _In the Sign of the Ravens_ from Sweden's Mithotyn. Taking a much more melodic approach than most of their ilk (Falkenbach, Enslaved, etc.), yet still retaining the occasional high speed passages and black vocals (the only thing keeping them in the realm of black metal are these two factors), Mithotyn are without a doubt among the top merchants of their trade. With an unparalleled emphasis on overt, drawn out melodies, these aren't buried deep in the mix as is often to be heard, and perfect placement of keyboards when needed, the band plows through eleven tracks of excellently composed, beautifully executed, heavily melodic and often epic Viking black metal. While incorporating many things common to their style, for example the typical manly chanting, Mithotyn also take upon themselves to include some unique elements, such as the occasional orchestra hit, harpsichord part (prediction: more bands will use harpsichord in the future), and some very cool stop-time arrangements, deftly elevating themselves above the norm in the process. I also feel obligated to point out that the band has as its drummer Karsten, formerly of Dawn, and he of the fluffy blonde Swede-Afro. Simply stated, those looking for a venture into melody-dominated metal with all the northern trap pings should begin praising Odin and snatch up _In the Sign of the Ravens_ immediately. Moonspell - _Sin/Pecado_ (Century Media, February 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) "Sell me out, sell me out... Everyone has a price, everything has a price." This is a quote from "V.C. (Gloria Domini)", track 7 of _Sin_, a song about society ("V.C." meaning "Vulture Culture") and "buying" people. Whether these same lyrics can be applied to Moonspell and their new album itself may be an interesting question for those who choose to waste their time with it; whether Moonspell were aware of that when they wrote it is perhaps the real question here. But the fact is that Century Media really hit the jackpot when they signed Moonspell a few years ago. Back then, they signed a very interesting average-selling metal band, and now they have a rather uninteresting, yet highly profitable, pseudo-metal/goth band. Maybe I'm being a bit too harsh here, because "Handmade God", "Abysmo" and "Let the Children Cum to Me" (yes, I did spell that right) are all acceptable tracks (even the very mellow "The Hanged Man" is reasonable too -- for a very mellow song, that is). However, "Eurotica" made me laugh like I did when I listened to the ridiculous Fear Factory remixes in _Remanufacture_, and the problem is that besides the three exceptions I mentioned above, the album is either average or sometimes even mediocre -- most of it is simply bland, lacks strength and fails to capture attention. Yet, like I just noted, there are a few tracks which avoid a rating that could otherwise have been lower, but _Sin_ never rises above what can be labeled as 'acceptable'. I can say that I 'saw' this album shortly after listening to _Irreligious_, as I'm quite sure many others did; so this isn't even a disappointing outcome, because I more than expected it to be this way. Let's say that Moonspell started by using ingredient X in _Wolfheart_ then kept 50% of X and added 50% of a new Y ingredient in _Irreligious_; now only traces of X are left, while Y rises to nearly 100%. By the way, if you liked the sort of rhythms and sampled sounds found in "Subversion" from _Irreligious_, then there's plenty of that in _Sin_ for you to enjoy -- I definitely do not. As a matter of fact, strengthening the idea stated above, samples abound throughout the recording and play a very important role in _Sin_. Now I would just like to quote Moonspell from an interview I heard, in which their vocalist stated that the listener must be "intelligent enough" to understand the album and the changes in their sound. Fortunately, I couldn't possibly care less about their opinion on anyone's intelligence (much less my own). Anyway, one might even say that _Sin_ is an attempt at avoiding stagnancy; then again, that by itself was never enough to make an album better nor to justify the direction that has been chosen. As _Sin_ ends, one can hear a sample of someone saying "We were happy to have you with us tonight and hope you will come back often." As far as I'm concerned, you can keep on hoping. Nagelfar - _Hunengrab im Herbst_ (Kettenhund Records, November 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) First of all, one thing should be taken out of the way: as far as I know, this is not Naglfar, the band that was reviewed in CoC #11. Nagelfar (notice the extra "e") is a very Norwegian-sounding German band; CoC #11's Naglfar sounds like Dissection, whereas this German Nagelfar only retains the technicality and speed of Dissection. Venomous fast sections with high quality drumming and very tight guitar playing merge with some slower passages into lengthy tracks (sometimes over 10 minutes long) of very emotional, fast, technical and somewhat melodic music. Melody is provided when necessary, but quite harsh sequences are also to be found, and an overall feeling of well-controlled harshness pervades the whole album. The vocals are varied as well, from Abigor-like screams to more standard black vocals and some clean chanting. There's occasional (and effective) use of keyboards, usually during the slower sections, whereas all the rest of the album (by far most of it) is guitar-based. However, the guitar work is of