___ _ _ _ ___ | _>| |_ _ _ ___ ._ _ <_> ___ | | ___ ___ ___ | | ' | <__| . || '_>/ . \| ' || |/ | '| |/ ._><_-< / . \| |- `___/|_|_||_| \___/|_|_||_|\_|_.|_|\___./__/ \___/|_| ___ _ | _>| |_ ___ ___ ___ | <__| . |<_> |/ . \<_-< `___/|_|_|<___|\___//__/ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, July 7, 1999, Issue #41 http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Adam Wasylyk Contributor: Aaron McKay Contributor: David Rocher Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez Contributor: Alex Cantwell NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the 'Details' section at the end of this issue. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #41 Contents, 7/7/99 -------------------------- * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- Hypocrisy: The Hypocrite's Arising Realm -- Arch Enemy: Arched Bridges Beware -- Testament: A Testament to Longevity -- Immolation: Incinerating Yourself to Live -- Extol: Anointed for Burial -- Diabolic: Florida's Newest Blasphemy -- Mordecai: With Summer's Entrance, Frost Is Banished * Album Asylum -- Agalloch - _Pale Folklore_ -- Amsvartner - _Dreams_ -- Anathema - _Judgement_ -- Arch Enemy - _Burning Bridges_ -- Carpe Tenebrum - _Mirrored Hate Painting_ -- Dark Tranquillity - _Projector_ -- Dawn of Relic - _One Night in Carcosa_ -- Various - _Death... Is Just the Beginning 5_ -- Dreams of Sanity - _Masquerade_ -- Enthroned - _The Apocalypse Manifesto_ -- Eternal Tears of Sorrow - _Vilda Mannu_ -- Forgive Me Not - _Tearfall_ -- God Dethroned - _Bloody Blasphemy_ -- Godflesh - _Us and Them_ -- Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_ -- Immolation - _Failures for Gods_ -- Internal Bleeding - _Driven to Conquer_ -- Killer Khan - _Kill Devil Hills_ -- Konkhra - _The Freakshow EP_ -- Lacuna Coil - _In a Reverie_ -- Merauder - _Five Deadly Venoms_ -- Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - _The Key to the Gates of Apocalypses_ -- No Innocent Victim - _Flesh and Blood_ -- Obtained Enslavement - _Soulblight_ -- October Tide - _Grey Dawn_ -- Sadistik Exekution - _K.A.O.S._ -- Sinergy - _Beware the Heavens_ -- Six Feet Under - _Maximum Violence_ -- Slipknot - _Slipknot_ -- Solus - _Universal Bloodshed_ -- Spitfire - _The Dead Next Door_ -- Stormtroopers of Death - _Bigger Than the Devil_ -- Vesperian Sorrow - _Beyond the Cursed Eclipse_ -- Vinnie Moore - _The Maze_ * New Noise -- Blind Slime - _Hating Again..._ -- G.F.P.M. - _Demo 1_ * What We Have Cranked * Details =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M""MMMMMMMM dP M MMMMMMMM 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88 M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88 M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88 M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8 MMMMMMMMMMM M""MMMMMMMM dP dP M MMMMMMMM 88 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b. M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo. M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88 M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P' MMMMMMMMMMM This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative, ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own letter here, e-mail it to and enter 'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Date: Fri, 11 Jun 1999 From: gutterBoy Subject: Attention Loud Letters First of, CoC is a great source of information and is intelligently written. I always enjoy reading it and use it as a reference often. The reason I am writing is to comment on a your treatement of releases by bands who embrace Christianity. It seems like virtually every one of them is reviewed by Alex Cantwell. I am not saying anything about his writing style, it's fine. I am just wondering why he is the only one reviewing these bands. I wonder if everyone else is scared of these bands or feels they would not give a fair review based on their opinion of the beliefs of the bands. A second concern I have is in the realm of ethics. If Alex is perceived as having a bias FOR these bands, then the validity of these reviews may come into question. In the end it's your 'zine (obviously) and you can do what you want. CoC is still very good, and I am thankful for the reviews by Alex and everyone else, that is just something I noticed. chris Date: Fri, 18 Jun 1999 From: Philip Hinkle Subject: Attension Loud Letters Everyone at COC, I've been reading your e-zine for a few years now, and I have to say I have enjoyed it more times than not. I love the small, underground aspect of it. In fact, it has inspired me to start my own web site, Burn the Sun, dedicated to nothing but Heavy Metal! It's about half done, but is up and running. I have news, reviews, and various amounts of info. It's a one man show, but I try to update every Sunday. I just want to invite all at COC and their readers to come and check out my site! The more places to find Heavy Meta on the netl, the better! Check me out at www.burnthesun.com Burn the Sun--Black, Death, Extreme, and just plain Heavy Metal! Of course feed back both positive and negative is welcome! Thanks and keep up the good work! Heavy Metal is the Law! Phil Hinkle =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ T H E H Y P O C R I T E ' S A R I S I N G R E A L M ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Hypocrisy's Peter Tagtgren by: David Rocher For the release of their self-titled sixth masterpiece, I was lucky enough to be granted a chance to interview Hypocrisy's workaholic mastermind Peter Tagtgren. With their definitely exemplary career never ceasing to unfold before them, this three-piece have indeed attained a status which makes them one of the most influential acts in the death metal world, and that makes the definitely enlightened and unbelievably modest Peter Tagtgren a figure to whom the entire extreme scene can well and truly afford to raise their ale-horns. CoC: I think a lot has gone on with Hypocrisy since the release of _The Final Chapter_... Can you enlighten me a bit as to this? Peter Tagtgren: Yeah, it actually became chaos for a while, because we were supposed to quit, or at least I was supposed to do my own thing for a while -- you know, no-one was helping out and so on... But everything changed for the better. A lot of fans reacted very strongly to the fact that I wanted to quit, and it was very flattering -- the response to the album and everything was unbelievable! CoC: Hypocrisy was indeed known for a while for being Peter Tagtgren plus Lars Szoke and Michael Hedlund; on _The Final Chapter_ there were tracks written by Lars and Michael, so I'd like to know how things are going now. PT: It's very cool, we wrote like seven or eight songs each for this album over a period of one year and a half, and then we just sat down and chose the best ones. There were over twenty songs, it was really cool to be able to do that, because usually you only write the songs that are going to be on the album and you don't choose, because if you choose, the album will be too short. So this time we had like maybe two hours of music, and it felt very good having that much -- because you can then choose the ten best songs out of them, you know? CoC: Sure -- and what are you going to do with the other tracks? Are you going to release the others, or work more on them and make them better? PT: Maybe we'll work on a few of them and rearrange them a little bit, but right now I have no idea. CoC: Your new album seems to venture further into the extra-terrestrial life concept that begun with _Abducted_. What brought Hypocrisy to this, initially? PT: I don't know, just my imagination, I guess, since I write the lyrics and stuff... I've always been into it since I was a kid, I was always afraid of it when I was a child, but still it fascinated me a lot, and I was thinking "Why not write about it?". CoC: What does the cover art of _Hypocrisy_ represent? PT: To be honest, I have no idea, because we just talked to this guy who wanted to do the cover, and we told him "Just make it nice, we want a good quality cover, and if you can put some science-fiction kind of feeling into it, that's cool" -- and I think he did it really well. CoC: Do you think you're slowly edging towards a personal kind of science-fiction influenced death metal? PT: Yeah, maybe; I don't know. We just write music, and if we can come up with some crazy ideas, that's cool, you know? CoC: It seems this drive has completely replaced the Satanic attitude demonstrated on your early albums, and even on some tracks of _Abducted_ -- how do you feel when you look back on your earlier lyrics? PT: Well, I'm proud of them, sure. That's how my personality was then, and this is how it is today, you know; I don't want to change or regret anything that I ever wrote or said, I just wish we could have played better and had better production on the first albums, but I'm still very proud of them. CoC: Actually, I'd like to have your opinion on your various albums... PT: Well, the first one, _Penetralia_, I totally wrote by myself, and I was very influenced by Deicide, Morbid Angel and stuff like that. When I heard the first Deicide album, my life changed -- there aren't many albums that'll do that nowadays, albums that'll change your lifestyle and everything. The album was pretty much done in a short run after we got signed. For the second one, we started writing together a bit more, but it was still a lot of me. We'd said that we wanted to do the most brutal album ever, and _Osculum Obscenum_ was really brutal, I think. We tuned down more, we played faster, it was just all into getting as brutal as possible. On _The Fourth Dimension_, it was more like "let's try something new" -- well, on the other hand, we weren't actually trying something new, but we were writing these songs, and they came out different from the past. It was a very cool thing to do, we went to a very big studio, because we were able to do that... and I think the production on _The Fourth Dimension_ is the worst of any album. _Abducted_, we worked very hard on, we recorded it once, we didn't think four songs were good enough, so we threw them away, and wrote new songs, and we kept on doing that for half a year, between the various recording and all. In the end, there are maybe a couple of songs too many, but I think that overall the album is good, and it has a very nice and polished sound. And then, when we did _The Final Chapter_, we said "Let's make it with a dirtier sound and make it more rock", but we still continued mixing music the way we did [before], fast with slower and mid-tempo parts -- there are actually a lot of fast parts on that album. What I wanted to do with that album was work on the vocals, try to put in some new kind of styles for me and get the melodies out, and on the newest album we did it even more, we stretched our limits a bit more, I think. CoC: I noticed that the latest album contains more atmospheric tracks, mid-paced with keys and a lot of atmosphere -- is this something we can expect from Hypocrisy in future? PT: I don't know, it's hard to say. We don't know ourselves where we are going, so I don't want to say anything. We are so unpredictable to ourselves, it all depends on how we feel on that day... CoC: Something that I noticed on _The Fourth Dimension_ is there were maybe less Satanic tracks and more tracks that talked about the fear of death, and it had a very claustrophobic cover -- was this a preoccupation of yours at the time? PT: Yeah, I think it was the way I was feeling at the time, kind of claustrophobic, and I guess you can tell in certain songs... CoC: Like the title track, "The Fourth Dimension", which is really choking? PT: Yeah, exactly. You never plan anything, though, the way you feel just rubs off you. CoC: I guess your musical influences have changed a bit in the space of six albums -- you mentioned Deicide, Morbid Angel and Malevolent Creation for _Penetralia_, so what are you into now? PT: It's pretty much the same, but it feels like I already wrote it, so now it's time to do something else, so it's a lot of different inputs -- so I have Depeche Mode's _Ultra_ album as a favourite right now, but I also have the first Deicide album, so I mean, everything in between. CoC: The track "Timewarp" on the latest album sounds pretty much like a track from the first Pain album... What's happening with Pain now? PT: Right now, I'm working on the album and it looks like it's going to come out on Polygram, so I have no idea about what's going to happen, but it's looking real good, they really want to push the album. CoC: What's it going to sound like, anything like your first album? PT: No, this will be totally different, it will be more into industrial and techno, and sounds like that, it'll be more like Rammstein, Rob Zombie and stuff like that, clean vocals and screaming vocals... CoC: What about your other side-projects? What's with The Abyss, War, etc.? PT: War was just one mini-album to me [_Total War_, out on Necropolis -- David] and The Abyss, we were like sitting around after _Summon the Beast_ and thinking "We can't do as brutal an album any more", so we won't do it -- it's stupid to try doing something when you know you can't do better. CoC: You were drumming for Sorhin, too... PT: That was a long time ago, their drummer just left two days before entering the studio, so... CoC: You learned all the tracks in two days?! PT: Yeah, I had to! And I had a call last year in October, and it was Nick from Cradle of Filth [now in Dimmu Borgir -- David], and he was like, "Hey, do you want to sing on the new Terrorizer album, except it's not going to be called Terrorizer?!" I said "Sure!", you know, it's him, Shane and Jesse from Napalm Death... CoC: Brilliant! PT: Yeah, it's called Lockup, and they came over to my studio in February, and I put the vocals on it, and it sounds really cool, if you're into Terrorizer and old Napalm Death! So that one will also be cool, but I only spent two days on it, they spent a lot of time writing and recording stuff. It was really cool, they wrote the lyrics and everything, so I just had to put the vocals on... CoC: Your studios are getting massive praise, you recently even converted Enslaved and Immortal, and Marduk don't want to go anywhere else than The Abyss. How did the sessions with Immortal and Enslaved go, since it was near to the first time they were venturing out of the Grieghallen? PT: Yeah, I was very excited, and I didn't know what to expect from Immortal, because I'd never known them before. It just turned up they were super cool guys, very easy to work with and all, and I was very surprised, and I was very happy with final mix. It's very clean, nice and powerful. CoC: And Enslaved? PT: Well, I knew Ivar from going on tour with Marduk, he was helping Mysticum out with the computers. They're also really cool to work with, we tried to do something a little different, and it was really great, for sure! CoC: What are the next scheduled productions? PT: Mayhem, and then I will do Borknagar, Old Man's Child, and then Immortal are coming back, and I think I'll also do the next Enslaved. It will be very nice to know all these bands are lining up! CoC: It seems you're reaching the same kind of "legendary" status with your band, projects and studios as Dan Swano did -- how do you feel about this? PT: It feels great, it's a dream come true, to have this situation, it's really... CoC: I read a while ago that you had another studio under construction.... PT: Yeah, I have three studios, and my brother works in the other one, and the third one is a smaller one in which I can go and lay down some ideas if I want. CoC: What bands would you ultimately like to record one day? PT: I think Rammstein would be super killer, for sure. It's different from what I've been doing, and you always need different things to make it interesting, and that'll give you something when it comes to inspiration and things like that. If you do five black metal bands in a row, it will be very hard to be creative. CoC: What are the tour prospects and general future prospects for Hypocrisy? PT: We will do a lot of festivals this Summer, and a two-week tour in September, and then we're not going to rush anything -- I guess we'll just take it easy, see if anything else comes up, and start thinking about the next album... CoC: Last words? PT: I just hope to see you when we eventually get over to France, we haven't been there since '96, I think... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A R C H E D B R I D G E S B E W A R E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks to Mike Amott of Arch Enemy by: Paul Schwarz I have to be honest, after Arch Enemy's debut, _Black Earth_, was appraised so highly and near-universally by metal music critics, I was expecting it to light my fire considerably more than it ultimately did. It is a damn good record and its focus on incorporating more melody into a _Heartwork_-era Carcass type sound works well for it. When _Stigmata_ [CoC #32], the band's Century Media debut, appeared around the middle of last year, I was again gratified and disappointed at the same time. Though _Stigmata_ was more progressive yet still heavy, it lacked some of the vitriol and crispness of _Black Earth_ and ultimately wasn't the record I had hoped for. Why am I so fiercely critical of Arch Enemy? I am so fiercely critical of Arch Enemy because the band line-up consists of some of the most brilliant and respected musicians of the Swedish death metal scene. Johan Liiva's incredible vocals graced such works of mastery as Furbowl's _Those Shredded Dreams_, drummer Daniel Erlandson has provided the pounding rhythms for In Flames and Eucharist recordings, Christopher Amott's skills are amply displayed on Arch Enemy's records and in his own Armageddon project, and Mike Amott was the second guitarist in Carcass, probably my favourite death metal band, on their two best albums, along with helping to create Carnage's _Dark Recollections_ and playing in Candlemass. So, to cut a long story shorter, my expectations of this band are very high, maybe unfairly high, but that's the way it is. Late last month I got _Burning Bridges_, the latest Arch Enemy album (which features the talents of Sharlee D'Angelo of Mercyful Fate / Witchery in addition to the above participators). It would be an understatement to merely say "they have not disappointed me with their third offering". Featuring less of the more extravagant progressive-styled adventures of _Stigmata_ and a little more of the pummelling riff-assault of _Black Earth_, Arch Enemy's second release for Century Media cuts a line between the two sounds Arch Enemy have tried in the past and is their most satisfying record yet. On the line from the band's studio in Sweden, Mike Amott tells me about how things around _Burning Bridges_ shaped up, and in general his attitude to Arch Enemy and his other project Spiritual Beggars. Through dud phone connections and a temperamental dictaphone, this is what transpired. CoC: You've played in a couple of seminal death metal bands, Carnage and Carcass; do you feel a duty to evolve the style in your work in Arch Enemy? Mike Amott: Well, I don't feel... It's not my responsibility, really, I just play whatever I find interesting. I think it is just natural that it kind of evolves, the sound. It's not something that I think about too much, like in Arch Enemy there's a lot of influences that aren't strictly death metal. [At this point my phone cuts off and I have to call Mike again.] CoC: You were saying you don't necessarily have to be death metal; do you consider Arch Enemy to be a death metal band, or any kind of band in particular, or do you see it more as a free musical avenue? MA: I just don't give it that much thought, you know. I think I have developed my own writing style, and the stuff I come up with is, uh, I don't know... 