___ _ _ ____ _____ _ _ ____ ___ __ ____ ___ / __)( )_( )( _ \( _ )( \( )(_ _)/ __)( ) ( ___)/ __) ( (__ ) _ ( ) / )(_)( ) ( _)(_( (__ )(__ )__) \__ \ \___)(_) (_)(_)\_)(_____)(_)\_)(____)\___)(____)(____)(___/ _____ ____ ( _ )( ___) )(_)( )__) (_____)(__) ___ _ _ __ _____ ___ / __)( )_( ) /__\ ( _ )/ __) ( (__ ) _ ( /(__)\ )(_)( \__ \ \___)(_) (_)(__)(__)(_____)(___/ Third Anniversary Mega-Issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 1, 1998, Issue #33 http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo Assistant Editor: John Weathers Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Adam Wasylyk 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 #33 Contents, 9/1/98 -------------------------- * Editorial * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- Anthrax: Still a Threat -- Arch Enemy: Unearthing the Demons Within -- Crowbar: From Behind the Black Horizon -- Dirty Deeds: Doing Dirt Cheap -- Evemaster: Finnish Fire -- Falkenbach: The Vikings' True Voice -- Iced Earth: Glaciers Are Us -- Sculpture: A Sculpture of Sorrow -- Therion: Eloquent Emotions -- Unholy: Tears From the Thousand Lakes * Album Asylum -- A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_ -- Abigail - _Sonnets_ -- Admortem - _Ad Extremum Supplicium_ -- Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_ -- Alastis - _Revenge_ -- Altar - _Provoke_ -- Am I Blood - _Agitation_ -- ... And Oceans - _The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts_ -- Angel Corpse - _Exterminate_ -- Aube - _Pages From the Book_ -- Behemoth - _Pandemonic Incantations_ -- Benediction - _Grind Bastard_ -- Beseech - _... From a Bleeding Heart_ -- Various - _Bestial Sampler: 1997-1998_ -- Calamus - _The Road Trax_ -- Various - _Call on the Dark II_ -- Callendish Circle - _Escape_ -- Cannibal Corpse - _Gallery of Suicide_ -- Charon - _Sorrowburn_ -- Christ Agony - _Trilogy_ -- Cranium - _Speed Metal Slaughter_ -- Crimson Moon - _To Embrace the Vampyric Blood_ -- Crowbar - _Odd Fellows Rest_ -- Cynical Smile - _Stupas_ -- Dawnbringer - _Unbleed_ -- Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_ -- Desekrator - _Metal For Demons_ -- Dies Irae - _Gargoyles_ -- Explorer - _ColdBlackUgly_ -- Various - _Fiesta Comes Alive!_ -- Gnosis - _Tribal Metal_ -- Gorgoroth - _Destroyer (About How to Philosophize With a Hammer)_ -- Gorguts - _Obscura_ -- Grand Belial's Key - _Mocking the Philanthropist_ -- Grimegod - _The Darkside (Pain in Another Dimension)_ -- Hateplow - _Everybody Dies_ -- Various - _High Radiation 4_ -- In Battle - _The Rage of the Northmen_ -- Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_ -- Infernal Majesty - _Unholier Than Thou_ -- Kazumoto Endo / Incapacitants - -- Krabathor - _Orthodox_ -- Let Me Dream - _Medley Rain_ -- Lost Souls - _Fracture_ -- Masonna - _Frequency LSD_ -- Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Drill_ -- Napalm Death - _Bootlegged in Japan_ -- Nifelheim - _Devil's Force_ -- Nunslaughter / Dekapitator - _Blood on Steel_ (Split 7") -- Ophthalamia - _A Long Journey_ -- Pain Jerk - _Greater Curvature_ -- Primordial - _A Journey's End_ -- Rotten Sound - _Under Pressure_ -- Ruination - _Visionary Breed_ -- Sadus - _Elements of Anger_ -- Sentenced - _Frozen_ -- Sepultura - _Against_ -- Seventh Avenue - _Southgate_ -- Shellyz Raven - _Recrucify_ -- :Slogun: - _The Pleasures of Death_ -- Various - _Statements of Intent_ -- The Ancients Rebirth - _Damnated Hell's Arrival_ -- The Bloodcult - _Night's Plutonian Shore_ -- Voivod - _Kronik_ -- Vondur - _The Galactic Rock n' Roll Empire_ -- Warhorse - _Warhorse_ -- Within Temptation - _The Dance_ * New Noise -- Cumdeo - _My Angel_ -- Funeral God - _Demo 1_ -- Hate Eternal - -- Hirilorn - _A Hymn to the Ancient Souls_ -- Iron Rainbow - _Never Settle for Less Than Metal_ -- Oberon - -- Raggedy Aneurysm - _Milk_ -- Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_ -- Tendonitis - -- Thornspawn - _Consecration of Evil Flesh_ * Chaotic Concerts -- The Twelfth Hour Has Struck! The Milwaukee Metalfest XII -- True Brutality Under Extreme Conditions: Brutal Truth in Toronto -- Megalomaniacal Monsters: Monster Magnet plays Toronto -- Milwaukee, Eat Your Heart Out: The London International Deathfest -- A Meeting of Deities: Morbid Angel with Blood of Christ -- Mad Max Lives: Soulfly with Cold -- CD Release Bonanza: Bughouse, Lifebleed, Inertia, and Lethargy -- Portuguese Radiation: _High Radiation 4_ Release Party * What We Have Cranked * Details =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____) / /) , , /) )__ _(/ _/_ _____ _ // / (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_ (_____) by: Gino Filicetti After long last, our third anniversary issue is now upon you, constant reader. As you've noticed, it's quite a hefty beast; do yourself a favour and don't try tackling it all in one seating. ;-) It saddens me to report that yet another one of our writers has parted ways with CoC. The great Andrew Lewandowski (not to be confused with Lewinski) has called it quits. Andrew has cited the lack of a vibrant and innovative scene to be his main reason for leaving. No matter what, we all wish him all the best in his future endeavors. In this issue you will find the debut of a few new writers to the CoC fold. First we have Gabriel Sanchez from Grand Rapids, who will be mainly covering the ever underrated noise scene as well as a few dabblings from elsewhere. We also have Aaron McKay, who has joined us from the evilest state known to man, Iowa. Some of you may recognize Iowa as being the (former) home of the great Steven Hoeltzel. Another newcomer is Ryan Kriste from South Africa, who some of you may recognize from his own zine: The Crusader. And finally, we've got Matthias Noll, straight from good ol' Deutschland, who will be doing concert reviews for us, now and again As you know, we had to delay this issue for reasons uncontrollable to us, but I'm glad that so many of you wrote to tell me not to sweat it. CoC #33 is our largest issue EVER. Over 260k of metallic mayhem for all of you to ponder. That's almost 40k more than our last anniversary issue. So, now here's your reward for your patience. Ladies and gentlemen... Chronicles of Chaos #33. NOTE: We'd like to apologize for an error that appeared in CoC #32 and make a correction at this time. Apparently we misspelled the name of one of the bands we reviewed. Namely "Children of Naami" should have been "Children of Maani". Our apologies to Children of Maani, please excuse our grievous error. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M""MMMMMMMM dP M MMMMMMMM 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88 M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88 M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88 M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8 MMMMMMMMMMM M""MMMMMMMM dP dP M MMMMMMMM 88 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b. M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo. M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88 M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P' MMMMMMMMMMM This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative, ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own letter here, e-mail it to and enter 'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Date: Sun, 5 Jul 1998 From: Alex Subject: Chronicles Of Chaos & other tidbits Hail from South Africa Let me start by congratulating you on an excellent e-zine. I try to get hold of every issue, but since I don't have internet at my home yet, this is sometimes quite difficult. It's definately worth it though, because I enjoy all the interviews, articles and reviews tremendously. I would just take this oppurtunity to say as well that SAMAEL is the greatest band in the history of mankind. I have been following their progression since Ceremony of Opposites up to their latest EP Exodus and they just keep getting better and better. And all those Black Metal purists that say Samael sold out, can fuck off! They are the musical gods of our time!! Date: Sat, 11 Jul 1998 From: "Ryan Kriste" Subject: ATT: Loud Letter's Hail CoC Thanks for a very informative 'zine. It's always interesting for me to recieve! My grudge is not with CoC but with Cradle of Filth. I have been a fan since the release of "Principles...", and have really enjoyed the music, despite all the bad press they have recieved. Dani's remarks about a new album later this year were very interesting, a Maiden cover (Fuck yes), a Manowar cover (Hail the Gods), a hardcore techno track (???????). I have just lost mountains of respect for C.o.F, is there any one out there, except for me, that believes that C.o.F should be burnt at the stake for a blasphemous idea like that? If they go through with it then they are truly Heretics. Why do METAL bands feel they should do techno songs, didn't most of us start listening to Metal to escape that sort of shit? If you share in these beliefs write to me so I can tell you more about my 'zine "The Crusader". METAL IS LIFE RYAN Date: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 From: Matthew Jonathan Harper Subject: Correction for the latest issue of Chronicles of Chaos Hi, just a very small remark. The reviewer for Virgin Steele said that the band was from Canada. This isn't true at all. The band are from New York, from the exact same area that Manowar are from. Thanks for such a cool 'zine! Now and Forever, lmjh NP: Fredrik Thordendal, _Sol Niger Within_...WILD STUFF! Date: 27 Jul 1998 From: garm@oracle.net Subject: attention loud letters Hails to all ye readers of COC. I'd just like to discuss a few things here...I've been a reader of COC for over a year now but this is the first time I've actually been provoked enough to write a letter. I was going to start this with a rant about one of my favourite bands, Bal Sagoth, in response to Brian's review in issue 31...but I see maarten De Jong already did a very stellar job of covering that, so I'll just say that it's gratifying that at least a few other people understand the grand vision of Bal Sagoth. I normally dig your reviews quite a bit Brian, and thanks to you I've discovered some really great shit like SPastic Ink (gods) and Symphony X...but one has to look a little deeper when trying to do a review of Bal Sagoth. another thing that I just have to discuss is this whole "trueness" thing that some people seem to find so important. Now, before any of you more elite than me jump to the wrong conclusions, I do enjoy much of the rawer and more vitriolic/less acc3essible black metal a lot, and in a way I do see where these people who complain about black metal becoming diluted and trendy are coming from. But my view on the situation is this. As far as I'm concerned, these more well known acts such as Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, COvenant etc do more good then harm, simply for the reason that upon discovering such bands, people will, so long as they are introduced to it, be able to relate easily to the "truer" forms of black m etal. As someone who enjoysa both styles, and many other genres of metal and other music besides, I know that one has to start somewhere. I too listened to a lot of Megadeth, Pantera and Korn a scant three or so years ago, and had no idea this thing called black metal so much as existed. Does the fact that I, and many others, were not born into the scene make us posers? WHen mainstream media is saturated with so-called metal bands that are a poor excuse for interesting and creative music in any genre, and when we live in a country such as Canada where the music scene is full of shit and it's damn hard to get into extreme music simply because it's hard to find people who are interested in it, it's inevitable that most people are going to start getting into the heavier forms of music by listening to the more well known acts. One doesn't listen to Immortal one day when the heaviest thing they own is SOundgarden and say "oh, that's really cool, I think I'm going to listen to black metal from now on". And lest you think that such bands are harming the black metal scene, we of all people should know that just because bands like COF exist, there is no reason why the underground shouldn't flourish. I mean, a couple of years ago everyone was crying that death metal was dying out...and listening to stuff by bands like Amorphis, newer Carcass etc, one might tend to agree with that assessment...but the fact that there have been stellar new releases from bands like Nile and Suffocation, and the new Cryptopsy should grace our gore-craving ears fairly soon, proves that death metal in its most aggressive form is still very much alive. So why the bloody hell can't the same be true for black metal? I don't think the next Immortal album is going to bow to trends, and if bands like Tulus or Arkanum continue to produce seething and thoroughly black piees of work, then there is still lots of hope for the "true" black metal scene. SO everyone should stop complaining, and if they want to proliferate their favourite underground movement, then start a band or something. FFinally, I have to say that Steve and Drew's presence in COC is going to be sorely missed by me for one...they both reviewed the kind of stuff that I enjoy most, and although I didn't agree with what they had to say much of the time they were both prety open minded and had a pretty healthy objective perspective on the music they were reviewing. Ah well...Your zine still rules, I don't think there are too many printed zines that are this inclusive and well put together, so you have my utmost congratulations and grattitude. May thy swords be slaked with he blood of thine enemies, and may thy dark ensorcelled legacy continue through the unfolding years. Long live the barbarian metal kings..or something...later. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ S T I L L A T H R E A T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Anthrax by: Adrian Bromley You'd think that after all that Anthrax has been through in the last few years (label switch, loss of original members, constant touring in a non-metal industry), the legendary thrashers from New York would have thrown in the towel by now. Y'know? Called it quits. Well, let me tell you something, my fine metal friends, Anthrax are not quitters. And contrary to popular belief, the band has never gone away. The 90s have seen some of the best Anthrax material surface with LPs like 1993's brilliant _Sound of White Noise_ and _Stomp 442_ in 1995, both managing to hold up against classic 'Thrax LPs like _Spreading the Disease_ (1986) and _State of Euphoria_ (1988). Now the band returns with their eighth LP titled _Vol 8: The Threat Is Real_. Oh yeah, the boys are back in town. "It has been a hard road for us the past few years with all the problems," starts drummer Charlie Benante over the phone from a tour stop in Quebec. "But we've continued on. Things are going good with Ignition Records. They are doing a good job pushing the record for us. They are really promoting the record a lot. The thing about labels -- all labels -- is that it's gonna be great sometimes, bad another time, and okay other times. You have to roll with all of those situations. That's just how it is. This business is a fucked up place to be and you have to be able to roll with all of these changes. Changing from label to label is a pain in the ass, going from Island to Elektra to here was something we had to deal with. We were with Island Records for a while and then hooked up with Elektra for two records. The problem we had with Elektra was that at the end of it we were lost. We were a small fish in a big pond. With Ignition, we are a big fish in a small pond. Things are looking good for us." Benante -- along with fellow thrashers John Bush (vocals), Scott Ian (guitar) and bassist Frank Bello -- have been at this for years and, as the years go on, their love of what Anthrax is about is all that matters. One important ingredient to the success of the band during this decade has been the inclusion of singer John Bush. Bush, who was in Armoured Saint and joined the band in 1993 (after original singer Joey Belladonna left the band), has been an integral part to bringing out new ideas and a cool sound to the band. Benante agrees. "I think it's because of him [John Bush] that the band is still together, to be honest with you. When you are making music and it's happening, that is such a great feeling. I hate to use this expression, it sounds so cliche, but it just seems so magical, the way things work with us now. It sounds so good for us right now. We all get along so well right now. Prior to John being in the band, we were getting on each other's nerves. The thing about us was when we needed to be Anthrax, we did. But there were problems with Joey [Belladonna], but that's all under the bridge now. We actually saw Joey in Utica, New York early this year and he came up on stage and sang "Indians" with us. It was great to see him and talk a lot. I was glad it happened. But we move on as this band and keep things focused." "_Vol 8_ is a great record from start to finish. There is not a weak part on this whole record. It's a great record," says Benante enthusiastically of the new record. "The thing that makes this special is that we reinvented ourselves with this record. There are songs on this record that would have never been on any of our other records. There are many songs here that make me so happy when I hear them because they are things that we wanted to really try with this band." And the changes that Benante talked about within the new material? "A few years ago we were probably too scared to take a chance with anything. We did take chances back in the day and we took some shit for it, but we stood by it. We stood by it and did it 'cause we wanted to. We didn't want to be like every other band and sound like Metallica. Maybe it hurt us, but we kept doing our own thing." "I know exactly what we wanted to create here and I hear that with these songs and the feedback from this record has made me very happy," he continues. "The material here works so well, and to be honest with you, if these songs weren't here, I would have not wanted anything to do with this LP. These songs make the LP. I am so sick of all the music out there right now. We want our record heard all over the place and for people to say that this is the music that they have been missing out on. I know people know the name Anthrax and go, "Oh yeah, Anthrax. I know their sound." But do they? We have altered our sound and brought so much into it over the last few years that our music has taken on a whole new vibe and when people hear it they get into it. People need to hear this LP and turn around and take notice of what we are doing." He adds, "Word of mouth has spread about this record. There is a good street vibe going on and that makes me happy." When asked about bands jumping on trends, Benante "jumps" in: "Oh, you know that is happening so bad right now. So many bands out there are copying others and it makes me sick. There seems to be no real initiative to have originality anymore. It makes me sick. I say this now, and I'll say this at the end of everyday: It's all about the song. And right now, all people care about is how they look. It's not like that. It's all about music and it should always be that way." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= U N E A R T H I N G T H E D E M O N S W I T H I N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks with Arch Enemy by: Adrian Bromley It would only seem fitting to call guitar axeman Mike Amott a "workaholic". He is. After all, this is the man who in the last decade or so has been part of some of the influential metal of our time. His work with Carnage is legendary. His days in Carcass are still hard to live up to for most metal musicians. And his continuous work with his two outfits (the stoner, doom/gloom-filled Spiritual Beggars and the blistering assault of Arch Enemy) seems to slap on the tag of "busiest musician in metal music." But he loves his work and Arch Enemy's latest offering _Stigmata_ (their debut for Century Media) is testament to his dedication and hard work. As they say, dedication leads to perfection. Amott knows this all too well. "With our first album [_Black Earth_], it was a great lot of fun arranging it and putting it together, but we never really spent much time working on it," begins Amott about the difference between the first LP and their latest. "We had done only four rehearsals for that LP. I basically had all of it ready to go and told everyone what to do, and it came out the way it did. I'm still proud of that record, but _Stigmata_ is all-around a much more professional effort with a lot going for it. The arrangements and guitar work are more advanced and the production is much better, as I had more money to put into the recording. This is really just the next step up for us. This is a natural progression." The band -- rounded out by brother Christopher on guitars, vocalist John Liiva and drummer Daniel Erlandsson -- has had a knack for being able to meld together melodic rhythms and powerful dual-guitar harmonies with such ease, leaving us the listener crushed beneath the weight of such strict, well-executed song styles. Is the music easy to piece together in the studio? "I think the big part of being in the studio is working on ideas and stuff. You can have all of the material planned going into the studio but it never really seems to work out as much as you want. No matter what you do you'll always wind up in a situation where during the recording process something will not work and you'll have to improvise. And that is the fun of being in the studio. But for us, over the last few years, it has become rather easy to do the recording thing, 'cause the more experience you have, the more you know what's going on. When I did my first record, I didn't know certain things on working a guitar in the studio. I always left it up to the engineer or producer to do that but now I know how to mike up to the cabinet and get the guitar tones I want." "Knowing how to do things, when we went into the studio to do _Stigmata_ [produced by Fredrik Nordstrom, of At The Gates and HammerFall fame -- Adrian], I really wanted clarity for the whole LP," explains Amott. "I wanted to be able to understand every word, every guitar solo note and hear the tone of the LP. I wanted to have this both raw and intense, but as you know this is hard to accomplish with this type of music. It's so down-tuned and heavy that things get muddy and mixed together. It's hard to keep things focused and get what you want. I aimed for clarity, but still trying to capture the brutality of Arch Enemy." As mentioned above, Amott's double-duty with Spiritual Beggars and Arch Enemy keeps him quite busy at the moment. Tours, press days and working on new material has this axe-slinger running ragged for the most part, but, like anyone holding down two jobs, you get by. "I have managed to do this pretty well for the most part, but maybe not too good as this year I lost my life in a marriage split and that was due to the amount of work I was doing with my music. So in some ways I have managed successfully to do this two band thing and other ways I haven't." He adds, "Musically, in my head, I have managed to keep it all together. I don't have any other job. I have been able to make a pretty decent living doing this for the 90s and that is fantastic. And I have been lucky to be able to do this having a small fan base around the world that keeps me in mind and keeps me going." It has been a long transition of styles and sounds for Amott over the years, but he has managed to keep things heavy and still radiate a stellar guitar sound that feeds on aggression and powerful elements of passion. His love for this style of music is easily visible -- and heard. "I have so much hate in me that I gotta get it out," expresses Amott about playing this type of music. "It is a great release of energy to do this. When I play in Spiritual Beggars, it is a different kind of energy that I am releasing, but still somewhat the same as with Arch Enemy. I have always been into this kind of music since growing up. I grew up on the 80s thrash/speed metal styles like Metallica, Slayer and Kreator. It has always been in my blood and been an important part of me over the years as a musician. I guess my love for 70s style rock [influential to the sounds of Spiritual Beggars -- Adrian] came later." On the whole song writing aspect, he notes, "I am very intense when I write songs. I lock myself away and write and write and write. It all comes in bursts for me, though. I'll write two and a half songs in one day and then go for a whole month with no new ideas. I really can't pick out how I actually write my songs. Sometimes I don't even think it's me writing. It's hard to describe it, but when I sit back and hear what I have done, hearing the songs inspired heavily by my thoughts and ideas, I can't figure out how I managed to do them and/or come up with such arrangements. It boggles me. I never had any classical training with guitar work. I was self-taught at playing the guitar." He finishes, "It's kind of strange to hear all that I have done and take it all in, but I'm proud I have been able to create music and be happy with what I have done for the most part. I am not happy with some material, but it's the good stuff you create that keeps you inspired to keep going. I'm still going, ain't I?" =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= F R O M B E H I N D T H E B L A C K H O R I Z O N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Crowbar's Todd Strange by: Paul Schwarz Crowbar. A name synonymous with music which is as mind-numbingly slow and heavy as it is good. Crowbar's previous albums, especially their most recent, 1996's _Broken Glass_, have concentrated on churning out sludgecore which, though always excellent, has stuck to riffs which are primarily percussive and vocals which are low and guttural. That's changed quite considerably with Crowbar's latest offering: _Odd Fellows Rest_. The title takes its name from a cemetery where people are buried above ground because of New Orleans', the band's home town, proximity to sea level. This album has seen Crowbar take their music to new levels of brilliance by incorporating tons of atmosphere and a huge amount of melody, especially in Todd Strange's vocals. This album also sees them with a new label. Abandoning the, according to the band, very inadequate Pavement Music for the greener pastures of Mayhem/Fierce, combined with the quality and increased accessibility of _Odd Fellows Rest_, could give the band the break they need to hit the next level of success, which this band has for so long deserved. However, Crowbar aren't in this for the money; they're in it for the music, and if their integrity helped make _Odd Fellows Rest_ as good as it is, then we should be thankful they aren't greedy. Here's what bassist Todd Strange had to say about _Odd Fellows Rest_ and all things "Down", too. CoC: How did the writing process change when you were making _Odd Fellows Rest_? Did it change? Todd Strange: Yeah, I think it has gotten a little bit more melodic even before [we started this record]. More or less, I just think the new stuff is more from our hearts, more of a reflection of what we all listen to. CoC: I'd say there is a more melodic approach on songs like "Planets Collide", "December's Spawn" or the end of "Scattered Pieces Lay". Do you think that has been a gradual thing, or do you think it has been a sudden step with this record? TS: I think it has all been a progression, you know. It has all led up to this. It is just one of those things. It was just time to do something else, something different, but still trying to keep the same Crowbar edge and all that. CoC: 'Cause you've still got the heavy tracks on there. TS: Oh yeah. But you notice Kirk's doin' mostly singing on this album; we've gone away from all the real angry, aggressive shouting vocals. CoC: Do you think having Sammy [Pierre-Duet] from Acid Bath has changed the album's songs, or do you think Crowbar were changing anyway? TS: Honestly, the album was written; we wrote one song with Sammy, which was "Beyond the Black Horizon", but most of everything else was written before he even got in the band. Pretty much, though, having Sammy in the band has given us a whole new breath of fresh air towards what we wanna do. Now we've got somebody who was a fan of the band for ever and to have him in there... he understands what we're trying to do, what the whole approach to Crowbar is and all that. CoC: So you think the live arena has changed a bit, then? TS: Oh yeah, for sure. CoC: How about the lyrics? Has Kirk changed his writing of the lyrics? The direct style still seems to be there. TS: Honestly, Kirk writes all the lyrics and it's more or less just things that have happened to him. It's just real stuff that people can relate to; at all times, everyone gets depressed over some chick or something and goes out and gets totally loaded and then regrets it the next two or three days because they're sick. CoC: So you think that the depression is the inspiration for the music and the lyrics... TS: Our music definitely leans towards the more negative sides of life. It's kinda what a lot of people hush up; they think "hey, I'm too much of a man to feel that way." But everybody feels it, whether you can come out and say it or you can't. It just happens Kirk can say it. CoC: I've always felt Crowbar is very direct. Some black metal albums, for example, have pages of lyrics for a single song. Crowbar songs have ten or six lines. TS: It is much more music oriented. CoC: You've recently done the Metalfest and a tour? TS: This is the third show of the tour with Eyehategod and Soilent Green. A kinda New Orleans tour. CoC: How's it going? TS: Good. CoC: How much of the new stuff are you playing live? TS: About four or five songs a night. We've got six albums now and one hour, so it's kinda hard to play everything everyone wants to hear. CoC: Would you say you wrote more accessible songs for this record? 