___ _ _ _ __ / __| |_ _ _ ___ _ _ (_)__| |___ ___ ___ / _| | (__| ' \| '_/ _ \ ' \| / _| / -_|_-< / _ \ _| \___|_||_|_| \___/_||_|_\__|_\___/__/ \___/_| ___ _ / __| |_ __ _ ___ ___ | (__| ' \/ _` / _ (_-< \___|_||_\__,_\___/__/ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, May 25, 2000, Issue #47 http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Copy Ed./Contrib.: Pedro Azevedo Asst. Copy Editor: John Weathers Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Adam Wasylyk Contributor: Paul Schwarz Contributor: Aaron McKay Contributor: David Rocher Contributor: Alex Cantwell Contributor: Matthias Noll NOTE: You may unsubscribe from Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a blank email to . For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the 'Details' section at the end of this issue. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #47 Contents, 5/25/00 --------------------------- * Editorial * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- Dark Tranquillity: Projecting and Reinventing -- Vader: The Cold Demons of Death Metal -- The Crown: Racing Towards Destruction -- Crowbar: The Finely Balanced, Multi-Purpose Tool of Metal... That Never Dies -- Krisiun: Kneel Before the Conquerors of Armageddon -- Soulreaper: Reaping, Ravaging, Rebelling and Rocking -- Virgin Steele: Metal Built on Tragedy -- Infestation: Brutalised Britanic Butcherers -- Negura Bunget: Truly Transylvanian * Album Asylum -- Agent Steel - _Omega Conspiracy_ -- Aghora - _Aghora_ -- Anorexia Nervosa - _Drudenhaus_ -- Carnival in Coal - _French Cancan_ -- Cephalic Carnage - _Exploiting Dysfunction_ -- Crowbar - _Equilibrium_ -- Decapitated - _Winds of Creation_ -- Deceased - _Supernatural Addiction_ -- December - _Praying Hoping Nothing_ -- Desecration - _Inhuman_ -- Earth Crisis - _Slither_ -- Einherjer - _Norwegian Native Art_ -- Enochian Crescent - _Omega Telocvovim_ -- For the Love of Suffering - _Sinus_ -- Fury - _Stigmatised_ -- Gaahlskagg / Stormfront - _Split MCD_ -- Immortal - _Damned in Black_ -- Impaled Nazarene - _Nihil_ -- Infestation - _Mass Immolation_ -- Judas Iscariot - _Heaven in Flames_ -- Krisiun - _Conquerors of Armageddon_ -- Liar of Golgotha - _Ancient Wars_ -- Maniac Butcher / Inferno / Sezarbil - _Proti Vsem_ -- Midnight Syndicate - _Realm of Shadows_ -- Misery Loves Co. - _Your Vision Was Never Mine to Share_ -- Mutant - _The Aeonic Majesty_ -- Mutiilation - _Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul_ -- Myrkskog - _Deathmachine_ -- Necrophobic - _The Third Antichrist_ -- Nocturnal Winds - _Everlasting Fall_ -- Of the Fallen - _Ancient Gods of Battles Past_ -- Old Man's Child - _Revelation 666: The Curse of Damnation_ -- Various - _Panther: A Tribute to Pantera_ -- Various - _Power From the North_ -- Ritual Carnage - _Every Nerve Alive_ -- Rollins Band - _Get Some Go Again_ -- Scarve - _Translucence_ -- Shadows Fall - _Of One Blood_ -- Soulreaper - _Written in Blood_ -- Steel Prophet - _Messiah_ -- Stratovarius - _Infinite_ -- Stuck Mojo - _Declaration of a Headhunter_ -- The Berzerker - _The Berzerker_ -- The Crown - _Deathrace King_ -- Vader - _Litany_ -- Viking Crown - _Innocence From Hell_ * New Noise -- Cadaver - _Promo 2000_ -- No Rest for the Dead - _The Entrance of Your 14th Trip Demo_ -- Sacred? - -- Sempiternal - _Winternight Fury_ -- Skeletal Embrace - _A Landscape of Whorethorns_ -- Soils of Fate - _Blood Serology_ -- Void - _Promo 2000_ * Chaotic Concerts -- God Hating Human Beatings: Crowbar, Eyehategod and Soilent Green -- His Number Is One: Rollins Band in London * What We Have Cranked * Details =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____) / /) , , /) )__ _(/ _/_ _____ _ // / (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_ (_____) by: Gino Filicetti My friends, we are back! Here is the issue you've long been waiting for. I know I've explained myself in a previous mailing to the entire CoC readership, but I just wanted to take this time to apologize once again on behalf of our entire staff. I would also like to thank the multitudes of those who wrote in after my last mailing to wish me luck and congratulations on my graduation, upcoming wedding and move to the USA. If we had the space, I'd print each and every letter in our Loud Letters section; but alas, there was just too much praise! I hope you all enjoy this issue and hopefully we'll be back to our regular monthly release schedule soon enough. Our next issue will come out sometime in July and then our fifth anniversary will be upon us in August. Five long and hard years slaving away at CoC for your enjoyment, remember that.... FIVE LONG AND HARD YEARS! But hey, do you really think we'd still be doing it if we didn't love every second of it? 'Til next time... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 . All letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2000 From: Scott Subject: Re: Adrian's Tourniquet Review Greetings, Never e-mailed before but after reading the Tourniquet review and hearing the disc myself, all I can say is, "Adrian, your a freaking idiot!" While he says he could care less about the lyrics, he spouts off for most of the review about the "Christian" lyrics. "...it just seems like another reason for some hot-headed asshole to mouth off about religion..." Whatever! Sounds to me like he didn't even check out the lyrics as they are quite intelligent and not just some silly Stryper "religious" lyrics. It is quite obvious that Adrain has a prejudice against someone expressing Christian beliefs through metal. It is also obvious that Adrian has decent taste in music as he gave Demons and Wizards, Jacob's Dream and the Holy Dio tribute a good review, so what's up? Adrian blew apart an awesome METAL album without even telling us what "sucks" about the music. This album is heavy, well written, and creative both musically and lyrically. On top of this, the music is some of the most technical stuff I have heard in a while, yet it maintains a great sense of melody. Unlike so many bands who have to downtune their guitars three steps to write a heavy song, Tourniquet are able to write incredibly heavy riffs without the use of such garbage...and the drumming is just phenomenal. While I am not necessarily saying this is the best Tourniquet album ever, it is also far from crap. If Adrian has a problem with Christians in metal, have someone intelligent like Alex Cantwell, who seems to give fair MUSIC reviews to anyone, do the job. Tourniquet RULES! Thanks for letting me spout! Stay Heavy! George PS. Where is Alex? Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 13:31:59 -0800 (PST) From: DEREK WOODRUFF Subject: Holy Shit!!! (literally) Is it just me or is this religious discussion getting out of control??? GET OVER IT! If 'christian metal' or 'satanic metal' pisses you off, dont buy it! I didnt know I was getting on a 'get-on-a-soapbox-and- belly-ache' mailing list!!! Why dont we start in on politics or abortion? Anyway, keep up the kickass reviews!!! Hail all metal brethren!!! \,,/ Dvirus Date: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 From: Alla Xul Subject: reply to gajo@EUnet.yu hi... >Regarding your statement about the relationship between metal and >christianity, I think you are wrong saying that christianity is a >sick religion that controls the lives of the weak. I think >christianity is a form of self-discipline, that keeps you from >crossing that line between decency and barbarism. If you need religion to tell right from wrong you are weak. >You have to be strong to be a true christian, because you have to be >strong to forgive every person that does harm to you. If you waste your strenght on subuing your anger that should affect those who rightfully deserve it you are stupid. >Metal is, of course, total freedom, but if everyone was worshiping >Satan then we'd still live in Medieval ages. More or less every individual that have achived major developments in civilization have been labeld satanist. I am not saying that all who claim to be satanists are very great. Your statement that we would live in the middle ages are completely idiotic. Real satanism is about first developing the individual and then the society along the left hand path. Christianity is one of the major elements that through the implementation of herd mentality have prevented evolution. >If you want to be free, then be so in your own house, with your >friends, because that is what your home is for. But when you walk >out of the door, then you don't slay down the first guy that pushes >you in the bus... that is the result of education under the >influence of religion, in your case, christianity.. you could not >imagine what would the world be without that education. I I would not 'slay down' anyone without a good reason if that is what you imply. I dont really understand what are you mumbeling about. Are you equaling christianity with education? >mean, you can try, just listen to cannibal corpse.. Are you saying that Cannibal Corpse are satanists? /ax Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2000 From: "Bandi" Subject: Children of Bodom Please... I'd like to read more about Children of Bodom!!!! I think they're a fucking killer band!!! Is it possible to make an interview with them? Will you review their live album (Tokyo Warhearts) ? Anyway, CoC rules!!! When I read CoC I feel that the underground scene lives!! Asshole Britney Spears fans can shut the fuck up!!! ... Bandi ... "My gun will be your angel of mercy" Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 From: "Cream Of Anarchy Productions" Subject: Epicostal Arguments Up The Anal Canal Man, is it just me or is this Christian metal argument getting annoying? Ever since gutterboy and Spinoza Ray Prozak started their arguments way back in _CoC #42_, this whole argument is getting sickening. First of all, IT'S JUST MUSIC! I don't know why people see metal as just some Satan-vs.-Jesus South Park boxing match, with Satan beating the shit out of Jesus and The Horned God flaying the Saviour on the Infernal Cross. (Oh, I'm sorry! Did I mention South Park? I guess I'm not METAL then, huh?) Christian bands sometimes have a tendency to be stupifyingly boring and preachy (Discern, Embodyment, and of course the whipping boys of all Christian metal, Stryper), but so do Satanic death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse, Angelcorpse and the like. I've had my fill of bands who have demons rape chicks, making them "swallow the seed, uh-uh-uh-uh." There's so much more to metal than misogyny and worship of Satan. Let's just keep tabs on the people who have tallied thus far in the Christianity/Satanism in metal argument: gutterboy (CoC #41)--notices that almost all Christian metal is reviewed by Alex Cantwell. Reasonable argument. s. r. prozak (CoC #42)--totally misses the mark. gutterboy did NOT ask for more Christian metal reviews, and goes on with this blather about how Earth found Satan and morphed into Black Sabbath and how metal was formed in 1969 to comment on the negativity of the world. Right, like metal just immaculately gave birth to itself. I used to link Evilmusic at one time to my website but stopped when I realized he was full of bullshit. Norman Doll (CoC #43)--says that metal is metal, whatever the genre, and that Christian metal can be played with the same aggression and anger as Satanic metal. Good argument. "conformity@aol.com" (CoC #43)--hates prozak, hates Christian metal. Great skewering of prozak, but the strong tone of the letter and the wonderful epithets of "Bite my cock, give your mom oral pleasure (?!?!?!), contract genital herpes" suggests he may be a misanthrope. Ryuto Ishiwa (CoC #43)--lone argument, but a good one...like the line, "...why not also have a 'post-satanic christianism?'" Wayno (CoC #44)--thought the Mortification review was valid. Cream Of Anarchy Productions (CoC #44)--I make reference to a question about what would happen if snakes evolved into half-human form. No one responds. alla xul (CoC #45)--duh, metal is Satan and God is a weak little bitch. Hail Satan! YARRR!!! What a misanthrope. DER TODESKIN (CoC #45)--Black Sabbath weren't metal when they started out. Heard this before. Good letter but nothing that hadn't been debated before. gutterBoy (CoC #45)--honestly, gutterb...I mean, Boy, no one cares what you think of Usenet and spinoza ray prozak. It's a dead issue. Let it go already. Unknown Unknownovich Unknownov (CoC #46)--Says Christian metal should be as extreme as Satanic metal. Uh, it already is. Guy writes like a publicist for a bad underground print 'zine. DJCANTU@aol.com (CoC #46)--duh, more gore! Christian metal makes me sick! Why did you print this letter, CoC? It reads like this guy really likes his Exhumed. There's more to metal than gore, too, DJCANTU. gajo (CoC #46)--Christianity Be Not Bad. Throws his argument up on the board but doesn't provide any examples as to why Christian metal is a valid form of metal. RayRuenes@aol.com (CoC #46)--Makes the argument that Christianity isn't going to go away. Bonus points for pointing out that Nietzsche's works were not as strong as his more successful, earlier works. However, he went insane, not senile, in his later years. You have to remember that this guy became chair of classical philology at Basle University at TWENTY-FOUR! He died at FIFTY-SIX! How the hell can a guy like that become _senile?_ alla xul (CoC #46)--like reading his previous letter, only funnier. He attempts to slay RayRuenes@aol.com by "ridiculating" his "intellectual mumbelings." You should talk. Learn how to spell. Is that foreign to you? Well, there you have it. The argument that won't die away. Well, I've got the definitive answer...LET IT GO ALREADY! JUST LISTEN TO THE MUSIC AND DON'T TRY TO SEE ANY DEEPER MEANING IN IT THAN IT ALREADY HAS! Well, now that I've got that out of my system, let's see how many people respond to my letter. I predict there will be...three people who respond to my letter. Let's see if we can't beat that estimate. CAMERON ARCHER THE UNBULOVA RIPOFF http://www.nettoilet.com/users/theepisodes/ Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 From: "Roberto Martinelli" Subject: my letter Dear CoC readers, Hi, I'm looking to make some contacts to trade stuff with. I know you like to keep up with the scene as much as I do. So let's trade copies of what we've got. We'll both be able to benefit from it. My collection is quite extensive and I'm sure you'd be able to find something that you'd like to listen to. I'm especially looking for readers who have access to CDR technology. I find it's currently the best thing out there in terms of convenience and sound fidelity. Please drop me a message. I'll trade with anyone regardless of country of residency. Roberto Martinelli =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ P R O J E C T I N G A N D R E I N V E N T I N G ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Niklas Sundin and Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity by: Pedro Azevedo One can hardly discuss Swedish metal without at least mentioning Dark Tranquillity. Every album of theirs was a landmark in their time for many of us, and they still are: their debut _Skydancer_, _The Gallery_ -- perhaps their greatest effort [see CoC #7 for a completely different opinion] --, _The Mind's I_ [CoC #22] and last year's more experimental _Projector_ [CoC #41]. But with a discography as brilliant as theirs, after four full-length albums and more than ten years, Dark Tranquillity are still looking to evolve and face new musical challenges, both on their latest album _Projector_ and the forthcoming _Haven_ (to be released in July). The following is an unfortunately much delayed e-mail interview with guitarist Niklas Sundin and vocalist Mikael Stanne about the past, present and future of their outstanding band. Much like what happened with _Projector_ itself, I feel it was well worth the extended wait. CoC: More than ten years have passed since Dark Tranquillity was formed; do you have any plans to celebrate this with a live album or anything? Niklas Sundin: There may be some sort of celebration album coming out later this year, but at this stage it all depends on some factors that we don't have any control over; so we have to wait and see. If it happens, it'll just be a mid-price release for dedicated fans, featuring various goodies and rare songs from our career. We actually were in negotiations with someone in possession of a high quality Dark Tranquillity live recording from the last tour, but for various reasons an agreement couldn't be reached. It was a great shame, since we even had all the artwork ready. CoC: What were the reasons behind guitarist Fredrik Johansson's departure after recording _Projector_? How have things been going with his substitute, Michael Niklasson? NS: Fredrik was simply too busy with his private life and job to be able to invest the same kind of energy and devotion in the band as the rest of us. Actually, our old bassist Martin Henriksson now plays the second guitar. Michael Niklasson has taken over the bass duties, and everything's working really well. Fredrik is an excellent guitarist with a very personal style. We were worried that it would be hard to get a new line-up with the same level of quality, but at this point I can safely say that we have the strongest DT line-up ever. Keyboardist and digital wizard Martin Brandstrom was added shortly after Fredrik's departure, so we have a wider range now than before. People who have been listening to us for some time will doubtless notice the absence of Fredrik's playing, but other elements have been added that compensate for this. CoC: Looking back upon four full-length albums and a couple of MCDs now, do you have any major regrets, anything that really didn't turn out the way you would have liked it to? What is your overall view of the band's career? NS: Every band that has been around for some time probably have been ripped off at least a thousand times, and we're no exception to that rule. I can't say that we've made any major mistakes or been victims of any bigger disasters so far. We've trusted some people who couldn't keep their part of the deals, but most of the problems have been of a practical nature -- getting thrown out of rehearsal rooms two weeks before recordings and similar things. Nothing too devastating so far. CoC: What is your personal favourite Dark Tranquillity album and song, musically or emotionally? Mikael Stanne: I would say that _Projector_ is my favourite album right now, and I guess my favourite song would be "Punish My Heaven" from _The Gallery_. It always gets to me in a weird way. NS: It's impossible to give a good answer, since it changes all the time. Some songs that I'm really satisfied with on the albums aren't very interesting to perform live and vice versa. "Punish My Heaven" seems to be -the- favourite for most people -- a bit ironic, considering that it was the first song we wrote after the line-up change in '93. CoC: Overall, how happy are you with _Projector_? NS: We're pretty happy with it, but as usual there are some things that could have been done a bit better. Now that almost two years have passed since the recording and we have more perspective to it all, I think that some of the songs are a bit too tame and could have used an injection of energy. Then again, we wanted them to sound the way they do at the time of recording, so... CoC: If you were to compare _Projector_ to your previous albums and to the rest of the Swedish scene right now, what would you highlight as the album's most remarkable characteristics in each case? NS: I don't follow the scene much these days. I'd like _Projector_ to be quite different from the rest of the stuff being released from Sweden, and judging from the reactions, that's definitely the case. We're not any good at analysing our own work -- we'd rather leave that to others --, but I guess that the most distinguishing feature that separates our new album from the rest of the bunch is the clear vocals and the fact that we're not relying on any cliches or already fixed traditions with the music. _Projector_ is a stand-alone entity, for good and bad. CoC: Since you are unquestionably one of Sweden's premier bands, and have been for several years, I have to ask you what you think of the competition these days. How do you view the evolution of the Swedish metal scene as a whole over the past few years? [Note: as this was an e-mail interview, I was unaware of the start of Niklas' previous answer, otherwise I wouldn't have asked this. --Pedro] NS: I rarely listen to the competition, so I can't really give a good answer on this topic. I'm pretty comfortable playing this sort of music while mainly listening to other genres. Every now and then I get to hear an album or a couple of songs from a "melodic Swedish death metal band" and it usually doesn't have anything that interests me or grabs my attention. Cliched, stereotypical nonsense lyrics mixed with the obligatory Maiden-worship just makes me yawn, even though the musical skill of some of these bands is excellent. One good exception is the new Gardenian album, which is striking in almost every aspect. CoC: Personally, I think that you have basically succeeded where many bands fail: in changing your sound the way you did. One might still miss some of the "old" Dark Tranquillity, but _Projector_ is indeed a brilliant album. But what was it that caused these changes? NS: I'm glad that you like the album. I agree that a lot of bands that try to change their sound into a "softer" direction fail miserably. Of course, there are people thinking the same of us now, but at least in our ears we managed to expand the sound without sacrificing the band's identity. The reasons for the changes? We needed to come up with something new in order to maintain the interest in playing. Already when recording _The Mind's I_, we felt somewhat fed up with the musical style (especially since so many newer bands were starting to imitate what we've done in the past) and realised that we'd better start exploring new territory before we grew tired of the whole thing. CoC: I still feel the essence of what I like in Dark Tranquillity on _Projector_, and the increased contrast works extremely well, especially on songs such as "FreeCard", "ThereIn" and "Nether Novas". While writing and recording _Projector_, were any conscious decisions made about balancing the amount of harsher and softer parts, as well as the use of new and "classic" elements, or did it all just turn out this way? Because it -is- quite different from what it used to be, but it's definitely still Dark Tranquillity. NS: It just turned out that way, but we were also determined to make this album considerably different from the older ones while still retaining the DT-spirit. We have never been interested in being one of those bands that continue releasing the same album year after year. We probably would keep some people satisfied by staying in a fixed style, but I honestly think that the quality of the songs would decrease, since our hearts wouldn't be in it the same way as before. With _Projector_, we had something like fourteen or fifteen songs that we recorded in the studio. Afterwards, we decided which ones should appear on the album and which ones we should save. CoC: Were you confident that the new elements in your music (clean vox, keyboards, etc.) would be well accepted by the Dark Tranquillity fans? Did that matter to you? It seems that _Projector_ tended to cause rather extreme opinions among most of them, both positive and negative. How do you feel about this? NS: It's hard to avoid getting some slaggings if you change your style a bit, but we have to write the music first and foremost for ourselves. After each album, we've had our fair share of people moaning about the result and asking why we couldn't just keep going in the same vein as on the previous album, so we're used to it. Of course we thought a lot about how people would react to _Projector_, but this didn't affect the songwriting. More than anything else, we were really curious. As expected, lots of people were disappointed after the first listens but eventually got to like it a lot with time. This is way more interesting than playing it safe. CoC: There is one song in particular that seems to be raising a lot of complaints from some of your fans, "Day to End". I personally do like that song a lot -- the vocals are great --, although it wouldn't normally be my kind of music at all; you made it excellent, though. It is, nevertheless, very different from your past works. What thoughts were going through your minds as you recorded it in terms of the intentions behind it and the feelings put into it? NS: "Day to End" started out as a song Mikael wrote and just toyed around with on his acoustic guitar. It's several years old, actually, but we always liked it and decided to try to make something out of it in the studio. Originally, the song was more of a guitar-based ballad, like "Through Ebony Archways" but much better, but we eventually added a more electronic flavour to it. Honestly, I think that the song sounded better in the original arrangement, but it was pretty fun to experiment a bit. But this is the only song on _Projector_ that I feel shouldn't have been included on the album. CoC: What's been on the bandmember's CD players the most, lately? NS: We're all pretty diverse in our tastes, and it'd take too much space to give any complete lists here. Personally, I've been listening to everything from Enslaved to Madonna this week, so if I were to give a full list it'd give a very shattered impression. We're schizophrenic in our tastes for sure! CoC: Mikael, you have suddenly used your previously unknown clean vocals on so much of the new album that one has to wonder: why did you decide to use so much clean singing so suddenly? MS: I always wanted to experiment with other types of vocals and with this material I felt it was time to do it. The songs really needed different vocals this time around and I had a great time trying things out. It also opened up an whole new way for me to express myself lyrically and of course vocally. CoC: I personally like the contrast between the most emotional clean parts and the harsh ones very much, but you certainly risked a lot, with several different clean styles and some really emotional clean vox. Are you happy with the results? MS: I am. And we will continue in this vein on the next album as well. CoC: I was quite interested by the "FreeCard" lyrics; can you tell me more about them? MS: Basically it's about being a coward, one who escapes the