'Cause I've been playing this kind of music for a long time now, I don't really think about it too much, it's just like, the way, when I write, you know, more extreme metal, this is the way it sounds. CoC: But you do have the two different bands, you have Spiritual Beggars... MA: Yeah, exactly, yeah, and that's why, you know... The reason for that is that I like things to be sort of... I like to do the different things because they're both sort of heavy, sort of guitar music, but, you know, there's a different approach to each band. They both can be... I think I can do pretty much what I want within these two bands, there's a lot of space to grow as a musician, and I don't have to make Arch Enemy softer. A lot of bands, they change, they want to become more rock, some death metal bands want to become more rocky or whatever, and I think a lot of the times it doesn't work out that well. CoC: I think that was the case with Carcass a bit. MA: Yeah, definitely, after I left. CoC: So, time-wise, do you find it's easy to fit Arch Enemy in with Spiritual Beggars? MA: Well, virtually everybody I am playing with is basically in both bands, and they've got their other stuff going on at the same time. It is pretty hard, you know, with our time schedules and stuff, but now and again we sit down all together in a room and look through our calendars, try to fit it in, you know, "Maybe if you fly in this day or that day...". It's pretty chaotic at times, but we all enjoy doing Arch Enemy very much. Everybody that is a part of that band really wants to do it, so we just make it work sometimes. CoC: Okay, what's the story behind the recruitment of Sharlee on bass, how come he joined the band? MA: Well, basically, after our last tour of Japan, November last year, we kicked out our previous bass player, but we had the studio booked for recording [_Burning Bridges_] three weeks later. So we were kinda like "Oh shit, who's gonna play". We kicked the old guy out and then we sat down and thought "Who's gonna play bass?" I wanted somebody really good that could work really well with our drummer and the best bass player that I knew was Sharlee. He's been a friend for a while, a few years, and I knew he was a great bass player, but I knew he was very busy, you know. CoC: The man of a hundred bands... MA: Yeah, he's done a lot of recording, but I didn't expect anything of him. I just called him up and said "Do you wanna do it?", but first he was complaining. We were just talking about this and that and he said "Oh, I'm doing so much stuff now, and I have to stop doing..." this and that. Then I said "Well, y'know, I'm not gonna tell you why I'm calling, then", and he said "Why? What is it?". "Do you wanna play on our new album?" And he's like, "Oh yeah, sure." "Sounds like fun." He ended up doing that, but you know, I didn't expect him to do anything else than the album, but he's really into it now. We played the Dynamo festival and we played in South America, so far, with him, live and it's been working out really really well, and this is a great rhythm section with Daniel [Erlandson] on drums and Sharlee. It really makes a difference, even in death metal, to have a great rhythm section. It's like really swinging now, it's kind of grooving a little bit, but it's got a pretty good feel to it and everybody's on the same level musically. Sharlee came in so late on this album that he wasn't at all involved in the writing of the album. He added all his... I wanted the sort of bass playing that really felt more alive, so instead of just following the root notes, he's more a traditional, hard rock bass player in that he's got a lot of bass lines and stuff, works together with the drums very well: I'm really happy. CoC: So, has he improved your live performances as well? MA: Yeah, I mean he's got a lot of routine from touring for years and years with Mercyful Fate, so he's great live, and his bass sound is way heavier than what we've ever had before, so it's made us heavier and better. CoC: With _Burning Bridges_ I kind of get the impression slightly that it goes a bit back to the first album in terms of being a bit more riff-heavy. If you think about the position the album holds in comparison to your others, where does it stand? MA: Well, I was really really happy with the first album that we did, _Black Earth_ [1996], it is one of my favourites out of all the albums I have done, out of all the albums that I've recorded. Then the second one, for me, personally, was a bit of a disappointment. CoC: How the writing turned out...? MA: Yeah, both the writing and the recording. It was just a bit of an overall disappointment for me compared to the first one, but now, I think this new one, like you said it's kind of a combination of the two, maybe, 'cause I think we went overboard on the progressive, more technical stuff on the second album, and we're not really out to prove anything now, we're just kind of going with it. I wanted some of that brutality back from the first album, with the return of Daniel... With Daniel back on the drums again it's like... He's really important for the sound of Arch Enemy, I think. When I write, I have the riffs and a lot of the structures, but I bring that down with me to the rehearsal room, and that's where it really happens. Everybody's an important part of the band. CoC: That's where it all comes together? MA: Yeah, exactly, we change the whole feel of the song and it can turn into something else. CoC: How do you feel about being called a death metal supergroup by your label? [Dictaphone cut out for a few seconds.] MA: This band -is- full of legends. CoC: Yeah, you've got Johan from Furbowl, you've done Carcass, and Daniel's been in In Flames and Eucharist. MA: Yeah, I don't know, it doesn't really count in the end, you know; if the music is good that's all that counts. For what we're doing now, if it's interesting to people -- people find it exciting, good --, what we've done in the past is like... Labels always do that, you know. I can see that if they want to get people interested, like "Ah, he's played with..." whoever, this and this band and they just want to get people to actually listen to it. If it makes somebody pick it up and go "Ah, I liked Carcass", or whatever, "I'll give it a listen", and maybe it is something that's up their street. But... it wasn't my idea. CoC: With the title of the album, are you -burning- any bridges? MA: Musically? CoC: Yeah, with respect to what you want to progress or regress to, or are you pretty open? MA: We're really open musically, and we've already written a bunch of new songs. I think it [_BB_] is just a mixture of everything. I think it's going to be really cool. I'm in a really sort of creative period right now, doing a lot of writing and stuff. I don't really put any limitations... What's fun with Arch Enemy is that everybody is really good on their instrument, the playing is very high quality, I think, in the band. We just kind of do a little bit of what we want, we do a lot of stuff that's kind of... We're really into having really softer, more sort of emotional parts or whatever. You know, lead guitar and clean guitars: pretty sounding stuff. I like to have this sort of scope where there are two opposites: the total brutality of the fast parts and the evil notes and stuff (and then the soft parts). Sometimes me and my brother sit and play and think "Maybe this is gonna sound too... soft", but then when we just play it at rehearsal, with Johan's vocals on top and everything, and the way we play it, because we play... Even if we have something that's maybe more traditional, hard rock / heavy metal sort of idea, the delivery is just so brutal and aggressive or whatever... So it just sounds good anyway, you know. It doesn't sound wimpy, I think. CoC: I think, for me anyway, listening to it, I felt that "Silverwing" and maybe "Angelclaw" -were- almost going to far, and then listening to it more, it doesn't, it just captures the dynamic, but it runs, for me anyway, pretty close to the edge. [Dictaphone cuts out for a few seconds.] [Someone needs a new dictaphone! -- Gino] MA: Yeah, that's cool. We were kind of aware of stuff like "Silverwing", you know, we thought "Maybe this is a bit close to the edge". Are people just going to say "What the hell is this?" Because that's like major chord structures, it's not minor [nearly all death metal is written in minor chord structures -- Paul] and we were kind of afraid that it was going to sound too happy, but I don't think it sounds happy, it sounds kind of... I don't know. I really like to have really strong emotions in the music, you know, the melodies and stuff. That's really what we want to do, have the extreme emotions: really sad and then really brutal. I think it's a pretty cool mix, you know, I don't think there's anybody out there who's mixing things, that sounds exactly like Arch Enemy. CoC: I would agree with that. MA: And maybe that's working for us or maybe will work for us in some respects, but I think in many ways it probably works against us. It's been proven; it's often easier to sound like something that's a trend or whatever's going on. I mean, we do fit into this whole Swedish melodic death thing, but in other ways, we're not only that. We don't really feel like we're a part of anything like that, we just want to play metal. CoC: [Dictaphone cut out most of my question, but at a guess:] Do you feel you have to be careful not to go overboard with what you incorporate into Arch Enemy? MA: I have a really strong belief in riffs, riffs are like my religion, you know. I really believe in those things, like heavy guitars and guitar solos. That doesn't seem to be too much a part of a lot of those bands... I like those bands, I think some of them are really good, but I don't think we have the same... Especially now. All these bands are coming out with new albums and they all sound totally different from each other. So, I think everybody in that scene is kind of coming into their own now, or the bands that have been going for a few years, anyway. CoC: Yeah, I think the new Dark Tranquillity and In Flames are a bit different. MA: Yeah, I mean you can't really compare Dark Tranquillity to In Flames anymore. I think Arch Enemy is... CoC: A bit more Carcass-like? MA: Yeah, I think so, I mean a lot of people are saying now "It really reminds me of Carcass", and that's not so hard to understand. I mean I wrote maybe 40% of the _Heartwork_ album, musically, and obviously that's just what it sounds like. This is what I think that kind of music should be like, or whatever. Obviously they influenced me a lot, shaped me. CoC: Do you ever think of working with Bill [Steer, Carcass guitarist and main songwriter]? He's not doing anything at the moment. MA: He's doing something, yeah, he's doing demos, I think he's recording an album this Summer. He's working with the drummer from Spiritual Beggars and the bass player from Cathedral, Leo Smee. CoC: Would you mind talking briefly about some of your musical influences and music tastes? MA: I listen to a wide variety of stuff, really, and that's my parents' fault, I guess, because their record collection ranges from anything, from classical music through jazz to soul music from the '60s and '70s. Then I like a lot of '70s rock, classic stuff: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, obviously, the beginnings of heavy metal or whatever. But for Arch Enemy I suppose the whole twin guitar thing, that has a heavy emphasis with Arch Enemy. I guess that's from Judas Priest, Iron Maiden obviously, and stuff like that, and then the more brutal aspects of it are just me growing up listening to underground death metal and stuff from the '80s. That kind of ruined me, I guess. Listening to all those demos and tapes and stuff. So I've got that as well, you know; a bunch of stuff. I listen to a lot of more progressive stuff, I'll listen to anything, really. Pop, rock, anything. You'd be surprised to hear what actually influences us sometimes. But I'm not going to tell anybody. CoC: [Again, dictaphone cuts out my question, something about it being good to have diverse influences.] MA: I think bands that are only influenced by their own sort of genre are often really boring. You hear some bands and they are so traditional and so... I don't know, but there's a fine balance there, you know. And then I don't like bands who have their own mixture of everything; that can't seem to make up their mind. I thought -funk metal-, for an example, was a pretty bad marriage. CoC: Yeah, I've never heard that work too well. MA: No exactly, yeah. I mean I like funk, and I like metal. I think it is good to have a healthy spectrum of influences; a broad spectrum of influences. CoC: Yeah, I think what happened with a lot of early death metal bands... [... is that after a while they want to be less all-out brutal and incorporate more groove or melody.] MA: That's what kind of happened with Carcass, that we kind of got into this whole "Let's mix in more of this traditional metal, you know, metal chord progressions, and let's put some guitar solos and the melodies and stuff in there", and you just have to do something with it, and that's what I've kind of continued with Arch Enemy: along those lines. But some bands are kind of bringing in more influences from goth music into the death metal stuff, and some people are going more electronic, and it's just people trying to do something with what you've got, you know. CoC: And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. MA: Yeah, exactly, and it's kind of... I don't think there are any set rules for music, music is just a huge, vast sort of landscape, really, and just staying in one place all your life must be pretty boring, because you're sort of "We have to be extremely brutal and have blast beats and gruff vocals all the way through, on every album, forever". And I do like bands like Deicide, because they are kind of reliable , you know? Buying an Arch Enemy album can be a risky affair, I don't know... CoC: Yeah, I'd agree and I think sometimes I like the traditional stuff, but for me Cynic and Nocturnus are among my favourite death metal bands, and they're also some of the most innovative and different ones. And they made and sold nothing because no-one [OK, few people] understood them, or what they were doing, pretty much. But that's the risk you take: underground popularity, for, even in the death metal scene, overground lack of sales. MA: Yeah, exactly. CoC: But I don't know, I think Arch Enemy, to me anyway, catch something a little bit... you definitely don't fall into the trap of some bands of just disappearing up your own arse. I think there's a huge danger -- not that I have any problem with progressive rock, I love Rush --, but I think you can so easily just lose yourself. MA: That is just a very, very dangerous path. Yeah, but I am a fan of that stuff and I do respect a lot of the musicianship and stuff, but we just like to take little ingredients from different fields of music and just mix it up. I mean I'm talking about... Somebody who's going to go and buy the album, the _Burning Bridges_ album, they're just going to be... it's just like super-heavy, intense, in your face and brutal vocals. It's still brutal and heavy, it's just little nuances in music. CoC: Okay, you've been saying a lot about the album and how fans might receive it, but with you guys playing live 'round the world, what would you say to people who might come check out the shows? MA: I'm just hoping that people are going to be into coming down and checking us out, 'cause I think with this new line-up we have, it just felt so good in South America and at the Dynamo festival, so we're really eager to go out there and play more and that will happen, so it should be fun and hopefully we'll see people on the road. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A T E S T A M E N T T O L O N G E V I T Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks to thrash legends Testament by: Adrian Bromley Testament -- know them? Of course you do. This is the band that stormed out of the San Francisco's Bay Area in the late 1980s, kicking up their heels and giving it to us good with their monstrous array of thrashing numbers. Much like the leaders of the pack at that time -- Exodus, Metallica and Slayer --, Testament was oriented around one sole purpose: play metal. And that they did. From that era up to the present it has been a glorious but turbulent ride for Testament. Line-up changes, label changes and anything else that could plague a band (including a short break-up scenario) has been thrown into the face of Testament and its bandmembers. But like a trooper they ride on, carrying the flag of metal and playing hard 'n' heavy. Testament, one of the few veteran metal acts out there playing true to form and not selling out, is poised to conquer the metal world as we lead into the millennium with the brilliantly etched _The Gathering_ record [CoC #39]. With a line-up that consists of Testament founding members Chuck Billy (vocals) and guitarist Eric Peterson, guitar slayer James Murphy (ex-Death, ex-Obituary), Steve DiGorgio (Sadus and ex-Death) and drum God Dave Lombardo (ex-Slayer, Grip Inc.), where could they go wrong, I ask you? Where? "It's been a long hard year for us, but finally the new record is out", says guitarist Eric Peterson from his home in California. "We came off a long hard tour and our distribution of the last record [_Demonic_] fell to shit. It's been a struggle with us for a while. Atlantic Records dropped the ball with the _Low_ record a few years back and so we put out _Demonic_ on our own label Burnt Offerings and the distribution just fell right through on us. We were getting really frustrated with all that was happening and pissed off at doing this, but I knew we had a lot of good material in us so we pressed on. We started working on this record." "It was a really cool vibe for the making of this record. In terms of getting to work with Dave Lombardo, we were touring South America and needed a drummer to go, but he was busy, as expected", explains Peterson. "He mentioned he wanted to jam one day, so when we were working on the record he came up for a few sessions with us and we jammed out some numbers. I'd be ready with my riffs and we made sure it all worked out. The two songs that came out of those jams were "Careful What You Wish For" and "Eyes of Wrath". It was just a good vibe that both Chuck [Billy] and I we're getting from Dave. Getting James [Murphy] and Steve [DiGiorgio] into the band was pretty much of the same. We knew them and they came into the picture. It's all worked out, as you can tell by giving the record a listen." With Billy and Peterson being the sole founding members of Testament left, it must be a strong bond between the two to keep things rolling and staying metal. Right? "Yeah... that's true. That's exactly as it has been. We tried to keep the line-up that we had with _Low_, but it didn't work out. I wish it would have, 'cause it was a strong line-up, but it didn't. After we had broken up for a few weeks, we hooked up with Gene Hoglan [SYL, ex-Death] and it got the juices flowing again and it was only for a short time. Things went certain ways and there were more line-up changes. It just never seems to end... It never ends with Testament. We just figure each time out we'll try to make a different record, a different cycle of where Testament is at, and I think we have done that over the years and because of the line-up changes, etc., it makes each record unique in its own right." The evolution of Testament has never really strayed from being a metal band and that is pleasing to many die-hard metal fans out there. Why does Peterson think that is, that the band has not geared down and ventured off to other musical styles or even slowed down? "I think after the split with the original line-up and all the changes that we have endured we have managed to stay heavy. We've butted heads with many members to change things around and that has been happening throughout the years, but it came to a point where both Chuck and I decided we aren't going to compromise any more. Testament has to be heavy. We're not changing one bit. We see it like this: if you feel the need to branch out and do alternative pop/rock or something like that, start an alter ego type band. Testament should be what it's always been: a metal band. We have to keep our loyal fans pleased with what we do and if we go off and do something different we may lose those fans. We're metal still and our fans respect that." About the meaning of the new record to him, he comments: "I think of this record as just another Testament record. It's a gathering of the millennium and a gathering of some great musicians. It's a super group for metal music and I think it's a really good metal record. It's true to form and we're not copying any other metal acts. I think Testament is bringing metal back in the most sincere way." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I N C I N E R A T I N G Y O U R S E L F T O L I V E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Ross Dolan of Immolation by: Paul Schwarz I first encountered Immolation when I was given a tape of their 1996 _Here in After_ [CoC #6] album, their second, and Dark Funeral's _The Secrets of the Black Arts_. The latter succeeded in boring me very quickly, but the former I simply could not stop listening to. Immolation produce a warped, sometimes difficult to follow style of death metal which definitely preserves roots such as Autopsy, and even mirrors certain elements of fellow New Jersey death metallers Incantation, but essentially has its own, individual character. The use of dissonance by guitarists Robert Vigna and Thomas Wilkinson, the vague melody superimposed on Ross Dolan's incredible low and brutal vocals, the eclectic drum style of Craig Smilowski (who has now been replaced by Alex Hernandez) and the powerful, well thought out lyrical content quickly turned Immolation into one of my favourite death metal bands. Researching their history, I found that they were another band whose career had been viciously held up for years by the greed of the trend-orientated minds who run Roadrunner Records. This also made my search for their 1991 _Dawn of Possession_ debut a long trawl through countless second hand record stores. Last year I looked forward to seeing them at the Milwaukee Metalfest, but unfortunately the band were in the middle of finishing their new album. I awaited _Failures for Gods_, as the title of their second release for Metal Blade became, with bated breath, but '98 disappeared, five months of '99 went by, and still no _FfG_. Then, just after the Dynamo festival, it came, and damn was it worth the wait. The record is reviewed elsewhere, but let's just say here that it wasn't any kind of disappointment. Talking to vocalist/bassist Ross Dolan, who was at Metal Blade Germany for interviews, I satisfied my curiosity about all things _FfG_, and the situations surrounding it and the band. CoC: How's it going? Ross Dolan: Good. This is the first day of interviews, it's been going pretty good, it's nice to be over here. CoC: Are you guys touring at all at the moment... RD: No, just doing interviews, I don't think we'll be touring here [Europe] realistically until about fall, so that's good: it'll give the album time to sink in. CoC: And you're doing the Milwaukee Metalfest... RD: Yeah, the Metalfest and a bunch of stuff leading up to that. CoC: What do you think _FfG_ says about Immolation now, in 1999, with your past releases taken into account; what kind of statement do you think it makes to the death metal scene and people in general? RD: I think it is making a very strong statement. It's definitely, without a doubt, our strongest album, on all accounts: strongest musically, strongest lyrically, conceptually, and it is also our best produced album. So I think when people hear this, obviously fans of Immolation will definitely be impressed, because I think it blows away the last two albums, and maybe people who aren't fans of Immolation, but maybe fans of extreme music, will also appreciate it too. I think it is definitely making a statement that we are still here, and we're not going away, and the music is still here: that's the most important thing. We get asked a lot "Well, what do you think of the death metal scene?", or the metal scene in general. And when asked this about the US I'd definitely have to answer that metal in the US is basically dead. Hip-hop and Korn and Marilyn Manson are the big thing in the US right now, extreme music: death metal, black metal, what have you; the scene is definitely strong in the US but it's more underground than it has been, but that is not saying it's not strong, 'cause it is very strong. There's still very big turnouts at the shows, there's definitely interested people, it's just that a lot of the new kids aren't exposed to it as much, they're exposed to bands like Korn and Marilyn Manson and that type of stuff, and they don't know that this type of stuff exists. It's unfortunate. CoC: Picking up on couple of your points about the album, with regards to the lyrics and concept. I've listened to the album about eleven times or so... RD: Wow! CoC: ... a few times reading along with the lyrics and what have you, I have the feeling that it has quite a strong concept which goes through the music and the lyrics, ending with the last two minutes of the last song, that has a very final sort of feel to it. Is there like a story concept running through the album or has it got one -aim- as a concept? RD: Ummm, well, I wouldn't say really a story concept. All the songs basically deal with our personal feelings and viewpoints on religion, and we look at it from all different angles and we take it from different points of view, but they all come back to the same feelings. As a band we all feel the same way, which is good, it helps and it is something we can all relate to on a personal level, because, let's face it, religion, it's a very dominating thing, it's very controlling, it controls people on all different levels and we're surrounded by it. We grew up with it. It definitely had some kind of impact on our upbringings, and on our childhoods, to a certain extent, whether it be going to Catholic school or being raised in a Catholic household, and it is something which does have an influence on your earlier years. As you get older, you have two types of people: you have people who are just going to continue on and fall in with the herd and follow, or people who are going to say "Well, let's question what we've been taught, is this really the way we actually feel in our hearts about things?", and that's not how -we- felt in our hearts, and I think a lot of people probably agree with us, because it is something that most people just never give thought to. CoC: Yeah, and I'm certainly one of the people who agree with you. On the subject of your upbringing, were most of you or some of you brought up in particularly strict religious backgrounds? RD: Umm, not -strict- strict, but it was definitely something that was, I guess, relevant in our childhoods. I for one went to a Catholic high school and I drew a lot inspiration from what I learned and what I saw in those years, and actually that was a period of my life where I was able to look at things in a different light and question things -- which was probably a turning point for me, which was good and it's something I'm able to elaborate on now, at this point in my life. CoC: And I get the impression the song "Failures for Gods" may have been inspired by this being, as I think it is, about the leadership of religion and how that has led to religion to be an influence on society? RD: Oh, you're absolutely right, and it's cool, I'm glad you actually read the lyrics and you're interested in that, that's definitely cool. CoC: Not to be preachy to anyone, but I think the best way of interviewing -is- to really get into a band and see it like a fan, and not just as a product. RD: Right, right, well, that's cool, man, we definitely appreciate that. Yeah, so you're absolutely right, "Failures for Gods", you hit it on the nose, that's basically what the song is dealing with. The title itself could be looked at in two different ways: "Failures -for- Gods", meaning people who worship gods are a failure, in a certain way, because they don't have the inner strength or strength in general to see these things as so intangible and so unrealistic that they can't get on with their lives and they can't make decisions on their own without having this crutch; or you could look at it in the sense that these gods, in turn, who are being worshipped, are failures in the sense that they will never ever deliver what these people are expecting, realistically speaking. I look at things from a very realistic point of view and it's just not realistic, it's not tangible, it's really just... It's a nice story to tell, and it's something cool to tell the kids, but to base your life on it is just not feasible. CoC: Yeah, I see what you're saying, so would you say with Immolation that you're anti-Christian, anti-religion, would you call yourselves Satanic, for example? Because one of the icons that you mention a lot, across your albums, is Jesus, and God in the Christian sense. RD: Right, right, and that's only because of how we were brought up, as Catholics and as Christians. That was the icon; Jesus Christ was the icon and I think Christianity... it's very prevalent all over the world. But I would say we're definitely -not- a Satanic band, we're basically anti-religion, but we're just anti-control, really. We're not into that whole control thing and that's basically what religion does, it controls and manipulates and it just soaks up money. You know what I'm saying? The church is so... unbelievable, they have so much land and so many riches, they don't get taxed, it's a big scam, really. CoC: And there's a whole history of that going back to the beginning of the church... RD: Oh right, that's not even getting back to the history, to the millions of people who died in the name of religion and Christ and God, it's just really such a bizarre, overwhelming thing when you think about it. But, if you're familiar with the last album [_Here in After_], we even say in one of the songs that it is not hate and it's really not a hatred thing for us, we don't -hate- Christians, we don't -hate-... it's just something we don't agree with and again we're not about... we're not trying to convince people, we're not trying to change anybody's mind, it's just... if you agree with us you do, if you don't, you don't. But the music and the lyrics go hand in hand for us. CoC: I was going to touch just briefly on the concept thing, I detect slightly the millennial, doomsday thing; a few songs seem to have a lot about it. "Stench of High Heaven" and "The Devil I Know" seem to talk about a new coming age with the Devil replacing Christ... RD: Right. CoC: ... something of that description; is that at all related to the whole doomsday, millennium thing? RD: No, no. Not really. You mentioned "The Devil I Know" and "Stench of High Heaven"? CoC: Yeah, "Stench of High Heaven". RD: Yeah, well, basically, "Stench of High Heaven"... in a nutshell, that song is about the absurdity of the whole concept of Heaven, about the whole concept of "if you live a certain way you're going to go to this really cool place, extreme Nirvana, where everything is all nice and beautiful" and this and that and blah, blah blah blah blah. Again, it's a nice story, but realistically... honestly, nobody knows what happens when you're dead, because obviously you're dead. And I would like to think that we go on to maybe a higher form of existence where there is no pain and there is no suffering and there is no hardship like we have here, but that's wishful thinking. CoC: Yes, I'd say that's definitely wishful thinking and that's a good hope, but also why is it certain people are going there and certain people aren't? That's the other illogicality [well, actually only one of many of them --Paul] I can't understand. RD: Right, it's a very hypocritical thing, because for example I'm sure most of these people would look upon a band like us or people like us in a very dark light because of what we sing about, what we do... but as people they don't really know us and, you know, for this scene in general I've met so many cool people over the past thirteen years, who would definitely be looked down upon by the Church in general because of their beliefs and their views, but they're all good people, man, they're hard working people, a lot of the people we know are pretty straightedge, they don't drink, they don't smoke, they're respectful, and it is all about how you treat people, and it is about upbringing and that's it. One of my philosophies is "What comes around goes around" and I firmly believe that and I see it happening all the time, so I just like to treat people with respect and that's the respect that I would desire from people. CoC: The cover artworks [for your albums] seems to tell a story of some description, in comic book form, but I was going to ask, you say your lyrics are -actually- about control and things, but your artwork and the imagery you use is, not Satanic, but very much using the stories of religion and the stories which are not religious, but of Lovecraft or whatever; how does that part of it come in and why is [Immolation] not a very realistic seeming, political band, like, say, Rage Against the Machine or something? RD: Well, I mean, politics for one doesn't interest me, it's all bullshit. It just doesn't excite me. The artwork for the album, actually, if you read the lyrics for "Once Ordained", basically what's depicted in the artwork is what's going on in the lyrics of that song. The artwork obviously also conveys the message of "Failures for Gods", but what you're seeing there... and even on the inside, if you notice we wrote the little chorus or refrain or whatever you call it, from ["Once Ordained"], and basically it's people being... you see the people, the masses being blindly led by God or Christ or whoever you want it to be; we depicted Christ on the inside cover. Basically, on the outside of the front cover you see... obviously it's plain that it's the Devil; it's a dark figure representing evil and the people flocked, which symbolises people following the religion, and then on the inside you open it up and to their astonishment; they're amazed to see that... they see the face of Christ but it's really the Devil. CoC: You missed last year's Metalfest because you were mixing your album? RD: Yeah, we were right in the middle of recording and we just couldn't leave. CoC: That being last July, why did it take so long to release _FfG_? RD: Basically, when you get right down to it, it was the artwork. We approached Andreas [Marschall, whose artwork has graced all of Immolation's albums thus far --Paul] right after we got out of the studio and he was unfortunately booked up until the end of the year, and because we have the two completely separate pieces of artwork and the little icons on the inside, it took him much longer to do. So that was the big delay, and you know what?, we decided it was much better to wait, and get a packaging that was worth the wait, rather than to put out something that we weren't going to be happy with. CoC: Absolutely. RD: And we're very happy with it, so it all worked out. CoC: So, after this you -hope- to release albums in slightly more regular succession than has so far been the case? RD: Yeah. CoC: 'Cause you've been like five years, three years... RD: Yeah, I know, man, I know. We know, man, it sucks. It's definitely never planned that way, but unfortunately it always seems... the five years between the first two albums, a lot of that -was- out of our control because of the change in labels, and we were in limbo for a year or two there, but then we got back on track, and it's not that it takes us five years, obviously, to write eight songs, it's just that other circumstances... and also as a band we're not in a situation where we're able to write 24 hours a day. We all work full-time jobs, we're all very busy and Immolation consumes -all- our free time, and it's not easy because of our schedules, but yes: we're making a