'Cause if I was going to play someone any Crowbar record, I'd play them this one. TS: Well, that's good. CoC: Because of the melodic approach and especially "Planets Collide". It's easier to get into. TS: It's one of those songs which kinda sticks in your head after it's finished playing. Which is good, AC/DC has been doing it for years. [Laughs] CoC: What are your further touring plans? TS: We're out on this tour for another four weeks. Then home for nine days, then another tour: fourteen shows in fourteen days. CoC: Are you intending to go to Europe this time? TS: We hope to. We're gonna try to do it end of November, beginning of December, about five weeks in that time frame. CoC: Headlining or as support? TS: We'd love to play with a bigger band, because at this point, the more people we can play to, the better off it is. We might tour with Iron Monkey. CoC: Do you think this might be the album that will break you to a wider audience? TS: Sure, I hope so. I mean, after ten years... CoC: It's been a long time since _Obedience Through Suffering_. TS: That's a question you always get, I mean, you do an album, you work it, you tour it, and if it doesn't catch on, then it is time to do another album. CoC: I was surprised _Broken Glass_ didn't get you further... TS: Well, in the States we were with a crummy record company at the time and it kinda hurt us. That happened with the last few albums. But with Mayhem/Fierce we've finally got people working their asses off for us, which is important. CoC: Are you still collaborating with Phil and Pepper on the Down project? TS: Yeah, they started working on some new stuff right before we left 'cause Phillip is gonna be home, I think, until '99. They'll start working on some new stuff for touring or whatever. CoC: Is it likely to be another full record? TS: Oh yeah, that's the intention. [Laughs] CoC: With writing the music for Crowbar, is it a band or a single person's effort? TS: No, all the music is written in the practice room with everybody there. Nobody comes in and says "hey, I got a song." We write as we go. It usually takes us a week to write a song. Then we'll play it for a while and make changes to it or whatever. CoC: Do you think the band is going towards a more melodic angle in the future? TS: As long as we can stay true to ourselves, wake up and look ourselves in the mirror. Believe me, we wouldn't just do one thing to give us popularity. After ten years, I think we'd have done it by now. It's weird, because everybody in the industry knows who Crowbar is, now we just have to get the people who buy the records to know who Crowbar is. CoC: I think people, your fans, always thought it would be like how Pantera suddenly became popular... TS: ... And Pantera were playing in clubs for ten years before they even got a record deal here in the States. Hopefully it'll happen. It's one of those things I've learned over the years, I can't count on it. I play music 'cause I enjoy it and if I get popular and make a lot of money doing it, then so be it; and if I don't, at least I can say I made a good effort. CoC: Do you think the new album appeals to the old fans too? TS: I definitely think it appeals to a wider audience. I had some guy come up to me at the Metalfest and say "the new album is great, y'all changed it just enough to keep it interesting." I thought that was one of the coolest compliments I got off the album. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= D O I N G D I R T C H E A P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Dirty Deeds by: Adrian Bromley It's always a treat to get special attention as a new band. Dirty Deeds are being pampered right now and they love it. Dirty Deeds, the first signee to Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris' label Beast Records (formed with Sanctuary Music boss and Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood), are getting first class treatment and, most importantly, support with their debut disc for Beast Records, called _Danger of Infection_. The album, a full-throttle love affair of 80s metal music (a la Maiden, Judas Priest, Helloween), though interspersed with heavy riffs and melodic choruses, appears as a welcome addition to the metal styles of today. It may sound like old style metal, but delivers a very present day punch. The band -- Peter Franklin (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Tony Newton (bass), Barry Fitzgibbon (lead guitar) and drummer Dave Cavill -- have just toured the shores for the first time as part of the Iron Maiden / Dio tour this summer (which was canceled due to band member health problems in Iron Maiden), but are expecting a return visit in the near future. "It was a great time we had over there," says bassist Tony Newton from his home in England. "Everywhere we went it was to great crowd responses and stuff like that. We had a blast. We were very hesitant about coming over and playing, seeing that it was the first time we had ever been to North America, but in the end it was great. The first show in Chicago on this tour was awesome. It's always a bit nervous to play with many bands and open for someone who may have fans that don't know your music. In America, we got such a buzz to be on such a great bill, and, to top it off, the responses were good too. It was a great high for us. We were having fun and it was unfortunate that the tour was called short." So in the crunch and grind of the hard rock / metal community, where does Newton see Dirty Deeds fitting in? "I've never called us a metal band. More of a hard rock band. Being called "metal" sounds so 80s to me. The thing about Dirty Deeds is that we are a guitar oriented band. We love guitar riffs and how they shape our music. Most bands nowadays are going for that tuned-down guitar sound, with very little melody to the vocals. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Pantera and other heavy bands like that, I just wish they had more melody in the vocals. I think that's what we do. Heavy riffs with melody. Makes for a good mixture, I think." About the recording process of their debut disc, Newton says, "It was a great experience for us to be working in the studio and making this record. We worked hard to make the music. But we don't really have a plan. We just create the music as it comes out. I've done lots of interviews for this LP and people are under the assumption that Dirty Deeds has some form of a master plan for making metal music come back around again. They think we have surfaced at the right time. We've been playing this music for years and we haven't changed our preference in hard rock for anyone. This is just what we create. We know the stuff we like and if it doesn't fit into what we are doing, it doesn't get written at all." Any thoughts on how the record writing process could have been changed? Anything Newton would have changed? "Yeah... a few things. When we started working on the record, we wanted to work with mixer Nigel Green, but he was busy doing the new Iron Maiden record (_Virtual XI_). So we had to wait for the time to work with Green. That was ten months in waiting and he finally worked with us and we finished up the LP. It was great to work with him but the time frame doing this record was too long. This LP was two years in the making. I would change that if we could go back and do this again. It was worth the wait to work with Green again, but the wait... never again." Luck has been on the side of Dirty Deeds. The story on how Deeds' bassist Newton hooked up with Iron Maiden's Harris is quite interesting. "It's a funny story. We both love soccer and I was playing in this soccer league and discovered that Steve did too. We also had other things in common -- I played bass and we both enjoyed tennis. We spoke about all of this and he came and checked out our band a couple of times and liked us. He gave us some help, telling us that our material was good, just needed a bit more work. Then he offered a small tour part on the X-Factor tour of Europe in 1996. We did that and the reactions were great. We got off the tour and went into the studio to record and we started to sort things out from there. At that time, Beast Records was just an idea and he was just concerned on helping us get a deal. Then he decided he wanted to create a label and felt the time was right. It was luck for both of us. And it has worked out since then for both parties." "I am in this just for the fun of it," states Newton. "Sure I wanna be successful, but that success is measured by me being able to have a comfortable living from doing this. I just want to be able to continue doing this and making music. I'm not into being a millionaire or making money. If I was, I'd have been coming up with music that was big and trendy right now. We're doing what we are doing and as long as we can keep doing that, then I'll be happy. I just want to enjoy the music I'm playing and be able to maintain doing it for years to come." He finishes, "I have been playing guitar since I was twelve years old and always wanted to be a rock star and play guitar. And now, when I am on stage playing in front of thousands of people, it all comes back to me. This is all I have ever wanted to do. Hopefully this will be here for me for a long while. That's all I want out of this, as I said before. This is it for me. Nothing more." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= F I N N I S H F I R E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Jarno Taskula of Evemaster by: Pedro Azevedo There may be quite a flood of Swedish (or Swedish-sounding) melodic metal right now, but Evemaster, from Finland, are rather unique in a way. The main reason for that is that there is essentially only one person writing and playing all the music: Tomi Mykkanen, accompanied by Jarno Taskula on vocals. Their promising debut _Lacrimae Mundi_ [reviewed in CoC #32] is out now on KTOK Records. The following is my interview with Evemaster vocalist Jarno Taskula. CoC: Can you tell us some of the recent story behind Evemaster and what led to your signing by KTOK Records? Jarno Taskula: We just got our CD _Lacrimae Mundi_ out and we are awaiting reactions from the underground people right now. As far as we are now, we are positively surprised. We sent our demo _In Thine Majesty_ to many labels and got some interesting answers from some of them. KTOK Records went a bit deeper than the others, so that is why we are where we are right now. CoC: How do you manage to make your music work being just a two-piece band? I mean, it mustn't be easy for a band to work having only two members. JT: You are right, and the fact is that Tomi Mykkanen does all the music from beginning to end by himself, and the same goes for the lyrics. I am only the vocalist, but of course I give some feedback to Tomi Mykkanen about the music, lyrics and especially arrangements that he makes. Although it's sometimes very hard and time consuming to create a song, it gives Tomi 100% freedom to make the music he believes in without any interfering comments from other composers in the band (which would happen if we had a full line-up). CoC: Your album _Lacrimae Mundi_ mixes some styles, namely, in my opinion, some Swedish melodic death/black and some doom here and there. Do you agree? JT: Yes, _Lacrimae Mundi_ mixes some different styles and that is what Evemaster's music is all about. We create metal that has intriguing emotional melodies, but still has a very aggressive touch and dark feeling in it, both music-wise and lyric-wise. That's why we call it dark metal. In my opinion we didn't use any pure doom elements in _Lacrimae Mundi_. I know that "Equinox Nocturne" is a slower song and that's where you got that doom thing, right? Although it's slower, it is not as oppressive as doom metal usually is. [Indeed, it was mainly "Equinox Nocturne" that made me ask this question; however, I did detect a few other melodies that seemed somewhat doomy to me. On a side note, doomy sequences occur more frequently in Swedish-like metal than most people seem to notice (At the Gates, Opeth and Dawn being three good examples, and all of superb quality). -- Pedro] CoC: Yes, that final track, "Equinox Nocturne", seems to me pretty much black/doom metal, though not very extreme doom-wise. How did that track came up? It's quite different from the rest of the album, in my opinion. JT: Yes, it is. We had a discussion about a slower song, when Tomi started to write new songs for _Lacrimae Mundi_, and we ended up agreeing that it would be a really good idea to create one slower and longer song as a final track -- since all the other songs are by one way or another faster, the slower final track will make the whole album more interesting. And although the final track "Equinox Nocturne" is much slower (during the first eight minutes) than the other songs, it still has the same dark feeling and touch as the others; it is the darkest song we have ever made. When the song turns to the end sequence, it gets faster and faster and in the end it is almost as fast as some of our other songs, so it also has its aggressive side in the end. CoC: What bands were your main influences? JT: Musically, Tomi's influences are all the great metal bands he listens to. Yeah, that's a very standard answer, but Tomi doesn't want to create music in a way that Evemaster would sound like, for example, Cradle of Filth or Old Man's Child or whatever. He picks up some influences here and there and adds a big pile of his own ideas to create the music of Evemaster. The same goes for the lyrics. Actually, for our new release, Tomi is planning to write lyrics for a concept album. Of course we first have to find out what our next release's format will be... MCD or CD? So we will see... In the beginning, my main influence was Mille from Kreator and he still is, but I have also tried to add more emotion to the vocals to make them sound like -my- vocals. CoC: Do you have a live line-up? Have you been playing any live shows? JT: Well, we can't play live since we are only a two-piece band and we haven't found a stable line-up yet. We just got a positive answer from a local drummer for our next release, but there aren't any plans concerning tours. CoC: How's the metal scene been going lately in Finland? More specifically, how does it feel being so near Norwegian black metal and Swedish melodic black/death, two thriving styles, whereas there's no specific metal style associated with Finland (not that there aren't some really good Finnish metal bands, though)? JT: I don't mind that Finland doesn't have any specific notable style, because, in my opinion, most of the Finnish bands are aiming at originality with their music and not following the so called trend style. As I said, this doesn't stand for all of the Finnish bands. Yes, you are right. There are a lot of good bands in Finland, but they differ quite a lot from each other and I think that's very good. CoC: Any plans of signing for a bigger label now, like your neighbors Children of Bodom, who are on Spinefarm Records and had an album released by Nuclear Blast? JT: It would be good to get signed by a bigger label, but it doesn't have to be as big as Nuclear Blast. We just want to have a good budget for our next release, so that we don't have to hurry at all in the studio and we can do all the stuff we would like to do there. Of course it would be great to get a good deal from a big label and sell more CDs, but if we just get a good studio budget, it will sell quite well anyway, because the album will sound better. Of course the amount of album advertisement the label will do means a lot, but the most important thing is that it should sound great! CoC: What are you planning to do after the release of _Lacrimae Mundi_? JT: Tomi will concentrate on writing the new material for the forthcoming promo tape and I will try to help the label promote the CD as much as possible by sending promos to zines, radios, etc. and doing interviews. Of course Tomi will do some promotion as well, but we think that it is better that he has as much time to write new material as possible. CoC: Any idea of what will change in your sound from now on? JT: Our sound will change at least a bit, because we are going to use a session drummer in our forthcoming releases. Musically I am not sure, because it's Tomi who makes the music, but our music will still have its main elements: melody, aggression and emotion. I will try to use some different vocal styles now and then instead of screaming all the time. I like to scream, so that's not the point, but it's good to use varied vocals in some parts to make the music more interesting and original. CoC: Would you like to add a final message to this interview? JT: Visit our homepage, read the reviews of _Lacrimae Mundi_ and listen to samples; then, if you liked what you just heard, order the CD as soon as possible. Thanks a lot for the interview! Contact: mailto:jarno_taskula@hotmail.com WWW: www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/7015/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T H E V I K I N G S ' T R U E V O I C E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks to Falkenbach by: Adam Wasylyk A blend of black metal and Viking rock, Falkenbach play the sort of music that breathes life into a genre polluted with wannabes and copycats. Mesmerizing keyboards, black metal snarls, driving guitars and rock beats, while Vikings serve as the imagery and ideologies behind it all. Having recorded their debut _... En Their Medh Riki Fara..._ for No Colours, the band signed to Napalm Records in Austria and released _... Magni Blandinn ok Megintiri..._, one of the better records of 1997, with hopefully many more albums to come. Sole creator and musician Vratyas Vakyas wrote back to my queries on his band and what he's up to presently. "The whole thing began in '89, I think, when I decided to record my first songs and lyrics" began Vakyas on how Falkenbach got started and whether the Viking imagery was the initial inspiration. "Back then, I searched for a new kind of sacrifice for the Goddesses & Gods besides blood, life, etc. I also wanted to give something direct from my heart and soul, a donation made of art, emotion and yearning. So you could say not the Viking period itself inspired me, but the Goddesses & Gods who ruled that age on Midgaard, and who will rule forever!" Getting into detail about Falkenbach's prior releases, Vakyas said "All in all, I've done seven tapes so far, all in a strictly limited edition, furthermore a tape called _Promo '95_ and the debut CD _... En Their Medh Riki Fara..._. The earlier stuff is mainly folkloristic music with percussion, acoustic guitar and clean vocals, but during the years also drums, distorted guitars and keyboards became more and more important. Every recording differs a bit from its predecessors due to the fact that more instruments were added to the songs, and my musical skills grew a bit, too." As to what happened with No Colours and his leap to Napalm Records, Vakyas explained "No Colours did a good job for Falkenbach, but this step simply had to be done, as I don't want any stagnation with Falkenbach ever! Napalm offered a deal about one year after the debut album was released and after some changes in the offered contract I signed to Napalm." Vakyas also went on to explain his role in Falkenbach, which could be called a one-man project but it wasn't necessarily designed to be that. "Since the very first days, I'm the only musician involved in Falkenbach, and not even session musicians were used for the recordings. Maybe this will change for the third CD, as I'm looking for a session drummer and flutist, too. By the way, it's not that I don't want any people to be involved, but as a matter of fact it's quite hard to find musicians who're both skilled in playing their instruments and good characters, who fit 100% into the concept of Falkenbach. Trust me, it's hard to find worthy people!" On my first few listens to _... Magni Blandinn ok Megintiri..._ I made the comparison to some of Bathory's Viking-era material along with his last (and brilliant) effort _Blood on Ice_. I thought the feelings captured by both _Blood on Ice_ and _... Magni Blandinn ok Megintiri..._ had some parallels, both dealing with Viking themes at a rock beat pace. As to whether there are any similarities to Bathory or if he's taken them as an influence, Vakyas states "In my opinion, there are not too many similarities between Bathory and Falkenbach, not music nor lyric wise. I used to play this kind of music from the very beginning, so I can't say any bands or musicians influenced Falkenbach anyway. The only band I know playing a bit similar music [to us] is Vargas." I also ask what the lyrics deal with, despite the overwhelming chance that it has something to do with Vikings. "Most of the lyrics are about Asatru, the religion of Germanic and north-European tribes, and Vartan, a mixture between science, art and philosophy, which is based on Asatru. Viking themes are the way to describe them, as the lyrics of Falkenbach are usually written with metaphors. Every character, every symbol used has a deeper meaning, so mental power is needed to understand those lyrics and the message they convey, but superficially will only lead to misunderstandings." After asking about newly written material, Vakyas affirms "At the moment around 20 minutes of new material does exist, but it's not recorded yet. None should expect any "stylebreak", but, as always, the new songs are one step further in the right direction. I can say the new material contains clean vocals, flutes, powerful guitars and drums, acoustic guitars, ancient percussion, etc., but most of the arrangements are much improved! I can promise this new release will be far better than both of its predecessors! It's a fact that my main intention isn't to be successful, or to be popular, but to be relevant!" What does Vakyas see black metal evolving into in the upcoming years and into the next century? "Countless new bands, and 99% worthless crap will enter the market. We'll have to wait and see who's still left after the next five or six years, then we can say who's true and who's not." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= G L A C I E R S A R E U S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Iced Earth by: Adrian Bromley Florida metallers Iced Earth are in route for global domination. Or so they hope. The band's latest offering, _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ (a follow-up to 1996's brilliant _The Dark Saga_), is a brilliant testimony to the ways that metal should be played: passionate and oh so heavy. Draped within pure metal geniusness, the latest offering from Iced Earth digs deep into the soul of metal, lashing out with truly dynamic sounds and a real stellar production. Is this their best work to date? Many with say it is. Guitarist/ lyricist/mastermind Jon Schaffer is one of them. "This record has a lot of diversity on it," he starts. "When we made _The Dark Saga_, and seeing that it was a concept record, we aimed to follow the love story that grew out of the whole Spawn / Dark Saga thing. There were slow songs and powerful choruses that chimed with melody. But many of our fans who still liked the record thought we were lacking a heavy sound. Fast songs were lacking. We listened to the fans and tried to bring a good array of diversity to this record. There is this whole rainbow of sounds here. Matt [Barlow, singer] did a superb job singing on this record. It flowed very well. I am very happy with the results." He continues, "I am very proud of what we did here with this new LP. We approached this record the way we approached all of our other records. We just record what comes out. The basic thing for the record was that we were going to make a concept record on a story I wrote. I had written some material after _The Dark Saga_ sessions ["Watching Over Me" and "Stand Alone" -- Adrian], and that was about a year and a half ago, and then we decided that they were cool tunes that stood on their own and not with the story. So what we did was include the first ten songs that stand alone by themselves on the record and then have the three-song trilogy at the end of the record. The idea was to give the listener a sort of prelude to the next record, stemming from the three-song trilogy on this LP. The next LP will be a full-concept record based on that story, Something Wicked." "At first, while making this record I was having a hard time making music," acknowledges Schaffer. "All of the stress was getting to me and I really couldn't concentrate too much on what I was doing. Then I got things in control and went back to the old way of just letting things flow and it all worked out in the end." The role of Iced Earth -- whose current lineup is rounded out by Randy Shawver (guitars), Brent Smedley (drums) and bassist Jimmy McDonough -- has been well-documented in metal music through their various early releases (_Iced Earth_, _Burnt Offerings_, _Night of the Stormrider_), but it wasn't until singer Matt Barlow took over that the band sort of got a kick in the ass and some well-deserved recognition. Things were clicking, the sound was great and they weren't just a run-of-the-mill metal outfit slaving through the waves of the metal industry. They had hit a hard and definite bullseye with _The Dark Saga_. Metal fans took note. "We had put a lot of hard work into this band from day one and it shows. But I dunno... I am so dedicated to this band. I have never, ever felt like giving up. Well... there was a bit of time during the _Night of the Stormrider_ sessions that everything was all fucked up and stressful, but we carried on. We struggled and the success of _The Dark Saga_ was a great feeling for us. Now things are starting to go our way and it's exciting. We come over to Europe and play to all these rabid fans for two hours and it kind of erases all the bullshit that comes with this industry." "Things are surely starting to roll for us a bit better now," states Schaffer. "_The Dark Saga_ helped get us out in North America, thanks to the marketing from our label. In the early days it wasn't much like that. The label really worked hard to get the name out and it paid off." Through the years of trudging through the industry to make ends meet, how does Schaffer feel he has managed to keep Iced Earth intact with their metal roots? "I've never been tempted to do anything other than play metal," says Schaffer with sincerity in his voice. "I only do things I wanna do and doing stuff outside of metal music has never been an issue. I don't want to play this noisy shit of the 90s. I wanna play metal music. If metal music gets popular again like it is in Europe, that's gonna be great. If it doesn't happen and metal goes away or no one cares, we are still going to be doing this. This is what we are about. Being a metal band. Another thing is that I don't really listen to many other bands, so I don't get influence to change my style or bring ideas into Iced Earth that are not metal. I don't listen to music much 'cause I am in the business. It's as if I was a carpenter who works all day and then goes home and has to work on his house. I don't wanna do that. When I drive around in my car I listen to the shit I grew up with, none of this current music trends. I don't wanna be influenced by things I don't like." On the topic of their dedicated fan base, Schaffer says, "We have been lucky to have a good fan base with this band. And with the success of _The Dark Saga_, we gained many more new fans. That is expected with every record -- if not, you are going backwards, right? We definitely have reached a bigger audience and that comes with touring and making LPs. We have been lucky to have dedicated fans over the years who have stuck with us, kind of forming a cult-like following of sorts for Iced Earth. It's very dedicated and we stay true to them and our music fully." As many would expect from being a musician, sacrifices are made all of the time. Schaffer has made many to keep the metal torch within Iced Earth flickering. "I have sacrificed everything for the band. From the early days of leaving home at the age of 16 and eating mayonnaise sandwiches and living on the streets to putting my band before my family and my friends, I have made a number of sacrifices to make this band the number one priority in my life. There is just this intensity within me, a burning ambition, that makes me want to do this. I can't divert from it. I am completely driven to make this happen and I'll do whatever it takes." "There is a lot of creativity coming from me for Iced Earth. I don't really see an end in sight," Schaffer states. "If you ask me five or ten years from now, it may be a different story. I can't predict the future. I know right now all of us feel the intensity of what is happening and the chemistry of the band is killer. It's working out great. As for what I have done, I have never seen myself as a great musician. I never wanted to become a superstar musician or guitar hero guy. I don't even like being called a rock star. I am a songwriter and composer. That's what I do. The whole drive behind the band from day one is to write songs. I dunno why. It's just the way I have always been. And I'll keep doing this 'till I run out of song ideas. Could be a while though." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A S C U L P T U R E O F S O R R O W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Pedro Daniel of Sculpture by: Pedro Azevedo While some Portuguese bands gain success abroad nowadays, some others remain unknown while playing much more extreme (not to mention much more interesting) forms of metal. And, as far as doom is concerned, Portugal is fortunate to have two quality bands such as Desire (whom I hope won't keep us waiting for a new full-length for too long) and Sculpture (whom, in turn, I hope will be able to record a quality debut full-length for next year). My e-mail interview with Sculpture's bass player Pedro Daniel touches that subject, as well as what the band has been about so far and their debut MCD _Like a Dead Flower_ [CoC #30]. CoC: Please tell us about Sculpture's early days. What was your objective when you formed the band? Pedro Daniel: The birth of Sculpture goes way back to early 1993, when our vocalist Carlos D'Agua was still heading Evisceration (a powerful grindcore band). At that time, few were the Portuguese bands playing or recording the sort of sound known as doom, and Carlos was feeling a strong urge to initiate a project within that area for quite some time. He was a bit tired of the primal, extreme and violent sound of the grindcore genre; all those deep, personal and intimate feelings you now hear in Sculpture began to fill his heart and his mind. From that point to the beginning of the project itself was just a matter of gathering the right people. Our main objective when we started was to write as much material as we could and get in the studio to record it. Unfortunately, things around us never got that easy. Our first label shut its doors while we were recording the first version of _Like a Dead Flower_. Conceptually, it's all about wounded, obscure feelings, and the particular way we see life, its sadness and somehow its happiness. CoC: Where did the name Sculpture come from? What does it mean to you? PD: Carlos came up with the name Sculpture after we discovered that our previous designation was already taken. Personally, I don't know the reason why he chose that name, but its meaning is very clear to us. The facts of life that make us all wonder are quite simple, but yet they have always existed and always will exist. A sculpture is much like those facts of life. It made those long departed wonder and is yet to be admired by those to come. We don't call ourselves Sculpture as if we want to be admired as one, but because we admire things like sculptures. Eternal like the stone from which it is made... CoC: Listening to _Like a Dead Flower_, it's impossible for me to avoid thinking of early Anathema (namely _Serenades_), which is a good thing, considering the quality of your MCD. I suppose Anathema must have been a major influence to you. What are your views on this subject? PD: Anathema was surely very important for us when we began to write, but it wasn't our objective to copy what they were doing. The resemblance between Anathema and Sculpture depends on one's opinion. Some say that there are similarities, some disagree. Influences came unconsciously; we don't pick this or that particular idea from this or that band. There are some names that compelled us to play this sort of music, but we didn't make any attempts to imitate them. Doom settles its basis in very simple and specific concepts and ambiance, and it's very easy to find similarities [between doom bands]. We are truly honest in what we do, and we don't have pretensions of being too original or so because we don't write about original feelings -- they are as old as the human race. We just want people to find some meaning in our music, to cry if they want to, to laugh, to hate or to love. CoC: Does the name of your song "Autumn Serenades" have anything to do with the title of Anathema's debut full-length _Serenades_? Is it just a coincidence or did you want to express something with this? PD: When the lyrics for "Autumn Serenades" were written, Sculpture only existed in Carlos' mind, and it goes back to 1992. It was probably a coincidence. [_Serenades_ was released in 1993. -- Pedro] For as much as we consider Anathema important, we would never title a song the same way on purpose. CoC: What is it in life that makes you want to play doom metal? PD: I think people should feel peace about their inner selves. The balance between light and darkness is very important to someone's mind and spirit. If you try to erase or ignore darkness from your personality you will lose a fundamental piece of yourself and become a hypocrite. We feel compelled to play and write doom as a tribute to those darkest feelings. CoC: I feel the production on the MCD was very good, achieving a very strong sound. Are you happy with it? PD: Yes, we are quite pleased with the result, considering the scarce time and budget available. Our main goal was to achieve the best results within those limitations. CoC: And what about the music there contained? What would you change now if you could (if anything)? PD: Structurally, I don't think there would be any changes. Perhaps a re-recording of this or that song, but the songs themselves would never change. They were composed in a particular way because there was a reason for them to be like that. CoC: I heard you had some line-up problems lately. Would you like to tell us more about that? PD: Well, the problems emerged right after the recording of _Like a Dead Flower_, when Carlos had to abandon the band due to personal matters. Later, he rejoined Sculpture, but he still could not get along with us. We just hope that he solves all his misfortunes so we can gather the line-up at 100%. CoC: What are your plans for a forthcoming album? Do you have any dates set yet? PD: What you heard in _Like a Dead Flower_ was a footstep for what Sculpture is doing right now. I won't say more about it, sorry... We'll be in studio this November, but the release date is still a bit blurred; sometime during the forthcoming year of 1999. CoC: How do you feel about all the Portuguese bands who are being more or less successful abroad, like Moonspell, Heavenwood, and now In Solitude, Inhuman, etc. (who may be in the near future), playing easily listenable, soft metal? PD: I deeply respect what they are managing to achieve and I wish them all the luck, but if my opinion matters, I am not sympathetic with the path they chose along these few years. When a band assumes a certain musical style, it should remain faithful to it. In some of the cases you mentioned above, I don't consider them an evolution, but a regression. Beginning with a powerful and majestic sound and progressively making it softer and keen to massification is exactly the opposite of the purpose of art as a way to express the self. CoC: And then there are other bands, like yourselves and Desire, who don't have the kind of success those other bands have, since the music you play isn't exactly of a very commercial nature. Do you intend to change your music so that this situation will change accordingly and you receive more attention, or will you keep playing -doom- metal (considering the kind of musical and emotional characteristics it implies)? PD: For me, music is not my only activity and I do not depend on it to live. But I don't blame anyone who needs to make something more commercial to earn money. The problem is to assume that position after you started with a belief that is not in any way mercenary, and when you look at yourself, you are a victim of trends and fashions that rule the scene you're part of. Sculpture will be playing doom for as long as it can, but of course we won't be stagnating or something like that. The world around us shapes us, even if we don't want it to, and things will be naturally, progressively changing; but I'd rather just stop playing and keep my honesty than have a label or the public telling me how I should do things. CoC: What about live shows? What are your current plans? PD: The line-up problems (and others) are the reason why we didn't do live shows yet. But before we get back in the studio, we should be doing a couple of dates around the country so we can loosen up a bit before we get in all that natural stress that comes up when you're recording, and also to sharpen the appetite and curiosity of the audience for the forthcoming album. CoC: What is your greatest wish for the future of Sculpture? PD: Every band dreams of having full conditions to work without problems such as time and money limitations. That usually comes with a major deal with a big label, but I guess that's not our primary focus. We just wish to touch people in their deepest as much as we can. Contact: mailto:Sculpture_doom@hotmail.com WWW: www.artmusic-pt.com/sculpture/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= E L O Q U E N T E M O T I O N S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Therion by: Adrian Bromley There is no denying that the power and strength within Therion mastermind Christofer Johnsson's music is an extraordinary feat. It's unbelievable how one man can make metal music so majestic and so grand, yet easily accessible to the metal buying public and beautifully draped with luscious melodies. His work is his craft. His craft is stunning. While Therion (rounded out by guitarist Tommy Eriksson, additional guitarists Waldemar Sorychta and Siggi Bemm, drummer Wolf Simons and bassist Ian Kazda) has managed to pry themselves away from their death metal beginnings (i.e., _Of Darkness_, _Symphony of Masses_ and _Lepaca Kliffoth_) over the years, the band has emerged from the transition with powerful music that speaks volumes of creativity and renders the listener weak at the knees. Therion's _Theli_ record set the stage for the band (though _Lepaca Kliffoth_ did showcase some innovative ideas) with its massive use of symphonies, choirs and sheer brilliance masking the music with attractive melodies. _Theli_ was and is one of the most breathtaking LPs to emerge this decade. Following the release of the band's cover/soundtrack mish-mashed LP titled _A' Arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming_, the band returns to the metal scene with the hotly anticipated outing called _Vovin_. While much more subdued and sombre than past efforts, Johnsson's delicate ways of mixing sounds and ideas shines like the sun. His work tells plenty. "I definitely think this is a big change for Therion since the _Theli_ record a few years back," begins Johnsson. "Of course we will never be able to do such a massive change to the music as we did with _Theli_. I basically stopped singing and created huge classical arrangements and choirs singing. If we were to do another such drastic change for Therion, we'd have to stop playing and introduce hip-hop into the Therion sound." "We want every album by us to be different. We want people to get a lot out of what we do. It's important to have changes within our music. It's very important to myself to see us changing over each LP. On _Vovin_ there are more guitars and more mid-tempo and melancholic ideas. _Theli_ had a lot of soft guitars in the background. Here they are more up front. There is more attention for me to focus here with all the guitars and ideas coming together." "I love this LP and how I worked the choirs on _Vovin_. With _Theli_ I used the choirs to kind of take the place of rock and guitar harmonies within a song. They were used to help guide the song. With this LP I used the choirs very conservatively and in the vein of an opera performance. I used the material and choirs effectively to sound like a real opera working within the music of Therion. As for the future, who knows, but at this point in time the use of choirs seems very effective for Therion's work." He adds, "I can honestly say this now, I was very worried with the direction of the band when _Theli_ came out. I thought it was going to flop. I thought that was going to be the last record that we ever made. When I was making _Theli_ I was happy to have a big budget and be able to make a powerful LP that could have been our last recording. I thought it was going to sell nothing, which had always been the case 'cause people thought of us always as being a weird band, and it was the weirdest effort so far. I had to go out and sell the record even though I had my doubts. I was worried, but beyond my wildest dreams, the album took off and people really got into what we had done. I was pleased." Does he miss the early death metal days of Therion? He says, "This is where we should be. I liked what we did before and I don't regret anything we did musically, but I have grown as a songwriter and now I am working with many different styles of music. We did try to play some of the older stuff live to satisfy old fans. We always try to play some old stuff, in respect to what we have done in the past. But as things go on, it just seems that Therion are getting further and further away from what we did in the past. And that's fine by me. I enjoy being creative with our music." Getting more in depth about his songwriting process, Johnsson says, "Basically, with the way I work, everything I write and work on in the studio goes on the record. If it's left over, we hold onto it. The music doesn't go onto the next record either. We find something special to do. There are some songs from _Vovin_ left over and that may one day make it onto an EP. Who knows? The songs that were cut just didn't work into the feel of what we were doing with _Vovin_." While _Vovin_ is getting some pretty rave reviews, many critics and fans seemed to have been under the impression that _Vovin_ was going to act as "Theli Part II". What's Johnsson's take on the work within _Vovin_? "I think this is some of our best work. If I wasn't happy with it, I wouldn't put it out on record. I have this way of thought: 'If it ain't better than the previous record, I ain't putting it out.' There are so many bands out there that put out a record and reach the peak of their career and then go downhill from there. I don't want that. Even if our sales in records slip, I am still going to be proud with what we put out 'cause that is what keeps me going: good music. We have been around for eleven years with Therion and if we want another eleven years, then we have to think this way and make great records. If I don't think it is better than the last record, how can I expect someone else to think it is better?" So what does make up a record worth putting out in Johnsson's mind? "I want the production to be far better than the LP before. I want the playing to be better than before and I want the songwriting to be different. I want to offer something new. Sure we used choirs on this LP as we did with the last one, but we used them in a different way. It's all about using what you have and making the best of it. Variety is key." The thing that has always seemed to stand out from the music of Therion is the band's utter compassion and care for what they do. Each note and harmony is executed with a sincere and heartfelt direction. Therion is quite frankly a band that presents itself with as much respect as it does delivering its music. Honesty runs deep. "We are one of those bands that care deeply for what we do. There are many other bands out there that feel the same as we do. For example Amorphis, they don't give a shit. They play what they like. Many bands nowadays make music with the thought of, "What will people think if we play music like this?" And then they change. Myself, I always seem to concentrate on making music stand firm with my own ideas. Nothing ever affects what I do. When I hear back final results I wonder how things could have been changed, but I don't fuss over it. I'm just glad to have been able to create such work." The ending topic turns to his past work with _A' Arab Zaraq Lucid Dreaming_ and the soundtrack/soundscape stuff he worked on for that release. Johnsson was pleased with what he did, but feels that his work in that style/genre is not much to his liking. Would he do such a bizarre project again? "I won't do anything like that ever again," states Johnsson. "It was great to be able to do that, I was offered a nice price to work on the soundtrack, but it just wasn't my thing. I always wanted to work on a soundtrack, but discovered it was something I wasn't really into. It was a great experience, but I wasn't really paid enough money for the time I had been working on it. The thing about doing this is that it puts a strain on what I am doing with Therion, 'cause I have to devote time to other projects. I won't do anything else like this unless it's worth it and doesn't take away too much of my time with the band. My band is all that matters to me. Always has, always will." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T E A R S F R O M T H E T H O U S A N D L A K E S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Ismo Toivonen of Unholy by: Pedro Azevedo Some bands don't conform to trends, and Unholy's _Rapture_ [CoC #31], the follow-up to _The Second Ring of Power_, is a proof that the Finnish Unholy are (or, at least, have been so far) one of those bands. My e-mail interview with guitarist/keyboardist Ismo Toivonen ended up being delayed for reasons that every band usually considers very welcome: they were in the studio recording the successor of the very depressive _Rapture_. With Veera Muhli, who performed some nice vocals for them in the past, as a permanent member now, the new Unholy album may very well be a fine piece of doom metal; however, things may not be so linear, considering Ismo Toivonen's answers below. CoC: _Rapture_ becomes rather hard to describe as a whole, as it goes from dirgeful doom to mid-paced doom/death, to doom with female vocals. How would you describe the music contained in _Rapture_? Ismo Toivonen: It's just Unholy music. I think there is no need to describe it in any other way. People always want to use those terms like doom, death and black metal. I don't want to use those words. When someone listens to _Rapture_, he or she will notice that it's not so easy to describe in those normal terms, so I think the only right word is just Unholy. CoC: How do you explain the considerable differences between several of its tracks? IT: It's refreshing to make different kinds of songs, because if you do the same kind of stuff for ten years you start sounding like the same -- every song sounds like the same. And we have always tried to change musically and try some different things because it makes the whole thing more interesting. And when I think about our forthcoming album, it's once again something different from what you used to know. You know, the most important thing has always been -feeling-, and that's still the same, even if the music changes a little bit in every album. CoC: What is your songwriting method? The reason why I ask this is because your song structures are (fortunately) far from normal. IT: What is normal? [Four minute long chorus-based songs. -- Pedro] Well, OK, I think we have a normal way of writing songs. We have two main ways: one is just writing riffs and finally putting them together. The other one is more interesting, in my opinion. We just start playing together, improvising, and maybe we can find one or two good riffs. Then we start playing them and making all kinds of modifications, and finally we have some good riffs ready that fit together better than those that have been written in that "old method". This new way has became more and more common. I don't remember how many songs in _Rapture_ were written like that, but in our next album over half the songs were written like that. But of course there are more ways to make songs and we use everything between those two ways. Every song is a different case, so I cannot give any specific formula of how we write songs. I can tell you one more way: sometimes we just have one riff that myself or Pasi [Aijo, bassist/vocalist/guitarist] wrote earlier. We start playing it and making new parts for that song by improvising. CoC: Is there a logical sequence in the tracks? I mean, is there any special reason why you placed "For the Unknown One" and its nice female vocals just before a much more barren track like "Wunderwerck"? IT: There is a logical sequence, but that's not the sequence in the album. The "artistic" sequence of songs can be found in our website, in the lyrics page. [According to which, the sequence would be: 6, 5, 3, 7, 1, 4, 2, 8. -- Pedro] The lyrics form some kind of a story or something like that, but it's not easy to understand. Therefore, we didn't put those songs in that sequence, because most people wouldn't be able to understand this. (You know, you are probably the first person who has mentioned it.) So, we just made a sequence that was musically the best possible. Why is "For the Unknown One" the third song? I don't know, maybe because the third song in _The Second Ring of Power_ had female vocals too. Hah! CoC: What's the story behind Veera Muhli's participation in "For the Unknown One"? IT: I don't know exactly what you want to know. I didn't know her before, but Pasi knew that she is a good singer. So we asked her to come and sing in our album. She agreed and made melodies for that song. And we are really satisfied with it. So she's a permanent member now and will sing in about half the songs in our next album. CoC: "Wunderwerck", being about 15 minutes long and having that large acoustic section, is a good example of something that is seen throughout the album: you never really bothered about how long it would be, did you? IT: No, we make songs and we don't think about how long they should be. When the song is ready and contains everything it has to contain in our opinion, we just check, and "oh, it's 15 minutes, OK". If you start making songs with thoughts like "is this too long or short?", you are going in a very wrong direction. And the album could have been even longer, but we left one song out because it didn't work the best possible way and we noticed that too late, when all songs had already been mixed. But it has some changes now and it will be in our next album, which, if everything goes well, should be an even longer album. About 70 minutes. But we are not worried about it. CoC: How did the strange "Unzeitgeist" appear? IT: As a matter of fact, I wrote that song when Unholy was inoperative. I played it to Jan [Kuhanen, drummer] and he said it was a good song. When we re-formed again after that break, Jan still remembered that song, so we took it to Unholy. Same story for "Wretched". I made it, during our break, with my sequencer, and when we joined back together we just re-arranged it. CoC: What inspired you to write such doomy compositions? IT: Nature itself. Everything around us. Being Finnish, I think. I don't know one or two reasons because there are millions of them. It's the same kind of question as "why do you want to live?". CoC: Do you feel like you're part of the doom metal scene? IT: No. I don't like that word because it's far from us, I think. Sometimes I say that we are playing doom metal, but that's only because it is closer to our music than, for example, punk or classical music. But it's not our music, I think. And I will be quite surprised if someone calls our music "doom" after our next album... Get ready to find a new word... CoC: Is there any doom band you relate to in some way? IT: Not exactly, but when I read Skepticism's lyrics I noticed that they have quite similar thoughts to ours and that was great to know. Their music is different (simpler, slower), but they have the same kind of basic feeling in their music that we do. Greetings to them! CoC: How do you feel about the other Avantgarde bands? IT: I haven't heard much of them, but there are a few promising bands who will be something one day. At least that's what I hope. I must say I like Katatonia, even though I have only heard their old material and one song from their new album [_Discouraged Ones_]. They know how to do things in a very simple way, and it still works. CoC: What about the future? What are your plans for Unholy? IT: We have no plans yet, because right now we are just trying to finish our next album -- which should be out by the end of the year, but I think it'll only be out in January or February 1999. But when the album is finished, we are going to do some gigs during the Winter, and after releasing a new album we'll start doing more gigs. Right now, we are looking for a booking agent, because it's really too hard to organize tours in other countries by ourselves. CoC: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers? IT: Wait for our next album... You will love it, or hate it. I love it! Contact: mailto:i.toivonen@mail.wwnet.fi WWW: wwnet.fi/UNHOLY/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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! A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_ (No Fashion, April 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) This is one of those bands that surely won't be seen as innovators, but who do know what they're doing and are very good at it. ACQ had made a fine debut album, and managed to create a follow-up of perhaps equal quality. The main changes may be explained by the new studio: while their more melodic debut _Silence of the World Beyond_ was recorded in Peter Tagtgren's Abyss studio, _The Only Pure Hate_ came out of the Sunlight studio. As a result, their sound is harsher and not as sharp and melodic as before, the result at times bringing to mind a mix between their debut and some of the characteristics of At the Gates' ripping _Slaughter of the Soul_. As in _Silence of the World Beyond_, ACQ are remarkably good at keeping the minimum quality level quite high throughout the album, ensuring that every track has something good to offer. Just like before, they do achieve several memorable moments of Swedish melodic death metal. Not much of an original album, but one that, like ACQ's debut, shouldn't be missed by anyone who likes good Swedish metal. Abigail - _Sonnets_ (Bestial, 1998) by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10) Not to be confused with the Japanese band of the same name, this Abigail plays gothic, gloomy doom/death, and they do it well. Their sound reminds me of early Septic Flesh and Katatonia ("Love of the Swan" from the WAR compilation). It has some gothic influences, but not as much as on _The Ophidian Wheel_. The playing is generally very good, but the guitar solos seem to be a weak point. The music shows a good range of tempos and textures; there's enough variation to keep the music interesting, even though it's slow. The vocals are mostly death grunts, but they use some clean vocals also. Keyboards are used frequently, but they aren't overused -- they're mainly used for accompaniment. The production is a little disappointing, as it appears to have been mastered too loud -- there is a noticeable distortion in the music. It isn't really noticeable in the heavy parts, but takes away from the clean parts a lot. Overall, this is quite an impressive album, and I hope to hear more from these guys. Admortem - _Ad Extremum Supplicium_ (Noise Solution, 1998) by: Brian Meloon (8 out of 10) This is the first release from Noise Solution Records, which is a new division of Velvet Music international (Mundanus Imperium, Wallachia, Children of Maani, et al.). Admortem are a French band who mix straightforward death metal with a quirky death metal somewhat in the vein of Lethargy [US; CoC #4 and #14], Dissonance (Slovakia) or Atheist. Their music isn't as technical, but it's impressive, and a good blend of the two styles. They also remind me of Death (_Human_, _Individual Thought Patterns_) in some of their guitar solos and the fretless bass work. The playing is solid and competent, and handles the material well, though there are a few places which could be a little tighter. The production is adequate: it's not brutally heavy, but it is clean and solid. It certainly fits the music, which at times is too quirky and noodly to be heavy. The songs are typically short (8 songs, filling out 25 minutes), and don't have a predictable structure. They also show a good mix of tempos, and feature a few melodic parts as well. The guitar solos are good: they fit the music and they're not overused. The guitarists do a good job of changing their soloing styles for each song. The band should have finished recording a new album by the time you read this, so we should have a new offering from them soon. They have the potential to be excellent. Contact: mailto:velvet@wanadoo.fr Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_ (Hammerheart Records, 1998) by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10) One could get lost in this release! -So- much happening. -So- much going on. Every note and masterful passage is something that has to be absorbed. To immerse oneself in _... And So the Night Became_ is to fully enjoy the musical fabric woven around you. I have yet to recover from the initial baptism upon spinning Norway's Aeternus for the first time. I can only hope that I can maintain my passion through numerous times experiencing the disc, which, no doubt, I *can*. Notice that I said "experiencing", because I believe that you cannot simply hear _...AStNB_. It infects you at a basic level. Truly befitting, severe vocals accompany the dark, brutal, yet often enchanting, melody. Creations manifest themselves in the songs, vocal and otherwise, that take on a vehemence all their own. Eight original pieces welcome you for a stunning sixty-three minutes, thirteen of which are devoured by the opening opus, "There Is No Wine Like the Bloods Crimson". Throw on Aeternus, prepare, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and relish in the crushed blackness of _... And So the Night Became_. Alastis - _Revenge_ (Century Media, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (4 out of 10) Well, the chances of my review of this record being positive were pretty low even before I received it. Why? Because one of these tracks was aired on London's XFM Rock Show and I spent the entire song racking my brains to remember which Samael song it was. Imagine how I felt when I found out it wasn't my memory that was failing me. Unsurprisingly, the full length album also diverges little from the musical path which Alastis' more popular fellow countrymen have paved. Chugging riffs give way to brief keyboard interludes and are occasionally interspersed with bass and drums passages. I really didn't hear much on _Revenge_ that hasn't been done on Samael's _Ceremony of Opposites_ let alone in their entire, and extensive, back catalogue. If you are truly obsessed with the _CoO_ Samael sound, then this album may interest you. For myself, I don't really find much originality here and I don't need more than one _CoO_ either. Altar - _Provoke_ (Displeased, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10) Like a bat out of hell, the death n' growl onslaught of Altar hits fast and hard. In other words, it "provokes" from the get go. Sharp riffs whip this sucker into shape, slapping together some ferocious amounts of metal anguish and frustration during numerous tracks, rarely slowing this sucker down. Like a softened Napalm Death, the music of Altar fluctuates sincerely on _Provoke_, allowing the band to