demands and has excuses for everything. There is always another way to go that is easier and the song is about people who choose the easy way out in every case. CoC: One other song that has some particularly interesting lyrics for me is "Lethe". In Greek mythology, Lethe is "a river in Hades, the water of which produced, in those who drank it, forgetfulness of the past." Was this the concept behind the lyrics for that song? Can you expand on that some more? NS: The whole song explores the notion of being able to delete all your unwanted feelings and experiences. As many other artists have done in the past, I used a metaphor from well-known (or so I thought, hehe) mythology in order to illustrate the concept and get the point across better. CoC: _Projector_'s release suffered a remarkably long delay that included your departure from Osmose and signing with Century Media. What happened with Osmose after all? And why did you choose Century Media as your new label? NS: After we had recorded _Projector_ and given it some listens, it was obvious that it wasn't really Osmose material per se. We were always the "white sheep" on that label, and seeing that our sound had changed that much, it just wasn't a good match. Also, we had just decided the line-up change, so we wanted to continue riding that wave of reinvention. Osmose is a great label, but we felt that their target audience was too far removed from how we sound these days. Century Media offered us the best terms, so we decided to sign with them for three albums. Naturally, all the legal hassle took a long time, so the album ended up being released almost a year after it was recorded. CoC: So... what happened with the famous _Projector_ digipak bonus track, "Exposure"? My digipak was one of the forsaken... NS: Good question, hehe. We first heard that all the digipaks should feature this bonus track, but when the album got released, it turned out that only some of the copies actually had "Exposure" included. Furthermore, the song wasn't printed on the track listing on all of these copies either, and there apparantly were some cases where the song was listed on the back cover but not included on the actual disc, so it's a confusing matter... We'll make sure to release it in some format in the future since it's actually one of the best songs from the _Projector_ recording. CoC: You have recorded a video clip for "ThereIn", which I recently saw. Can you describe the concept behind it and how it fits the song? Are you happy with the result? NS: Well, the video is OK, but I feel that the original footage was better than what the end result may lead you to believe. It was all done on a very tight budget, so the mixing got a bit hurried. The storyboard involved focusing on the duality and contrast that the lyrics play with, but this was only half realised in the video. Another weak point is that the song is over six minutes long, and it's hard to keep the viewer's attention for so long with the limited range of scenes that we had. Anyway, the video will be featured as a multimedia bonus on the first pressing of the next album, so eventually it'll be seen by more people. CoC: Besides the band sequences, there are several nocturnal urban scenes and lots of traffic moving in fast-forward during the video clip. Then those scenes turn into storm clouds travelling in the sky. Is that a metaphor for how you foresee the evolution (or in this case, demise) of civilization in general? NS: No, the main thought was to display this duality in a convincing visual context. We had to improvise a bit since some of the footage we intended to use turned out to be ruined by inadequate light conditions. This will probably take some of the mystique away, but that footage is actually taken from a video library and not custom shot for the purpose. CoC: I'm curious about one of the photos from the _The Mind's I_ booklet, the third (blue) one, depicting what appears to be a tree beneath a wintry storm. The coldness and desolation that I see on that picture make me think of death approaching, maybe even the world coming to an end. What are your thoughts on that? And what does the picture actually mean to you? NS: We worked closely with a Hasselblad photographer on that album, and he made a selection of photos that we could chose from. I can't recall that that picture had any specific meaning attached to it. It just looked good and had the right characteristics to fit with the rest of the booklet. We were more involved with the cover, for which me and Mikael arranged the "still life with a horse's head". [So much for my philosophical approach... --Pedro] CoC: After listening to _The Mind's I_, I didn't have a clue of what was coming with _Projector_... Can you reveal some of what Dark Tranquillity might sound like in the future? NS: We just finished recording our new album, _Haven_, and it sounds again a bit different from the norm. It's not a continuation of _Projector_, but it's not a return to the earlier style either. More than anything else, it's a mixture between everything we've done in the past, but with lots of elements and experiments that are new to us. I can't reveal too much in print, since it's bound to give the wrong impressions, but I'm sure that _Haven_ will appeal to fans of both our older stuff and _Projector_. CoC: What about touring, now that you're with Century Media? I know you've toured some of central Europe last year. How did it go? Any peculiar stories you'd like to share with us, from that or some other tour? MS: Yeah, CM and our management fixed up a great tour for us as well as some festivals. It was a great Summer for us and we've had a wonderful time. The five weeks with In Flames, Arch Enemy and Children of Bodom were certainly insane in many ways and I would rather stray from the subject than tell the bone-chilling stories of this venturesome quest into alcoholic depravity.... CoC: What are your plans for the future? Any chance you might come to Portugal? NS: I hope so, but nothing is confirmed about future tours yet. There will be some festival dates during the summer, and we're likely to tour with Sentenced in Europe in September, but I have no clue about where we'll play. CoC: What is your greatest wish for the future of Dark Tranquillity? MS: To continue to evolve and experiment. To do what we like to do best. CoC: Those were my questions; is there anything you would like to add, perhaps a final message of dark tranquillity for our readers? NS: Sorry for the massive delay in finally getting this intie answered. To the readers: stay tuned for _Haven_, set for release on July 17th! Contact: http://www.DarkTranquillity.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T H E C O L D D E M O N S O F D E A T H M E T A L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Peter Wiwczarek of Vader by: Paul Schwarz I consider Vader one of the most solid death metal outfits still around in the world today. They've more than paid their dues in their just over ten year recording career and with 1996's classic _De Profundis_ [CoC #17] to their name the band are absolved of any duty to justify their existence. Vader have stayed alive where so many have died, but much, much more importantly Vader have remained contemporary. By this I don't mean that they have followed the trends that have swept through the underground, certainly not, but Vader have remained appealing to new listeners, listeners who weren't even into Metallica or Iron Maiden when Vader were peddling their 1990 _Morbid Reich_ tape through the international underground. What Vader have avoided so wonderfully is becoming a relic of the past trundled out merely for the pleasure of the scene's stalwarts. Still the band of the youth (though their old fans never abandoned them), and possibly Slayer's equivalent in the semi-underground death metal scene, Vader attract a crowd looking for something a little less cut up and dried out than Cannibal Corpse, but still with sufficient simplicity to smack bodies and brains flying down in the pit. Like Slayer, it's seeing Vader live that completes the picture; that makes it so damn easy to understand why they have the fanbase they do; that reinstills your faith in the power of metal, for fuck's sake. This year, the time of bunnies, eggs, crucifixion and resurrection coincides closely with what, to my mind, is a far more important event: the release of the new Vader album, _Litany_ [reviewed in this issue], and it is a fucking -beast-. I don't think the death metal scene has seen this effective, convincing or plain brutal a _Reign in Blood_-style speed and aggression crush in a long time. Tank obsessed metal maniac vocalist/guitarist Peter Wiwczarek helped me fill in the gaps as regards _Litany_ and what's been happening with the band since I (and David Rocher) caught up with them in Rennes last Summer [CoC #43]. [Note: Peter's English is not perfect, so sometimes the meaning of what he says may be ambiguous, i.e. don't take him too literally. --Paul] CoC: You've been doing this for fourteen years and you still haven't slowed down? Is it still a drive to be more extreme than before? Peter Wiwczarek: That's Vader's style, man. CoC: Becoming popular, growing as a band hasn't changed your perspective on things? PW: We never expected popularity or success at the beginning when we started to play extreme music, that would be stupid. So, my friend, what do you want to know, because, by the way, you are the last one tonight, but, you know, I am fuckin' dead. I started at eleven in the morning and I didn't even have five or ten fucking minutes to take a piss. There were a couple of guys who got ten or fifteen minutes. It was impossible, so you are lucky because you are the last one. CoC: The album, to me, it sounds like you guys have been listening to _Reign in Blood_ a lot, would this be correct? Because it's great, it sounds like you guys, but twenty-six minutes, ten songs? Total destruction. What do you think? PW: Well, you know it's kind of hard to control because we got some problems with Doc: he was too fast in the studio, that's why we had to write two more songs directly in the studio. Because the total time was too short, it was below the limit: these mighty thirty minutes. But, by the way, I think that like thirty or forty minutes is a perfect time for bands playing extreme kinds of music. More would be maybe too much for a human being. Two minutes of Vader is like five minutes of someone else. This is so intense. You can not control the time at this intensity. That's why; what more can I say? CoC: That's the idea when you did "The One Made of Dreams" and "North" and that sort of thing then. PW: Maybe the Slayer guys, when they recorded _Reign in Blood_, had similar problems, maybe that's why they recorded such a short album, but still great, you know! I wish to follow them. CoC: You supported them a little while ago, right? PW: Yeah, in Poland. That was a great night 'cause we got a chance to talk to them, though not all of them. But Tom Araya, he watched our show, the Vader show. That was a big surprise for us and after that we got a chance to talk to him for a few minutes. He's a very friendly, very nice person, you know. Easy to talk to, with a smile on his face. So, it was really great to get a chance to talk to him finally. Kerry wasn't in a good mood that time. He told us it wasn't a good show for him. He played "horrible": what the fuck are you talking about? We also got a chance to play two shows with Testament in Poland and that was also a great experience. So we are now much closer, and there is even a chance to support them in America, at the end of the year, maybe next year. That was a good connection and those were great shows that we played together. Also, the same thing: a legendary band, but who were very friendly, not rock stars. That was great. It's good to know about that because sometimes, and this has happened lately, you meet newcomers who [present themselves] like big stars, so you cannot even talk to them. You know what I'm talkin' about, Paul. So, it's nice to know that the guys who are legends, who created metal, heavy metal and not just death metal or thrash metal, are so, so, so, -so- open for everybody. Still have the young spirit. CoC: It's great when you go to a gig and it's like that gig in Rennes: just normal guys. PW: Yeah, we still should be fans, fans of heavy metal, not feel like somebody special. Maybe we are kind of chosen, but we should feel like a regular maniac. We should be maniacs; fans of this music, like we are. CoC: Okay, "Cold Demons", let's talk about this song. This is your song, right? 'Cause this is about your tank thing. PW: How did you guess? Hey Paul, Paul. Yes, exactly, but this is also different, compared to previous albums, because _Litany_ is a concept album of one guy. Almost one hundred percent of our lyrics are written by Paul Frelik. He appeared for the first time writing the song "Silent Empire" on _De Profundis_ and later with more songs on _Black to the Blind_ [CoC #27], but finally he got his concept album. This is also Vader's style, the supernatural things, the magic, but maybe the difference is that there is more humanity in this supernatural world. On previous albums maybe we forgot about humanity: a very important factor when you are talking about magic, you know. There are two exceptions, "Cold Demons" and "Forwards to Die!!!". Those two songs were written by me, as I said before we had to write them directly in the studio because we had to do more songs since Doc was too fast. I tried to do something different so, my hobby, tanks; war machines; humanity and its hunger for power. We also made a video. We made it using many original shots from my collection except for some Vader live shots. It's mostly in black and white. It's very dynamic, there are so many tanks, so anyone who likes tanks and war machines will love the video. There is also me as the commander, of course. It's going to appear on the first edition, the special edition of the album. CoC: How are things financially with you signing to Metal Blade? How have things moved on? PW: What a band needs, what Vader needs, is promotion, man. So to be honest, up until now we've got to where we've got to by working hard and playing a lot, touring. But to be honest, we've still got some problems with the promotion and distribution, and Metal Blade can change that, I hope they will. Until now, I've had a real TV interview session here, I've done fucking hundreds of interviews. Maybe I will survive this, but this is what every band needs. With the distribution: I think Vader will [now] appear in every main record store, and that's what we expected. Besides that, now I am sitting in the office [at Metal Blade Germany --Paul]. And what I see is just men who are very into metal. They know what they're doing. I feel it has been a great move and that signing the deal with Metal Blade is the best thing that's happened lately for the band. I think what's going to happen is going to happen for the better, for the band, for everybody, for the music, for the maniacs. Also, finally, our release is also vinyl. CoC: Last time I talked to you, the guy from Yattering was filling in on drums, because Doc had some problems. That's all sorted out now and not a problem, I gather, but how did that contribute to the making of the album? I guess Doc must have been hungry to get back to it. PW: Yeah, yeah, indeed. He had got a big problem with drugs before and that's why we had to do something. We still felt like his friends, but it started not to be his problem but to be the band's problem. And that's why we talked to him about that and decided to give him a couple of months to think about what he was going to do, in his life, to heal. During that time the drummer from Yattering did replace him but Doc came back at the end of August on the first date of a festival in Poland. We were talking a week before and he was really hungry to get back finally and he spent the couple of months drumming all the time, so when he got back he was in real good condition. I was so glad and happy to see him back. I think his drum kit helped him a lot, and, who knows, maybe saved his life. For sure saved big talent, and a great drummer. He started to work with new songs not long before we recorded them in the studio and now he is maybe in even better condition than he used to be. [That's possible? --Paul] So watch out on the tour. I can't wait to do it. CoC: What exactly is "Wings" about? The first lines are "There have never been gods and devils, but there were people who were turned into them"... PW: As I told you at first, what I can tell you and explain is just the main things about the album, because if you want to know the details you should talk to the author. But, as I told you, there is a little bit more about the humanity which has to live in this world, about humanity and his beliefs. With "Wings" [the idea is] that there are -people- who create the demons, who create the gods. Exactly like in the beginning. We've got something like inclination, the human inclination of being which started to exist. I think this is in general what the song is about. Of course this is all just the touch of a theme which is very significant in our creation. All the time we leave a real big space for imagination, so even if a song is written by one man who knows exactly what his idea was, he leaves space for the imagination of each person who listens to the music or reads the lyrics. So everybody can find out something personal, just for himself, and maybe that's why the response for Vader is so great everywhere in the world, because everybody can find something for themselves. What else can I say? Well, I can explain about Paul Frelik, why I decided to write the music for someone else's lyrics. Well, because I know [that] if somebody is walking the same kind of way, same kind of path, and of course it is not the same path 'cause everybody is walking/following his own and just his way, but if you know you are following the same kind of way, same direction, you know, there's nothing wrong with being closer and co-operating. I am proud to make music for his creation. CoC: You're doing a tour in the States in May with Krisiun? PW: Krisiun, Angel Corpse, Dismember and Hate Eternal. CoC: How long is it that you're there? PW: One month, after we finish the No Mercy Festival dates. Then, after the American tour, we're going to get back to Europe to headline with Vital Remains, Fleshcrawl and Rebaelliun. We're going to be busy, but there's nothing wrong with that. That's our destiny, and I am glad of that. CoC: Do you like being on the road? PW: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I like to play live, that's the best thing that can happen for a band. Of course, if you've got a tour for three or four months non-stop, your body can be tired, but it's just body. Like in "Hellraiser". CoC: At the moment you tour very hard, you work exceptionally hard as a band. Do you think if the band ends up with commitments, family or whatever, that will change what Vader will eventually become, because you have to work less hard at it? Or do you think you'll keep doing it whatever happens, that it'll always be a part of you? PW: You know, we're Vader and so there are so many who expect this extremity. So, we want to keep being this extreme band as long as we are able to do that. And as long as we are going to be useful for those guys. As long as people will need this kind of extreme music, and as long as it will be alive, Vader will be alive. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= R A C I N G T O W A R D S D E S T R U C T I O N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Janne Saarenpaa of The Crown by: Adrian Bromley Some of you will know this by having read my review of The Crown's (formerly Crown of Thorns) latest death metal / death rock release _Deathrace King_ in this issue: I am totally blown away by it. The passion. The speed. The intensity. All stellar elements that truly help shape one of the most promising (and easily most volatile) releases this year. In short: these Swedes mean business. "This was a very important record for us", starts drummer Janne Saarenpaa about the new release, a follow-up their well-received third album, and debut for Metal Blade, titled _Hell Is Here_ [CoC #36]. "It took us many years of playing out and recording to find the right sound within what we did. We have become very confident now with our material and we are glad that with this record we can now showcase what we want The Crown to sound like." The Crown's success has lied within their staying power. The want, or maybe more importantly, the need to keep focused and playing metal music. Over ten years and four releases, Saarenpaa and his band (rounded out by singer Johan Lindstrand, bassist Magnus Olsfelt, guitarists Marko Tervonen and Marcus Sunesson) have made sure that each and every release of The Crown is worthy of consumption by the metal legion out there. "We have struggled to get the band name out and record music", he says. "It has been hard to actually try to make a name for ourselves and to get the name out, but things are starting to look good for the band. It seems as though we are finally getting what we deserve." He continues: "There has been a lot of work put into this band, a lot of sacrifice, and it just feels so good that the band is starting to see success and recognition from the metal community." On the topic of the new release and the title, Saarenpaa says, "This record is definitely more death metal sounding than the last record. As for the title, we think it really describes what we are doing here. Somewhat of a death race through Hell or something like that. The album cover really brings that to mind, I think. It really feels very fast and furious and I think the songs really drive home that experience." "I am really pleased that the stuff that we have created with _Deathrace King_ is easily compatible with the older Crown material. It feels very natural and very refreshing playing all of the new material because I was getting very tired of playing the old stuff." One thing that Saarenpaa says is a big priority is for the band to come over and tour the United States this year. He enthusiastically explains: "The label has been pushing real hard and talking about bringing us over to play. It would be great for us. They are talking about us doing a tour with Cannibal Corpse and it should happen. I'm hoping it does. We already have a good fanbase here in Europe, so by playing over there, we would be growing as a band. It only seems like the right thing to do." So seeing that death metal seems to be resurfacing, haven slowly dwindled away over the past few years, how does Saarenpaa feel about playing death metal music? What are his thoughts on today's current state of metal music? "Playing this music has been a big deal for us. It is good to see that this trend really didn't go away and I think we really believed in what we were playing even if it was difficult sometimes to get noticed or whatever. We have just working 100% on what we do best and hope that we can survive all of these other trends. I just think it is hard sometimes for death metal music because people are so fixed on making all of these unique styles of metal music and forget the original style of metal music. I think too many records of this style were being put out and the quality went very low for a while. We believe in death metal and that is all that matters. We didn't want to feel bad about playing something that we liked to play. We didn't change and I think that support for what we play has kept us on track." Adding, Saarenpaa notes: "A lot of the death metal bands out there have changed a bit too much, I think. There is a lot more to discover within the extreme realm of brutal death metal. Sure it is hard to come up with new material each time out, but that is the whole essence of being a musician. The harder you work at it, the better it will turn out." Even though this is only the second release for the band on Metal Blade, their years of playing have been well documented in their two previous releases on Black Sun Records as Crown of Thorns: 1995's _The Burning_ and 1997's _Eternal Death_ [CoC #22]. It just seems now that being on a major label has opened up the band (as it should) to a bigger audience. About the work with Metal Blade, he comments: "Working with Metal Blade has been a great experience for us. It is good to see that they are really focused in doing the shit they have to do to help the band, allowing us to concentrate on making music and playing out live. It has allowed us to work hard and define our sound. We just worry about playing our instruments and they do the rest." He finishes: "That is all we ever wanted and all that we ever needed to do in order to get the name out. Now it is just up to us to tear things up with our music and have fun doing so." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= THE FINELY BALANCED, MULTI-PURPOSE TOOL OF METAL... THAT NEVER DIES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Kirk Windstein of Crowbar by: Paul Schwarz Their history now clocks in at a veteran-status-worthy twelve years and still the heavy but infectious tones of Crowbar haven't caught on in a big way. Still, Crowbar have seen enough trends come and go to not let ambition get in the way of their appreciation of where they have got to. New album _Equilibrium_, on Spitfire / Eagle Rock [reviewed in this issue], amply displays Crowbar's lack of care for what others are doing, but more importantly exemplifies the kind of quality riffed-up, beefy, and sludge-tinged metal they can produce. On their recent trip to Britain, a few days before they flattened me senseless at the Underworld [see Chaotic Concerts for review], I caught up with guitarist and vocalist Kirk Windstein to talk about personnel changes, musical direction and the musical history of their native New Orleans, among a few other intriguing topics. Here's the story from the man who aspires to be "The Lemmy" of his generation. CoC: You've sort of taken a bit of a different direction from _Odd Fellows Rest_ [CoC #33]. Last time you went in for a more melodic, more traditionally song-structured approach; Todd Strange compared it to AC/DC. This one is a bit more like _Broken Glass_ or _Crowbar_. Kirk Windstein: It's kind of more raw than the last one -- I really like _Odd Fellows Rest_ a lot, I really do. Some of the changes that we made on _Odd Fellows Rest_ -- songs like "Odd Fellows Rest" and "Planets Collide", which is one of my favourites that we've ever done -- I've tried to take some of the good melodic and positive things in the songwriting that were really good on _Odd Fellows Rest_ but also throw it back, like you said, to some of the older shit and make it a little more raw and aggressive. I mean, it's got its mellow moments as well but it's definitely more aggressive; songs like "Down Into the Rotting Earth" are fuckin' heavy. I love it, it's killer. CoC: It's got a lot more of that groove there. It's quite a good mixture, because "Dream Weaver" is very much in the "Planets Collide" kind of vein. KW: Right, like "Command of Myself" is one that everybody at first was kind of weird on and now they're really into it -- I like it a lot. It's cool because we made a couple of changes beginning with "Nothing" on _Broken Glass_. That was the first song we ever wrote -that- way; melodic vocally. I really got bored with all the barking-type vocals thing. For some of the faster hard core ones it's cool, but for some of the riffs -- the riffs are getting more melodic even though they're really heavy --, it's better to do something melodic on vocals on top of it. We've been doing this shit for twelve years, we'd get bored doing the same thing over and over again. We always want to stay true to what Crowbar's about, but we feel that we've made subtle changes over the years that enable us to do different stuff now: to not feel like we can only play this one style. We can branch out and do some different stuff and it's cool. CoC: It's made you into more of a -band-. Originally Crowbar was kind of like an oddity in the sense it was this incredibly heavy band with -big- guys in it from New Orleans and I think this album is very well-rounded. Again, along with that you've now moved on, you've got a new drummer and Sammy [Pierre Duet] is doing more writing. Do you think that affected the album a lot, did Sammy's contribution affect it much? KW: Somewhat. I mean, we've got Craig [Nunenmacher, drums] back in, actually, from the first couple of records. Sammy definitely has some cool stuff to it. I wish he could do more, I mean he's so busy with all his other bands and that shit, but the stuff that he did do is very cool. Just him being in the band changes the approach to stuff a lot 'cause he's a really good player, so it's pretty happening. CoC: With the tour you're doing with Eyehategod and Soilent Green, which is the same line-up of bands as it was in the States, they come from the same place... KW: Right, fuckin' ten minutes away. CoC: So is it really quite interesting going on tour with all these guys who you've known for so long. KW: Yeah it makes it cool because number one, I love both of the bands and number two, you already know you're going to get along with the other bands -- otherwise you're always wondering whether these guys you're touring with are going to be assholes. We usually get along with everyone; we're pretty laid back, but it makes it cool. It's definitely going to be fun, because we're going to have fifteen people from New Orleans on the same bus. We'll probably be bombed the whole time, so it'll be cool. CoC: How are things shaping up with Down? KW: We've got a lot of stuff written. We've got ten songs of rough stuff written, nothing major at all. A couple of them are closer than others to being finished but we're definitely going to do it this year, maybe not record it but finish up all the writing and demo it and everything and maybe early next year or something, depending on the Pantera schedule, we'll fit it in for sure. Definitely, without a doubt we'll be doing another one, so I'm excited about that. CoC: Lyrically, the album certainly comes from a different direction than you were coming from seven years ago... KW: Yes. CoC: _Crowbar_ is quite a lot about yourself. What would you describe this album as being about, generally? KW: I mean a lot of it is still how it always has been. People are always like "Jesus, you must be one fucking depressed dude", or "Why is everything so doom and gloom?", and all this kind of shit. But if you really listen to the lyrics, in the past maybe they were that way, but now a lot of the stuff is more about -- it's -about- difficult times in your life or whatever, it's -about- going through rough shit and all, but it's always a positive message. Basically, the whole album is about finding strength in yourself to overcome whatever bullshit. It might be fuckin' old lady problems, drug problems, you ain't got no money, whatever it might be: it's about overcoming that and finding inside of you what you need to do, to be strong, to fuckin' get through it. CoC: One thing I found quite bizarre was the twelfth track, the strange bluesy weird thing. How did it come about and what is it? KW: You mean the thing after "Dreamweaver"? CoC: Yeah. KW: It's actually my friend Moon, who I've probably known since I was six years old. It was his birthday while we were in the studio. It's supposed to be "Anna Gotta Davida" by Iron Butterfly [Iron Butterfly fans correct me if I'm wrong on the spelling of this song --Paul] like . He's like all bombed, like on three hundred pills, smokin' weed, he's bombed out of his mind. So we taped him. He's like all drunk tryin' to do the riff and then he starts singin' it. At the very end I grab the mike from him and say like one line or something. But basically Keith [Falgout], the producer, took his voice trying to do the guitar riff and then looped it underneath the vocal thing or whatever to make it like him singin' over his own guitar. It was supposed to be like twenty minutes after "Dream Weaver". It's just my friend drunk, on his birthday, a joke. It's just to let everyone know we're serious about what we're doing but we still like to have a good time. CoC: Would you say as a band you feel any differently over the last twelve years or do you feel like you've just developed the same band? Have you ever consciously sat there and gone, "Right, we need to make Crowbar different"? KW: Not for any reason other than our own sanity. You know, when things become stale it's like, let's do something different. I mean basically like the whole starting point was "Nothing" off of _Broken Glass_ and a few things on _Odd Fellows Rest_ were a lot different. A song like "Planets Collide", which is one of my favourite songs we have, we never would have done it. I mean, I wouldn't have presented it to the band four or five years ago. It wasn't a Crowbar song, but we made it into a Crowbar song. It's no longer got to be, you know, everything played on the bottom three frets and you're ready to kill yourself and all. You know, it doesn't -have to- be that way any more. We've grown, you know, as people, as musicians, everything. There's a lot more riffed up stuff than what used to be in the past, which we've always been capable of playing; we just strayed away from it for whatever reason. But I don't want to put any more barriers up on what we can and can't do. I want to be able to do whatever the fuck we want to do. As long as we write fuckin' good, original sounding, heavy shit, then it's Crowbar. CoC: What are your thoughts on the Celtic Frost reunion? KW: Really!? CoC: Yeah, 'cause I remember two years ago you guys were at Milwaukee and you played "The Dawn of Megiddo" as a kind of compensation for the possible 'Frost reunion [that was rumoured early on in line-up possibilities to be happening --Paul] that never happened. They have reunited for an album and a tour theoretically sometime this year and of course they just re-released the 'Frost back-catalogue. KW: Well, I mean, they were totally an early influence on what we did. I mean I don't know about all this Apollyon Sun, I haven't heard it, I've just read something with Tom Fischer recently and, you know, people change and there's nothing wrong with it. I still totally worship what they used to do. But I'm all for it, I hope if they do do it that they do the old shit and stay true to that and not do the _Cold Lake_ era and stuff, not one person I know likes it, they're all like sittin' they're tryin' to cut their wrists like "What the fuck happened?". CoC: Well, when they did the re-issues they didn't re-issue _Cold Lake_ and Tom said that he'd never deny it was Celtic Frost but just that it wasn't -essential- Celtic Frost. It was just plain bad. They also said they would do the old shit. It's interesting, though, because Celtic Frost are very much an influential band to the whole black metal scene and they're all sort of done up in armour, but all these bands like yourselves and other very heavy, sludgy bands from New Orleans and around the States really like 'em and I'm curious why you think Celtic Frost are like this anomaly? KW: I was just into them 'cause number one, it was an influence on Crowbar because they were extremely heavy but they weren't too thrashy or speed metal-ish, which I'm into -- I love fast, good shit --, it's just when we started Crowbar we were trying to go against the norm of the time which was playing double kick thrash shit. That wasn't Jim Bower's style at all when he was playing in the band, he was more of a John Bonham [Led Zeppelin]-type dude, which is my favourite drummer anyway, and Celtic Frost was one of the bands that stuck out, to me, as being super fuckin' heavy but without going two hundred miles an hour. To me, you could play as fast as you want, if you're not putting it from your heart and from your guts and your balls, you're not heavy. Heaviness is an emotion. It's a feeling. "Solitude" by Black Sabbath is one of the heaviest songs I've ever heard in my life and it's so fuckin' quiet. But it's fuckin' heavy. Loud doesn't make you heavy. Fast doesn't make you heavy. Slow doesn't make you heavy. It's an emotion. Whatever you do. Some bands people don't think are heavy I think are fuckin' heavy. Me an Jim [Bower, ex-drummer and Eyehategod guitarist] always say that. AC/DC are heavy. Angus Young full of fuckin' spit and sweat, all cut up and bleeding. He's into what he's doing: that's heavy. CoC: I'd say the same thing about something like Rollins Band, which a lot of people would kind of downgrade as being "mainstream" or "rock" or whatever. KW: Fuck no! If you're up there screaming your balls off it's fuckin' heavy. It's not about anything other than emotion. Whatever you pour out in your music; that makes it heavy. That's what we try. We really strive to do that in Crowbar. Try to sing with a lot of emotion, try to play, and it's from the heart and it's real. And, you know, that's just all there is to it. CoC: You've been doing this now for twelve years. When you see bands like Slipknot or Korn who are twenty-odd years old and they make one or two albums and then get a number one in the States -- having done this for so long and done so many albums and having had a lot of fans who've really stuck with you for a long time, do you see Crowbar as ever suddenly becoming big now or do you just see yourselves as an underground band? KW: Well, when we started doing what we were doing we never expected to get this far. So, you know, it's not like we're crying about the fact that we don't have a platinum record or something, but at the same time it makes me still be hungry to get somewhere because I think we deserve more than what we've got as far as a level we should reach. But I've no -problems- with it or anything. I mean, as far as the future, my goal, my main goal, when I started the band, was that if we could just get to where Motorhead is or something... You know, not like mainstream, not on the radio, not on MTV, not on none of this shit, but able to just go on for fuckin' twenty-five years. I want to be the Lemmy of my generation. I want to be fuckin' fifty years old and three hundred fuckin' pounds. Full of tatoos, drinkin' beer and fuckin' jammin' my balls off because that's all I know how to do. That's all I ever wanted to do -- I'd like to make a little more money --, basically be able to survive playing the music that I love to create and play and do it 'till I die, which hopefully is a long time down the road. That's all my goal was. We've been on MTV. I didn't even think stuff like that would happen. It's no big deal, we just want to jam, period. CoC: With record labels, you started off on Pavement, which didn't work out, and the last two records you've moved and ended up on Spitfire/Eagle. It's a much bigger record label. Are you pleased to move onto a label with James Brown and Dio and Deep Purple? KW: A friend of mine said it was funny we were on the same label with Dio and whatever, but I said so what, 'cause Pantera's on the same label with Whitney Houston or something, what's the difference? If it's a label that's got money to promote you and to push you properly and if it's got good distribution -- which are all things we've had problems with in the past -- I don't give a fuck who's on it. As long as they believe in Crowbar and they're cool -- and Paul Bebo, who's the president in America, is a good friend of mine and he's totally into the band, really believes in what we're doing. To him, this is our first record, it's a brand new record. He got the _Odd Fellows Rest_ album which he re-released and he's trying to get the rest of the back-catalogue, so we'll have it all under one fuckin' roof finally, where it belongs. And to him this is our first record because he says that's he's going to do things and promote things that we've never had done for us before. I mean, being on Pavement we could have put out _Led Zeppelin IV_ and it probably wouldn't have sold that well. You could've put out fuckin' Nirvana's _Nevermind_, you could put out an album that quality and no-one would know you fuckin' existed. I'm not saying if we were on fuckin' Columbia we would have sold five million, 'cause this is not for everybody. We know what we do is not for everybody. We don't make it for everybody. CoC: Absolutely, but there are lots of bands out there who are doing similar things. The thing that's really annoying about the world is that there's a band who becomes popular, and then there'll be a band who does what they do, better, but they're on some small label. KW: I know where you're coming from. The average music fans, they don't even really look, you basically have to drop it on their lap for them to really find it. People who are really into music, the hard-core fans, go out and search for the shit and find it and they find the bands that influence these other bands or whatever. I understand what you mean. Hopefully, by being on a new label, we can at least jump to the -next- level, which is totally within the realms of possibility. We recently did some shows in Hawaii, which was very cool. We had a really good time, got drunk, hit the water. I did an interview with the Honolulu newspaper or whatever and the lady's like saying, "Having been successful..." and I'm like "Back up: we never were successful". We have no place to go but up. I mean, we are an underground band, we've always been an underground band. To me, I haven't lost confidence in what we're capable of doing. I told her it would be one thing if we were like Poison, that ten years ago were selling five million records, playing arenas in America, and now they play the same clubs Crowbar plays. Then I'd be saying that something wasn't really too cool here, but as we've always played the same clubs and we've never got up to the next level we have no place to go but up: that's our attitude. CoC: Back in '93/'94 when you were on MTV... KW: Right, that was the biggest hype era of our career. CoC: To be honest, I knew about you through that. Then I got into you 'cause I saw you play with Napalm Death, At the Gates and Face Down four years ago. That was the clincher. But I originally knew about you as "this band who knew Pantera". That's how people generally tend to pick stuff up, unfortunately. Kids don't read enough magazines or look around the underground. KW: I don't blame them, but people don't go search long and hard to find good music, they basically accept whatever is dropped in their lap. That's the problem with the whole music scene. There's so many great bands that for the most part, as far as the general public's concerned, they don't even exist. There's tons of great bands who are like that, and not just in heavy music. I mean there's tons of great blues musicians or whatever who don't even get noticed until they're sixty-five years old. They've been doin' it since they're fifteen, ridin' in an old pick-up truck with a guitar and -finally- this guy's a great blues legend. What took everybody so long? He's been great for fuckin' fifty years. Not that I'm sayin' we're great, I'm just sayin' that's the way we perceive everything. It's like, we're on a new label and it is a new beginning. You don't know what's around the corner. All you can do is just continue to jam your balls off every time you play live, write good fuckin' original music -- we don't want to sound like anybody else, we just want to sound like Crowbar and we think we do a good job of that -- and just see what the hell happens. And that's all you can do... and drink beer. CoC: I think Crowbar has a lot of the feeling of blues. What you were saying about heaviness has a lot of resonance in terms of either bar-band blues or traditional Memphis blues. Would you say the legacy of New Orleans, even people like Dr. John and things like that... KW: He's on our label too, I was just goin' through the back catalogue. CoC: I got into him just recently when I got _Gris-Gris_ and it's not like it sounds the same, but it's got the same feeling of heaviness that you were talking about. KW: Yeah, totally. We're subconsciously heavily influenced by all the New Orleans stuff, which is what we grew up on. On the radio, if I do have to listen to the radio, I'll listen to classic rock shit. I heard "Such a Night" the other day by Dr. John. Whenever it's Mardi Gras time, and there's crawfish bars, and parties and stuff like that, everybody listens to Dr. John and Neville Brothers and Funky Meters. That's what we grew up on. Since I was a little kid. I remember hearing all these Mardi Gras songs. I work for a sound company, Jim [Bower] actually works for it too, and we do the Neville Brothers sometimes, and we've done Dr. John. If you watch these motherfuckers -- fifty-five, sixty years old --, they jam their fuckin' balls off. They've been playing since they're fuckin' fifteen and they fuckin' smoke. You go watch Mean Willy Green, the drummer from the fuckin' Neville Brothers and your jaw will drop. This guy is so fuckin' awesome. These guys know how to lay it down and play in a pocket. And you can't help but get influenced by them. Especially the fact that they're a bunch of old fuckin' dudes. That makes it even more killer; they're playin' from their hearts. CoC: It's great when older bands really show up bad new bands. KW: Yeah, while we're on the subject, shit like the Neville Brothers and all, it took them until maybe the last eight years or ten years really to even get noticed and they've been around since the sixties. It took maybe 'till the late-eighties or early nineties for them to basically get noticed. The guy's fuckin' fifty some years old. It took that long for them to get noticed and they've been there the whole time doin' it. Every Saturday night playin' one of the clubs, doin' it for real. Sometimes shit takes a while to come around. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= KNEEL BEFORE THE CONQUERORS OF ARMAGEDDON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Moyses Kolesne of Krisiun by: Paul Schwarz Even when competing with the likes of a new Vader record, a new Dismember record and the unexpected wake-up call of the Soulreaper album, Krisiun still managed to come out tops in the all-out-total-fucking-extremity stakes with their latest, rabid offering: _Conquerers of Armageddon_. After more than a decade in the Brazilian underground, permeated only by their deal four years ago with Gun Records (which brought their frenetic, chaotic debut _Black Force Domain_ and its Kreator-inspired, speed obsessed follow-up _Apocalyptic Revelation_ to a limited audience) and recent bouts of touring which have taken them as far as North America and Europe, Krisiun recently signed a deal with Century Media (which should hopefully push them to a bigger audience) and have secured yet more touring throughout this year. Guitarist Moyses Kolesne, through occasionally broken English, gave me the answers to all my questions about Krisiun: past, present, and possible future. CoC: You guys have emerged slowly over the last ten years from Brazil, a country with a few metal bands like Sepultura, Sarcophago, etc.. How much do you feel part of a Brazilian scene and how supportive would you say that scene is of you? Moyses Kolesne: We have seen the Brazilian scene from the very best years. We saw Sepultura and Sarcophago since they started playing here in '84 and '85. They were playing really raw thrash/black metal. So obviously since we were at their concerts we would get some influences. Maybe not really directly but the kind of influence that stays in a part of your subconscious. We witnessed this metal scene in Brazil emerge and become really aggressive over the years. We had these influences. We started a band and just wished to follow that path: make things more extreme, faster, whatever. We are doing the same kind of music, but we have this modern sound because we have the approach of modern death metal. We are just giving a following for that; we are proud to be part of [the Brazilian scene] and those bands opened up a lot of doors for the upcoming bands like us. But I have to tell you that some years ago the extreme metal scene in Brazil was almost dead. Everybody here was just caring about thrash metal or whatever, you know, the American, more fashionable kind. So these bands like Sarcophago, Blasphemy, Morbid Angel were not getting so much recognition here. We just started from the ashes of that [intending] to bring again more respect for extreme metal here in Brazil. That's our cause. We fight for this scene because in Brazil there are a lot of bands in other styles like power metal, thrash metal, hardcore, whatever. We came from this [extreme] scene and we are really rooted from the very beginning of it, 'cause we have witnessed all this history, you know. CoC: Most bands, when they start out, want to be the most extreme, especially death metal bands. But you guys, you just seem to keep wanting to be the most extreme band and you seem to do very well at it. So with the album are you just trying to be faster, heavier than every other band out there, is that the idea? MK: Well, no, man. I have to tell you all this aggression came naturally. We are never putting anything to a contest. The main thing is our feeling; it just guided us this way. There's no special reason, it's just a feeling to keep doing music you like to listen to, you like to play. And obviously we do that well -because- we practice hard every day, and we kept always taking another step ahead with each album. We kept practising, we did a lot of tours, we recorded a lot of demos, albums, but we had no budget, we had nothing. There were some small labels trying to put our stuff out, but actually they gave it nothing. So, we'd record our old albums in a very short time and so we'd go in with this -attack- feeling. CoC: It did take you quite a long time to get a deal. Some bands take quite a while, but you guys went seven years? MK: Yeah, more or less, seven years. So, this gave us a feeling, 'cause once you see so many trends happen -- like we saw many bands claiming to be, you know, the -most- extreme death metal band, like some bands did --, and all this gave us inspiration, 'cause you know this is a lie, so we have to tell them the truth; we have to show them the truth because we are pretty rooted in the real death metal / black metal basis, like those old Brazilian bands, old Slayer, Possessed, Dark Angel, Venom, Sodom, you know. But we are doing kind of really brutal death metal because, as I said before, we are a band that is -- now we are in the year 2000 -- still new outside Brazil. So that's why we have this kind of approach. CoC: Starting the band as brothers, how much difference did you find that made? Also, did you find it made a difference that you come from a somewhat impoverished country like Brazil which is kind of out of the general music scene? How much effect do you think all that had on you as a band? MK: I have to tell you that we came from a normal family life, a normal family. We went to school. So, we didn't live in all this poverty, but of course we can see that. We live in Sao Paulo, it's a big city, so we see more of these things. I saw more of that on TV as well. Whatever, of course this gave us some feelings like other things, but concerning the fact that we are from Brazil, this brings us another kind of influence, because this is a -future-, different future, different everything. Brazil was outside from the tours in the best years, but now all the bands are coming here. I saw Venom in Brazil in '86, I saw Destruction, I saw Slayer, I saw Metallica, I saw Motorhead: I saw a lot of shows to get influence but never did bands from Brazil just go outside. But maybe in the next few years it will be normal for bands who come from Brazil, like it is for Europe or the US. This country is really new for metal, we don't have a really old future here. They were stopping the rock 'n' roll scenes from the beginning, so metal and rock 'n' roll happened here in Brazil more in the eighties, after the seventies. Kiss, I guess, were the first band that played here in '81, so from that the scene started to grow up a lot here. People get more interested to play music, more metal fans, you know, so that helps a lot and Brazil has a good infrastructure, so that's why people are coming from here more and not from the other countries in South America. CoC: Yeah, the influx of bands from Brazil is an anomaly. There aren't really any Argentine or Bolivian bands who are big, there are a couple of Mexican ones [if we're talking Latin America, since Mexico is geographically in North America --Paul] like The Chasm. Sepultura got into that kind of Brazilian percussion thing, do you think that whole rhythmic basis for some of the culture of Brazil affects your music at all? MK: I don't think so. In my music I guess not. We are more into metal, whatever, we don't need that kind of stuff. As I say I never had it in my culture; I saw that but I didn't live it. I never, you know, started to