_______ __ __ __ ___ | _ | |--.----.-----.-----|__.----| .-----.-----. .-----.' _| |. 1___| | _| _ | | | __| | -__|__ --| | _ | _| |. |___|__|__|__| |_____|__|__|__|____|__|_____|_____| |_____|__| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' _______ __ | _ | |--.---.-.-----.-----. |. 1___| | _ | _ |__ --| |. |___|__|__|___._|_____|_____| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, Thursday, April 3, 2003, Issue #60 http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com Co-Editor / Founder: Gino Filicetti Co-Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo Contributor: Adrian Bromley Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Paul Schwarz Contributor: Aaron McKay Contributor: David Rocher Contributor: Matthias Noll Contributor: Alvin Wee Contributor: Chris Flaaten Contributor: Quentin Kalis Contributor: Xander Hoose Contributor: Adam Lineker Spiritual Guidance: Alain M. Gaudrault The individual writers can be reached by e-mail at firstname.lastname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com. (e.g. Gino.Filicetti@ChroniclesOfChaos.com). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #60 Contents, 4/3/03 -------------------------- * Editorial * Chats -- Metalucifer / Sabbat: Can You Say "Heavy Metal"? -- Kittie: Kittie's Got Claws -- Vehemence: Christ, They Fucking Hate You! -- Cradle of Filth: Disturbing the Mainstream * Albums -- ...And Oceans - _Cypher_ -- Abdullah - _Graveyard Poetry_ -- Aborym - _With No Human Intervention_ -- Aesma Daeva - _The Eros of Frigid Beauty_ -- All in Vain - _The Backside of Humanity_ -- Asgaroth - _Red Shift_ -- Beaten Back to Pure - _Last Refuge of the Sons of Bitches_ -- Beyond the Embrace - _Against the Elements_ -- Bloodline - _A Pestilence Long Forgotten_ -- Brave - _Searching for the Sun_ -- ChthoniC - _9th Empyrean_ -- Codeseven - _The Rescue_ -- Corporation 187 - _Perfection in Pain_ -- Council of the Fallen - _Revealing Damnation_ -- Dead Blue Sky - _Symptoms of an Unwanted Emotion_ -- Desaster - _Divine Blasphemies_ -- Dimmu Borgir - _World Misanthropy_ -- Disharmonic Orchestra - _Ahead_ -- Divercia - _Modus Operandi_ -- Fallen Into Ashes - _Solely Dreaming the Reconstruction of a Forgotten Revolution_ -- Flesh Made Sin - _Masterwork in Blood_ -- Freedom Call - _Eternity_ -- Hate - _Cain's Way_ -- Hate Eternal - _King of All Kings_ -- Himsa - _Death Is Infinite_ -- Impious - _The Killer_ -- INRI - _Hyper Bastard Breed_ -- Kataklysm - _Shadows & Dust_ -- Lacuna Coil - _Comalies_ -- Legion - _Awakened Fury_ -- Madder Mortem - _Deadlands_ -- Martyr - _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_ -- Megiddo - _The Atavism of Evil_ -- Mess Age - _Self Convicted_ -- Morningstar - _Kalevala Mysticism_ -- Necronom - _The Darkening Path_ -- Negura Bunget - _'N Crugu Bradului_ -- Nicodemus - _The Supernatural Omnibus_ -- Novembers Doom - _To Welcome the Fade_ -- Omnium Gatherum - _Steal the Light_ -- Origin - _Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas_ -- Overkill - _Wrecking Everything - Live_ -- Phantomsmasher - _Phantomsmasher_ -- Red Harvest - _Sick Transit Gloria Mundi_ -- Rotten Sound - _Murderworks_ -- Scalplock - _Spread the Germs... Over the Human Worms_ -- Sepultura - _Under a Pale Grey Sky_ -- Severe Torture - _Misanthropic Carnage_ -- Somnus - _Through Creation's End_ -- The Black Dahlia Murder - _A Cold Blooded Epitaph_ -- The Blood Divine - _Rise Pantheon Dreams_ -- The Equinox ov the Gods - _Where Angels Dare Not Tread_ -- Thine - _In Therapy_ -- Thorium - _Unleashing the Demons_ -- Thyrfing - _Vansinnesvisor_ -- Today Is the Day - _Sadness Will Prevail_ -- Various - _Covered in Blood: A Tribute to Slayer_ -- Vinterriket - _Und die Nacht kam schweren Schrittes_ -- Vintersorg - _Visions From the Spiral Generator_ -- Wolfnacht - _Night of the Werewolf_ * Demos -- 7th Nemesis - _7th Nemesis_ -- Aggression Core - _Victim or Enemy_ -- Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_ -- Balseraph - _Balseraph_ -- Event Horizon - _From Beginning... to End_ -- Goldenpyre - _Necroterrorism_ -- Gotha - _Take Your Soul_ -- Honey for Christ - _Forging Iron Will_ -- Illogicist - _Polymorphism Of Death_ -- Recto Rectors - _Fight For Your Grind_ -- Serrated Scalpel - _Suspended in Misery_ -- Set in Silence - _Watch the Sky Burn_ -- Slaughter of Souls - _Nexus Avernus_ -- Solution 13 - _Solution 13_ -- The Last Winter - _IRA_ * Gigs -- Morningrise in the Deadlands -- King Tut's Burning Angel Hut =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, _ ___ _, __, _ _, _, |_ | \ | | / \ |_) | /_\ | | |_/ | | \ / | \ | | | | , ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ by: Gino Filicetti Welcome to the first of our monthly Chronicles of Chaos email digests. In this digest, you will find all of the articles that have been published on our website over the last month. For those of you who haven't seen the new Chronicles of Chaos, head over to: http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com and take a gander. Check out my editorial on the website for more info on our new format. Also, let's not forget about the new Chronicles of Chaos Message Board at: http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/board. Sign up now for an account on our message board, and help foster a lively community of CoC readers and writers. Enjoy the new material, and remember to check back with our website on a regular basis to read the latest and greatest as it's published. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _,_ _, ___ _, / ` |_| /_\ | (_ \ , | | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ C A N Y O U S A Y " H E A V Y M E T A L " ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Geniezoluzifer/Gezol of Metalucifer/Sabbat by: Paul Schwarz It rode up on hell's hot wing, a heavy metal album with its feet defiantly planted in the past which nonetheless had to be taken seriously: _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_. Of course, Metalucifer -- lead by Sabbat (Japan) frontman Gezol (aka Gezolucifer and Geniesoluzifer) -- had already delivered such an album with 1997's _Heavy Metal Drill_ [CoC #33], but with _HMC_ they bettered themselves ten times over. In the West, _HMC_ saw Metalucifer leave the ultra-small underground imprint Iron Pegasus (run by Costa Stoios of Tales of the Macabre 'zine) to join the growing ranks of small, US-based underground label Rest In Peace. After its release early last year, _HMC_ began slowly but surely to garner ever more praise and interest from around the globe. Metalucifer played Germany's Wacken festival in the summer and, at year's end, topped at least one leading extreme music magazine's end of year poll. It may sound like just another story of a band who were marginalised by distribution restrictions finally getting the exposure they needed to reach a wider audience, but I think many of us doubted Metalucifer would ever get anywhere. Great as they are, Metalucifer are so god-damned excessively old school heavy metal that you'd think there'd be no place for them in today's scene. But if you thought that, perhaps you just weren't looking hard enough -- or for the right things -- when you cast your eye over the metal scene, looking for a place to park Metalucifer. Old school metal is really growing again, in popularity and quality; Wolf's ultra D'Anno-era-'Maiden styled _Black Wings_ made an impact almost as surprising as _HMC_'s last year. Perhaps the ground -is- still fertile for a band as dedicated to old school metal as Metalucifer. Who knows? In fact, who really cares? I think I'll just get back to my headbanging and let you get on with reading what Gezol had to say. Oh, and just in case you're confused, this interview was conducted in early 2002: before Metalucifer's Wacken performance. (Apologies for the time-lag.) *[Disclaimer of sorts: I have left most of Gezol's sentences as they were because I feel his "Engrish" (see http://www.engrish.com for an explanation of this term, if necessary) has a certain charm to it -- also, even meticulous rewriting might well not convey what was -meant- by a given passage, even if it might read more cleanly. One other good reason to leave things as they were was that this was an email interview -- what you see here is all that I had to go on. That said, I actually think Gezol's answers are perfectly understandable -- even if a second reading is required to fully grasp the meaning of some sections/sentences. I think the best way to 'get' what Gezol is saying is to get into his mindset, into the -spirit- of what is being said. If you can do that, I think you'll not only be able to find out a lot about what goes on and has gone on with Metalucifer, Geniezoluzifer and Sabbat, but you'll also start to understand how much passion and sincerity, I believe, lies behind Gezol's words.] (Credit: Translated by Yohta Takahashi / HMSS / FETU) CoC: In what circumstances did Metalucifer first form? What was the thought (if any) behind forming a traditional heavy metal band like Metalucifer? Geniezoluzifer/Gezol: First of all, the Metalucifer project was born in a very simple reason that I just wanted to play a sort of traditional metal music with pureness. I was... I was an innocent pure guy for metal, a traditional one. Around 1984 when Sabbat was founded in the countryside of Japan, the world metal scene was at the very beginning of the thrash metal movement. Me and other members of early Sabbat were of course so young to understand the situation that we directed ourselves to play a kind of satanic metal. Sabbat was in a part of Japanese metal underground as pioneer satanic/black/thrash metal and performed violently, as the scene people expected of a satanic band. Yes, we were young. We put all our energy into our stage and always storms of violence blew up on our stage. And in my opinion, playing music as Sabbat was much better benefit for me to let metal fans understand what I want to express. Yes, that's satanic metal at the moment. Still now I haven't changed this thought. Sabbat can sound what I really want to do through metal. However, I have kept listening to traditional/typical metal music besides playing in Sabbat. From NWOBHM to Euro/US power metal, my ears were hungry for various metal. I just love metal! So I can't remember exactly, but one day in the very past I got an idea to form a band to play a sort of -traditional- metal, not as Sabbat. Well, time run so fast and back in 1995 I thought, "The time has come." In 1995, I think the scene of traditional/typical metal was totally declined. Maybe there were a few bands in the very underground around the time who would be the core of today's (2000-2001) new metal movement. But the scene itself at that time was "fulfilled" with thousands of black/doom/death metals. And it was crisis for pure metals, that many of these brutal bands were trying to do cross-over music with quite different kind of sound far from metal. I asked myself, "Gezol, can you accept this situation?", "Gezol, what can you see in the future of metal scene with such crossover shits?", "Gezol, now is the time and chance to look over the real substance of heavy metal, isn't it?". These self-questionnaires and rage against the scene brought me a pure spirit for metal. Not only to destroy the crossovers with my pure metal, but to bring hammer down on the semi-critics who proudly said, "METAL IS DEAD". I wanted to prove traditional/typical metal isn't dead. It lives forever. Rise it from the dead!!!! Let me say something about traditional/typical metal. I think the base of this metal has already been developed out in the end of the Eighties. Of course digital technology brought a kind of revolution to the sound quality, later. But about composing, I think the traditional metal got its final style with _Painkiller_ by Judas Priest, Blind Guardian and Helloween. Metal bands of today are trying to make a good song in the categorised field even if they're well aware that there are no new ideas coming up. Can you make a masterpiece metal song by using these accomplished ideas/phrases/rhythms? Is it impossible for us to do it? I wanted to prove: YES, WE CAN! That was the core-reason why Metalucifer appeared suddenly in mid-Nineties. Metalucifer shows we can make the awesome great metal songs by using Eighties ideas only. I want to say to you, "YOU NEED THIS ONES WE ARE PLAYING NOW, YOU LOVE OUR MUSIC IN REAL, DON'T YOU!? DON'T YOU!? And I think modern black/death metals are one of the results of the development of speed/power metal affected by thrash/grind/HC. Dividing by so-called speed/thrash as the border-line, the metal is categorised in two: black/death/doom, and the other one is traditional/typical/speed/thrash. I had known that there were many and many traditional/typical metal fans in the musicians of black/death metals too, so my strategy was to blow 'em up with simple Metalucifer sound and let them be sympathise with us -- and also let them be big Metalucifer fans... And then... we can possibly make a giga-wave in the metal scene! I think true metal fans are listening to any kinds of metal music from NWOBHM to brutal metals. Metalucifer should be one of their heavy rotations! However, to tell you the truth, I didn't expect to get such great reactions from whole world. I thought that was a kind of miracle for Metalucifer to release the second full-length on US/German labels, and additionally we are going to play at the Wacken Open Air!! In the very beginning of this project, I just wanted to play heavy metal in my ideal. And I did it. Of course I had many inspirations and thoughts mentioned above along with this project, but it don't matter. My first priority was to play what I really wanted. I had confidence in the songs, but my pronunciation and lyrics were too kiddish Japanese-English. Technique and sound itself were based in the Eighties one. I was a bit anxiety wondering if the young metal fans would say "No" to Metalucifer. But now the reactions sided on me. My project Metalucifer was accepted by the scene and I can proudly say, "METAL is SPIRIT!" People want high-level masterpiece and metal anthems anytime. CoC: Your first full-length, _Heavy Metal Drill_ [CoC #33], was released by the Iron Pegausus "label", run by the editor of Tales of the Macabre, in Europe (and the US?). How did the deal with RIP come about, and how did you feel about Iron Pegasus's release of _HMD_? G: Before the release of Metalucifer's Euro version CD on Iron Pegasus, I pressed 1000 copies of the original version of _HMD_ album on my own Evil / Metal Proof label in 1996. It was fate that Sabbat had a German tour next year and the owner of Iron Pegasus was in front of our stage and... he was very impressed with our performance. He was also into Metalucifer sound and offered us the release of Euro version on his label. Anyway, he made 1000 copies of _HMD_ and sold it out in a year. I was really proud of the release in Germany and satisfied with the situation, that many European metal freaks had got a chance to listen to Metalucifer. Well, Iron Pegasus helped us to spread the name of Metalucifer to the edge of the world. The metal scene of today is based mainly in Northern/Mid/Latin Europe. Getting good reactions from the mid-Europe was very effective for us to let people in Asia / America / Latin America be interested in Metalucifer. Fortunately Metalucifer has got more and more fans than I expected, except UK.... One English man wrote me, "Metalucifer is ultimate! But too late. It must be come 10 years ago." Something like that. Uh, he couldn't catch my spirit and faith for metal. Probably English men, not only him, want to say "Metalucifer is an anachronism, old-fashioned, etc." I am okay to his opinion if he is really honest to the music of Metalucifer. But I want to ask you English men, what is going on with the UK metal scene of today? Is there any new metal bands coming up and any new scene or movements in the underground? I haven't heard any news from UK today. Before criticise my UNIQUE vocal style (laugh), what you English men should do is to look over yourselves and your scene! In my opinion, these English critics are not honest to heavy metal music as art work, because you are always mentioning the ability to speak English when you guys review bands from non-English areas, especially from Asia. Heavy metal is artwork of spirit! To tell you the secret, Iron Pegasus was very afraid when they decided to release Sabbat/Metalucifer albums in Europe, saying like this, "That's desperate war for Iron Pegasus to promote a Japanese band in the current European scene because of kamikaze-English". Haha, but it was easy for me to guess there was also prejudice existing in European mind to Asian playing metal. However, Costa of Iron Pegasus challenged that risky game and carried out to blow up the scene with Metalucifer/Sabbat. And his belief in metal sympathised American RIP records, I guess. Well, I had already spread 100 copies of _HMD_ album to US distributors before getting touch with RIP. I don't know how they were interested in Metalucifer and I don't care of such matter right way. And what I can remember now about RIP Record was that the owner rang up me but was ripped by my Samurai-English, haha! He wanted to release some Sabbat albums on his label at the first contact on the phone, but one day he changed the subject to Metalucifer. Please ask him why. (Stan (RIP): I did call him on a phone once and yeah it was way too kamikaze for me but I never dropped the idea of Sabbat on RIP. Actually the new album will most likely be released thru RIP, so be forewarned!) G: Iron Pegasus advised me that it was much better for Sabbat/Metalucifer to have a contract with an American label if we wanted to go America. So all of us -- me, RIP and Iron Pegasus -- had a discussion about the contract offer from RIP and got the best result, I see. Well anyway, the things went so naturally with the Sabbatical circle and Metalucifer's strong impact to the metal scene. Actually Metalucifer is under control of Iron Pegasus and we trust on the label perfect. They have done tons of benefit on Sabbat/Metalucifer and I respect him, of course. I get agreement from Iron Pegasus about the issues of any offers according to Metalucifer. No need to have a new contract with Iron Pegasus about our management, because I trust on him 100%. That's SAMURAI's mind. CoC: Would you say Metalucifer are "a serious band"? G: Metalucifer is not "BAD NEWS"! And in my opinion, Metallica of today is more comical than us. Metalucifer is definitely not a comic band, but really a serious band. We are not playing music as parody of Eighties music. To prove for this, I put on _HMD_ album some Sabbat songs which were written in mid-Eighties when Sabbat was at beginning. And there is no comic bands of metal without technique and ability. So-called comic bands can let people enjoy because they are highly technical and performing super. Metalucifer is an old-metal band being totally against atmospheric epic/symphonic metal which is under influence of Rhapsody or Angra! Hey, I guess these atmospheric epic/symphonic metal fans whom brains have meltdown in eating too enough McDonald's will judge us down as a joke metal band if they have a chance to listen to Metalucifer, haha. But that's not my business. I would like to tell you one episode about one Finnish metal fan. One day, the guy had had a dinner listening to Metalucifer. Unfortunately that was his first time to listen to Metalucifer music. And when his CD player turned to "Heavy Metal Hunter", he couldn't stop spitting out the things in his mouth because of funny sound. The things flew 5 meters away! Well, he couldn't have the dinner at the night because he couldn't stop laughing all night. But... from next day he couldn't stop headbanging and Metalucifer became his heavy rotation. I think he could understand what Metalucifer means and what I really wants to say. That's METAL! CoC: Do you care how 'the scene', 'the media' or other collective opinions on metal see Metalucifer? Do you have any opinion on the state of metal today, or any proclamation to make as to what Metalucifer are going to do about it? G: Honestly I am totally not taking care of media saying. Anybody has any different opinions about artworks. FEELING is not given by critic's words, but by LISTENING ONESELF to the music. There are countless reviews by many fans and these opinions direct the intention of the scene itself. It's a very important factor that the environment of Metalucifer movement and affection consist simply of these general metal fan's opinions! We welcome metallers arguing about the metal scene or Metalucifer. But I just do what I want to play. I just want to reach to the ideal style of ultimate metal. And also I am doing Sabbat with the same attitude with different members. Sometimes I read some "GOOD" reviews for Metalucifer on medias. But sadly some of them are not so serious to our music that I got mad at the writers. Not only about Metalucifer, but always MEDIA lies. I am sad that many unable writers do ugly articles without understanding metal music. It's too hard for us to find true faithful writers in current scene. So I could say, the most important thing for the scene people, especially fans, is to judge yourself with your own ears. It's stupid to believe what the media says blindly. Not only the media can make the scene, but need your power! The main message of Metalucifer is, saying frankly, that I hope the countries like the UK will revive the metal scene. I guess you English men have always looked down on other countries and still now you guys haven't been noticed your stupidity. Like Mini-cooper and fish & potato, what you can make brag of is Iron Maiden & Judas Priest only. Certainly NWOBHM was a legend. The movement left countless metal classics and still now bands like Saxon, Tank and Motorhead is going on. And you have some bands like Curdle of Filth and Bolt Thrower following... but... but... what's the reason why your country cannot have a new band of traditional/typical metal coming up nowadays? Is there no scene in the UK for that kind of metal? Are your young people dead out? Don't you have any rebellious spirit against heavy music featuring stupid RAPS???? Even our Japan -- known as a developing country for metal music -- we have some strong newcomers and the scene is beating hard. Nobody in Japan mentions Loudness anymore. When you got the NWOBHM, it was the real glory for the UK scene. UK was the sanctuary for every metal fans as their destination. However, I want to ask you again. Was it really over now? You English-spoken people are sometimes saying stupidity like this "WE'RE ALWAYS NO.1 IN THE WORLD", but do you know that the metal-THIRD countries like Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Mexico, Czech, Hungary, Greece have got tons of new bands and getting the new scene bigger and bigger these days? In old time, Japanese metal fans only listened to English-singing bands because of prejudice, but now they open mind to ethnic vocal styles and accept bands singing in own language like French, Spanish and Eastern block language. This time, I put the song called "Lost Sanctuary" in the end of the new album. This is my message to UK people and the scene; "We hit the road to new sanctuary. The time has come. What we need is new place to get the new glory." I think that being proud of the past glory is transient. New-aged fans cannot understand the glory in the past. There is no future for the UK scene if you can't say bye to the "great" glory and stupid pride. Now is the time to brave new world. I really hope the UK scene will be back to the forefront with new metal anthems. Anyway, the traditional heavy metal scene in the UK is totally dead now. And Metalucifer proves METAL AIN'T DEAD YET. That's my conclusion right away. The world must be into the chaos of metal war. Anybody can join in the war and battle for getting the better result. To polish up each other, this kind of war is benefit for the future of the scene. I hope UK bands will think forward to my suggestion... and join us. CoC: Metalucifer's music is unashamedly unoriginal -- and I love it. But what would you say people who: a) claimed that Metalucifer are a pointless band, because people would be better off listening to HM records that are genuinely old; b) claimed that Metalucifer are a pointless band, because they're not as good as Primal Fear, Hammerfall or other 'true metal' bands? G: As I told you before, I think the basic development of traditional/typical metal has already been completed by many bands in the past. Can you see something very new in today's bands playing that music? The main theme for the bands of today is how to compose unique songs which give listeners strong impression and braving spirit. Hey, I could say, the sound with all very original methods cannot be METAL. You know what I mean and you know Metalucifer proved it, so in result you're possessed by Metalucifer, aren't you? A) So I say UK is dead. That's why you're sticking with FISH & POTATO even if the World War Three has happened. Don't you have any desire to know what's going on in the underground? Metalucifer is a point-device band to ask you the question "Why have we released such old-fashioned sound now?". If you can't catch what I mean, it's waste of time. B) I don't like Hammerfall. That's a problem of subjectivity, but when I finished listening to their first album, I had no impression left in my mind except one ballad song, haha. Sorry, but their music was boring. I can't understand why many people are exciting with the band and making a fuss. Primal Fear is, in my opinion, just an ape of Judas Priest's _Painkiller_, isn't it? But in the point of composing, Primal Fear is good enough, so I am not beating them down. Well, I would like to thank you because you compared Metalucifer with such big names like Hammerfall and PF! Fantastic. Yeah, as you say, Metalucifer may be "lesser" than these TRUE bands. But let me say one thing. Suppose Prime Fear or Hammerfall plays music of Metalucifer without telling people who is the original, definitely they can make more and more big sales than today. Let me ask you what is the "TRUE METAL" you mean with question? Can't you say Metalucifer is much more "TRUE" than them because we are not doing the band for making money? Can you? If your band play metal music with pure mind and without any gimmick for making money, you're a true band, I guess. I am proud of Metalucifer as the true band even we have no contract with Nuclear Blast and we have no debut CD on big labels. The bands you have mentioned are just lucky to succeed in spreading their names to the market. Any metal bands like Metalucifer, Hammerfall and Primal Fear... what we believe on is the spirit and the spirit is METAL. CoC: Roughly speaking, is there any thought put into Metalucifer's lyrics, or do you feel that as long as they mention "heavy metal" as often as possible, they're good? G: Sorry for the lyrics of _HMD_ album which was hard to understand. I ought to study English hard and deep... But _Heavy Metal Chaisaw_'s lyrics were checked by ex-Death drummer Bill Andrews, so I think these is no problems in the lyrics. The problem is my pronunciation, so check the lyrics sheet when you play the CD. There is no difficulties to understand the Metalucifer's lyrical imagination. Please do understand the lyrics simple and straight, that's all about Metalucifer. The