capture an angle and approach with each and every song. There are also some great melodies here keeping things intact. Those good points aside, it becomes apparent that there really isn't much groundbreaking here after we filter through the good qualities. Some of the songwriting deserves a round of applause, and those detonating drum blasts deserve praise, but Altar can only keep it interesting for sometime before it becomes pretty much standard. Choice cuts: "W.E.B." and "Wasted World." Am I Blood - _Agitation_ (Nuclear Blast, August 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) This album attempts to combine the more aggressive thrashings of Metallica (and at points their penchant for acoustic interludes) and mid-paced riffing in a style similar to Sentenced's with the kinds of catchy, and often melodic, choruses which have brought both of the aforementioned a great deal of success. As with many of the bands I have reviewed in these "pages" (and many I have not), however, they do not, in doing so, create music which is in any way outstanding. The most diverse and impressive display of what talents Am I Blood have is unfortunately showcased in the album's first track "Negative". This is unfortunate because it inevitably leads to an album the next 40 minutes of which are disappointing. "Negative" itself is not a "classic", but it is good and indicates that Am I Blood have the potential to produce substantially more consistent works than _Agitation_. Me, I am not into their style as a whole. It doesn't have Metallica's (_Master of Puppets_ era) vicious-yet-crafted thrash songwriting or Sentenced's perfect blend of melodic catchiness and rock 'n' roll. It doesn't have what I want, it's as simple as that. ... And Oceans - _The Dynamic Gallery of Thoughts_ by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) (Season of Mist, 1998) Although the band name and album title don't give many clues, one might guess that whatever the style found in _TDGoT_, it would be very likely to have a strong atmospheric component. As a matter of fact, however, the album isn't very atmospheric; this is mid-to-fast paced black metal with plenty of keyboards, sometimes resembling Dimmu Borgir's _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_, but without much of the doom that is one of _EDT_'s main qualities. The keyboard melodies tend to be simple and easy to follow, and, if not much else, at least usually effective. The production is clean and well balanced (somewhat similar to Legenda's _Autumnal_ in some ways, both having been recorded in the Tico-Tico studio, in Finland), and the band performs competently throughout the album. The major problem here is a certain lack of outstanding moments (since their sound, by itself, isn't innovative); most of the album is very enjoyable and well done, but not exactly mindblowing. The result is therefore an album that is unlikely to be a clear disappointment for someone who enjoys, for example, Dimmu Borgir, but equally unlikely to become that person's favorite album. Angel Corpse - _Exterminate_ (Osmose, April 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Well, it just goes to show that trusting first impressions can easily be a mistake. When I first played _Exterminate_'s 40 minutes through my stereo, I thought the reports of this album's quality had been grossly exaggerated. What I thought of _Exterminate_ after my first listen was that it was rather average. However, I persisted. On about my sixth spin, I was rewarded for my persistence. It was like suddenly my speakers had been fixed or my ears unblocked: I suddenly realized that _Exterminate_ rules! Though _Exterminate_ is not one of the year's most innovative death metal albums, it has power, energy and riffing to rival even the most formidable of contenders. Imagine "Altars of Madness 2", but without the imitating genericism that this tag suggests. This has the pure energy and vicious death metal kick which makes albums like _AoM_, _Left Hand Path_ and _Necroticism -- Descanting the Insalubrious_ so amazing. This is one searing piece of death metal brutality. Pete Helmkamp's vocals and bass leave deep scars, the twin guitar attack of Gene Palubicki and Bill Taylor further burn the body beyond recognition and John Longstreth's drums clinch the deal by eradicating any flesh still left. These war analogies do not only come from my twisted mind and the wholly violent quality of the music: Helmkamp's lyrics also focus on war and violence and fit the battle-hungry music to a "t". Listening to the chorus of "Into the Storm of Steel" ("Exterminate -- feed the battlefield hunger, With Honor that is loyalty unto death"), you can hear and experience the power which the two combined can produce. I really can't see any fan of brilliant, powerful death metal resisting the temptation to indulge in serious neck snapping activities as a result of listening to _Exterminate_. Though _Exterminate_ has highlights ("Into the Storm of Steel", "That Which Lies Upon", "Sons of Vengeance"), you don't sit there waiting for a good song. _Exterminate_ is a 40 minute hymn to war, death and brutally fast death metal. Prepare yourself for the slaughter. Aube - _Pages From the Book_ (E+J Recordings, 1998) by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10) When there is a month in the year without an Aube release, I predict it is a sure-fire sign the world is coming to an end. Despite this recording being several months old, unlike much of Aube's recent output, it holds a special place in my heart as one of the truly masterful and unique pieces Akifumi Nakajima has produced since Alien8's 1997 release Cardiac Strain. Instead of choosing the usual use of metallic objects for his source sound, Akifumi Nakajima has truly gone out on a limb to entice new listeners and possibly make others very angry. And what, you may ask, could do just that? Why, none other than that glorious motel mantle piece placed there by some guy named Gideon, known quite well as The Bible. For whatever reason, Aube has decided to throw aside all convention and add an aesthetic touch to his noise by using this once revered, now made chic to scoff book which is the foundation for the world encompassing theology of Christianity. Akifumi could have just as easily used a phone book to produce the sounds heard on this recording; however, the "Biblical" touch serves to raise a lot more eye brows than a directory of last names and how to contact them. Despite claims made by the label stating otherwise, each of the four lengthy tracks are tied together by a distinct ripping sound which, if you are to believe the liner notes, were produced by The Bible. The label maintains (and this may very well be true) that they were made by rubbing the pages together, however this proves worlds less interesting than a new-fashioned Bible ripping in order to produce a noise composition. Whatever the actual sound may be, it does remain a constant in every track, surrounded only by subtle rumbles and surrealistic whirls of sound used to augment the "ripping". At certain points, the "ripping" sound becomes the main focus, with multiple "rips" churning in and out of the speaker channels, while at others they seem to blend in and out of the rest of the disorderly sounds found on the disc. In the end, one may be inclined to wonder if this disc is worth it more for what the source sound is than the actual noise produced. And, in the end, I am forced to admit that, while the tracks easily stand up with the best of Aube's work, at least half of the interest comes from the source sound used. Perhaps this is not the most logical way to purchase a noise album or bill it; however, it is likely to sell many more a copy than something as drab as a phone book or a tin can for a source sound. If anything, this release can be used to argue that (love it or hate it), The Bible (or just the name) still holds some power and, if anything, Akifumi and E+J Recordings should be credited with having enough sense to utilize it. Contact: E+J Recordings, PO Box 230316, Grand Rapids, MI, 49523, USA Behemoth - _Pandemonic Incantations_ (Connected, 1997) by: Aaron McKay (7.5 out of 10) Maybe it is the fact that I just listened (many times) to the overwhelming Gardenian release _Two Feet Stand_, but I have to say that, to me, this newest Behemoth effort ingrains thoughts of a rawer, very blackened _TFS_. From the well-orchestrated opening, "Diableria", to the backmasked hidden track located appropriately at track 66, _PI_ is potent through and through. Highlights of the disc come midway through the release, namely "In Thy Pandemaeternum" and "The Past Is Like a Funeral." Even though _PI_ is never dull or contrived as some mediocre black metal potentially can be, the afore mentioned song in particular exist, seemingly, to enthrall the listener. Three souls comprise the membership of Behemoth: Nergal (guitar and vocals), Mefisto (bass) and Inferno (drums and percussion). With such a slim rank and file compared to say, Gorgoroth, Behemoth suffers little in the fullness of their sound. The quality of the packaging and sound is beyond reproach. I would not hesitate to say this forty-six minute effort by the great Behemoth is a purchase one could certainly be convinced into making. Benediction - _Grind Bastard_ (Nuclear Blast, July 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10) I'll be honest: I haven't been a big fan of the band since 1993 and the ultra-heavy and cool sounds that were emanating from their _Transcend the Rubicon_ LP. Five years and numerous releases later, Benediction still seem to be caught in a rut. The music, pretty much standard (not too exciting) death metal, has never really reached a peak of interest for many fans, and for that the band has suffered numerous bad reviews and lack of interest in them. The newest LP from the Birmingham, England quintet, _Grind Bastard_, sees the band turning things up a notch. Note: only a notch. More detailed and hard-hitting than 1995's _The Dreams You Dread_, _Grind Bastard_ is quite a refreshing take on the sound and evolution of Benediction since their early days when Napalm Death's Barney Greenway still fronted the band. The music seems a bit livelier here on _GB_ and singer Dave Ingram has allowed his voice to wander away from repetition and sample out various singing styles. On numbers like opener "Deadfall", "Agonised" and the title track, Benediction seem to be on a groove; it's just the somewhat mediocre other efforts here that bring down the high. Mixed about this LP, and I am still shaking my head to the poor covers: Judas Priest's "Electric Eye" and Twisted Sister's "Destroyer". Actually, I shouldn't laugh. Death cover Priest's "Painkiller" on their forthcoming LP _The Sound of Perseverance_ and I thought it was bad. Now I think it kicks. Even though this ain't a masterpiece, _GB_ is the best Benediction album in years. Beseech - _... From a Bleeding Heart_ (Metal Blade, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Woah! I wasn't expecting this. I was thoroughly pleased with what I heard with Beseech on the first listen. Passionate sculptured works of art that dabble in a very gothic/dark overtone are everywhere here. This is so wicked. In order to sum up the excellent arrangements found on the LP, think Type O Negative meshed with The Gathering and My Dying Bride. Hard to imagine, but Beseech do a good time combining qualities of those three aforementioned bands into a solid work of art. This is very caressful darkened music that calls out for lit candles and the blackness of the night. Sounds so cheesy and cliche -- maybe it is?! --, but Beseech have certainly pushed all the right buttons and created cool metal music with stamina and uniqueness. Make room for Beseech. Various - _Bestial Sampler: 1997-1998_ (Bestial, 1998) by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) This sampler contains a song from each of Bestial's eleven releases so far. It contains a song each from Dies Irae, Grimegod, and Abigail, all of whom are also reviewed this issue. The compilation showcases a variety of styles, which are different enough to make this an enjoyable listen. Each of the bands is competent musically, but the production is a little weak for a lot of them. Negora Bunget start the tape off, with a sound reminiscent of Satyricon's _The Shadowthrone_, but more rhythmically advanced and less repetitive. Keyboards are used sparingly, but effectively, and the music is quite good. Makrothomia is a death metal band (dubbed "progressive death metal") with black metal production. I don't find much about it that's "progressive", but it is a novel mixture of black and death metal. Deimos play industrial death metal. They're good, but it's not really anything you haven't heard before. All the elements that they use (keys, samples, guitars, etc.) are standard. Interitus Dei finishes off the first side, and they're very impressive. They play atmospheric doom/black metal. The music varies between guitar-based and keyboard-based, keeping a nice contrast between the two styles. God starts off the second side, and they're melodic/gothic/doomy black metal. They're good, but the various components of their style aren't terribly original. Archaos are up next, and they play very mellow gothic/ambient music, in the vein of Mortiis, but more complex. Gothic are up next, and they play melodic, guitar-driven doom. They're competent, but not really exceptional. The vocals are growled and clean, and the production is very good. Agathodaimon (now on Nuclear Blast) also appear, and although not an official Bestial band, they contribute one (long) song. They're melodic black/death metal, but not really any better than the other bands on the compilation. All in all, this is a worthy compilation, with enough diversity to remain interesting, and a good variety of classy bands, the best being Abigail and Interitus Dei. I was quite impressed by this label's output. Contact: Bestial Records, Str. Caras 12, 1900 Timisoara, Romania mailto:bestialr@banat.ro Calamus - _The Road Trax_ (, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10) Although the Kyuss-influenced wave that has been growing lately does not particularly interest me, this German band does show some skill on this MCD -- enough to keep me listening, as both songs flow reasonably well. As far as originality goes, things could be worse; although the instrumental side brings nothing really new and isn't anything special, the vocals are somewhat different from the usual in this genre. The major problem with this MCD is that it only has two tracks, totaling less than nine minutes, as the band didn't have studio time to record any more. As a result, this seems to be more of a demo pressed on CD and played by an already somewhat experienced band than an actual commercial release. The production is average, and Calamus perform well enough; could be a band to watch in the future, for those interested in this genre. Contact: mailto:ut2f@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de WWW: www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ut2f/c/calamus.htm Various - _Call on the Dark II_ (Nuclear Blast, July 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) The second installment of this dark and gothic-based compilation is quite good. Actually, it's as good, if not better than the first one, and the reason that _Call on the Dark II_ shines brighter (or is that darker?) than its predecessor is due to its ample variety of material. Strong unreleased material from Therion ("Black Sun") London After Midnight ("The Bondage Song") and album closer "Die With You" by Christian Death help adorn this LP with flavor and with a definite dark edge. The material here, mostly soft creepy numbers (aided by keyboards, ambiance, etc.), show off the talent of many acts, some unknown to myself. While those latter mentioned songs were my faves, other suppliers of material here include Lacrimosa, Type O Negative, The Gathering and Autumn. Fans of gothic metal take note, as you have one more LP to light a candle to and call on the dark. Hit the lights and enjoy. Callendish Circle - _Escape_ (Polar Bear, March 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) This is quite a decent EP from a band I have never heard of -- I am assuming this is one of their first releases. With that in mind, I must say I was quite impressed. _Escape_ reminds me of Mexico's Agony Lords and of the best parts of _The Karellian Isthmus_ era Amorphis. They combine atmosphere and keyboards with some death metal and folk tinged riffs and round it off with decent growled vocals. However, the synth ridden second track really adds nothing to the record. Though not astounding in their originality, Callendish Circle display a fair amount of skill and plenty of potential for development which they can exploit. Cannibal Corpse - _Gallery of Suicide_ (Metal Blade, May 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) It is possible that if this were the debut of a fledgling death metal band I had no background on I would have given it more than a 6 out of 10. So am I being unfair to Cannibal Corpse? I don't think so. This is the band's sixth album and the change of vocalist, and more recently guitarist, have, according to the band, only strengthened their musical vision. For a band with a reputation and history such as Cannibal Corpse's I expect better than _Gallery of Suicide_; it really is that simple. With production handled by Jim Morris, Cannibal Corpse obtain a pretty good sound, although I don't notice a marked difference from the Scott Burns produced _Vile_, but personally I feel the drum sound could have been more powerful. The album is not seamlessly uninteresting in that there are 14 well-defined songs, including an instrumental, but the riffs are simply not exciting or new and don't really pack a great deal of punch. The album is perfectly listenable, but once this review is done I can't see it ever passing through my CD machine for my own pleasure. The lyrics are what we have come to expect from Cannibal Corpse: songs about killing, songs about dismemberment. The lyrical content is nothing new and the style is not compelling either. There are two places where this album is almost surprisingly good, however. About two minutes into "Blood Drenched Execution" an out of tune, off time piano part accompanies the guitars and creates a feeling of chaos which surpasses anything else on this album. The instrumental, "From Skin to Liquid", has a dark atmosphere, created through well thought-out guitar work, which gives it a quality exceeding other compositions on _GoS_. Overall, though, I don't find anything outstanding on _GoS_. Cannibal Corpse would be hard pressed to find a worse year to release an album this lacking in true brilliance or innovation. This year so far, and remember we have five months left, has yielded so many great death metal albums it is almost overwhelming. Cannibal Corpse do not look good against the competition from either the old and established or the new and inexperienced. Well, now the review is finished... Charon - _Sorrowburn_ (Diehard, August 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) With a clear and powerful production backing up _Sorrowburn_, Charon are saved from the nightmare every band has when they unleash their debut: being misrepresented on disc by bad production. Once the band are in the full swing of "Wortex" they instantly bring to mind _Draconian Times_ era Paradise Lost and as the album progresses the band also gives a nod towards goth giants Type O Negative. Although these comparisons seem pretty favorable, they are also rather typical and worryingly so for Charon. Charon are a talented band and some of their songs, especially the aforementioned "Wortex", did make a good impression on me. They are also a band who, by riding on current trends, whether intentionally or coincidentally, have the potential for imminent commercial success in mainland Europe. This would be good for getting the band exposure, but might limit their longevity after this particular trend loses popularity, probably giving way under the weight of the current surge of interest in power metal. Cast all the politics and prospecting aside and look at _Sorrowburn_ in the cold light of day and you have a decent debut drawing from classic metal enough to let you know the band were into it, casting veiled shadows from their death metal past and ultimately producing a perfectly listenable, but in no way boundary-breaking or astounding, album. If you didn't want Paradise Lost to take that last step to pop stardom on _One Second_, Charon have the kind of metal tunes they should have penned waiting for you on _Sorrowburn_, sitting alongside some more original tunes of their own which aren't quite as good. Christ Agony - _Trilogy_ (Pagan, May 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Christ Agony are a band whose underground respect I have never been able to understand. Though I have never heard their _Unholyunion_ debut, my experience of their _Daemoonseth (Act II)_ and _Moonlight (Act III)_ has never provided me with sufficient proof of their worth, and I found _Darkside_ an awful and uninventive venture into the realms of industrial-tinged metal. What always seemed to let the band down was their inability to know when to stop. Songs with sufficient riffs to sustain a 3 minute song ran for 10 minutes. At last, it seems, Christ Agony have taken mercy on their listeners. _Trilogy_'s seven tracks fill less than half of this CD's length, with the bonus of their second four track demo providing 27 of the CD's 52 minute total running time. In the 25 minutes Christ Agony produce the most concise and listenable work of their career: tracks like "Hellspawn" and "Eternal Darkness", displaying the guitar riffing and drum style they have practiced for so long along with Cezar's distinct vocals. All are mid-paced, the drums utilizing a few different parts of the kit and the guitars a few chords and lots of palm-muting along with some skillful acoustic accompaniment. Add some keyboards, as is their trade, and, on "Dying Star", some dance beats which actually sound cool. Overall, Christ Agony have not written an album which changes their trademark sound, but what they have done with it is made it less indulgent and, as a whole, made an album which is possible to see through without having a lot of patience and a lot interest in their music. The band's apparent usage of a drum machine does seem to make the music a little too regimented and I'd suggest they recruit a real drummer for the future. What some might say is that Christ Agony's greatest problem is that their record company have some calculation problems, as they seem to think that this 52 minute CD provides "over an hour" of Christ Agony's music. I just hope they don't persist in these mathematical difficulties when it comes to paying their artists. This is definitely the best -album- Christ Agony have produced thus far in my experience. Cranium - _Speed Metal Slaughter_ (Necropolis Records, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10) The album title _Speed Metal Slaughter_ does capture most of Cranium's intentions, as this is indeed all about speed metal revivalism -- but with a major lack of seriousness, mainly thanks to their attempts at humor. Vocalist Frederik Soderberg tries to bring back the 80s' high-pitched speed metal vocals style, and the result is -very- annoying. Hard to believe that this is the same Frederik Soderberg who plays guitar for the excellent Dawn, another Necropolis band. The adequate instrumental performance turns out to be the best side of the album, although originality and noticeably good moments are equally scarce throughout its 32 minutes; but with these vocals on top, the rest of the band would really have to excel in order to make this a good album, whereas they just do their job. The fact that the vocals are most likely close to what the band intended does not necessarily make them better in my view. Apart from that, and even though there is nothing anywhere near groundbreaking in _Speed Metal Slaughter_, it will still probably be attractive for those speed metal fans who happen to find the vocals enjoyable. Crimson Moon - _To Embrace the Vampyric Blood_ (Abyss Productions) by: Aaron McKay (5 out of 10) I suppose there are two schools of thought on music to the listener: one dictates that you innovate your chosen genre (Sabbath comes to mind), the other dictates that you enter an established genre and be a helmsman in your own right (Hypocrisy). Crimson Moon is definitely following the path of the latter -- and struggling. I -wanted- to like this disc a lot more than I did. Damn, near a dozen times I kicked back with a cup o' joe and threw in _TEtVB_. Over and again I came back to the same notion that this release is reminiscent of early Ancient. In no way is this a bad thing or disparaging to either group -- as a matter of fact, Aphazel lends his talent on tack seven, "The Eye of the Draconis", but Crimson Moon has a feel, intentionally or otherwise, tainted with _Trolltaar_-ian overtones. Once again, imitation is the highest form of flattery, and Ancient has been flattered too many times to count. Two individuals comprise Crimson Moon: Vampir Scorpios filling the bass and vocals duties, and Nocturnal Overlord picking up the guitar, synths, and drum programming. Vampir's voice is a unique blend of a warmer Themgoroth from Black Funeral and a somewhat restrained Hedlund on The Abyss' _Summon the Beast_. Excellent company to be in, I might add. On the whole, with open disregard for Crimson Moon's music mimicry and verbose satanic diatribe that begins _TEtVB_, the effort is not bad. Like I stated, I -want- to like this more than I do, so, suffice it to say, I will expect my next Crimson Moon purchase -- and I will purchase it -- to exceed even their own expectations. Crowbar - _Odd Fellows Rest_ (Mayhem/Fierce, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) So, a new album from what, to my mind, is New Orleans' finest musical export. Crowbar have not yet attained the success that I always felt records with the strength of _Crowbar_ and _Broken Glass_ would, and should, have brought them. _Odd Fellows Rest_ could now justifiably take them to that next level. I don't mean to imply that Crowbar have "sold out" or even unwittingly made their sound substantially more accessible; it is just that _Odd Fellows Rest_ is 1) very good, and 2) more atmospheric, diverse and melodic than their previous efforts. Both things open the band to a wider audience. Though tracks such as "... And Suffer as One" or "It's All in the Gravity" retain the heavily Sabbath-influenced, downtuned form of heaviness that Crowbar have perfected and become noted for. Tracks such as these are now far from all that Crowbar are about. Crowbar have moved into new and more diverse territory with songs such as "Planets Collide", "December's Spawn" and specific sections of songs such as "Scattered Pieces Lay", that mixes their previous style with more melodic vocals and almost catchy riffs, which in turn augment the music's greatness and produce a truly remarkable album. Kirk Windstein's insightful lyrics are as beautifully depressive and brilliant as ever, with such sublime and subtle metaphorical passages as "You've been baptized in a lake of tears, crucified yourself with your own fears" occurring frequently throughout the album's 54 minute running time. It is interesting to note also that this is Crowbar's fifth full length, for, if we are to continue the minor Sabbath comparison, it was on Sabbath's fifth release, _Sabbath Bloody Sabbath_, that they truly outdid themselves, at least in my opinion; and if we look even deeper, much of that album's brilliance revolved around the increased use of melody it contained. Jumping 25 years ahead to the present, what is so gratifying is that, although to the narrow minded Crowbar may have "wimped out", they have in fact done quite the opposite. Part of _Odd Fellows Rest_'s charm is that its melody and creepy, atmospheric riffs and bass lines create a sound which is heavy in a quite different, and in some ways more extreme, manner. Cynical Smile - _Stupas_ (Org, March 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) It is always pleasing when the talents you notice in a band when they are starting out are realized on their debut full length. This is certainly the case with Cynical Smile's debut record _Stupas_. Though less raw and marginally slower than their 1996 two track promo tape, _Stupas_ accurately reproduces much of the energy and songwriting ability which attracted me to this band when I first saw them perform live back in July 1996. A rich guitar sound and a tight rhythm section provide the backbone of Cynical Smile's powerful sound. Though not a million miles away from the standard crossover fare, the riffs and vocal passages are infectious and excellent at getting a groove going. What it really comes down to is that the music Cynical Smile produce is custom built for a live arena and that is where this material really comes to life. Songs like "Gunga Ding" and "Live 4", though bonafide crowd movers, are only good, as opposed to great, from CD and cannot match their live intensity. This is the case with most hardcore, in my view, and is certainly not a problem unique to Cynical Smile. I recommend this as a companion to the more intense live experience of these very decent mid-paced rap-metal/crossover tunes. Dawnbringer - _Unbleed_ (Twilight Records, 1997) by: Ryan Kriste (8 out of 10) The reviewer's nightmare: music that defies description. Originally intended as being a return to the classic metal sound, this album features just about every metal sub-genre I can think of. The overall sound is one of black metal styled vocals over classic metal music. Prolific use of acoustic guitars, even for some of the solos, which give a very bluesy feel (acoustic minor-pentatonics with string bending tend to do that). Then suddenly the music changes totally with track eight into a total tribute to Omen. "Untold" is a medley of songs that appear on Omen's _Battle Cry_ LP. "To Circadia" seems highly gothic with its keyboards and almost spoken vocals, but once again the music is pure metal, with its NWOBHM style chorus. One of the most highly original albums I have ever reviewed, not an easy listening album, but one that you'll find yourself returning to on many occasions. Check out the cover painting by Chris Cooper!!!! Contact: Dawnbringer, c/o Twilight Records, P.O.Box 416 Devault, PA 19432, USA Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_ (Nuclear Blast, September 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) I can't say this is Death's best album, because I haven't yet picked up their first three releases. However, I don't care what the worshippers of _Human_ say, this is my favorite Death album of the last four. Roughly speaking, it combines some of the slower, more calculated riffing of _Symbolic_ with, in places, the technical speed of _Individual Thought Patterns_ and also contains a liberal dose of _Human_ quality writing for good measure. However, it is a very individual creation and excels in all the right places. Great thrashings, technical solos, memorable choruses and clear vocals are the order of the day. Though very well done, I don't think the closing "Painkiller" cover is a great way to end the album, but it is a small weakness. Chuck has also chosen to play around, once again, with some almost syncopated, technical and, in places, jazzy sections. The beginning of first track "Scavenger of Human Sorrow" is an example of such a section and one could easily cite other parts of this song or others. Death don't, as they did to an extent on _ITP_, make their music too technical, as the slow, simple chorus of "Spirit Crusher" beautifully emphasizes, but at the same time they do not abandon fast technical playing, as you could argue _Symbolic_ did. _The Sound of Perseverance_ is nearly an hour long with only eight songs and a cover, but, oddly enough, the length does not make the album dragging, though it does make the songs far more multi-dimensional than, for example, the new Cannibal Corpse. Death never were, and never tried to be, the most brutal of the death metal crowd, but _TSOP_ reinforces and newly legitimizes their reputation as one of the finest. Desekrator - _Metal for Demons_ (Hammerheart, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) Here are the Top Five Reasons Why You Should Have This Record: 1. Good retro/thrash/metal. 