enough quality to guarantee that the need for melodic or atmospheric enhancement through the use of keyboards is hardly ever felt. Through an unpretentious, low-profile album cover and general attitude, Nagelfar make it clear that _Hunengrab im Herbst_ is an album which relies exclusively upon its musical qualities -- and it definitely has plenty. Nebula - _Let It Burn_ (Tee Pee Records, 1998) by: Zena Tsarfin (7 out of 10) Nebula's relationship to Fu Manchu is what Slo Burn's was to Kyuss: a carbon-copy of the original unit they were spawned from. Featuring ex-Fu members Eddie Glass and Ruben Romano, plus bassist Mark Abshire, the band pummels through six stoner rockin', dirty-guitar riff wailing and garage-esque ditties that are guaranteed to get Fu Manchu and Clutch fans' heads bopping along after leaning back from a hearty bong hit. Perhaps the biggest similarity between Fu and Nebula is Glass' vocal performance, which mimics Scott Hill's drawl significantly with its echo effect. Despite my abhorrence for blatant -- not to mention overtly executed -- ripoffs, I am a Fu fan, and inasmuch found some redemption in this EP, particularly in "Vulcan Bomber" and the title track. Nightstick - _Ultimatum_ (Relapse, February 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) It has been twelve issues since we first featured Nightstick (review in CoC #17; story #18)? It seemed like only yesterday that I was listening to _Blotter_ (their Relapse debut) and trying to decipher the odd ideas and warped samples sewn into the distorted feedback of this Weymouth, Massachusetts band. I still haven't figured out what they are all about, and I don't think I want to. Too hard to explain; snag a copy of _Blotter_ and you'll see what I mean. Onto LP #2 and _Ultimatum_ is a much more powerful and raw sounding record. While still chock-full of epic distorted destruction, _Ultimatum_ also dwells within a truly dark environment. While _Blotter_ was very free-flowing and oddly assembled, the intensity of _Ultimatum_ has been coursed out, a strike that successfully propels itself under our skin and into our psyche. The band has not only crafted and honed in on their ability of creepy song ideas, but magnified their powerful sonic assault. This is noise -- pure noise -- but served up so well that coming back for seconds seems like the only right thing to do. Officium Triste - _Ne Vivam_ (Teutonic Existence, 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Depressive, slow, occasionally melodic doom/death is perhaps an appropriate description for _Ne Vivam_. However, despite the very strong drum sound (the drumming is well performed, too), deep grunts and frequently dirge-like guitars, that description unfortunately fails to portray the whole album. Whereas many slow (but not ultra-slow) passages and reasonably competent doomy melodies can be found, some more conventional guitar solos and less-than-doomy parts (especially in tracks 6 and 8) tend to degrade the album's atmosphere of doom and desolation. My inner darkness dislikes that; here, light hurts, and those moments are glimpses of direct sunlight that aren't welcome at all. In doom metal, when one shows a glimpse of sunlight, he must be very careful to adequately enshroud it in bleakness -- otherwise the results may be disastrous. And while "Frozen Tears", "One With the Sea", "Psyche Nullification" and, especially, "Lonesome" (which features some excellent sorrowful melodies during the first couple of minutes) are very worthy, the rest of this album is mostly rather unremarkable, and often even harmful to its doomier parts. As a result, the greatest problem in _Ne Vivam_ is that it suffers from a clear lack of consistent direction, which is especially annoying when one considers its best moments. Otyg - _Alvefard_ (Napalm, 1998) by: Drew Schinzel (8 out of 10) Hey, here's a novel idea: take some folk songs from your country and spice those tired old things up with some metal, damnit! OK, so Storm might've gotten to the concept first, but Otyg is by no means any sort of Storm clone; if anything, they're a more evolved, more folk oriented variant. The music, based on violin with a melodic guitar accompaniment and brought up by a powerful backbone of pounding, mid-paced drumming, is a bit more harmonious than Storm, and obviously is a little more complex, taking the idea much further than simply "heavy metal folk." The vocals are totally clean, with both the male and female vocals being very similar to those in Storm. Something Storm -doesn't- have, however, is someone jamming away on the oft overlooked mouth-harp, granting the band immediate originality points. Overall, the combination of the totally apt violin, guitars cranking out the obviously northern sounding melodies, well done vocals, and just plain rocking pace of the whole thing forms an excellent album, to be appreciated by fans of Storm and lovers of plain good music in general. Pro-Pain - _Pro-Pain_ (Mayhem Records, 1998) by: Zena Tsarfin (5 out of 10) You've got to hand it to those stubborn New Yorkers in Pro-Pain for maintaining their consistent -- if not slightly redundant -- sound for so many years. That's not to say that they haven't changed since their acclaimed hardcore/crossover debut, _Foul Taste of Freedom_; new songs like "Don't Kill Yourself to Live", "Mark My Words" and "My Time Will Come" are driving, spirited and downright catchy. Still, it seems that the boys are using the same 