meaning of lyrics depends on your imagination. We're not giving any serious story-lines to the lyrics, we're not like modern black or gothic metals. And as you point it, I use the word of HEAVY METAL so frequently so much. I really love HEAVY METAL music and a rhythm of the word and its background. I dedicate 100% of my life to heavy metal. Well, my small challenge to heavy metal is getting today's reactions to Metalucifer and it goes on now. Probably you English men cannot understand the situation, but it's true that I have got countless e-mails from whole world saying they are sympathised with the way of metal which I put on the Metalucifer sound. Need I say more? Yes, they are 100% understanding my lyrics. These is very important meaning in my lyrics, but in other hand, there is no meaning with it either. CoC: How are Metalucifer related to Sabbat excluding the fact that the two bands share some members -- in terms of music, or the thought behind making the music, for example? G: My main life work project is Sabbat. Metalucifer project is done as my side-project (fun-project). I have lots of things to do with Sabbat. As you can listen, Sabbat is playing black/thrash/death metal as the advance style of evil-metal, and much more brutal than Metalucifer's. So-called metal is sub-divided into many categories today. In its basis, Sabbat has darkened themes like worshipping evils, occult, anti-religion, anti-pop metal, anti-hypocrisy etc. etc. But these are just theme. These blacky themes match very well to evilized music like Sabbat plays and that sounds exciting. When I am a member of Metalucifer, I am just a traditional/typical metal nut. You medias often ask us what the goal as a band is, but I have no goals for sure. I have no intention to change the world with my music and no political ambition. I am not interesting in the news like USA and UK bomb Afghanistan... I am not interesting in making money, either. I live free, I play free. However, there is only one exception in my life. I can't be silent to the metal scene of today. So I sometimes attack the scene with our music.... The meaning of "band" for me is one of mankind's sixth sense, one of daily life habits same as eating or excreting. I play music for myself the first, and for fans who enjoy the music as art, and for heavy metal kids who go crazy in the concert. And then there is the SCENE and medias like you following the Metalucifer movement. Enjoy Metalucifer music straightly, and imagine something crazy from my great lyrics in your way! That's the way of art called music, isn't that? Well, about the point you mentioned... yes, some members are sharing both bands Sabbat and Metalucifer. The reason is just simple. It's very hard for us to find able players in our area and that's better for me to do Metalucifer with all my friends or Sabbat members. These German players on _HMC_ we're getting from connections with Iron Pegasus. Hey, they worked superb and I was satisfied very much with their way of metal! One thing I asked the Metalucifer members was "Enjoy it in your way". Metalucifer session was full of joyment, but in other hand, that was full of battle with originality/personality/potential each other. I didn't care of the result. Some members asked me about my satisfaction, but that's not a matter. I asked them to join the next sessions and told them, "Everything was okay if you really enjoyed Metalucifer and had a confidence that you did your work 100%". There is one thing I have to take care all time between members of Sabbat and Metalucifer. My main project is Sabbat, and Metalucifer is a part of Sabbat. I don't ask Metalucifer and Sabbat members to do lots of things... they are not victims for my satisfaction and they should be free from any pressure and stress. CoC: What specific bands (if any) inspired the music of _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_? What bands inspire Metalucifer most in general? Do the primary inspirations vary between different albums: I notice a marked (general) difference in style between _Heavy Metal Drill_ and _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_? G: The music of _HMC_ wasn't inspired specially by any bands. I myself am influenced by Iron Maiden, Manowar, Accept and many other NWOBHM/European metals. _HMD_ consists of 40% of remaked/arranged versions (done in 1995) of my songs written in the early Eighties, 30% of early Sabbat songs written in the mid Eighties, and rest of 30% were brand new songs written in 1995. _HMC_ songs were in the same vein of _HMD_ songs written in 1995. You know Metalucifer had a chance to release the _Warrior's Again_ 7" EP around 1998 and the _HMC_ songs were written at the same time as the EP materials. I did the composing for all the _HMC_ songs in six months. I mean, the _HMC_ album is very tight and not done in loose idea. When I was doing the job for _HMC_ album, I had some discussions with Iron Pegasus to let some German players join in Metalucifer. So I tried to give straight edges to the songs more than dramatic rhythm changes, because simple feeling would be effective to German fans who know well of the glory of metal Eighties! Well, I could say there was a bit change of musical direction between _HMD_ and _HMC_, but it's alright. Additionally we recorded it at a new studio with new musicians. CoC: Geniezoluzifer, your vocal style is distinctly Japanese-accented and is the only thing about Metalucifer which isn't really blueprinted on classic NWOBHM material. Is the Japanese accenting intentional or can you not help it? Personally, I really like it because it is comedic yet (for me) captures that "warrior spirit" that makes traditional HM vocals sound so powerful, and grip one's attention so much. What would you say to that? G: What I want to say is as follows... uh. I just can't DO English well and I don't make any effort to let my English better than now. And I have no enough time to study it either. However the MUSIC of Metalucifer is rising above the matter. Please don't misunderstand our stance. We're not a kind of NWOBHM clone. We play the Eighties-styled traditional/typical heavy metal with a touch of NWOBHM and I was inspired by not only NWOBHM, but all kinds of trad/typical metal from whole world. Right? And then, I want to ask you one question along with your feeling and opinion about Metalucifer. You said "Metalucifer sounds great as classic NWOBHM songs", in other hand, denying Japanese-accented vocals, but you liked it... uh? Why don't you fall into dilemma with your pointless question? Or... are you a gentleman taking care of my less-ability of pronunciation? What do you think of these metallers who refuse Metalucifer because of my terrible pronunciations? Find the fact that the situation surrounding Metalucifer rises above your questionnaires. Bad English? So what?? My samurai spirit says you that the real substance of Metalucifer magic blow off away the negativities of Japan-esque English. That's the reason why I don't make effort to go to an English school (paying huge money) or I don't share my composing time with studying Englsih. Saying frankly, if you love Metalucifer, you should study JAPANESE-ENGLISH. You British people speak British English. Americans do American English. Aussie people do Australian English. Europeans do European English. Asians do Asian English... If all of Chinese people speak Chinese English, absolute number of the spoken-English people are consist of Chinese people as the main, you'll be sub. One stupid nut American said like this, "Don't play metal without speaking English!" Crazy. He addled his brain with his stupidity to be against many domestic bands singing in ethnic languages. Quite nonsense. One German said like this, "Gezol's English is not acceptable, but I really love it sang in Sabbat and Metalucifer." He continued, "Almost all of listeners in non-English countries are not taking care of the pronunciation and they don't understand the words without lyric cards while listening, but that's okay enough!" Many people are listening to my ugly vocal as a part of metal sound, a part of artwork. Don't you think the words can be an art? Even if somebody rejects, even if somebody worships, I live free from any chains and go on playing music. Actually our language Japanese itself is become broken by young ages. I asked myself, is there any must-rule on my work to express what I want to say with PERFECT and CORRECT words? In result, I tried to create new language based in some elements of Japanese (language) for Sabbat's _Karisma_ album, and fortunately Japanese fans accepted it with open arms even if they couldn't understand the lyrics. Definitely you can't understand my lyrics because of my kamikaze pronunciation, but you can catch me with your free imaginations. That's the way of art. We can say nobody can understand the art without imagination and inspiration, can't we? As you know, music is a sort of artwork to create some feeling from zero. Feel it free with pure mind for your metal spirit! If Metalucifer is okay to you at this point, everything is OKAY! CoC: I was not denying the Japanese accented vocals as "acceptable", I was merely noting that they were not a part of the original NWOBHM style-template and thus were additional to it. There was not a dilemma; I was not being a "gentleman". I like the way you do your vocals in the sense that it fits the music and sounds good and METAL! I also find the accent sounds, from my perspective, rather absurd singing the words that it sings, and so that aspect amuses me. G: Okay, okay, I can catch you. What I am taking care the most for composing the riffs of vocal is to find the most suitable vocal-lines which fits perfect to the sound. There are countless combinations of different patterned riffs in general. Just like an architect thinks of the plan of a house, it's possible for me to find thousands of riff patterns/combinations from my past experience and knowledge for my "house" (music). But when I write the lyrics, I can find what's the best vocal-riffs which fit perfect to the sound with ease. That comes from my spirit for metal so natural that I think it's not a difficult task. I give enough priority to the vocal's riffs/melodies, as same as the sound itself. That's the most important point to understand the real substance of Metalucifer. Therefore, in my opinion, to pronounce the English-written lyrics perfect is not given the first priority for the sound of Metalucifer, but Metalucifer should be a great project created by those who believe in our own style of metal which we must do and have. For example, sometimes Spanish-singing metal bands are really attractive in point of powerful lyrics/vocals which is not like English-singing ones. That's sure that my style is based on Japanese language and accent. But I myself think it's a sort of Japanese/English mix juice! I think my/our Japanese vocal style is very original. What you said to me "...not a part of the original NWOBHM style-template..." is right and I accept it as an excellent opinion. But let me tell you that I don't want to play NWOBHM under the name of Metalucifer. What I want to do with Metalucifer is the Eighties sound in the European/Japanese style which was played by people (except English men) who wanted to ape NWOBHM and wanted to be a follower of NWOBHM but who couldn't be that because of their nationality, language barriers and original feeling with own background. Also the metal scene was rapidly developed in the past 20 years and it seemed that there was no place for these maniac metallers to play this kind of music. Metalucifer is attack to give them a good chance to look over the history and show you the proof that we can make the new metal sound by using the Eighties style which you have lost away somewhere. Metal ain't dead yet! That's the core-message from us Metalucifer. I've heard that the word Lucifer means "Morning Star", doesn't it? Yes, Metalucifer is a new morning star for the metal next generation. CoC: Further to what I said about your lyrics in Metalucifer, I have an appreciation for the amusing qualities of "Bad English", as I call it, in metal lyrics; like in Sodom's "Blasphemer" when the lyrics go, "Midnight, the clock strikes twelve / Masturbate, to kill myself / Blasphemer!"; or when Kreator talk of kicking away flowers with power in "Riot of Violence"! The best "Bad English" I have ever seen was on one of your songs: Sabbat's "Baby, Disco Is Fuck", which is a monstrous evil metal disco destroyer anthem: "Stop singing such your song!" G: Sounds great! Are you the guy who gave the review for "Baby-Disco" of Sabbat? I've got a mail from the owner of Primitive Art and he told me someone wrote in the review saying, "Gezol is the world's greatest metal poet". Did you do that article? CoC: No, unfortunately not. But to continue... In fact, my biggest problem with _HMC_ is that there aren't -enough- problems in the lyrics. The lyrics, as you say, have almost no mistakes in them. But they are a little repetitive and dry. Before, I thought the scattered pronunciation gave them an obscure quality which gave them more charm. G: That's the problem on my side. I should show you more crazy English in next album with CARE! HA! Anyway, telling frankly, I cannot imagine how you feel good and bad to my vocal style because I am a Japanese resident and no chance to pronounce English sentences in my daily life. But let me add one thing about my vocal. Well, I AM TOTALLY SATISFIED WITH MY VOCALS!! That's my pure style and probably I can't sing better or worse than today's style. If you metallers want to critic Metalucifer, you can do it free. If you simply like our music, I just want you keep listening with relax feeling. I see, even if metal fans in general is against my vocal style, they cannot be satisfied with Metalucifer without my vocal! Right? CoC: Pretty much. Who do you consider the biggest wimps, poseurs and disco-sluts in the world today? G: Metallica. The guy who was an European in the past [Lars "'Do I have to play double bass drums? But it's so much work!'" Ulrich --PS] answered to a Japanese magazine like this... "We were all fool while we were a thrash band. We can't play stupid thrash metal anymore right way." So I could say Metallica could get today's ugly position in the music scene. He has eaten so much rotten American pizzas that his brain seems to be meltdown. Sometimes major bands answer to the interview, "Last album wasn't good enough, but this time everything (new album) went perfect (so buy this one !)"... something like this. ... How many times do they repeat the same answer in each time when they release the NEW albums? They look down their fans, music fans. After reading the interview, I let myself cool down and go to a second hands record shop to make small money by selling their brand new album. That's enough to buy some toilet paper... that's all. The bands announced through the media interviews that their materials were not worth listening, lesser than toilet paper. CoC: Who do you consider the greatest heavy metal warriors in the world today? G: If you don't mention your band to this question, you're a false metal. Of course Metalucifer is the world's greatest metal warriors. Metal artists are always trying to be better than other rivals. We believe ourselves that we are the best and our albums are the best, too! Am I stupid? Do you play live to let yourselves silent than other bills? We ought to be always on stage with belief to play the very best show and performance than any others. That's not strange if there are many BEST metal warriors in the world. You know, there are countless "ultimate" black metal bands in the current. I am not conceited about myself and I am not a rock star (see my looks). However I am always spending energy for metal to be 100% honest to my fans, "We're always on the 100% way of heavy metal. We're the best metal warriors!". And hope, the readers of this interview, you must be another metal warriors and try being the best any time. CoC: Where did you think up the crazy pseudonyms for the members of the band and the instruments they play [e.g. "Elizablumi: erotic Thai guitar of death all backing riffs, solos and chorus"]? Can you take us through them individually as they appear on Heavy Metal Chainsaw and tell us... "WHY??" G: My pseudonyms are Gezol, consisting of Gel and Sol, both are colloidal liquid making human body. On the activities through Sabbat, I am calling myself Gezol. And on the Metalucifer project, I just add Lucifer to my name. Then when we had sessions for _HMC_, I replaced some words with German word Geniesser (= enjoy) and Luzifer (= lucifer). While we had recording for _HMC_, I said, "Enjoy!" many times to German guys. One of them, Tomentarou had flashed the idea. "Bratwurst" means of a bread+sausage, doesn't it? I add "senf" (= mustard). I really love the food and when I go to Germany, I am always eating it. Of course we have the same one in Japan, but it's Americanized and terrible tasted. German ones are the BEST! Tomentarou was enjoying to give new pseudonyms to members. One day, he asked me about pseudonyms of Zorugelion (drummer of Sabbat), so I explained it. He is similar to me, so let my name Gezol reverse... "Zoruge" and in the beginning when he joined Sabbat, he had blonde hair and it seemed like a lion to me. "Zoruge" meets "lion", that turns to his name. Then Tomentarou wanted me to give him a new stage name as a member of Metalucifer. He is/was a fat guy, so I got "Tarou" from Japanese dictionary meaning of fat. And added it to his name on "Desaster". And I thought it was perfect if adding "Kamikaze" and "Sumo" to his weapons. Sounds great as the drummer of Metalucifer. Elizaveat was one of the original Sabbat members in the very past. I took his name from Elizaveat Bathory. Nowadays he has some problems with his BALLS, so I wished his balls would be back to usable and gave name of "Spermy Splash" to his weapon. Elizabigore is a real older brother of Elizaveat. Both of them are playing in a local band, "Gore". He is older and bigger than Elizaveat, so.... Eliza+Big+Gore. He is a figure artist of Godzilla monsters, so his weapon became "Ecstasy Screaming Godzilla". Elizablumi, he wanted as a member of Elizaveat family. "Eliza" meets "Blumenthal", his real name. When we had the recording session, he was a frequenter of a prostitute house in the town. He was possessed by a cute girl from Thailand, and he enjoyed her like hell... That's why his guitars is called, "Erotic Thai Guitar of Death". CoC: Which of the following words best describes Andrew WK: "great", "good", or just "gay"? Is there a better word? G: Tell him that anus is better than a cunt, I think he'll like that! CoC: Did you like the last Iron Maiden album? G: Fans and medias are supporting _Brave New World_, but I am not. In my opinion, Iron Maiden is finished with _Seventh Son of a Seventh Son_. There is no albums coming out from Iron Maiden which is actually better than _SSoaSS_. CoC: Should Rob Halford get back together with Judas Priest? G: The scene people and the fans seem to let him come back to Judas, but I don't want it come true. If he has very new ideas to make a new album which is superb better than _Painkiller_ album, he should come back. If not, they should keep distance each other. Remember Accept please. U.D.O was simply great than re-union Accept, wasn't it? CoC: What do you think of _Warriors of the World_, and of Manowar post-_Kings of Metal_ in general? Were they not better in the days of _Sign of the Hammer_ and _Battle Hymns_? G: For me, _Louder Than Hell_ was a great album. I think the album was stronger than _Kings of Metal_. I liked "Brothers of Metal", "The Gods Made Heavy Metal", "Number One", "Outlaw" & "The Power" a lot!! Still now I've been listening these tunes. They are heavy rotations when I drive!! BUT -- sorry for Joey Demaio -- honestly, _Warriors of the World_ is not good enough, but boring. The sound is just Manowar fulltime! However, The Quality [sic] of the tunes is inferior to their past masterpiece albums. I feel sad. CoC: Anything to say in closing? G: Before closing the interview, thank you again for this chance. Sometimes I was aggressive to answer to your questions, but I just wanted to be honest to myself. If you can speak Japanese, probably you can catch me 100%, but I think I did my best right now. I hope readers will understand the way of metal and what's what in Metalucifer. Arigato. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= K I T T I E ' S G O T C L A W S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chronicles of Chaos interviews Mercedes of Kittie by: Aaron McKay As the saying goes, dynamite comes in small packages. In my estimation, this harbors the meaning, among other things possibly, that explosive things are often underestimate. Kittie is a band that falls solidly in this class. Speaking of class, they have plenty of that, too. Deference isn't something, I suppose, you'd think an interviewer would describe a metal outfit as possessing, but there has to be a first for everything. If you feel the need, swallow you preconceived notions as you give _Oracle_ a try. It'll surely scratch more than the surface of your mental whimsy. Don't walk, "Run Like Hell" to check this Canadian outfit, but lap up a few lines of Kittie's mother's milk here first. Mercedes has some yarn to spin your direction. CoC: I just want to start off by complimenting you guys on _Oracle_. I hadn't got much exposure to you guys other than the Milwaukee MetalFest... what was it, three years ago? Mercedes: Yeah, a very, very long time ago. CoC: Very long time ago, indeed. This disc, _Oracle_, this is the first exposure I've had in CD format to Kittie's music. I have to say that it's fairly incredible. I didn't realize how heavy you guys were until I actually got _Oracle_. M: Well, thank you. CoC: Could you elaborate a little bit how the evolution toward making _Oracle_ as heavy as it is? M: Well, physically the songs are off of our first record; those songs were written six years ago, a very, very long time ago -- a different period in our life, and I mean there's not much really to it except the evolution of a band. Obviously, the only way we could go was heavier through the new record, and I mean that's the direction we wanted to go in and subconsciously that's the direction we went into. We weren't expecting, you know, well "this song has to do this and this song has to be like this" -- it just kind of happened and it flows nicely. CoC: Was there a lot of influence from bands that you toured with that you felt like, you know, we could have all added our own sound and just incorporated that into Kittie? M: Not really. I think that if anything, watching bands play is more of like an inspiration, you know? It just makes you try harder. We don't like to like pick up things from other artists; we're not that kind of band. We just like to pave our own trails, if anything. CoC: Was "In Winter" the first one released, or was it "What I Always Wanted"? M: "What I Always Wanted". CoC: And did "In Winter" come as a follow up? M: Yeah, "In Winter" is actually released from like... between that. CoC: As I mentioned, at the Milwaukee MetalFest years back, I had a little of exposure to Kitty. Now I have _Oracle_. In your estimation, what would you think about a new fan hearing Kittie for the first time and their first exposure being "What I Always Wanted"? Is that kind of what you intended as the inaugural step? M: I would hope that, well, I mean... yes. That is what we kind of intended, but I mean at the same time I think I'd rather have people listen to the record in its whole entirety rather than listen to the one song. The record is so diverse and it is so much different from that song, and every song has its own personality, I think. I'd rather have them listen to the whole record and see how brutal it actually is. CoC: Well, that's a good way of putting' it! It does have its own personality. Here's a question you probably get in each interview: how did the Pink Floyd "Run Like Hell" cover come about? M: Basically what happened was back in October '99 (some time in there, not sure about the dates) we were asked to do a Pink Floyd tribute album. We recorded a version of the song, and right after that we hit the road and, basically, while we were on tour the Pink Floyd tribute album fell through and we had already started playing the song live, so we really didn't know what to do with it -- so we just kept on playing it live. After that we kind of revamped it a little bit and decided to put it on the new record. CoC: I looked over Kittie's website just a little bit a few times. The video clip there for "Run Like Hell" seems like the fans really get behind that song. Is that what you've found? M: Oh, definitely! We've been playing it for such a long time. I mean everybody knows the song and before it was on the record there was stuff on Napster, live tracks on Napster, so like everybody knows the song. I think it's like that with all the live songs though. Some more brutal than others. CoC: Was it your first choice for the tribute album as far as getting to pick "Run Like Hell", or was it something that they asked you to do? M: It was our first choice. That was a song we felt we could make into our own song. Obviously the song doesn't sound anything like the original, and that's what we were going for. CoC: Yeah, but the distinctiveness is definitely there and you're absolutely right, but you can tell it's Pink Floyd, which is the great part about making a cover your own. You guys did flawlessly, if you don't mind me saying so. M: Thank you. CoC: I also wanted to touch on the bass aspect of the band, I'm a huge fan of bass lines being up front and "in your face", so to speak. "What I Always Wanted" has a nice driving' bass aspect to it. Was this a showcase piece to highlight Jennifer's ability? M: Actually, our old bassist was on that recording (not Jennifer), but I don't think that was our intention. I think with Jennifer, she adds a lot more stuff to the music now; she adds fills and actually has a bass solo. She's actually a good player. I think now when we play the song live it is more of a showcase. CoC: It comes across really well all throughout _Oracle_, but that was the song that really stuck in my mind. Having ties to Canada like Kittie does, in your opinion, does that origination point for the band have an impact on their sound or how it is received in the metal community? Put another way, do you receive more or less attention because the band is from Canada? M: Um, I don't think being from Canada really has anything to do with our sound, 'cause there's not a lot of heavy bands from Canada minus Cryptopsy and the like. There's a lot of radio and punk rock here and that's about it. There's a few really good heavy metal acts from Canada, but I mean other than that, I think a lot of people kind of [believe] just because [a band like Kittie is] from Canada they won't listen to your music because they think that just because you're from Canada you're going to suck. There's not a lot of good metal bands out there from Canada. CoC: How is the exposure in Canada for Kittie? Pretty diverse? M: Not as good as in the US. Canada is a little behind and always has been. It's really annoying, kind of. They either hate you or they love you. CoC: I think it is just a matter of getting them to hear Kitty and understand it, because you touched on it