conscious effort now, we already started writing material for the fourth album and we do want to be in the studio hopefully sometime mid-year next year. So yeah, we don't plan to make people wait any longer than they have to. CoC: How important do you think the music you play, the death metal, is for delivering the message of the lyrics? Do you think there is a symbiosis between the two or could you do the same music with gore lyrics, or jazz with your lyrics? RD: No, no, you're right, there is definitely a symbiosis between the two, they work hand-in-hand. The music is very dark, and in turn the lyrics have to be very dark. I couldn't see us writing... I mean it's possible for us to write about something different, as long as it's done in a certain way, in a dark way which is going to complement the music, and also how the music complements the lyrics. But we have so much to draw from, we have almost a whole album's worth of concepts and ideas, lyrically, for the next album all in the same direction [as we have been going], so I don't think we're going to run out of ideas anytime soon. You're right, though, they definitely do work hand in hand. CoC: I find, particularly on _HiA_ but also on this album, the music has this feeling of barely controlled chaos, and I think it differs a lot from the more workman-like death metal like Cannibal Corpse or Deicide, in that it has a more uncontrolled feel, the drums are a little more unusual; when you guys write are you particularly technical about this, do you kind of plan out this kind of things or is it just the way you happen to play? RD: Umm, it's a combination of both. Musically, it's about feeling. When the music is written it's what feels right. We really don't have any kind of theory or plan or anything in mind. It's just what feels right and we're very fortunate to all click really well together in our minds, so we work well together, we're very... if one person doesn't see something, one of us will, and it definitely helps when you have four minds working on one thing, you know. So musically there are no guidelines, but when it comes to incorporating the drums, the drums are to a point planned out, because drums could really change the whole mood and feeling of a particular riff, without a doubt. You could have something that sounds very dark, and if you put the wrong type of drums to it, the wrong type of beats or fills, it's going to really sound too happy or to what not. CoC: And the production is important to that, too. RD: Oh, of course, of course. So the drums are something that we spend probably a good majority of the time working out and Alex, he's an excellent drummer and he really works well with our ideas and we all have input, again like I said, so it's not like it's all on his shoulders, we all have input and ideas. So it all comes together in the end. CoC: So there wasn't any particular difficulty switching from Craig to Alex? RD: No, the only difficulty was Alex was used to playing a different style, he was an extreme player, he played in a bunch of bands.... CoC: What, sort of grindcore type stuff? RD: Grindcore, yeah, he played in a band called Fallen Christ, he played in a band called Disassociate, he was in a couple of hardcore bands. So he was a very straightforward kind of player, and to play our stuff he had to get used to our style, 'cause it's very different from what he was playing. We're not a full out, I don't know if you call grind band or whatever, but you know we're not speed for speed's sake and we're not sludge for sludge's sake. It's about feeling and moods and there's a lot going on in the songs and it took him... I would say a year, honestly, before he actually got comfortable, but now that he is... I mean to me he did an amazing job on the new album and he's definitely that missing element that we've been lacking the last ten years. CoC: That's great. I was going to ask about the production, I noticed the producer was Paul Orofino and I don't know the name, and the only record I could find which had his production was Riot. I was wondering what led you to choose him? He's not, you know, Jim Morris or anybody traditional [to death metal]. RD: No, definitely not. We're not about using people because they've been used. We've never been about following trends or following whatever. We have pretty much always done our own thing, so the choice to use Paul... he was actually recommended by a good friend of ours and he had never really produced a death metal band or any extreme music like us, he's mostly... he's been used to working with rock 'n' roll bands, stuff like... he did an album by Blue Oyster Cult, he worked with Simon Kirk from Bad Company, Riot, Dee Snider and his new band, Widowmaker, so he's done a lot of stuff like that, which is good, though, 'cause he knows how to get those... the drum sounds and the heavy type of guitar stuff and it's good to have someone looking at it from a different perspective. The fact that he's been around for a long time, you know, a good producer is a good producer, it doesn't matter what you play. They know how to bring out the best in the music and that's what we felt he did and we definitely plan on using him for the next album. CoC: I was curious to find out, because apart from Harris Johns who did a lot of thrash stuff [he did _Dawn of Possession_ and had produced Voivod, Kreator and Sodom --Paul], I don't know Wayne Dorrel [_Here in After_ producer] from anything else. RD: Yeah, Wayne was basically just out of school and we were the first project he actually worked on on his own, so he was kind of new at it. He did a good job considering, but we felt there were a lot of things on the production side of the spectrum that needed improvement with that album, without a doubt. CoC: Do you always aim to progress in doing Immolation, or are you sort of trying to create the archetype of classic death metal? RD: Well, what we really want to do is continue in the vein that we started, just obviously with each album we want to improve, but we just want things to get darker, we want things to get more extreme, but, like you said, in a controlled sense. For us there are no boundaries, we just want to improve musically, we're always into trying new things, but we're not into trying to do things which are going to change the essence of the band. Our feeling as a band is that; we think we do this well enough to know that if we work hard enough at it we might get to the point we're happy with. So with each album we definitely improve to a certain extent and we're happy with every album. We're happy with all the albums. We're not ashamed of the past albums. We think they're very strong albums and with each one it just gets better. So, we look forward to creating an even darker and heavier album next time around. CoC: Yeah, I guess if you're not going to make a better album [or at least think you have --Paul], then what's the point? RD: Oh, of course, of course. CoC: Finally, do you have anything to say to fans who've been waiting for this album, and just people in general who might pick it up? RD: Again, I feel it's definitely our strongest album, I think fans of Immolation will definitely be impressed because it's our best work and I think they'll see that right off the bat. I think that we're the type of band where in the first few seconds of each album you know it's us right away, it just has that vibe, I don't know how to explain it, but... CoC: A trademark? RD: Yeah, we've been told that a million times before and I definitely know what people are talking about, and I agree with that. So, people can expect probably the most intense, aggressive, and hateful Immolation album. With lots of mood, I think it combines definitely the best elements of both the past albums; the feelings and the moods from _Dawn of Possession_, and the hatred and the intensity of _Here in After_. And it just takes it all to the next level. CoC: One last thing, I was wondering if you guys ever thought about doing any audio-visual stuff, not necessarily a video but some kind of visual thing. I know that's not necessarily financially feasible, but in theory would you guys be interested in doing that? RD: Oh, of course, of course. We've always thought about it. We always toss around the idea of doing something, like you mentioned, but, like you said, though, the financial aspect of it is not realistic for us, and we're not the type of band who's going to do something at 50%, we want to do it at 100%. And the ideas, you know, you could really just take the ball and run with our concepts and just go all out, and to do that you would need a lot of money. So rather than do it half-assed we just wouldn't do it at all. But it is something we would love to do. We have so many good ideas and visually we could bring out so much more of what we're trying to convey, but who knows? Maybe one day. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A N O I N T E D F O R B U R I A L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Extol by: Alex Cantwell On June 18th I had the extreme pleasure of witnessing Norwegian metal warriors Extol in a live setting. However, before all of the chaos ensued on the stage, while hanging out with these fine gentlemen, I took the opportunity to interview guitarist Ole Borud. About three years ago, I picked up a copy of a CD of a band called Schaliach, which was excellent doom with a distinct Norwegian flavour. I learned later, after perusing this CD, that Schaliach was not a band at all, but the music of one man named Ole Borud. Soon after, I received a demo in the mail of new material from Oslo's Extol. Blown away was I to read that all of the bass tracks were performed by Ole. I thought to myself, if Ole joined this band Extol, who are already quite good, they would certainly be the best band in the world! Imagine my absolute shock when I got a copy of _Burial_, Extol's debut CD (on Endtime Records in Europe, Solidstate Records in America, and now Avalon Records in Asia), and Ole was listed as one of two guitarists! "I have found the band that will conquer all", I announced to myself and many others. Imagine my shock, when a few years after getting into this obscure band from thousands of miles away, they book a show where I live! Anyway, to get to my point already, Extol is my favourite band and I was stoked to have Ole sitting in my car with me doing an interview. OK? You with me? Read on, people... CoC: What are the band's plans for the rest of the year? Ole Borud: The rest of the year will probably see the release of a mini-CD that will come probably in September, and we're not quite sure, but we will definitely do a second album. Hopefully we'll do it in the end of this year, otherwise it will be in the beginning of the next. Otherwise, whatever concerts that come up, we'll do them. We don't have tons of them close to Christmas, but we have some out in August and stuff like that, and maybe one in September. CoC: Have you been able to tour in Europe yet? OB: Actually not. I mean, we haven't been around with the album for ages and I guess it just takes time to establish yourselves as a band in Europe, because it's all about credibility as a band, and what you are. You've got to prove that you're able to show what you're good for. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to do that very soon. Actually, we're going to do a show in Germany in the end of July, so that will be our first thing down in Europe. CoC: What kind of reaction have you had in Norway? OB: It's basically been pretty cool... CoC: Of the three songs that were on the _Embraced_ demo, "Burial" and "Embraced" were included on the _Burial_ album, but why was "Prodigal Son" left off? OB: Well, you know, the thing is basically because we thought that in the beginning we were like "We're at least going to have "Burial" on the album", and we thought to ourselves "Let's do "Embraced" too, because it's a cool song and people really like that song", but then again we thought "Let's not overdo it, and put all of the three songs from the demo on the album", because we had enough songs. It was basically just the fact that we didn't think that "Prodigal Son" was the best song on the demo. But still, the new version of "Prodigal Son" [which is included as a bonus track on the Asian version of _Burial_ and will also be on the forthcoming MCD _Mesmerized_ -- Alex] is pretty much different. CoC: Oh really? OB: Yeah, it's tuned much lower and is much heavier, and it's got a new part. CoC: Your music is amazingly technical. What kind of musical training have you had? OB: You know, we didn't go to classes or anything like that, we just learned our instruments by ourselves, more or less. In the beginning I started out with a couple of classes or something like that, but it just cost too much money at that time. That's the way it goes with all the other guys. We just developed... you get better. There's nothing more to say, really. CoC: What kind of direction do you think the music of Extol will take in the future? OB: We have quite a few songs for our next album, and it will still be the good ol' Extol when it comes to the technical parts and the melodic parts. It'll still be what we do, but what we've added with the new songs is just more brutality, actually. So, for once we've tuned down our guitars and it sounds much heavier, and the total sound of the band is darker. It's beefy and it sounds massive, I think. Maybe we have a couple more hooks, you know what I mean. Still, there are a lot of parts in every song, so there's not going to be a boring song with two riffs. CoC: I wanted to ask you some questions about some specific songs, if that's OK. OB: Yeah. CoC: "Jesus Kom Til Jorden For a Do" sounds like this big anthem. You could just see this big room of people swinging their arms. How did that come about? Who wrote that? OB: My dad wrote it, and he wrote it in 1976, so that's pretty wild. CoC: The lyrics and music? OB: Yeah, sure. I mean, he's been writing tons of songs for years. See, the thing is, my family has been in the music business for years. I started singing when I was like five or six years old, and have been touring with my family for years. My dad has been involved with different things, different projects. At that time he had sort of a band with other guys, like a '70s thing. Wait a second, it's not the band. He had another band too, but this one was actually himself and two other women. They just sang together, and that song only had vocals, which is really cool because all of the harmonies are done vocally, and it sounds just great. It was just basically that we recorded this album where I live, because I work in a music studio, and we just hung out one night after recording stuff, and I think that for some reason we put on that tape, because it was there, and the guys were just like "Woah, that's cool". So, just right there we decided "OK, let's do a cover of that one", and so we did. That's the story behind that. CoC: I've gotta say this: "Superior" sounds like a Schaliach song. OB: You think so? CoC: Yeah. Did you write it? OB: Yeah, I did. Maybe you're right. Of course I wouldn't think of anything else [besides] "it's me" if I'm the guy that wrote it, but nevertheless I think it sounds more Extol than Schaliach, in my ears. CoC: Is that a real sitar on "Reflections of a Broken Soul"? OB: No. CoC: Keyboards? OB: Yeah, it's keyboard. CoC: Who did all of the sound effects on _Burial_? The different stuff in between the songs. OB: Oh, that's just us. You know, we just did it. We had some sound CDs and some keyboard stuff that we mixed together. We kind of fooled around with ideas on what to do. CoC: How did the orchestral part come together on "Tears of Bitterness"? OB: Oh, well, we just did it. CoC: Was that keyboards? OB: Yeah, the stuff in the back is keyboards, but there is one violin on top of it, so it sounds kind of "for real". Christer [Espevoll, guitar] is the one who wrote that song, so he wanted that part, and so we just went for it. CoC: Has Eystein [Holm, bass] departed from the band? OB: Yeah. CoC: So what happened? OB: It's basically just the fact that we felt, and he felt that he wasn't as engaged and involved in the band as he should be. He had been feeling the same way for a while, and so we kind of just talked together. There was absolutely no hard feelings whatsoever, I mean totally cool, and he was like "This is the right thing to do", and it was a good feeling afterwards, and he's been totally cool about it. So we feel peace about what's been happening. I mean, like when we left for the States, he called us up and wished us good luck, you know, so nothing bad is happening. It's just that that was the right thing to do, and that's the way he felt, too. CoC: So Tor Magne [guitarist for Norwegian black metallers Lengsel] is playing bass for you on the tour. Are you going to get another bass player full time? OB: Well, the thing was that as soon as things happened and we talked to Eystein, we knew that we had to do something in order to get things going, and we just hooked up with him as soon as possible. We knew that he was a good musician, and we had been hanging out with him and his friends, and we knew that he was a good guy, I mean a guy that we definitely could work with, and so we just asked him "How do you feel about stepping in and working with us for a while?", and he was cool about it. I mean, he needed his time to think about it, but he was very cool. He does an excellent job. He's cool. I'm not sure what is going to happen in the future, I mean if Tor Magne is going to be a bandmember. For now, he's not, because that's just the way we've set it up. He's aware of it, and we're aware of it -- he's got his own band. I don't know, we will have to wait and see, basically. CoC: I wanted to compliment you on the Extol website that you guys have out. I don't know who's responsible for it, but it's really good. OB: It's our guy from the record company. CoC: Samuel [Durling, owner of Endtime Productions and member of Mental Destruction]? OB: Yeah. He is really good at what he does. Really good. CoC: It has a lot of good information on there, as far as if you're a fan of the band, then you'll find a bunch of good stuff on there. It seems like you guys care about your fans as far as getting information out and stuff like that. OB: That's cool. Nice to hear. He's just a great guy who's done tons of work for us. He's got an eye for nice stuff, you know. CoC: Yeah, the layout is awesome. OB: I mean the website looks nice, it's cool. All that he's done -- we're very satisfied with his work. Definitely. CoC: Have you written any new songs that you would use for new Schaliach music? OB: Yes, I have a few that definitely would not