play some instruments of this culture, playing samba. I never cared. I was always into metal, pure metal. So we would never use that. CoC: What made you decide to go to Germany to record and use Andy Classen and Eric Rutan as producers? MK: Well, we had been to Germany since we signed with Gun Records, we stayed there for quite a while, but of course we returned to Brazil a lot of times. So, once we were there, I met the guys from Morbid Angel, we became good friends because we saw them here [in Europe] -- I saw them in Brazil in '89 but we never spoke -- and I gave Trey our first album, _Black Force Domain_, so since then he supported our band, kept mentioning us. So, the other guys from Morbid Angel got interested from that and our band kept evolving, we recorded another album, we did some tours and also did a show in Tampa, Florida, and there were all the guys from Morbid Angel. There, we and Eric talked a lot and he told us that he has a studio, that he works as an engineer, producing bands, that he has a new band, Hate Eternal, and that he was about to go and record and produce this band. So once he knew that we were about to record our new album he phoned us and told us that he should be our producer. We figured that would be great, so we told Century Media about our intentions and they thought it would be great, so they got in touch with Eric's manager Gunter [Ford]. Eric made everything really easy for this to happen. He didn't charge very much money and he had a tour to do in December which we did too. So we had the same tour to do, the label is in Germany, the studio [Stage One] is one of the best studios in Germany. A good studio that you can record in and don't spend as much money as in Brazil or the US: they are cheaper in Germany. So, all the factors just made it better for us to do it in Germany. It was easier for everything: for the flight tickets, for the studio, for the label, for the tours. CoC: Coming back to the album itself, it's called _Conquerors of Armageddon_ -- is this a reference to the band, or the lyrical concept around the album? MK: It's for the band, man. We achieved as a band a conquest inside us: the Armageddon is our battle. We knew that we had been fighting for a decade. So we knew that this time we should be able to put a really good album out. Also we went to the studio and we realised we had achieved a good sound quality; we had conquered this final battle. So, we are conquering over ourselves, over what's inside of us, not over any other bands. We don't claim to be the speediest, the fastest, just to create hype, because words are words and music tells the real facts. So, we don't need to do that. Many bands claim to be, you know, all this shit, but, you know, they are not. Liars. So the conquest is inside of us over these hard, rough times that we came through. So we knew that we had established our name as a band -- as a very important band for the death metal scene --, we got a new label, we got a lot of tours to do, a lot of support, and we went to the studio and we kept doing our style. We didn't decide that because we were on a new label we'd do one or two softer songs or whatever. We just don't care man, we just say "fuck off, we're gonna keep doing this". We are not leaving this style like many bands are doing. Many bands are just making death metal way melodic or saying it's dead, it's just making it easier for people. You know, if you like techno you can like a lot of death metal bands nowadays. If you like really soft, melodic stuff you can like some death metal bands: they are full of these melodies like Iron Maiden. But we don't want to be part of this. We want to be the real flame of death metal. The real, real death metal like Morbid Angel did in the beginning, Deicide, Blasphemy and Sarcophago and Vader and Sodom, whatever, but playing, of course -- because we are younger than those guys and we had influence from them -- at a higher level. CoC: With the lyrics, I get the impression there is a spiritual aspect to it, a mystical aspect, but it seems almost medieval. "Iron Stakes" and "Cursed Scrolls"? MK: You're right, man. We kept, kind of, the apocalyptic vision that we had on the other albums. We always had this idea of bringing destruction and vengeance from the natural order, from what makes us stay here on Earth. Now we are bringing in more of this occult science, the occult side of life, like really old traditions that many religions just banished. I guess we are pretty near to the third world war, you know, many things that are happening in Europe, we are really near so we had this feeling of Armageddon. So maybe next time you just can't avoid that, it is just a man's decision to push a button or whatever. We know that this destruction came from mankind's hand. We are talking a lot about vengeance using the anti-Christian and Satanic philosophy to talk about reality. Because we are not worshipping devils or doing sacrifices or whatever: not living the Christian Satanism. We are more concerned to be like the old Sumerian, very ancient cult of Scheitan [I think this is what he means, but I am not expert --Paul], like the people who discovered mathematics, who discovered the real facts of biology, astronomy, the planets, whatever, and so became a religion with subdivisions. They [Christians, I think --Paul] just banished a lot of knowledge to inflict their prophecies or whatever. So we are anti-Christian, but we are doing it on a real basis. Like, the history, the facts, -prove- they were -wrong- a lot of the time. They made a lot of mistakes. Also, the worst enemy for the Christian, or any religion, is science, the numbers that prove that you are wrong. They have a lot of contradictions. So this is just a part, just one religion that inflicts this. So, that's what we are most concerned with, this vengeance came in really strong like a big storm, big devastation, something that fits with the feeling that the music gives, you know. So, once you are in some music claiming "Kill the Christ" it is like "Kill the lies", you know, kill what has been inflicting all the shit in this world. So our lyrics, they have this occult, Satanic side, but actually this is just reality, not so much fantasy or whatever. CoC: It's like a way of expressing things in metaphor? MK: It's a way of being political sometimes, but really into this kind of Satanic and Sumerian prophecies. CoC: Right, and the cover kind of plays with that a bit. It's got a kind of like Tolkien-esque thing to it with the four riders, and also that's like four riders of the apocalypse. You've got the cross, and a scimitar and what have you. How closely did you link the whole lyrics and the cover and the title and everything? Is it at all conceptual or is it just an expoundary of beliefs? MK: Yeah, there was a concept, but I have to tell you that at first we had another cover. We were divided between ourselves and the label people, half liked it and half didn't. So we just decided we had to have something better, because this label is really professional. They know some things. So they just called Petagno in Denmark and asked him to send a sample and told him about the album, the lyrics, the apocalyptic vision of Armageddon, and so he sent that. He said this is the pure apocalypse, the knights of apocalypse. It was perfect. It represents the meaning of this album. CoC: Anything you want to mention about what's happening with the band now, before we finish? MK: Well, we are just releasing this album. We are pretty proud about this new wave of death metal that is emerging again, that is coming really strong. We are not alone. There are a few other really powerful bands who deserve to take a higher position in the metal scene. This is just claiming vengeance again against the weak, soft metal bands claiming they are the best shit or whatever. But we are here not telling you we are the best, we just want to banish the fucking dogs that infect our ground. This is our fight. This is the reason we are here. We just want to say thank you, thank you to everybody who has been supporting our band. We are here to stay and not to wimp out just because we signed with a big label or whatever. Once again we are really aggressive and really brutal; fighting for the cause of the real death metal. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= REAPING, RAVAGING, REBELLING AND ROCKING ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks to Tobias Kjellgren of Soulreaper by: Paul Schwarz From out of nowhere, my ass was well and truly kicked early this year by Soulreaper. Obviously, I should have done my homework. When a band comprises half of Dissection, great things are a little less surprising than when they come from unknowns. But regarding Soulreaper as either a continuation or little brother to Dissection (despite the dubious link offered by their name) would not only be a misrepresentation of the band's feeling about themselves, it would be a grave -musical- mistake. Their _Written in Blood_ debut [see Album Asylum for a review] owes more to Morbid Angel than to any other death metal act, blackened or otherwise. Of course regarding Soulreaper as a Morbid Angel clone would likewise be unwise. They may owe Trey and Pete a lot, but they didn't sell them their souls. Soulreaper have their own character and it's not only brutal as a vicious beating with a big hammer, it's also got its melodic subtleties. With _Written in Blood_ still ringing in my ears, a sore throat choking me and the temptation to ask too many questions about Dissection firmly under control, I spoke to Soulreaper's drummer (yes, ex-Dissection) Tobias Kjellgren to see where Soulreaper came from, and where they might be going in the future. CoC: What are you guys up to at the moment? Tobias Kjellgren: Well, we are busy trying to do new songs for the next album and I guess we are going to record it as soon as possible to get a new thing out. CoC: How long ago did you record the original album? TK: Well, it was January last year. So we have a couple of new songs. CoC: With "the Dissection connection", in what way did Soulreaper come out of Dissection? How related would you say the two bands are? TK: Non-related. A couple of months after Dissection split up, me and Johan Normann of Dissection decided to do a new thing since Dissection was turning to the grave, and here we are, basically. Nothing to do with Dissection, really. The only connection with Dissection is that we took a couple of riffs that me and Johan did -for- Dissection and used them in Soulreaper. CoC: In the end what really did happen with Dissection, why did the band dissolve, ultimately? TK: I don't want to go into it. I wouldn't bother to bore the readers with the whole story. But anyway, we got unfriendly with each other and it didn't work out in the end, so finally me and Johan split Dissection. We didn't split, we got out of Dissection. I don't know if Jon was planning to continue Dissection with another line-up, but he got imprisoned and that's history. We didn't know how things would have turned out for Dissection if he hadn't. CoC: So, do you not see Jon much any more then? TK: I have talked to him a couple of times since he got imprisoned. I don't really have any good connection with him. I have a good connection with his brother. He says he's alright. CoC: Did you set out to write a very brutal album, because _Written in Blood_ -is- very brutal? TK: Was it planned? No, it all came out spontaneously. For us, nothing is ever planned; what comes out comes out, really. It is a brutal album, I can't disagree with you, but it's also [got] a lot of other elements as well. That's a real trademark of Soulreaper, I guess: trying to do this brutal, ultra-speed kind of black death metal combined with the melodic parts. CoC: Were you at all tentative about doing this considering -- although it has become more popular again of late -- it's still slightly against the grain; it's somewhat against the grain for the majority of albums Nuclear Blast release these days? TK: We just ended up with it. What can I say? It was very spontaneous. We didn't plan to sound similar to American death metal: bands like Morbid Angel, Angel Corpse or Hate Eternal. But Hate Eternal, for example, is a very new band also and I can't say I had heard Hate Eternal before making the album. Of course, obviously I've heard Morbid Angel before. Actually we had to cut off some things in our songs because it sounded too much like Morbid Angel, so obviously we definitely do not want to be a little-brother-band to any of these bands. We do our own thing and we live in Sweden and I guess we're the only ones in Sweden doing this. So it's pretty original in the sense that it comes from Sweden. CoC: Formerly, being in Dissection, you were very much part of the black metal scene, though obviously you weren't in Norway. With this album, do you see yourselves as alone or would you align yourselves with the death metal bands from Sweden or the American death metal bands? TK: Well, first of all, Dissection stated, back when Dissection was Dissection, that Dissection never -was- a black metal band. But we don't care if we're death metal or black metal or anything like that, it's just... you know what I mean? CoC: I know what you're saying, you don't see yourselves as really coming out of a scene... TK: No, [and] we don't identify with anyone else either. We're not the ones that like to compare us to every other band either. CoC: On Dissection, I do appreciate that they never stated they were a black metal band; I am just saying that they did get roped into that. TK: Yeah, yeah, of course, I know what you mean. CoC: With the album, who did you decide to work with studio and production-wise? TK: Well, the principal matter was that we wanted to do a new and original thing. The turn-out is maybe not that. We used a local studio here in Gothenburg. Not Fredman or Abyss up in northern Sweden. We wanted to do an original thing, we just picked a studio right in Gothenburg and we knew a guy that is a really good technician so we just did it. CoC: Are the lyrics quite Satanic or occult, would you say it is trying to convey an anti-Christian political message? TK: Well, it is certainly anti-Christian, if you listen or read the lyrics. That's the only thing I can say. All five of us are Satanic individuals... and we play death metal, and we're here to conquer the world -- what else can I say? CoC: Would you consider yourself part of the LaVeyan school of individualist Satanic philosophy or are you more into the -ritual- of Satanic philosophy? TK: No, not really. I used to be, but I'm really not that involved at the moment. It's more a mental life scene. CoC: But for you, the lyrics are -real-, the Satanic philosophy is a -real- part of your life. 'Cause a lot of bands I have talked to, especially recently, have talked about Satanism as a way to express anti-Christian feeling or feeling towards the way society oppresses -- Immolation, for example, do this -- because it is a language that people can understand. TK: Maybe Immolation, coming from America -- or any other band from another culture having, in general, people who are more Christian -- can see it on the streets. Not here in Sweden, we can't see it on the streets, we actually have to go into a church on Sunday to see the Christianity in the community. You're angry at something for a reason and, well, here in Sweden we don't have any reason to hate anything because we don't see it every day. But it's a lifestyle, I can't deny I'm a Satanist and the source that I have and the other guys in the band have also is hard to do without. It is the kind of people that we are; that I am, anyway. CoC: As far as your influences go, I assume you guys contributed quite a bit to Dissection, so would you say you're using different influences in making this album? You say it was spontaneous, but looking back on it would you say it comes from a different part of your past or whatever? TK: Yes, all the elements are in the album if you really listen to it closely and I can't deny that -my- influences are Pete Sandoval on drums and Mikey Dee and this Dream Theater drummer, all this kind of shit, you know. CoC: Would you say the "classic rock" movement had influence on you? TK: Well, I can't see any New Wave of British Heavy Metal in it, but those bands are my best influences because that was the music that I grew up with when I was little, so if it wasn't for that kind of music I wouldn't be releasing this album or anything -- so I guess that's an influence: not in the music by itself but in the music life. CoC: Are you touring at the moment? TK: No, we're going to do a three week tour in May in Germany and Spain and every country in-between, I think, with Gorgoroth and Old Man's Child and some other bands as well. So we're really looking forward to that because we haven't really played live before. We just did a release party here in Gothenburg a couple of weeks ago and that was great and we're really hungry to do more shows. CoC: Would you say you prefer playing live or recording material? TK: Playing live, of course! That's why we're playing. When you're in the studio you're playing in front of a wall. The live situation is great, you feel the energy from the crowd and you kick it right back. CoC: Regarding your image. As far as the way you look, you certainly haven't followed the Floridian style of just looking like fans. You have armour and stuff. With that image, what would you say you're trying to convey? TK: No. The way that we look on the album is the way we look when we walk down the street. So, it's not a typical image for the band, it's just the way we are. If we had used corpse-paint, which we would never do, maybe I wouldn't say that. CoC: So you guys walk around with armour [I should have said spiked armbands --Paul] and things? TK: We don't have any -armour- on the photo! CoC: Someone had a spiked wristband. TK: That's the singer, he doesn't wear that walking down the street. CoC: I used to know some people who did -- they weren't musicians, though. Anyway, if there's anything else you want to bring out about the band, you're welcome to do so now. TK: Well, I hope you buy the album and support us and support death metal in general, because it is definitely coming back. I hope to see you on tour, and hail Satan. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M E T A L B U I L T O N T R A G E D Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Virgin Steele by: Adrian Bromley The success of Virgin Steele has always seemed to rest upon the shoulders of its leader David DeFeis. The band's latest effort, _The House of Atreus: Act I_, no doubt almost broke his back. The 73-minute opus _THoA_, a long winding epic of great instrumentals and grand songwriting shaped around a Greek tragedy, is one of those records that'll easily draw you into the fold, not letting go until the magical music experience is over. The album is indeed a work of art and DeFeis knows this. He knows this all too well. "I have always been up for a challenge", starts the singer/keyboardist/ringleader down the line from New York. "I just really wanted to stretch the boundaries and show people what could be done. We are just three people [DeFeis is supported strongly by guitarist/bassist Edward Pursino and drummer Frank Gilchriest --Adrian] just going at it. No guest players, no choirs, it is just us playing the music. If you put your mind to it, look what can be done. I wanted to also push the boundaries of metal music in general and say that this is the 21st Century classical music." While many European acts have ventured forward and explored ideas of incorporating classical music and metal music, not many North American acts have been up to the challenge... until now. "Playing metal music has always been a thrilling time for me and my band. It is worth the hard work that goes into it. From the first record we have ever put out till now it has been a building process with the band. We have grown over the years and it has been great to take in all of this hard work and ideas. I didn't get into doing this style of music on this record to get rich quick or be the flavor of the month. I just wanted, as I said already, to push the boundaries for me physically and technically." Through the years, Virgin Steele has been a band that has been quite visible within the metal realm. Their music, while not mainstream or at the top of the heap, has always existed and stayed true to their beliefs. Through albums like _The Marriage of Heaven and Hell_, _Noble Savage_ or _Invictus_, the band has always focused on keeping their dream alive. It has always been a big priority for them. "Knowing what I have done with this record", he says, "I know there is a lot more for me left to do. There is still a spark and things will go on. There will be a follow-up to this record. _THoA_ will finish at Act II, but the style will continue in whatever subject matter we tackle. I feel like this is somewhat of a new beginning in the sound of Virgin Steele. It is just starting to get good now for us. I want to go on for many, many years to come." "I enjoyed the obstacle that this record and its ideas brought to me", he says. "It was very hard at times. I wrote both Act I and Act II at the same time, some 40 odd tracks. The hardest part was trying to work the flow of the lyrics, to work within the framework of what was provided. It isn't just endless lyrics, there are many instrumentals as well." Just imagining the labour that went into this work gives me the creeps. DeFeis' hard work is showcased here through blood, sweat and tears, no doubt. The impossible became the possible with this release and there is no doubt this effort lies deep within his heart as a prized possession of musical creativity. "People probably think the music took months to record. Not really. A lot of the material on _THoA_ was done in one take, sometimes. It was just like go for it and move on. The thing about the studio work is that it makes you really become attached to your work. At the end of the day, when all is done and mixed and all that, I love what I have done, but at the same time hate it. I hate it because I can hear the music sounding ten times better had I had more time, but you have to go with what you are provided with. I just at that point step back and take it in for what it is. It is done, so we move on from there." "I am very proud of the compositional standpoint of this record", DeFeis says about the overall framework of _THoA_. "Being able to write the songs and get my brain on record has been the highlight. There are some great performances here and now the songs themselves can be taken by anyone (i.e. theatre company, etc.) and be able to perform them and have a similar result." And what about those metal fans that just see Virgin Steele as glorified '80s metalheads working around a Greek tragedy? "They obviously aren't listening", he interjects. "This isn't a dated style of metal. We come from traditional metal roots but the harmonies and the melody that are used are not some rehashed Iron Maiden or Dio sounding material. This is true modern forward-thinking metal and I think those people need to open up their ears and see just what it is all about." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= B R U T A L I S E D B R I T A N I C B U T C H E R E R S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Declan Malone and Giuseppe Cutispoto of Infestation by: Paul Schwarz Last year you may recall me talking to Infestation's enthusiastic drummer David Hirscheimer [CoC #39] on account of the stunning quality of the band's _Curse of Creation_ demo EP [CoC #36]. Well, a year later and we see one of Britain's best brutal death metal exports since the early nineties with a record deal (courtesy of Stuart Ness' newly formed Lunasound organisation) and a debut album just released: the crushing and varied _Mass Immolation_. What we no longer see is Dave Hirscheimer's name in the album's credits, for soon after I talked with him he left for a brief tenure in with Cradle of Filth (he was unfortunately sacked after a mere two gigs). Infestation eventually recruited the talented Declan Malone after trying out a number of drummers, but in the meantime their original guitarist Jamie Evans slinked off. He was replaced by Jeremy Gray and thus Infestation forged on ahead to outdo their impressive demo with their rock solid debut offering [see Album Asylum for review --Paul]. I met up with new drummer Declan Malone and original guitarist Giuseppe Cutispoto to talk blasphemy, masochism and other pleasant topics. CoC: Were you happy with the way the album turned out? Declan Malone: We're basically happy with the way it came out, but I think we're such a tight unit now. We've been rehearsing solidly; our main ambition is to be professional about it. There are times when you sort of muck about but it's not about that anymore. Giuseppe Cutispoto: It's our dream, you know what I mean, it's always been our dream to get to this level, make an album, do a tour: that's been like a passion. DM: And the new stuff we're writing is much better, it's getting somewhere and we're dead chuffed with it. CoC: Things have definitely got tighter since the demo (last year's _Curse of Creation_), the production makes it crisper and the actual playing has definitely tightened itself up; whatever little holes were there. Is the new stuff more complex, more different or do you think you're just writing more technical things? GC: We've never been a technical band like Morbid Angel or Suffocation. We basically do what comes from the heart, whether it's simple or technical. DM: It's basically what you can move to, because I think there is a lot of bands that overdo it. I think Cryptopsy's _None So Vile_ is the closest any band has come to total chaos without it sounding like noisy shit, 'cause the way it flows you can still headbang, you can still stand at the bar pretending to do a blastbeat when you hear it. Cryptopsy's not our major influence, but it's one of them; everyone loves that album. What we're trying to do is basically get something which has a grind or a groove people can really get into, that'll cause a big mosh. Say some of the bits in _Harmony Corruption_; it's almost an old Florida sound -- Scott Burns did it, didn't he -- so perhaps not -sounding- like Napalm Death but with those rhythms. And then you've got your quick bits, and people, I think, appreciate a quick bit more when it's not just blasting all the way through. That's been done, there's no pointing in going over old ideas. And what we're writing now: you can headbang to it on stage and we love it. That's why it feels good, and we're definitely moving in that direction. I mean, the album we've done we're well chuffed with and whatever we do is one step further to getting to the top and making it. GC: And we're always improving as well. I mean, we practice and as time goes on we always get better; each song we write is better than the last one. It's not like we did it on purpose, it's just that that's the way it happens. And it's such a good feeling: the atmosphere in the band at the moment. CoC: Do you think the live playing has really changed things? GC: The whole thing with losing the drummer [David Hirscheimer, who was recruited by Cradle of Filth, played two gigs, and was let go --Paul] was that we lost a really good drummer and we gained, in my opinion, a better one, a more powerful one. The line-up we've got now is the strongest it's ever been. There's no way it's going to change: -this is the line-up-. DM: When we recorded the album -- after losing a drummer and guitarist -- we'd only just started with this new line-up and we lost half the writing part of the band. In the last six months the chemistry has really improved, we all know what sort of speed a riff needs and Dave [Samuel] is the most amazing vocalist. There's not a single person that I know who touches him. Bands that just do super-low vocals like Soils of Fate are good, but it's nice if you can mix 'em. He can scream and also do low vocals. You can hear it on songs like "The Hunt". He used no effects at all on the album. GC: He has a big range. He can do loads of stuff. The screams, the growls: we don't often know what's going to come next. DM: And the breathing he does -- where he's exhaling and inhaling at the same time -- that allows him to go super low. On the album everything has been over-dubbed, so you've got two vocal tracks going at the same time, mixing in, but in the rehearsals you hear him and you wouldn't even think it's a human being. GC: I mean, we're playing and suddenly you're like ... fucking hell! It's good to have someone like that because with Dave we'll be playing a song and he just takes off. DM: He's basically our bass player. When we're playing something high up he'll do a low, deep growl and that complements it. CoC: In a lot of death metal bands the vocals are just superfluous. DM: Yeah, and I mean, I am not knocking any other bands, but there are certain vocal patterns which basically just stick with the beat. There are people out there who just grunt and scream, and that's great, but we want to do more than that. I love great vocal patterns. I mean, Chris Barnes, he may be very low, but he's written some nice vocal patterns. GC: I mean it's not just the vocals, it's the pattern as well. DM: Like early Cancer, great fuckin' vocal patterns. Cryptopsy is just fucked up, but that still works, 'cause you wouldn't want someone grunting all the way through that -- the music does enough. [Lord Worm's] whole psychological edge just pays off. Like I was reading that review of the nineties [in Terrorizer magazine --Paul] where it said that the vocals are not just about the singin', it's like another musical instrument whereas in other genres it's not. In this it is an instrument and Dave -- if it was a guitar it would be a fuckin' ten thousand pound BC Rich... with sixteen cabs. GC: A la Slayer. CoC: "The Hunt" and "Black Pope" move things on quite a bit from the demo tracks. There's also a full blown solo on "Demons of Darkness". DM: That was sort of my idea to try that out. I think it works really well, sounds a bit like Death. I don't really like white-noisy solos, but I've never been against doing something good. We tried that. GC: "The Hunt", on the other hand, has been kickin' about for two years or so. That song came about on the spur of the moment. People said we couldn't have clean bits 'cause it's death metal or whatever, but we just liked it. Like I said before, if we like it and it sounds good, we'll have it. CoC: Good attitude. It's surprising that so many people are still surprised at acoustic bits. GC: Yeah, like Vital Remains did all those classical bits. That's totally different but it's brilliant. CoC: It's also really good, because a lot of bands will use acoustics or keyboards as an intro and -then- come in with something really heavy, but there are few bands who put it into songs well. Vital Remains have those big riffs with acoustic guitars behind them. GC: Yeah, and sometimes you wonder what's going on, but then again you have to admire what they're trying to do, because they're not just adding an element, they're just trying stuff out and seeing what works. DM: You try something, and if it works, it works. I mean, in the new stuff we've got three songs which have slow bits either bang in the middle or at the start. You appreciate it 'cause it flows. I mean, there aren't many bands who use acoustic bits; some, but not many. Thing is "The Hunt" and "Evil, Evil" are about Robert Ramirez: "The Hunt" is actually about him stalking his victims and "Evil, Evil" is about what's going on in his head. So that acoustic start is sort of like an old horror film, in a way. You've got that and then at the end you've got "I am the stalker" and all these fucked up screams. It sounds... "evil evil". CoC: "Evil, Evil" is a very full-on track. DM: It's a great song and it's a great song title as well. GC: All the songs on the album have enough variation so you don't get bored. The listener will be sitting there from start to finish paying attention because of the variation. But we always like to be full-on. CoC: Are you -aiming- to make it more and more brutal as time goes on or are you really not worried about whether it sounds -more extreme- next time 'round? DM: Well, we're always going to stay brutal. GC: That's a really important element, but we don't sort of plan it. DM: We can go brutal with a groove, not like stoner rock or Pantera, but... CoC: Like Dying Fetus, but not in their style? DM: Yeah, just something you can really headbang to. Like the album but just sort of more progressed. I think everything comes with age. Like I said before: this line-up has been together a year now so things are fuckin' flowing and moving on. We've done a lot of work and we're getting there and the new stuff we're writing is so, so good. It has different elements in it from the album. GC: I mean, to give you an example, when we got Jeremy [Gray, guitar] and Declan in we wrote two songs -- "Legions of Death" and "Demons of Darkness" -- in one weekend on the second practice we were together. That's how strong the line-up is. It just happened like that. The chemistry just all clicked. This line-up has only been together for a year and it's getting stronger and stronger and stronger. DM: I really think our live show is really getting there. It's all improving, but when we get reviews that criticise things we work on them. It's almost like a new band that's been together for a year now: that's the way I look at it. CoC: With the lyrics. Does Dave usually write lyrics post-practice? GC: If we write a song at band practice we record it and he takes it home and works on it, and the next week or whenever he's done the lyrics, he brings it down and works out vocal patterns and puts it all together. And we all work together. DM: I mean, Dave is a really intelligent guy, he does not write shit. He goes home and works on ideas and makes sure the song has a good vocal pattern, because you can ruin a song with a bad vocal pattern. And the lyrics behind it are always good twisted lyrics. CoC: Is a lot of it about serial killers? GC: Well, we've got stuff about serial killers, demonology... masochism, which is Dave's thing. He's well into that. DM: He loves it, if you look at his arms and his chest it's testament to it. He's got big Baphomet seals on there that are not there for show. He's a step above what a lot of people think. He doesn't do things to be cool, he does things because he means them. He'll carve stuff into him because that's what he loves. Some of the stuff is like your basic death metal, like "Butcher Knife". GC: Then you've also got the blasphemy sort of side of things, because we all hate religion, basically. DM: Dave's not a big fan of Jesus. GC: Me, personally, I can't stand the whole religion thing. Christianity, I fuckin' despise it, to be perfectly honest. CoC: 'Cause you've grown up with it? GC: I've just seen what it's done to people. I know a few people that are like Jehovah's Witnesses and I've seen the damage that can do. CoC: In what particular way? GC: It breaks up families and that kind of stuff. I mean, Christianity I hate with all my heart. DM: At the end of the day, Christianity is just based around -wars- . At the end of the day the most wars and the biggest killings have all been caused through religion. How the fuck anybody can deny that and look at the Roman Catholic Church in Italy that's got all this money and at the end of the day they give none of it to the poor. I think that if you want to believe in that, fine, but it's not about whether it's something I believe or don't believe in. I think that just finding out things on your own and whatever your guide is, is just fine. The whole concept of being told what to do by God or Jesus or the Ten Commandments, that's bollocks. At the end of the day it boils down to: if you're intelligent you'll work out what the right thing is to do. That guides you. At the end of the day everybody knows what right and wrong is and it's up to you what you do with that. GC: Everyone's got an opinion, but the way I see it there are more important things in life than religion. Things like health, family, there's loads of other things. People are brought up with religion on the top of their list, above family and all that. I just can't get my head around that. Being part of a herd led by some imaginary person and having to do this or that because if you don't do it then you're gonna burn in hell, fuck it! I can't stand it. CoC: Have you had any flak for your beliefs or lyrics? DM: Our lyrics have been banned from being in the album. It's got nothing to do with our record company, I know that, but I -think- it's the people who are actually publishing it. I think it's kicked up a stink because it's blasphemous. At the end of the day they are offensive lyrics. In one song Dave actually says that Jesus is a cunt. Even though Cradle of Filth had t-shirts which said "Jesus is a Cunt" on the back, that caused a lot of flak, they got away with that, but there was a reason. We're not sure what's really gone on. What we do know is that it's got nothing to do with our record company. It's a shame that our lyrics aren't in there, but I think there are talks of it being re-pressed anyway. It's good publicity too. GC: But we wouldn't write these lyrics if we didn't mean them. These are our thoughts. We don't give a shit what people think. If they don't like it, don't read it or don't listen to it. It's as simple as that. CoC: It's different from bands who write stuff -to be- offensive. DM: I think that's pretty childish. CoC: I could understand why people would want to get rid of stuff like that. People saying stuff unthinkingly to cause trouble; there's no need for it. But people who want to say something and can't, that's what I call censorship. Immolation said similar things about their lyrics. The reason I asked about whether religion had been part of your life was because the reason Immolation were so anti-Christian was because they got sent to Catholic school. DM: I went to Catholic school too, and I didn't like the way it was run. Coming back to the lyrics, I think stuff like the Cradle of Filth top -- I mean it is quite funny -- -it is- going to draw masses of attention, but at the end of the day it's not telling anyone anything. CoC: It's interesting, though, the way that God and Jesus get a lot of flak because they symbolise the religion. I can understand that symbolically, but in the end it's the people who are doing it. DM: Maybe you should just shout out the name of your local priest! GC: Yeah, I know what you mean, though, with the guy from Immolation going to Catholic school. There's a few people in my family who are Jehovah's witnesses. I've seen it. I've spent God knows how many hours arguing and arguing. What gets me is when they try and force it on you. I mean, if someone's a Jehovah's witness, fine, that's what they are. It's when they start laying it on: that's when it winds me up big time. DM: It's basically up to people to look at things. It's like albums, bands, censorship: if you don't want to look at something, don't fuckin' look at it. With bands Cannibal Corpse, I don't really find gore and stuff like that bad, because it's basically made out of caricatures. But it's a death metal band. What the fuck are people going to expect? If Mariah Carey fuckin' all of a sudden had something offensive maybe, whereas we haven't got responsibilities. Because we're not influencing really young kids. I think these pop bands who are going out and getting really pissed, snorting all this shit up their nose, I think they're the ones who've got the problem, because I think they've got a responsibility. These people are only there because people are buyin' their fuckin' records and if a nine year-old girl suddenly thinks it's fuckin' cool to fuckin' do drugs because of that twat Noel Gallagher or whatever -- I think if you've got responsibilities, accept them. It's almost like being a mother. You don't say things that are bad in front of your kids, you don't swear at them or whatever. Adults work things out for them-fucking-selves, and if you don't like something, don't fuckin' look at it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T R U L Y T R A N S Y L V A N I A N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Negru of Negura Bunget by: Pedro Azevedo In a way, it should be one of the last reasons for you to feel like investigating a band's work, but a black metal band from Transylvania, of all places, is bound to at least generate some curiosity. These Romanians, however, are quite detached from all Stoker-isms and today's fashionable gothic vampyrism, and prefer to discuss more spiritual and cultural issues. In CoC #38 you can find a review of their second release, the _Sala Molksa_ MCD (which followed their debut full-length _Zirnindu-sa_). With a second full-length release on the band's horizon, Negru of Negura Bunget answered our e-mail questionnaire. CoC: I have seen the expression "Transylvanian Spirituality" associated with your music quite often, but not in a vampyric sense as might be expected. Can you tell us more about it? Negru: Indeed, this Transylvanian Spirituality concept is one of the most important for us. We see all of this matter as a complex set of practices and beliefs gathered around these lands over the millenniums, some of which are still active in the deep spheres of today's traditional Romanian mentality. The vampyric elements are a part of this whole, an important one, but usually not in the form and manner the outsiders would expect. I mean, all this modern preoccupation with the vampire matter is usually nothing but pure romantic garbage. The real local elements connected with the matter of vampyrism are about burial rituals, the view over the relations between this world and the dead one, about immortality. All kinds of concrete beliefs and practices are performed even today in these contexts. But all of this we see is a result of some national archetypal spiritual patterns of behaviour and understanding, impressed over the millenniums on our collective unconscious. Through our black metal involvements we always try to explore the ultimate consequences of these archetypes in a process of constant spiritual evolution. CoC: Would you accept to play live with a black metal band you might consider as pseudo-vampyric -- like Cradle of Filth, maybe? N: Personally I could imagine such a possibility, not because I'm such a big fan of CoF (more like the opposite, in reality), but because I think we should assume such a responsibility if we'd like to really speak about the real aspects of these matters. But it would be really subversive towards CoF. CoC: As far as I know, you were born in Transylvania, like the notorious Dracula. I suppose Dracula, Transylvania and vampires have become such trendy subjects these days that you could probably set the record straight about certain inaccuracies. What is your point of view on these subjects? N: Well, you're right! Especially that I'm quite familiar with real history as well as with the mythological consequences of this reality. This situation is quite difficult for us. If we want to speak about such a thing, first we must say what it doesn't mean, and only in the end what it really is all about. At the same time it is quite fascinating to see how a local element created such hysteria all over the world. CoC: Just out of curiosity, how does it feel like to look at the title of a legendary black metal album like Darkthrone's _Transylvanian Hunger_ and see the name of your birthplace there? N: Actually, that album was always quite special for us. But I was a little bit disappointed when I had the opportunity to ask Fenriz about it and he chose not to elaborate on it. CoC: Although you do use keyboards, you still seem to be quite concerned with keeping your music rather raw. In what way do the keyboards help you reach your kind of musical objectives, when many believe that there is no place for keyboards in the raw black metal upon which your sound is based? N: I think it all depends on the way you use the keyboards. I mean you can use them to make your sound much softer, with a musically melancholic touch, but at the same time you can use the keys just to accentuate the intensity of the atmosphere you want to create. This last one is the way we try to use the keyboards in our music. We really enjoy that raw savage feeling, but at the same time all the keyboard atmospheres are very important for our music. Moreover, I like to think that through those keyboard atmospheres you can also express some spiritual aspects of the actual music much better. CoC: Does the fact that Romania is the only Latin country in Eastern Europe have any influence in your music? N: I think it is actually quite the contrary. We usually focus on the local elements previous to the Roman Empire conquest of Dacia from 106, destroyed by the very latinisation process. On the other hand, we are who we are today as a result of all of these, so it wouldn't be logical and rational to try to deny this. Consequently, we assume this Latin identity trying at the same time to reveal the ancient pre-Latin spiritual elements. CoC: What does "Negura Bunget" mean? And what about your album titles and lyrics? I believe there is quite a strong connection with ancient Romanian history; can you give us more details on that? N: Firstly, I should say that we see our name as having more of a symbolic nature. It is the most appropriate expression for the unknown, the inexpressible parts of our spiritual system, something that surpasses our natural abilities of understanding. That way it means a black fog, coming from a deep, dark, dense forest. It tries somehow to picture the kind of atmosphere (both musical and spiritual) we'd like to portray through our music. Also, the two words are from the Dacic-Tracic substrate of the Romanian language, the oldest, containing about 80 words, as the connection with our spiritual past is very important and symbolic for us. As for our albums' names, _Zirnindu-sa_ is quite untranslatable into English; coming from the Indo-European term "zirna" (black), it would be something like turning into black, dying. As for _Sala Molksa_, that's also from the Indo-European items. It is also in close connection with our ancient Dacic ancestors' highest spiritual value: immortality. This way, _Sala Molksa_ is the very place of unbeingness, where the bravest ancient warriors went after their glorious death. All our lyrics, except the one and only from _Sala Molksa_, are in old Romanian languages. We always focus on getting the most of the spiritual, semantical and phonological atmospheres of the places we came from. CoC: I personally don't know any other Romanian metal bands; which ones are currently thriving in the Romanian metal underground these days, in your opinion? What do you think the Romanian metal scene is like compared to other countries in your region of Europe? N: Well, I would say there are a few very interesting bands in the Romanian metal underground. I would recommend Psychosymphony, with an impressive progressive death/thrash easily similar technically to Death or Cynic; Grimegod, quality death/atmospheric/gothic/dark or the dark/ambient Thy Veils. I think the Romanian metal scene is nothing less than the others from around here. Unfortunately, I'd say not many do know or want to properly promote their music. CoC: You have recently released an MCD, _Sala Molksa_. How would you describe the material, compared to your previous album _Zirnindu-sa_? And what do you think will be the main musical changes in the forthcoming full-length compared to _Sala Molksa_? N: I would say _Sala Molksa_ is much faster than _Zirnindu-sa_, except of course for the first track, a little bit more complex too. Also, on the second track we used a quite concrete Romanian folkloric touch, a territory we'll probably explore subtly in the future. In fact, we see _Sala Molksa_ as a transition between the first album and the second one. It's not so different from the first one, but for sure not at all like the next one will be. On this one, there shall be more speed, cruelty and savagery, a quite new and unique lyrical style, and quite a few other things as well. But you better wait and hear for yourself. CoC: What did the addition of a third member, Spurcatu, change in Negura Bunget? N: It was actually a move we prepared for a long time, as he played live with us for quite a while. Our main intention was to compose all the music from the very beginning with two guitars, instead of only one, and another one just into the studio, as we previously did. And I think it was a good move, you can see that a little bit on _Sala Molksa_, but mostly on the new album, where there shall even be five guitars at a time. CoC: With a new full-length album being prepared, what other plans does the band have for the near future? N: We are about to enter the studio these days to record the new album. As we worked on this one for more than two years, we really have high expectations. So, for the moment we are focused mainly on it. We are also preparing for the near future the re-release of our first demo, _From Transylvanian Forest_, strictly limited to 345 hand-numbered copies, with a brand new cover, and two new songs recorded live at our rehearsal place. CoC: Any final words for this interview? N: Thank you very much for the opportunity. Stay black!! And may the ZSALAMOLKXISA be your way!! Contact: Negura Bunget (Negru), Str. Timis, Nr.1, Sc. D, Et. 3, Ap. 16, 1900, Timisoara, Timis, Romania mailto:negura@hotmail.com http://members.tripod.com/~NeguraBunget/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / 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! Agent Steel - _Omega Conspiracy_ (Candlelight, December 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) Like so many bands who have of late attempted to rekindle the fire of mid-eighties metal, Agent Steel are, put simply, irritating. I really don't care if they have a "history" or if they've "paid their dues", because whatever their past, the simple fact is that the majority of _Omega Conspiracy_'s songs fail to emote or invigorate me in any significant way whatsoever. Repetitive riffs and chorus tirades, a somewhat flat production and spectacularly irritating vocals make the whole thing a pretty dull experience in retroistic, unoriginal metal songwriting, and only the well executed "Into the Nowhere" and a fleeting few moments otherwise rescue _Omega Conspiracy_ from the bottom of the proverbial barrel. This would have been a sub-standard metal album if it had been released at the dawn of the last decade; being released at the dawn of the new millennium puts it in no better position. Aghora - _Aghora_ (Dobles Productions, April 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Where the fuck did this record come from? Right out of left field, I tell ya. Managing to incorporate the ways of The Netherlands' The Gathering and the now defunct progressive/technical outfit Cynic (go figure, as two members of that defunct band now call Aghora home), the Florida-based act are flying high in a world of technical ecstasy and emotional overload. This debut disc is a rock solid affair of metal mastery, not afraid to venture forth with diverse offerings to slow and/or quicken the pace at a second's notice. Singer Danishta Rivero's vocals work wonders over the rhythmic groove (thanks to Cynic alumni Sean Reinert and Sean Malone) and the hypnotizing guitar work of Santiago Dobles and Charlie Ekhendal. A must for any prog/technical metal junkie. Anorexia Nervosa - _Drudenhaus_ (Osmose, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Lacking neither aggression nor atmosphere, Anorexia Nervosa nevertheless fail to quite get a really good and infectious black metal mixture of the two. I can't deny that "A Doleful Night in Thelema" or "Dirge and Requiem of My Sister Whore" as much display a crushing guitar bite as they do the considerable orchestration (which embraces such Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir-like excesses as ten tracks of violins) and crushing, tight drumming -- along, of course, with that Filthy habit of convoluting song titles. However, at the same time I must point out that _Drudenhaus_ does fail to be seriously original and also lacks an x-factor in quality which would make it preferable over the majority of other releases in its field. The biggest stumbling point is the vocals; mixed too low and blandly uncharacteristic, they clinch the deal on Anorexia Nervosa's lack of individuality. _Drudenhaus_ is very accomplished and it is certainly contemporary, but it isn't the way for the future, neither is it the best example of its style. Carnival in Coal - _French Cancan_ by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) (Season of Mist/Kodiak, January 2000) This is definitely one of the most unusual and worthwhile covers albums out there, and quite a pleasingly amusing and surprising extreme metal release