best when you said all the songs have their own personality. I think there is going to be something on _Oracle_ that appeals to somebody somewhere; it's just a matter of getting it in front of their faces. Touching on the songs a bit , the song "Pain" had a nice layer over the harsh and clean vocals. It just came across really well in my opinion. Do you ever get anybody who says you have a good singing voice and why don't you utilize that more; i.e. do away with the other harsh style? M: Yeah, we do get a lot of people who [say] that, but I mean it's our band and it's our choice. Obviously we're not going to let anybody influence us except for ourselves. CoC: There is a lot of varying up and changes when it comes to the vocal approach -- sounding at times like in Flames or whatever. What made you guys decide to have a couple different techniques as far as where the vocals come from? M: We are a band of all types of music and we like to add melody into our music, you know? Other than being just a straight up screaming or singing band, we like the best of both worlds. And it really mixes well with our music. CoC: Would the term "conflicted" pretty much describe Oracle? Not one path or another but kind a conflicted as far as the vocal approach and all the facets that you have on the song musically? M: I wouldn't say "conflicted", I'd more say along the lines of... blah... I don't know what I'd describe it as... it's different. CoC: "Safe" and "Pink Lemonade", I would consider a couple of the most dynamic on the new album. Does it show another side you want to demonstrate to your fans? M: Yeah, definitely! We always wanted, on our first record (_Spit_), to add an instrumental song that was more mellow, but was safe. We really wanted to have a slower and more mellow song, because we're not just into heavy music. We're into all sorts of music. CoC: It was excellent... Great way to end an album, great way to go out. What do you think is the heaviest song, in your opinion, on _Oracle_? M: In my opinion, I think "Severed" is really very brutal, and "No Name" is really heavy. There's so many heavy songs... CoC: Yea, and they drop in different places, too, where the chunkiness picks up where the other left off. Maybe you thought the previous song was heavy and then you get into a riff in a certain song other track and you're like "DAMN, that's heavy". I mean, as far as the listener would go, I think they would be taken in in a big way by musicianship like that. Did you ever expect _Spit_ to go to the heights it did? M: No! We're signed to an indie label. I mean, we're from Canada and a garage band forever, and so we really never expected anything. CoC: How's your relationship with the label? M: It's alright, I guess... it's not the best. CoC: Would you consider it a real eye opener from the last album to this one when a fan hears _Oracle_? Do you think they'll be blown away? M: [_Oralcle_] is so much more different and so diverse, and I think a lot of people who haven't taken the time to listen to it because of the first record, I think, they would definitely enjoy the second album. CoC: Do you think, speaking of labels, dealing with them is a highly complicated aspect of the music business? Does it ever detract from the more enjoyable parts of having a band like Kittie? M: Sometimes, but you know what, there's always going to be fights and battles that you win or lose, but I mean this is my life and I love what I do. CoC: Would you say that touring is the best part of a band like Kittie? M: We got into this tour to have fun and play live shows. We've always been a live band and we always will be. CoC: So that's probably the best part and everything else aside. M: Yeah. CoC: To a large degree I think that a band takes a little bit away from every person they run into. Do you ever think playing with a band like Slipknot impacts you in any way? For instance, the energy you get caught up in when performing with an band the size of a Pantera, or Slipknot, or an In Flames... Would it be different or would you be able to take something positive away from those different types of shows? M: I don't know, I mean... I think that always something positive comes our of a show whether it be we're always going to make new fans no matter what. CoC: It is just a matter of getting you in front of the right people for exposure. I noticed the mason jar on the front cover; tell me a little bit about the cover, where did that come about? M: The cover [of the CD] is of a flaming mason jar and you open it up and there's pictures of x-rays of people's bones, for example, and x-ray of a guy with a knife shoved in his eye. And then it's just different x-rays and different pictures that depict emotions and other fun stuff. You have to see it! CoC: You don't really know what the cover is instantly; you have to look at it pretty hard to pick it up. M: A lot of people don't know what the cover is and I've heard some pretty interesting things people think it is... CoC: Are there big plans for time on the road... tours? M: Actually, we've been touring non-stop on this record, and we've just set up a tour with us and Shadows Fall, and a band called Hotwire. CoC: Will you guys headline it? M: Yeah. CoC: Thank you, Mercedes, and please end the interview any way you like. M: Come see a show! Forget every thing you've ever heard about the band at the door and listen with open ears. Or go buy the record and forget anything you've heard about the band and put it in your CD player. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= C H R I S T , T H E Y F U C K I N G H A T E Y O U ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews John Chavez of Vehemence by: Adrian Bromley It's tough being the new kid on the block. You're basically starting from scratch, thrust into a world of bullies, new friends and a new neighborhood that you call home. It isn't easy to blend in and become "one of the gang". Think of how hard it must be for a new metal band nowadays to fit into a scene that has been going on for thirty years now. A tough task indeed. Phoenix, Arizona sextet Vehemence are one of the many new bands thrust into the metal music scene. Their hard work and perseverance as an indie band has paid off as they signed to Metal Blade Records and have just released their intriguing concept album _God Was Created_. Having fun yet, guys? "Oh man, it has been a real blast for us the past few months", beams Vehemence guitarist John Chavez down the line from his home in Arizona. "It just feels great to have accomplished so much with this band and hooking up with Metal Blade. All we [the band is rounded out by singer Nathan Gearhart, guitarist Bjorn Dannov, bassist Mark Kozuback, drummer Andrew Schroeder and keyboardist Jason Keesecker] ever wanted was to get our music out to as many people into this music genre as possible so that it could be heard." "I think this record turned out pretty damn good with the budget that we had for it and the amount of time that we had spent on it", he says. "We made sure that seeing that this was our debut disc for a big label, that everything sounded the way we wanted it to sound before we left the studio. We really couldn't afford to mess up this release." What does Chavez get out of the new album when he plays it back? What are his reactions? What does he get from the music? "I am very proud of this album when I play it back. I think we have done something deeply honest and intense. We are very happy with the final results and it seems to be going over well with fans and music critics. We're just happy to be with Metal Blade and them backing our music." It is worthy of noting that the band took credit for producing the debut album as well. Does that go along with the fact that the band wanted to make sure that everything turned out right in their eyes and ears? "Kind of", he responds. "I mean, we were told to look into getting a producer to work within our budget for recording, and then some other things happened, and it wasn't working out for certain scenarios. We eventually wasted some time and had to get things going right again, so we took charge. The album was recorded in The Saltmine Studios in Mesa, Arizona and mixed at Trident Studios in California. It was an experience, to say the least, for us this time around. Next time we'll be ready." Seeing that this was their debut album, did Vehemence go into the studio with a lot of ideas to work from or did they have a concentrated array of songs to mix into the final product? "We demoed and did some pre-production work before we had entered the studio with the help of Metal Blade, just to kind of help us get a good feel of how studio work is. It was an okay experience, but once we were in the studio and trying to get all the ideas down, that is when we really made a joint effort to make this a worthwhile and rewarding experience for Vehemence." I heard your independent release (2000's _The Thoughts From Which I Hide_) a while back and wasn't into the band at all. "Really?" Yeah, I just couldn't get into the earlier independent release for some reason. I was actually a little pessimistic about the new album when I heard you had signed to Metal Blade. But I'll admit, I am definitely into the new disc. Very good death metal. Sounds impressive. "Thanks man", he says with enthusiasm. "I'm glad you are into the new album and that we changed your mind and thoughts about Vehemence. _God Was Created_ is a progression for us. I think if you play back our demo release and the last album we put out, _The Thoughts From Which I Hide_, you can really get a good sense of us expanding our sound and not really staying with one thing", he remarks. "Each of our albums are different. The last album set the standard for what we needed to do creatively with this Metal Blade debut." There is a lyrical concept behind _God Was Created_, and with song titles such as "Made For Her Jesus", "Christ, I Fucking Hate You!" and "The Last Fantasy of Christ", I was curious to know more. "I can't really go too much into detail about it 'cause I am the guitar player and didn't conceive the whole thing, but I'll try", he states. "Our singer Nathan had decided to make this album follow a concept. It all started with the first song on the album, "Made For Her Jesus", and we just started building the concept idea from there. The story has all of these religious overtones and gets more horrific as it goes along. When we made this album we didn't want it to become this big King Diamond kind of concept album where it would carry over into several albums, we just concentrated on it being this one release. Now that it is done, we can go on to making another record. Who knows? Some day down the road we may make another concept album." He adds, "We are taking all of this one album at a time. Each album will be different. This album is death metal, the next one might cover black metal. We want to try and cover all genres with what we do. The beauty of music is that you can't stop a creative mind. You always want to try new things and not stay the same or go bland with your visions." Are there any worries about this industry and being in a band? Responds Chavez, "I'm not really worried about the music we create, 'cause I think we do a good job and I think we can hold our own, but I am more worried about internal problems for the band. Things like jobs or school holding us back, or even family matters. Our singer Nathan just had a child and that is obviously an important thing for him to have in his life alongside his music." As things go along in your career, just like any other job, you'll be able to work around things. "I agree", ends off Chavez. "Sure those things are in the back of my mind, but we just put out a great album and are ready to tour all across North America and Europe, so that is more of a priority. Plus, right now nothing is really bothering us, so we are good to go." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= D I S T U R B I N G T H E M A I N S T R E A M ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC talks to Dani Filth by: Adrian Bromley When it was revealed to the metal music world that Cradle of Filth had signed a worldwide deal with Sony Music to release their upcoming album, _Damnation and a Day_, many metal music fans couldn't believe the news. Cries of "sellout!" could be heard throughout the world amongst metal hordes and both angry and confused comments made up hundreds of posts on message boards throughout the Internet. Was the end of the world near? Along with many Cradle of Filth fans, I too wondered whether the vampiric / black metal regime -- who had taken the metal music by storm with their now legendary demo _Total Fucking Darkness_ (1993) and debut album _The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ (1994) -- was making the right decision. Well, according to lead screamer/spokesman Dani Filth, every decision the band has made in the past has been the right one, and this was just another stage in their ongoing career. "When people say the 'fans' are talking shit about us signing to Sony and saying all this stuff about Cradle of Filth, I really think that it is a minority of detractors", explains the outspoken frontman. "Our fans who have come to know us over the years trust our judgement -- after all, we -are- the band. When people mention that people are saying shit, I think it is an elite clientele of wankers who go around trashing the band." I know people like that. "Those people are worms. They are nothing. There is so much to enjoy out there in life, but to spend so much time in the negative is a preposterous thing." The topic shifts to the recording of the Sony debut, with Filth revealing, "There was a lot of expectations, I guess, from fans, some pressure for sure, but we tried to not let that get on top of us when we went into record the album. We wanted to undertake a record that was going to be a much bigger project for us. I mean, being on Sony we had a much bigger financial backing with this album and it allowed us to venture into Hungary to record with a 40-piece orchestra and a 32-piece choir. We never intended to do a mammoth 77-minute album, it just ended up that way." How so? He continues, "Well, we took ourselves to a well-hidden, out of the way studio in the north of Wales to kind of get away from everything like girlfriends and business partners and just to get the ball rolling. We didn't want any distractions -- apart from sheep. Out of that experience was born this creation that just kept on rolling and growing larger as it went along till it came to a halt as this lengthy album consisting of seventeen tracks. As a concept record it was key to have a good lengthy set of material, but don't let that scare you off from listening to several tracks out of order. This album can be digested in many ways, really." As some might expect, _Damnation and a Day_ is easily one of the best produced albums the band has released during their career. The band co-produced the album with Doug Cook and invested a lot of blood, sweat in tears (not to mention time and resources) to strengthen and enlighten their darkened creative edge. Miles away from their debut offering, but still on par sonically (for the most part) with other classic releases like _Dusk and Her Embrace_ (1996), _Cruelty and the Beast_ (1998) and _Midian_ (2000), the new album will no doubt win over the die-hard Cradle of Filth fans (and maybe even some of those "wankers") Dani loves so much. "I know our fans will appreciate what we have done with this album. The time and effort we put into this is mind-blowing in my eyes." Is this the best Cradle Of Filth album? "Yes, for sure. It is the biggest, the heaviest, and in some places the fastest record we have ever done", comes Filth's answer. "But some might say it is a bit commercial in some spots as well. It is an album where we have grown as a band and brought forth a whole lot of ideas into the Cradle of Filth mix. We're still the same band, but have actively set out to get the best results with what resources and time we were given to make _Damnation and a Day_. It is such a weird feeling being on Sony, I mean here we are rubbing shoulders -- not really, but you know what I mean -- with Michael Jackson, Shania Twain and all that other pap and we are going to hold our own." And yes they can. Regardless of all the turmoil that has plagued the band over the years (label changes, band members leaving, controversy, etc.), Filth refuses to see any of it in a negative light. "We have always had a vision with this band and I hate it when people paint a black picture of the past of the band. It is interesting; it is not bad or a bleak past. People always seem to pick up on that and make it out to be some huge road of disaster. How can it have been so disastrous and we have gotten to where we are now, then? I mean, each album has gotten better as the years have gone on and... well, that is only my opinion. It has been an interesting ride for sure. In regards to band members leaving, it is kind of like how any machine works. If the machine is going along and some cog has stopped working and it threatens to stop the movement of the whole machine, then you need to get rid of that cog and replace it with a new one. It's that simple." So Dani, excited about OzzFest and headlining the second stage this year? "It is a great experience for us", says Filth. "People might be seeing us in the light that they should not be seeing us in, i.e. broad daylight, but despite that I think it will be a fantastic opportunity for us to reach a totally new and bigger crowd." I think people going there and seeing Cradle of Filth for the first time will be blown away and want to go out after the set and buy the CDs and T-shirts. "Or they'll want to bottle us!" True, very true. That could happen. You know how Americans get when they drink, right? "There never seems to be any middle ground with this band. It is very love/hate and it isn't about to change just because we signed a deal with Sony Music." So after getting finishing the album, doing press and readying to hit the road, is Filth worried about the possibility that this new venture into mainstream may not work out, or does he not care? "To tell you the truth, we may not go over so well, but that is how things are set up right now. We get to see what happens with us, and fingers crossed, hopefully we'll prove them wrong. Proving people wrong is such a huge satisfaction." Filth ends off, "If we succeed, then other bands will follow and the metal music scene will grow even stronger. We're ready to take on the mainstream, but are they ready for us?" =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _, __, _,_ _, _ _, / \ | |_) | | |\/| (_ |~| | , |_) | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~~~ ~ `~' ~ ~ ~ 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! ...And Oceans - _Cypher_ (Century Media, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (5.5 out of 10) This band is as far from straight metal as a Northeastern U.S. politician's moral tendencies. This sensory infused outfit defies classification with their strangely tormenting soundscapes of haunting conundrum. The track listing on _Cypher_ reads like an offering for a depraved E.E. Cummings' poem. Strong harmonies and inflicted vocals comprise the most valuable elements on this release. No stagnation on this band's offerings, but there is something to be said for having a goal in mind and shooting for it, too. Hearing _Cypher_, I now think ...And Oceans could have had better aim. "Aphelion: Light Evanescence: Into Extinction" and "Silhouette: In White Rooms: Vacant Bodies" (see what I mean about the names of the songs?) hold the fairest of blossoms on _Cypher_. The verifiable aroma of exploration intoxicating this effort is inventive and disturbing at the same time. My guess is that is how these musical explorationists intended it. Hard hitting in a KMFDM-kinda way, ...And Oceans slice culture into categories of the wildly harsh fanatics and everyone else. Thirteen cuts of bottomless retribution are scarcely contained within the confines of the _Cypher_ offering. Regrettably, I've heard far better. If more on this effort would have sprouted from the inspiration (barely) contained on the dynamic "Comatose: The World Amnesia: Planet Dead", I might have been more taken with _Cypher_. As things are now, I'd seek the unusual in an X-Files episode before looking here for anything more than the cautious path self-proclaimed intrepid folk traverse. This CD was far too tame for me personally and not at all what I was hoping for. Abdullah - _Graveyard Poetry_ (Meteor City, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (9 out of 10) Over the past year, stoner rock label Meteor City has released a considerable number of high quality releases, far more then most labels. But Abdullah's sophomore effort may very well top everything else that they have released this year. Despite an album title that sounds like the morbid infantile musings of a teenage goth, Abdullah are in no way connected to this genre, instead taking their cue from the rock of yesteryear to compose a varied album that unlike many stoner rock CDs consists of more then recycled Black Sabbath riffs. Of course there is a Black Sabbath influence -- it's impossible to find a stoner rock album which has not been touched by these heavy metal grandmasters -- but my use of word influence is meant to mean exactly that and not as a euphemism for blatant mimicry. A fair number of songs contain strong overtones of NWOBHM bands such as Diamond Head, while the heavy final track takes it's cue from punk (the real stuff, not the power pop nonsense that passes for punk nowadays) and is a fitting closer for an otherwise largely subdued album. But despite these varied influences, it is a testament to their song writing skills that none of these songs sound out of place, complementing each other to produce an excellent and cohesive album. The lyrics are intelligent and introspective with a philosophical bent, containing more then just a hint of paranoia. Vocals are superbly handled by Jeff Shirilla who has emerged as one of stoner rocks best vocalists. His vocals are eerily detached, producing a coldness in an otherwise warm and inviting album. In short, this is an outstanding album with no major flaws and a few inconsequential minor flaws, resulting in the genre's best offering of 2002 and one of the best albums overall of 2002. Contact: http://www.meteorcity.com Aborym - _With No Human Intervention_ (Code666, 2003) by: Pedro Azevedo (7.5 out of 10) _With No Human Intervention_ starts off fast and chaotic, yet powerful and catchy with its title track. Aborym come across as an apocalyptic black metal band a la Anaal Nathrakh, only less unrelenting in terms of pure aggression and more chaotic in terms of the sheer lunacy of the electronic samples and beats they throw into their music. While I personally enjoy Anaal Nathrakh far better, nevertheless I have to give credit to Aborym for taking some things further in their own way and coming out with a better result than, say, December Wolves' own experimental exaggerations on _Blasterpiece Theatre_. This may come as little or no surprise, but Aborym's more techno and/or industrial-oriented passages consistently fail to interest me throughout the album. Still, even though Aborym's black metal almost always has a more-or-less synthetic, techno-like feel to it, it is usually only on the purely electronic passages that it becomes obtrusive. Fast, often catchy and always chaotic to some degree, _With No Human Intervention_ is a difficult concoction to evaluate, simply because it can go from really interesting to rather vulgar and back several times in a couple of minutes. It has some really good tracks, several average ones, and some rather annoying ones as well -- fourteen in all, so excuse me for not naming them one by one. If you want some name-dropping, then look for contributions from Nattefrost (Carpathian Forest), Irrumator (Anaal Nathrakh) and Bard "Faust" Eithun. Overall, it's mainly some catchy guitar leads and Atilla Csihar's vocal performance that provide the highlights on this one amidst an aural chaos of which a significant proportion is rubbish and only a minority actually enhances the music. It's a worthwhile release for those interested in the genre, but one that would have benefited from being more focused rather than such a mixed bag. Contact: http://www.code666.net Aesma Daeva - _The Eros of Frigid Beauty_ (Root of All Evil, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (2 out of 10) Besides the well-worded title, this re-recorded effort comes across as drunk on its own sense of transgenre bullshit, much like Dudley Moore in Arthur -- and please know I hate to disgrace that movie with this comparison. Aesma Daeva fans, mostly related to the band I would assume, will say that I am not able to hear the beauty of this hybrid zoological garden soundscape. Rubbish! The problem is I hear it TOO WELL! In order to become aware of the menagerie at hand, the listener must be at least modestly interested in understanding where the band is going with their music; I am not. The female vocals tend to nurture drowsiness expedited along by the classical guitar style of AD's main-brain, Jon Prassas. Violence is most certainly the last thing you think of when Aesma Daeva comes to mind, but to illustrate a point: even all the talent in the entire world spread out like grey matter on a wall after a shotgun blast to the head couldn't make this disjointed effort any more interesting. _The Eros of Frigid Beauty_ takes the "artsy" approach to metal about -three- steps too far. To understand what I mean, spin _Stormblast_ from the beginning, take out all the black metal and its implications -- what you have left is what you can expect from AD. To go one more and play upon the already weak "AD" reference, the only wish I have for this particular disc is that it would have been left in the "BC" period! Not a funny crack? Well, this disc isn't either -- it's pitiful. All in Vain - _The Backside of Humanity_ (, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10) I nearly wrote off this band as yet another entrant in the increasingly overcrowded field of melodic death metal after hearing the first track, which is nothing more than a by-the-numbers example of this genre. The first track on any album is supposed to be one of the best tracks on that particular release; something to attract the first-time listeners attention and lure him into buying the album. The fact that the first track was dismally boring meant I did not hold out much hope for the rest of the album. But the second and subsequent tracks proved that first impressions can be wrong. Whilst I didn't experience a complete reversal of my opinion, the rest of the album is considerably more varied with regards to tempo and raised my opinion of this band by quite a few notches. The inclusion of various gothic metal moments also helps to produce a varied album. While _TBoH_ is unlikely to provide sleepless nights for In Flames or Dark Tranquility, All in Vain may yet develop into a potent force in the scene. Contact: allinvain@libero.it Asgaroth - _Red Shift_ (Peaceville, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) I remember first hearing this Spanish band when they released their album _Trapped in the Depths of Eve_, and back then they were all