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach to songwriting as Deicide, and both bands' respective fans seem to enjoy it. While Pro-Pain are not likely to win over new fans with this latest release, it'll surely appease their current following. Pungent Stench - _Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins_ by: Adam Wasylyk (9 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, January 1998) I've always liked Pungent Stench, who to me were one of the best death metal bands to combine brutality (both musically and visually) with groove. _PtNotMA_ is comprised of hard-to-find, rare and compilation tracks to serve almost as a "best of," a quality remembrance to one of Nuclear Blast's better bands. Starting out with five tracks which appeared on a split LP with fellow N.B. band Disharmonic Orchestra, these tracks alone are worth the price of this CD (special packaging and all) due to the sheer aggression and violence they spew forth. It's music to kill or torture someone to. Also worthy of mention are tracks from Pungent Stench's 7" _Extreme Deformity_, three tracks that appeared on different compilations (the better ones being _Death Is Just the Beginning 2_'s "Daddy Cruel" and _DIJtB 3_'s "Tony"). Almost 2/3's into the album, the listener is confronted with "Madcatmachopsychoromantik", a complete turnabout from the prior 13 tracks, featuring crooning with a backdrop which could resemble (well, at least the first half of the song) a mangled, acid drenched metal version of something Quebec pop star Mitsou would create! When the confusion subsides, we are treated to five remaining tracks that appeared on a rehearsal demo the band did in 1988. Just saying "rehearsal demo" should testify to their recording quality, but it's a great chance to see Pungent's beginnings as a band and to hear how the band have evolved over the years. As mentioned earlier, the CD comes in special packaging which consists of a black box which holds the CD and a 24-page booklet containing all of Pungent Stench's releases (rare and all), live shows and photos of the band that were taken from around the world. Nuclear Blast went all out to release this worthy send-off to Pungent Stench, and I think fans of Pungent or fans of great death metal will agree with me. Sadness - _Evangelion_ (Mystic Production, 1998) by: Andrew Lewandowski (5 out of 10) Although the result is schizophrenic, Sadness deserves credit for their ability to throw virtually every single gothic metal cliche into a two and a half minute song. By the end of the first track, "Mr. Faust", the listener has heard (and I may have missed a nuance or two) effeminate orgasmic moans, ludicrous male clean vocals (akin to a less restrained Tom G. Warrior on "Mesmerized"), screams altered by studio trickery to augment the cheesiness, the word "sex" repeated constantly (I heard the line "I am a sex machine"), an ineffectual synth intro, various other synth-generated ambient moments, and rudimentary piano sections. What purpose does all this serve? Although Sadness goes through great lengths to combat the listener's ennui, this doesn't obscure the monotonous riffs and poor song structure. Yet, as is evident in the album's more sedate moments, they need to create a structural mishmash in order to prevent boredom. After three tracks performed in the aforementioned style, _Evangelion_ features three old songs and a synth track which attempts to invoke a medieval ambiance, yet fails since it's obviously played on a cheap Casio. The next track, "Tears of Sorrow", proves that Sadness can create a melancholic atmosphere, but it suffers from silly vocal trickery and drags for ten minutes. Despite its lugubrious melodrama, "Danteferno" is probably the best track, while "Red Script" is a prosaic moment from a 1990 demo. Even with the schizophrenia of the first three tracks, this is a thoroughly forgettable album. Sentenced - _Story: A Recollection_ (Century Media, February 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) It took me while to really get into this band. And while the band has changed its style tremendously since their early days, their brilliant musical career has nonetheless been an interesting ride. _Story: A Recollection_ is in fact a 'Best of...' package by this popular Finnish death metal (now more a metal/rock) act from 1991's _Shadows of the Past_ onto last year's superb _Down_ LP. All the band's popular and/or fan faves are here: "Nepenthe" and "New Age Messiah" (from 1995's _Amok_), "My Sky Is Darker Than Thine" and "Awaiting the Winter Frost" (from 1993's classic LP _North From Here_). Plus there are eleven more numbers including their cool Iron Maiden cover song "The Trooper" and the previously unreleased "No Tomorrow". Like a "story", this collection accurately chronicles the various time periods of Sentenced, allowing the listener to be captivated by strong melodies, well-thought out arrangements and some classic melodic/death metal. An LP fans will no doubt scope out. Social Degeneration of Poets - _Martyrdom_ by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Independent, February 1998) The name of the band had me assuming this was gonna be some kind of a reckless bar band, out to play the numbers with mediocre musicianship and some bad harmonies. _Martyrdom_ is nowhere near the lame-ass attempts of what a shitty bar band would put down on record -- this band is the complete opposite of that. First off, Social Degeneration of Poets (SDP) play a really bad-ass bluesy