2. Pure chaos reigns from start to finish. 3. Satan, sex and loud music are high on the band's agenda. 4. No rules. No trends. 5. Any band that plays V-neck guitars in the 90s rules. Note: The band is comprised of ex-members from Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral and Enslaved. Also, the liner notes read: "Your soul belongs to Satan if you've been desektrated by Desekrator." What are you waiting for, pumpkin head? Go get some clean underwear, get your bullet belt and give Beelzebub a call. This rules beyond belief. Dies Irae - _Gargoyles_ (Bestial, 1998) by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) This is standard black metal. It's predictable, somewhat repetitive, and it shows the "usual" diversity: folky parts, clean parts, etc. The riffs have a distinct thrash element to them at times. Other than that, there isn't a lot that's really different from the rest of the hordes out there, but it does have its moments. Some of the songs are rather average, and some are quite good. The playing is competent all around, but not outstanding. The production is unfortunately very weak: the guitars are very fuzzy, and the drums (especially the bass drum) suffer from the "cardboard box" syndrome. This is a good effort, but it falls a little short in the originality and creativity departments. Explorer - _ColdBlackUgly_ (CyberSlam Records, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (2 out of 10) Those of you that enjoy a little bit of a Motley Crue sound with your metal music pick this up. If not, avoid like the plague, motherfuckers. Sorry to be so blunt, but this stinks. . Contact: Explorer, P.O. Box 495 Scotch Plains, NJ, 07076, USA Voice: (908) 233-0975 Various - _Fiesta Comes Alive!_ (Slap-A-Ham, April 1998) by: Adam Wasylyk (8 out of 10) Lately I've taken a turn against compilations. It seems as though when a band is chosen -- Mayhem, for example --, it's always either the track "Freezing Moon" or "Pagan Fears". Every time. _Fiesta Comes Alive!_ not only offers me music by a genre I'm presently exploring and getting into, but it's all live! There's an annual powerviolence/grindcore show sponsored by the Slap-A-Ham label in California, and this CD is the culmination of some of the finer bands that have taken part during the last five years of the event. Bands such as Excruciating Terror, Discordance Axis, Phobia, Enemy Soil, Man Is the Bastard, His Hero Is Gone, Spazz, Benumb and Capitalist Casualties rock out; live, raw and in your face! Damn fine shit. I'll certainly be investigating some of these bands and seeking out their wares. One of the better compilations to come my way. Those into the early Napalm Death type of grind should seek this out immediately. Contact: Slap-A-Ham, P.O. Box 420843, San Francisco, CA, 94142-0843, USA Gnosis - _Tribal Metal_ (, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10) A bizarre sounding metal record at that, Gnosis play metal music with a real feel of in-depth cultural sounds and sharp contrast of ideas marked by powerful riffs and rough, but clear, vocals. This five-song outing explores a melodic, yet aggressive, display of metal wielding that showcases sincere shades of progressive metal as well. The ideas and musicianship are there for the most part, it's just the mediocre vocals supporting the music are the ideas here that lack some push. And the production is rather weak, too. I dunno, it's good here for the most part, but it seems as though the whole idea of mixing culture and metal (i.e., _Roots_ by Sepultura) has influenced this band to strive to do something unique. It works for the most part, as the soft interludes are nice, but in the end there is no real longing to hear this over and over. Adequate. Contact: Pahkneetah Management Voice: (718) 628-9779 Gorgoroth - _Destroyer (Or About How to Philosophize With a Hammer)_ by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast 1998) To be honest, I feel moderately inferior to jugde something as great as this release by Gorgoroth. _Destroyer_ completely knocked me on my ass! Powerful is sorely understating the effort. Crushing is nowhere near the mark. Searing is inadequate. All-encompassing is as close to summarizing _Destroyer_ as I could hope to come. I am finding it somewhat difficult to communicate my passion for this release. Seven tracks comprise _Destroyer_, beginning with "Destroyer", totaling thirty-seven minutes. I, quite frankly, thought that my CD player was malfunctioning due to the terror that ensued with the first moments of the title track. Pure concentrated ferocity! From there, the disc builds steadily in ardor until its highlights coming to a well placed finality. "Blodoffer", track six, stears one's thoughts and emotions down a jagged path of mortified hopelessness and unadulterated passion, sounding much like a battle raging while an underwater cannon attack demolishes the hull of a great battleship -- hence the destroyer motif is championed. On rare occasions invoking My Dying Bride images amidst the harsh backdrop that Gorgoroth's Norwegian black metal paints. Wonderfully hypnotic and certainly addictive as any drug ever could be. I can tell you this, _Destroyer_ will see much more than occasional spin in McKay's JVC disc player. As someone once said, "It is easier to philosophize with a hammer." Gorgoroth proves that beyond any doubt. Here's to the mighty Gorgoroth. Buy this! Gorguts - _Obscura_ (Olympic/Mercury, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9.5 out of 10) Apart from being one of the longest death metal albums ever recorded, at just over 60 minutes, _Obscura_ is also one of the finest. Gorguts have done something which has become increasingly more difficult as the years have gone by: they have produced a strikingly original album. How did they achieve such a feat? Well, judging by the music, artwork and lyrics of _Obscura_, it has something to do with residing in a world not entirely earthly. But without speculating on the current or recent past mental states or experiences of the musicians involved in it, what can still fairly be said about _Obscura_ is that it is abstract and discordant to a point where I almost feel like narrowmindedly labeling the music which ensues as the product of a sincerely twisted mind. The discordance of the guitar riffs which decorate _Obscura_'s tapestry are the core of the madness; add strange, almost off time, drumming, astoundingly individual bass lines and Luc Lemay's tortured vocals, and you have a sound which, when represented perfectly by Pierre Remillard's (Cryptopsy, Obliveon) production, has the power to take its listeners to other worlds of astounding beauty, dark mystery and intense complexity. I find it very difficult to describe what Gorguts have captured or compare it to anything else I have heard. I listen to and love a huge volume of death metal, it is my favorite musical style at present, but I still find few albums which are even comparable to _Obscura_. Whether there will be as many clones of Gorguts new found take on the style as there was of others' innovations in the past will remain to be seen. What is certainly the case, however, is that Gorguts are due credit for the original musical path they have chosen to follow. I commend them for it and, after one listen to _Obscura_, I think you will too. Grand Belial's Key - _Mocking the Philanthropist_ by: Ryan Kriste (9 out of 10) (Wood Nymph Records, 1998) I suppose I should call this black metal, but I actually have a better name for it: heavy metal. The black metal vocals are there, occasionally death growls come in, but if you look past it all and just listen to the music, all you will hear is metal; brutal metal, but still metal. The keyboards featured accentuate and do not overpower the guitars, a trick a lot more bands could learn from. The CD's packaging is of very high quality, with a twelve page booklet including band pictures (no corpse paint), with tray print and really well done cover art. Each track has something special that sets it apart from the others, be it the solo or the rhythm of the song. Speed varies considerably from song to song, going from slow and doomy to hyperfast mosh parts. Check out "Savouring the Virgin's Pessary" for one of the best riffs since "Angel of Death". If you are into any extreme metal and/or black metal, you must have this. Contact: Wood Nymph Records, Langebeekstraat 28, 3210 Linden, Belgium Grimegod - _The Darkside (Pain in Another Dimension)_ (Bestial, 1998) by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) This is a remix album of Grimegod's best material. It's generally doomy, atmospheric black metal, but it has some elements of other styles as well (the intro to "Dreamside Scream", which in the original version was the middle section, is notable for its "progressive" and neo-classical touches). The music is generally good, but it isn't consistent: some parts are a little drawn out and boring. The keyboard parts are varied and interesting, showing a variety of tones and textures. The band doesn't have a drummer, but the drum programming is very good: it's interesting, and doesn't sound like a drum machine most of the time. The production is good; a little light on the guitar tone, but average for black metal. Certainly the weakest link for this band is the singer, whose clean parts are way too flat to be ignored. The rest of the playing is great, but the singing ruins parts of it. Overall, these guys are good, and they appear to have potential, but they need some work to flesh out their ideas and get consistently good output. Hateplow - _Everybody Dies_ (Pavement, March 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) This is a side project of sorts for Phil Fasciana and Rob Barret of Malevolent Creation, among others. However, this is not some lame music thrown together without skill and marketed solely on the standing of the people involved in it. Hateplow is certainly not a million miles away from Malevolent Creation, however, and will certainly appeal to fans of the band. What is different is, to some extent, down to the lyrical content as well as the music. The music is a similar mix of the crunch and precision of death and the punk of grind to that the mighty Terrorizer purveyed. The sound of this classic band is especially noticeable on such tracks as "Challenged" and "Prison Bitch", while "Stalker", among others, leans far more towards the kind of death metal Malevolent Creation typically create. Lyrically, the band concentrate on sick and unpleasant aspects of life such as crack addiction and mental illness. They state, however, in the album's credits, that "These songs are real stories. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. In no way are we fascist, racist or hatemongers." Their reasons for including this disclaimer may relate to past experiences Malevolent Creation have had with their lyrics being misconstrued. The band includes a cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" rendered in their grindcore style, which, though it provides some amusement, does not fit with the tone of the album and is rightly noted as a bonus track. All in all, a very vicious collection of songs both musically and lyrically, and most likely to appeal to fans of Malevolent Creation and Terrorizer. Various - _High Radiation 4_ (Independent Records, July 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) The fourth edition of this Portuguese compilation (watch the concert review in this issue featuring four of these bands) is quite a miscellaneous one: from unsigned bands to others who already have a full-length album out, from Portuguese bands to others from far countries (whenever a band's origin isn't mentioned in this review is because they're Portuguese). Starting with the best bands, Lacrima's new song is bereft of some of the death metal influences found in their enjoyable first demo, _Tears From the Inside_, except for the death growls that still mix with the quality female vocals, but is still a good song from a band with a future. The Slovakian Lunatic Gods sound quite doomy, although not necessarily slow, with a sound of their own and plenty of variations and originality that keep the song interesting. Dead Meat mix grindcore, death, female vocals, medieval influences, keyboards, major speed variations, some strange rhythms and completely unpredictable sequences -- probably even stranger than the third Pan-Thy-Monium album. Still needs work, but sounds interesting and original. Ciborium, who now have an album out, present some technical, atmospheric death metal of very interesting quality. Buried Alive show their powerful and technical thrash, but the song is short. On the average side of things are Morbid Death and In Solitude, more experienced bands who play two kinds of reasonably well done, but not very remarkable, melodic metal. From there on, Without Faith (from Greece), Bellwitch and Disarrey (USA) are just average, The Royal Blood sound better than on their demo [CoC #30], but worse than in their live performance [reviewed in this issue], whereas Imortalis, Eternal Cry (Spain), Tomb Gods, Vortex and Violent Hate (Brazil) are all below average, with Cisma (Brazil) winning the title of most uninteresting band of the compilation. Nothing really outstanding to be found in this compilation, just a few bands who do have quality and some who seem to have something interesting to offer in the future, while most lack originality and many also quality. Just some final words about several band names: stuff like Morbid Death, Without Faith, Lunatic Gods, Violent Hate and several others isn't exactly brilliant and is unlikely to help the bands. Contact: mailto:ind.rec@esoterica.pt In Battle - _The Rage of the Northmen_ (Napalm Records, July 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) The especially noteworthy first couple of tracks introduce In Battle's second album of blazing war-inspired black metal, and no track ever drops the pace until it's all over. Before listening to _The Rage of the Northmen_, I was aware of In Battle's reputation, but had never listened to their debut (which I will now undoubtedly seek); _TRotN_ turned out to be just about as fast and brutal as I expected, but also much catchier than I anticipated. This somewhat unexpected catchiness does take the album to far greater heights, together with the often incredibly fast (yet precise) drumming and vicious vocals. Every song just overflows with energy and the band (which has been reduced to a duo) shows remarkable skill at enormous speed. The production is neither too clean nor harmful to the sound quality, achieving a kind of sound that seems very adequate for the music. A -very- intense album. Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_ (Relapse, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) I purchased and began listening to Incantation's two previous albums, the original mix of the second, to prepare myself for _Diabolical Conquest_. What I was to realize was that nothing could fully prepare me for the brutal death metal assault which _Diabolical Conquest_'s eight tracks and 45 minutes bring. The blasting of opener "Impending Diabolical Conquest" immediately alerts the listener to the first important change _DC_ brings for Incantation: an improvement in production. The clarity of all instruments, even the low, guttural vocals, has been increased near tenfold and bestows even more power to Incantation's ever vicious assault. What one further learns as the album proceeds on its road to hell is that Incantation have also pushed themselves to write the best songs with the best playing they, even with their high standards, have ever done. Though the overall quality of the death metal on offer is superb, the segments certain songs include, such as the stop/start section in "Ethereal Misery", give the album a yet sharper knife edge with which to slice into the carcass of musical brilliance upon which the band have chosen to feed. Though the last sixteen minute track "Unto Infinite Twighlight / Majesty of Infernal Damnation" may seem long, it is not ponderous, and I also excuse the similarity of its first riff to that on Sodom's "Obsessed by Cruelty", as it provides a final crushing testament to _Diabolical Conquest_'s unshaking quality. Incantation's finest hour is upon us and, even in such a good year for the style, their album ranks as one of this year's best death metal albums. Infernal Majesty - _Unholier Than Thou_ (Hypnotic, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10) It is eleven years since the band dubbed "Canada's Slayer" unleashed their now classic, in the underground, album _None Shall Defy_, and I feel that if we were to look for a similar label to place on them today, it would be "Canada's Death". The similarity of _Unholier Than Thou_ to Mr. Schuldiner and his various mobs' creations is such that this would not be wholly unfair either. The comparisons can become embarrassing, for example if one checks out the beginning of second track "The Hunted": the opening lyrical passages and the timing in which they are delivered is disturbingly similar to Schuldiner's own vocal style and the kind of lyrics he pens. But what did we expect Infernal Majesty to do? If we expected _None Shall Defy Mk.II_, then we certainly don't have it, but I must question whether that is what anyone did want or expect. To many that album is classic; I personally find it good but not astounding. To follow such a revered debut eleven years later is more than hard and is highly unlikely to produce a similar disc. Think of how much Slayer or, dare I say it, Metallica changed in eleven years. If this was a debut, it would be marked down as a Death clone and justifiably so. It suffers from a lack of variation between songs and the fact that it is so derivative of Death. However, it is an enjoyable 37 minutes which are well produced and technically proficient. If you want what could effectively be seen as "the lost Death record", then you have it here. Problem is, Death have got a new record which is better than _UTT_ and this is not a CD which I feel will capture the imagination of fans of the original Infernal Majesty sound. I have to ask, then: who will buy this record and why? Kazumoto Endo / Incapacitants - (Gentle Giant Records, 1998) by: Gabriel Sanchez (8.5 out of 10) Before starting this review, it should be noted that I am not a big fan of 7" vinyl noise releases; however, I chose to make this one a prime exception from the rule due to the powerful and highly entertaining quality of the noise found on it. Despite the rather short length of both artists' tracks, they still manage to deliver enough high quality noise that makes this a very worthy investment. Kazumoto Endo's track contribution (hilariously entitled "Most of My Problems Are Solved by an Afternoon Snooze") is a cut up swirl of sound and loops which ranks up as one of the best tracks Endo has put out thus far. Starting off with a few sporadic bursts of sound which are mat with a wall of silence, the track eventually moves into a mighty collage of electronic madness with the trademark Endo loops creeping their way into the mix. Closer to half way through the track, the unpredictable walls of silence are once again tossed up to allow the listener to catch his/her breath before once again diving back into the chaotic mixture. On the other side, Incapacitants wasted absolutely no time in just ripping out a massive aural assault that touches on every tonal level imaginable. As it goes with their brand of noise, the sounds remained unrelenting with new ones layering in and out of the chaotic mix with absolutely no rhyme or reason. No matter how many times one listens to this track, there is always a new pattern in the chaos to be found, and, quite frankly, that is what makes Incapacitants and especially this track the highlight of the split. No silence, no patterns, no loops... just pure fucking noise that is as unfeeling as the electronics it is produced from. This is easily one of the best noise splits I have heard with neither artist having to carry the other, as both deliver in top form with their equally harsh but distinctive compositions. Contact: Gentle Giant Records, PO Box 50013, Kalamazoo, MI 49005, USA mailto:gengiant@aol.com Krabathor - _Orthodox_ (Morbid, March 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Now this -is- pleasing. I have been trying to pick up a Krabathor album for a while, having heard many a rumour of the quality of their music. On first listen I was very pleased with _Orthodox_, and that opinion didn't change too much upon repeated spins of the disk. First and foremost, Krabathor have a damn fine sound. Raw but clear, the guitars bite and the drums smash with precision and force. The vocals are also well performed and come out well in the mix. Krabathor do owe quite a bit to Malevolent Creation and others of their classic kind, but they play out in style without sounding generic and don't fall into the "where have I heard that riff?" trap. The opening title track is a particularly vicious assault and one of the best tracks on the album, not least for its catchy-yet-intensely-brutal chorus: a rare thing in death metal. Though much of their music consists of the traditional mix of low tuned riffs, mean kick drums and precise blast beats, Krabathor also often manipulate a groove the quality of which is not seen every day in death metal. It is this infectious "death-groove" which Krabathor use to pull themselves above the level of the merely ordinary. What helps them is their lyrics. This is not a band who sit down to write standard death metal lyrics. Krabathor's lyrics come from their hearts and address issues which are close to the same. Whatever your political opinions, Krabathor make no bones about giving you theirs. A great example is "To Red Ones": "Communist, community of red Hitlers / Get out of my way! / Your chance is lost, you are less than dust / You're living corpses / That's my revenge, don't ask for human rights / We don't need you! / You wished us hell, that's what I wish you / Twice". Despite some failings in their English, which is not surprising for a band from the Czech Republic, Krabathor convey their feelings about real issues very effectively. It also helps that I agree with a lot of their complaints. All in all, a great fourth album for a band whose talents have so often gone unnoticed on an international level; I hope that this changes that, 'cause it certainly deserves to. Let Me Dream - _Medley Rain_ (Succubus Records, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Long gone are the days of this Finnish band's 1995 debut album _My Dear Succubus_ for Adipocere Records. Now, Let Me Dream return with a new MCD and a label of their own. They describe these new songs as a combination of gothic, dark pop and metal; fortunately, however, the obnoxious three-letter word in that recipe isn't too prominent in their music, as this is essentially gothic metal with plenty of keyboards and rather weak guitars. The vocals are semi-operatic, reminding me of a mix of Moonspell's vocalist Fernando Ribeiro's clean vox in _Wolfheart_ with the kind of vocals more frequently found in gothic rock. These vocals take time to get used to, but aren't bad. Although some blackened vocals are also occasionally used, more variety (perhaps some female vox) would have been welcome. The music is reasonably well composed and executed, but not especially captivating; it lacks either more metallic qualities or a more emotional (perhaps more depressive) atmosphere, anything that would make the MCD become more captivating for the listener. As it is, _Medley Rain_ is a reasonably good MCD, although not every choice for their sound was the best possible this time. Contact: mailto:wolfborn@freenet.hut.fi WWW: www.mygale.org/11/gore/LMD.html Lost Souls - _Fracture_ (Nuclear Blast, July 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (3 out of 10) It's amazing that it has been so long since Machine Head's _Burn My Eyes_ took the metal world by storm (that was in 1994, if you've forgotten already) and still the band's sound and style influence the ways of many bands out there. The riffs. The vocals. The attitude. It's all there and circulating through the sounds of many newer metal acts out there nowadays. The latest culprit, Lost Souls. For sure, this is a total rip-off of Machine Head in terms of guitar sound. As for the other aspects, the vocals are more death-ish than what Machine Head singer Rob Flynn has been accustomed to providing us with, but still this is total Machine Head -- start to finish. The only saving grace of this LP is the ultra-cool rip n' roar feel of "2 Pieces" and "Downfall". Other than that, it's all been done before. I know I've said that before, and you know what? I'll keep saying it again and again if bands keep rehashing and/or ripping off other bands. Masonna - _Frequency LSD_ (Alien8 Recordings, 1998) by: Gabriel Sanchez (9 out of 10) The cult icon of Japanoise once again makes another proverbial anti-statement with his uniquely harsh blend of screams, feedback, and constantly changing blasts, rumbles and blips of sonic destruction. As always, this release is very much comparable to his lengthy back catalog of material; however, Maso does manage to get across the point that he is far more than a "one trick pony". The main attraction of this release to new and old fans alike is the rather unskilled, though highly interesting (and somewhat comical), use of 60's psychadelia in the warped textures of sound laid out in each track. Despite not being very noticeable at the start of the album, with each successive track the influence becomes stronger and stronger until the final fourteenth track almost sounds unlike everything that one would come to expect from Masonna. Instead of being treated to a barrage of uncontrolled, harsh, and maddening noise, we are treated to lengthy explorations into the joys of warped synthesizer repetition and digitally altered radio frequency loops. After all is said and done, one is easily left with the impression that Maso has abandoned his glorious "roots" and has taken the proverbial next step in his noise sound. Whether this is the case or not remains to be seen. However, it is undeniable that the alteration and inclusion of entirely new sounds for the artist is a successful venture. Slowly but surely, Maso seems to have been able to calm down and "trip out" his sound so well during the album, it almost becomes unnoticeable until the later tracks. With any luck, Maso will take these two distinct styles he has incorporated so beautifully on this disc and further expand on them in the not-so-distant future. This is, thus far in the year, the best noise release put out by any artist and, after just one listen, it's not hard to hear why. Contact: Alien8 Recordings, P.O. Box 666, Station R Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H2S 3L1 mailto:alien8@alien8recordings.com Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Drill_ (Iron Pegasus, December 1997) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Classic heavy metal. Metalucifer are testament both to its brilliance and its timelessness. Although not original by any standard, the quality of the music which this Japanses trio, which features current and former members of Sabbat, pen is of such compelling quality that any similarities to classic, pioneering bands such as Iron Maiden, Manowar or Helloween are instantly forgiven. Anyway, _Heavy Metal Drill_ is better than anything produced by the aforementioned in the last ten years. It's at least 666 times better than Iron Maiden's latest effort, _Virtual XI_, beats Helloween's decent _Better Than Raw_ and tops both of Manowar's patchy efforts since 1988's incredible _Kings of Metal_ easily. With song titles and lyrics as firmly focused on pure metal as the riffs and drums are, the first three songs all start wih "Heavy Metal..." and the seventh is simply entitled "Headbanging", this becomes a 50 minute journey into the melodic, distortion filled world of classic heavy metal -- and what a journey it is. Solos are what axemen's dreams and egos are made out of, vocals are as infectious as they are balls out, and quite simply every feature of a great, classic, heavy metal album is present. The band even sucessfully toy with keyboards on their "Metalucifer" instrumental track. When the old boys can no longer match themselves, it is up to others to remind them of the greatness of heavy metal. This is better than HammerFall too, by the way. All this from a Japanese band. Who would have thought it? "The next album _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_ is planned to attack you with spell somewhere in 1999", say the band in their booklet. You have been forewarned. Contact: Iron Pegasus, Costa Stoios, Brunnenstr. 