into the bargain. Reshaping tracks from metal acts like Ozzy Ozbourne ("Bark at the Moon"), Pantera ("Fucking Hostile"), Morbid Angel ("Fall From Grace") right through to Genesis ("Mama"), Afric Simon ("Piranha"), Michael Sambello ("Maniac") and Gerry Raferty ("Baker Street") in ways so intentionally odd that the track-listing will give you little indication of what exactly you'll be listening to, Carnival in Coal have hit upon a relatively original idea, though it is one that has been attempted, and successfully so, before. Thus we begin with the non-drastic, though storming, death metal beefed "Bark at the Moon", and move through bizarre reworkings like that of "Fall From Grace" (sounding in parts merely like Laibach's powerful remixes, though not as powerful, while adding symphonic, carnival-esque and nursery-like synthesizer sounds at others) before finally closing with the continuously chortle-inducing moog/lounge-room jazz version of "Fucking Hostile". Ultimately, it is more satisfying for laughing than enjoying as music, although occasionally the band's talent for moving between styles and reworking familiar music into new frameworks evidences itself so strongly that one has to take a moment to admire their daring. However, it is still a covers album. There is nothing strictly original here, no track I would choose over the originals, and I doubt that in a year or maybe even less I will have any interest in putting this on for more than a fleeting few minutes to laugh at how easily and amusingly the same music can be controverted by a change of style. Cephalic Carnage - _Exploiting Dysfunction_ (Relapse, April 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) There is no question in my mind that Colorado act Cephalic Carnage get off big time with their "Rocky Mountain Hydro-Grind", a deafening mix of death metal and grindcore, meshed together by an insane barrage of unavoidable mayhem. This is like director Stanley Kubrick leading the venomous onslaught of Brutal Truth. From the get go, Cephalic Carnage hit us high and low with their music, especially on songs like "Hybrid", "Rehab" and "Cryptosporidium". Just feel the bruises welting all over you. The quintet has managed to escalate the vile insanity that has been etched into the grindcore sound since the beginning, though they have taken it one step higher. Stand back and watch the insanity take over, folks. Crowbar - _Equilibrium_ (Spitfire, April 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) For their sixth(!) record Crowbar have essentially played things a bit safe. This is not to say that they have slacked-up; their steady (out)flow of quality sludge-ridden, Sabbath-rooted heavy and moving metal tirades has not halted or even slowed its course. The likes of "I Feel the Burning Sun", "Equilibrium", "Down Into the Rotting Earth" or "Euphoria Minus One" riff it up with the style and tugging groove the band have always been capable of delivering, while "Command of Myself" and rich, melody-soaked closer "Dreamweaver" pay lip service to the melodic developments which blossomed so beautifully on their 1998 _Odd Fellows Rest_ record [CoC #33]. In fact, _Equilibrium_ may even be a more complete record than _Odd Fellows Rest_: I can't quite decide. However, though its songwriting quality is hard to fault, _Equilibrium_ deserves some scrutiny for its lack of daring. This is the sense in which Crowbar have played things safe. I almost went as far as to downgrade them to a merely impressive 8.5 for their unwillingness to take another leap on top of _Odd Fellows Rest_'s bound, but that wouldn't really have done them justice. This is a cool record, if you're a fan you'll definitely be more than satisfied, and if you haven't yet got a Crowbar record, or haven't -got- the band up 'til, now then this is, if you'll pardon the pun, the best thing to weigh up the situation with. _Equilibrium_ exploits all the band's previously-known and well-loved talents. Decapitated - _Winds of Creation_ by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) (Wicked World / Earache, April 2000) Vader may have excelled with their most recent _Litany_ offering, but my advice to Peter and the gang is to check their six pretty carefully over the next few years, 'cause if they start losing it, Decapitated are liable to quickly overtake them. However, Vader seem more than aware of Decapitated's existence; Peter himself gave _Winds of Creation_ its double bass crush and tearing guitar attack down at Poland's Selani studio. And unsurprisingly, yes, there are strong nods to Vader throughout _Winds of Creation_'s forty odd minutes (inclusive of a cover of Slayer's "Mandatory Suicide") but nothing which comes close to plagiarism. Even if there -was- some minor plagiarism here, I'd vote to give Decapitated some leeway simply for the fact that their average age is seventeen and they've belted out a great death metal record. However, this is not a band who need to be given leeway. _Winds of Creation_ stands up to releases by good, well-established and experienced death metal acts, and beats out a fair number of the second-graders with two or sometimes four albums to their name. My biggest gripe is with Sauron's vocals, which, though amply indecipherable and low, are a tad one-dimensional and tend to drown themselves in the music. Fortunately Vogg's guitars and Vitek's drums have more than enough great hooky riffs, time changes, breaks and inspired solos between them to make up for the lack of involving vocals. Between Decapitated and Hate Eternal, Earache's Wicked World really seems to be putting the label back in extreme music's good books; let's hope that Decapitated have more joy with the label than their Polish brothers Vader did back in the early nineties. Here's hoping and wishing these promising youngsters all the best. Deceased - _Supernatural Addiction_ (Relapse, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Though I may not share drummer and vocalist King Fowley's opinions on nineties death metal giants like Morbid Angel (for the uninformed amongst you, he is -not- a big fan, to say the least), I have no problem accepting his difference of opinion -- in fact, if it keeps Deceased so craftily juxtaposing "traditional" death metal thrashery (a la Possessed or Venom) with the classic melody-driving heavy metal textures of the NWOBHM movement, then I am more than happy for him to call one of my favourite bands whatever expletive he might wish. Three years after the sixty-eight minute zombie-horror concept masterpiece of _Fearless Undead Machines_ [CoC #23], Deceased have changed lyrical focus considerably, drawing on more traditionally spooky, "morbid and macabre" horror like Edgar Allan Poe for this latest opus. However, it is _Supernatural Addiction_'s musical developments which are the more significant to their career. _Fearless Undead Machines_ toyed with metal melody; _Supernatural Addiction_ embraces it with open arms. Horrified long-time fans mouthing sell-out to themselves need not fear; Deceased retain their hard death/thrash character, they just don't let it hold them back from crafting full-blown melody wrangling metal tunes. Near-perfect metal storyteller "A Very Familiar Stranger" is -the- example to prove how beneficial this is. Lyrics and music intertwine seamlessly on this songwriting standout while Simon Efemey's air-tight production, which has fine-tuned Deceased's sound into a monstrous and powerful but obedient beast, does its magical work on bringing out every note and line with incredible clarity and power. Deceased can still thrash head-down with the best, but they can also cram melodic hooks into riffs which now absorb them, procreating a wonderfully metalised twin-guitar attack which consumes about half of _Supernatural Addiction_. Nevertheless, the simplistic two-riff crush of closer "Elly's Dementia" or the dark thrashing textures of "The Hanging Soldier" affirm that traditional Deceased tactics are far from, well, deceased. _Supernatural Addiction_ is one-hundred percent Deceased from start to finish, but it does see them once again draw on and incorporate new influences into their own distinctive -- I'm tempted by the word unique -- style. Surrounded by poor power metal retroism and inadequate Gothenburg Maidenisms of death metal, Deceased have raised a pronged fist in the air and remembered what it is to be dark, raging and most importantly metal as hell. Their solos are forged of pure melting melody and their riffs of frenetic thrashing steel. Chorus hooks grip you like the Cenobites gripped "Hellraier"'s Frank, and they craftily temper the thrashing guitars and hammering percussion. King Fowley's damned screams despairingly strain to make sense of it all with character and impact as their primary qualities. Definitely a mark by which to measure great metal by; crank it, bang your head and scale those air guitars! December - _Praying Hoping Nothing_ (Inzane Records, 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Knocked to the floor from the opening track "Umbilical" -- Nevada quintet December (sounds like an European avant-garde band name, doesn't it?) lash out ferociously with a hard 'n' heavy metal assault. With a tinge of hardcore added to the pot, December groove and plow through this offering on such notable numbers as "Heaven Below", "8 Years" and "Mouthful of Sand". My only complaint? The drums are too loud in the mix/production. Other than that, these guys sound like sick fuckers live. Just goes to show that there is more than casinos and brothels in the Nevada area to take note of. Desecration - _Inhuman_ (Copro, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Desecration have moved up three points in my esteem in the year and a half since their posthumous _Murder in Mind_ album [CoC #32] and, though I don't see Desecration repeating such an exponential increase and scoring a 10 for their next album, one listen to _Inhuman_ will amply demonstrate why. Not only have Desecration tightened up their production, got a real drummer into the band to lay down some deadly precision percussion, and become a mite more sophisticated with their chosen riffs, they've even gone as far as including some classy little solos on a choice few tracks. However, whatever may be said about change or alteration, the main factor about Desecration is (and likely will always be) that they are essentially stalwarts. If you're looking for innovation, be it in the form of odd time signatures, flirtations with romanticism or even a bout of clean vocals or a truly melodic guitar passage, you'd best look elsewhere 'cause you won't find it here. What has changed about Desecration is that their stalwartism is now at least convincing. They bash out death metal in the traditional American style with all its trappings and trimmings, but they do it well, and that's definitely worth something. Earth Crisis - _Slither_ (Victory Records, June 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) Everyone's favorite hardcore/metal vegans Earth Crisis come into 2000 with one of the most volatile and extremely heavy-ass records. While not as bomb-dropping as labelmates Snapcase's release with _Designs for Automotion_, Earth Crisis return to their roots and original label (after a one album stint with Roadrunner) and the results couldn't have been more exciting. Managing to stir up enough emotion and deafening cries of aggression, the band storms through a sonic assault of heavy vibes and mosh pit worthy material -- and the music of _Slither_ is also chock-full of strong harmonies to boot. Earth Crisis still rock and it's nice to see that they aren't afraid to turns things up. This is a great record that is full of gems, most notably the title track, "Provoke", "Agress" and "Arc of Descent". Einherjer - _Norwegian Native Art_ (Native North Records, April 2000) by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) My only previous impression of Einherjer's sound came from their _Dragons of the North_ album on Century Media, and I really wasn't impressed. _Norwegian Native Art_, however, is quite a step forward for the band, at least compared to _Dragons of the North_. Their Viking metal is based upon a guitar sound that tends to occasionally remind me of Old Man's Child's _The Pagan Prosperity_ [CoC #27] (especially on the fourth track), generally aiming to sound energetic and dynamic and leaving the more melodic tasks for the keyboards. The mostly snarled/sung vocals behave much better than the previously more Viking-inspired ones, which certainly helps. This time Einherjer do achieve several memorable passages throughout the album, but the sheer intensity, atmosphere and inspiration of an album like Borknagar's _The Olden Domain_ [CoC #28] is not really achieved here. The style itself is different, however, and Einherjer have produced an album which is overall very reasonably enjoyable in its own right. Contact: http://www.einherjer.com Contact: mailto:mail@nativenorth.com http://www.nativenorth.com Enochian Crescent - _Omega Telocvovim_ (Avantgarde, 2000) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Considering how good _Omega Telocvovim_ can get, it really becomes rather hard to understand how this Finnish black metal band occasionally allows such weaker passages to creep in. Fortunately, this does not happen very frequently throughout the album, but it does prevent _OT_ from getting the 9 out of 10 that it would have otherwise deserved. Nevertheless, despite being quite an irregular album, _Omega Telocvovim_ is certainly adventurous and even relatively original -- and, most importantly, has enough overall quality to compensate for most of that irregularity. During this guitar-driven album, Enochian Crescent come up with some remarkable and quite unusual riffs, giving it a considerable level of overall interest. The fast passages are generally very good, intense and aggressive; it is during the slower ones, however, that they experiment with a couple of weaker choruses and less successful clean vocal approaches. Still, they can also create very moody slow sections and link them very effectively with fast ones. Impeccable Tico-Tico production adds the final touch to this rather unusual piece of Finnish black metal, which, despite a few lacklustre passages, is definitely very interesting. For the Love of Suffering - _Sinus_ (, 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) Seattle, Washington thrash band For the Love of Suffering play some pretty straight forward thrash metal music. No gimmicks. No variety. Just the real deal. In the vein of early D.R.I. and Sacred Reich at times, this tight outfit storms through an impressive four-song EP that'll no doubt bring out the early metal rebel in us all. Raw, bottom heavy and little regard for authority. Dirty metal just sounds so rewarding at times. Looking for headbanging material, folks? Look here. Contact: P.O. Box 47071, Seattle, WA 98146-7071, USA http://www.fortheloveofsuffering.com Fury - _Stigmatised_ (, March 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) When I first heard Australian act Fury's eight-song debut disc in 1997, I was impressed. The band was a raging onslaught of hellish guitar riffs and pounding rhythms in the vein of Pantera, though radiating a definite death/thrash sound. I knew that in time the band would allow themselves to mature and lay more focus and care into their sound. The time has come, folks, as the act from "Down Under" has lashed out a furious bite of metal harshness in the form of their powerful four-song EP _Stigmatised_. While still ample of the sounds of the past, the 2000 version of the band is more pumped and ready to rumble. While the title track gets thumbs up from this metal head, it is the opener "Fallen One" that is just so intense and worthy of repeated listens. Good band, good sound. Let us see where this music takes them. Contact: mailto:fury666@deathsdoor.com http://fury.musicpage.com Gaahlskagg / Stormfront - _Split MCD_ (No Colours, November 1999) by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10) Germany's pillar of the underground No Colours Records seem to be spewing out releases faster than Marilyn Manson changes costumes, and with this split MCD clocking in at a meager 18:31 minutes, it's no surprise. Briefness aside, both Norwegian hordes put up a rather impressive showing. Opening with a typically superfluous intro, Gaahlskagg waste no time crashing into "Skullfuck", a pummelling attack not unlike Zyklon B's brand of fury. Happily for them (and us), Gaahlskagg's material possesses a "groove" reminiscent of the Swedish War, elevating it above Zyklon B's often dull mess. Gaahl's unearthly shrieks won't disappoint those familiar with his work with Gorgoroth and Trelldom. News is that a new album is due out in the Summer. Dark horses Stormfront opt for a somewhat mellower approach, and one could swear the two tracks here came right off Dimmu Borgir's _For All Tid_ sessions. Old-timers lamenting the rapid degeneration of Dimmu Borgir into mainstream pap will no doubt salivate at the sound of "Styggmyr's Triumpf" and "Trolltog...", two superbly melancholic dirges so evocative of the early '90s. Black metal has never needed to be strongly produced, nor brutally delivered, and Stormfront have proven beyond doubt the effectiveness of obscure, atmospheric pieces of a quality last heard on _For All Tid_. This is some of the greatest and most obscure black metal this maniac has heard in ages, and all those true worshippers of old-style black metal are urged to get their hands on this album, if only for the two Stormfront tracks. Perhaps a tape trade would be more in order, until more substantial releases appear. Contact: NCR, Postfach 32, 04541 Borna, Germany (price: $14) Immortal - _Damned in Black_ (Osmose, 2000) by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10) The frostbitten caverns of Blashyrk are working overtime as the Undying Ones spew out yet another holocaust not a year later than the last. I met this album with trepidation, fearing that my devotion to the band (especially after _At The Heart of Winter_ [CoC #39]) would be shattered by a hasty, under-worked piece. Which isn't saying much. Darkthrone may be considerably prolific in their work, but a more elaborate concept like Immortal requires more work to avoid ending up like latter-day Abigor. The effort that was put into _ATHoW_ was apparent in the music, and likewise, the fact that _DiB_ is a rushed job cannot be hidden. Top notch production and irreproachable musicianship is inevitable, coming from such a label/band pairing. The inimitable style on _ATHoW_ is reprised here, with somewhat thrashy riffs filling up gaps in what could otherwise pass off as an unfinished _ATHoW_ prototype. Now a three-piece (with the addition of bassist Iscariah), Immortal have upped the brutality level a notch from their previous outing, but in doing so seem to have lost a tad of effectiveness. The opening segment to "In Our Mystic Visions Black", for example, harks back to the days of _Battles in the North_ and the dissonant adjoining riff is a far cry from the enveloping majesty on _ATHoW_. Fans of their "holocaust-days" might appreciate the harsher melodies on tracks like "Triumph", and Horgh's occasionally manic pummeling admittedly adds an edge to their music. But Immortal, despite their reputation for being hyperfast and brutal-as-fuck, also have the potential to create monumental atmospheres, as the previous album proves. And the major fault on _DiB_ is that this enthralling dramaticism is consistently broken up by out-of-place disharmonic segments. Atmosphere created by towering passages like the motif on the title track, or intense riffs on "Against the Tide", are destroyed by disharmonic, inappropriate thrash riffing. Unlike _ATHoW_, the listener is never drawn intop the icy world of untrodden majesty the lyrics evoke. Instead, _DiB_ is a rather rough ride across rocky battlefields and wastelands. All said, _DiB_ bears the undeniable mark of vastly experienced and talented musicians, from whom any album should receive no less than a near-perfect score. But, disappointingly short (33 minutes), _DiB_ is no doubt the result of rushed, under-worked material. While still an excellent album by any standards, it's only respectful to say that Immortal are capable of far greater things. The sudden release of this album in a beautiful limited edition cardboard casing of 15000 (!) copies should set cash registers ringing, regardless of what we reviewers have to say. Impaled Nazarene - _Nihil_ (Osmose, January 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) Maturity, musically or personally, is not something you'd think would fit Impaled Nazarene. Despite progressing through various successive mutations of sound and line-up, there has always been an exuberance -- even more than this, a downright dirty punky, spiteful rage which, however subdued it may have been at some points by average songwriting or poor production, was always lingering, and in many cases leaping forth to deliver a good sound, drunken kicking. And though the aforementioned attribute (maturity) has now begun to permeate Impaled Nazarene's sound, courtesy almost certainly of the contributions of now-second guitarist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho (ex-Children of Bodom), they are still an excessively punk, heavy and metal band. _Nihil_ stands head and shoulders above the band's last _Rapture_ [CoC #32] effort in terms of production and songwriting. The drunken punk fury, be it in the style's original musical form or merely the -fury- manifested as grindcore or black metal, shows no sign of abating, and this does the band credit, but what is possibly more impressive are the enriching contributions of Laiho. For while Impaled Nazarene have always had the potential to give tracks like "Cogito Ergo Sum" or "Human-Proof" the impact that they do, they have never before made that impact as exuberantly and forthrightly heavy metal as it is on _Nihil_. Never have I heard solos or melody, however vague, be as efficiently and effectively combined into an Impaled Nazarene album. Whatever disparaging cries they might prompt from the back row about not being as "nuclear" as before, the fact stands that Impaled Nazarene have pulled off progression, once again, with a degree of style rarely seen in metal bands, be they black or otherwise. Infestation - _Mass Immolation_ (Lunasound, April 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) From the instant that opener "Necrospawn" growls and chainsaw-guitars its way out of your stereo, you'll know that Florida's most crushing efforts of yester-year are where Infestation's brutal approach to death metal stems from. They've finally tightened up their ranks and, with a quality production at their command, provided a definitive statement of what they're about; an identity. But tracks as visceral as titles like "Butcher Knife" and "Evil, Evil" suggest are not _Mass Immolation_'s only dimension. Chunky mid-paced Death or Massacre-style riffing ("Carrion"), sombre acoustic guitar tones ("The Hunt", "Black Pope") and even a well placed squealing solo ("Demons of Darkness") keep things varied and though Infestation may not innovate, they more than prove their death mettle (sorry, couldn't resist that one). The result is a cracking little debut album which well paves the way forward for greater and more ambitious things in the years to come. Judas Iscariot - _Heaven in Flames_ (Red Stream, March 2000) by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) It becomes increasingly more difficult to explain the differences between separate varieties of black metal despite how independent their sound may be. For example, Judas Iscariot boasts proud and skillful obvious black metal compositions, yet as dauntless as it is, the music comes across almost repressively understated. An impressive texture actualizes itself in this technique, I think. Comparatively, bands like Dark Funeral and Marduk take a direct, marauding strategy. One no more or less black metal than the other, but it is this type of alluring sophistications that beguile even the most casual of fans. (At this point, brevity of subject being a goal, I think it best not to even touch on the complexities of Bethlehem.) _Heaven in Flames_ did not take me by surprise as, let's say, _Destroyer_ did, but rather chose to build upon itself with subsequent listens. I know that I have brought this up in past reviews, however the comment that JI's sound coming across as "pulled back" or in some enterprising way "muted" in feel, is also applicable to _HiF_'s mood. At this point, having just explained that, I am reminded of Sacrifice's "Storm in Silence". That title may help communicate the point a bit better. Certainly underground and defiantly grim, Judas Iscariot does not suffer from inexperience. This one man project was stoked from non-existence by Akhenaten, the founder and sole member. Subsequently releasing five efforts after beginning on Moribund Records with the 1995 debut _The Cold Earth Slept Below_, JI now stands on the precipice of "Eternal Bliss... Eternal Death", which, by the way, is my favorite track on the disc. I'd have to say, watch for more from this guy; Akhenaten knows what he likes. Krisiun - _Conquerors of Armageddon_ (Century Media, April 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Ahhh, I do love album titles which do my describing for me. For despite their own protestations that the title refers to the conquering of their own vitriolic talents and is not a chauvinistic statement of their devastating abilities, in the case of Krisiun, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid if they -hadn't- been so damned humble. _CoA_ is a devastating and beautifully executed barrage of hyper-speed death metal with a strong thrash feel. After two rough edged but thoroughly impressive efforts (and yes I -did- overate _Apocalyptic Revelation_ [CoC #39], looking back it probably should have been more like an 8 or 8.5 out of 10), Krisiun have found the perfect plateau from which to deliver their blitzkrieg of a musical assault. Eric Rutan and Andy Classen must have damn near turned Stage One into ground zero in creating the thundering monster of double bass, biting snare and all that lies in-between which was previously just Max Kolesne playing drums in a studio. With Alex Camargo and Moyses Kolesne's respective bass/vocals and guitar performances being turned into some similar demons, Krisiun's final piece to complete the puzzle has been to pen a fine batch of tunes in their own inimitable