work for Extol, that would be good for Schaliach. Nobody is writing that kind of music right now, like good doom. I'm not talking like Paramaecium, I'm talking like Anathema. British doom. CoC: Any closing comments? OB: Oh, okay. If anybody wants to check out what Extol is all about, just go get hold of a copy of _Burial_, and check out the music and the lyrics and find out what we're all about. We're always glad to get new listeners. Also, for anyone who wants to check out our website, it's for everybody, and we wish all the best for everybody. Contact: WWW: http://www.durling.com/extol/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= F L O R I D A ' S N E W E S T B L A S P H E M Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Diabolic by: Adam Wasylyk Those who follow the underground are aware of the death metal exploits of Tampa, Florida's Diabolic. Making waves with their _City of the Dead_ demo, which received rave reviews from fans and critics alike, the death metal phenoms have just recently released their debut CD, _Supreme Evil_, on Conquest Music. Showing growth and boasting better production, _Supreme Evil_ still holds the characteristics that make Diabolic so intense: amazing drum work, great guitar leads and the ability to aurally crush the listener. Guitarist Brian Malone took his time getting back to me with our e-mail interview, giving me a great insight into the deadly quartet. Sit back, relax, and allow the decimation to take hold. CoC: We'll start off with the ol' zine standby; the band history, present line-up, etc.. Brian Malone: Diabolic was formed in January 1997, determined to become a force in the worldwide death metal scene. The line-up consists of: Paul Ouellette (vocals, guitars), Aantar "Blastmaster" Coates (drums), Ed Webb (bass) and myself, Brian Malone (guitars). In April '97 we released the three song demo _City of the Dead_, which has since been called "already classic" and "the best death metal demo ever released". We've pounded Florida clubs and venues with our furious live performances, toured the West Coast with L.A. death-crushers Infamy and headlined an East Coast tour. Festivals victimized include Milwaukee '98, New York's Demonfest, and the New England Death Metal Fest. CoC: Diabolic doesn't come to death metal listeners as quite a shock, as you've had a very successful demo (_City of the Dead_) that really got your name around. How many copies did it sell? BM: We've sold and traded over 2000 copies of the demo to the death-starved underground scene in 30 countries! Support has been incredible from the unholy legions of zines, radio, bands and fans/friends! Hail to the worldwide underground!! CoC: How did the deal come about to sign with Conquest Music? BM: We sent Conquest a promo pack containing the demo and a copy of the rest of our songs pre-produced on [an] 8-track. They witnessed the impact we've had on the Tampa scene and the worldwide underground and sent us the contract. It's a brutal label with Diabolic, Vader, and Monstrosity!! They've scored major label distribution in Canada (PhD) and Europe (Sony / Metal Age) and are definitely supportive of Diabolic!! CoC: You've just released a new album, _Supreme Evil_. Perhaps you could talk a bit about it, what someone could expect to hear on it. Favourite tracks? BM: _Supreme Evil_ was recorded at AudioLab Studios and mastered at Morrisound Studios. Ten tracks of dynamic death metal at blasphemous speeds!! Aggressive and creative song arrangements, cut-throat flesh-tearing guitar work, single-foot hyperblast drumming with scorching double kicks, thundering basslines, vocals ranging from demonic lows to soul-ripping highs, chaotic yet controlled leads, dark and powerful lyrics, and production that delivers all of the desired intensity!! Fans have written and told us their favourite tracks and they covered all of them! "View With Abhorrence" and "Ancient Hatred" seem to get a lot of notice! CoC: How has the Florida death metal scene helped shape Diabolic? After all, you've grown around what's considered a hot bed of death metal in the U.S. [or North America, for that matter]. BM: Definitely the scene in Tampa demands respect! With so many great veteran death metal bands here, the standards are high for newer bands to meet. Diabolic definitely meets those standards and gets total respect from those bands and the entire scene!! Our shows are packed and the pits are violent!! It's killer to look out and see members of Morbid Angel, Monstrosity, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, Angelcorpse, Acheron, etc. in the crowd!! CoC: Who would you list as your personal musical influences? Do they differ from those who influence the band as a whole? I noticed a bit of Florida death metal influence, particularly Morbid Angel in some the guitaring and to a smaller extent Obituary as well... BM: The major influences are basically shared by the band as a whole: Black Sabbath, Slayer, Mercyful Fate, old Metallica, Judas Priest, Maiden, Bathory, Venom, Sodom, Destruction, Coroner, and Kreator. We still listen to Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, Death, Deicide, Obituary, Malevolent Creation and black metal bands Emperor, Darkthrone, Satanic Slaughter, Marduk, etc.. CoC: I must admit the drumming aspect of Diabolic is quite impressive, akin to something that would appear on a Cryptopsy album or even something parallel to Culross' work on the new Malevolent Creation album [speed-wise, anyhow]. Tell me about Aantar Coates' drumming style and how it helps Diabolic... BM: Aantar's easily ranked among the world's fastest drummers, but his unique style and creativity definitely should not be overlooked! He plays with extreme emotion and continues to improve even more!! The Diabolic sound is the combination and chemistry between us with an elite level of excellence at all stations! CoC: Any upcoming shows or tours you could talk about? Perhaps another Milwaukee Metal Fest appearance? BM: We're working on an European tour for the fall and should hit North America after that. No Milwaukee appearance in '99 for Diabolic. CoC: I didn't get a copy of the lyrics of the new album, so perhaps you could go into some detail on what they're about. BM: "Sacrament of Fiends" is basically the sacrament of Diabolic and our plans to destroy limited narrow-minded thinking. "Ancient Hatred" describes the hypocrisy of religious warfare and terrorism in the name of an imaginary god. "Treacherous Scriptures" is a double-edged sword -- to the fools of religion it is indeed treacherous doctrine, to the free-thinkers a warning to read deeper into history and reality!!! "Grave Warnings" foretells the danger of self-fulfilled prophecies of doom. "Rack of Torment" delves into the mind of a madman and his sadistic compulsion to torture and maim. "View With Abhorrence" is blatant disgust for religious dependence, religious pessimism, and religious limitations. "Dwelling Spirits" is a tale crossing the supernatural barrier. "Wicked Inclination" defines the instinct of survival through cannibalism. "Supreme Evil" goes beyond the duality of eternal battle and the triumph of all that is Diabolic!!! CoC: What are your views as far as the death metal scene in North America? Still thriving? BM: The underground scene in North America is as strong as it ever was. There are scenes in all major cities despite mainstream restrictions and die-hard death metal speed demons will not be deprived!! CoC: And finally, Diabolic have really created a powerful death metal album with _Supreme Evil_. So where does the band go from here? Is there room for growth? BM: Diabolic will continue to pulverize the listener while progressing as musicians!! There's always room to improve and grow as a band. We are adding new facets to our sound while maintaining the straightforward demon-invoking death metal that pours from our dark souls!!! Thanx for the killer interview, Adam!!! Contact: Diabolic, P.O. Box 9689, Tampa, FL, 33674-9689 USA (t-shirts and merch list) mailto:blastmasters@hotmail.com Conquest Music, 4195 S. Tamiami Tr. #180, Venice, FL 34293-5112 USA (CD orders) WWW: http://www.conquestmusic.com Metal Age Recordings, P.O. Box 1147, 73330 Gingen, Germany (all European inquiries) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= WITH SUMMER'S ENTRANCE, FROST IS BANISHED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Mordecai by: Alex Cantwell Following the release of Mordecai's split EP with fellow Finns Immortal Souls, their half being entitled _Through the Woods, Towards the Dawn_ [CoC #39], I had the privilege of conversing with lead vocalist and guitarist Petri Erkkila. CoC: When did the band get started? Petri Erkkila: The band was formed with this line-up in '96. We did play before that with different line-ups, but '96 was the real "birth" year of Mordecai. And that was also the point where the musical style started to become the way it is today. CoC: Has any of the members of Mordecai been in any other bands? PE: Our other guitarist, Mika Haara, was in another band which split up, and then he joined Mordecai. Currently, I play the other guitar in Immortal Souls for their live shows. Our time is quite limited and we don't have too much time for any other projects, and we also like to put our full concentration and inspiration on Mordecai. CoC: If you had the time for other projects, what would you be interested in doing? PE: I can only speak for myself about this subject. I would like to do some very dark darkwave/ambient, like Raison d'Etre or Caul. I'd also like to do some -real- industrial like Mental Destruction. CoC: Why the name "Mordecai"? PE: The name Mordecai came up when a friend of ours just said it as a joke, because it sounded quite heavy, and it's a name of a man in the Old Testament. But after a while, we didn't come up with any good name, so we thought that Mordecai sounded a bit original and we decided to take it. CoC: Have you signed a deal with a label? PE: Just this week, we signed a deal with Little Rose Productions. They also released our split CD and the Finnish metal compilation _From Kaamos to Midnight Sun_ [CoC #36]. We will be recording a full length album at the end of this year or early next year. CoC: How has the response been to the split CD with Immortal Souls? PE: The response has been really good. It's been getting some airplay, too, and more reviews are coming all the time. And overall, the response has been better than we expected, since this is the first release from Mordecai. CoC: What kind of airplay? PE: It has been played in different stations in the US, here in Scandinavia and in Singapore. A friend of mine from the US once told me: "Know what? I just heard your song "Dawn Eternal" on the radio yesterday", and it was quite a surprise. It was also the first time that I heard of our CD getting airplay. CoC: How did you get started in metal? PE: When we heard Vengeance Rising's _Human Sacrifice_, it hit us like a hammer. If we hadn't heard that album back then, I guess we would have never started listening to death metal or other extreme styles of music. CoC: You're speaking for the whole band when you say this? PE: Well, I can speak for the original forming members, including myself, Miika and Matti. Mika came to our band later, so this doesn't include him. CoC: What are your musical influences? PE: It's really hard to name any specific musical influences. We listen to quite a lot of classical music, which has influenced us quite a lot. CoC: What bands do you respect currently? Have you been accepted in the Finnish metal scene? PE: Some bands that I have been listening to lately are the great Savior Machine, Antestor, Veni Domine and Paramaecium. Savior Machine is one band which I respect greatly. Of course there are always some "true" metallers who think that we shouldn't be playing this kind of music. But there has been also a lot of good feedback also; people have enjoyed our music and live shows. CoC: With whom have you played shows? PE: We have played some shows with several bands, such as Immortal Souls and Deuteronomium. This Summer we're also playing the DP festival in Norway with Extol, Vaakevandring and others. CoC: What is the immediate future for the band? PE: We're now writing new material for our full length album. We're also playing some shows with Immortal Souls to promote our split CD. The rest of this year will be spent with writing new stuff and playing shows. CoC: Tell me about the new material you are working on, new CD title, etc.. PE: Our new material is a good progression from our EP material. It's a bit more technical, and of course it's still melodic black/death metal. It's more brutal than the previous stuff. Clean vocals are used a lot better this time. The new material is turning out to be a great progression from our previous material. The new CD title will be announced later; sorry, it's too early to discuss that. CoC: How has the rise of Sentenced, Amorphis and Stratovarius on the Finnish charts and also worldwide recognition affected the growth of metal there? PE: There has been more and more metal bands on the charts over here in the last few years, and bigger metal bands are recognized more and more. There was this trend about four or five years ago that people "turned" from extreme metal to hardcore or even techno stuff, but it seems that nowadays people are starting to listen to more metal again. CoC: It seems like there are some extremely talented metal musicians hiding away in Finland that gain instant popularity the minute they release their music, such as Children of Bodom, for instance. Do you think that the success of the bigger Finnish metal bands has brought fresh inspiration to young, hopeful musicians there? PE: Yeah, I believe that when bigger metal bands succeed in Finland and outside Finland, it does encourage and inspire new bands to start and new people to start making music. Bands like Amorphis and Children of Bodom have done very well outside Finland, so they are showing that metal still has a chance. CoC: Would you consider the social climate in Finland to be conservative or liberal, and in light of that, how is metal viewed in the public eye? PE: Well, lately metal has been viewed very controversially in the public eye (in media, etc.), because a little while ago, there was this Satanic ritual killing where four Satanists aged 16 to a bit over 20 killed a man, then they mutilated him, and even ate some of the corpse (plus a lot of other really, really sick stuff). They had been listening to black metal during the killing and the ritual, so metal music and especially black metal was in the media for quite some time. Of course this has affected even innocent people. A lot of metal people, with black clothes, etc. are often looked upon with a bad eye. CoC: Final comments... PE: Once again, thanks a lot for the interview! You also asked me if I was familiar with CoC at all... well, I have read some of the past issues, but that's all. I really liked them, and I'm glad we got featured in it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / Y Y \ \____|__ /____/___ /____/|__|_| / \/ \/ \/ _____ .__ / _ \ _________.__.| | __ __ _____ / /_\ \ / ___< | || | | | \/ \ / | \\___ \ \___ || |_| | / Y Y \ \____|__ /____ >/ ____||____/____/|__|_| / \/ \/ \/ \/ Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed 9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended 7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities 5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters 3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into 0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs! Agalloch - _Pale Folklore_ (The End Records, May 1999) by: Brian Meloon (9 out of 10) This is Agalloch's debut release. Their music is a dark brand of gothic rock mixed with metallic elements. The best comparison I can make is to The Nefilim's _Zoon_. Agalloch are generally lighter, but are similar in atmosphere, their use of clean and distorted guitars, and especially the jangly, twangy clean guitar tone. Most of the music is slow and gloomy, but in a goth rock vein rather than a doom vein. However, the songs are generally quite long, and go through a variety of tempo and style changes. The band does an excellent job of building and maintaining an atmosphere. Keyboards are used tastefully, and aren't thrown in where they aren't needed. The vocals are mainly male rasped/growled vocals, with ethereal female vocals and clean male choir vocals added in a few places. The production is very good, although some of the lead guitar tones are a little weak at points, and this really hurts the effect that the band is going for. The playing is solid, though there isn't much here that is technically demanding. The guitar leads are tasteful and appropriate, focusing on melody instead of flash. Overall, this is an impressive offering. It has a maturity and confidence that one wouldn't expect from a debut album. This should please fans of heavier gothic rock and many metal fans as well. Amsvartner - _Dreams_ (Blackened, May 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Amsvartner have hit a vein of gold with their debut album: it is musically relatively original and the writing and playing is also of high quality. _Dreams_ is a challenge to adequately describe, but I like a challenge and music which is interesting to listen to -is- often challenging to describe. An influence which is distinct in this material is the melody-infused riffing style which goes back to such bands as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest in heavy metal. However, this is not some heavy metal rehash release (the fact that it isn't is exactly what makes the above noted stylistic factors so endearing). It is an album rooted in the more melodic death/black metal tradition but is not one of the many derivative releases which emerge in these styles seemingly every minute. Amsvartner additionally combine some funk-styled jazzy bass/rhythm section work which is blended into parts of _Dreams_ well, something I doubted was possible if you weren't Cynic. The vocal delivery of Marcus Johansson is powerful and distorted, but understandable and emotion-filled. With a number of different vocal styles used throughout the album and sometimes layered, it is not only the music which is worthy of note. I have not described all that comprises _Dreams_, but these are the main factors. It is not a perfect album and each song does not individually brand itself in your head from the first, nor is everything Amsvartner do to my liking, but _Dreams_ is an excellent debut record and absolutely worthy of your attention. Anathema - _Judgement_ (Music for Nations, June 1999) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) "As