Emperor-worship. Compared to the relatively straightforward symphonic keyboards, fast drumming and screamed vocals, _Red Shift_ is certainly a different game altogether. Peaceville liked it, and are re-releasing the album after it originally came out on Abstract Emotions in 2001. Ironically, _Red Shift_ brings to my mind some latter day Emperor, like its predecessor did with its contemporary version of Emperor. This time, however, the similarities are only superficial. _Red Shift_ has shades of black metal -- and where it does they remind me of Emperor -- but it's mostly a rather different affair. Above all, _Red Shift_ comes across as modern, with a slight Fear Factory (circa _Demanufacture_) tinge to their sound, even if the music itself is far from FF. The music is neither extremely aggressive nor bland, varying in pace and amount of melody and usually relying on a good guitar sound coupled with prominent keyboards (some atmospheric, some electronic and a lot of piano) and varied vocals. "Naked Eye" provides a well-balanced, entertaining opener for the album, and is followed by the operatic choir of "Lured Decoy" that seems to make a point out of showing that there are still things left to reveal after just one track, in case anyone thought that was all there was to Asgaroth's sound. The next track, "Cyphred", extends this symphonic element; it is a tranquil instrumental track that provides an early break after two good tracks, leaving the listener in anticipation of what is to come. And for the most part, the rest of the album does deliver in quality and variety -- take for example the more atmospheric "Buried" or the symphonic "I, Befouled", both of which prove the importance of the fine keyboard work on this album. Some of the tracks, however, seem to lack a bit more of the intensity that one can find earlier in the album. Still, _Red Shift_ is varied, entertaining, and often quite impressive, and should be worth your time. Contact: http://www.asgaroth.com Beaten Back to Pure - _Last Refuge of the Sons of Bitches_ by: Xander Hoose (7 out of 10) (Retribute Records, 2002) Virginia's Beaten Back to Pure were high on my list of recommended albums with their debut _Southern Apocalypse_ when it got released over a year ago. My only negative comment back then concerned the sound quality. For this album, Beaten Back to Pure have built their own studio (Sniper Christian) and it rubs off indeed: with all the instruments placed perfectly in the mix and the vocals coming out more powerful than before, Beaten Back to Pure's next step towards maturity sounds more convincing than last time around. Musically, the eight songs on this album are a small step back from the swampish death-sludge and a small step towards more straightforward death metal. Vocal-wise Gorefest keeps popping up in my head, but Beaten Back to Pure incorporate more diversity in their music: the guitar work on "Shards of Mason Jars" and the catchy laid-back structure of "Paleface" show that _LRotSoB_ has a lot to offer for the careful listener. Nevertheless, they made one big mistake I hope to see corrected in the future: the incorporation of clean vocals. It's not clean vocals per se that I oppose, but the vocals featured in some of the tracks on this album are absolutely unconvincing -- not to say misplaced. Guys, please work on the clean vocals or leave them out and your next effort might be a masterpiece. Beyond the Embrace - _Against the Elements_ (Metal Blade, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) A very tightly packed debut from this Massachusetts six-piece, Beyond the Embrace drives the sense of intrigue fused with power to heights not often reached by most U.S. bands. Forced ahead with an up-front style, the vocals provided by Shawn Gallagher (also picking up the keyboard duties) are a nice blend of hoarse, husky and melodious. Worked ever so nicely into the ear-pleasing song structure are ambitious riffs of the infectious kind courtesy of Oscar Gouveia, Alex Botelho and Jeff Suade. Yup, that's -three- guitarists alright and BtE sounds as full as any band out there today. Vim and vigor course through this ten track disc, so much so that you'd swear to everything holy these guys were reincarnated Berzerkers. Completely compelling cuts are strewn generously throughout _Against the Elements_ with two finding themselves back-to-back: the instrumental "Drowning" and the title track, "Against the Elements", on which Adam Gonsales pushes a thunderous bass line, the likes of which appeal to me like all-you-can-eat BBQ. Not to let that momentum dissipate even for a second, Mike Bresciani on drums joins Adam's bass barbarity on the next track, "Release" -- the song is ripped wide open as a result. As a side note, recently Beyond the Embrace has replaced drummer Mike Bresciani with Kevin Camille. A small bit of background for those readers who are interested, Mr. Camille's former bands include Voices Forming Weapons and Roswell. Enough said that, BtE is one of those things you might hear for yourself to appreciate. This is a young outfit age-wise, so expect even bigger things headed our way from Beyond the Embrace. Time and talent are sure on their side. Contact: http://www.beyondtheembrace.com Bloodline - _A Pestilence Long Forgotten_ by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10) (Ketzer Recs./Neodawn Prod., 2002) This is the sort of release that is designed to draw a mixed reaction: the black metal purists will love _APLF's_ deliberate ultra-raw production while others will scorn the unnecessary wall of noise approach. While the latter view is understandable and I in no way consider myself a black metal purist, I favour the former approach, as the rawness of the music creates a primal fury and a cold, clinical sound that would be missing from a record that is subjected to higher production values. Such low-level production is not without (other) flaws: the drumming is relegated to the background, while the intermittent keyboards are occasionally too high in the mix. The keyboards are often necessary in order to counter the pure dissonance of the guitars. The musical style means that it is unlikely to be tolerable and is likely to become tiresome over the course of a full-length; on this 7" EP release containing a mere two tracks - the title track and a cover of Burzum's "Was Einst War" - and with a playing time of some twelve minutes, there is no chance for boredom to make an entrance. Its brevity works in its favour, as it is likely that one would not be able to stand their abrasive style over the course of a full album. If under produced black metal appeals to you then the score above holds; if not, this would be worth a two. Contact: ketzer@ketzer-records.de Brave - _Searching for the Sun_ (Dark Symphonies, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (7.5 out of 10) Formerly known as Arise From Thorns, Brave are a band that knows how to use their skills in a way that suits them. On _Searching for the Sun_ they do not try to sound heavy or depressed; they simply concern themselves with showcasing their technical merits and Michelle Loose's talented vocals. While a lot of the material on this album comes across as quite radio-friendly, some of it also has a reasonable metallic edge. This is hardly a metal release at all, though you can tell there's a progressive metal influence at work -- fans of older Anneke-era The Gathering will be interested in this one, as long as they can tolerate the loss of the heavy guitar sound. The music is, of course, very melodic; it's neither sad nor happy, though generally warm and possibly uplifting (depending on the listener). I am left wondering how such an album fits in a label called Dark Symphonies -- more so if I look at the sunny album title, which doubles the irony of it all -- but that doesn't detract from the quality of the music inside. If you too are "searching for the sun" instead of darker soundscapes, then you should give Brave a chance -- but you must be prepared for the album's very light atmosphere. Contact: http://www.bravemusic.com ChthoniC - _9th Empyrean_ (Nightfall Records, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (7 out of 10) I have no idea, honestly, how I came into possession of this disc. I am not serviced by this label, I have never heard of this group nor could I truthfully tell you that I can even pronounce their name correctly for the record. All that aside, this Taiwanese outfit embodies quality that is imbued with elaborations found only in avant-garde black metal. Because of this disc, that is no longer true. ChthoniC has forged a melding of black metal and atmospheric harmonies that makes its own path like a cooling lava stream. I am not telling anything most of you don't already know, but such a unique trait for independent musical creativeness is become more rare than a search for meaning in the American Democrat party. While that is neither here nor there, ChthoniC is a band of some longevity to their existence. Recently this five-piece celebrated their nearly half a decade anniversary as a band at a celebration party in Hong Kong. Passing their music off as an escape to other worldliness, this band takes eight tracks of heavy keyboards and strong, but subdued guitars to heights of limited by imagination only. An ancient feel of warped divinity plagues this band, however. I have grown weary of the "more evil than thou" mentality prevalent in metal of all genres, but ChthoniC, at least on the surface, seems to keep this in check. I enjoy the isolated feel and unnaturally warm feel of this group, but a greater focus of energy toward venturesome riffs with more of a heightened spirit of the Taiwanese culture, like on track eight, "Guard the Isle of Eternally", would benefit Chthonic immensely. Codeseven - _The Rescue_ (Caroline Distribution, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (7.5 out of 10) For a band whose music featured on a WWE (it'll never replace WWF, will it?) broadcasting, Codeseven are surprisingly mellowed out. There is a certain honesty about the music offered on _The Rescue_ that doesn't really fit well with their emo-pop tag. While there are moments that paint the lightest shades of what At the Drive-In were trying to do, Codeseven leave a greater impression of individuality. Musically, _The Rescue_ flows naturally and without a hitch; only what is expected when taking into consideration that three brothers form the core of this band. There is an evident sense of harmonic sensibility and invention, with the band throwing more than one curveball into the structuring and melodic progression. This is backed by an attractive production, with shining guitar and thick, enjoyable bass; interestingly the drums have that distinct 'percussion booth' feeling and sit oddly with the slick feeling of the mix at first, although later it becomes apparent that the sound complements the performance of this band: very sensitive to its own creativity and yet very human. The vocals vary in attitude, often taking a reflective commentary on the surrounding music, occasionally welling up and emotionally bursting forth. It is both absorbing and surreal, aural impressionism that reflects the care that has gone into its creation. This also proves to be Codeseven's only real failing. As with many bands that adopt a surreal element in their composition, it can prove too vague in translation. Although it gives props to the emo movement, it is often unclear what emotion the listener is meant to be tapping into. Often the keyboardist blends entirely with the guitar line, losing clarity in presence; couple this with a vocalist who is more than occasionally incomprehensible, and Codeseven's message is well and truly lost in the fog of their own music. Unfortunately this also detracts from their impact. Though they may be absorbing and pleasurable, it is difficult to specify any memorable moments in _The Rescue_; the title track is the only piece approaching a stand out work. However, credit where credit's due: although this style of music may not be of my own personal taste, Codeseven offered me an emotive and relaxing listening experience, though enthusiasts of this style may be somewhat disappointed by the length of _The Rescue_, falling short of the standard for a full album. Contact: http://www.music-cartel.com Corporation 187 - _Perfection in Pain_ (Wicked World, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (7.5 out of 10) With the thrash revival at full speed -- mostly thanks to a handful of modern Swedish bands (The Haunted, Darkane) -- thrash itself is getting stripped and analysed, deconstructed then reconstructed, modernized to appeal to the youngsters with shorter attention spans, and brutalized to be just a little more extreme than what people might expect. Slayer did it with their killer last album, The Haunted have proven they master the skills almost better than their masters, and Darkane has managed to create a whole new thrash league. More marginally, bands like Dew-Scented and Carnal Forge are bringing successful albums to the market as well. Another name that should not go unmentioned is Corporation 187, who debuted more than two years ago on Earache's Wicked World sub-label. _Perfection in Pain_ is their second offering, consisting of little more than half an hour of pure aggression. Reminiscent mostly of Carnal Forge in both vocal style and song structures, _PiP_ will undoubtedly appeal to anyone with an interest in the thrash scene. However, the quality level of Carnal Forge is not quite reached yet: _PiP_ sounds like it was cloned from the blueprint of CF's _Firedemon_ album. Nevertheless, in all its straightforwardness, aggression and honesty, _PiP_ is an album that'll cheer up the hearts of many a good soul during the drizzly Autumn. [Adam Lineker: "The second album from the Corporation joins the fray at a time when the influences of thrash are more alive than ever. Bookended by Darkane's _Expanding Senses_ and The Haunted's _One Kill Wonder_, this second release is well timed enough to have put Corporation 187 on the spot quite nicely. Thankfully, _Perfection in Pain_ is a strong enough record to sit alongside the records which have recently surrounded it. The music on _PiP_ translates well and sounds fittingly modern enough to sound relevant. Most of all, this record is enjoyable and involving, with some powerful songs and effective musicianship. However, although enjoyable and well performed, _Perfection in Pain_ lacks that certain x-factor to lift into a higher level that it almost reaches. As it stands, we are given a strong record that is worthy of attention; after all, we must remember that not all bands can be The Haunted..."] Council of the Fallen - _Revealing Damnation_ (Martyr, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (8.5 out of 10) Like heat-priming a chimney before lighting a fire, Council of the Fallen are set to blaze nearly uncontrolled. This well-balanced three piece have hardened their sound through experience. Derek Ruddy (Hate Eternal), Sean Baxter (Broken Hope / Em Sinfonia) and Kevin Quirion flare with magnificence on _Revealing Damnation_. As a matter of fact, Ruddy has issued a newly released 45 minute instructional drumming video as of late. No half-baked, half-assed metal here! CotF is purely scorching metal. In this three piece, a listener will soon come to appreciate the duality of the band's vocal assault. Occasional and lightly used wisps of shadowed murmurs and whispers on some tracks add a welcome hint of black metal to this firebrand outfit. "Demon Winds" and "Secrets No Longer" showcase this band in the best of lights magnifying Sean, Derek and Kevin Quirion's ability and consuming passion to rip through some largely imaginative material. Believe me -- it smokes. "Cast from the Heavens" has an undeniable Epoch of Unlight undertone, where as the majority of the rest of _Revealing Damnation_ incorporates a cross-section of styles from technical to black to death. Playing up more of CotF's vocal style and interplay while mixing in at least the same amount of texture, like at the 1:30 mark on "Unveiling the Pain", would be most certainly a plus, adding to the band's already smoldering complexity. Making it on the metal scene, as we all know, takes an impassioned desire to succeed. All I can say for sure is, Council of the Fallen has the necessary the collective fire in the belly to engulf the metal community. I can't wait for the next offering. Dead Blue Sky - _Symptoms of an Unwanted Emotion_ (Goodlife, 2001) by: Brian Meloon (9 out of 10) Like the Indian fable about the blind men trying to figure out what an elephant is, knowing only some of the facts about this album will lead you to wildly inaccurate conclusions. Based upon the cover art and the band and album names, you'd be tempted to think this is ambient or Projekt-style goth-lite music. Based upon the facts that the band are American (from Ohio, actually) and this is released on a hardcore label, you'd probably expect a completely different sound. And should you actually listen only to the music, you may be convinced they hail from Sweden and feature some former members of Miscreant. In fact, all of these facts hold only partial truths. The music is a mix of atmospheric and melodic death metal with rasped lead vocals and ethereal female backing vocals. These contrasting styles are mixed throughout nearly all of the songs, allowing them to accentuate each other. In an impressive display of songwriting prowess, the band are able to maintain the flow of the songs, with nary a jarring transition to be found and only the 13-minute instrumental title track being overly repetitive. The metallic parts feature tremolo-picked harmonized guitar lines and riffs that emphasize melody over heaviness. Some of these sections bear a remarkable similarity to those done by Miscreant over 8 years ago, whereas others are more original, but all of them are well-done. The softer parts rely on keyboards, acoustic guitars, and/or female vocals, and are varied in their style and duration. The drumming in general is very impressive, as the drummer works hard to keep any sections from getting too repetitive by throwing in fills or even completely changing the rhythmic structure under the repeated guitar riffs. Some may find his style "too busy", but I feel that it provides a needed diversity, and fits the flow of the music. In contrast to this, the guitar and bass work is solid but restrained. This is heavily guitar-driven music, with the keyboards serving mainly to provide atmosphere and accentuate or provide counterpoint to certain guitar lines. Overall, I'm very impressed by this debut effort, and I hope to hear more from them in the future. This release should be enjoyed both by hardcore/metalcore fans who enjoy a more melodic approach as well as fans of melodic and atmospheric death metal. Contact: http://www.deadbluesky.com/ Desaster - _Divine Blasphemies_ (Iron Pegasus, 2002) by: Matthias Noll (9 out of 10) In the last couple of years Desaster have mainly impressed me through their display of stubborn underground spirit. In times where not many give a damn about this style, the German four-piece has proudly and inexorably delivered authentic-sounding German thrash combined with slight black metal influences and imagery. This mostly failed to impress me on a musical level, because I never got the impression that Desaster were really able to consistently follow in the footsteps even of second tier outfits like Deathrow, Violent Force or Assassin. Desaster were either not black, not thrashing or not violent enough to do much for me, and were instead uncomfortably located in some kind of no-man's land where a lot of respect is due for many reasons but the least of which is outstanding musical accomplishments. Seeing them live in Wacken 2001 was enjoyable but not really spectacular either. I'm not really sure what has happened since then, but Desaster are back with their new album _Divine Blasphemies_ and here I sit, the non-believer, and want to inform you that it shreds, totally! It's really difficult to pinpoint what exactly makes this album so much better than previous Desaster material I've heard. It's a combination of multiple factors: the production is sharper and more aggressive while sounding refreshingly natural; the songs thrash fiercer and more memorably; and an excellent quality level is maintained throughout the whole album. And most importantly for me, their new vocalist delivers a truly phenomenal performance, whereas I never felt totally comfortable with his predecessor Okkulto. The aptly named Sataniac does not only shout, snarl and scream coarsely into the microphone in a powerful fashion; he attacks it like a rabid animal with such ferocious energy that the recording equipment is often kicked into overdrive whenever he lets lose completely. Kreator's Mille has quite a few problems sounding like a man in comparison to this madman during their vocal duet in the song "Nighthawk". Musically Desaster deliver prime up-tempo and fast Teutonic thrash on _Divine Blasphemies_ and I don't hear much of a black metal influence this time. Although there are occasional bits and pieces which remind me of old Destruction and other legends, Desaster have developed their own distinguishable and raw style, with a genuine '80s vibe which clearly distinguishes them from more modern German thrashers like the formidable Dew-Scented. I really doubt there will be a better album coming out of Germany in 2003. Get those denim vests out and join the thrashing rage -- now! Contact: http://www.total-desaster.de/ Dimmu Borgir - _World Misanthropy_ (Nuclear Blast, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (8 for the music, 5.5 for the DVD) out of 10) As one of Nuclear Blast's more successful acts, it was only a matter of time before another Dimmu Borgir DVD was released. (The first DVD, _Live and Plugged_, was released back in 1997.) The first _World Misanthropy_ DVD (it is a double DVD set) consists largely of selections from their 2001 tour. The focus is on songs from the last two CDs; fans of Dimmu Borgir's black metal days will be disappointed, though the second CD does feature some older material from a 1998 tour and a few clips -- though old in this case means _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_ era Dimmu, with only one song from _For All Tid_ and two from _Stormblast_. First the good news: judging by the 2001 live concerts, Dimmu Borgir have evolved into a tight, intense and totally impressive live band. The sound for the concerts is astounding and songs such as "Tormentor of Christian Souls" have never before sounded so powerful. The songs from the last two full-lengths may be those most despised by the black metal purists, but if truth be told, these are the most complex and layered songs Dimmu have ever written, a far cry from their raw and primitive early days. They scored a coup by taking on former Cradle of Filth drummer Nick Barker; however at times his drumming feels too robotic and machine-like, making one long for the return of Tjodalv's less adept but more human touch. On to the bad news: Dimmu also seemed to score a coup through the hiring of Vortex on bass and clean backing vocals. As a bassist he is easily replaceable, but as a vocalist he is indispensable, having provided some of the best examples of clean vocals in black metal to date as demonstrated through his work with Borknagar and Arcturus, amongst others. Yet here his vocals sound strained and forced in both of the concerts he performs. I could excuse bad clean vocals from one concert (everyone has their bad days) but two? Perhaps he has relied a bit too heavily on studio tricks. Too much time is wasted on showing Dimmu Borgir clowning around backstage; the space these inane, less than sober antics occupy could have been put to better use by showcasing several songs that are conspicuous by their absence (such as "In Death's Embrace" or "Reptile"). The obvious answer is that perhaps there was a desire not to feature the same songs that were on their first DVD. Which initially sounds acceptable and understandable, yet the exact same performance of "Puritania" is to be found on both _WM_ discs! Did Nuclear Blast really think that the average Dimmu Borgir fan would be so dim as not to notice? This DVD will likely be appreciated by anyone who has an interest in Dimmu Borgir. But when one considers the amount of money a label the size of Nuclear Blast must have put behind an ambitious double DVD by one of their top-selling artists, then one cannot help but feel that with this DVD one hasn't exactly received their money's worth. The songs deserve an 8 out of 10 but the DVD as a whole is only worth 5.5 out of 10. Disharmonic Orchestra - _Ahead_ (Nuclear Blast, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10) I remember really being into _Not to Be Undimensional Conscious_, and later on _Pleasuredome_, when I was a kid. Metal combined with weirdness, that was exactly what I liked, and Disharmonic Orchestra were my heroes along with Pungent Stench. However, after they split up I never really gave them much thought and it's been years since I last played one of their albums. Their reincarnation was somewhat of a surprise to me, and I can't deny having been a little bit curious to know what they would come up with. So, now _Ahead_ is finally released upon us, and I'm sad to say it doesn't provoke any of the feelings I used to have when I was a kid. Sure, they still try to be experimental and in some ways they succeed, but usually they just sound like they got stuck in the mid-'90s. Their experimental side sounds outdated now, with many bands doing the trick better and more impressively (Dillinger Escape Plan, Red Harvest, Arcturus). A good example is the song "Dual Peepholes", which has a beat underneath that sounds so archaic any modern band would be ashamed to use such cheap sounding instruments. Sure enough I enjoy their jazzy approach at metal, and the songs on _Ahead_ can be very catchy with excellent riffing ("Supervision"), but Disharmonic Orchestra is really nothing more than 'just another metal band' nowadays. Their best songs are probably "nine9nine" and "idiosyncrated", the only ones on which they really seem to offer something different. Hey, if you liked their first three albums you'll like this one as well, but those who expect something surprising or out of the ordinary should look elsewhere. Divercia - _Modus Operandi_ (Hammerheart, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (7 out of 10) Being something of a Nightwish fan, I have to confess that the double name-dropping of the Finnish operatic metallers on the bio for _Modus Operandi_ caught my interest almost immediately. The other bands also mentioned in the descriptive include Him and Dimmu Borgir; needless to say, Divercia claim to offer an interesting mix of stylistic influences and it becomes evident very quickly where these influences fit in the Divercia sound. Keyboards and lead guitars battle for melodic prominence in true Nightwish fashion, while the use of synthesised orchestral tutti hammers the point home even further. The heaviness of the rhythmic structure alludes to Dimmu Borgir, although it has to be said that the material within _Modus Operandi_ never reaches the same levels of brutality or aggression. Jyri Aarniva's vocals have similar stylistic traits to Him frontman Ville Valo, but it is fair to