rock/metal sound (throw in a bit of progressiveness) that has an easy flowing stride to it. The songs are strong and well-written and the music is memorable for the most part. Singer Shawn Shuart has a really powerful voice, easily parading himself throught the band's many styles. My only setbacks to the band is the rather poor production of some of the material and the guitar work that finds its way onto several tracks. Not all the guitar work needs help, just some of it. I'm thinking the production hampered it, as some songs (most notably "Kick Up the Soul" and "Prey") come across in top notch form. Little problems that can easily be deleted and/or fixed come album #2. A good indie band that'll hopefully have a future. Contact: SOCIAL DEGENERATION, P.O. Box 10, Owosso, MI 48867, USA Solefald - _The Linear Scaffold_ (Avantgarde, November 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) After a well-worded overview of their musical philosophy, Solefald (Norwegian for "sunset") describe their own work as "red music with black edges" -- and, after listening to _The Linear Scaffold_ enough, that description proves to be quite adequate. "Weird" is perhaps an euphemistic description for some parts of this album; still, the whole of it manages to avoid sounding weird -- it all makes sense when put together as it changes from strangeness into brilliance. However, think not of Sigh's _Hail Horror Hail_, for things are -very- different here, not to mention much better. In fact, I'm not enthusiastic about musical weirdness just by itself, but _TLS_ is excellent, regardless of that. The album is comprised essentially of contrasts. Fast sections abound, their body composed more of keyboard than guitar sound, with vocals ranging from very blackened shrieks to deeper voices, clean vocals, and spoken parts. Between those faster sections, which are unusual on their own, Solefald include even more unusual passages, which, like I said, manage to sound in place in a surprisingly natural way. Considering the music contained here, 40 minutes is hardly enough for all that could have been done in this CD, but a -lot- has already happened after the first minute or two expires and, fortunately, every track in this record is highly worthy of its time. I must also mention the superb keyboard passages with both spoken vocals and ripping shrieks of anguish; the album ends with an extraordinary sequence of the latter kind in a remarkable combination of suffering and melody. In fact, the start and end of _TLS_, while extremely different, are two fine examples of the outstanding intensity Solefald reach in _The Linear Scaffold_. Stuck Mojo - _Rising_ (Century Media, February 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10) It seems so fitting that a monstrous force from the Southern United States (Atlanta, Georgia to be exact) is destined to give us metal heads a whooping of a lifetime. The band in question is Stuck Mojo and the item knocking us to floor and kicking the shit out of us is the quartet's latest long player, _Rising_. I was not prepared for this and I reckon those who pick this up will be pummeled equally. Fans of the band have come to expect a sudden surge of mighty riffs and in-yer-face attitude with years of progression from Stuck Mojo, but this is just mind boggling. The band's growth in experience and intensity has been well-chronicled since their debut _Snappin' Necks_ in 1994 and their continuous growth into 1996's brilliantly hard-hitting _Pigwalk_, which was one of my fave records the year it surfaced thanks in part to Stuck Mojo's reckless attitude and Devin Townsend (of Strapping Young Lad) and Daniel Bergstrand's (Meshuggah producer) production efforts. From the current-themed ideas about U.S. President Bill Clinton on "Crooked Figurehead", the perils of society one must face ("Trick" or "Rising") or racial stereotypes/issues within the rap-styled "Suburban Ranger", hardcore/rap/metal outfit Stuck Mojo deliver the goods in a big way. Like a gun shoved in your mouth by a hostage taker, Stuck Mojo has you at its mercy for 46+ minutes, never letting you go until their full-agenda is digested into you brain. While still loud, obnoxious and completely volatile, _Rising_ has lost its precision production, aiming for a more raw and live feel. But that isn't a bad thing either. With the help of producer Andy Sheap (Exodus, Skinlab), the downscaling of production value is not a deterrent for the band's music to prosper in many other ways. Singer/rapper Bonz has never sounded so angry and Rich Ward's guitar playing and song writing has enhanced tremendously since the early days. And now, without such a slick coating, we hear and feel this moreso this time than ever before. Thick riffs laced with melodic hard core groove flow with ease as Bonz rants and rants till the cows come home. I didn't think they could top _Pigwalk_, but they proved me wrong. Non-believers run for your life, 'cuz the Mojo is rising! Tura Satana - _Relief Through Release_ (Noise Records, January 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (10 out of 10) I can't explain to you how much I *love* this record. There is just something about Tura Satana (the band formerly known as Manhole) that fascinates me. I just can't get enough. There is a really dark and emotional charm that singer Tairrie B. has on the listener. Her voice, so dark and brooding, letting emotions snarl and snap without warning. Her tongue and words acting like a sharp