style. It may be hellishly fast and deadly from the opening barrage of "Ravager" to the blasting, manic close of "Endless Madness Descends" (with virtually no let up whatsoever in-between), but never does it drag; never do Krisiun let go their iron hold. Liar of Golgotha - _Ancient Wars_ (Mascot, March 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) It's always a pity when you hear a band who have their shit together as far as playing and composing goes, and even go to the point of producing some rather decent promo shots of themselves, but yet there is something undeniably useless about their music. It's not that it's quite -bad-, it's just that there is nothing you really have any need of listening to; you could get more joy of -exactly- the same kind, out of another release. Boiling it down, _Ancient Wars_'s main problem is that you could probably pass it off as Dimmu Borgir's discarded demos. With accompanying symphonic and acoustic elements prettying up their music as typically as the corpse-paint they have so meticulously applied for their aforementioned promo photos does their faces, Liar of Golgotha give us forty-two minutes of distinctly sugary and somewhat overdone, black(ish) metal, and a poor cover of "Piranha" (Exodus) for our additional delectation. And I have the distinct feeling that I used to own at least one record that sounded like this, but I can't seem to find any in my collection right now, funny that. Maniac Butcher / Inferno / Sezarbil - _Proti Vsem_ by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10) I would never have had the chance to sample this obscure oddity had a mail-order not sent it as a replacement for an out of stock item. Maniac Butcher break new ground here in an unexpected way. "Metal From Hell", their only contribution to this split album, is a 22-minute long tribute to the old bands. In other words, a medley of covers from the '80s. Seasoned thrashers might roll their eyes at the sound of "Deathcrush", "Countess Bathory" and countless other Sodom, Frost and Slayer barrages whizzing past, but to be frank, naming every tune wasn't as easy as I expected. While "Metal From Hell" might make a great icebreaker at your local Metal Gathering, the remaining nine tracks are far more noteworthy. Those familiar with the old Polish underground will recognize the raw yet atmospheric Eastern European trademarks in Sezarbil's five tracks. Evidently subscribers to Maniac Butcher's infamous "No Keyboards! No Female Vocals!" campaign, this Czech foursome blaze ahead grimly wielding buzzsaw guitars with substantial melody. Czech bands have always used their guttural effect in their music, and Sezarbil are no exception, lending their material the touch of ugliness forsaken by much of the scene. Not to mention providing me pages of absolutely unreadable lyrics. Which brings us to the similarly mystifying Inferno, a four-piece who appreciate the value of keyboards rather more than their compatriots. Taking more from the Norwegians, Inferno dish out four slabs of straight-ahead black metal. Placing emphasis on pure originality and working on creating killer tracks has worked for many underground bands, and Inferno seem to be benefiting from the same ethos. Strong riffage, interlaced with sparse keyboards and galloping drumming keep proceedings chugging along at a respectable pace, and Inferno's formulaic playing belies the promise of a considerable force to come in the Czech underground. All in all, this trinity has gathered quite a respectable spread which shouldn't be missed by die-hard followers and collectors alike. Limited to 666 pieces, and highly recommended for both uniqueness and collectability. Contact: No label info, but should be sold at Pussy God Records for $12 only(!!). PGR: Radim Hora, Stroupecska 2144, 43801 Zatec, Czech Rep. Midnight Syndicate - _Realm of Shadows_ by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) (Entity Productions, April 2000) The unique collaboration of work between Ohio's Midnight Syndicate duo (Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka) and well-known gothic fantasy artist Joseph Vargo continues with _Realm of Shadows_. With a gothic/soundtrack feel still present within their current sound (as heard on their past release _Born of the Night_), Midnight Syndicate do their best this time to conjure the true dark forces of the night to work over our imagination. Haunting and creepy from all angles, _Realm of Shadows_ proudly boasts some of the coolest dark, gothic soundscapes in years. Fans of soundtrack material, or even just gothic music, will definitely find solace within these Shadows. Misery Loves Co. - _Your Vision Was Never Mine to Share_ by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10) (Earache, March 2000) Misery Loves Co. have come a long way in the five years since their self-titled debut made its stamp on the metal/industrial overground. Though never attaining quite the popular notoriety of Machine Head, Fear Factory or Korn, MLC nonetheless gained an impressive cadre of followers from a similar crowd, along with a good deal of respect in the scene in general. Now comes the appearance of this, what was bound to be MLC's "difficult third album" following 1997's abrasive _Not Like Them_. What is interesting, though, is that _YVWNMtS_ is also likely to be the "difficult third album" for their fans to understand. There is a sense in which it is commercial, but _YVWNMtS_ is not, in essence, a commercial album. Musical borrowings from Nine Inch Nails arrive expectedly, though in tasteful form, while echoes of industrial heroes Cop Shoot Cop are perhaps less expected, though yet more welcome. Parts likenable to the grunge-rock of Smashing Pumpkins might disturb the average moshcore or even industrial listener as MLC almost get a bit too happy for their own good, but ultimately they banish themselves to a suitably gloomy corner before they can seriously dent their murky veneer. _YVWNMtS_ is a hard album to assess, and I think that is to its credit. I am not sure how the band's fanbase will take it; I myself find it a very listenable, though lengthy, adventure into very much known industrial territory. It could be more adventurous, and on a grander scale, but judged on the expectations of the average band _YVWNMtS_ is pretty good, and MLC have good reason to pat themselves on the back for a job nicely done. Mutant - _The Aeonic Majesty_ (Listenable, March 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) Quite well described as a combination of The Abyss and Hypocrisy (Peter Tagtgren's two most extreme projects), Mutant have the rattling speed and endless fury of the former combined with the calculated, often regularly pounding riffage of the latter. However, their chosen production does sometimes over-treble things, making for an element of tinniness in _TAM_'s overall sound, while the nine songs on offer, though varied, do not vary quite enough to completely avoid have any drag. But though Mutant may put the occasional foot wrong within the confines of _TAM_'s near-forty minutes, the fact remains that they have positively belted out a ferociously fast, intense, atmospherically alive and technical blackened death metal album well worthy of some attention. Mutiilation - _Remains of a Ruined, Dead, Cursed Soul_ by: Alvin Wee (8.5 out of 10) (Drakkar, 1999) Long talked about, much sought-after, but unavailable to all but the most dedicated underground followers. A move that caught most fans unaware, the release of a new album by the French legends brings both joy and regret to the die-hards. For the material, while previously unreleased, is not entirely new, and the liner notes proclaim sad news: _Remains..._ heralds the withdrawal of one of the most enigmatic French Black Metal personas from the scene. As Meyhna'ch, the sole force behind the cult reveals in his farewell notice: "Black Metal is dead... so what the use to go on?" And rightly so, for the music on this album is nothing less than a true example to the watered-down pap which passes for black metal today. In parting, five tracks dating from 1993 have been exhumed (after the failure to release it earlier), and together with two tracks from the _Vampires..._ sessions, they make up one of the most important French albums in recent years. Opener "Suffer the Gestalt" had me somewhat worried with its undeniable Abruptum signatures: torturous screams amidst slow, droning guitars and cursed drumming... better than any of Abruptum's non-music at any rate. Things take a more traditional (and comforting) turn with "To the Memory of the Dark Countess", an exercise in Burzumic shrieks, uniquely plucked riffing and Fenriz-style drumming. Totally dark and brooding, surprisingly melodic for music of this nature. Mid-paced, melodic riffs on the following tracks remind one strongly of demo-era Sorhin... ahhh, the good old days... The rough four-track production shines through in the simplicity of the music, being faithful enough to the oddly memorable melodies (think Vlad Tepes or Burzum), yet raw enough to give the music a deeply affecting atmosphere of great obscurity and darkness. Anyone who has enjoyed _Transylvanian Hunger_ will know what to expect. Interestingly, it is the newer(?) material from 1996 that fails to deliver much more than standard demo-quality black metal fare. With the introduction of keyboards, much of the raw, primitive atmosphere has been sacrificed for a pseudo-symphonic/cosmic effect that falls way short of Emperor's pioneering works. Ending up more messy than anything else, the two closing tracks prove a somewhat bitter end to an otherwise ripping album. Still, any old-timers shouldn't need my urging to pick up this timeless classic, and if you've ever treasured those old times when bands like Necromantia and Mortuary Drape were still kings of the underground, _Remains..._ may be your best chance to capture a final piece of the ancient French underground. But if _Vempire_ was your first black metal album, and if you think _Stormblast_ is classic Dimmu Borgir, then stay away from this one. Stay very, very far... Contact: Drakkar Prod., B.P. 420, 84071 Avignon Cedex 4, France mailto:drakkar2@wanadoo.fr Myrkskog - _Deathmachine_ (Candlelight, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Attacking their craft like rabid beasts, Myrkskog succeed in producing one of the most explosive, fast and mechanistic black metal records, which is unsurprisingly strongly death metal sounding. With a chunky mountain of hard and complex drumming as its backbone and electrified walls of sheer metal guitar its tools of destruction, _Deathmachine_ slices and dices the likes of Dissection, Hypocrisy and Immortal, digests and then violently vomits forth its own steaming concoction. Crushingly powerful and with only a few minor drag points in its thirty odd minutes, _Deathmachine_ is not only a convincing step, it's also a possible stepping stone to something truly incredible. Necrophobic - _The Third Antichrist_ (Black Mark, March 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8 out of 10) This somewhat melodramatically titled third album continues in Necrophobic's cold and fleetingly melodic death/black style. _TTA_ has a good mix of crushing, brutal, to-the-point tracks, and atmospheric, darkly-melodic-solo-ridden, varied paced ones. From a Y2K perspective Necrophobic reek strongly of Dissection, though the respective bands formed at similar times, but to preserve, and not merely mimic, that brilliant, unholy sound Dissection purveyed. Throughout, Necrophobic are colder than a day in the Antarctic (aptly titled third track "Frozen Empire" is all the evidence one needs of this fact), which is a valuable quality, distinctly lacking in many so-called death and black metal bands currently doing the rounds. Thus, though hardly advanced or innovative for where either death or black metal are at this point in the game, "The Third Antichrist" is a well played and written reminder of how, with the required talent, one can preserve both the brutality and the mystery which were once so inseparable from both black and death metal. Nocturnal Winds - _Everlasting Fall_ (Aftermath, 1999) by: Alvin Wee (8 out of 10) This is by no means a new album, but no doubt due to typical postal service screw-ups, we only received this in time for this issue. A tip of the hat to Mr. Holm at Aftermath for this one. Nevertheless, it's the music that counts after all, and on this piece, Gothenburg debutantes (oops, they're Finnish are they?) Nocturnal Winds churn out 45 minutes of impressive fretboard acrobatics. While I may avoid most Gothenburg acts like the plague, Nocturnal Winds actually manage to whip up an interesting whirlwind of highly melodic, almost rock 'n' roll riffs with the flair of a band with two demo tapes behind them (uncommon by today's standards). Tracks like "Frost Divine" and "Son of the Winterstorm" boast twin guitar attacks and incendiary solos that manage to keep proceedings exceedingly lively, and despite my reservations, I found myself tapping my feet not five minutes into the first track. "My Angel" opens with an outstandingly memorable lead, flowing into a brilliant interplay of guitars and Jani's searing vocals. Great work, and impressive even in the deluge of new melodic death bands, if only for the band's impeccable ear for melodies. While nothing incredibly groundbreaking, this album belongs back in the early '90s, when it could have made a much greater impact on the scene than today. A great release anyway, that shouldn't be missed by fans of the style. Await a new album from these boys soon, I'm told. Contact: mailto:ruholm@online.no (Aftermath) Of the Fallen - _Ancient Gods of Battles Past_ (, 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (6.5 out of 10) With a real symphonic feel to things, Texas-based band Of the Fallen set out to shape their blackened realm of metal music with intricate guitar stylings and some nifty keyboard work. While I was throroughly impressed with the band's self-titled offering last year [CoC #43], with the new material I found myself intrigued with what they were doing (especially on songs like "Dawn of the Blackest Sun" and "Writhe in Vengeance"), but at the same time my interest started to fade as the music continued onward. Typical ideas started to take shape (away from the harsh, blackened cries of aggression and passionate symphonic elements) and it became evident real fast that Of the Fallen haven't really edged forward in their take on metal music. It is still just spinning the same cycle of sounds. With such a promising debut offering I don't know what happened, but hopefully some more touring and studio work will help tie up loose ends and push this promising band forward. Good ideas, but some experience might help get them past the pack. I'll be watching. Contact: P.O. Box 203213, Austin, Texas, USA 78720-3212 mailto:ofthefallen@hotmail.com Old Man's Child - _Revelation 666: The Curse of Damnation_ by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10) (Century Media, April 2000) A year on from their _Ill-Natured Spiritual Invasion_ [CoC #32], Old Man's Child have continued on the upward curve which joined _INSI_ to 1998's _The Pagan Prosperity_ [CoC #27]. Old Man's Child may still be short of travelling alongside the bands at the very forefront of the black metal scene, but they are certainly catching up; increasing their velocity as the years go by. With a nice, rich, Abyss-produced sound to help them along, Old Man's Child prove themselves more or less on par with the likes of Dimmu Borgir in procreating atmospheric but resoundingly aggressive modern black metal. Cranking out some uncommonly chunky mid-paced riffs not far removed from Immortal's last two Abyss-spawned offerings, OMC generally thrash and smash their way pleasingly through the majority of this forty minute offering with skill and an unusual amount of style. OMC may not yet be something to wonder at, but with their consistent improvement album-to-album there is every possibility that they will blossom into the next level of quality at some point in the near future. Various - _Panther: A Tribute to Pantera_ by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) (Eclipse Records, May 2000) I know some of you are thinking "A Pantera tribute?" Yes, it is true. The good folks at Eclipse Records have compiled a pretty decent tribute record to one of the most successful (though mainstream to a degree) metal acts out there. As the CD unfolds and homage is paid to Phil Anselmo and Co., I can only wonder why particular bands covered certain songs from these Texas big guns. While Disarray slays with "Cowboys From Hell", ILL Nino does damage with "Five Minutes Alone" and Strength does justice to "Cemetery Gates", bands like Murder 1 ("I'm Broken") and Boiler ("Mouth for War") just bring down the initial intensity. I know the job of a tribute is to find your own variation of a particular song, but these bands just slopped their way through 'em. A few gripes, but overall a solid compilation to enjoy, especially if you are a Pantera fan. I hear there is a Skid Row tribute in the works too -- psyche! Contact: http://www.eclipserecords.com Various - _Power From the North_ (Digital Dimension/NBA, April 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (3 out of 10) While this is a great idea for a compilation, the concept/idea stemming from the fact that present day Swedish hard rock / metal bands would cover songs written by past Swedish hard rock / metal acts, there is something that goes terribly wrong once all of this comes together. Don't get me wrong, some of the material here is kind of cool (i.e. In Flames covering Treat's "World of Promises", The Haunted doing Candlemass' "Well of Souls" or The Crown doing Bathory song "Burning Leather"), but for the most part the way the songs were covered just seem forced and idiotic. An example of this could be Gooseflesh doing Trash song "Boogie Woogie Man". Lame with a capital "L". Take your chance, people, but some classic songs get some bad treatment here. Ritual Carnage - _Every Nerve Alive_ (Osmose, March 2000) by: David Rocher (8 out of 10) These Japanese poseur bashers' debut, _The Highest Law_, had struck me as being one hell of a fun, cliched and compelling album to get one's teeth into; and in a sense, Ritual Carnage's anno 2000 follow-up to their first raucous, thrashing sonofabitch very much picks up where _THL_ left off. After a mildly lengthy intro sounding just that bit too much like Slayer's godly "Hell Awaits", _ENA_ kicks in -- fast and hard. Ritual Carnage's "keeping this simple" formula clicks just the same way as it always does, graced with a healthy quantity of pounding drums, biting guitar and throaty vocals. Ritual Carnage's songwriting has generally progressed vastly in terms of structures and musicality, but the most noticeable point remains the attention Damian's bunch now pay to the leads -- _ENA_ literally oozes with sweeping, screeching 100% metal guitar leads that'll have the air-guitar gene hidden deep within every metalhead going very twitchy indeed! _ENA_, my friends, is quite simply a totally METAL album, in the same way as Deceased's releases are METAL; this is an hour-long mouthful of intensity, sweaty leather, adrenaline and cliches with an attitude, and comes as a definitely recommended listen! Rollins Band - _Get Some Go Again_ (Dreamworks, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) Rollins has certainly progressed from the dark, near-suicidal soundscapes of late eighties Rollins Band product like the aptly titled _Hard Volume_, and has distanced himself from the gritty, bitter taste of 1997's _Come in and Burn_, but still (though it is, at least initially, less harsh) _Get Some Go Again_ lacks none of either the intensity or poignancy we have come to expect from Rollins. Ditching all his former band-mates as well as long-time production helmsman Theo van Rock, Rollins has resurrected his "Band" half by recruiting LA trio Mother Superior while he himself took personal charge of production duties. The result is less subtle but ultimately more solidly rocking than the likes of _Come in and Burn_ or _End of Silence_, seeming to roughly sandwich itself between the rock spirit of earlier material, showcasing Hank's undying passion for classic bands like Black Sabbath or Thin Lizzy, and the calculated grooving of _Weight_. The change of faces is not completely unnoticeable, but what is initially surprising is actually how alike the old and new "Band"s are. Likewise, though Rollins' lyrical delivery utilises some different tactics, there is the same focus on his self-improvement/strength-in-oneself philosophy. This time he has, however, allowed more of the sharp-minded maturity of his poetry, writing and particularly spoken-word work to permeate his delivery and penning of Rollins Band lyrics. Closing and unlisted studio-jam "LA Money Train" epitomises this. With MC5's Wayne Kramer joining them in the studio, the Mother Superior trio band flex their improvisational muscle in this subdued groover while the man himself delivers a scalpel sharp eulogy on LA life, with the skill of the top-class satirist which he has ever been, though previously he reserved it for his non-musical endeavours. On the flipside, _GSGA_ is also a direct, pumping rock 'n' roll record, a fact no more evident than on the storming cover of Thin Lizzy's "Are You Ready?", where the band are joined by former 'Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham. Juxtaposing muscle and mouth have always been what I found most endearing about Rollins Band, and _GSGA_ succeeds in doing this while also displaying more sides of Rollins than any other single product of his that I have encountered, be it book, album or spoken word collection. With an abundance of great lyrics, rocking musical moments and overall crushing power, _GSGA_ is a well-balanced and forceful statement of the enduring relevance of Rollins Band, and a damn good album in its own right. Scarve - _Translucence_ (Furtive Metal / Musisoft, March 2000) by: David Rocher (8.5 out of 10) It seems that the French six-piece Scarve have finally made it, after several years of revelling in the realms of the underground! _Translucence_ offers ten raging tracks (plus a rather horrid rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Friends") of massive, aggressive and quite excellent deathrash that displays a range of very eclectic influences as well as a sharp taste for experimentation -- Meshuggah fans rejoice. Scarve's main originality resides in their use of two permanent singers -- a brutal vocalist, whose vocals range from hardcore screamed vocals to raucous, phlegm-churning, combined with a melodic singer, whose power vocals, when they are not given the lead, are often used to provide a ghostly back-up to Scarve's violent and dissonant assaults. Dissonance indeed seems to be the keyword for this album, as Scarve display a very strange sense of melody, which fuses flawlessly with the massive, syncopated rhythm section led by a skinsman whose playing is not un-reminiscent of Meshuggah's drum god Thomas Haake, and under whose technical and powerful skin-thrashing Scarve's assaults extend from slow, doom-laden parts to high-speed blasting segues. Whereas they are indeed very reminiscent of praiseworthy acts such as Meshuggah or Face Down, Scarve definitely have the personality and originality required to stand their own ground in the saturated scene, as their influences obviously extend from 1970's hard rock acts to present-day death metal purveyors, all the way through the 1980's thrash scene. In addition, _Translucence_ was recorded in Sweden's Dug Out studios, under the masterful guidance of the sound genius Danne Bergstrand, and boasts a huge, crunchy sound which serves Scarve's music perfectly. With the mighty Loudblast now sadly gone, it is a reassuring prospect to see that with acts such as Scarve, Dementia or Hysteresis, France still has a lot more on offer than Cradle wannabes of the likes of Anorexia Nervosa. Shadows Fall - _Of One Blood_ (Century Media, April 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (8 out of 10) One of the most promising metal acts out there right now, Massachusetts natives Shadows Fall are in a league of their own. Their sound, their style and their deliverance is unmatched by any band on North American soil. They are indeed lucky. The sound, a complex style of multi-layered guitars, melody, powerful guitar riffs and varied vocal styles, helps shape the diverse offerings of the band. Mix in the vocals of Brian Fair (ex-singer of hardcore outfit Overcast) and the speed of, say, At the Gates, mixed with classic '80s metal, and you can draw your own idea of what they sound like. Or can you? The proof of their talent is on their Century Media debut (a follow-up to their successful _Somber Eyes to the Sky_ release in 1997), a debut for the label that not only showcases such talented material, but a definite break in the cliche offerings that for years Century Media had been releasing. Shadows Fall may not be the best band out there, but the album is damn good and they are truly in love with the notion that metal music can be explored. Make you own judgement, but I'm sure you'll be agreeing with me soon enough. Note: the band is touring with Dismember, Kataklysm and Krisiun throughout North America in June. Soulreaper - _Written in Blood_ (Nuclear Blast, January 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (8.5 out of 10) Just as my heart was sinking back into its dormant state after finding out that the new Morbid Angel and Nile albums will not be seeing daylight till Fall, this little beast found its way to my desk. Picking it from the usual pile of unknowns, and casually dumping it in my CD player, I was not hopeful of what was to come. "Darken the Sign"'s opening blast beating instantly changed my attitude, indicating Soulreaper were going to be well worth taking my time over. The rest of _Written in Blood_'s thirty-five minutes served amply in confirming this. Though pervaded by black metal beyond their armoured and grim-looking representation on _WiB_'s back cover, Soulreaper are for the most part a death metal band. Mentioning Morbid Angel earlier was not just me grinding a personal axe; Soulreaper are about as good a substitute for a new Morbid Angel album as one could hope for. MA's relentless assault is essentially the template for Soulreaper's approximation of musical annihilation, replete as it is with skull crushing riffing (at both break-neck and hammering mid-pace