6, 54538 Kinderbeuern-Hetzhof, Germany Fax: +49 6532 5243 Napalm Death - _Bootlegged in Japan_ (Earache / St. Clair, June 1998) by: Adam Wasylyk (8 out of 10) I am one who holds the opinion that Napalm Death have deteriorated into a weak excuse for a death metal band. I'm certainly not against musical progression -- in fact, I'm into bands like My Dying Bride, Amorphis, Morgoth and Katatonia, who all sound quite different from when they first started. In my eyes, Napalm have progressed much too far and I'm sure they will one day leave most of their fans behind. _Bootlegged in Japan_ features over an hour of music, performing material from the early days to their present record at the time this bootleg was recorded, _Diatribes_. I was very happy, to say the least, that a good amount of old material was included -- tracks such as "Lucid Fairytale", "Control", "The Kill" and "Scum". Also mid-era Napalm was present, including "Mass Appeal Madness", "Suffer the Children", "Unchallenged Hate" and one of my personal faves, "Seige of Power". "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" serves as the lone cover, and it tops off a great (both material and sound wise) bootleg, despite my personal view that Barney Greenway can't sing well in a live environment. Napalm Death fans (both old and new) should pick this up. Nifelheim - _Devil's Force_ (Necropolis Records, 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Looking at all the evil imagery Nifelheim seem to have tried so hard to put together through band photos, ridiculous front cover and utterly unimaginative song titles, I expected _Devil's Force_ to be quite a brutal album, even though probably not very technical. However, the rather simplistic thrashy retro-sounding black metal Nifelheim play throughout this half-hour long album failed to impress me as far as brutality is concerned. It may be fast, aggressive and not exactly the most melodic metal album ever made, but the brutality level is still far from the standards set by many bands by now and fails to entirely compensate the technical simplicity. Another problem is that the more quality Norwegian black metal you know, the worse Nifelheim's attempts at producing "evil music" sound. Still, and although there is hardly anything new to be found in this album, Nifelheim are reasonably good at what they do and _Devil's Force_ is an acceptable average album. Nunslaughter / Dekapitator - _Blood On Steel_ (Split 7") by: Ryan Kriste (9 out of 10) (, 1997) Triumphing old school death/thrash played by those who were there. Nunslaughter deliver three insane tracks of true old school death metal. I think the worst thing about finding out about bands like this now is that you want to kick yourself for not getting into them earlier -- Nunslaughter have been doing it since 1987. This is the way I like my death: brutal, evil, fast and you can still hear the lyrics. Sounds a lot like Acheron. Very short songs for death metal, but the message shines through in the five minutes. "Bring Me the Head of God". All I hear when I listen to Dekapitator is "Destruction" (the band as well as the feeling). Straight, vicious old school thrash -- I love thrash, again I love thrash. Six minutes of power, in the finest tradition. Hail!!!! Comes in a very cool glow-in-the-dark vinyl; it really works. Contact: Nunslaughter, 132 Old Village Ln., Bethel Park, PA 15102, USA Ophthalamia - _A Long Journey_ (Necropolis Records, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Re-recordings are always a risky enterprise for any band: they may go unnoticed by those who didn't know the album before and may disappoint fans who did own the original version and, since it's the one they know better, still find it superior. And what my experience tells me is that the original versions -are- indeed better most of the times. That's not the case here, however. Ophthalamia have taken their 1994 debut _A Journey in Darkness_ and gave it a very different treatment. The production is completely different (for the better), and the band's execution is significantly better as well. Most of the keyboards have been suppressed, which isn't as terrible as it might sound at first, and some structural changes have occurred. Still, the opening track "A Cry From the Halls of Blood / Empire of Lost Dreams" and "Enter the Darkest Thoughts of the Chosen / Agony's Silent Paradise" (which is now the sixth track) are as brilliant as ever. An extra song has been included, as well as a Venom cover, which is rather out of place in this album, especially after it has been closed by "I Summon Thee, oh Father / Death Embrace Me". The overall result, with all the instrumental and production improvements, is superior to the original and, despite Ophthalamia's annoying tendency to insert more 'rocking' sections very harmful to the atmosphere, most of the album is quality mid-paced black/doom. Pain Jerk - _Greater Curvature_ (Spite, 1998) by: Gabriel Sanchez (8 out of 10) Anyone who denies Kohei Gomi a position right alongside other "worshipped" noise artists such as Masami Akita, Maso Yamazaki or the ever loved Joe Roemer is only denying a truth which becomes clearer with every new output by Pain Jerk. _Greater Curvature_ finds itself divided into four parts, encompassing some 45 minutes of time well spent listening to this magnificent noise creation. As always, Gomi's amazing editing and stereophonic effects techniques are put to great use with layers of harsh sound finding themselves augmented by spacey blips and bleeps which come pouring in and out of the speaker channels. The entire feel of this release seems to be less of one large sonic attack on its listeners than a venture into mixing and editing (which could be said for many a Pain Jerk release). While the noise remains consistently loud and often takes a turn for the punishing at points, it also remains very hypnotizing. Unlike some noise releases that tend to drone on endlessly, Pain Jerk keeps the sounds fresh, sporadic, and always mixing in order to add a level of depth and interest rarely found in many newer artists, who seem content to turn on their pedals and let them run with little thought or innovation being given to their sound. With every listen, I still find myself attempting to pin down all of the sounds that Gomi seems to have knitted together so well in this excellent noise venture. With the ever growing audience of Pain Jerk fans out there mixed in with the especially skillful quality of the noise found here, I expect this limited edition of 50 releases will soon be gone, so make a point to act fast on it. To those unfamiliar with Pain Jerk or noise in general, this is a more than ample place to begin building a hefty collection of both, as this easily rivals almost everything being put out by almost everyone in the noise scene today. Contact: Spite, P.O. Box 56153, Kalamazoo, MI 49005-1653, USA mailto:monoanie@aol.com Primordial - _A Journey's End_ (Misanthropy Records, June 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) Something that annoys me in many albums out there is that either the music or the lyrics have little to do with the artwork, or lyrics and music don't match, or when they do the whole concept is far from original and interesting. Fortunately, there are still plenty of albums that don't fall in any of those traps, and _A Journey's End_ is one of those. As the artwork and interesting lyrics suggest, the music is doomy and doesn't really try to be catchy -- in fact, the album took a while to grow on me. _A Journey's End_ doesn't sound too much like anything else, but it could be compared to a somewhat blackened Darren-less Anathema mixed with a lot of Primordial's own work. This is essentially an evolution from their previous album, _Imrama_, showing vast improvement in some areas. There are less blackened vocals, but Averill's clean voice has improved enough to avoid turning this change into a problem; the song structures and atmosphere changed significantly as well. The album is formed by four long doomy tracks (over eight minutes each) and three shorter ones that differ from everything else on _A Journey's End_: the great acoustic "Dark Song", the sombre spoken "Solitary Mourner" and the finishing instrumental "On Aistear Deirneach". It may be Primordial's Irish origins that make them sound different, but this is far from being folk-influenced music, despite the frequent use of acoustics; what it does have is a certain uniqueness in some ways. Definitely not a vulgar album. Rotten Sound - _Under Pressure_ (Repulse, March 1998) by: Adam Wasylyk (7.5 out of 10) I've never hid the fact that I don't like much of what Repulse puts out. I mean, when a lot of the bands sound like second rate Suffocation, there's only so much one person can stand. However, Repulse have released some talented artists -- namely Golgotha, Intestine Baalism and just recently its first black metal band, Ouija. You can add Rotten Sound to that list, as their hardcore/grind/ crustcore is quite enjoyable to listen to. These Finnish lads deliver the goods with 22 tracks of tight musicianship and uncompromised aggression. Those who love the insanity displayed on fine recordings such as Napalm Death's _Scum_ or Terrorizer's _World Downfall_ will certainly find a lot to like on _Under Pressure_. Ruination - _Visionary Breed_ (Goldtrack Records, June 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Although Ruination were once a doom/death band, neither style has any practical weight on their current melodic atmospheric metal that even reminded me of the somewhat standardized style some Portuguese bands have been choosing lately. This Lithuanian band has its moments during _Visionary Breed_, though; they also have acceptable musicianship, and the sound is good enough (recorded at the Abyss), although the vocals should have been better. The problem with their medium sized songs is that they lack something the band may have had, to some extent, when they were still playing doom/death (I don't know, though, since this is the first material of theirs I've ever heard): globally, _Visionary Breed_ is neither especially heavy (far from that), emotional, doomy, nor even especially melodic -- or rather, especially remarkable by its melodies. What remains is a well performed but average work that tends to conform to the reigning normality more than it should. Sadus - _Elements of Anger_ (Mascot, November 1997) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Sadus have, throughout their career, been a band who have remained on the fringes of the thrash/death metal genre. They have never attained the success or widespread critical acclaim of some of their peers. Will _Elements of Anger_, the first Sadus album in more than five years, change all this? Well, in fact, a more appropriate question is actually "-has- _Elements of Anger_ changed all this?", since this album's European release was back in November last year. I think you know the answer. It is "no". Whether it deserved to is what I will assess, though my answer will be rather longer than one word. _Elements of Anger_ is grounded on a Scott Burns production which, whatever your view of his talents, ought to give the record a full and bassy sound. Surprisingly enough, this is not the sound _Elements of Anger_ has at all. Instead, the sound is similar to Sadus' other releases, with flat sounding drums, crunchy, rather than rich, guitar tones and a good, clean bass sound topped off by raspy vocals. As songwriting goes, Sadus have altered the formula set down on previous releases to some extent by including instrumental work which attempts to create atmosphere and has some success in doing so. Combine this with their traditional vicious and speedy thrash attack and you certainly have an album which contains variation. Steve DiGiorgio's bass work is complex and inventive and increases the album's overall ability to impress. However, Darren Travis' raspy vocals lack power or ability to flow seamlessly with the music. What this means is that, although Sadus produce a decent, listenable album, they fail to produce anything that is truly outstanding. Ultimately, I would say that _Elements of Anger_ is a good place to start the ball rolling again, but it is not the album that will push them further than previous releases have, and it doesn't deserve to. Sentenced - _Frozen_ (Century Media, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) In only four days _Frozen_ spun through twelve times in my CD player. This is not usual for me. It is worth explaining, or trying to, why this particular piece of plastic -was- spun so many times in my stereo in such a short space of time. The answer: I was hooked. _Frozen_, you see, is one of those albums which I can happily say satisfies on far more than one level. Sentenced have committed 48 minutes of music to tape which are addictive like hard drugs and lyrically as suicidal as an addiction to hard drugs. Before exploring _Frozen_'s musical tapestry further, a short look at where Sentenced are in their musical career. This is Sentenced's fifth full length and follows 1996's successful _Down_ album, which saw the replacement of long-time vocalist Taneli Jarva with Ville Laihaila, whose vocal talents also grace _Frozen_. The melodic approach which set _Down_ apart from older albums such as _North From Here_ is continued and adapted on _Frozen_. Apart from enjoying the music in this new direction of itself, what I enjoy so much about _Frozen_ specifically is its flow. Each track fits with the tracks around it and into its place in the album as a whole. Each new track is another step on Sentenced's way to musical Valhalla. Sentenced don't quite make it there this time, otherwise you would see a perfect rating at the top of this review, but they come damn close. This flow does not stop _Frozen_ from having highly individual songs. Part of the album's quality is the fact that all nine full songs (with three "instrumentals") can stand alone so perfectly while also composing such a highly structured album. Songs like "Farewell" or "Let Go (The Last Chapter)" are not ponderous or irrelevant when considered out of their position in _Frozen_'s entirety. Then again, the way that "Farewell" slides in from the majestic climax of "Kaamos" is brilliant and provides the perfect introduction-of-sorts for the song. _Frozen_ also sees Sentenced very effectively mixing the keyboards/orchestration part of their sounds with the classic guitars / bass / vocals / drums arrangements. This means that while the album still "rocks", it contains sweeping melody and tons of atmosphere. "For the Love I Bear" perfectly demonstrates the value of combining these elements effectively. It makes use of the keyboards and atmospheres in its verse to great effect. It also has a very catchy chorus full of guitar hooks and memorable vocal lines. However, Sentenced also build the song to a crescendo with drums and palm muted guitars, at which point Ville burps and a ripping, heavy rock solo ensues. _Frozen_ is a crafted album with much to explore in a recorded format. It also contains very well written songs which will sound great when the band plays them live without the additional orchestration, as they do. For my money, this is the best album of its kind which is likely to see the light of day this year and we should be thankful for it. Sepultura - _Against_ (Roadrunner/Attic, October 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) I don't know what you metalheads were expecting with the new Sepultura, seeing that Max Cavalera was out and Derrick Green was taking over vocal duties. I was only hoping that the return of Sepultura would be unforgettable. I now have a copy of _Against_ and let's just say my ass has been kicked hard. This is totally heavy shit and easily surpasses what Max did (no offense) with Soulfly. It's heavier, more aggressive and easily one of the best releases of 1998. Does the band let down any of their fans? A big NO! New singer Green (ex- Outface / Overfiend / Alpha Jerk) does a superb job keeping things fast and furious. Elements of hardcore are the most noticeable new changes within the music, yet a welcome change to what Sepultura are doing, keeping the momentum going on _Against_. From hardcore-styled opener and title track "Against", Sepultura's groove hits the pedal to the metal, crushing all in its path with powerful concoctions of ferocity with numbers like "Choke", the blistering "Boycott", "Rumors" and the Jason Newsted (of Metallica fame) collaborated piece "Hatred Aside". There is no downside to this record, as it all grooves with an intense sound and style that fans have been craving from Sepultura since _Chaos A.D._. Though 1996's _Roots_ was a truly triumphant record with the use of the Xavantes tribe and the cultural bonding of music and rhythm, _Against_ sheds a huge spotlight on what Sepultura has always been about: variety and passion. The new LP focuses on and showcases the real power of Sepultura, managing to reinvent themselves once again with this LP, but still stay so close to Sepultura's trademark sound. People thought they were a dead horse with Max's departure, but Sepultura regrouped and threw all that negative press and uncertainty out the fucking window. This kills and every metal fan should witness the resurrection of Sepultura in 1998. All you other fuckers, get the hell out of the way. Seventh Avenue - _Southgate_ (Treasure Hunt Records, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (4 out of 10) It's not that _Southgate_ is musically bad -- the vocals are reasonably competent and so is most of the instrumental execution. But it brings no innovation whatsoever and its traditional heavy metal songs tend to go by without leaving much behind -- they depend too much upon their choruses, which, in turn, are often too long and poor, drowning some good instrumental passages that the album does have. Plus, I found the album's general atmosphere poor, especially in mellow tracks like "Father", "Heart in Your Hand" and "Goodbye". However, Seventh Avenue's biggest problem may be that all the revivalism that seems to be going on in some areas of Europe lately (mainly in their own home country, Germany) will end up making them face far superior competition within their own genre (not to mention darker and more extreme genres outside the aforementioned revivalism wave). As a result of all this, and despite showing a salvageable instrumental side, Seventh Avenue just don't manage to make the album stand above its own lack of originality. Shellyz Raven - _Recrucify_ (, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) When we got this in the mail and I got my stash of review material from Gino, I was wonderin' what this band would sound like. I had my thoughts of what this band would be like, but after the first listen, my early impressions of them went right out the window. I had been expecting a dark, oh-so typical gothic rock / metal band trying to come across as Moonspell or something like that, only indie sounding. Much to my surprise, Shellyz Raven is an interesting dark, doomy progressive outfit that shines with sincere musical adeptness, yet still flaunts its independent sound. In other words, good music and adequate enough production to keep it sounding good. This disc only has six songs, but the material here is substantial enough to keep the listener interested. Singer Seayia has a very heartwarming vocal style and the work of the band to comfort and work with her vocals is truly talented. The intense use of keyboards also adds strong flavor to the music of Shellyz Raven. Most impressive is track two, called "Mortifir". Awesome tune. So, fans of The Gathering, Lacuna Coil and even The Dreamside, you might want to contact this band. Good music here. Contact: Oystein Kristoffer Paulsen, Haugenesveien 11, 4870 Fevik, Norway mailto:macros@online.no WWW: www.ravenz.home.ml.org :Slogun: - _The Pleasures of Death_ (Death Factory, July 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10) Imagine, if you will, a world in which your TV set was on full volume, stuck on the "static" channel, and some weirdo was communicating through your TV set with distorted vocals. Sometimes laughing, sometimes chanting gibberish. Sometimes he's even using voice effects to make his voice stop n' start and seem so haunting. Now repeat this for eight songs, clocking in at almost 60 minutes of pure noise. Pretty scary shit, eh? Think of this as Poltergeist noise music. It's fucked and creepy to boot. But it's also one-dimensional and boring for the most part. Only for those that -TRULY- worship noise music. Various - _Statements of Intent_ (Wicked World, July 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) As samplers go, this is about the best one I have ever encountered. As has been Earache's tendency with past samplers, _Statements of Intent_ contains mostly unreleased or EP-released material by excellent bands within the extreme metal genre. Just pick up a copy and check out the bands featured. Established bands like Katatonia, In Flames and Emperor sit comfortably alongside newer bands such as Gardenian and The Haunted, and among the rest are some of Wicked World's new signings. These bands, Gandalf and The Elysian Fields, are not by any means the newest of the bands here, but it is worth pointing out they do not stick out in the quality of their music either. Both bands sound good and it seems that Wicked World are choosing well in their new signings. Let's hope they can renew the reputation of the Earache camp for signing quality death/black/grind bands. There are plenty of tracks here which are from EPs that are hard to find and many excellent bands are sampled. Overall, this is a sampler of excellent value and quality. The Ancients Rebirth - _Damnated Hell's Arrival_ (Necropolis, 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) While this may not be close to the best of Swedish black metal, _Damnated Hell's Arrival_ is still a good MCD with plenty of aggression and good technical skills. Plus, it's 30 minutes long, which is more than the usual for an MCD. The black metal found here contains a certain thrash influence with good results; this follow-up to TAR's 1996 debut full-length _Drain the Portal in Blood_ is thus harsher and less melodic than what most Swedish bands have been producing, adding more of a black/thrash feel while trying to retain some of the technicality of those other Swedish acts. The result can get quite good at times, but isn't much above average most of the time. Still, as an MCD, it contains enough quality to deserve some attention. The Bloodcult - _Night's Plutonian Shore_ (Unisound Records, 1997) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) On one hand, _Night's Plutonian Shore_ is nothing special musically; but on the other hand, most of it has such a sombre, oppressive atmosphere that it does become a somewhat interesting album. After a rather tedious intro made of something similar to a church organ, one can hear some drum rhythms and keyboard melodies more akin to goth than anything else. The guitar sound is very low, almost nonexistent, and the vocals are deep and gloomy. Despite its start, this track already hints at the more depressive side of the album. The third track confirms it: a slow, sad song made of mostly atmospheric synths, similar vocals to those of the previous track, some unobtrusive percussion and hardly any guitars. The fourth song, on the contrary, starts with some needless atmosphere-ruining rhythms, but improves as the keyboards appear with the spoken female vocals, which in turn mix with the male vox. After a poor short keyboard instrumental comes a track that is atrociously misplaced in this album. Keyboards, guitars and percussion have very little in common with the rest of the songs, and nothing in common with the album's best sequences. Forgetting about this one, the last track is no less than eighteen minutes long, and therefore the most important song of this 45 minute long album. Showing some violin sounds in the beginning, it then becomes a surprising piece of slow doom with keyboards, still very gloomy vocals and plenty more of that sad violin sound. Later, piano and female vocals enter the composition as well. Overall, if you forget about the sixth track, this is a reasonably worthy album as far as depressive gothic atmospheres are concerned (especially the third track and some parts of the last one), although stained by several wrong choices. An album that most will probably hate and only a few will find interesting. Voivod - _Kronik_ (Hypnotic, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Remixed Voivod? I was -very- apprehensive about this release, and so I should be. Voivod was always about being one step ahead of the metal genre community, always a bit out there and exploring the realms of metal, but this was Voivod fused with electronic music. Remixed versions of some of their heavy and most memorable numbers are found here ("Nanoman" and "Forlorn"), not to mention previously unreleased numbers ("Vortex" and "Erosion") and a slew of live version numbers (such as "Astronomy Domine" and "Nuclear War"). Voivod continues on in the trend of many metal acts who have decided to go along and remix their records/material (i.e., Fear Factory, Avulsed, Pantera, etc.) and done it reasonably well. The Fear Factory _Remanufacture_ LP sounded great and so do the three numbers Voivod worked on. As for the unreleased material here, it's still heavily experimental and definitely Voivod sounding. Fans will not be disappointed. And the live material from Germany? Stunning. This band is both a strong studio and live act, thrilling fans for more than a decade and still going strong. If this LP had been more of a remix record rather than a remix / unreleased / live effort, I would have more concern with what they did. But enough said -- this compilation of material from Voivod rules. It has enough variety to keep fans happy. Vondur - _The Galactic Rock n' Roll Empire_ (Necropolis, 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (2 out of 10) Don't be fooled by the Ophthalamian links to Vondur: this MCD is much more the kind of thing a band would do for a few laughs during a rehearsal than something likely to end up on CD. In fact, I found almost no seriousness whatsoever here. The mediocrity of Vondur's instrumental side, including their use of a drum machine (sometimes at very high speeds), is only comparable to that of their songwriting. The Motley Crue and Judas Priest covers and the (somewhat funny) Elvis Presley song mutilation add practicaly nothing to the poor original tracks. Trying to destroy standards doesn't necessarily lead to interesting results. Warhorse - _Warhorse_ (Burden of Being Records, August 1998) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) It's incredible, with the amount of stuff that we receive -- most of the independent stuff being somewhat bland or repetitive --, that we are able to savage some great material from the heaps of stuff. But you do find gems, and Warhorse is one of them. Much like the other great indie release that I reviewed in this issue, Shellyz Raven, Massachusetts natives Warhorse are a truly powerful and heavy band. Labeling themselves as "psychedelic-doom-crust" (a pretty accurate take on their sound), Warhorse deliver the goods from the start on this five-song CD. From opener "I See" to closer "The End of", this East Coast trio (led by singer/guitarist Krista Van Guilder) lay the riffs on ultra-thick and create patterns of melodic heaviness with each song. Think Kyuss with a female singer and add doom and psychedelic sounds for good measure. Krista Van Guilder has got a really captivating voice, taking on a strained sound for the most part as she lets loose with those deadly, sludge-like riffs. The music, for the most part, doesn't really turn into a frenzied assault of fuzz and sludge; it maintains a rather sedated sound throughout this five-song release. Cool pot smokin', kick back kind of music for us to take in. This'll make a good addition next to your Kyuss and Monster Magnet CDs. Contact: Warhorse, P.O. Box 673 Worcester, MA 01602, USA mailto:warhorse@aol.com WWW: members.aol.com/warhorse66 Within Temptation - _The Dance_ (DSFA Records, June 1998) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Sounding very much like a mix of Theatre of Tragedy and Orphanage (minus the strange rhythms) will make a band sound very attractive to some and totally uninteresting to others, who may claim that they are unoriginal. However, although comparisons may be made to a few other bands, Within Temptation's sound is different enough from the rest (the closest being perhaps Tristania). But, regardless of their originality or lack thereof, Within Temptation are very good at what they do. That was clear in their 1997 debut _Enter_ (which I'd rate 9 out of 10), and the three new songs presented in this new EP are all quite similar to the material found in their debut: symphonic doom metal with female vocals and death growls. Sharon den Adel, their headbanging female vocalist, owns a delightful voice (as well as a radiant smile), and the rest of the band perform very well, too. Of the new songs, "The Other Half (of Me)" is faster than anything they've done before, and also very catchy. The rest follows their usual symphonic doom closely. There are also a couple of remixes here, both enjoyable, though nothing special nor better than the originals (not a surprise). The soft nine minute long remix of "Candles" plus "Pearls of Light" is an interesting idea, but the passage from one to the other doesn't work well, in my opinion. A CD-ROM track also includes some pictures and info one would expect to find in their homepage, plus an MPEG3 file with the nice classical version of "Restless" first released in their debut EP. Therefore, if you can play MPEG3 files, you'll get a 33 minute long EP -- not bad at all, but more than half of it are remixes, even though they are all very acceptable. It was a strange choice to include a song in MPEG3 format, though. Within Temptation confirm that they are one of the leading bands of their genre, and I'll certainly be waiting for their next full-length album. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ _ /\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___ / \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \ / /\ / __/\ 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 footer. Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo **** -- Great piece of work *** -- Good effort ** -- A major overhaul is in order * -- A career change is advisable Cumdeo - _My Angel_ (4-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (*****) Wow!, what a demo. This really caught me off guard. I am a cynic for thinking this way, but I expected a doom/death demo from Russia to be boring, unimaginative and about as feisty as roadkill. Let's just say I was wrong. _My Angel_ plunders the elements of doom and death which made the styles noted and loved and uses them, along with other brilliantly executed touches, to produce a varied and highly listenable demo. _My Angel_ is a musical journey beginning with the calm stillness of acoustic guitar followed by the introduction of skillfully layered keyboards. Then the band bring in a _The Fourth Dimension_ style Hypocrisy riff of gut wrenching and bludgeoning mid-paced heaviness and from there on in it seems they can't go wrong. Although only two of these tracks have vocals, the feeling of the demo is not of two songs filled out to four by instrumentals but one 20 minute work carefully carved into sections by beautiful instrumentation. For any demo band, the quality of this demo would be astounding; but from Russia, a place not usually noted for this sort of thing, Cumdeo are an even bigger, and as a result more pleasant, surprise. If this band can write a full length and maintain this quality, then Cumdeo could justifiably become one of the underground's big names in the years to come. Contact: Alexander Ivanov, Komsomolskaya Str.11, Smolensk, 214033, Russia Funeral God - _Demo 1_ (3-track demo) by: Ryan Kriste (****-) I suppose my obvious biases towards this release make me unfit to review it, but I love it so much I feel compelled to. Pretoria's own Funeral God bring forth their first brutal offering to the tables of metal. And what a feast it is. Nothing original here, but the classics are usually the most appetizing. Track one, "Blessed by the Devil", showcases a strong German speed influence ala "old" Kreator, as evidenced by the picking style, although at a slightly less frantic pace. Track two, "Insomnia", is a slow death number with one of the most instantly infectious grooves I've ever heard -- screw the nineties' bands. Track three, "Abomination", with its thrash riffs and acoustic parts (played on electric), belies softer influences as well. If you want to wear your influences (death, black, speed and thrash -metal-) on your sleeve, do it as well as Funeral God. Hate Eternal - (3-track demo) by: Aaron McKay (****-) Blistering! If I ever utter the word again, it will be in praise of Hate Eternal. Being a simple Joe, like I am, this constitutes death metal boiled down to its finest, most descriptive, three syllables -- blistering! Fits like a damn straight jacket, so I can't help but use the word. Hate Eternal isn't the first, but second, brainchild / solo project of the NON-genre challenged guitar wizard, Erik Rutan (the first one being the ethereal majesty that is Alas). Many will remember Erik from his days with the incomparable Morbid Angel. The beginning track, and the only one I know for gospel, is dubbed "Messiah of Rage". The tune was written with technical expertise by Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse, who also more bellies-up to the bass duties on the demo as well. Taking into consideration Mr. Rutan's other musical obligations, Hate Eternal is truly an ambitious undertaking, but this taster truly begs for better financing. How about an Alas / Hate Eternal split? Someone throw some money their direction -- soon! Contact: Alas / Hate Eternal, P.O. Box 21922, Tampa, Florida 33622-1922, USA Hirilorn - _A Hymn to the Ancient Souls_ (5-track demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (****-) By adding a certain personal touch to standard black metal, Hirilorn have managed to create a rather interesting demo tape. They have essentially used more guitar leads than usual in black metal, and did it quite well, too: plenty of good melodic guitar leads emerge from within their relatively harsh mid-to-fast paced black metal sound. It may not seem obvious at all, but it works -- and I strongly dislike pointless, vain guitar solos. What happens is just that these leads merge well with the rest of the music. The rest of the band members do their job too, and there are plenty of changes in the music during the 30 minutes of this demo, though they do tend to sometimes repeat some melodies a bit too much. Still, this doesn't happen too often, so the demo doesn't suffer much from that. I also listened to "Through the Moonless Night", a song taken from their upcoming album _Legend of Evil and Eternal Death_, which shows expectable improvements while essentially retaining most of the demo's characteristics -- it's therefore likely to be an interesting album, if they can keep the quality at least as high as in this song. Contact: Olivier Borzeix, 23 Rue du Capitaine Bes, 86000 Poitiers, France mailto:hirilorn.sinn@wanadoo.fr (Demo tape prices: 6$ Europe, 7$ elsewhere.) Iron Rainbow - _Never Settle for Less Than Metal_ (3-track demo) by: Ryan Kriste (****-) It's 1983 and I've just received a very cool demo from Iron Rainbow. Straight metal, culled from the likes of the last remaining NWOBHM bands. Lyrics warning against evil -- or is it promoting evil? It's so subtle (for metal) that you just don't know. The types of riff that will undoubtedly be used by Manowar on their upcoming album _Hail to England_, most probably on the track "Army of the Immortals". OK, so it's not 1983, but so what? If something works, don't fix it! This is the way metal was supposed to sound! The tape title got me thinking (scary thing) -- WHY do I try to find something good in an album that obviously was not made by a metalhead? If it's crap, it's crap; end of story. Iron Rainbow are not crap, end of story. If you are a metalhead, you will feel the power emanating from Iron Rainbow's sixteen minute, three track tape. Contact: Bad Posture, P.O.Box 932, Middle Island, NY 11953, USA Oberon - (3-track demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (***--) This Norwegian duo does seem to have plenty of ideas, but, in the end, this demo also has some important flaws. I suppose this band has nothing to do with another band called Oberon, who already have a CD out. I seem to recall that this other band is much more atmospheric, although currently I do not have access to any of their work. Regardless of that, this Oberon plays folk-influenced black metal and, as I mentioned, do present some interesting ideas. Using both blackened and clean vocals (needing more work), as well as plenty of synth, their sound is varied... for a 13 minute long demo, that is. The other main problem seems to have been caused by the studio conditions they had (or didn't have) to record this demo. Being a two-piece metal band should demand more studio work than the usual; I don't think they had such conditions, and it shows in the music. Nevertheless, they try to get their musical ideas across, and do manage to create some good moments, mostly in the first couple of tracks; shame about the production. This demo is also available on CD, even though I received it on tape, but most of the problems in their sound don't seem to come from there. I'd like to hear more from this band, but with suitable studio conditions and more time to perfect things. Contact: Oyvind Sundstrom, Damstien 15, N-2200 Kongsvinger, Norway mailto:eriks@east.no Raggedy Aneurysm - _Milk_ (7-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (***--) This is really well done weird shit. With song titles like "Hatemouth", "Ext. #666" or "My God Can Kill Your God", you might wonder where this 7-song demo is going, right? Me too. And I'm still wondering. With a definite sound/style reminiscent of Tool / Marilyn Manson / Psychotica (samples, distorted vocals, weird ambiance, etc.), Raggedy Aneurysm do the job here and do it very well. This is freak music for the underground, so come on in and enjoy. Not sure if this is up to par with what most CoC readers would scope out, but those that do will enjoy the fucked-up barrage of material here. Interesting, to say the least. Contact: Marquee Management Inc., 274 Madison Ave. Suite 300, New York, NY, 10016, USA Suicide Culture - _Suicide Culture_ (3-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (***--) After a couple of listens, this three-song demo really grows on you. Strong grooves and hard-hitting vocals line the work of Suicide Culture, a Slayer-influenced band coated with a very modern feel to what they do. The thing that stands out most from this outing by Suicide Culture -- other than the impressive guitar work -- are the vocals: ample and heavy, they suit the music so well with a real flare of clarity and powerful expression and guide the heavy overtones of what the band plays. I'd like to hear more from this band, as most three-song demos really lack any real expression of what bands can do on a grander scale. Standout track here: "Mothercursedearth." Contact: Suicide Culture, 3847 24th Ave., Seattle, WA 98199, USA Voice: (206) 286-7861 Tendonitis - (13-track demo) by: Aaron McKay (***--) A good friend of mine gave me a copy of this demo at the Milwaukee Metal Fest this year. After more than just a few spins in the disc player, I'm really glad he did. Tendonitis describes themselves as "grindpukedeathfastheavyfasterheaviergrindingbrutalpoundingabusiveins trumentalgrindcorebeef". I think that covers all the damn bases, gentlemen. The key to this whole potpourri hodgepodge is intense instrumental musicianship. No vocals to attract one's attention elsewhere from the bludgeoning that one subjects themselves to when whipping out Tendonitis for a listen. Excellent form and execution. Clear separation among the three members of this Canadian powerhouse. The bass, on occasion, pounds through as to completely envelop the meticulous guitar playing and savage drumming that moves Tendonitis in aggressive circles. Thirteen tracks hovering at about the two minute mark, making easy to swallow caplets of hostility for just under twenty-six minutes. Never boring or uninteresting, but this demo doesn't exactly warrant unlimited listens back to back either. However, once a day would be enough to satisfy a metal fix for more than a couple hours. Another notable point of curiosity is the numbering of the songs listed on the disc: song one is entitled "Fifteen", song two is called "Fourteen", song three is dubbed "Twosix", and so on. Just another example of the intrigue of Tendonitis. Contact: Tendonitis, P.O. Box 91735, West Vancouver BC, V7V 4S1, Canada Thornspawn - _Consecration of Evil Flesh_ (6 track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (**---) OK, let's not beat about the bush. This is just about all you'd expect from the title and band name. Black metal in the vein of such artists as Marduk and Dark Funeral. Mostly fast black metal riffs accompanied by continuous blast beats. However, this is actually very well produced, especially for a demo band. It contains the usual fare of offensive blasphemous lyrics ("Licking the Virgin Mary's Cunt" being a notable song title with accompanying offensive lyricism) and corpsepainted participants with ridiculous pseudonyms ("Swornghoul -- Infernal Archgoat of Blood War"). Though the songwriting is far from innovative, there are worse bands in the underground and less inventive ones. Thornspawn are brutal and at present this is their most impressive asset. Contact: Blackthorn, 1001 Boiling Brook, S.A. Tx 78245, USA =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ____ __ __ /\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __ \ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___ \ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\ \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/ \ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/ ____ __ /\ _`\ /\ \__ \ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____ \ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\ \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\ \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/ \/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/ T H E T W E L F T H H O U R H A S S T R U C K ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Attends The Milwaukee Metalfest XII at the Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI, July 24th and 25th 1998 by: Paul Schwarz, Adam Wasylyk and Adrian Bromley Paul's Proclamation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two days of metal mayhem have now passed. But man, was it fun while it lasted. Here's my angle on what those two days, and numerous bands, brought. This year's Metalfest boasted three stages which more or less worked out, except for the fact that the Rave stage was increasingly late on both days, making running around to check who was presently on a bonafide necessity. Friday: ~~~~~~~ Friday began at 4 p.m., and, after checking out, and purchasing at, the excellent CD mart downstairs, the first band I caught was Deaf American signees Burn the Priest. This was a searing assault which I can vaguely describe as a mixture of grinding death metal and sludgecore. It was cool sound to behold but not a captivatingly varied set of material. Next I saw Ember hit the Rave stage at around 5:40. Their set was well executed and their music damn cool black metal with quite a bit of Celtic Frost and very little Immortal. I got their demo as a result, so there's proof I was impressed, and, judging by the crowd at the end of the set, I wasn't the only one. I caught the last half of The Chasm's set and their impressive live prescence coupled with their skillfully constructed death/doom songs impressed me. I would suggest checking their second album out, it's on Oz productions. Completing this double bill of classy Mexican bands was Cenotaph, whose Gothenburg tinged _Epic Rites_ album I own and love. Starting with that album's crushing opener "Crying Frost", Cenotaph totally decimated their audience with classy musicianship and excellent songs. Their set drew from both _Epic Rites_ and their _Riding Across Black Oceans_ debut. Cenotaph proved to be one of the Metalfest's highlights for me. Back to the Rave bar for Today Is the Day and an incredible live performance. Although my experience of their recorded material is scant, to say the least, TItD's live set is not at all dependent on the listener having heard them before. While the drummer and keyboardist perform perfectly well live, it is TItD's vocalist/guitarist who is the visual focal point for the live show. Moving as erratically and captivatingly as a rabid animal and frequently swallowing the microphone to create interesting vocal touches, he was mesmerizing. Couple his performance with the band's killer sound and you have one of the best performances of this year's Metalfest. Impaled Nazarene made their North American debut on the Rave stage and I was there to see it. Though in all honesty Impaled Nazarene are not a band I am too familiar with, I still feel their sound and live presence could have been more imposing. After hearing "1999: Karmageddon Warrior's", I left the late running Rave stage for my first trip to the Ballroom and my first live experience ever of Suffocation. Despite being short, at only five songs (25 minutes), Suffocation's set was 110 percent of crushing and brilliant brutal death metal. Playing three of the four new songs from _Despise the Sun_, the awesome "Funeral Inception" acting as their opener, "Liege of Inveracity" and "Pierced From Within", Suffocation chose well for the time allotted to them. The sound was good and did both old and new material justice. The major down note was that Frank Mullin confirmed rumours that the band were in turmoil, saying "this might be the last time you see Suffocation live." Though he seemed to regret saying it as much as the audience regretted hearing it, we can only hope that things work out. To lose Suffocation now, when they have just blasted back with some of their best material, would be bad enough, but now that I have witnessed them live I can add that we would also lose one of brutal death's best live performers. Crushing, in both senses. As I make it back to the Rave stage to await Angel Corpse's arrival, I am met with cows' heads on spikes. That is definitely not Angel Corpse's stage set up. I find out, to my dismay, that Angel Corpse will not be playing due to a van breakdown. So I wait for Mayhem. After some time, and a short intro, the new Mayhem (as opposed to the true Mayhem) take the stage. Though receiving a big, universal thumbs up from other attending CoC staff, I was not too excited by Mayhem's set. Maybe this is because I was disappointed at Angel Corpse's non-appearance, but one way or the other, despite the decent sound and Hellhammer's truly phenomenal drum performance, Mayhem's near 40 minute set did not leave a deep impression on me. Cannibal Corpse were also canceled (Angel Corpse's drummer was on their bus). Immolation (who had to mix their new album -- I hope it is a good one) met the same fate. Though rather disheartened by these cancellations, I headed back to the Ballroom for Death's performance. Due to the total slamming of Death's performance at Dynamo by Terrorizer ("If we had wanted to see Fates Warning, we would have gone yesterday"), I went with trepidation and arrived just as the first song finished. Despite a set which included some of _Symbolic_'s best moments and "Lack of Comprehension", my favourite Death song, I was not wholly pleased by Death's performance. Though they seemed to be playing okay, Chuck's vocals were inaudible and lacked any power. Whether this was the mix or his voice will remain to be seen in future live shows. The overall sound mix, with that death metal curse of a totally over-cranked snare drum, made the performance very unsatisfying. I would expect Death to be able to get a mix good enough to do themselves justice, since Suffocation managed it, and so I am undecided whether it was Death or "the PA" that let me down tonight. All that I know is that it was definitely one of them. Irritated as I was, I left shortly before Death finished up and caught the end of Usurper's set. Their armoured appearance and viciously raw sound immediately told me that I should have stayed for their set and waited to see Death on their next tour. I heard they played "Necrocult (The Metal War)" and kicked myself for missing it. I decided, despite my dislike of their new album _Something Wicked This Way Comes_, to check out Iced Earth, who hit the Rave bar shortly before midnight. Despite looking very metal and having a chunky sound, I wasn't captivated enough to risk missing a second of Mercyful Fate, and so I proceeded to hit the Ballroom for the last time that evening. After waiting in anticipation for a short time, Mercyful Fate's intro began. This ran for a minute or two before the band burst onto the stage and began "The Oath". Their sound was nicely mixed and brought out the melodic subtleties of both Hank Sherman's guitar passages and King Diamond's impressive vocals. It also gave a great big crunch to the drums and low power chords. It thus captured the whole of the "Mercyful Fate Sound". Classics from 1984's _Don't Break the Oath_ such as "Desecration of Souls" and "Come to the Sabbath" were aired, although only a few songs from _Melissa_ got a look in (though this did include the record's epic title track). Strangely enough, Mercyful Fate chose to compose around half their set of songs from more recent albums such as _In the Shadows_ and the recently released _Dead Again_. Though I thought the band would opt to air more of the material which is considered truly classic, the audience, including myself, did not hold Fate's decision against them and Fate were as good as forced back on for not one, but two, encores. King Diamond seemed surprised and also very happy at the response they received and thanked and praised his audience to a similar degree that their cheers and reaction praised him and Mercyful Fate. Though the Ballroom was emptier for Fate than it had been even for Suffocation, what the crowd lacked in numbers they easily made up for in persistence and devotion to their idols. A classic band and a great show to end Friday night with. Saturday: ~~~~~~~~~ Before relating Saturday's musical treats I want to devote two lines to mentioning the fact that some good but unknown bands (e.g., Jaww) got useless 20 minute sets at times such as 11:50 a.m.. Since virtually no one arrives the second day to a non-camping festival this early, I suggest the organizers avoid giving any bands sets at these sorts of times in the future, especially if they are only appearing on a pay-to-play basis. We arrived at just before 3:00 pm. Luckily for us, Solus started late (at 3:00 pm), so we saw all of their set. Having already witnessed their searing live assault in Toronto, I was anticipating a good performance. I was not disappointed. Once again, Solus delivered the goods, and I think left many of the audience as total converts to their cause. If the quality of Solus' songs on their new album is as consistent as it is on their three song EP, then I suggest watching out for it. Played live, these songs sound as good as they do on disc, and live you are also treated to lead singer Will's manic and energetic stage antics, which today included a dive from stage into a virtually unmoving crowd, a quick solo mosh and a speedy return to the stage to finish the song. Excellent musicianship and more than just comparable showmanship. Next on the Rave stage, we were treated to Darkmoon. Though amply performed and written death/black was what I heard, I was not interested enough to persist 'till the end of their set. After a look downstairs, I came back to catch the end of Death of Millions' 20 minutes. Though I laughed at the singer's habit clad appearance, it was at least a vaguely original piece of stage apparel. What impressed more than their unoriginal death metal was their last song. Introduced by the singer as "everyone should know this one", I assumed he was addressing his home crowd and that we were to be treated to a local live favorite. Instead, as I was informed later (not being a fan), the band played a Twisted Sister cover which, I must admit, though not maintaining the vocal style of the original, was surprisingly good. Catching a few of the last minutes of Travail, I found them quite good, certainly better than I expected for a name unknown to me. Their blend of death and hardcore sounded cool, though not astounding. I wouldn't mind checking them out on record sometime. At around 5:30, I wandered into the Rave stage room expecting to catch a few minutes of the Death Kids (who were supposed to have Grimoire Girl #9 "dancing" for them), and instead caught the beginning of their set. The Rave was actually surprisingly full, considering the quality of this band's actual music. I personally put the large numbers, and in fact the band's billing (above Solus?) down to: good promotion, the appearance of a half naked woman and the novelty of the drummer and guitarist/vocalist's ages. After a song or two of waiting to see the "dancer", I was bored with the simple heavily Deicide-influenced dirge and was off to the downstairs again. When I returned, she was in full swing. Though amusing, her appearance exemplifies what is wrong with the Death Kids: they are cheap attention grabbers who intend to stay in the spotlight as long as they can hog it. They should -all- grow up. I was going to check out Mortician, but the Rave bar was full to the rafters, so I decided against it. Instead, I bided my time outside until The Dillinger Escape Plan took the stage. Despite some technical problems which held them up, TDEP were not disappointing. TDEP fit the profile of a few too many of Relapse's signings at present in being mindnumbingly extreme and very much influenced by grindcore and bits of hardcore. Despite fitting a profile which is beginning to lose its impact due to oversaturation, TDEP were impressive and enjoyable, though I was not hungry for any more after their 30 minute set. Benumb's music seemed better crafted but too similar to TDEP to give them the impact they needed. Although I would have liked to see all their set, I had to leave for Crowbar and it must be said I could have been more unhappy to go. Crowbar are a band I have not seen live in over two years. Their cancellation of last year's planned UK tour due to illness was a disappointment to me and so I was consequently expecting a lot out of their Metalfest performance. I was evidently expecting more than the sound system or set length could deliver. Although the band seemed to be playing pretty well, the sound system was not giving us the best impression of this. Add to this the fact that Crowbar didn't play "All I Had I Gave" or "Existence Is Punishment" and that they were playing in the oversized Ballroom and you have a disappointing set. The high point came right at the end. Crowbar played "The Dawn of Megiddo" to compensate for Celtic Frost's non-appearance (early rumours said they would reform for the Metalfest). Using Soilent Green's vocalist, Crowbar pulled this off with more than just credibility. It was great to hear that Frost song live; it is a pity it overshadowed the rest of the band's set of original material. Considering the crush for Mortician, and the fact that I saw them in Toronto, I opted out of seeing Brutal Truth but hit the Rave bar for Pyrexia's set. Pyrexia were pretty good. Although they will never surpass their big brothers Suffocation, Pyrexia's New York death is damn brutal and in parts pretty damn good. The band were so tight while playing songs such as "Hatred, Anger, Disgust", "Confrontation" and "System of the Animal" that I don't think even the most picky could complain about their playing. Vocalist Keith DeVito was especially brutal and vicious in his delivery. If Pyrexia have one problem, it is that their material is not the most compelling of the NY brutal death crowd, but all the same their set was good and served as a nice warm-up for Cryptopsy who were due to appear on the Rave stage soon after. I caught the end of (who I found out was) Fall on the Rave stage and realized this meant I would have to wait for Cryptopsy. Instead of watching Gorgasm, I decided that I would have another scout around. Just as Cryptopsy were taking the stage (the Rave stage now being 45 minutes late), other CoC-ers returned from seeing Meshuggah on the Ballroom stage. They said it was good; I regretted missing it. Still, Cryptopsy were here. Beginning with "Phobophile", the band showcased an average sound but incredible musicianship. It was evident that whatever the sound system was giving us, Cryptopsy were playing it all. While the set comprised classics such as "Defenstration", "Crown of Horns" and "Slit Your Guts" along with new track "White Worms", the sound didn't do the intensely technical material favours, and so, while Cryptopsy were good, they were not as phenomenal as I had hoped and as they apparently have been. I await a full tour. The end of Six Feet Under in the Ballroom had a better sound than most bands that day had achieved, but I wouldn't really call their set anything to write home about. Not being familiar with new material or favorable to their old didn't help. If yesterday's most anticipated band was "Norweigan black metal legends" Mayhem, then today's was "Norweigen black metal legends" Emperor. However, whereas many felt that yesterday Mayhem lived up to that reputation, I think few would deny that Emperor were a disappointment however you look at it. Firstly, they had no keyboards. Why? Because the rig couldn't handle it. This was a problem which succeeded in bringing any set Emperor could have done down because of the centrality of keyboards in their sound. The sound was overall, as was the Ballroom's tendency, also disappointingly tinny. Combine this with the fact that Emperor did not play outstandingly enough to allow us to overlook these problems and you have a set which would be disappointing from most good bands. From a band this legendary, making their debut in North America, it was more than just disappointing: it was disheartening. Gorguts, as we found out when the lineup sheets were issued yesterday, were canceled for reasons unknown to me. I hope the reasons were good. The Ballroom's next attraction was German thrashers Sodom. Strangely enough, this legendary thrash band are making their debut in North America tonight. Despite the fact that Sodom have been around about twice the time Emperor have, their set was not disappointing. Though the Sodom sound could have been a bit crisper, it still captured their simple, all-out thrash attack very adequately and gave them the tools they needed to seriously impress. Sodom were not disappointing, despite slight imperfections, because their attraction -is- their expertise in producing and cranking out excellent raw-power thrash tunes. A raw sound doesn't hurt them like it hurts an atmospheric and technical band such as