sword cutting through us with every verse. While somewhat in the same vein as the Manhole record (1996's _All Is Not Well_), Tura Satana has lost a bit of that L.A. hardcore/rap/metal feel with _Relief Trough Release_ and delved deep into a truly stunning display of emotionally charged dark hard rock / metal, shrouded with a vibrant reality and slight gothic overtones. This is the real deal folks. No bullshit. No falsehoods as this band speaks from the heart. The opening of the LP states: "... Welcome to violence. This time it comes in female form..." What a fitting intro to the world of singer/screamer Tairrie B. Should we be alarmed? Oh YES! She is a devil-like vixen with many tales to weave. Her take on life and reality is like a fist to the face, a rampaging seductress on the loose. The violence and carnage is overbearing at times and we, the listener, take some serious verbal beatings from Tura Satana. Every song on this record (13 songs plus CD-ROM) is brilliant. Powerful, dark and delivering an over the top performance by a band that shifted their sound a bit to represent their musical deliverance. Think a pissed off (and heavier) Concrete Blonde mixed with Crisis and a bone-crushing groove. _RTR_ has some prime choice cuts: "Luna", "Relapse", "Venus Diablo" and the ultra-cool Nirvana cover song "Negative Creep". This is a great band that should do some real damage in the coming months. Uncreation - _Uncreation_ (Black Dragon / Repulse, October 1997) by: Paul Schwarz (4 out of 10) Uncreation are yet another band playing brutal-as-fuck NY style death metal. Don't get me wrong, I like this style, but a) they are not the best at it by a long shot and b) it doesn't really provide that wide a berth for variation and by not altering the formula set down by bands like Suffocation and Immolation one bit, Unnatural build themselves a solid lead balloon. Only a strange rant at the end of _Uncreation_ (where it sounds like Phil Anselmo has waltzed into the studio and spilled forth his irritations) provides any surprises. Bands need to either push boundaries or play the original so well it sounds new in a style like brutal death metal. If bands don't do one or the other, we might as well just have them releasing bad Suffocation tribute albums and there really would be no point in doing that. Unnatural - _Throne of Anguish_ (Qabalah, July 1997) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) Unnatural have a good MCD here. They play death metal in the vein of the mighty (and now sadly deceased) Carcass and, although only capturing this band's brilliance in fleeting moments, still create a solid, well produced MCD. _ToA_ has everything you need out of a death metal release: agression, poise, heavy production. What Unnatural really lack, and desperately need, is something else. In death metal's heydey, this MCD might have been on par with good bands, but, quite frankly, this has all been done before either as well as or better than Unnatural do it on _ToA_. With many bands (Cryptopsy, Vader, Deceased to name but a few) still producing riveting stuff, Unnatural will need to catch up -and- jump ahead if they want to justify their existence. Unsane - _Occupational Hazard_ (Relapse, January 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) Noise-mongers Unsane have been dishing out their dirty, fuzz-filled garage rock for the past ten years. _Occupational Hazard_ continues on in the same vain as their past efforts, masking melody with distortion and signaling out groove with humongous riffs. Batten down the hatches kids, as there is some serious noise battles going on here with _OH_. Hostility pours from the harsh vocals of Chris Spencer as Unsane let loose a mixed bag of goodies. Though repetitive at times, this LP makes a good point of keeping things simple but remarkably heavy. This is like a brick to the head most of the time. As for the future of these veterans, this band (possibly unknown to the younger music audience) will surely do well amongst the crowd that have been drawn in by such acts as The Melvins, Neurosis and even Entombed. Noise-filled garage rock never sounded so good. War - _Total War_ (Necropolis Records, February 1998) by: Steve Hoeltzel (5 out of 10) According to the typically bombastic Necropolis publicity sheet, this is "the ULTIMATE Black Metal recording" from "one of the finest bands in years." Well, lah dee dah. I think that's just a tad generous. In fact, if I had to pick an adjective to pin on this "all-star" outfit, it would be "mediocre". Their music -- all 17 whopping minutes of it -- is undistinguished and unatmospheric; ergo, uninteresting. Not that I don't enjoy simplistic, raw, primitive black metal. Quite the contrary, as long as it's got some atmosphere and imagination. The music of War, however, seriously lacks those qualities -- unless "contrived" counts as some kind of atmosphere. Still, this does contain a few cool moments in which the chainsaw repeato-riffing and steady snare-drum strikes coalesce into a good snarling blast or catchy cyclonic attack. The way in which these guys plug simple, cyclical riffs into short, standard song structures makes "black moshing metal" a fairly apt description of their sound, methinks. ("Euronymosh", anyone?) In the end, though, this is just way too repetitive to succeed, both because the songs are utterly simplistic and repetitious, and because all the imagery and whatnot is the same junk you've seen and heard hundreds of times before. I suspect that Von is a big influence on this project, but Von destroys this band if you ask me. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ _ /\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___ / \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \ / /\ / __/\ 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 Coarse - _Downwards_ (5-track demo) by: Adam Wasylyk (*----) The opening riff to track #1 on _Downwards_ just SCREAMS In Flames, but when the vocals kick in, you wonder "why did the band go out and do that??" Vocalist Nico just ruined any potential enjoyment I could have got from this band; he sings so plainly that I found myself reaching for the stop button almost a minute into the first song! You can most certainly hear the In Flames influence in the guitars (and perhaps some Iron Maiden as well), but it's the only aspect of Coarse that I found appealing. I don't care who disagrees, but you can't like a band based on music alone. Vocals are vital; they are not only the backbone but they represent the personality of the band. You ask, "what is the personality of Coarse?" "Who cares," I answer, "get back to listening to REAL metal and stop asking stupid questions!". Contact (if you must): COARSE, c/o Sami Vauhkonen Rapakivenkuja 2 E 41, 00710 Helsinki, FINLAND Destroyer - _demo_ (2-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (**---) Mediocre metal (in the vein of Kreator) that comes to CoC all the way from Transylvania. Four guys trying their damnedest to get their music out of their homeland of Romania and to the masses. Gentlemen, this two-song demo may not be the answer. The songs are rather simple, similar sounding and by no means creative. I felt the production of the demo only hampered the band's quest at creating a raw, hard-hitting metal based sound. It sounds muffled and too compressed at times. The only redeeming quality of the demo tape are the vocals: strong growling vocals but coherent and suitable to the musical style played. From judging the band on this 2-song demo (with a bonus song) and not having heard their debut LP, available only in Romania, called _Raw_, I'm hoping the band gets better production next time out and really sorts through the blandness of their music and spice it up a bit. Then maybe they'll see some interest outside of Romania. Contact: OP. 1, C.P. 196 Iasi, 6600, Romania Voice: +40-32-144448 mailto:destroyer@mail.dntis.ro WWW: http://home.dntis.ro/~destroy Gandalf - _Snakebite_ (3-track demo) by: Adam Wasylyk (***--) Another band that use In Flames as an influence (see Coarse demo review), the difference between Gandalf and the aforementioned band is that Gandalf is actually listenable. Effectively using twin guitars to their advantage to create some cool melodies, they create some excitement since the drummer, for the most part, is lackluster and doesn't do a great job in mixing up the beats. The leads are quite well done, and Jari Hurskainen's vocals do a lot for the band and are in the screeching range of (who else?) In Flames! When coming up with a mark, I settled on only a 3. I don't see any reason to give it anything higher that that. Yes, the musicians are talented, and yes, the music is cool. But why buy something that sounds like In Flames when you can go out and ACTUALLY BUY In Flames!!??!! You'll get much more out of _The Jester Race_ or the newly released _Whoracle_ than you will out of _Snakebite_. Also worthy of note is that this demo was released in 1996, so Gandalf may now sound like a completely different band! Contact: GANDALF, P.O. Box 52, 00941 Helsinki, FINLAND Kekal - _Beyond the Glimpse of Dreams_ (10-track demo) by: Adam Wasylyk (****-) Indonesia's Kekal have released a pretty cool demo which features Norwegian-influenced black metal shrieks and some menacing, powerful guitars with some seriously stomping drums keeping up the beat. This quartet know how to mix it up: blast beats are thrown in between more melodic moments and the vocals go from spoken to shrieking to growling. "Rotting Youth" serves as a powerful lead-off to the demo as it effectively demonstrates the energy Kekal possess, with tracks like "Armageddon", "Deceived Minds" and "Reality" not far behind. Production is more than adequate, allowing everything (including the keyboards) to be heard clearly, lending all the more power to this band. Ten tracks in total, you receive both quality and quantity in the material featured. However, after I read the lyrics on the demo, I realized that Kekal are actually a "life" metal band, praising Jesus and showing the downfalls of Satan. They could have been perfect! I'll admit I hate lyrics that come off as preachy (which Kekal could be accused of), but I guess that means that I won't read them on future listens. I do hope to hear more from this band in the future as they have something here worth listening to. Contact: KENKAL, P.O. Box 1496, JKB 11014, Jakarta, INDONESIA mailto:kekal@hotmail.com WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/6404/kekal.html Kormoss - _Screams From Night-Mary_ (6-track demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (****-) Kormoss make very good, yet unobtrusive, use of keyboards, which remind me of Samael's remarkable _Passage_ (especially during the piano-like parts that sound great with the riffs). However, there's a human drummer here (as opposed to _Passage_), and the riffs lean more towards death metal, with the vocals falling somewhere between death and