say that the latter may have delivered a more inspired performance. However, this isn't to say that Aarniva's somewhat disconnected delivery doesn't have its own merits, as it seems to float above the ethereal metal, creating slightly gothic shades. If anything, this quality could also be Divercia's biggest failing. The nature of the mix is such that it renders the music a little too ethereal, thus detracting from the overall power of the material. A basic guitar distortion is clothed in swirling layers of keyboard alongside a drum sound that is unsuitably treble heavy and the vocals can seem awkwardly out of place. With the bass being almost non-existent in the overall sound, the production is left somewhat thin and it is because of this factor that Divercia never capitalise on the bombastic nature of their writing, thus never fulfilling their dynamic potential. Divercia are successful in conjuring some strong, innovative ideas and create some enjoyable music, but even key changes seem to slip by unnoticed in the shallow soundscape. Though there are a number of moments that have reassuring quality, the main impression is one of unfulfilled potential. This would have been so much more absorbing had it been that little bit heavier and more filled out; perhaps this is something rectifiable in the live environment but, even so, it is a disappointing fact that _Modus Operandi_ is lacking in substantial impact. Contact: http://www.hammerheart.com Fallen Into Ashes - _Solely Dreaming the Reconstruction of a Forgotten Revolution_ by: Xander Hoose (8.5 out of 10) (Burning Season, 2002) Fallen Into Ashes, a pretty recent band from the capital of Hungary, surprised me with this debut MCD. In order to master the fine arts of new-school hardcore, New Jersey style, these youngsters have obviously listened carefully to Shai Hulud, Botch and Coalesce. In a mere five tracks, they manage to impress with solid songs that interweave brutality with emotion; accent-less raw English vocals alternate with clean melodic vocals, and together they provide the perfect front for the well produced twin guitar combo while the drums and bass complete the picture. Fallen Into Ashes is a high quality band that has the disadvantage of coming from an unpopular country -- from a musical point of view -- so only time will tell if they can manage to break their national barriers. _Solely Dreaming the Reconstruction of a Forgotten Revolution_ comes highly recommended for noisecore bastards looking to expand their collection. Flesh Made Sin - _Masterwork in Blood_ (Thrashing Hell Records, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (5 out of 10) Flesh Made Sin's focus is the reproduction of '80s thrash metal with the unstated intention of emulating thrash luminaries such as Dark Angel and Possessed to the furthest extent that is humanly possible. As can be expected of an album dedicated to the exhumation of past trends, modern sensibilities have not had much of an impact on this CD, Do not misunderstand me; there is nothing intrinsically wrong in a contemporary band mimicking a sound or style of old, and _MiB_ is far from being the worst thrash record in existence. But when a band chooses to replicate a classic sound, especially one which has already been done to death, then something new and fresh should be added; the musical boundaries imposed by that sound should be pushed and extended, however slight. And this is the major problem with this CD: Flesh Made Sin do not move beyond the safe confines of the nearly 20 year old thrash sound. The CD is not entirely bad -- there are some catchy sections, the expected overblown and extended solos enhance rather then distract from the song, and the musicians are hardly marginally talented. But nothing is offered here that even a casual thrash fan would not have heard numerous times before. Recommended for diehard thrash fans only. Freedom Call - _Eternity_ (Steamhammer / SPV, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (4 out of 10) How can you avoid the comparisons to Helloween where Freedom Call is concerned? Even Alvin couldn't help himself in CoC #53 for Freedom Call's sophomore effort, _Crystal Empire_. This is an unfair reference in my opinion; it is kind of like calling Kingdom Come Led Zeppelin prodigies. Typical and tame mixed with ultimately decompressing, trite rock riffs passing themselves off as metal foul this effort in more ways that relieve oneself in a public water fountain. With the possible exception of the moderately exceptional vocals on "Ages of Power", this effort seems to stumble over itself both in musical direction and style. Freedom Call has a longing to have a ballad-type of sound, but that desire rubs up against a poor man's Edguy; unsettling and conflicted. "Bleeding Heart", nearly half way through this CD, is still far too dainty in form, but combines a choppy riff throughout that, as a consistent practice, would be very well received as a listener. It adds a great deal to the song when the music captures and grabs you as "Bleeding Heart" accomplishes in some places during its nearly five minute stretch on Freedom Call's third installment. I cannot help but think that there is a sense of smooth sailing on seas of placidly overt tedium on this disc; _Eternity_, with an oasis dropped here and there, seems to last just a shade less than forever. Hate - _Cain's Way_ (WWIII, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (5.5 out of 10) There is plenty of room for improvement here, but -what- Hate can improve is already honed to a fine point. What is distracting from _Cain's Way_ is the over-blended structures Hate utilizes. Where the band skillfully extenuates their music -- frictionless guitar parts, the far-too-few breakdowns, or harmonization -- this Polish outfit exists a hemisphere away from most things Behemoth, Yattering or Vader (killer!) are doing. I see Hate much the same way a cat sees its own reflections -- limited dimensionally. _Cain's Way_ would benefit significantly from capitalizing on this strengths like incensed guitar solos (see "Future Is Mayhem" at the 2 minute and 5 second mark). Harsh, dry vocals are another selling point that if I was in Hate, I would not hesitate to exploit. I think the fire in the belly remains untapped among this four-piece. Also, if Hate lost the atomic evil facade, too, it'd sure go a long way to minimizing the pigeonhole the band currently fits in. That area being one not conducive to wholly gratifying extreme metal. Hate Eternal - _King of All Kings_ (Earache, 2002) by: Matthias Noll (7.5 out of 10) It has always been denied, but do not Hate Eternal's album titles really give any hint what Erik Rutan thinks the status of his band should rightfully be? First _Conquering the Throne_ and now, almost logically, _King of All Kings_. The one ruling all those who sit on lesser thrones. Well, at least several kings are allowed to exist in Hate Eternal's world. In the realm of death metal Erik and his gang have of course long left the status of squires and knights and been promoted to full blown lords. But since _High Voltage_ everybody should be aware that it's a fucking long way to the top if you wanna rock 'n' roll. _King of All Kings_ succeeds and fails at the same time. It shifts the boundaries of ultra-extreme, technical and blasting death metal one inch further than other contenders -- Krisiun, for example. Erik also gives proof that he holds a master's degree in writing and playing some of the craziest, most dissonant, intricate and unique riffs out there. The fact that the fast songs he did for Morbid Angel's _Domination_ already displayed his personal style but sound almost wimpy in comparison is testimony to the immense leap he's made since then. Furthermore, a bunch of memorable songs can be found on _KoAK_. Something at which bands like Lux Occulta and many, many others in the extreme metal universe completely fail. Now, if this amounts to all you expect, then _King of All Kings_ might be the current be-all-end-all of extreme death metal. At least until a new album comes along that proves that either Hate Eternal or some other band can blast faster, be more brutal, whatever. There is an obvious desire here to be more extreme than thou, and display brutality for the sake of being brutal; and this single-minded focus is what makes _King of All Kings_ a pretty one-dimensional affair. Simply because everything is said and done after five tracks at most, and, strangely enough, even its playing time of a meagre 30 minutes seems too long. The feeling of listening to something one-dimensional is greatly increased by an extremely flat and compressed production that sounds anything but natural. Now, as you can see from my rating, this still is a good record and better than the debut. Taken for what it really is -- a showcase in brutality -- there are moments where it can be just everything you need in your desire for ten or fifteen minutes of aural butchery. During those moments it might even be a better remedy than the new Nile. The king of all kings certainly is a ruler who knows how to trample and massacre everything in its path -- but also one who lacks most other skills to command a realm other than the kingdom of butchery. I have the feeling that Rutan still has more to offer, and all I need to do to believe that is listen to "Hatework" from Morbid Angel's _Domination_. Maybe next time? Himsa - _Death Is Infinite_ (Revelation Records, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (5.5 out of 10) The first impressions created by Himsa smack strongly of hardcore with a decidedly raw production, created mostly by fuzzy guitars riffing over treble-heavy drums. They soon work in some metallic features, with solo lead rolling over the top of the main structure. Working in regular sample work between the songs, Himsa are able to keep the momentum running strong. The fixed mood for _Death Is Infinite_ is that of aggression, mostly embodied by vocalist John Pettibone, whose shouted vocals occasionally drop hints of the spazcore peddled by Macabre and their ilk. The song writing is sound enough and there are moments when Himsa succeed in grabbing your attention. Unfortunately _Death Is Infinite_ is a shoddy and ill-conceived release. There are only four studio tracks and one live track, badly stuck on the end of the album and edited in such a way that one could be forgiven for not noticing its inclusion; it rears its ugly head only after half a minute of silence. The length of the album is a major failing of _Death Is Infinite_. It can be ventured that had this release been a full-length album it could have been a credit to Himsa's name, but, as it is, it leaves the listener no time to appreciate the message or direction of the band; indeed what little we can gain is only vague, even after multiple playings. The momentum Himsa create through their performance and attitude is unfortunately lost as the listener is rudely jolted into silent dissatisfaction. I have found in the past that EPs can do this, but it has to be said that even when taking the nature of the release into account, Himsa still lack identity. Contact: http://www.himsa.org Impious - _The Killer_ (Hammerheart, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (7 out of 10) The first release from Impious on Hammerheart begins with an effective acoustic intro, building up to the first track well enough before it begins with a surge of fast-paced riffage going through a raw-edged guitar sound with a lot of mid-low end crunch. The drums seem rather mechanical, as Impious employ a tight use of triggering. The offered thrash material is quite strong and the riffs that Impious create are well suited to their chosen approach. Working in the odd guitar solo and finding room for an adequate amount of melody, Impious are not entirely unadventurous, if a little unrefined. Martin Akesson's vocals are aggressive and soundly preformed, although they fail to be as imposing as they might have been. It is fair to say that guitarist Valle Adzic should be commended for putting in a lot of work as the band's core songwriter, yet this is the source of the album's main failing. The overall impression of _The Killer_ is that it is somewhat one dimensional. Impious are competent and the music is well performed, but the songs are based around singular melodic riffs as opposed to layered writing. As the record progresses this becomes a little uninspiring, as one feels that the focus of their songs needs to broadened and given more depth. Adzic, as a song writer, has a decent melodic sensibility and is apt at creating melodic thrash riffs but the finest melodic passage on the album arrives late in the one track not written by Adzic: Robin Sorqvist's "Needles of Sin". One would conclude that a less concentrated creative input could be required for the future. The band often show glimmers of creative potential, but Impious need more diversity in style if they ever hope to ascend to the top flight within their scene. Having said this, _The Killer_ still holds enough to entertain die hard thrash fans and is a solid enough release with which to begin their spell on Hammerheart. Contact: http://www.hammerheart.com INRI - _Hyper Bastard Breed_ (Cold Blood Industries, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (7.5 out of 10) For the past six months I have hardly listened to death metal for reasons I will not go into here. However, I have been listening to INRI (or Insane Non-commercialised Rock Institute to give their full name) more times than is absolutely necessary for the purposes of this review. As to why INRI should represent the break of my death metal fast is not immediately clear -- they are neither breathtakingly innovative along the lines of a Cynic or an Atheist , nor is there a masterful display of guitar virtuosity. What does separate them from the hordes of death metal bands is the highly infectious passion and energy which imbues every single note on this album. The energy is upped by the brevity of the songs, which rarely venture beyond the three minute mark, and are unencumbered by a single note of keyboard tinkling or acoustic strumming -- just pure flat-out brutality. A downer is their Satanic-themed lyrics, which owe more to the frankly infantile rantings of Deicide then to their comparatively more subtle European black metal peers. Do not let the dubious album cover deter you from purchasing this release; this is an excellent death metal record by these relative unknowns who are sure to give the big boys a run for their money. Contact: info@coldbloodindustries.com Kataklysm - _Shadows & Dust_ (Nuclear Blast, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10) Over the years since I have been following Kataklysm's activities I've seen them go through ups and downs, but I never expected them to regain their former status after the disastrous _Victims of This Fallen World_. However, surely Kataklysm managed to overcome their line-up problems and fought to regain respect and reputation, going into the third album with the new line-up: _Shadows & Dust_. It is debatable if pumping out a new album each year is too frequent to keep delivering good songs, but fact is that _Shadows & Dust_, like its two predecessors, has some very strong points as well as some weaker ones. What strikes me most when comparing the three releases is that the production on _Shadows & Dust_ is crystal clear, giving especially the drums a much better place in the musical spectrum. The vocals are shifting once more; they sound a lot less forced than on _The Prophecy_ but have a more generic feeling to them compared to _Epic_ -- which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer the other style. Giving this disc a few spins there's another thing striking me: the song structures of _Shadows & Dust_ are more and more reminiscent of the early Kataklysm material, to the point where I would say that on its peak moments this album is a modernized version of 1996's _Temple of Knowledge_. Whether fans of the early material will accept this sleek and almost over-produced style I can't say, but I personally think this album is the best in their new style. Lacuna Coil - _Comalies_ (Century Media, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (8 out of 10) Judging a Lacuna Coil album is very hard. Take one look at their band picture and who can deny being taken in immediately by the lovely Christina? Listen to one bit of their music and deny the same thing about her angelic yet powerful vocals. Yes, impossible indeed. But having the honour of reviewing _Comalies_ like I have reviewed every other album by Lacuna Coil, I do have to admit I feel more critical than ever before. Not that _Comalies_ is a bad album -- not at all. It's not even a bad Lacuna Coil album; it might very well be one of their best. The production on _Comalies_ is yet again one notch higher than that of _Unleashed Memories_. Vocals have matured, the drumming has tightened, and there is a little more experimentation, such as the '80s-style keyboards in the "Humane" intro, the vocals on "Self Deception" and the increased use of electronics throughout the album. However, I can't shake the feeling that the band lacks in expanding their territory. Surely the band has matured a lot since their first EP, but if you look through the frills, the musical core is exactly the same as it was almost five years ago. Secretly, with _Comalies_, I was hoping to discover something new, something fresh, something groundbreaking. My hopes weren't fulfilled, but then again, with songs like "Heaven's a Lie", "Tight Rope" and "Unspoken" Lacuna Coil did deliver another smashing and faithful album. Legion - _Awakened Fury_ (Ketzer Records / Neodawn Productions, 2002) by: Quentin Kalis (3 out of 10) If their name sounds vaguely familiar, it's most likely because they were in the metal news earlier this year when their drummer Dragu departed for the comparatively more lucrative pastures of Marduk. It is not surprising that Dragu was selected; the drumming here is a testament to his considerable ability. But a more likely reason that he was chosen was his familiarity with the Marduk style: this EP is little more then a thinly disguised attempt at emulating _Panzer Division Marduk_. Their imitation of Marduk even extends so far as the band name -- it can be no coincidence that they share a name with the Marduk vocalist! For someone who has never heard Marduk before, this will sound like a fast and furious black metal assault. To be fair, they can play their instruments and the songs are hardly the worst that I have heard. This does not change the fact that this remains a totally derivative release, unburdened by originality. Recommended for non-discerning black metal fans only. Contact: http://www.ketzer-records.de Madder Mortem - _Deadlands_ (Century Media, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) Once in a while a band comes along that really surprises me. With _Deadlands_, Madder Mortem have just made it into the restricted group of those who have successfully surprised me twice in a row. After changing half or more of the band's members after their debut full-length _Mercury_ (which, in the light of their last two records, I overrated back then), Madder Mortem proceeded to release two albums that failed to make much of an impact upon first listen. I had little expectations for _All Flesh Is Grass_, but after a few listens it really started making sense and won quite a lot of admiration from me. _Deadlands_, coming along on the wake of _All Flesh Is Grass_, consequently faced much higher expectations, and that initially seemed set to be its undoing. It simply failed to live up to its predecessor. That was until it too started making sense, not as the successor of a great album but as an album in its own right. It's different, yet still very much Madder Mortem. It won me over like its predecessor did, only for different reasons that took me a while to figure out. Yet with every listen, nearly all the tracks seemed to come forth a bit more, until finally I conceded to myself that the album was at least as great as _All Flesh Is Grass_. Madder Mortem are unafraid to sound strange at any given time, and they definitely do their own thing, which is what makes them unique. A track like "Rust Cleansing", with its guitar lead interweaving with the vocals and the crushing main riff and drum work throughout the song's remarkable structure, can only come from a highly inspired and talented band who doesn't mind being labeled as 'different'. Of course Agnette Kirkevaag's powerful, inspiring vocals are on the forefront of the sound again, and on tracks like the excellent "Omnivore" I wouldn't like to stand in her path. Much like the rest of the band, she is not just talented: she is willing to experiment, and does so with great results. The instrumental side can move the music from doomy and introspective to angry and crushing, with some really heavy, rhythmically challenging riffs alternating with great leads and vocals. Madder Mortem sound fresh and unique in a world of copycats, although bound to be misunderstood by a lot of people (perhaps even the majority). As far as I'm concerned, I just can't wait to see what they'll come up with next and whether they can maintain this level of quality and originality. Contact: http://www.maddermortem.com Martyr - _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_ by: Aaron McKay (8.5 out of 10) (Regimental Records, 2002) These guys are more than ready to run with the "big dogs" -- Dimmu Borgir, watch your back. In a street-fight, black metal to black metal, I may back Martyr to most other notable bands on the scene today. Lots of provocative saw-blade guitar style change-ups on _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_, for sure. That is a rarer spice in the black metal cauldron, if you ask me. Any band that can vary their tempo and structure without weakening the shadowed, enigmatic foundation is structurally sound from the ground up. Martyr embodies this song, lyric and delivery. Stained, but throaty vocals add a dimension to Martyr found in few extreme acts -- supplementing rather than accentuating the music enshrouding them. While this is only a six-track release with room to expand on the band's taste for harsher side of ambience, Martyr fills the available space with enough raw, blazing aggression that you'd swear you just spun Old Man's Child in the _Stormblast_ oven of Hell's kitchen. "I Am the Bringer of New Obtainment" and the title track are well worth your attention. Who knows? Martyr might very well make a fan outta you, too! Contact: http://RegimentalRecords.tripod.com Megiddo - _The Atavism of Evil_ (Barbarian Wrath, 2002) by: Matthias Noll (8.5 out of 10) Chorazaim returns with a second full-length album and once again successfully delivers the orthodox black metal goods. According to Barbarian Wrath "Megiddo stand in proud defiance of anything recorded after 1985 CE" and this is indeed a proper description of their style. Basically this band is comparable to the Bathory debut combined with a good dose of grooving and anthemic metal without ever sounding like a rip-off or pure nostalgia. Blasphemous lyrics are fiercely spewn forth in rasping black metal style and the production is extremely raw but remains thick and powerful. This is certainly not a record for people who exclusively consider the _Transilvanian Hunger_ school of fast strumming the be-all-end-all of black metal. The power of simple, crushing riffs makes this a perfect soundtrack for drunken head banging, thrashing and fist-pumping rather than misanthropically dwelling in a cave in the nebula forest of winter frost. While certainly black metal at heart _The Atavism of Evil_ remains firmly rooted in what was considered extreme metal in the first half of the '80s although the delivery is far more ferocious than what was the norm for the bands back then. Again Megiddo have made an excellent choice of cover versions. This time it's Onslaught's "Witch Hunt" from _Power From Hell_ and Warfare's "Dance of the Death" from _Pure Filth_, which are seamlessly integrated into the original material. There are only minor changes in comparison to the excellent previous album _The Devil and the Whore_. The dominating pace is still pounding mid-tempo but the number of faster scorchers got slightly increased, the production is even a bit more ripping this time and Chorazaim's vocals sound a lot more natural and not as artificially distorted as before. Overall this is an excellent release not only for seasoned pre-second wave black metal lunatics! If in doubt check out the two full-length samples at Barbarian Wrath. Contact: http://www.barbarianwrath.org/ Mess Age - _Self Convicted_ (Conquer Records, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (7.5 out of 10) Although they incorporate some rather tired imagery and uninspired layout designs, Mess Age thrash out a driving and somewhat melodic form of metal and this becomes clear from the very start of _Self Convicted_. With a thickly produced rhythm section, the guitars churn out aggressively formulated riffs through a metallic distortion with a fuzzy edge. It is the rhythm section that really captures the attention, as the bass pulses and thumps the drums are tight and powerful, stamping authority on the music with its intrusive double pedals. Mess Age include lead passages effectively, even if they are somewhat sparsely spread. The musicianship is solid enough to give the music on _Self Convicted_ more of an impact than it may have had otherwise. Vocalist Raaf bellows hoarsely but surprisingly expressively, phrasing the tortured, angry lyrics with a basic but effective style. It is reasonably strong material, with well-constructed riffs and an effective element of complexity in the melodic elements; it even succeeds on occasion in being haunting. There are not many problems with _Self Convicted_ except for the length of the song structure; they are all just a little too long and often leave the listener behind. Lyrically, the songs are accompanied by a patchwork of vindictive grievances that are occasionally offensive, particularly on "Infected by Deflection" where Raaf yells "I saw some fags in speechless orgy of sights I threw up I watched somebody cover them with gas... and burn!". Whether or not this is a gratuitous display of boneheaded hostility, Mess Age still succeed in offering some effective metalworks, even if they prove to be a little drawn out. With a general grasp of how to be cold and aggressive, the uncompromising nature of the thrash-tinged metal on _Self Convicted_ creates many enjoyable and absorbing moments. This is a commendable work that Mess Age should be proud of. Contact: http://www.conquerec.com Morningstar - _Kalevala Mysticism_ (RIP Records, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (5 out of 10) It takes more than conviction and guts to pull off fantasy power metal. It takes an attitude, a true metal spirit and a faith strong enough to match. If only this were the whole truth, Morningstar could be right up there with the metal gods. Alas, they lack one major element that is essential to greatness. Whereas Manowar are able to boast some truly great music alongside their 'more true metal than thou' beliefs, Morningstar are not. Whereas Lost Horizon can match their ridiculous furry Viking pants with some exhilarating metal, Morningstar come across as mundane. With a very