Emperor. When Sodom cranked out classics like "Blasphemer", "Ausgebombt" and "Outbreak of Evil", their live prescence, musicianship and songwriting abilities came together to form one huge unstoppable monster. The pity is that their set, even with encore, still clocked in at under an hour. But there was still Destruction left... Destruction sucked. There is no denying this fact; they sucked. There was apparently one original member present and, whoever he was, he sure wasn't the vocalist. The guy sounded nothing like Schmier and his style sucked. They played later Destruction material mostly -- that sucked. They played a wholly new song -- that sucked. They played nothing from _Infernal Overkill_ -- that sucked. They played about two songs from their truly old material; they played them badly and even though the audience cheered for an encore, obviously hoping for something old, they refused to come back on -- that sucked. I really can't see how Metalfest could have come to a worse conclusion. Why couldn't Sodom have played twice as long and Destruction have canceled? Adam's Assessment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Good: ~~~~~~~~~ Most bands scheduled to play -actually- played. The quality of bands has improved year after year, and 1998 was no exception. This year (thankfully) held more grindcore or grindcore-related bands like Benumb, Brutal Truth, Soilent Green and Flesh Parade, so hopefully this trend will continue in years to come. Norwegian black metal made its presence felt, via Mayhem (climaxing with "Freezing Moon") and Emperor (culminating with "I am the Black Wizards"). Sweden's Meshuggah ending their set with "Transfixion". Powerful North American death metal bands like Cryptopsy and Dying Fetus totally crushed; I look forward to seeing them again soon. Last, but certainly not least; hanging in the hotel room while drinkin', smokin' and talking metal! The Bad: ~~~~~~~~ Emperor played without a keyboardist -and- for only 25 minutes -- what a fucking rip-off! Mayhem had the cow heads on stage, but why no self-mutilation by the vocalist? Dawn canceled for some reason. Angel Corpse were unable to play because of a broken tour bus, but luckily played Toronto without problems a couple of days later. Impaled Nazarene (guys, don't drink yourself stupid -before- your play). Vocalist Frank Mullen announced that Suffocation are breaking up, a true loss for death metal. The Plain Ugly: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The bad sound -- when will this be fixed or compensated for? Mercyful Fate (what the fuck was that!!??!!). A third stage was added this year, meaning I was able to miss even more bands than in prior years. Three dollar pizza that tasted like shit. Border guards still suck. Individuals that will remain nameless who bump your shoulder during a particular band's set and ask, "What do you think??". Adrian's Addendum ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Plus Points (+'s): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meshuggah, Today Is the Day, Cryptopsy, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Iced Earth playing in a small club, Denny's, interviewing Death, good pot, Ember, buying lotsa CDs, purchasing mega bottle of Gin, nice comfortable ride in min-van. Negative Points (-'s): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Punched in chest (thanks Insaniak!), Nick Cave worshipping (thanks Chris!), strip club "Features" stories (thanks again Chris!), border staff, Gorguts not showing up to play, long drive home, didn't eat at Bob Evans' restaurant, Gino wasn't there. Alain's Brief MMF Briefing ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thumbs up (in order): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today Is the Day (mind altering; Col. Austin, I salute you!). Suffocation (hugest pit of the show! Their last?). Soilent Green (love these guys, flawless set). Death (sound blew, but Chuck's still got it). Meshuggah (intense, fairly tight; band seemed elated). Mayhem (no bloodshed, though good presence). Sodom (kicked my ass, they still rock). Shango (NY mobster metal is cool). Emperor (musicianship high; Black Wizard alone...). Thumbs down (in order): ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Destruction (headliners? without Schmier? ridiculous!). Emperor (no keys, unconvincing presence, no keys... no keys!). Immolation (for not showing, major disappointment). Gorguts (for not showing). Angel Corpse (ditto). Dominion (for not being the euro-Dominion, as anticipated). Paradox (for not being the euro-Paradox, as hoped). Impaled Nazarene (for not living up to expectations). Six Feet Under (for being a yawn while waiting for Emperor). =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TRUE BRUTALITY UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brutal Truth, Kataklysm, Solus and The Swarm at the El Mocambo, Toronto, Ontario, July 20, 1998 by: Paul Schwarz At last my time came to experience Brutal Truth live -- and what an experience it was --, but before I go into that any further, a run down of the other bands who accompanied the masters of grind. I caught about half of local band The Swarm. They were a hardcore/grind/ death crossover similar in sound to Neurosis but less prolonged and atmospheric and with a more traditional song structured approach leaning toward hardcore. They sounded pretty good and possessed a particularly vitriolic live prescence. All members played well and were good to watch on stage, but, as is the fashion, and often the very nature, with such vitriolic live groups, the singer was very much the focus. He rambled between songs and during them went vocally ballistic and physically manic -- at one point even running off the stage and into the crowd. If the band could concentrate this much rage and violence onto disc they could be going somewhere in the future. Solus came on next. Having checked out their new EP, which follows on in style from where their impressive _Slave of Mind_ debut left off, I can say that on disc Solus are moving to greener pastures. They reproduce their new and old material well live and are dealt a decent hand with the sound to help them along. If the band seem to lack anything this evening it is crowd movement, which was lacking in The Swarm's set also; maybe it is the Monday night crowd or maybe it is the fact that no-one in the band but Will seems to move a muscle which is not used to play their instrument. Whichever it is, a little of Solus' impact is lost through the sound and music being the only vicious thing on display. I can't wait for the new album, though. Kataklysm are back in town with a new album and a new vocalist to showcase. Not having heard the band either live or on record, apart from owning their first 7", I can't really tell you how they reproduced their material, but I can say that I was impressed by both their musicianship and stage prescence. The band sounded cool and some of their new material, though markedly simpler than some of the older compositions, came out well live. The band weren't captivating in the sense that their set didn't fly by, but they were a good band to see all the same. So now it is time, time for the Brutal Truth. You'd think, with as much anticipation as I am displaying even in this review, that Brutal Truth would have trouble living up to my high expectations. Well, actually, I bet you were only thinking that if you've never seen this band live. Sufficed to say Brutal Truth totally blew me away. Brutal Truth played a varied set which included many tracks from the monumental new album _Sounds of the Animal Kingdom_, alongside such classic as "Godplayer" from _Need to Control_ and "Birth of Ignorance", among others, from their legendary debut. The songs didn't matter, however, as much as the feeling. Brutal Truth capture the raw, living essence of grindcore and everything that is good about it. Songs like "Fisting" have the hyper rhythms along with the groove and innovation which makes Brutal Truth the justified kings of grind today. The participants in this whirlwind of genius should be well known to any lover of extreme music and well loved for their performances on disc and performances like this live, despite being held up for eight hours at Canadian customs and braving heavy traffic on the road from Montreal without drugs. An astounding and virtually unstoppable live performance. Do not headline above this band: it is (Kill Trend) suicide. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M E G A L O M A N I A C A L M O N S T E R S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Monster Magnet in Concert at The Opera House July 17th, 1998 in Toronto, Ontario by: Adrian Bromley This had the making of a great show. I was a longtime fan of the band, our CoC writer Paul Schwarz had just flown in from England for a few months stay in Toronto (plus trekking to Milwaukee Metalfest with us) and Monster Magnet had a wicked new LP called _Powertrip_ just out. What more could a concert goer want going into a show, I ask you? Despite some mediocre opening acts, New Jersey acid dropping, pot smokin' noisemongers Monster Magnet took the stage and for the next 75 minutes fans were treated to a blistering assault of hypnotizing guitar riffs and powerful expressions of chaotic frenzy. Singer/guitarist/mastermind Dave Wyndorf was in fine form tonight for this sold-out show, pouncing around on stage, guitar strapped to his back, leading the anxious crowd through chorus after chorus of Monster Magnet material. The fans loved it. The good thing about this show was that, unlike past Magnet shows, the band had an extra guitar player on stage this time, allowing Wyndorf to work the crowd. Was great to see him losing it on stage as the band played such classics as "Spine of God" and "Twin Earth" and good to see such new numbers as "Tractor", "Temple of Your Dreams" and first single "Space Lord" sounding really good and raw. Even numbers off of the popular _Dopes to Infinity_ LP (i.e., "Negasonic Teenage Warhead") sounded strong and un-slick. The only thing that really, really sucked about the show was the size of the crowd. This was too packed, and as some know of the Opera House in Toronto, it has bad sight lines if you don't get a good spot early on. Other than that, Monster Magnet ruled as was anticipated. This was the fifth time I have seen Monster Magnet, second time headlining, and I am so pleased that the band has done well for themselves over the last few years, just proving my point that good bands who stick it out for the long haul always get rewarded in the end. Short live review here, eh? Yeah. But the show rocked. Need I say more? Fans of the band, go see them live this tour. You won't be disappointed. Note: Rumor has it, this could be a tour this Fall: Fear Factory and Monster Magnet with Nashville Pussy and Rob Zombie. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M I L W A U K E E , E A T Y O U R H E A R T O U T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Attends the London International Death Fest at The Embassy in London, Ontario on Tuesday July 28, 1998 With Withered Earth, Necronomicon, Deeds of Flesh and Dying Fetus by: Adam Wasylyk Ah, London Ontario. A place that Toronto metal fans could venture into to see extreme metal that their city couldn't offer. However, those days are now over since Toronto's metal scene is as strong or perhaps moreso than London's. But London still has some great shows, one of them being the annual London Death Fest. With some cunning words and many false assurances, a ride there and back was secured. Onward, ho! Three hours later, we arrive as the first band are just starting their set. New York's Withered Earth boast a death metal sound, sounding tight albeit predictable. But damn if I can remember one tune or memorable moment. The crowd response was almost nil, as there was hardly a crowd to speak of. Most would arrive later to see the bigger acts on the bill. Montreal's Necronomicon proves that Quebec is still producing some of the best metal bands in North America. Labeling themselves "occult metal", it's an apt description, as it fuses together some clever guitaring and interesting song arrangements. Yes, this is death metal, but it's a lot more than just that. Thumbs up go to the drummer for his psychotic drumming, but what's up with that drum stick twirling? Yikes! Also, the guitaring deserves an extra mention on two fronts. The Morbid Angel-isms and technical flair were appreciated, but a second live guitarist is sorely needed to fill in some of the holes in Necronomicon's live sound. Necronomicon already have a strong foundation; should they successfully build on it, then they'll receive the recognition they deserve. Readers of CoC may know Summertime Daisies from either their appearance at last years' Milwaukee Metal Fest or from their coverage in prior issues (mostly in the form of live reviews). London death metal fans really came out to support the lone London band on the bill, and they showed their appreciation accordingly. To tell the truth, I've really given up on this band, as I thought Summertime did some great work on their first demo but have failed to live up to the potential they've demonstrated. The more the band played on the more interesting the Blue Jay game on a TV behind the bar became. Deeds of Flesh played next to a noticeably smaller crowd as many of the Summertime supporters scattered or gathered at the bar near the back of the venue. I'll admit they were both technical and at times brutal, but so what? No memorability whatsoever. Playing songs off each of their CDs on Repulse Records (_Trading Pieces_ and _Inbreeding The Anthropophagi_), neither I nor most of the crowd got into their sound. Time to check to see what's happening with the Blue Jays... Closing out the night were the headliners Dying Fetus, who not only demonstrated how to play both brutal and -memorable- death metal, but were tight as a ten-year-old to boot. Not only were tracks like "Blunt Force Trauma", "Skull Fucked", "Raped On The Altar" and the mighty "Nocturnal Crucifixion" played from the bands' infamous _Putrification Through Violence_ CD, but also a few new tracks from _Killing Adrenaline_ (just released on Morbid Records) were played, such as the title track and "Kill Your Mother / Rape Your Dog" (gotta love that title!). This is a live band that must be seen to be believed. Incidentally, the Blue Jays won. Happiness is me. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A M E E T I N G O F D E I T I E S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Blood of Christ and Morbid Angel at the El Mocambo in Toronto, Canada, on July 3, 1998 by: Adam Wasylyk This show could have spelled doom from the very start. Most of the crowd found out inside the venue that both Vader and Incantation were stopped at the Canadian border and wouldn't be playing. The crowd booed when the announcement was made by one of the earlier bands on the bill (whose name escapes me), and rightfully so, since both bands have not only recorded a lot of great material in the past, but are also formidable live acts. It would take some great music to make up for the loss of the aforementioned bands, and the final two acts were up for the challenge. London's Blood of Christ were totally amazing, to say the least. A death/black quartet formerly on Pulverizer Records (who I hear has gone belly-up), the band put on an energetic set consisting mostly of material off the bands' debut CD _... A Dream to Remember_. Most worthy of note was the drumming, which held two levels of intensity; blast beat and hyperblast (ala Kataklysm or Cryptopsy). I tells ya, when Blood of Christ find a suitable label, they'll become as noteworthy as the aforementioned Canadian bands in the death metal scene. Morbid Angel's set was without prejudice the -best- set I've ever seen a band play in my life. Even better than when the band last came to Toronto with Grip Inc. a few years ago. New vocalist/bassist Steve Tucker fit perfectly into the live situation, doing both new and old material almost flawlessly. Trey Azagthoth was a wonder to watch, his guitar wizardry a sight to behold. Pete Sandoval did a great job behind the drum kit, hitting peak speed during the first blast beat in "Day of Suffering". Morbid Angel played a set list that touched on every album except _Domination_ (which wasn't surprising, since Azagthoth had told me himself he didn't care for that album), playing older songs like "Lord of All Fevers and Plague", "Rapture", "Blood on My Hands" and "World of Shit (The Promised Land)". The bulk of live material came from MA's newest opus _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_ -- tracks like "Heaving Earth", "Prayer of Hatred", "Bil Ur-Sag", "Nothing Is Not", "Covenant of Death", "Hellspawn: The Rebirth" and "Invocation of the Continual One". "Chapel of Ghouls" ended it off, which in my opinion is one of the best death metal songs ever written. What a spectacle to behold; it truly was the most exciting hour of live music I have yet to experience. An unforgettable show, Morbid Angel (with the help of Blood of Christ) made this show one for the books, a momentous occasion that should go down as Toronto's best metal show of the year. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M A D M A X L I V E S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Soulfly with Cold at Batschkapp in Frankfurt, Germany on June 2, 1998 by: Matthias Noll These days I don't look forward going to shows that feature more than two bands. Of course "value for money" has its appeal, but it seems that it's more often "quantity for money", which is a completely different thing. Fortunately, at least for me and some of my friends who share my opinion, Limp Bizkits, who were announced as one of the bands in tonight's package, jumped off the tour for unknown reasons. No offense toward LB fans intended here. At 2100, Cold entered the stage and played for about 50 minutes. The band was unknown to me and their dark melancholic style, in my opinion, left a lot to be desired. Reminding me sometimes of a lightweight version of Tool mixed with bits and pieces of Killing Joke, their song material sounded rather samey and, due to a lack of good and crunching riffs, failed to rock most of the time. On the other hand, the melancholy and emotion in their songs failed to impress, as there were no real climaxes but a constant whining feel that made me start to yawn halfway through the set. The crowd reacted in a friendly manner, applauding after each song, but in general stayed rather calm. A long break followed, during which the audience grew more and more impatient. Members of the crew appeared on stage over and over again to check one more time if the towels were in the right place and other important stuff. As the crowd grew more impatient by the minute, a lot of yelling and cursing took place until finally the lights went down and tonight's headliner took the stage. Soulfly's opener "Eye for an Eye" blasted through the PA. The guitar sound hit the audience as if made of concrete, the tribal style drums, a monstrous bass, Max's growling vocals, everything received the right attention in the mix, blending into a crunching wall of sound that made the crowd bang and jump like crazy from the front row to the back of the venue. Guitarist Logan Mader, with a new hairstyle that made his head look like some kind of exotic vegetable, jumped up and down, his guitar providing Soulfly with an improved metallic edge. More songs from the Soulfly debut followed with the excitement and energy from both band and audience constantly keeping its high level. As expected, some Sepultura goodies were offered during the show: a medley of "Beneath the Remains" and "Dead Embryonic Cells". Later in the set, "Roots", "Spit" and "Straight Hate" brought back memories of Brazil's finest band. While the downtuned guitar sound failed to provide the lightning fast "Beneath the Remains" with enough power, the newer Sepultura stuff sounded absolutely killer. Too bad the band played none of the Nailbomb covers I had expected. The Gloria and Max vs. Sepultura bullshit that fuels the daily soap opera on several Soulfly and Sepultura websites luckily didn't play a role that night and Mr. Cavalera never mentioned the split and its circumstances throughout the set. With the constant banging, slamming and stage diving that took place in the Batschkapp (an old bomb shelter from WW2, by the way) the place reached temperatures that came close to being unbearable. Therefore, Max was constantly showering the front rows and himself with water. After about 55 minutes, the show reached a climax with "No" and right after that was already over. Having paid quite some bucks for the ticket, I should have left disappointed, but the quality of the Soulfly show was truly compensating for that. If this band manages to keep a high quality level with its future releases, I'll come back to see them anyplace anytime. Let's wait to hear what Sepultura have to offer with _Against_. Hopefully we'll experience two fantastic bands emerging from the split. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= C D R E L E A S E B O N A N Z A ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bughouse, Lifebleed, Inertia, and Lethargy at the Water Street Music Hall in Rochester, New York Friday, July 24, 1998 by: Brian Meloon If you were stuck in upstate New York on the first day of the Milwaukee Metalfest, with no way to traverse the thousand miles to Milwaukee, what would you have done? Well, you could've gone to this show. It was a CD release party for Inertia and Lifebleed, both of whom were releasing their debut albums. I was previously familiar with the first three bands from their songs on the Watchmen studios compilation [see CoC #27], but for two of them, those first impressions were misleading. The doors opened at 9, and Bughouse went on at 9:30. They played for more than half an hour. Their music is a mix of alternative/modern rock (Pearl Jam, et al) and heavy hardcore. It was diverse -- and that's good --, but it didn't seem to quite make sense. Their performance was enthusiastic, but the crowd didn't seem to really get it either. Lifebleed was up next, and played for about an hour. They are a straightforward hardcore band, with a twist here and there, but much more straightforward than I was expecting. They played with a lot of energy, and were entertaining. Despite their youthful appearances, their music was very well played, and pretty mature. The crowd was rather subdued, but came alive in a few sections. Mostly people sat around watching, though. Inertia came on next, and they also played for about an hour. The first half of their set was excellent, but the second half dragged on too long. They play technical death metal, along the lines of Deeds of Flesh: very rhythmically based, with little or no melody. The playing was very tight and aggressive, but the songs didn't really have enough diversity to keep from sounding the same after a while. After peaking at around 150, the crowd started to thin towards the end of their set, as I'm sure some people got as bored with them as I did. A number of people were escorted out as well, as a handful of fights broke out about three-quarters of the way through their set. Other than that incident, the crowd really didn't react much to them, as their music is too technical to really get into. I was suitably impressed by their performance, but could've done for a few less songs. Lethargy went on a little after 1:00. They played six songs: one from _It's Hard to Write With a Little Hand_ [CoC #14], one from the Watchmen studios compilation [CoC #27], and four new songs. The new songs were less noodly and more hardcore than their older songs, a fact which seemed to encourage the fans who stuck around until the end. The playing was precise as always, but their performance was less than enthusiastic. Unfortunately, their sound wasn't mixed right: the bass and snare drums were way too high, drowning out the other drums and the guitars and bass. In addition, one of the guitars cut out during the last song, and the band kind of fell apart and stopped playing. And so the show ended. Most people in the crowd seemed confused as to why they would play only six songs, and give it such a lackluster effort. In any case, it was a successful outing for the two bands whose CDs were released that evening: Lifebleed and Inertia. Both put on impressive shows, and should be around for some time. On the other hand, the future for Lethargy seems less sure. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= P O R T U G U E S E R A D I A T I O N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Buried Alive, Lacrima, The Royal Blood and Imortalis at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal July 25, 1998 by: Pedro Azevedo Those who organized this concert aimed at promoting the _High Radiation 4_ compilation [reviewed in this issue], as all four bands who played in this release party are featured there. The bands, all from northern Portugal, obviously aimed at promoting themselves through their performance. However, things could have been better, considering the problems most bands suffered. The first band to play in front of a rather cold audience, most of which preferred to watch the concert from the balcony, was Imortalis, who presented some very standard thrash. They started very nervous and never really managed to impress me; the fact that they were playing without their lead guitarist probably didn't help much. Still, the three band members who did make it to the stage did their job for 25 minutes, but didn't exactly leave me in awe. Neither did The Royal Blood [whose demo tape I reviewed in CoC #30] with their 35 minute long performance, although their performance was more interesting than Imortalis'. The good sound quality provided for all the bands benefited them the most relative to their recorded material (considering their mediocre demo _Incantation of the Queen_ as well as their compilation track). With this much improved sound, The Royal Blood proved to be a competent band, although very unoriginal (too similar to Cradle of Filth). A poorly staged "vampyric" scene opened a performance that showed plenty of improvement since their demo (the drumming was quite good, for example). As a result, The Royal Blood did leave a far better impression than that caused by their _Incantation of the Queen_ demo. I was looking forward to the third band, Lacrima, whose first demo tape _Tears From the Inside_ sounded very promising; they have a new demo coming out now, and, not surprisingly, they seem to have left some of their melodic doom/death with male and female vocals behind in exchange for more gothic-oriented parts (judging by the new material they played live, since I haven't listened to their new demo yet), but that might only be true for some of the new songs. Nevertheless, disappointment was immediate as soon as they entered the stage, because their female vocalist couldn't be there, for some reason. Imagine, say, a Theatre of Tragedy concert without Liv Kristine... that's similar to the situation here, minus the keyboards (Lacrima don't use any). Their 30 minutes ended up being more of a mid-paced melodic death metal show, with some doom here and there and not much brutality as far as death metal is concerned. Opening with the fine "Show Me the Way" from their first demo (a song that's very good with female vocals), Lacrima still managed to produce an interesting show, which the deep growls and good drumming helped improve. By now, most people were probably wondering which member of Buried Alive would miss the show, but they all actually made it. More thrash, but better than Imortalis. Their set was much longer than any other (about 45 minutes), but they had technical problems with one of the guitars during the show. Good instrumentally, very powerful at times and just plain unremarkable some other times, Buried Alive tried their best to get the crowd moving, as there wasn't even a mosh pit by then; a dozen loyal followers responded to the call. Indeed, most people were in there just because the tickets weren't too expensive for a four band concert and the price included a free _High Radiation 4_ CD. A rather flawed and not very interesting concert, but it's not like good foreign bands come here every day (or every month, for that matter) anyway. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gino's Top 5 1. Absu - _Sun of Tiphareth_ 2. Monster Magnet - _Powertrip_ 3. Pitch Shifter - _Desensitized_ 4. Biohazard - _Urban Discipline_ 5. Beastie Boys - _Hello Nasty_ Adrian's Top 5 1. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_ 2. Sepultura - _Against_ 3. Korn - _Follow the Leader_ 4. Transport League - _Superevil_ 5. Pulkas - _Greed_ Brian's Top 5 1. Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_ 2. Various - _A Call to Irons: A Tribute to Iron Maiden_ 3. Morgul - _Parody of the Mass_ 4. Siebenburgen - _Grimjaur_ 5. Abigor - _Supreme Immortal Art_ Alain's Top 5 1. Gorguts - _Obscura_ 2. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_ 3. Genitorturers - _Sin City_ 4. Cryptopsy - _Blasphemy Made Flesh_ 5. Aldo Nova - _Subject_ Adam's Top 5 1. My Dying Bride - _Like Gods of the Sun_ 2. Osculum Infame - _Dor-Nu-Fauglith_ 3. Type O Negative - first two records 4. Dark Throne - _Transilvanian Hunger_ 5. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_ Pedro's Top 5 1. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_ 2. Primordial - _A Journey's End_ 3. At the Gates - _The Red in the Sky Is Ours_ 4. At the Gates - _Terminal Spirit Disease_ 5. Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_ Paul's Top 5 1. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_ 2. Manowar - _Into Glory Ride_ 3. Sepultura - _Against_ 4. Malevolent Creation - _Retribution_ 5. Hellhammer - _Apocalyptic Raids_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ __ __ __ | \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----. | -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --| |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____| 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 #33 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.