raspy thrash. The keyboards are also occasionally used for a more atmospheric background work and generally provide more variety in the songs, which also usually feature enough tempo changes. The sound quality is quite high, and the band behaves very well, always tight, while the music also remains interesting throughout the demo. Another promising band from Portugal, this time from the Northern city of Guimaraes. Contact: Nuno Araujo, Rua da Boucinha, Creixomil 4800 Guimaraes, PORTUGAL Kronos - _Outrance_ (7-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (****-) Although this is a 7-track demo, it only has 4 true songs, with an intro, an outro, and a 3-second grindcore blast being the other tracks. This demo tape is Kronos' first and it has to be said this is pretty damn impressive for a first demo. After a 'demonic' spoken intro, Kronos reveal themselves as a brutal death metal band with real aggression and potential. A lot of bands have played the brutal death style, but it is still possible to make good music in this framework and this Kronos has, on a small scale, achieved. Although the first song, "Sadistik Retribution", was a good relentlessly brutal death metal song, my fear was that the rest of the demo would be indivisible from this one song. Kronos has not fallen into that trap, however. "Enslaved by the Madness" has a thrash metal-esque riff that would do Kreator proud, and later songs have different idiosyncrasies which keep the demo varied, as well as good, and prevent the tracks from merging into one-another. Well worth getting, this is definitely a band who could go a whole lot further. Oathean - _demo_ (3-track demo) by: Adam Wasylyk (***--) Ah, what a nice, soothing intro, but I suspect it won't last long. My suspicions proved correct as, within a second, the band starts blasting away... ah, what a nice kick to the gut! It turns out that there's much more coming out of South Korea than (find encyclopedia and place country's main export *here*), since Oathean has turned out some above average melodic death/black metal, falling in lines with the genre's sound but with no band in particular. Female vocals are utilized (although not very well), something the band should think about removing in future recordings. With only three tracks, I'd like to see the band release something (perhaps an indie CD) with a few more tracks before I can recommend sending your money for so little material. Allow my mark to represent potential, and perhaps something worth putting money into at a later date. Contact: Dosoo Kim, 537-9, Yonhi-Dong Seodaemoon -Gu Seoul 120-110, SOUTH KOREA mailto:mooniing@hitel.net Shadows Fall - _Shadows Fall_ (2-track demo) by: Brian Meloon (****-) Shadows Fall is a death metal band from Massachusetts. Their style is mostly melodic American death metal (with few blast beats), but filled with enough new ideas to stand out from the crowd. The band uses a combination of standard death metal and clean melodic vocals. The unique aspect of the vocals is that they often have the death and melodic vocalists sing in unison. While the melodic vocals aren't great, the combination with the death vocals works well. The music is generally good: fast moving stuff that doesn't get old. It is melodic, similar to the Gothenburg sound in places, but the band is far from being an In Flames clone. Their sound isn't reliant upon catchy 'hooks', but is more riff-based. They display a good variety of styles and enough fresh ideas to keep it interesting. The playing is tight, and the production is great. This is an impressive offering; the only fault I can find is that it's simply too short. I look forward to their debut CD, which should be out shortly. Contact: SHADOWS FALL, P.O. Box 10312, Holyoke, MA 01041, USA mailto:shadfall@aol.com Vorpal Bunny - _Reign Of The Lupus_ (6-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (****-) Oh, the mayhem! Oh, the madness! Not since my last encounter with anyone of Bill Sannwald's projects (Amish Mafia, Thought Masticator, etc...) have I been so intensely into a demo tape. This shit is warped beyond belief. A mixture of all types of music all rolled into one huge, massive noisefest. A two-man outfit (Jeff Phillips and Brian Heubner), Vorpal Bunny goes for the jugular with its sadistic onslaught of music anarchy. Imagine, if you will, a demo tape that successfully blends together black metal, grindcore, gabba techno music and death metal into a 6-song demo tape. Believe me, I was in disbelief too, but thoroughly pleased with the end results. Slap onto that musical heap a large amount of movie clip sound bites and the music from Vorpal Bunny grows moreso into an out of control freakoid machine. The only setback of this recording, and it actually doesn't affect the tape much, is the 4-track production. But I guess you gotta start somewhere, right? Also, I'm wondering if this "bunny/hare" theme will run out of ideas should this band get somewhere. I mean, you can only spend so much time writing songs titled "Fluffy's Revenge", "Reign of the Lupus" and "Beaten Is the Hare". This demo reads like a bad B-movie but ends up winning my respect. CONTACT: Lord Fur Productions, PO Box 21428 Columbia Heights, MN 55421, USA mailto:twitme@waste.org WWW: http://www.waste.org/~twitme/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ____ __ __ /\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __ \ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___ \ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\ \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/ \ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/ ____ __ /\ _`\ /\ \__ \ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____ \ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\ \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\ \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/ \/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/ E N T O M B E D ' S N O T E G R E G I O U S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Entombed at Coney Island High, New York, Feburary 13, 1998 by: Zena Tsarfin A lot has changed since Sweden's Entombed last visited the North American shores and it was quite evident at their February 13th appearance at NY's Coney Island High. The venue was smaller, none of their hardcore opening acts had the suffix "-ion" attached to their names and some of its members even sported buzz cuts. Despite all this, Entombed's one constant remained -- the same one that helped them survive the early '90s metal backlash: their ability to tear it up live. Storming onto the stage amid smoke and green lights, Entombed exhibited their go-for-the-jugular performance strategy with stellar versions of "Eyemaster", "Out of Hand" and the title track of their latest album, "To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth". Lead vocalist L.G. Petrov frolicked onstage like a madman, his long hair stringing over his face like a fisherman's net while he dug into the Entombed discography with vintage tracks like "Crawl" and "Left Hand Path". Unlike many groups who compose their set lists from their last two records, Entombed mixed enough gems with later material to satisfy the crowded masses. Overall, the band lived up to their well-earned reputation as a force to be reckoned with and showed us Yankees just how it should be done. Entombed certainly had reason to hone their chops as opening act Hatebreed gave them a run for their money. After listening to their blazing Victory debut _Satisfaction is the Death of Desire_, I pegged them 'Entombed Jr.' as vocalist Jamie Jasta sounds eerily like Petrov and their hardcore sound is ingrained heartily with an obvious metal influence. Pile-ons, sing-alongs and overall mayhem were the order of the evening as the band plowed through songs like "Last Breath", "Driven by Suffering" and the hit single "Kill an Addict". Having experienced both the older legends and the new sensations, my metal experience on Friday the 13th was the perfect blend of nostalgia, exuberance and aggression. In other words, it fuckin' rocked! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gino's Top 5 1. Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul 2. Proscriptor - _The Venus Bellona_ 3. Entombed - _Left Hand Path_ 4. Crystal Method - _Vegas_ 5. Marduk - _Opus Nocturne_ Adrian's Top 5 1. Tura Satana - _Relief Through Release_ 2. Stuck Mojo - _Rising_ 3. King Diamond - _Voodoo_ 4. Guillotine - _Under The Guillotine_ 5. Face Down - _The Twisted Rule the Wicked_ Brian's Top 5 1. Sacrilege - _The Fifth Season_ 2. Ebony Tears - _Tortura Insomniae_ 3. Mithotyn - _In the Sign of the Ravens_ 4. Setherial - _Lords of the Nightrealm_ 5. Shadows Fall - _Shadows Fall_ Alain's Top 5 1. Mayhem - _Wolf's Lair Abyss_ 2. Motorhead - _Snake Bite Love_ 3. Razor - _Decibels_ 4. Sarcophagus - _For We... Who Are Consumed by the Darkness..._ 5. Sinister - _Hate_ Steve's Top 5 1. Black Funeral - _Empire of Blood_ 2. Assuck - _Anticapital_ 3. Setherial - _Lords of the Nightrealm_ 4. Disfear - _Everyday Slaughter_ 5. Sacreligium - _Sleeptime_ Adam's Top 5 1. Morbid Angel - _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_ 2. Pungent Stench - _Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins_ 3. Entombed - _To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth!_ 4. Mayhem - _Wolf's Lair Abyss_ EP 5. Defleshed - _Under the Blade_ Drew's Top 5 1. Rush - _Permanent Waves_ 2. Skyclad - _Wayward Sons of the Mother Earth_ 3. Rush - _Fly By Night_ 4. Jethro Tull - _The Original Masters_ 5. Rush - _All The World's A Stage_ Andrew's Top 5 1. Autechre - _Chiastic Slide_ 2. MSBR - _Collapseland_ 3. Maeror Tri - _Emotional Engramm_ 4. Suffocation - _Pierced From Within_ 5. Can - _Future Days_ Pedro's Top 5 1. Solefald - _The Linear Scaffold_ 2. Lux Occulta - _Dionysos_ 3. Nagelfar - _Hunengrab im Herbst_ 4. At the Gates - _Slaughter of the Soul_ 5. Cryptopsy - _None So Vile_ Paul's Top 5 1. Cryptopsy - _Blasphemy Made Flesh_ 2. Suffocation - _Effigy of the Forgotten_ 3. Terrorizer - _World Domination_ 4. Kreator - _Extreme Agression_ 5. Judas Priest - _Jugulator_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ __ __ __ | \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----. | -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --| |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____| Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos --> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CHRONICLES OF CHAOS 57 Lexfield Ave Downsview Ont. M3M-1M6, Canada Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517 e-mail: ginof@interlog.com ---- Our European Office can be reached at: CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe) Urb. Souto n.20 Anta 4500 Espinho, PORTUGAL -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 #29 All contents copyright 1998 by individual creators of included work. All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.