ye sow, so shall ye weep" is the inscription upon a photo by former Anathema vocalist Darren White on the back cover of the _Judgement_ digipak. A promising sign for this lyrically rich album, as is more than usually the case with Anathema. With the departure of influential bass player and part-time songwriter and lyricist Duncan Patterson (replaced by Dave Pybus) and the return of original drummer John Douglas, Anathema seem to have entered a whole new stage in their career, having inclusively signed a four record deal with Music for Nations (therefore leaving Peaceville after about seven years with them). With all these changes, Anathema reappear with a new and even more remarkable album just a year after the release of _Alternative 4_. However, ever since _The Silent Enigma_, Anathema have progressively been losing their once great ability to create powerful crescendos that were carefully built and then exploded in rage and anguish, as in "The Silent Enigma", "A Dying Wish", "Restless Oblivion" and "Sunset of Age", and that is the one thing that _Judgement_ really lacks and practically the only reason why I'm not giving it a 10 out of 10. Only one song comes anywhere close to achieving this, although in a different way, which is "Emotional Winter" -- the guitar at the beginning of which reminded me of _Love Over Gold_-era Dire Straits. Daniel Cavanagh's unique sorrowful guitar style also continues to drift away from the old _The Silent Enigma_ days, and some more of what he used to do back then would have been welcome here (his guitar work is still excellent, but different). The same can be said about Vincent Cavanagh's voice: though technically superior, his ability to create powerful contrasts through the occasional use of a harsher style has been practically forsaken since _The Silent Enigma_ -- nowadays it would hardly fit in the music anyway and only much smaller contrasts are created. _Judgement_ is nevertheless overall superior to both _Alternative 4_ and _Eternity_ -- this hour-long, fourteen-track album (including the "Transacoustic" digipak bonus track) contains a lot of material that might deserve a 10 out of 10 rating by itself; songs like "Parisienne Moonlight", "Emotional Winter", "Anyone, Anywhere", "One Last Goodbye", "Forgotten Hopes" and "Deep". Vincent Cavanagh's ever-improving clean vocals join the piano and the increasingly frequent acoustic guitars to weave a truly impressive and beautiful album that shows Anathema maturing and perfecting this current style of theirs once again. To put it simply, this is soft, remarkably beautiful and heartfelt-sounding, doomy, -excellent- emotional music. Arch Enemy - _Burning Bridges_ (Century Media, June 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (9.5 out of 10) With this latest offering, Arch Enemy have at last succeeded in creating the album I'd always hoped they would. _Black Earth_ stated the band's commitment to brutality while also displaying their ability and desire to add melodic, emotional, and ultimately "softer" elements to their visibly-but-not-derivatively Carcass-influenced, head-down-riffing style. On _Burning Bridges_ the potential of this dynamic combination has finally been realised. Where last effort _Stigmata_ was a little too ponderous and got lost in its own technicality at times, _BB_ finds the perfect balance between these two opposing forces. What lets down even albums by great melodic death bands like In Flames is that they sound a little too happy to top my list of favourites. Arch Enemy, though, have leads and guitar harmony parts which could put many of these bands to shame, but they retain that spark of sheer brutality which is a part of all my favourite death metal albums: the crushing riffs, the lethal drum assault and thundering bass and the brutal vocals. _BB_ is dark like a death metal album should be, but the use of melody in the guitar work push it limitlessly far above the level of a standard death metal release like _Gallery of Suicide_ or _Serpents of the Light_. Incredible blazing leads blister out of songs like "Dead Inside", while "Demonic Science" showcases an almost prog-rock sounding breakdown and "Silverwing"'s chorus section is in major chords. What I love most, though, is the way Arch Enemy slip between the two different feels. "Pilgrim" begins with a hugely melodic, very heavy metal, lead/harmony part, but when Johan Liiva's crushing vocals enter, so does a heavy, percussive, death metal sounding verse riff, then, when the chorus comes in, the two opposites are expertly combined together. "Angelclaw" follows a similarly brilliant dynamic pattern. It took me a while to get into _BB_ and realise how damn brilliant it is, so give it a chance, because Arch Enemy have gone out on a limb here and managed to pool their considerable talents and emerge with one of the year's best albums. Carpe Tenebrum - _Mirrored Hate Painting_ (Hammerheart, June 1999) by: Adam Wasylyk (7 out of 10) Containing Astennu (Dimmu Borgir) on guitars with Nagash (ex-Dimmu Borgir / Covenant) doing the vocal work and Peter Tagtgren (Hypocrisy) twiddling the knobs at his Abyss Studio, the elements came together in an explosive manner resulting in a masterful, hateful piece of work called _Mirrored Hate Painting_. However, there's a problem (I think...); more on that later. It's not difficult to describe the music Carpe Tenebrum plays; picture mid-era Dimmu and a touch of Covenant and you pretty much have an idea of where this band's coming from. The musical diversity is appreciated, from breakneck blast beats to soothing guitar solos. The production is top notch, which allows everything to be heard. It's hard to nail down specific influences; the music at times lends itself to traditional black metal while at the same time having different influences (ala Covenant) that work off that sound beautifully. And the problem I was talking about? During track four, "Mirrored in Scarry Skies" it becomes painfully apparent that there's an odd, repeating sound behind the wall of sound Carpe Tenebrum produce. It's hard to describe; the first three tracks sound flawless, but sometime during the fourth track the sound pops in. I'm guessing that it is not meant to be there, meaning this CD could very well be flawed, most likely in the post-Tagtgren period up until the CD found its way into my mailbox. If this "sound" is meant to be there... well, it detracts from the overall listen, downgrading this CD from an 8.5 to a 7. So even though there's some great material here, be forewarned that this CD may be flawed. Dark Tranquillity - _Projector_ (Century Media, June 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) I usually find reviews of releases which I love almost beyond life itself, the hardest to write. _Projector_, however, I am finding it difficult to make a judgement on. I am stuck with two opposing thoughts: 1) this is a good record and a diverse and different one; 2) I don't like this as much as _The Mind's I_ and it sounds somewhat disjointed. Reconciling these two factors is difficult. Dark Tranquillity have changed considerably on their fourth album. The greatest single difference is the reduction in speed: the band rarely blaze through songs with the thrash/speed inspired style of old. For the most part, however, the tone of the album is closer to songs like "Constant" from _The Mind's I_, in that the guitars chop with calculation at a mid-paced or slow pace. On songs like "To a Bitter Halt" the sound this produces reminds strongly of material from _TMI_. However, the majority of the songs have quite a different feel. "FreeCard" begins and intersperses itself heavily throughout with piano, while "UnDo Control" is heavy on female vocals and has a chorus refrain which follows a sharp, percussive rhythm very unlike previous Dark Tranquillity material. Keyboard and classic elements intersperse the album but the real shock comes with "Day to End", a track which begins with programmed drums and is sung in clean and almost crooning vocals by Mikael Stanne. It is a bold step, but not one I enjoy very much. The majority of the changes wrought on _Projector_ can be described by comparison to the last two Sentenced records. The guitar work has a similarly hard rock-styled poise and the clean and crooning vocals definitely bear a strong resemblance. Basically, I haven't grown with the band. "The Sun Fired Blanks" and "On Your Time" are among my favourite Dark Tranquillity songs, being akin to the old style, and the new elements in them are worked in to great effect. Songs like "FreeCard" or "ThereIn" I am half-way to loving, and the remainder, culminating in "Day to End", I can respect for being pretty well written and thought out, but I am not that into them. I think it is very possible a lot of Dark Tranquillity's audience will appreciate the direction taken on _Projector_, but for myself I am not as enamoured with their new direction as I was with their previous output. Dawn of Relic - _One Night in Carcosa_ by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) (Wicked World, June 1999) My central problem with _One Night in Carcosa_ is that it lacks aggression. I don't mean because the music written is not aggressive, that wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but that the way it is played and produced lacks aggression, which would improve the record, at least to my taste. What DoR play could roughly be described as black metal, but that -would- be a rough description. Apart from fleeting moments where the influence of Mayhem or Burzum is evident, the overall sound only borrows from the black metal style and many aspects (the drums, especially in their emphasis on double bass, for example) sway more towards death metal. DoR utilise keyboards and some melodic progressions which are common to the atmospherically inclined section of the black metal movement, but this said they are not even close to being in the league of such greats as Emperor or Satyricon. The guitar work on here is pretty average and its sound is passable; the drum work can be pretty good with some impressive breaks occasionally pulled off. The vocals lack variation, however, and are somewhat faceless. Overall, DoR isn't anything I have a passion for disliking, but then again it isn't something which gives me much pleasure to listen to either. Various - _Death... Is Just the Beginning 5_ by: Adam Wasylyk (7 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, June 1999) One of metal's most popular compilation series, version 5.0 serves to continue the legacy that prior volumes have established. A two-disk set (as were the past two), it features an end of the millennium update on who's on Nuclear Blast. As with every compilation, there's the good and bad. Disk 1 contains Nuke Blast's more aggressive artists, which in most cases are either death or black metal. Covenant, Dismember, Sinister, Hypocrisy, Gorgoroth, In Flames, Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon and In Flames are but a few bands on disk one. Disk 2 offers the more subtle (and lesser known) bands on the label, and at the same time is the weaker of the two disks. Where Therion and Dismal Euphony are cool, the retro metal shit like Primal Fear, Hollow, HammerFall, Narnia, Sinner, Pegazus just doesn't fly. It's good to see a fair amount of previously unreleased/rare material here, as it's another reason to think about picking this up. As per usual, if you're just getting into metal, this is a great starting point. If you're already engrossed in the metal scene, there's no reason to pick this up unless you absolutely need to hear a couple of unreleased tracks. Dreams of Sanity - _Masquerade_ (Hall of Sermon, 1999) by: Alex Cantwell (2 out of 10) The most important thing that you need to know about this CD is that Dreams of Sanity has a female singer. Of course, that is not a bad thing immediately, but this one in particular is in a very chipper mood and is singing away happily over mid-paced European metal / hard rock with a lot of keyboards. The music would be enjoyable if not for this happy little bird singing the happiest of melodies about operas and masquerades over it. Forget this, man. I am open to a lot of different music, but this I cannot take. She's like Doro in a very happy mood, except I imagine this woman to look like your mom rather than a metal princess like Doro. She's like Anneke from The Gathering in a better mood than she is already in, but without the running shoes. One of the songs even has double bass, but even it cannot be saved from the pit of gayness that this CD descends further into with every track. Forget this! This one shall go into the circular file immediately. Oh, look at it fly! Enthroned - _The Apocalypse Manifesto_ (Blackened, May 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Enthroned's style of black metal on this release is heavily influenced by the styles of such frenetic and violent performers as Mayhem and Immortal, although Enthroned are not even close to the strata which these bands occupy. Previously, Enthroned were somewhat of a joke to many in the black metal scene, but now I could justifiably see them being taken seriously, going on the strength of _The Apocalypse Manifesto_. Having been produced by Peter Tagtgren, the band do have a clear and powerful sound, though I must say Tagtgren's productions are starting to sound a mite formulaic when so many albums have them. Enthroned blast successfully and clearly enough through fast sections and manage in some cases to use acoustic or melodic interplay, particularly in less speed-obsessed sections, to give _TAM_ a bit more depth and create some atmosphere. "Post Mortem Penetrations" is pretty successful in this respect, though it is no "Freezing Moon". Overall, a more than adequate third release for the band, but certainly nothing to worry Emperor, Dawn, Immortal et al; they are not threatened by Enthroned. Eternal Tears of Sorrow - _Vilda Mannu_ (Spinefarm, December 1998) by: David Rocher (8 out of 10) Now, this is a -damn- good surprise. With a name as feeble as "Eternal Tears of Sorrow", I was more than readied to valiantly stand before a deluge of gooey tearful sweetness, in the rather infuriating ways of Theatre of Tragedy or MacBeth. It rapidly dawned upon me that I had been truly misled; as soon, in fact, as the swift introductory riff and massive rhythmic section of "Northern Doom" kicked in -- EToS in fact play a form of melodic, heavy Scandinavian death metal, and they do it rather well. Their music's sonorities are unusual enough, sounding like a melodious fusion of heavy metal and old traditional tunes, and definitely distant enough from the wearing tones of scene leaders In Flames; and these Finns also unmistakably know how to pick a catchy and memorable hookline. The sporadic insertion of keyboards succeeds in adding cold touches of atmosphere, but EToS are smart enough not to make this an overwhelming habit which could in have spoiled the goods. _Vilda Mannu_ demonstrates cool musicianship, and can pride itself in very good, creative metal music. EToS do indulge in female vocals twice on the album, but once again in a rather characteristic way: ethereal, soothing and laid back on one track, these chants almost sound scornful and cynically cold on the other, proving that this trio know how to keep clear of the faded paths taken by most nauseatingly bland users of such artefacts. With a nice, fat sound crafted by Ahti Kortelainen of the mythical Tico-Tico studios, EToS's second album reveals personality in their approach to death metal, and that is definitely the vein they want to delve deeper into -- I don't see that the scene really needs another In Flames clone out there, and obviously nor do EToS. Forgive Me Not - _Tearfall_ (Metal Age, December 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (6.5 out of 10) It seems that Sentenced's _Down_ and _Frozen_ albums made a big impact on the musical consciousness of this Russian band. However, I can forgive (no pun intended) Forgive Me Not for this to a certain degree, as they are evidently trying to find their feet and, this being their debut, have not yet quite "discovered" their own style. As Sentenced-esque stuff goes, though, I have to be honest: this is mediocre. The vocalist needs to do a lot of work if he wants to get himself to the level of Ville Laihala or any of -his- contemporaries. Apart from that, the production is good for what looks like a pretty independent job and certain parts (like the attitude infused female vocal tirade which begins "Heaven Island") are at least worthy of note and could come in handy later. Overall, though, this is pretty unremarkable and doesn't match up to such bands as Cumdeo (also from Russia), who have found their own style and are already well on their way to greatness. God Dethroned - _Bloody Blasphemy_ (Metal Blade, July 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) If you hate Jesus, religion, priests, churches, the Bible and all things else related to Christianity, then you'll totally fall in love with the work of Holland's powerful black/death metal quartet God Dethroned. Fuck, if you like good fast-paced, well executed numbers with a lot of speed and crunch to it, God Dethroned is your band. From the totally powerful opening number of "Serpent King" to "Boiling Blood", "Under the Golden Wings of Death" and finally the album closer (and title track) "Bloody Blasphemy", God Dethroned's crusade to shit on anything religious is loud and clear. Riffs of breakneck speed and vocals that'll scare the willy out of your neighbours are abundant here and it's no wonder this band is plagued by religious groups and government agencies in their hometown and other European cities. All in the name of God Dethroned, my friends. This album not only kicks Jesus' ass, but our asses too. May God Dethroned have mercy on your soul. Godflesh - _Us and Them_ (Earache, May 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Godflesh have consistently succeeded in creating albums with dark and oppressive atmospheres. On 1996's _Songs of Love and Hate_ they did this primarily with a guitar-driven style where the backing rhythms were rather sombre. This made the guitars the main instrument. By the time the first 10 or 20 seconds of _Us and Them_'s opener "I, Me, Mine" have gone by, any listener will realise that Godflesh's sixth album is quite a different kettle of fish to _SoLaH_. Instead, it is more akin to _SoLaH_'s remix effort, _Love and Hate in Dub_, in that, much of the time, it is driven percussively and by thumping drum and bass and hip-hop rhythms. "I, Me, Mine", "Defiled" and others do not even throw a riff in under these drum and bass rhythms (as many amateur bands might feel the need to), but I find myself (not being a listener to drum and bass and the like) quite getting into them. These tracks are catchy in their own way and, most importantly, don't break with what Godflesh have always done: create interesting and dark music. Tiny notes of guitar jump out of these tracks and Broadrick's voice is given an inhuman quality by a pitchshifting distortion. There are also more "traditional" sounding Godflesh tracks on display, which, with huge, slow and oppressive riffs repeating and percussion building, see Godflesh creating an oppressive and depressive storm of sound in the way they more commonly do. At 64 minutes, _Us and Them_ is a lot to take in, especially in one sitting, and I find it a little bit of a struggle as an album, but it does have some great tracks and creates a blanket of depressive, atmospheric industrial sound which is hard to throw off. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_ (Nuclear Blast, June 1999) by: David Rocher (10 out of 10) Hypocrisy's sixth album is another fine stepping stone in this trio's irresistible ascent, that testifies to the immense talent that has never ceased to ooze from this band since the inception of their unearthly oppressing _The Fourth Dimension_. After mastermind Tagtgren had threatened to reduce this band to ash two years ago, due to the lack of motivation demonstrated by partners in crime Lars Szoke and Mikael Hedlund, it seems this warning succeeded in sending boiling new blood gushing through the band's veins, unceasingly driving them to reach new summits in heaviness, melody and dazzling inspiration. With the use of synthetics now well and truly integrated in their sound, one of Sweden's most crucial death metal bands have composed an album destined to reign among the finest death metal releases this year, and possibly ever. Akin to a heavier, more atmospheric heir to the amazing _Abducted_, this eponym masterpiece boasts fantastic canorous riffing and a pounding, truly devastating rhythm section enriched with unexpected breaks and shifts. Peter's leads are better crafted than they ever were and his fantastic use of changing vocal styles testifies to this band's irrepressible rise to the pantheon of metal legends. Obviously, a talented producer such as Tagtgren could only craft the most flawless of sounds for his own band, and what he has pretty much achieved for this masterpiece is simply a perfect blend of crushing, roaring heaviness and finely distorted melody, which is awe-inspiring. _Hypocrisy_, people, is beyond all doubt one of 1999's major chapters, and basically another lesson in death metal dealt to the entire scene by past masters in the art of metal music extremism. Missing out on this release is good enough a reason for vicious alien life forms to abduct you and abusively perform crippling proctology on your worthless mortal coil. Immolation - _Failures for Gods_ (Metal Blade, June 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (9.5 out of 10) Once again, Immolation have produced an album which grabs my ears, eyes and brain and drags me mercilessly into their twisted realm, where brutal, dark death metal is eternally entwined with engrossing anti-religious sentiments. The music -is- the initial and most important part of Immolation, but they are so much more than a band I merely listen to. Following the lyrics and engrossing yourself in the themes enhances the listening experience of all Immolation's albums and _Failures for Gods_ is no exception. While the music assaults your senses and creates a hugely oppressive, dark atmosphere all by itself, the lyrical themes enhance this at least twofold. _FfG_ is a progression for the band in that it is heavier and doesn't incorporate quite as much of the despair-ridden melody which was so resonantly part of tracks like "Burn With Jesus" or "Nailed to Gold" on _Here in After_. Songs such as "Failures for Gods" and "Your Angel Died" still use this technique, but _FfG_ is far more centred around being downright heavy and brutal (which is also accentuated by the wider-ranging production), while capturing an atmosphere at least as powerful and affecting as _HiA_. Build-ups are somewhat more important and the band are more calculated with their riffs. The poundingly simple riff which comes in at the three minute mark on "Once Ordained" is punishing in itself, but is augmented incalculably by the raging build-up which lays the foundations for it. Likewise, the last two minutes of the album, the almighty riff, and its accompanying melodies, which marks the end of "The Devil I Know", is atmospheric and affecting in the best senses of the word -- and via the best medium, basic instruments. I have nothing against keyboards as such, and they can be used by bands to great effect (Nocturnus, for example), but often I just want atmosphere the Autopsy way: raw, creepy and basic. Unless Morbid Angel release a new record this year, I don't think any death metal album will be able to challenge Immolation in the extremity or brilliance stakes. This is essential listening. Internal Bleeding - _Driven to Conquer_ (Pavement, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (4 out of 10) By the time their third song comes around, I was already tired of Internal Bleeding's brutally charged (at times) effort _Driven to Conquer_. The reason? Too same sounding for the most part, and to be honest, the music just doesn't live up to what a lot of other death metal bands are doing these days. While the vocals of singer Ray Lebron do hit a truly guttural stride at times, in the end not even some serious guitar riffing and double-kicks could save this from mediocrity. Only salvageable tracks are "Conditioned" and "Slavesoul". Fans of the band, go ahead and check 'em out. Not a fan? You're not missing much. Killer Khan - _Kill Devil Hills_ (, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Holy Ozzy Osbourne?! Holy King Diamond!? What the fuck is going on here?! With a true nod to such masters of song writing and singing as Ozzy Osbourne and King Diamond (his solo effort stuff) and the powerful works of such metal greats as Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, Killer Khan lead screamer/guitarist/songwriter Killian Khan goes all out here with an impressive array of ideas that spew forth from _Kill Devil Hills_. With a great sound (think a modern take on '80s era Ozzy material for the most part) and impressive pipes from the vocalist, Killer Khan rock the house and help rejuvenate a lost form of metal music nowadays. While not groundbreaking, and definitely not the best of this musical genre (but close!), Killer Khan's nine-song offering is worthy of cranking. I'm getting flashbacks of sitting in my basement apartment listening to music with headphones on and not a care in the world. Wow! This is too much, people. What a splendid surprise this is in this month's review batch. Best cuts: title track "Kill Devil Hills", "Evilution" and "Computer Icon". If you at all still care about metal music circa 1988 (but with a more updated sound quality), then Killer Khan is your choice this month. Great effort. Contact: P.O. Box 1466, Mooresville, North Carolina, USA, 28115 mailto:KhanMetal@webtv.net WWW: http://www.Killerkhan.com Konkhra - _The Freakshow EP_ (Diehard, June 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (4 out of 10) If you bet your bottom dollar on the new Konkhra album being the be-all-and-end-all of the thrash/death fraternity this year, then God damn did -you- back the wrong horse. Konkhra have got about as close to doing a "Metallica" as I think they could've without at least passing by a mirror, taking a good hard look, and realising what they were doing. Okay, Anders' vocals are still relatively aggressive, despite a slight tone change, but the performances, and especially production, of the guitar "attack" and accompanying drums has about as much kick as Poison on a bad day. The songs are founded on basic, rocky groove-laced structures with Anders' now somewhat indistinct vocals over the top (he hasn't got enough Hetfield, Keenan, or what have you, in him to stand out sufficiently over such bare music) and the drums, guitar and bass chugging along rather uninterestingly below. "This EP is pretty fucking good... If you don't think so you're probably deaf or just plain stupid!", says the inlay. Well, I don't feel stupid, but maybe I am a bit deaf, 'cause I keep spinning this piece of plastic which says "Konkhra" on it, but all that comes out when I play it is bad B-side songs from the sessions for Corrosion of Conformity's _Deliverance_ where Pepper must have had a serious illness. In fact, I think something afflicted the whole band, because they decided it would be a great idea to churn out bare sounding and unconvincingly sung versions of Iron Maiden's "Prowler" and Motorhead's "Orgasmatron". Nope, I was right the first time: it is the new Konkhra EP, but it isn't very good at all, that's all. Lacuna Coil - _In a Reverie_ (Century Media, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) Some are saying that Lacuna Coil's latest effort is far superior to what The Gathering did with their spacey, lounge-like atmospheric release _How to Build a Planet?_. I can see (and hear) that in the band's full-length release for Century Media, as their sound has strengthened since last year's stunning six-song self-titled debut. Led by frontgal Cristina Scabbia and male vocalist Andrea Ferro, the Italian quintet work well off one-another, with Cristina's beautiful vocal arrangements accompanying the skilled musicianship and sometimes gothic sound of the band as it plays out. _In a Reverie_ works for two reasons: 1) the band knows that they have a talented ensemble to work with; and 2) their ideas of beauty and serenity are carefully executed within each and every song here. It's beautiful work that is etched here and Lacuna Coil should be praised for that. On the downside, this does at times sound too much like The Gathering or even the long gone (I haven't heard a release from them in a while) Dreamside. But as sounds do sound a bit similar at times, Lacuna Coil do break away from that and solidify their debut with numbers like "To Myself I Turned" and "Reverie". This is a good release and, to tell you the truth, for those of you still skeptical, Lacuna Coil deserve a listen. Merauder - _Five Deadly Venoms_ (Century Media, 1999) by: Matthias Noll (3 out of 10) In 1995 Merauder released their debut _Master Killer_. This record was far from being innovative or groundbreaking, but I still consider _Master Killer_ one of the best hardcore/metal crossover releases in the last couple of years. Singer Jorge left the band after the debut, got replaced, is now back in the band and besides these troubles one would expect four years to be sufficient for a band to unleash two or even three albums -- wrong. Basically, _Five Deadly Venoms_ sounds as if Merauder have released leftovers from the recording sessions for _Master Killer_. I´m talking about leftovers in the true meaning of the word here -- songs that just wouldn't have been good enough to make it onto the first record. The Merauder trademarks are still there -- slow to medium-paced songs with riffing that is somewhat similar to Bolt Thrower (with a different sound, though), crushing hardcore/metal breaks, occasional Slayer-esque guitar harmonies and Jorge's brutal, shouted vocals. Although all these ingredients are used again, Merauder just didn't manage to utilize them and forge efficient songs. The incorporation of very slight changes, a couple less metal and more hardcore tunes, some acoustic guitar sections, etc. doesn't improve the whole thing. In total they make this record appear even more pointless and uninspired. This is even worse if you consider that the CD is only 30 minutes long, including an intro and a Cro Mags cover version, and I can't help but feel not only highly disappointed but ripped off too. Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - _The Keys to the Gates of Apocalypse_ by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) (The End Records 1999) This is one BASTARD of a release! ONE song -- seventy two minutes long. I think to call this an "epic" disc is leading you to believe the song/release has some type of ensuing finality. Couldn't prove it by me. When you think about it, the prolongation of _TKttGoA_ makes Iron Butterfly's _In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida_ look like an Anal Cunt track! Know what I mean? Now seriously, the skinny on Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra is _TKttGoA_ is the much anticipated second release of MVD (a side-project of Kniaz Varggoth of Nokturnal Mortum notoriety). Having given this some thought, by way of constructive advice, don't go into this release thinking "Killer! Another _Goat Horns_ or _To the Gates of Blasphemous Fire_." This line of thinking will disappoint. Rather, consider MVD in its own right. To illustrate my point, think of Kniaz Varggoth's two bands as you might think of Danny Lilker's involvement with Nuclear Assault and Brutal Truth. Similar? Hell yea, but the same? Fuck no! _The Keys to the Gates of Apocalypse_ is beautiful in -every- excavated, hollow sense of the word. Black metal in parts pitted harmoniously against icy, wind-cracked minimalism. So obfuscous and thick is this release that it almost smothers the soul. In no way is _TKttGoA_ for the weak or feeble and certainly not for the narrow-minded or mentally bankrupt. Absorb and digest this Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra release in one sitting or twelve, but -DO- give _TKttGoA_ seventy-two minutes of your day, year, or life, for all I care... That much, it is definitely worthy. No Innocent Victim - _Flesh and Blood_ (Victory, 1999) by: Alex Cantwell (9 out of 10) In a simple explanation, this is straight up new skool hardcore done right. Victory has done a good thing in signing these guys who began their recording career with Rescue Records. No Innocent Victim take the style that Sick of it All pioneered and make it heavier and punchier. I suppose that the punchiness is due to the production and engineering of Little Rock, Arkansas' very capable Barry Poynter. The heaviness is completely due to the band, though -- after several tours and two previous albums, they are getting more experienced and mo' betta. The song structures are completely tight, and you had better believe that they pull it off live, as I have witnessed this also. Many bands are succeeding at this whole new school hardcore game, fusing metal with hardcore energy and ideologies, but few can do it with the conviction that these guys can. _Flesh and Blood_ is twelve great songs of uncompromising fury and rage -- some of it aimed confrontationally at themselves, and some of it aimed towards those who would persecute them and their integrity. Positive energy ensues with the touch of the play button -- are you going to connect to it? Contact: Victory Records, PO Box 146546, Chicago, IL 60614 USA WWW: http://www.victoryrecords.com Obtained Enslavement - _Soulblight_ (Napalm Records, 1999) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) _Soulblight_ is the second release of this gathering of Norwegian black metal musicians, following 1997's _Witchcraft_ (released through Wounded Love Records). Neither style nor sound have changed significantly; Obtained Enslavement are still dedicated to the creation of fast, intense and heavily classically-influenced black metal. Like _Witchcraft_, _Soulblight_ has several unusual characteristics. Something that stands out is the rather unusual use of piano (handled by Aeternus' bass player Morrigan) on "The Dark Night of Souls" and "Soulblight"; the result is very good. Complexity is very high most of the time, with guitars, keyboard, drums and vocals all being very busy simultaneously at high speeds -- this is music that you need to really pay attention to in order to enjoy it. The rather rough Grieghallen production takes away some clarity, but helps make the band a bit more different from the rest -- which they certainly are. Complex and inspired songwriting and aggressive and technical playing make _Soulblight_ a superb album. October Tide - _Grey Dawn_ (Avantgarde Records, May 1999) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) I expected the combination of Marten Hanssen's (formerly of A Canorous Quintet) anguished vocals with October Tide's doom metal to produce remarkable results. However, it turns out that during the slower parts of the album I tend to miss Jonas Renske's _Rain Without End_ vocals; nevertheless, Hanssen's vox suit the rest of the album very well. _Grey Dawn_ is actually overall somewhat faster than _Rain Without End_, which consequently helps Hanssen's vocals. October Tide's music also tends to sound a bit less like Katatonia than before, as some almost Swedish metal-like guitar work is mixed with the sorrowful guitar lines and riffs. The guitar work is very good throughout the album; it is also helped by the excellent production that gives the album a sombre, but yet remarkably clear, sound. The digipak's artwork is equally sombre and well done. Two tracks stand out from the rest: "Floating" and "Lost in the Dark". A few minutes later, the album comes to an end with a cold acoustic guitar track. In short, Katatonia's Renske and Norrman, this time helped by Hanssen, have done it again with October Tide. Sadistik Exekution - _K.A.O.S._ (Osmose, April 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (1 out of 10) I don't get Sadistik Exekution at all. Chaotic music is good, I like chaotic music, but there's a limit to everything. I can't say I don't admire the band's technical ability for recording something as fast and, especially rhythmically, complex as _K.A.O.S_, live in the studio, but being able to admire how fast a band can play does not mean I enjoy their music. Sadistik Execution play really fast nearly all the time and, to be honest, much as they create a whirlwind of noise, listening to their noise is less interesting than listening to a recording of a whirlwind, I imagine. Rok's vocals are faceless and boring, the drums sound totally over-trebled and ridiculously tinny, the guitars scale the fretboard with uninteresting chords and progressions, the bass occasionally gets its chance to do some "breaks", which are just wank, and the production, well, it's like someone wanted to design the perfect sound to bore people: I wonder whether -good- music would be listenable with such a sound behind it. There are five bonus tracks on this release, but they're all on the album, just in different versions which sound better, even though I think some of them are originals where _K.A.O.S._ contains re-recordings. I have found maybe half a dozen decent riffs on this release which I have awarded the band their "1" for, but, quite honestly, I find this pretty unlistenable, and because it's shit, not "so fucking extreme" as I'm sure the band would claim. Sinergy - _Beware the Heavens_ (Nuclear Blast, May 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) Kimberly Goss (former member of Dimmu Borgir, Ancient and Avernus) has formed this band with members of Children of Bodom and In Flames. It is thus not that big a surprise that the music on here is virtuostically melodic heavy metal stuff very similar to some of Children of Bodom, and HammerFall particularly. The guitar work can certainly be technically impressive, it's often catchy and some of the riffs are good, but "new" is not a word which comes within a million miles of my brain when I put on _Beware the Heavens_. Well, the fact that Goss sings could be considered something "new and different", but to be honest she might as well be any power metal eunuch, just one with a bit more richness and femininity to her vocal outpourings. It must be said that though her vocals are acceptable, the lyrics lie somewhere between bog-standard and appalling and her delivery of encouraging crowd invigorators, like "come on!" and "huh!", actually has me cringing. Unoriginal and unnecessary, though not badly written as heavy metal rehashes go. Six Feet Under - _Maximum Violence_ (Metal Blade, July 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) Taking a more violent approach this time out (hence the name _Maximum Violence_), Chris Barnes and co. kick out some serious damage here with the impressive follow-up to the totally insane and mind-crushing _Warpath_ (1997). With a new guitarist (Steve Swanson, ex-Massacre) and a revamped crunch to their sound, Six Feet Under can do no wrong here. Blistering guitar riffs coated with Barnes' sick 'n' brutal vocals and lyrics make this recording drop time bombs as it goes along. Not only has Barnes managed to keep the band's momentum strong here, but his vocals have never sounded so sick and heavy. Three records and one EP down, it seems Six Feet Under have no worries about being put to the wayside. With killer numbers like "Victim of the Paranoid", "Mass Murder Rampage" and a kickin' death metal version of KISS' "War Machine" (the digipak of this release also has them doing Iron Maiden's "Wraithchild" and Thin Lizzy's "Jailbreak"), you can't go wrong, death metal fans. A crushing release that can't be ignored. Slipknot - _Slipknot_ (Roadrunner, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) I was a little skeptical about this masked nine-piece (yes! nine-piece) noise/terrorist outfit from Des Moines, Iowa when I first started getting word of them. I didn't think such a big outfit could pull it off. I mean, look at groups like Gwar and Bile, they're jokes to me and it just seems so silly to have so many people in a band. But you know what? By the grace of God and some weird alignment with the Earth and the Sun or something fucked-up like that, this works. Get drawn in by maniacal numbers like "Spit it Out", "Purity" and opener "426100027". With producer Ross Robinson (Korn/Soulfly) at the helm, the nine-piece of freaks sporting surrealistic self-made masks lash out at us with a bombastic meshing of industrial, death metal and hip-hop music, a concoction that leaves us with truly horrific sounds and images to digest. It's not pretty, but when was music supposed to be pretty? This is reality and no matter how far from it do members 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 (yes! they go by numerical digits as names) stray, it still kicks and screams all the way till the bitter and gruesome end. Fans of Korn, Hanzel Und Gretyl and Bile (yech!) will surely dig this. I heard this band's live shows kicks ass too. Check out their awesome website, too. Contact: WWW: http://www.slipknot1.com Solus - _Universal Bloodshed_ (Skinmask, April 1998) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Solus have really hit the jackpot on this second outing put out, once again on their own label, Skinmask. Finding "your" sound is not always an easy thing to do, but Solus have found it and have already jumped the next hurdle with _Universal Bloodshed_: knowing how to manipulate it to your greatest advantage. _Slave of Mind_ literally pales in comparison; it had rage for sure, but _Universal Bloodshed_ has poise, melancholy, melody and, most importantly, emotion. This is not to say this is some touchy-feely goth-tinged album, it is about as much the antithesis as anything else. No, the emotion here is like the emotion of Rollins, early Metallica or Morbid Angel; it has fury. The basis of the music is deathly thrash with Korbut's vocals displaying a varied and vicious spectrum while also totally crushing many competitors. This foundation is rock-solid to the extent where the band now feel able to build onto it unusual structures which massively enhance its ability to draw the listener in, and satiate them mercilessly. The soloing on a track like "Wormwood" is far away from the standard insane widdling of many brutal bands; it has had thought or emotion put into it and the result is something which really affects you, instead of just glazing over you. The bands most worked-in and important aspect, though, which I think may become a trademark of sorts, is what happens in certain sections of songs like "Rivers of Red" and "Quilt of Shame". Working undercover of brutal, heavy and powerful riff-lines, vague and melancholic melodies give the feel of the music a new dimension to play with, and get me going like nothing else in the process. There is even success in coming out with an acoustic and clean sung track which doesn't sound out of place, a feat on such a brutal album. It is a pity that the excellent "Magadan", from their taster _Our Frosted Hell_ EP [reviewed as _Solus_, CoC #32] is not here, backed by the production of Rob Sanzo (a far superior sound to that of the EP), but this is a small gripe about what is a very good record and one I fully recommend acquiring as quickly as possible. Spitfire - _The Dead Next Door_ (Solidstate, 1999) by: Alex Cantwell (6 out of 10) After many listens to this CD, I simply cannot muster up better than a 6 out of 10 for it. Some of it I like, and some of it is annoying, but the biggest reason is that I can't tell if these guys are real or not. It sounds like they have been touring with Zao (which they have), but also listening to a lot of indie rock (who knows?). I didn't expect this direction from this band who began as a plain, semi-talented hardcore band. Which is why I question their sincerity. So they toured with Zao (Zao drummer Jesse Smith is also listed as an "additional musician" on three songs) and got all influenced to try the black metal screams and the over the top, aggressive guitar parts. Will they move on to another style next year? These questions can only be answered with time, but I am just skeptical because of the drastic change in style from their former music. Spitfire use a lot of harmonics in the songs here, but the most noticeable recurring theme is the use of a "groove" that is not really a groove, but more of a drone. The music is without a doubt heavy, but not always enjoyable. Most of the vocals are of the angrily shouted variety, but in a couple of songs they have a distinct indie rock edge. "A Glance at Quintessence" sounds like the new Sepultura line-up doing a hardcore song at half speed, except for the blast part in the middle, which, come to think of it, I think every single song has a blast part in it. Hmm. Anyway, "Good Cop, Bad Cop" is my favourite, because it is very fast and very cool, with some awesome guitar riffing, especially towards the end. I believe that Spitfire is on the right rack with this one. The album as a whole is not on the right track, though. As I alluded to above, time will tell what this band has in store for us. Contact: Spitfire, c/o Chris Raines, 1527 S. Seabreeze Trail, Virginia Beach, VA 23452, USA mailto:spitmail@aol.com WWW: http://welcom.to/spitweb Stormtroopers of Death - _Bigger Than the Devil_ by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) (Nuclear Blast, June 1999) Fourteen years ago, SoD's _Speak English or Die_ made a major pile up of a dent on the thrash metal scene of the time, and helped to lay the foundations for the crossover style with hardcore. SoD split up soon after with only a few live shows under their belt. Three odd years ago SoD reformed to play live, but the word was that things were soon to end again due to Billy Milano's worsening bone marrow condition. Then last year the word came that SoD were fully back on the horse and that a new album and more live play was on the way. Convincingly following up as spontaneous a classic as _Speak English or Die_ would have been near impossible three years later; fourteen seems pretty much out of the realms of possibility. SoD have done OK considering. The production is perfect for the music, which is a very good start, and the band thrash hard and endearingly through cool tracks like "We All Bleed Red", "Moment of Truth" and my personal favourite, "Shenanigans". Though thrash is still a fair classification for them, it must be said that SoD have a whole heap o' punk and hardcore in here too, which shows through when they aren't purposefully parodying another band's style. The next most important factor for an SoD album, or maybe the most, is the humour. This shows itself in virtually all the lyrics and maybe a quarter of the music. _Bigger Than the Devil_ is funny, tracks like "Celtic Frosted Flakes" (a kind of tribute to Celtic Frost) and "King at the King" (which alludes to the idea of King Diamond ordering a Burger King meal, while at the same time ranting satanically) particularly, but much of this humour is tantamount to rehashes of the first album's jokes ("Ballad of Michael H." and "... Phil H" vs. "Ballad of Jimi Hendrix"?) and it isn't riotous that much of the time in any case. _BTtD_ does feel a little pieced together, but it does present you with a good bunch of SoD quality songs to enjoy and, in many cases, be amused by. Ultimately, this is just another SoD album, though; it isn't breaking any barriers like _SEoD_ was, but it is 23 more songs in more or less the same style. It's up to you if you want it, but if you don't have _SEoD_, I suggest you get that classic first, and then decide. Vesperian Sorrow - _Beyond the Cursed Eclipse_ by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10) (June 1999) Hmm... this is too unreal, my friends. With not even photos or a bio to accompany the CD, I was a little wary of doing a review, just for the sheer notion that I wanted to know something about this band before I got into what was on the disc. But then again, as long as the music was good, what would be the point of a bio or photo? Anyway, I had luckily received a single from the band at Milwaukee Metalfest one year, I believe (I think it was them), so I was familiar with the name and the sound (to a certain degree). They say they're signed to a label? Which one I don't know. It's still a mystery. Wrapped within a truly dynamic mixing of atmospheric black metal and some serious speed metal riffs, the music of Vesperian Sorrow is a totally blistering package of metalness. From the haunting keyboards and blasting drum beats to the archaic guitar overtones and the sinister snarls that stem from the vocal cries on such numbers as "Twilight of Azreal" and "Shadowlord", this band really shines more and more as the record goes on. With shades of Dimmu Borgir and even In Flames at times, Vesperian Sorrow is a worthy young band that could have a positive and rewarding future if they keep it up. Good luck, boys, and please send us bio/photo material. We want to know more about your kick ass band. Stay heavy! Vinnie Moore - _The Maze_ (Shrapnel, 1999) by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10) Although Vinnie Moore's last couple of albums have been standard hard rock fare, this album is hailed as Vinnie's return to his mid-'80s neo-classical style. That assessment is not terribly accurate, but it does contain a grain of truth. It would be more accurate to say that this album is his first in many years to contain elements of his neo-classical style. Certain parts of this album share a lot of similarities with his 1988 offering, _Time Odyssey_. In fact, I heard quite a few passages that sounded like they were taken directly from that album. His phrasing and some of the melodic styles that he employs are quite similar. However, this album contains more diversity in style. There are several places where the music takes a decidedly rockish turn, more in the style of his 1991 offering, _Meltdown_. A section of the title track sounds more like the jazz-rock fusion that David Chastain did on _Elegant Seduction_, and "In the Healing Garden" sounds a little like Dokken. Because of this, _The Maze_ at times has a schizophrenic and disjointed feel. It falls into the same trap that many other guitar-oriented albums do: it tries to do too many styles and please everyone, instead of concentrating on one style and getting it right. The playing is of course top-notch. Although Vinnie takes most of the spotlight, the keyboards (played by Tony MacAlpine), bass, and drums all get their chance at soloing as well. For the most part, the playing is restrained, although there are several sections of ultra-fast shredding. The production is excellent as well. Overall, this is a good album. In my opinion, it's not as good as _Time Odyssey_, but it's one of the better neo-classically influenced albums I've heard from the last few years, and it's much better than his previous two offerings. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ _ /\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___ / \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \ / /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/ \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___| If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a bio if you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's header. Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo **** -- Great piece of work *** -- Good effort ** -- A major overhaul is in order * -- A career change is advisable Blind Slime - _Hating Again..._ (9-track demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (***--) This Polish band tries to insert plenty of variety into its standard death metal sound and, at times, is quite successful -- the best example is "Sweet Lies". Quality, however, varies a lot throughout this rather long demo. The sound quality is just about average, like most of the music itself. The frequent and intense variations in speed and style (some acoustics, varied vocals, some different kinds of guitar work) keep things reasonably interesting for a significant part of the time, enough to ensure an average rating; nothing special, but not bad, either. Contact: Ul. Zywiecka 246, 43-300 Bielsko-Biala, Poland mailto:blindsli@friko6.onet.pl G.F.P.M. - _Demo 1_ (6-track demo) by: Adrian Bromley (**---) If you're into that fucked up noise carnage, outta-control rampage stuff, then you might actually get something out of the music from Austrian outfit G.F.P.M.. If not, you might just run for cover. Not only does the music sound so violently irritating at times, the production stinks and it's got no real groove to it. I mean, look at veterans of noise assembly like Brutal Truth or Anal Cunt. It's fucked to the hilt, but somehow there is a groove weaving its way through each track. I don't know, I'm just not impressed with what this six-song demo offers. If noise is what you want to crank on your boomboxes, then check it out, but I seriously think most people will not find the work here all that appealing. Contact: G.F.P.M. c/o Moser Christian, Stampferau 41, A-5730 Mittersill, Austria =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gino's Top 5 1. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_ 2. Sephiroth - _Cathedron_ 3. Autechre - _Incunabula_ 4. The Future Sound of London - _Dead Cities_ 5. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_ Adrian's Top 5 1. God Dethroned - _Bloody Blasphemy_ 2. Six Feet Under - _Maximum Violence_ 3. Slipknot - _Slipknot_ 4. Cave-in - _Creative Eclipses_ 5. Roadsaw - _Nationwide_ Brian's Top 5 1. Nagelfar - _Hunengrab im Herbst_ 2. Agalloch - _Pale Folklore_ 3. Cradle of Filth - _Cruelty and the Beast_ 4. Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - _The Keys to the Gates of Apocalypse_ 5. Magnitude 9 - _Chaos to Control_ Alain's Top 5 1. Dimmu Borgir - _Spiritual Black Dimensions_ 2. Human Remains - _Using Sickness as a Hero_ 3. Incantation - _Tribute to the Goat_ 4. Possessed - _Seven Churches_ 5. Nevermore - _Dreaming Neon Black_ Adam's Top 5 1. Samael - _Ceremony of Opposites_ 2. Brutal Truth - _Need to Control_ 3. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_ 4. Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_ 5. Rammstein - _Sehnsucht_ Pedro's Top 5 1. Evoken - _Embrace the Emptiness_ 2. Anathema - _Judgement_ 3. Obtained Enslavement - _Soulblight_ 4. October Tide - _Grey Dawn_ 5. Ashes You Leave - _The Passage Back to Life_ Paul's Top 5 1. Gordian Knot - _Gordian Knot_ 2. Necrophagia - _Holocausto de la Morte_ 3. Arch Enemy - _Burning Bridges_ 4. Rush - _Moving Pictures_ 5. Rollins Band - _Weight_ Aaron's Top 5 1. Violence - _Eternal Nightmare_ 2. Mistigo Varggoth Darkestra - _The Keys to the Gates of Apocalypse_ 3. Desire - _Infinity_ (Thanks again, Pedro!) 4. Disincarnate - Dreams of the Carrion Kind_ 5. Jungle Rot - _Slaughter the Weak_ David's Top 5 1. Hypocrisy - _Hypocrisy_ 2. Morbid Angel - _Covenant_ 3. Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_ 4. Arch Enemy - _Burning Bridges_ 5. Demoniac - _The Fire and the Wind_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ __ __ __ | \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----. | -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --| |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____| Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos --> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= CHRONICLES OF CHAOS 57 Lexfield Ave Downsview Ont. M3M-1M6, Canada Fax: (416) 693-5240 Voice: (416) 693-9517 e-mail: ginof@interlog.com ---- Our European Office can be reached at: CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe) Urb. Souto n.20 Anta 4500 Espinho, PORTUGAL e-mail: ei94048@fe.up.pt -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 #41 All contents copyright 1999 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.