basic production accounted for, it is entirely on the shoulders of the music itself to draw the listener in and _Kalevala Mysticism_ doesn't quite manage it. To their credit, Morningstar occasionally create some emotive riff progressions and show some glimpses of creativity; sometimes their 'warriors of the north' metal almost works. Unfortunately there are too many flaws that cripple _Kalevala Mysticism_ before it can ever get off of the ground. Morningstar would do well to find a vocalist who can actually sing convincingly, as powerful vocals can make or break power metal. Instead, vocalist Ari's voice lacks passion, flair and ability, though in all fairness he is also the guitarist, and plays convincingly, especially on "Battleaxe" -- this track provides the best moment on the album as it segues into "Made of Iron". Unfortunately such moments are saturated by an average-ness that suffuses the whole record. The greatest flaws lie in the song writing and this becomes obvious as the tracks lose identity as the record progresses. The structuring allows for far too much repetition and the music is almost constantly one dimensional, resulting in crushing boredom. With all this in place, the 'true metal' posturing falls flat on its face, rendering Morningstar's imagery flaccid and a sitting duck for savage humour. Contributions to the true metal cause are mostly a good thing in my book, but offerings such as _Kalevala Mysticism_ make the whole thing look so silly. Contact: http://www.restinpeacerecords.com Necronom - _The Darkening Path_ (Winterthorn, 2001) by: Quentin Kalis (6.5 out of 10) Most one-man bands that play around with extreme sounds focus on harsh, raw black metal or experiment with some subgenre of electronic-based music. Necronom are the exception in that this one-man band performs doom metal. Admittedly, a strong argument can be made that they perform death metal -- this isn't the kind of release which is easily pigeonholed. However, the focus on creating a sense of sadness with appropriate atmospheric effects rather then balls-out aggression and a noticeable lack of speed suggest a closer link with doom metal then with death metal. Necronom's crunchy post-industrial guitar sound is quite unusual for an album of this nature. This, along with the ambitions underlying this album (this is the second release in a planned trilogy of albums -- the first was _Exordium_) as well as the use of distinctive atmospherics ensures that Necronom manage to create their own characteristic sound -- innovation is always something to be welcomed. Unfortunately, innovation and originality are not always enough to produce an excellent album and while this album is not terrible, it still has a way to go before it can be regarded as a truly excellent release. _Exordium_ was poorly received by a co-writer; this album is definitely better then the measly points awarded to _Exordium_. Perhaps the final album in Necronom's Trilogy of Tears will see a further progression in quality and conclude the trilogy with an album of note. Contact: info@winterthorn.com Negura Bunget - _'N Crugu Bradului_ (Code666, 2003) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Large chunks of dew-dripping atmosphere surround the metallic sections on _'N Crugu Bradului_, the new full-length album by Romanians Negura Bunget. This is a band that takes great pride in the knowledge they possess about their country and their ancestors, a band that seems to truly feel the natural forces around them, and it all shows in their music. In fact, even though Negura Bunget have again worked hard to create a remarkable package for their CD and the sound quality is quite good, _'N Crugu Bradului_ is still a decidedly uncommercial record. _'N Crugu Bradului_ is divided into four untitled tracks, each ranging from twelve to fifteen minutes in length, and comes with a multimedia section that is well above average. Negura Bunget's brand of mystical black metal comes across as very spontaneous and unconventional, and at times even almost ethereal. Had the playing been somewhat tighter and my rating would have been higher; yet I realize that extra tightness might actually reduce the enjoyment others will derive of this album's spontaneous, natural feeling. _'N Crugu Bradului_ is definitely not an album for everyone's ears, but those who manage to fully immerse themselves in the sheer atmosphere this record possesses will be well rewarded for it. It's a very unique release. Contact: http://www.negurabunget.com Nicodemus - _The Supernatural Omnibus_ (Dark Symphonies, 2003) by: Pedro Azevedo (3 out of 10) Although the name David Penprase was unfamiliar to me before I received this Nicodemus CD, I must say I was quite impressed by the cover art he put together for Nicodemus. Unfortunately, from that point on it was downhill all the way for _The Supernatural Omnibus_ -- and I'm not just referring to the fact that the rest of the layout is ridiculously poor in comparison. In brief, Nicodemus sound like a more gothic / power metallic version of Cradle of Filth... on Valium. In particular, on "Shards of a Bitter Night Wept" they reach such an involuntary level of Cradle of Filth caricature that the Brits would surely be seriously offended if they heard it. Throughout the album, the male and female clean vocals are just average, while the black vocals sound so cartoonish I can scarcely believe my ears. The extremely bland guitar work, coupled with decent but over-melodic keyboards, fail to compensate for any of that. Worst of all in _The Supernatural Omnibus_ is the way Nicodemus fail so miserably when they try to sound heavy. It is only on slower sections (namely on "Harlot"), with less of their pseudo-heavy guitar and vocals, that Nicodemus rise above utter mediocrity. Unfortunately, such passages are few during the album's excruciating hour of length and far from enough to save it from a disastrous result. Contact: http://www.nicodemus.us Novembers Doom - _To Welcome the Fade_ (Dark Symphonies, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (9 out of 10) By consolidating their sound and tightening their focus, Novembers Doom have created an album which is the culmination of their career so far. Having witnessed from afar the evolution and tribulations of this band over the years, I am thoroughly pleased with their achievement. _To Welcome the Fade_ comes presented in very suitable Travis Smith artwork (some of his best to date), and boasts the production talents of Grammy award winner Neil Kernon as well as top notch digital equipment. The album does sound very good, but it is the consistent quality Novembers Doom manage to deliver throughout that makes all the difference. A stronger effort all around than its promising predecessor _The Knowing_, _To Welcome the Fade_ shows an experienced band that is on top of their style and no longer seems to feel the need to 'expand' their sound. True enough, "The Spirit Seed" sports quite a bit of an Opeth influence that couldn't be found before, but all in all the album does have a very consistent character. The band's doom/death can break hearts and crush bones with similar ease on _To Welcome the Fade_. There are some remarkable gems to be found within the CD, most notably the superb "Within My Flesh" -- one of the best doom metal tracks of recent years -- which follows the more than suitable start provided by "Not the Strong" and "Broken". This is a thoroughly competent and inspired album from Novembers Doom, and a must for any doom metal fan. Contact: http://www.novembersdoom.com Omnium Gatherum - _Steal the Light_ (Rage of Achilles, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) If the words "In Flames meets Amorphis" make you retch with disgust, then you should read no further. If what you feel is quite the opposite, however, you should seek Omnium Gatherum's EP with some urgency, because you're bound to enjoy it. (Note: this is the Finnish Omnium Gatherum, not the Australian band of the same name.) Tight, well produced, full of catchy melodies and lots of good hooks, and with raspy vocals to help stay away from the lands of power metal, _Steal the Light_ is a darn enjoyable little EP in a way that reminds me of In Flames' _Subterranean_ EP when it came out. The songs are all consistent, well written and performed, making this EP a very decent value for the money. Omnium Gatherum's music on _Steal the Light_ is undeniably enjoyable and even uplifting in an old In Flames kind of way, though with more power metal guitar leads thrown in and some vaguely _Elegy_-era Amorphis touches here and there. The vocals are well suited to the music, as they provide some much-needed contrast against the overly melodic instrumental side and give the whole thing more edge. The guitar work isn't all melody though, and despite the absence of any real harshness the band still sounds heavy enough for their genre. A follow-up album called _Spirits and August Light_ is scheduled for a March 2003 release, and although I'm not sure they can easily pull off an entire full-length of this type of material, I'll nevertheless be curious to see what else the band have up their sleeves. For now, they have at least succeeded in releasing a highly playable EP. Contact: http://omniumgatherum.cjb.net Origin - _Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas_ (Relapse, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (8.5 out of 10) It has been a while since I heard anything this violent. Beginning with a buzzing of flies that soon becomes a pulse, _Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas_ simply chunders into life and pummels the listener into a sticky mess. Origin's brand of brutal death metal is mercilessly intense and only rarely is the pace ever slowed. As both bass and guitar churn and thump out thick, soupy riffage, prominent drums batter away relentlessly. If the band were not so tight then this would not sound anywhere near as powerful, yet they perform with startling precision. With the reigns kept tight on the aural assault below him, vocalist James Lee is able to perform as he bellows, screams and garbles his way through a range of extreme vocal styles in a visceral and dramatic fashion. Origin's onslaught is put through a heavy mix with only the drums being polished up by triggering; aside from this, the rough edges are not only present but also form part of the character of their sound. We are graced with fret squeaks, bass pops and muffled distortion, but it all seems to lend itself well to Origin's style. Lyrically we are treated to lengthy odes of hatred that have more than a few awkward turns of phrase, but it hardly matters as it is all belted out with guts and intensity. With such an intensity being maintained throughout _Informis..._, Origin can become slightly one dimensional, but it is made all the more absorbing by the passion with which it is performed. Although the impenetrability of the metal all but obscures whatever melodic sensibilities Origin might possess, killer riffs are consistently hammered out -- though it is all a little hard to remember, as it blazes past in a violent blur. It is always a pleasure to hear a band that imposes its music upon you rather than aiming for accessibility, and it is safe to say that Origin have never heard of the word 'compromise'. Overall _Informis..._ is absorbing and solid, even enticing the listener back for more as it seems to end all too soon. This is brutal and technical death metal with attitude and presence. Contact: http://www.origin-site.com Overkill - _Wrecking Everything - Live_ (Spitfire, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) It seems when you got a good thing going, it is wise not to stop -- and Overkill never has. The power surge continues. Flying in the face of all the commercialization, Overkill does as they please and have a devoted following to reinforce that point to boot! Brooklyn thrash stomped to prominence largely thanks to this band, and I am very glad for it. DD Verni's bass is flawless throughout this newest live installment to the sizable Overkill catalog. Strong with favorites like "Overkill" and "In Union We Stand", these guys regroup to bludgeon the listener with killer cuts like "Thunderhead", "It Lives" and "Long Time Dying". To be openly frank, I am thrilled to have "Evil Never Dies" and "The Years of Decay" on the same disc as "Deny the Cross". Having never heard "Necroshine" before, this was a magnificent way for Overkill to launch this performance. Recorded in March of 2002 at The Paramount Theatre in New Jersey, these guys reconfirmed their superiority on their home turf for the umpteenth and most decisive time. While I will hold onto my declaration that _Wrecking Your Neck Live_ will maintain its position of prominence as THE thrash metal live disc, _Wrecking Everything Live_ is as close as a runner-up could hope to come. If Overkill is wrecking everything as a way to fix something that's not necessarily broken, they've done it -- it's all fucked up now! Shred!! Phantomsmasher - _Phantomsmasher_ (Ipecac, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (9.5 out of 10) Forced to change their previous name, Atomsmasher, due to 'legal issues', James Plotkin's super star band is back under a new moniker and with a brand new album to terrify the living daylights out of the innocent souls wandering on this planet. When the Atomsmasher album came out I loved it, but it soon faded into obscurity, as it lacked the necessary structure to make it playable on a regular basis. The new Phantomsmasher album is different: where Atomsmasher was a brutal, violent and chaotic attack on the aural senses, Phantomsmasher stands out as a more structured and well-aimed kick in the head. Its music -- death metal meets jazz meets blastbeats meets electronics -- is insanely accurate and well composed, resulting in a much more solid album than its predecessor on the whole, but not in any way less crazy or insane. The fucked up vocals and haunting samples make it hard not to envision Jap-style anime movies as the perfect visual companion to this onslaught, while those who are willing to listen carefully to this album will discover layers upon layers of instrumental texture that many a band would be jealous of. Even though this is not music for the weak or narrow-minded metal fans, Phantomsmasher will have a undeniable appeal to sci-fi oriented fans and people who are disturbed by the lack of creativity and technical progression in music nowadays. The only reason why I'm not giving this album the full 10 out of 10 is that I overrated the Atomsmasher album. However, I'm quite certain that in the end it'll turn out I've actually underrated this one. Red Harvest - _Sick Transit Gloria Mundi_ (Relapse, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (5 out of 10) Muddled riffs litter this effort like so many plastic beer cups after a Bongzilla show (if anyone is interested, Bongzilla had a great set at this year's Milwaukee Metalfest). The heavier, slower aspect of this band is the most inviting facet of this Norwegian outfit. At times, _Sick Transit Gloria Mundi_ would remind you of a power outage -- at other times, they fit my taste like a socket and a plug. The inconsistency with this effort's mix and texture is my biggest hangup. "Godtech" has a wonderfully infused source of power; they seem to draw from guttural vocals which remind you of a cross between Oscar the Grouch and Barney Greenway. Unfortunately, this song plows directly into "Humanoia", a mechanized, overcharged slur of Fear Factory on speed. Yuck! One thing I can say, being a huge Pig Destroyer fan, is that I'd bet Red Harvest has an outstanding stage presence. With the drop to the tone on track five, "Dead", I would be remiss in saying there wasn't hope for these atom-smashers. Red Harvest energizes fourteen tracks of intangible wattage with a semi-techno charge that ups the volume on this reviewer's system. However, the band has a tendency to lose sight of the metal element to their creation on _Sick Transit Gloria Mundi_ -- not that this is a bad thing, but it's reminiscent of Frankenstein's monster, especially the further into _STGM_ you get. They say you reap what you sow and this harvest is more-or-less meager. Rotten Sound - _Murderworks_ (Deathvomit / Necropolis, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (6 out of 10) It sure feels better to be on the road to valuing Rotten Sound's material rather than sliding further back from the already dismal 4 out of 10 I gave _Still Psycho_ in CoC #49. Even the name of this new disc is more sensible while still retaining a childish element that most of us expect from metal -- it keeps us young. Fourteen tracks of single-word titles rip unforgivingly and in a way such that enjoyment can be easily gained from every cut to some degree. Anger, violence and aggression are, of course, the staples on which _Murderworks_ fuels its insatiable appetite. While I have never held Black Dawn in any regard whatsoever, the members from this band, as well as ...And Oceans, seem to strike a nice inharmoniousness chord on which their combined efforts for this Finnish band are concerned. While a great deal of time on _Murderworks_ is spent overplaying their instruments for intensity's sake, "Obey" and "IQ" offer not exactly altogether rational interludes in the midst of the mayhem, but on the songs where this transpires, it works fairly well. In this writer's opinion, "Lobotomy" is the finest cut off of _Murderworks_. The song ties all the elements Rotten Sound is going for into a rope lashed together with tight strands of extreme power-hate without saturating the listener. This CD also came with three bonus video clips that my QuickTime player eventually opened. The band is in every way animated and the video footage is certainly worth a look. The last couple of tracks on _Murderworks_ are superior in most regards to the beginning five or six minus the song "IQ". Rotten Sound would do themselves well to cultivate the direction _Murderworks_ finishes the release with -- that would be a Rotten Sound album I'd like to hear! Contact: http://www.rottensound.com Scalplock - _Spread the Germs... Over the Human Worms_ by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10) (Cacophonous, 2002) Perhaps known to some from tours with Napalm Death and Impaled Nazarene, it's not difficult to place Scalplock in the musical spectrum. The result of mixing black and death metal with the crusty Impaled Nazarene attitude can be heard on _StGOtHW_, which is the band's third full-length album already. In thirty tracks the band showcases its love for short aggressive songs, with the occasional sludgier song blended in ("Ever Eluding Promise", "Hyperbole"). It is through these songs that the album has at least an above-average appeal: the sludgy feeling contrasts nicely with the heads-on assault that is performed on most of the songs. The downside of _StGOtHW_ is the mediocre production, which makes the band sound like 'just another hardcore band', and the lack of songs that stand out on the album, which further validates my previous statement. All in all, Scalplock is a promising band that hasn't been able to make a solid statement yet. If they do in the future, then I'll be more than willing to give them a new chance. Sepultura - _Under a Pale Grey Sky_ (Roadrunner, 2002) by: Matthias Noll (9 out of 10) Oh yeah, the glory days of the early and mid-'90s! I vividly remember an amazing amount of people wearing Sepultura shirts, no matter to which show or metal-related event one went. Looking at the path the band had taken since recording "Necromancer" and the success they had finally and rightfully earned, one had the impression that there might not be limits for the Brazilian quartet. Well, everybody knows what happened then. Hopefully some people have at least learned that it's not really clever to mix family and business. My initial hopes that the Max-less Sepultura and also Soulfly would turn out to be worthy successors died when exposed to utter crap like _Against_, _Nation_ and the second and third Soulfly albums. While Soulfly might have been able to reach a medium and rather stable level of success by pleasing some nu-metal youths, what happened to Sepultura's popularity must be a disaster that makes Celtic Frost's _Cold Lake_ adventure appear like a flat tire in comparison to an earthquake. _Under a Pale Red Sky_ is the last show of Sepultura's _Roots_ tour and also the last show with Max, recorded in December 1996 at London's Brixton Academy. This double CD contains a whopping 28 tracks, presumably the whole show. Eleven songs are from _Roots_. Far too many to call the setlist balanced and enough to put some of those who dislike _Roots_ off. While I believe that at least five of the _Roots_ songs should have never made it into the live set, some others -- like for example "Spit" and "Endangered Species" -- work much better than I expected. If anything, the huge presence of _Roots_ material shows the immense confidence the band had in the quality of their then-latest record. Still, replacing "Breed Apart" and "Born Stubborn" with "From the Past Comes the Storms" and "Escape to the Void" would have made me salivate. Some of the older, 'classic' Sepultura material appears in a shortened version or in the form of a two-songs-in-one medley, like "Arise / Dead Embryonic Cells". There aren't many surprises here for those who are familiar with Sepultura setlists. "Necromancer" certainly is a huge one, as is the Cro-Mags cover "We Gotta Know". But when considering that this a document of what was reality then and the fact that a pre-planned live album would surely have had a slightly more balanced track selection, such complaints are not valid. The familiar encores -- the Titas cover "Policia" and Motorhead's "Orgasmatron" -- are also here, as well as the hyper-fast "Troops of Doom" and an ultra-wicked version of "Inner Self". The sound quality leaves nothing to be desired: it's huge, heavy and well balanced, and I noted a couple of fuck-ups in the guitar department (check "Troops of Doom" around 30 seconds into the song) which seem to confirm that the performance itself hasn't been doctored. Overall this is an excellent album and when Max commands the audience to "Like in the old fucking times, destroy this fucking place!" during "Inner Self", the complete time-tunnel experience including adrenaline rush and gooseflesh is upon me. The incredible live tracks from the Barcelona gig of the _Arise_ tour (on the _Under Siege, Live in Barcelona_ video and the _Blood Rooted_ double CD version of _Roots_) might be the better choice for those who gave up on Sepultura after _Arise_ or _Chaos AD_. All others can be extremely happy that we have two such excellent live documents from one of the most amazing metal bands of the '90s. This is so good, I don't even mind it being on Roadrunner. Severe Torture - _Misanthropic Carnage_ (Hammerheart, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (6 out of 10) The prospect of a second encounter with Severe Torture in only two issues of CoC did not exactly fill me with joy, as I had thought very little of their _Butchery of the Soul_ EP. Thankfully, the fact that they just got banned in Switzerland for a truly delightful piece of cover-art made reviewing _Misanthropic Carnage_ more of an opportunity than I first anticipated. It didn't take a long time to realise that this album was a lot more worthy of my time than _Butchery of the Soul_, but that's not really saying much. Utilising a rather chewy distortion guitar, _Misanthropic Carnage_ is cut from a rather low-fi cloth. Fortunately this rawness creates defining character traits; the bass rattles and thumps along under the guitar lines, all its natural peaks and troughs laid bare for the listener, while the drums maintain a tight and basic attack, even if a little too quiet in the overall mix. Add this to Dennis Schreurs' belching death grunts and we are left with an aggressive and gory brand of metal. Severe Torture do themselves justice in performance of their material and extra credit must go to Patrick Boliej for some impressively technical bass lines. Unfortunately _Misanthropic Carnage_ suffers from a certain mundanity in the song writing. Though Severe Torture carve out some effective riffs, they lack progression; each riff they conjure up is merely slotted into a four bar phrase before lurching into a different riff that also gets repeated another four times. There is very little variation from this pattern and the only embellishment on the displayed riffage comes from the drum line. With the lyrics being nothing short of totally incomprehensible (a rather traditional touch), Schreurs is found lacking in invention and quickly becomes boring. Although Thijs van Laarhoven's guitar forms the lynchpin of the Severe Torture sound, he fails to shine on this record; a few guitar solos would not have gone amiss. Although enjoyable in parts, one cannot escape the feeling that _Misanthropic Carnage_ plods along and lapses into a vagueness that obscures anything resembling a stand out track. Fans of gory death can catch Severe Torture on tour with Cannibal Corpse and no doubt others will want to see what all the controversy is about, but I recommend you don't believe the hype. The music on _Misanthropic Carnage_ is not quite as interesting as its cover. Contact: http://www.hammerheart.com Somnus - _Through Creation's End_ (Root Of All Evil, 2002) by: Aaron McKay (4.5 out of 10) Most notable here is the drastic slip from the review found in CoC #49. The gossamer female vocals are a huge drawback on this album as I found them to weight down this effort's direct aim and somewhat slumbering style. Where this band uses such a feminine style, it should be diaphanous and haunting all throughout _Through Creation's End_, but it is not. Instead it is employed much like a crippled person would a crutch: in place of inspired, airy proportionality and balance, Somnus ends up passing this effort off as sub-par musicianship. Where both the male guttural and female vocals are employed, the message comes across perfectly. In this regard, it is clear and well acclimated, but where the gruff vocal style "lays in wait", behind everything but the instrumentality, the effectiveness on this sophomore effort breaks down completely. Indifferently, Somnus chooses to enshroud themselves in profane heathenism of popular paganism. I care little for this, but the heavily cryptic themes pervade tracks such as "Dawn of Spirits" and "Warlock's Feast" and rarely surface much more than a snout about the waterline for a desperate gasp of air. Boiled down to the bone, this effort finds itself complete with all the enraptured harmony to make this release -at least- as good as _Awakening the Crown_, but instead lacks the interesting arrangements and most of the appeal found on Somnus' debut. Nothing from nothing leaves nothing, as they say; what I would say is Caveat Emptor! The Black Dahlia Murder - _A Cold Blooded Epitaph_ by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10) (Lovelost Records, 2002) After hearing so many Gothenburg thrash/death bands, I mistakenly thought I had grown tired of them. The Black Dahlia Murder has proven me dead wrong. Hailing not from the cold plains of Sweden, but rather from automobile-infested Detroit, Michigan, these five guys have managed to awaken my kindred soul and get my head banging to the insane pumping