speeds), barbaric drumming and heaving, unheavenly vocals. The final product further draws very positive parallels with Aeternus' latest, shockingly violent outburst [CoC #45]. While all this may mean that Soulreaper do not have originality on their side, at the end of the day it isn't of too much consequence: _Written in Blood_ is a classy, violent little beast which provided (in the ever-depressing month of January when I originally received this) an invigorating reminder of what treasures another year in extreme music might bring. Steel Prophet - _Messiah_ (Nuclear Blast, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) Time for some honesty. I don't know who Steel Prophet are making records for, but it certainly isn't me. I have no doubt that if you've followed the band's long career, liked their Nuclear Blast debut of last year (_Dark Hallucinations_ [CoC #39]) and want more of the same, then you'll dig _Messiah_, because it is essentially the same. The vocal style is the -same- Dickinson-inspired wailing; the guitars have the -same- subdued crunch to them; the drums have the -same- heavy, electronic thud; and the song structures are the -same- traditional metal run-throughs, adding nothing to the tomes of those who wrote the various rule books. I recognise that this isn't my personal favourite as brands of traditional metal go and I also recognise that Steel Prophet are doing a pretty decent job production, playing and writing-wise in reproducing this sound. However, simple fact remains that _Messiah_ contains nothing remotely new, and none of it gets me going more than maybe humming a half line or taking note of the occasional solo. The mark reflects objectivity and the fact that _Messiah_ doesn't irritate me like a bad rash, rather than reflecting an undiluted, subjective, personal opinion. Stratovarius - _Infinite_ (Nuclear Blast, February 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (7 out of 10) Coming soaring and wailing from the Helloween school of heavy metal, Stratovarius immediately land on rather unstable ground as far as I am concerned. This high-pitched and unashamedly melody-driven breed of heavy metal can degenerate into horrific cheese at the drop of a hat, though for the band that can walk its line with skill, it has the potential to produce truly wondrous results. With these lines of battle drawn, _Infinite_ turns out to just what you might expect: a hit and miss affair. The likes of "Hunting High and Low" or "Infinity" have me wailing (probably hideously out of tune... but you'll just have to ask the neighbours about that one) along to chorus and catchy verse line alike and air-guitaring like I should be permed and suited in spandex (for those super-serious nineties metal hardboys reading: these are -good- things). However, "Freedom" or "Glory of the World" are prime examples of where Stratovarius have crossed that subtle line between excelling and indulging. It's definitely one for the Helloween/HammerFall fraternity; _Inifinite_ more or less equals these bands' most recent albums quality-wise, though it offers a slightly different take on the same melodic, chorus-centric style. Stuck Mojo - _Declaration of a Headhunter_ by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) (Century Media, June 2000) I don't know whether to like this latest Stuck Mojo offering or hate it. Not to say that Atlanta's heavyweights have released a bad record in their career, but this one just throws me for a loop. I worship the band's 1997 offering _Pigwalk_ and I loved the variety offered by 1998's _Rising_ (though CoC veteran Alain Gaudrault might raise a point about that record), but the band's new offering sees them taking their heavy "rap-core" metal sound down the sweetened path of commercialism. Clean guitars and melodies are woven into the metal mass of anarchy that the band emits within their wall of Southern metal and for some reason it is settling my stomach. No doubt backing vocals of new bassist Dan Dryden have added a new punch to the vocal rhymes of singer Bonz. I'll still down with the Mojo, it is just that their groove seems to have become a bit more polished. Choice cuts: "Set the Tone", "Drawing Blood" and "Evilution". The Berzerker - _The Berzerker_ (Earache, April 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (6 out of 10) Earache's promotional efforts to characterise The Berzerker as if it were the final, horrific monstrosity finally seen at the climax of a horror film has not succeeded in preparing me for their arrival in such a way as to augment their musical impact. Essentially drawing on a grindcore/death base, extracted quite obviously from the halcyon days of their current stable, The Berzerker nonetheless interestingly underline standard blasts and aggressive rhythms with a techno drum sound and occasional garage-derived rhythmic breaks. They also dabble in keyboard atmospherics and splice some quite amusing samples between a number of their songs. But ultimately it is all mere dabbling, for neither any single song nor the album as a whole breaks new and exciting ground, failing even to, however distortedly, echo the past with any glorious resonance. The Bezerker don't by any means compare to experimenters with programmed drums and more danceable rhythms of the likes of Dodheimsgard, and even their reformatting of grindcore/death cliches only produces a finite number of seriously enjoyable moments. The Crown - _Deathrace King_ (Metal Blade, May 2000) by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10) I am going to make this review real short. The Crown have released their fourth (and best) record yet, titled _Deathrace King_, and it will come at you harder than a runaway train. Just as the title suggests, this sucker is built on speed and high speed alone. Big nods go out to Entombed and Motorhead for inspiring such an angst-ridden piece of rock 'n' roll metal that'll leave you bloodied by the wayside. The Crown show no remorse, none whatsoever. Ah, the way metal is supposed to be. A grand release for 2000. Vader - _Litany_ (Metal Blade, April 2000) by: Paul Schwarz (9.5 out of 10) Vader seem to have tapped into whatever supply of drugs or collection of mystical forces Slayer once sold their (proverbial or otherwise) souls to to produce the incredible _Reign in Blood_ back in 1986; they have delivered the essence of their brutal death metal sound distilled into a concentrated twenty-six minutes. Yes, you read that right, -twenty-six minutes-: that's all you get (though a reworking of "The Final Massacre" rounds the CD out to thirty-odd). However, there is hardly a second's let up in the stellar quality of the material during that entire time. From the thumping, classically Vader, death metal pound of "Wings" to the Terrorizer-inspired blasting precision of "The One Made of Dreams" and on to the more leisurely tempo but brilliantly structured riffing of "Xeper", Vader appear frighteningly driven and, I find, are impossible to stop spinning, and spinning, and spinning. In a year or so perhaps the immediacy of _Litany_ will leave it with nothing left to offer, but I seriously doubt it. I really think Vader have hit a writing vein as rich and unweatherable as that of _Reign in Blood_ or _Pleasure to Kill_. Time will tell; for the present I'm willing to bet that this year won't produce enough class-A records to deny _Litany_ a spot in my 2000 top ten. Viking Crown - _Innocence From Hell_ (Baphomet, April 2000) by: Aaron McKay (10 out of 10) Pure and primitive metal nectar to slake the parch of the current black metal underground unfolds before you with this, the second offering from Viking Crown. This rabid release is the life-preserver you'd want heaved your direction if drowning in the Atlantic or the extra tall cafe grande to abate your raging caffeine headache. Absolute brilliance! The insatiable "Anton Crowley" has completely reworked the rules with _Innocence From Hell_. His mischievousness miscreant partners enlisted to aid the once staunchly solo VC may not surprise you; culminating the fiendish promenade are none other than Killjoy, Anton's bandmate in Necrophagia, as well as in the upcoming Eibon project, and Opal Enthroned, lending a creative majesty to _IFH_ with lofty cavalier keyboard workings. As a baseline comparison, again allow me to refer you to my review of _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_ [CoC #42]. A very notable mention goes out to Patrick Tremblay for scheming together an artwork design for VC that conspires to be elicit and invoking in its duality, much the same way the album title strikes you; perfect in style accented by mixed duplicity and mutually exclusive terminology. Goethe would be proud. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ __ _ /\ \ \_____ __ /\ \ \___ (_)___ ___ / \/ / _ \ \ /\ / / / \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \ / /\ / __/\ V V / / /\ / (_) | \__ \ __/ \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/ \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___| If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo, including a bio, if you want to be reviewed. We accept demos either on traditional media or MP3 format. Email us at to know which is the most appropriate postal address for you to send your CD or tape, in case you are sending one, or to indicate the location of a website from which we can download the MP3 files of your entire demo (but do NOT send any files attached to your email). Scoring: ***** -- A flawless demo **** -- Great piece of work *** -- Good effort ** -- A major overhaul is in order * -- A career change is advisable Cadaver - _Promo 2000_ (5-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (****1/2) Old Earache act Cadaver have dusted off their axes and returned with this tasty little demo of blazing grindcore/death, this time around combined with a blackened thrash edge courtesy of the involvement of Dodheimsgard / Aura Noir protagonists Czral/Aggressor and Appolyon. Czral's merciless kit battery, replete with omnipresent snares, combines with Appolyon's strangled but powerful Aura Noir vocals and original member Anders Oden's monstrous riffs to tear relentlessly with all the fury of Terrorizer or early Napalm Death, but with the thrashy leanings lending enough atmosphere and variation to make this much more than merely a glorious nostalgia trip. No address, unfortunately, but just remember I warned you: with material of this quality, it'd be a criminal offence for Cadaver to remain without a deal. No Rest for the Dead - _The Entrance of Your 14th Trip Demo_ by: Adrian Bromley (**---) (5-track demo) Okay... Can someone please explain to me what happened to No Rest for the Dead? Seriously, what happened to them!? The latest installment of this once promising Japanese noise/grind band finds the band exploring the realm of Styx and Rush, rather than the once vibrant flow of Eyehategod/Melvins meets Brutal Truth that they once cast out to the waiting metal world. I am at a loss, as their earlier demo and debut release titled _The End of Space_ on Deaf American Records (owned and operated by ex-BT drummer Rich Hoak) was a cascade of crazy ideas and over the top noise ditties all rolled into one vibrant mess. I'm hoping they scrap their King Crimson and Styx records and go back to giving us a headache with their rebellious anthems of anarchy. Okay, I need to lie down... Contact: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/9607 Sacred? - (3-track MP3 demo) by: Pedro Azevedo (****-) When demo material is described as sounding like a mix of The Kovenant and Dodheimsgard's latest outputs plus Marduk, Satyricon, Darkthrone and Mr. Bungle(!) influences, the risk of ending up with a faceless, uninteresting piece of musical confusion seems rather high. However, Lauri Laaksonen, the only musician behind Sacred?, has done quite well here and succeeded in creating musical rollercoasters that manage to keep the interest level high enough most of the time. This is not to say that every electronic or occasional oriental-like element he mixes with his sort of black metal works well, or anything amazingly close to that, but overall the music flows quite well while still sounding unusual and adventurous -- which is very good considering this is demo material. The sound quality is quite decent, and this material, though on MP3, is apparently not available on any physical media. Surprising, intense and/or atmospheric at times, downright weird some others, but certainly worth downloading if you feel this kind of experimentation might interest you -- definitely not for everyone, though. Contact: mailto:lauri_laaksonen@hotmail.com http://www.mp3.com/sacred_ Sempiternal - _Winternight Fury_ (4-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (***--) Thrashing melodic death metal with touches of the orchestral are the primary musical goods with which this French two-man project has created this reasonably good demo. It is a pleasing effort, even if it suffers from similarities to Rotting Christ, among others, and shows some serious potential despite not being anything astounding as of itself. I suggest they tighten up their arrangements and beef up their production, 'cause there is definitely some music worth developing on display here. Contact: Stanislas Mettra, 82 av. Daumesnil, 75012 Paris, France mailto:sempiternal@ifrance.com Skeletal Embrace - _A Landscape of Whorethorns_ (3-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (****-) Here we have a "banned" (sic) who do need to tighten up some of their press release writing skills, but have nonetheless managed to master a heavy and invigorating mix of extreme metal (mostly black, death and thrash) and blazing lead work. This three tracker would be better off minus the baggage of its keyboard-backed chanting track, the dividing filling, sandwiched between two intense bouts of crushing riffage and searing vocal evacuations. In parts Skeletal Embrace near sear with energy and potential. Contact: 45 Blenheim Way, Walton, Thetford, Norfolk IP25 6XS, England (free if you send a self-addressed parcel bag) Soils of Fate - _Blood Serology_ (3-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (****-) For the rock-solid stalwarts among you who might be screaming "sell-out" even at the minor decreases in all-out brutality showcased on, say, the new Dying Fetus EP, Soils of Fate are the answer to any and all of your prayers. Tight, hard, fast and brain-numbingly brutal death metal that, despite originating from Sweden, is as American as apple pie. 'Nuff said. Contact: Henke Crantz, Satunavagen 24 C, S-195 41 Marsta, Sweden Void - _Promo 2000_ (3-track demo) by: Paul Schwarz (*****) This is a five out of five so deservedly that it near gleams like surgeons tools with cleanliness. Dodheimsgard's Czral deals a hand of his deadly drum talents to London metal musicians Kraken (of the project of the same name [CoC #44], guitars) and Tirzah (vocals) and thus the three forge ahead to bring us one of the most impressively experimental, unpredictable black metal centred records to emerge from England, as it happens, since last year's Akercocke, but before that for a considerable time. Favourable comparisons to Dodheimsgard come easily to mind, and quite apart from Czral's involvement, though the under-production of these three tracks does hinder them from as well displaying the same glorious passion and drive to fuck with the rules in all the best possible ways. Void are never too consistently predictable. Maybe that element of surprise doesn't stir something in the more narrow-minded among you, but, let's face it, predictability is probably music's most evil accepted quality. With the financial backing, leading inevitably to a proper production, and a sharp creative focus, Void may well bring us one of the great late-nineties-rooted extreme metal releases of the years to come. Contact: Kraken, 55 Seyssel Street, Island Gardens, London E14 3EH, England =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ____ __ __ /\ _`\ /\ \ /\ \__ __ \ \ \/\_\\ \ \___ __ ___\ \ ,_\/\_\ ___ \ \ \/_/_\ \ _ `\ /'__`\ / __`\ \ \/\/\ \ /'___\ \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/ \ \____/ \ \_\ \_\ \__/.\_\ \____/\ \__\\ \_\ \____\ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/ \/__/ \/_/\/____/ ____ __ /\ _`\ /\ \__ \ \ \/\_\ ___ ___ ___ __ _ __\ \ ,_\ ____ \ \ \/_/_ / __`\ /' _ `\ /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/ /',__\ \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\ __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\ \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\ \ \__\/\____/ \/___/ \/___/ \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/ \/__/\/___/ G O D H A T I N G H U M A N B E A T I N G S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crowbar, Eyehategod and Soilent Green at the Underworld, London, England April 1st, 2000 by: Paul Schwarz After an overpriced meal in a local Camden grease-shop and a coffee to pick up my somewhat fried-out mind, myself and CoC's German scribe of great gigs galore and, as I know from finally meeting him in person, top dude Matthias Noll arrived slightly too late to catch all of Soilent Green's set. What I did get to see well preserved the jarring structures and violent riffage of their recorded efforts. Not being a close follower of their work I unfortunately caught no songs in specific but the experience, however short, was backed by a clear sound which preserved a surprising degree of the band's uneasy charm and harsh musical character. Eyehategod took the stage soon after and requested that the crowd be "Stupid: stupid drunk". Instantly erecting a solid wall-of-noise sound with their over-driven guitars, they proceeded to pleasantly dirge and groove their way through a loud, extreme, but strangely toe-tapable set which I again could pick out no specifics from but which left me smiling. Their vocalist complained a number of times of the crowd's under-enthusiasm -- a complaint not uncommon in London, though I recall Immortal at this very venue two years ago getting a huge and unprecedented crowd response --, but by the set's end things had gone from luke-warm to a near-boil down the front. Impressively listenable live act, I must admit, considering the ear-shattering tones of their recorded works. Finally, it was time for the final, headlining act of this Nawlins triple-treat to take the Underworld's undersized stage. Despite their average weight having lowered since the apparent retirement of original bass player Todd Strange and the re-recruitment of Craig Nunenmacher on drums, Crowbar have lost nothing in heaviness, and live is where they make the most sense. I love their albums, but God damn, watching this band rip up a stage live (especially in a small sweaty club like the Underworld, because on the main stage at Milwaukee '98 they really didn't make the kind of sense they did this evening) reminds you why live play is such a key feature to more or less any great band's existence. Crowbar pour their heart and soul into jamming out their trademark barrage of low chords and thumping rhythm section beats. Kirk Windstein positively belts his vocal performance into the microphone with such vigour you're almost surprised the stand doesn't fly across the room. The overall effect succeeds, as any live performance should, but, I find, surprisingly few do, in improving on the album-recorded versions of songs ranging from depressive dirges like "Fixation" or "All I Had (I Gave)" to the immense, melodic "Planets Collide", to the riffier numbers off their newly released _Equilibrium_ offering like "I Feel the Burning Sun" or "Down Into the Rotting Earth". Thus, despite some setlist changes I would personally have implemented and the over-long breaks taken between each song (some seamless shifts would not have gone amiss for preserving the momentum of the set), Crowbar were a pleasure to behold on this evening and I dearly hope that now that they are backed by a bigger, more solid record company than before their visits to the UK will be more frequent than every three to four years. Do not pass up the chance to see this monstrous package tear it up: pay up, drink up, smoke up, but definitely turn up, and let these hard-drinkin' Nawlins lads steamroller right over you like only they can. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= H I S N U M B E R I S O N E ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rollins Band (and some crappy punk band) at the Forum, London, England March 25th, 2000 by: Paul Schwarz Henry Rollins is an incredible front-man. I would go as far as to say he is -the- front-man. He certainly surpasses all others whom -I- have witnessed. And while the man is as much the focal point of the live arena as he is of the band name and band itself, this is not to downplay the role of his Band. The Mother Superior trio tear apart Rollins Band material past and present tonight, like they'd written the songs, and maybe even the book on how to reproduce them best live into the bargain. Drummer Jason Mackenroth deserves special mention for laying down such an unrelentingly energetic performance, remaining consistently powerful and precise the whole night through. The Forum was treated to a somewhat strange setlist comprising every song (bar monolithic closer "LA Money Train") from new album _Get Some Go Again_, but nothing from the past three albums (!) bar "Tearing" from 1992's _The End of Silence_. Thus tonight was a thoroughly pumping and energetic run through Rollins Band's abrasive late eighties past and the ROCK 'n' roll styled glory of their most recent present. The combination worked magic on that stage. The majority of the conspicuously absent tracks [e.g. "Liar"] would have confused this set, not improved it. Intense, building new track "Illumination" opened proceedings beautifully with the shirtless, shorts-clad Rollins tearing about his carpeted section of the stage barefoot; the picture of intensity and commanding power throughout the near two-hour stage time. Ear-splitting renditions of such decade-or-more-old numbers like "Hard", "Action", "What Have I Got" or "My Number Is One" were reeled off while classy new tracks like "Change it Up", "Thinking Cap" (with a free jam included in classic Rollins Band style) "Get Some Go Again" and "On the Day", along with two cracking Thin Lizzy covers played successively ("Are You Ready?" from the album and its natural second "The Rocker"), came off superbly. The "new" Rollins Band crushed all competition. I unfortunately have no personal basis for comparison, but I'd wager they'd -at least- give -any- of the old Rollins Band incarnations a serious run for their money. What is for definite is that for intensity and pure power, there is nothing harder than Rollins and his Band. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gino's Top 5 1. Judas Priest - _Metalworks '73 - '93_ 2. The Future Sound of London - _Dead Cities_ 3. Amorphis - _Tales From the Thousand Lakes_ 4. Slayer - _South of Heaven_ 5. Led Zeppelin - _Physical Graffiti_ Adrian's Top 5 1. The Crown - _Deathrace King_ 2. Vader - _Litany_ 3. Cephalic Carnage - _Exploiting Dysfunction_ 4. Fury - _Stigmatised_ 5. A Perfect Circle - _Mer de Noms_ Brian's Top 5 1. Spiral Architect - _A Sceptic's Universe_ 2. Sync - _Variations About Themes of Evil_ 3. Night to Die - _All Evil Crying_ 4. Black Messiah - _Sceptre of Black Knowledge_ 5. Lunatic Gods - _Sitting By the Fire_ Alain's Top 5 1. Summoning - _Stronghold_ 2. Horde of Worms - _Dreams and Dying Eyes_ 3. Pink Floyd - _Animals_ 4. Hate Eternal - _Conquering the Throne_ 5. Soul Reaper - _Written in Blood_ Adam's Top 5 1. Der Blutharsch - _The Pleasures Received in Pain_ 2. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_ 3. Immortal - _Damned in Black_ 4. Morgul - _Parody of the Mass_ 5. Bathory - _Jubileum Vol. 2_ Pedro's Top 5 1. The Crown - _Hell Is Here_ 2. Ulver - _Nattens Madrigal_ 3. Rapture - _Futile_ 4. December Wolves - _Completely Dehumanized_ 5. Enochian Crescent - _Omega Telocvovim_ Paul's Top 5 1. Dodheimsgard - _666 International_ 2. Deceased - _The 13 Frightened Souls_ 3. Repulsion - _Horrified_ 4. Order From Chaos - _Stillbirth Machine_ 5. Iced Earth - _Days of Purgatory_ [thanks go to Roberto Martinelli] Aaron's Top 5 1. Dark Funeral - _Teach Children to Worship Satan_ 2. Danzig - _6:66 Satan's Child_ 3. Death - _Spiritual Healing_ 4. Prong - _Beg to Differ_ 5. Mortiis - _Crypt of the Wizard_ David's Top 5 1. Darkane - _Rusted Angel_ 2. Necrophobic - _The Third Antichrist_ 3. Ominous - _The Spectral Manifest_ 4. Morgion - _Solinari_ 5. Vader - _Litany_ Matthias' Top 5 1. Vader - _Litany_ 2. Vader - _De Profundis_ 3. Entombed - _Uprising_ 4. Dismember - _Hate Campaign_ 5. Eyehategod - _Southern Discomfort_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ __ __ __ | \.-----.| |_.---.-.|__| |.-----. | -- | -__|| _| _ || | ||__ --| |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____| Homepage: http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com 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: gino@ChroniclesOfChaos.com ---- Our European Office can be reached at: CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe) Urb. Souto n.20 4500-117 Anta, PORTUGAL e-mail: pedro@ChroniclesOfChaos.com -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= DESCRIPTION ~~~~~~~~~~~ Chronicles of Chaos is a FREE monthly magazine electronically distributed worldwide via the Internet. Seemingly endless interviews, album reviews and concert reviews encompass the pages of Chronicles of Chaos. Chronicles of Chaos stringently emphasizes all varieties of chaotic music ranging from black and death metal to electronic/noise to dark, doom and ambient forms. Chronicles of Chaos is dedicated to the underground and as such we feature demo reviews from all indie bands who send us material, as well as interviews with a select number of independent acts. Join our mailing list to receive a free copy of Chronicles of Chaos every month. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending an email to with your full name in the subject line of the message. You may unsubscribe from Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a blank email to . 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 . The 'Subject:' field of your message should contain the issue number that you want (all other text is ignored). To get a copy of our back issue index, send a blank email to . =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #47 All contents copyright 2000 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.