drive of the four songs featured on this mini-album. Taking up the bits and pieces left by Dissection and At the Gates, they manage to give them a tight-as-fuck millennial sound. Even though it might not be highly original, these guys do know how to write good songs and how to maintain a steady, natural flow throughout. The occasional twin vocal approach does wonders too, and it's good to see a band that doesn't fuck up a Rolling Stones cover by trying too hard. _A Cold Blooded Epitaph_ is killer material for those who are still mourning the loss of Sweden's greatest bands, and an excellent introduction to the Gothenburg sound for those who were too young to experience it when it happened in the mid/late-'90s. The Blood Divine - _Rise Pantheon Dreams_ (Peaceville, 2002) by: Pedro Azevedo (5 out of 10) Born out of the gathering of ex-Anathema singer Darren White, three former members of the early Cradle of Filth, Was from Extreme Noise Terror on drums and Steve Maloney on bass, The Blood Divine caused quite an impact with their debut. Their short-lived career only lasted for two albums, however, and their melodic, doomy metal ended up fading into silence a lot earlier than one might have expected from a band with such high-profile members at the time. Despite my rating, _Rise Pantheon Dreams_ is not an especially poor compilation -- it features two unreleased tracks, a limited edition one, and two live songs, in addition to a good selection of the band's best cuts from their two albums. The problem with _Rise Pantheon Dreams_ is that the material it contains has aged rather poorly. The Blood Divine have gone from a band that greatly impressed me with their debut a few years back to one that manages to put together just a couple of really good tracks throughout the entire compilation: "As Rapture Fades" and "Wilderness", although others like "Aureole" and "So Serene" are perfectly decent. The add-ons, though numerous, are nothing to write home about, so there's not a lot going for this compilation. It earns its points mostly from the good material it contains, which some people may not yet have heard. However, if you knew about The Blood Divine while the band was still active, then this compilation is largely redundant. Contact: http://www.peaceville.com The Equinox ov the Gods - _Where Angels Dare Not Tread_ by: Adam Lineker (3.5 out of 10) (Virusworx Records, 2002) Since last issue, I have experienced pangs of guilt in my waking moments over the violent critical mauling that I gave to Danse Macabre's _Matters of the Heart_ EP. Thankfully, The Equinox ov the Gods reminded me of why I believe synth-pop-goth and metal should never be mixed, thus laying my conscience to rest. Strangely enough, this album begins with a disturbing mix of sampled screams and gunfire; whether or not this was used to denote the severity of the thematic content is debatable. However, it only succeeds in setting entirely the wrong mood, as the following music conveys no such sentiment; indeed, serious questions may be asked pertaining to the music's capability to effectively do so at all. Overall, within _Where Angels Dare Not Tread_ there is very little that can be complimented. An acceptably active keyboard is consigned to carrying melodies that soon become mind numbing through repetition while the guitar plays unchallenging and unimaginative accompaniment. The whole rhythm section is rigidly uninteresting, seemingly devoid of any spark of innovation and although the production is clean, the vocals are far too high in the mix. Lamentably, these vocals are also monotonous in both expression and style. Somewhere between a bellow and an exaggerated groan of assumed emotion, the intrusive vocal posturing drowns the music in a deluge of pretentious gothcheese. It is this element that adds higher levels of detestability to _Where Angels Dare Not Tread__; take into account that this is no lyrical masterpiece, yet is performed as if it were the most melodramatic Shakespearean tragedy, making it embarrassing and laughable. Many of the songs seem to suffer from tempos that are too slow for their own good and the melodic layering often seems a little too sparse; even if this was the desired effect, it is another factor that makes The Equinox ov the Gods seem incredibly shallow. Occasionally, they throw up moments of more striking melody or manage to formulate interesting ideas, but their sense of melodic progression is too linear and uninspired, resulting in a collection of songs that seem to go nowhere. Whether or not this will be played in Germanic goth clubs is anyone's guess, but I cannot see _Where Angels Dare Not Tread_ causing many waves. Contact: http://welcome.to/thespectralgarden Thine - _In Therapy_ (Peaceville, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (6 out of 10) My main point about Thine's first album, some years back, was that it sounded a lot like Anathema but was missing that special feeling that made Anathema such a unique band. My advice was to focus more on creating a style of their own instead of imitating others. Now after all these years, Thine has decided to give it another try with their second album _In Therapy_. I felt curious as I popped the album in my player, not knowing what to expect. Fifty-six and a half minutes later, I was left with the impression that time had stood still for Thine. The music is a little more uptempo than before, but apart from that Thine hasn't really changed a bit. They give away a faithful imitation of Anathema in their _Alternative 4_ era, but their songs sound less progressive, more cliche and lack a real soul -- the fact that I'm reminded more than once of Placebo probably says a lot. At certain points it sounds like they start to get a clue ("In Therapy", "Homewrecker Extraordinaire", "Running"), but most of the songs are interchangeable and just as easily forgotten. It's all the stranger considering they did a magnificent rendition of Nick Cave's "Song of Joy" at the start of their career. Better luck next time, lads. Thorium - _Unleashing the Demons_ (Diehard Music, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (5.5 out of 10) "Penetrate the foaming, bleeding cunt. Masturbate in the open, reeking asshole." Well done Thorium, that's great. Aside from lyrics of dubious moral content, this band shreds with more melodic leanings than at first anticipated. Opening with a decently atmospheric passage accompanied by military themed samples, Thorium immediately throw their trump cards on the table. Their song writing peaks when they bring in lead guitar over the top of grand, ominous riff progressions yet they seem to persist in obscuring the more striking moments on _Unleashing the Demons_ with unimaginative passages of sub standard riffs. This makes Thorium somewhat unabsorbing and they are hardly aided by a base and uninspiring production. The bass is nowhere to be heard, the drums feel messy underneath a crunchy distortion employed by the guitar and the vocals seem intrusive, as they are mostly monotone and induce boredom. Yet Thorium prove that they can get it right with "Warlust", by far the most accomplished track on the album and strong enough to survive the band's penchant for tired and predictable structuring; even the vocals seem interesting. It is a shame that most of the tracks feel so average, recycling a multitude of thrashy riffs but nowhere near melodically explorative enough. Lacking progression, Thorium hew out a bunch of metal songs that seem to lack direction. It is a shame, because they have moments when they rise above the dirge they are creating; it has to be said that more lead guitar would certainly add more dimensions to the band's sound, and on their cover of Cancer's "Cancer Fucking Cancer" it is proven that at least someone in this band can solo. With _Unleashing the Demons_ one gets the feeling that Thorium's attitude is very negative. Aside from the petulance and idiocy splashed all over the album sleeve, they seem neglectful of their potential; though they come up with some emotive moments that show the faintest flickers of invention, it is debatable whether or not they realise or even care. Contact: http://www.thorium666.dk Thyrfing - _Vansinnesvisor_ (Hammerheart, 2002) by: Adam Lineker (8 out of 10) A couple of issues of Terrorizer Magazine ago, the vocalist of Nunslaughter made a proclamation: that owning a Thyrfing album induces homosexuality, as opposed to making one 'underground'. Setting the record straight, you should be aware that the aforementioned notion is not really grounded in solid fact and is somewhat unfair, as there are a lot of releases that fail to match up to the quality of Thyfing's new opus. At a basic level, _Vansinnesvisor_ incorporates metal with typical but effective usage of keyboards to embellish, counter and layer subtle, folkish moods to well crafted melodics. The first track, "Draugs Harg" demonstrates this well, creating a distinct 'classical' feel in the synthesized string parts; not exactly ascending to the symphonic heights of Emperor's swansong album but striking a tone more akin to the melodics of In Flames during their _Subterranean_ era (when their logo kicked arse in a Morbid Angel-esque fashion). Thyrfing explore a variety of subtle metallic shades, moody in riffage on "Digerdoden", then subtler as the mood changes and flows into follow up track "Varldsspegeln". There is use of a style of multi-tracking in the prominent vocals that is similar to that of label-mates Mercenary, combining low extreme with soaring clean that lends a more epic feel to the music. The guitars have a balanced mix and use a traditional metal distortion that seems neither too harsh nor too thick; it is a shame that the drums seem a little too low in the balance and the bass is camouflaged by the overall production. The material flows soundly and never seems disjunctive or awkward in time signature or structure. Thyrfing are also successful in pulling off stylistic elements of their music that have often proved to become pitfalls for metal of this nature. The Egyptian feel of "The Voyager" is understated and atmospheric without becoming clichéd, and their folk leanings are effective without provoking derisive laughter; overall the music is accomplished in being both enjoyable and uplifting. "Angetsens Hogborg" is a great achievement, being epic in length and scope whilst avoiding the onset of boredom. Though the images they paint can become somewhat vague, the Thyrfing soundscape is pleasantly colourful. Less blatantly metal crazed than Skyfire they may be, but the given performance is still passionate, albeit in a subtler and deeper form. "Vansinnesvisan" itself echoes of melodic black metal, vocally adding more inhuman touches with vocal effects. It isn't all immediate and some of the less captivating moments leave the album with certain murky overtones, but when Thyrfing shine they offer emotive glimpses of brilliance that earn _Vansinnesvisor_ a deserving high mark. Contact: http://www.hammerheart.com Today Is the Day - _Sadness Will Prevail_ (Relapse, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10) Ask people to name the strangest bands in metal/hardcore and chances are big that they will come up with Neurosis and Today Is the Day in their lists. Not only do both bands have a pretty hardcore cult following, they are both also cultish in other ways: Neurosis as a cult rather than a band, and Today Is the Day for being fronted by Steve Austin, who thinks, acts and looks like a cult leader -- not to mention a striking resemblance to the infamous Manson (Charles, not Marilyn). The God/Satan/religion-inspired themes of his music surely do add up to his image, and now -- in the holy year 2002 -- he assails the world once more with an onslaught of cultish worship packed onto as much as two shiny silver discs. That's right, this clocks in at more than twice as much as his masterpiece _In the Eyes of God_. _Sadness Will Prevail_ also features a completely new line-up -- which is not very surprising, taking into account that for mysterious reasons he has a different line-up on each album. But where this change of line-up usually resulted in a change of style for the better, _Sadness Will Prevail_ is quite a step back from both _Temple of the Morning Star_ and _In the Eyes of God_. That the Reverend Austin lost some very good musicians was already clear from the raving success of Mastodon (featuring former members of TItD), but guitars and especially drums on _SWP_ are downright awful, sometimes reaching an almost demo-ish level. Austin's vocals are even more over-the-top than on _ItEoG_, at times reaching an unpleasant pitch and sounding more like a caricature of himself than anything else. The songs themselves are hardly worth mentioning anyway, compared to the weirdness of _TotMS_ and the sheer aggression of _ItEoG_; in fact, what saves the album is the diffuse collection of insane mayhem in-between the songs: distorted Diamanda Galas on "Distortion of Nature", Mike Patton-ish screaming on "Butterflies", lots of piano parts and intermezzos ("Death Requiem", "Voice of Reason", "Your Life Is Over", "Miasma") and weird electronics ("Spaceship", "Sadness Will Prevail"). If one thing becomes painfully clear is that Austin was not ready to release a double album yet. His inspiration might be crazier and more productive than ever, but this performance is far below his capabilities. Then again, considering the past of TItD we shouldn't have to worry much about the future, as his next album will surely feature yet another line-up -- hopefully consisting of better musicians. Various - _Covered in Blood: A Tribute to Slayer_ (Spook City, 2002) by: Xander Hoose (4 out of 10) Sometimes, a glance at the album sleeve says more about the quality of the music on the album than anything else. In this case, a cheap Photoshopped pentagram of razors doesn't create high expectations. Which is something we should be thankful for, because high expectations would be fatal when listening to this album. _CiB:ATtS_ is not just a Slayer tribute album, it's a Slayer _Reign in Blood_ tribute album done by hardcore bands, leaving much to be desired. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a piece of junk, because there are some good songs on it (Unsilent Reign's "Altar of Sacrifice", Crown Deterrent's "Reborn" and Left With Nothing's "Postmortem"), but apart from those the non-quality of the songs is fatal for both the listener and Slayer's songs. How It Ends ("Angel of Death"), Over and Over ("Criminally Insane") and The Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza ("Epidemic") are without a doubt the worst contenders on this album, screwing up the Slayer songs to the point of heresy, and they are closely followed by mediocre performances by Arma Angelus ("Piece by Piece"), Most Precious Blood ("Necrophobic"), Sworn Vengeance ("Jesus Saves") and Punishment ("Raining Blood"). I honestly can't see anyone buying this and actually enjoying the listen, save a few exceptions here and there, so do yourself a favour and pick up the _Slatanic Slaughter_ series instead: bands like Grope, Cradle of Filth and Mortician did the trick a lot better years back. Vinterriket - _Und die Nacht kam schweren Schrittes_ by: Quentin Kalis (7 out of 10) (Neodawn/Regimental Recs., 2002) After releasing an inordinately high number of demos and EPs over the past two years, Vinterriket has finally gotten around to releasing his (it's a one-man project) debut full-length, which clocks in at a satisfying 64+ minutes, unlike his all-too-brief piecemeal releases of the past. Thankfully, he has all but abandoned his previous patchy flirtations with black metal (though he deserves credit for the original sound he created on the black metal-tinged demo _Sturme der letzen Stille_) in favour of a complete reversion to the melancholic and instrumental darkness found on his very first release, _Gjennon Takete Skogen_. As with _GTS_, Vinterriket utilises an array of ethereal soundscapes and tinkling keyboards in order to create a distinctively morose atmosphere. As before, his ambient meanderings can be compared to early Mortiis or incarceration-era Burzum, but even his very first release -- and there has been considerable development since then, with more complex melodies being utilized -- was more layered and complex then the likes of either _Fodt Til A Herske_ or _Daudi Baldrs_. The production of his recent releases has seen a noticeable improvement over the earlier releases and this trend is continued here. There are a number of noticeable dips in quality, most notably on the final track where the ambience is disturbed by the emergence of a "dance beat" -- for want of a better term -- and if that wasn't bad enough, it sounds like it emanates from a cheap Casio keyboard. Nevertheless, these minor flaws do not detract from what is otherwise an admirable debut. Contact: info@neodawn.de Vintersorg - _Visions From the Spiral Generator_ by: Adam Lineker (8 out of 10) (Napalm Records, 2002) Remembering that past contact with Vintersorg had yielded some above average power metal experimentation, I was pleased to see that I could review his latest full-length album. What really doubled my interest in _Visions From the Spiral Generator_ was the band that Vintersorg had surrounded himself with, most notably bass master Steve DiGiorgio. It becomes apparent early in the album that the musicians acquit themselves well, with DiGiorgio's subtle licks really adding character to the Vintersorg sound. With a well-balanced mix, in which each instrument is free to play its role, we are treated to a glossy and clear production. All of which would mean very little if the music itself was a poor affair, but Vintersorg has not disappointed. He has composed some impressively individual works of power metal, diligently balancing his influences and working subtle changes of mood into the music. His folk leanings colour the tonality of his melodies, and while his riffworks may hold base origins in power metal, they are very progressive in structure and inventive in composition; his use of melodic keyboard layering emphasizes his progressive flair. While his band performs the music with aplomb, his prog tinged vocals soar over the top, harmonising and countering instrumental dialogue. Vintersorg also throws the occasional curve ball by showcasing his black metal roots in the form of a suitably savage distortion vocal. The music on _VFtSG_ is absorbing and colourful, though often melancholy. However, _VFtSG_ can be criticised for not always flowing as slickly as it might, with the relationship between some of the tracks sitting slightly awkwardly; in particular the last track "Trance Locator" is as strong a change in mood as you will find on the album, yet doesn't feel at all like a conclusion. Also, while sometimes being effectively employed as an expressive tool, Vintersorg's distortion vocals can feel unsuited to the mood of the music. Thankfully, these faults do not detract much from the overall resulting music, and though it is hard to latch onto any memorable hooks, it remains an enjoyable listening experience. One gets the feeling that Vintersorg's music reflects the intellectual nature of his philosophical concepts and lyrical ideas, though the fact that he prefers to sing in his mother tongue means that they are mostly lost on me. Contact: http://www.vintersorg.com Wolfnacht - _Night of the Werewolf_ (, 2002) by: Alvin Wee (5 out of 10) Indicative of the downward spiral the NSBM scene has taken in the past year or so, _Night of the Werewolf_ awkwardly straddles the realms of stock NS-rock and semi-melodic black metal, failing to execute either style with convincing verve or vigor. The title track starts off promisingly enough with a catchy, hum-along riff worthy of any Honor album, but soon begins to wear thin as the lack of inventiveness in song-writing shines through. Things take an abrupt black metal turn with "Black Bubonic Plague", but sadly any vague hope of consistency vanishes with the next track "Aufstand", a dreadful foray into pure banal NS-rock with lamentable black metal vocals. The cover of Halgadom's "Wotan's Kreiger" presents an even grimmer picture of Wolfnacht's failings, sounding thin, uninspired and vocally abysmal (the horrid production on this track not helping in the least). Things begin to look up somewhat towards the end, with the epic black metal "Wehrwolfsschantre" and the barely adequate cover of Absurd's "Eternal Winter" scarcely managing to salvage the dismal proceedings in the dying minutes of the disc. Despite having three "bonus tracks", the entire album clocks in at a mere 30 minutes, half of which is practically unlistenable. Last I heard, the respected Battlefield Records was slated to release this disc, but the inlay suggests an independent release by the band itself. Contact: athalwolf1488@hotmail.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, _, _ _, _, | \ |_ |\/| / \ (_ |_/ | | | \ / , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Scoring: 5 out of 5 -- A flawless demo 4 out of 5 -- Great piece of work 3 out of 5 -- Good effort 2 out of 5 -- A major overhaul is in order 1 out of 5 -- A career change is advisable 7th Nemesis - _7th Nemesis_ (4 out of 5) by: Aaron McKay This bastard came off strong right out of the gate! It's powerful, ripped with energy, and -never- lacking the beats and groove-laced rhythm to suck me in and hold me tight. The French five-piece boast a talented growler, Sargon, whose sole responsibility is to verbalize the swarm of blackish irritability this band stand in the midst of. The musicianship on this demo is highly respectable and quite frankly, I think 7th Nemesis is more talented than some outfits already performing on the black/death scene today. 7th Nemesis didn't lose my interest once in the more than eleven minutes this demo spun on my JVC (multiple times, I might add). While I wouldn't fuss too much with the guitar sound -- that is damn good -- the bass could be accentuated a lot more and the vocals could stand some work in the area of magnitude and dominance. If you got a good thing going, accentuate it! If the band explores expanding their style on "Phoenix Resurrectio" to a large degree, 7th Nemesis wouldn't be languishing in the bowels of metal's naiveté for very long. I expect their full length they are nearly done with, _Violentia Imperatrix Mundi_, might even be the catalyst this band needs. Contact: http://www.7thnemesis.fr.st Aggression Core - _Victim or Enemy_ (4.5 out of 5) by: Aaron McKay This Seattle, Washington five piece outfit is all over metal like flies on a rib roast. Impressively chunky in sound and texture with a power of near limitless range, Aggression Core is far more than a single dimensional extreme death metal outfit. Instead they keep the listener engaged and beset with intrigue, all-the-while kicking their ass with some of the most intense shit this side of my father-in-law's cattle ranch. A wickedly potent pummeling begins the disc with the title track, "Victim or Enemy", and it gets even deeper from there on in. "What Your Life Has Become", while seemingly all-too-familiar in sound, is actually my favorite from the demo. It exercises the strongest aspects of Aggression Core. Chamaeleon-like, this band alternates enveloping styles like so many folds in a origami masterpiece and the sound separation is second to none. If you doubt this, play "Drunk", the final track on the album in your CD player with some headphones; you'll be awestruck, I assure you. Track five, "Dethroned", is a cut you'll be hard-pressed to forget. It introduces so many points of hard-edged intrusion -- while at the same time, taking a "beauty-and-the-beast" countermeasure to keep you off balance -- you will hardly believe what you are hearing. The socially conscious, nearly Pro-Pain-esque lyrics, and current events infused essence of Aggression Core is MORE THAN WELCOME in this "more evil than thou" genre we far too often find ourselves muddling through. Whether it be the Seattle connection or something else entirely, I cannot help but wonder if Aggression Core and Suicide Culture [CoC #48] share the same post office in the state of Washington. While it obviously makes little to absolutely no difference, I am left thinking that if I were Suicide Culture, I'd be finding some way to integrate Aggression Core's potency onto my own. As a side note, I must comment on the back cover of _Victim or Enemy_. The UPC bar-code flag on the CD back speaks volumes to me as an earnest metal devotee, but not because of some misplaced sense of rebellion flowing through my veins. Instead, I see this representation as a band's prerogative to capitalize on creative license. Like Aggression Core's style, it is scorching and harsh, but it sits well with those of a suitable mind-set. This style is most agreeable and, the truth-be-known, while I don very few shirts in support of bands, I would wear an Aggression Core T-shirt proudly if I owned one. Contact: P.O. Box 47071, Seattle, WA 98146, USA Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_ (5 out of 5) by: Pedro Azevedo Fair enough, Aphotic have a strong doom component in their music; but it took me just one glance at their latest demo for my spirits to sink even before I heard any of it. This wasn't caused by some smart cover art, but rather the lack of any. You see, Aphotic have released two excellent demos on CD, complete with very tasteful packaging, and all to no avail -- inferior bands kept getting signed in the meantime, but not them. This third demo is to be their final one if they aren't signed now, and gone are the packaging and illustrations: all I held in my hand was a CD-R with a handwritten front cover briefly stating that what lied inside was Aphotic's third demo. This disillusionment did not affect the band's ability to create very good music, though. They have continued onwards with their on _Stillness Grows_, and now feature a human drummer in their line-up. The rhythmic difference on _Stillness Grows_ isn't huge yet, but this line-up change does give them a better margin for progression. Powerful yet sombre, Aphotic's atmospheric doom/death metal manages to sound varied without ever losing its consistency, and melancholic without becoming whiny or boring. All five songs are interesting on this third demo, while the sound quality is very good. All I can say is that I crave a professionally produced Aphotic full-length album. Unfortunately that possibility is far from depending solely on the band, as apparently the record labels out there seem to have their eyes turned to easier -- if far less interesting -- markets. Here's hoping time will prove me wrong and Aphotic will get the deal they so thoroughly have earned with each of their demos. Contact: kpowers-aphotic@news.rr.com Balseraph - _Balseraph_ (2.5 out of 5) by: Adam Lineker Through a muffled and unbalanced production, Balseraph perform an ambient form of black metal that gives a few stylistic nods to Cradle of Filth; for example, vocalist Beleth roars and spits his distortion vocals at differing multitracked pitches. Balseraph do well when everything seems to come together; it is here that their compositions reach the highest levels of melodic strength. Unfortunately they are undermined by the execution of the music. The aforementioned production detracts from the musicianship on offer to the point of obscuring what the guitarists are doing. However, there are places where it is apparent that Balseraph are musically capable, particularly the work of drummer Seance, and the poor production levels are forgivable; this is, after all, a demo. The biggest problems Balseraph have are with the song writing, as much of what they perform comes across as dull and uninspired, particularly when they resort to long passages of bludgeoning riffage. They also commit the musically abusive crime of giving keyboardist Ambriel nothing to do. It is obvious that they have spirit and passion for the music, but they have work to do before they become a more accomplished proposition. Contact: http://balseraph.cjb.net Event Horizon - _From Beginning... to End_ (3 out of 5) by: Brian Meloon This 25-minute, five song demo falls into the categories labeled alternately as "progressive metal" and "power metal". I'm not a big fan of this genre, so the best comparison I can give is to Labyrinth's 1996 album _No Limits_. Despite the age of that album, this seems to be an accurate enough comparison. The music here is heavily melody-based, with keyboards for emphasis, and a male singer who likes to hit high notes. The songs are pretty straightforward, and don't vary much from standard verse-chorus structures. The playing is mid-to-fast tempo and generally restrained, deferring the spotlight to either the vocalist or the guitar solos (which are quite average). This might be a reasonable strategy with a stronger frontman, but Alessandro Formenti's vocals are the weak point of this offering. While he has a good range, his choice of vocal lines and his overuse of high notes are reminiscent of '80s glam bands, and really detract from the music. In addition, his voice seems flat in many places, bringing down what are otherwise memorable choruses. Aside from this weakness, the music here is reasonably good: not outstanding, but certainly on par with others in the style. Even with the weak vocals, I wouldn't be surprised to find this band signed for a debut release already. Fans of the style should keep an eye out for these guys, as with a little improvement, they could be a contender. Contact: http://www.eventhorizonband.com Goldenpyre - _Necroterrorism_ (3.5 out of 5) by: Alvin Wee By no means hot off the press, but well worth a peek at for traditional death metal maniacs nonetheless. This Portuguese quintet confidently spew forth four chunks of simple, grinding death in the most beloved of old-school Scandinavian traditions. As is often the case in this genre, _Necroterrorism_ offers nothing particularly earth-shaking to jaded ears, and the largely pedestrian material even borders on the tiresome at times. However, old-timers will find themselves inexplicably drawn to the archaic sounds of death reminiscent of old At the Gates and even Cadaver. The production, while solid, is just fuzzy enough to carry off that early-'90s vibe and adds a considerable amount of character to the disc. In an age where hyper-brutal death like Krisiun rules, Goldenpyre have the distinction of sticking to their roots, and doing it damned well too. Contact: http://www.goldenpyre.cjb.net Gotha - _Take Your Soul_ (3 out of 5) by: Quentin Kalis Gotha are an Italian band who perform Bay Area styled thrash. This is true for the first two songs, which while acceptably competent are really nothing truly exceptional and certainly do not signify any potential future greats in the making. But it is the final track which suggests that Gotha have more than one trick up their sleeves, in the form of the misleadingly entitled "Banshee": a brief song composed entirely of an evocative and melodic guitar lead. Here, Gotha demonstrate that they have the potential to develop into more then Bay Area wannabes. Although it is hardly comparable to, say, Yngwie Malmsteen in terms of technical ability, it is nonetheless incredibly atmospheric. This track alone is responsible for the addition of an additional mark to the rating above and an otherwise nondescript demo. Contact: f.tamas@libero.it Honey for Christ - _Forging Iron Will_ (3 out of 5) by: Aaron McKay Know what chaps my ass? I know this Irish four-piece band is worthy of all five out of five stars, but this three track demo leaves the band a bit high and dry. Like shoveling shit against the tide of harsh, moody metal out there today, Honey for Christ stands on an oceanic precipice of something great; they have obviously found a natural spring of inspiration. They rise above metal's murky depths like no band at this point in their career should be able, but they do. Bathing the listener with only three cuts, Honey for Christ run the gamut of metal -- from harsh to blackened-sliced abrasiveness to mood inducing interludes. HfC use predominately powerfully clean vocals with an injected guttural grunt here and there for mostly effect. While I am supportive of the less rigorous throaty-style for a fair number of bands that I will not waste your time in listing off, Honey for Christ would do very well to explore adding MORE of the gravelly vocal approach to their material. It washes well with the musically foamy effervesce they pound forth again and again. Heavy, chunky and a varied style are things all well represented on _Forging Iron Will_. You could get lost in the undertow HfC creates. While this isn't a bad thing, this demo lacks the endurance to hold your attention -- in their watery prison -- long enough to drown in their potential. Illogicist - _Polymorphism Of Death_ (4 out of 5) by: Alvin Wee It's hard to understand how _Polymorphism Of Death_ can be this band's initial offering to the tired death metal scene, when faced with the stunning quality of this MCD. Displaying little of the naivete exhibited by equally young bands, this Italian quartet toss off their brand of technical death metal with wondrous ease. Incendiary solos reminiscent of James Murphy's Disincarnate days dot this delightful 20-minute romp, sitting deliciously amid headbang-inducing crunchy riff acrobatics and mainman Luca's well-tempered growl. The band's influences no doubt run the gamut of technical prog-death bands like Atheist, Death and Cynic, but are immaculately showcased in a completely updated framework that hints at thrashier and more melodic elements of the new Swedish style. Song structures and melody lines, while always complex enough to remain novel through multiple listens, never lapse into the unlistenable musical masturbation marking the downfall of many a 'technical' band. In my book, Illogicist could well be the next Cynic, for producing amazing material worthy of album status on their first demo, and I don't see them staying unsigned for long at all. Contact: http://www.illogicist.com Recto Rectors - _Fight For Your Grind_ (1 out of 5) by: Brian Meloon Recto Rectors are a two-piece Italian grind band. This is a thirteen-minute slab of immature, cheap-sounding, pointless grind. It features 21 tracks, two of which consist of a sampled belch played at various pitches: the first to the tune of "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and the second with piano accompaniment. Other than those stand-out tracks, the rest of the album is generic grind with a few irrelevant bits that I suppose were intended to be funny. Given the nature of grindcore, there's very little musical skill on display here: the drumming is done by a drum machine, and the guitar riffs are either simple or just amorphous noise. Maybe this will be appreciated by die-hard grindcore fans, but I can't believe it's anything that such a fan wouldn't already have heard a thousand times. Contact: http://www.geocities.com/recto_rectors Serrated Scalpel - _Suspended in Misery_ (3.5 out of 5) by: Adam Lineker Aside from a production lacking in power, Serrated Scalpel do well enough when performing solid death metal and succeed in creating some good riffs, but it is unfortunate that the band's preferred tempo never really aids the music in escaping a stodgy feeling of sluggishness. With a guitar mix that is far too quiet, the intrusive evilbelch vocals only emphasise this. Still, with this in mind, it remains reasonable quality for a demo and allows Serrated Scalpel to display their compositional talent and capable musicianship. There is an element of good progressive sensibilities and a fair amount of fine riffs, yet the length of the individual songs lets a lot of it become a dirge on first listening. All in all, what Serrated Scalpel offer is quite enjoyable and shows potential, especially on standout track "The Emblem of Immortality". To its credit, _Suspended in Misery_ succeeds in drawing you in and ascending in levels of quality; a fine and often lacking characteristic in many albums you'll find floating around. This alone merits Serrated Scalpel worth a look. Contact: http://www.serratedscalpel.cjb.net Set in Silence - _Watch the Sky Burn_ (4.5 out of 5) by: Adam Lineker Interchanging eerie melody with brutal riffage, Set in Silence show potential from the word go. With guttural, howling vocals claiming dominion over the dark and brooding music, Set in Silence sound convincingly forceful. Aided by a solid production that is well above average for demo standards, _Watch the Sky Burn_ yields some progressive riff structuring with aspects of metallic groove alongside some harmonies that would be easily suited to black metal. There is a fair amount of feeling and ambience to this that allows the audience to be drawn in quite easily and it is all performed with guts and conviction. The music on _Watch the Sky Burn_ lends itself well to its mid tempo nature and very rarely becomes a dirge, with the only real inequities of this sort appearing on the closing title track. Overall, the music is well crafted and well executed; recorded evidence of the capabilities of Set in Silence. _Watch the Sky Bun_ is a strong demo and a fine achievement. Contact: http://www.setinsilence.com Slaughter of Souls - _Nexus Avernus_ (4 out of 5) by: Adam Lineker The newest creation of ex-Reign of Erebus brothers Pete and Mike Rowland is melodic in style and performed with aggression under a fuzzy and shallow production. As with many demos, the lo-fi feel can sometimes detract from the impact of certain riffs, but Slaughter of Souls do well in rising above the technical limitations, shredding out some passages with impressive ferocity. Some of the melodic touches they employ are quite traditional, although they make room for a fair amount of discordant progressions that reflect the band's more extreme roots. Aside from ludicrous song titles, such as "Your (sic) All Gonna Die" and "Club Dead", the only real gripe one has is that the reigns could be held a little tighter on the song structuring, with some of the material seeming to lose its way on occasion. However, this doesn't stop _Nexus Avernus_ being a strong demo, possessing some really driving works of metal. Hopefully, Slaughter of Souls will do well enough to release an album that reflects some of the qualities present here. Contact: http://www.SlaughterofSouls.com Solution 13 - _Solution 13_ (3.5 out of 5) by: Adam Lineker Were it not for the absence of a record label acknowledgement, Solution 13 could be mistaken for a signed band. With a reasonable production and a professional presentation, they are, on first impression, more than convincing for their level. They peddle a thrash influenced form of rock, using conventional beats and stylings but relying heavily on riffs, many of which are faster or more unusual than one would expect to find. Though vocalist Ilkka Jarvenpaa sings, he hasn't the greatest voice in the world, sounding like a dog-tired crossbreed of Lemmy, Phil Anselmo and James Hetfield. Incidentally there is a reasonable amount of early '90s Metallica in this, and some of it works quite well. Having said this, a lot of the material does lack punch and can sound passionless. The unexciting nature of the music means that one has to listen hard to appreciate the level of quality. If it sounded more powerful and less sterile then this, it would probably be a lot more absorbing. As it stands, it remains just a bit too bland. One gets the feeling that the live environment would lend itself well to Solution 13; it is not as if the music is impenetrable and their easy-listening brand of metal can work on many levels. With riffs that are of an above average quality and an inventive handling of familiar formulas, Solution 13 show potential. As a debut release, one can forgive the basic nature of the music and hope that the song writing reaches the quality that it would seem to promise in time. Get a heavier production with some edge next time. Some of this material deserves better! The Last Winter - _IRA_ (3 out of 5) by: Brian Meloon Italy's The Last Winter may have started as a black metal band, but over the last few years, their sound has developed into something more interesting. This offering contains a few vestiges of their black metal days, most notably the vocals and some of the tremolo-picked guitar lines, but for the most part, this is mid-tempo thrash. There are only two songs here, but they're ten and twelve minutes respectively. As you would expect from long songs, the riffs and tempos change a lot. However, The Last Winter go a step beyond what's expected by employing a wide range of styles and tempos, so that the music doesn't get repetitive. Most of these styles are familiar ones, but the band do find some original sounds to offer. One area where they could use some work are the flow of their songs. In particular, the global organization of the songs didn't make much sense to me, and some of the transitions were rather clunky. The playing is generally good, though there are a few places where their timing is a little off. One more important point to mention are the vocals. While most of the vocals are standard raspy-style black metal vocals -- which fit the music pretty well -- there are four sections (totaling less than a minute, thankfully) with a clean style trying to carry a tune. I say "trying", though, because he's way out of his (very limited) range, and the end result sounds simply terrible. These sections still make me cringe every time I hear them, and this vocal style needs to be dropped immediately. Taken as a whole, though, this offering shows that The Last Winter have the potential to develop into an innovative and interesting band. They have the most important aspect for this already: an original approach and some interesting ideas. They should be an interesting band to watch, and I hope to hear more from them in the next few years. Contact: http://www.thelastwinter.3000.it =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _ _, _, / _ | / _ (_ \ / | \ / , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ M O R N I N G R I S E I N T H E D E A D L A N D S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Opeth, Madder Mortem and Kormoss at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal by: Pedro Azevedo It had been a lengthy spell away from the Hard Club for me (during several months of which the venue was closed, due to a row with the City Hall), but Opeth and Madder Mortem provided a superb reason for my return. Opeth is easily among my favourite bands, whereas Madder Mortem are, in my view, one of the most underrated bands around -- they are perhaps victims of being on Century Media, which is not a very fashionable label these days (how about that for an ironic turn of events?). Local band Kormoss opened the gig in competent fashion, playing a brand of Samael-influenced metal and showing little evolution since I first saw them several years ago -- even if they did seem to lean a bit more towards death metal than the last time I heard them. Despite the fact that they were nothing out of the ordinary tonight, they still managed to entertain the audience reasonably well. Impatience, however, was impossible to disguise amidst the Opeth-hungry mob, and there were few who even bothered to try. Madder Mortem were also affected by that impatience; or rather, it marred the audience's potential enjoyment of their set. In fact, even though their performance was excellent tonight, few people seemed to even begin to appreciate it. Granted, their material -- much like Opeth's, although in a smaller scale -- is very difficult to get into live if you don't already know it quite well; few in attendance seemed to be familiar with their albums. Madder Mortem played a combination of songs from their last two discs, _All Flesh Is Grass_ and _Deadlands_, both of which came out of virtually nowhere to greatly impress me when they were released. They opened with "Necropol Lit" off _Deadlands_, possibly the weakest song in a superb setlist, followed by the excellent "Rust Cleansing" -- the final part of that one blows me away every time. On to "Distance Will Save Us", another good track, and then the first song from _All Flesh Is Grass_: the massive "Breaker of Worlds". Another fine new song, "Faceless", was next, then the less profound but very contagious "Jigsaw (The Pattern and the Puzzle)", and a truly suitable ending: "Omnivore", which ends abruptly after an amazing crescendo. The band was tight and benefited from a good sound setup, but there is no denying that their vocalist Agnette Kirkevaag was the centre of attention. She is definitely not your average female vocalist: she doesn't sport a goth look and doesn't stand still on stage pouring forth angelic vocals. Instead she moves all over the stage, thoroughly enjoying every riff, and takes the listener on a rollercoaster ride of amazing vocal twists and turns. She has -talent-, not just a sweet voice. I was already hugely impressed by her performance on disc, but my girlfriend and I had to exchange amazed looks at the sheer quality of her live performance. Quite a shame that so few of those in attendance were able to appreciate it. Opeth was the band nearly everyone was there to see, and Opeth they got -- a whole lot of Opeth, in fact. Nine songs, which by their standards guarantees about an hour and a half of music. And although Madder Mortem had set a high standard, Opeth were not daunted by the challenge. They proceeded to flawlessly execute a collection of epics taken from the majority of their discography. They opened with the excellent "The Leper Affinity" from _Blackwater Park_, and it immediately became clear that the audience was in for a treat. The guitars were spot on, the drumming impeccable and dynamic, and the vocals -- both clean and harsh -- came out perfectly. Akerfeldt's stage presence was simultaneously enthusiastic and relaxed, and he never felt the need to amuse people with stage antics: it was the music that did the talking, and that's what everyone was there for. "Advent" from _Morningrise_ was next, and what a rendition! That song has some magnificent moments, but they just seemed to carry a much greater impact live. I am in awe of how Mikael Akerfeldt manages to deliver such a performance on vocals and guitar simultaneously. "Deliverance" from their new album was next, its distinctive ending played with machine-like precision. Another cut from the atmospheric _Blackwater Park_ then followed, and another fine song too, namely "The Drapery Falls". Pure bliss. "Godhead's Lament" from _Still Life_ was a more questionable choice for the set, but I won't complain. It then gave way to the acoustic "Credence" off _My Arms, Your Hearse_, which came as a surprisingly welcome break to the more intense material. Just like his intense demonic vocals and growls, Akerfeldt continued to pull off his clean singing with great aplomb, while the remaining musicians continuously showed their remarkable skill as well. Opeth then entered the final stretch of songs, starting with "Bleak" from _Blackwater Park_ (with its marvelously doomy beginning and end), followed by "A Fair Judgement" from _Deliverance_. Then finally, as an encore, the monstrous "Demon of the Fall", their classic from _My Arms, Your Hearse_ (from which "April Ethereal" was sorely missing). "Demon of the Fall" ended proceedings more than appropriately, with its irresistibly powerful first half and mellow ending. All in all, an amazing performance from Opeth, and one of the best gigs I've ever attended. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= K I N G T U T ' S B U R N I N G A N G E L H U T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arch Enemy, Corporation 187 and Without Face, at Glasgow King Tut's, December 9th 2002 by: Adam Lineker Upon arrival at King Tut's, it is pleasing to see that the metal hordes have turned out in force. This was expected, as Arch Enemy have been subjected to a frenzy of media attention following their magnificent third opus _Wages of Sin_. With Corporation 187 also turning up to have a little fun, the atmosphere inside King Tut's is one of high expectancy. Opening the evening in a more reserved style, Without Face just about catch the interest of the assembled throng with their gothic progmetal. Nobody in attendance goes crazy, but the offered performance is seemingly appreciated by the scattered groups of watching faces. Based on this performance however, it is hard to imagine how they could coerce any other response. Though the music is interesting, the musicians take a back seat to concentrate on their playing, thus lacking stage presence. The performance is competently tight but the music is too ethereal for this to make a real impact on the audience. If you take the time to look a little harder, it would appear that the drummer plays to a click-track. Couple this with an invisible keyboard player and one gets the feeling that there is something artificial about the performance; such heavy reliance on DAT recordings never sits well with me. This leaves a lot up to the two vocalists and unfortunately, something really doesn't work tonight. Establishing a well used formula in Scandinavian and European metal, eerie female singing is complemented by male power/death vocals. However, the frontwoman is either hopelessly out of tune or her lines are completely atonal; this leaves any sense of melody severely marred. Worse still, she looks disinterested enough for the problem to be caused by sheer lack of effort. This all renders the monotone growls of the frontman somewhat redundant. To his credit, his posturing captures the spirit of power metal well enough, but he only just succeeds in avoiding looking very stupid alongside his fellow performers. Though they provide an acceptable amount of entertainment with their musical endeavours, one can't help but feel that Without Face are rather forgettable. Thankfully, Corporation 187 are up to the job of grabbing the audience by the throat and proceed to deliver a highly spirited performance. Succeeding mostly when hammering out large, catchy riffs, they seem to delight in educating all and sundry in the joy of thrash. It is very obvious that they enjoy themselves as they bludgeon along, spurring on a supportive crowd and getting the bodies moving. Filip Carlsson is a competent frontman who is unafraid to make direct eye contact with those who seem to be more rabid than others, and he is backed by a band that are all equally strong performers. Using a lot of material from _Perfection in Pain_ to spearhead their set, there are many memorable moments, particularly the crushingly infectious "Ghosts of Confusion". Above all, Corporation 187 come across as very proud of being a thrash metal act and you can see it in their stage mannerisms; even though bassist Viktor Klint just plants his feet and headbangs throughout, the permanent grin speaks volumes. Though the Corporation know that this isn't their show, they deliver an entertaining and passionate performance, suitably acting like a band with everything to gain and nothing to lose. Arguably there is some work to be done before they make The Haunted look over their shoulders, but they leave the stage having asserted themselves as a competent addition to the death/thrash cause. As the lights go out and the haunting piano intro of "Enemy Within" filters through the hot and smoky air, the atmosphere that has been bubbling under the surface all evening finally begins to boil over. The scene is set for Arch Enemy to make a massive impact. Unfortunately, when they finally hit the stage, they seem to be somewhat deadened. Infuriatingly, the soundman has an unfortunate case of the gremlins and proceeds to battle with the sound desk in an uphill struggle throughout the entire show. Yet sound quality was never going to totally dampen the spirits of this crowd, nor compromise Arch Enemy's performance, and even though you can only hear drums and a little bass guitar, the Amott brothers make an energetic entrance that seems more suited to an arena than this small stage. Special praise is first reserved for one Angela Gossow who proves to be a brilliant and professional frontwoman, pausing between songs to request better lighting placement and sound quality. Her onstage manner ranges from intense to cool, as she rises to the occasion and performs with energy and flair; even the mike stand isn't safe from her wrath. Yet her real talent resides first and foremost in her voice. She may look comically petite when stood alongside the gargantuan bassman Sharlee DiAngelo, but when she unleashes her death roar, you can feel it through your feet. Yet this is still very far from being all her show. Without exception, Arch Enemy are tight and charismatic performers, blistering through their intricate instrumental sections without fault, and when they launch into the opening bars of the Carcass classic "Corporeal Jigsore Quandary" at the set's mid point, they incite an already mental crowd into a near riot. Vacating the stage forthwith to let Daniel Erlandsson show his stuff behind the kit, it all seems so incredibly well thought out; when his sticks go flying half way through the solo, it is hard to tell if it is a genuine mistake or his sense of humour. Choosing a career-spanning setlist, Arch Enemy perform their music as admirably as possible, given the sound conditions. Especially worthy of note is the crushing rendition of new song "Savage Messiah". There are times when the pit becomes so violent that one's survivalist instincts begin to take over and the music seems to lose momentary priority, yet the air of triumph perpetuates throughout. If not for the debilitating sound problems, this could have been the perfect night for Arch Enemy. As it is, they succeed in determination and competence, as their dogged performance is born aloft on the shoulders of a crowd that adore them. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, ___ _, _ _, _, | \ |_ | /_\ | | (_ |_/ | | | | | | , , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ Web Site: http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos --> Interested in being reviewed? Please ask for a local mailing address by e-mailing us at: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Europe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com NorthAmerica@ChroniclesOfChaos.com RestOfTheWorld@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. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending an e-mail 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 e-mail to . =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #60 All contents copyright (c) 1995-2003 by individual creators of included work. All rights reserved. All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.