_______ __ __ __ ___ | _ | |--.----.-----.-----|__.----| .-----.-----. .-----.' _| |. 1___| | _| _ | | | __| | -__|__ --| | _ | _| |. |___|__|__|__| |_____|__|__|__|____|__|_____|_____| |_____|__| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' _______ __ | _ | |--.---.-.-----.-----. |. 1___| | _ | _ |__ --| |. |___|__|__|___._|_____|_____| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, May 5, 2004, Issue #73 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 Contributor: Adrian Magers Contributor: James Montague Contributor: Jackie Smit 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 #73 Contents, 5/5/2004 ---------------------------- * Chats -- Dimmu Borgir: In Deep With the Deacons of the Dark Castle -- Nightwish: Nemo's Search for Success... -- Aborted: Neil's Needle Meets Carcass's Bonesaw * Albums -- Amen - _Death Before Musick_ -- Ares Wrath - _War Bombastic Black Metal_ -- Cephalectomy - _Eclipsing the Dawn_ -- Crimson Altar - _The Ghost Ship Sails_ -- Flowing Tears - _Razorbliss_ -- Grimfist - _Ghouls of Grandeur_ -- Immemorial - _After Deny_ -- Insomnium - _Since the Day It All Came Down_ -- Necrophagia - _Goblins Be Thine_ -- Skinlab - _Nerve Damage_ -- The Ravenous - _Blood Delirium_ -- Vrolok - _Resurgence II: Where the Dying Meet the Dead_ * Demos -- Demontage - _Madness Disease_ -- Doreterna - _Titanium Souls_ -- Project: Failing Flesh - _A Beautiful Sickness_ -- Saturate - _I Bleed Away My Mind_ -- Stand Aside - _Tears of the Dragon_ * Gigs -- A Ghouls Night Out -- Midlands Metal, Marsupial Madness and Scotland's Sign for the Norse Hordes to Ride! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _,_ _, ___ _, / ` |_| /_\ | (_ \ , | | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ IN DEEP WITH THE DEACONS OF THE DARK CASTLE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Chats with Shagrath and Silenoz from Dimmu Borgir by: Paul Schwarz Like Britain's Cradle of Filth, perhaps in some senses -because- of the Sussex sextet, Norway's Dimmu Borgir have received a lot of flak -- in the years since their 1997 _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_ album was released -- for being sell-outs: a commercially-motivated metal band. In some circles, they even received flak when that album's predecessor (their second album, _Stormblast_) was released. _For All Tid_ thus remains, perhaps, DB's only album that is 'untouchable' from an 'underground' perspective. Of course, in more mainstream circles, Dimmu Borgir's reputation as a band worthy of serious attention has grown from album to album -following- _EDT_. To quote satirical television masterwork "Brass Eye": it's a strong feelings-kidney whichever way you slice it. Personally, until recently, I sliced off most of the band's career and only occasionally picked at what was left; that was, until I got _Death Cult Armageddon_. Though still very much a 'symphonic' (meaning pseudo-symphonic in actual musical terms) black metal album, Dimmu Borgir's latest is earthed magnificently by a grounded, thrash/death derived and powerfully guitar-led approach. It's the best album the band have done, to my mind. What follows is an edited transcript of one phone conversation, conducted last July, in which I talked to vocalist Shagrath and guitarist/lyricist Silenoz in turn. [Note: I am, of course, aware that CoC has already published a recent interview with Dimmu Borgir. My reasons for submitting this very sparsely edited transcript in no way reflect a rejection of Jackie Smit's excellent interview with Silenoz, nor any sort of negative claim as to its quality; I wanted to submit this because on the one hand it -is- very long, and I like to think certain issues of the band's work are discussed here that are either not discussed, not discussed in such depth, or not discussed from the same perspective as they are elsewhere. I leave it up to you, the readers, to tell me whether I'm just kidding myself...] [Note on punctuation: In this transcript -- as in, I think, all my submitted transcripts for CoC -- three dots (...) are used to represent a significant pause, and are not intended to indicate places where words have been edited out.] CoC: Let's start off with the music. Since _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_ you've taken on the orchestra. Does _Death Cult Armageddon_ have the same fourteen pieces from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, or are there more? Shagrath: There are a lot more, actually. CoC: How many is it this time? Shagrath: Ummm, on _Puritanical..._ we had fourteen or fifteen, I think, and on the new one we have forty-seven. CoC: Forty-seven... Wow! Shagrath: Yeah. So it was a big step and also a new experience. CoC: What's interesting is that -with- that there's... not less use of the orchestra, but less obvious use of it. For example, the last album started off with that two-and-a-half minute piece of... orchestral music, basically. I personally didn't go for it -- it all sounded a bit "Last of the Mohicans" to me -- but irrespective of that, this album really incorporates the orchestra -wholly- rather than using it very -singly-. Shagrath: Yeah. I mean, we have like maybe four songs which are just like total -overkill- with the orchestra, you know, but also we mixed that with other songs which have, just basically, typical guitar riffs. CoC: You wouldn't say, though, that it's a more guitar album or a more keyboard album in particular? Shagrath: I think it has the right balance, actually. For us as musicians it's kind of important to try to work with different elements, doing different things, and just try not to make each song sound too much like the other songs, you know. We just want to give the listeners something more varied to listen to, really. CoC: I understand what you mean. But as far as the sound of the band goes, I think you're right: I think you have found a different balance, but I think what's interesting about that balance is how you achieve it. I mean, are you using -all- forty-seven pieces of the orchestra mostly at the same time? 'Cause I notice there's more - contrast- with the orchestral section this time. Sometimes you use just a few bits... Shagrath: Yeah. CoC: ...and then there are some bits where it uses, probably, all forty-seven at once. Shagrath: Yes. It's also important to create different highlights in the music, you know. So maybe some parts it's just basically like a - background- thing; then maybe it harnesses more of a -lead- thing; and then maybe you have like a highlight where the whole thing is coming in, you know? It's basically also how we build up the songs, as before. Like having, for example, grim vocals; and then in the middle section maybe turning it into like a clean vocal part, or something else. It's basically how we build up the songs. CoC: There's definitely a lot of variation in your work; and I intend to come onto that, in general, in a minute. One thing I was gonna ask beforehand: a few years ago you said that you'd always seen keyboards as being as important an instrument as guitars, in your work. Would you say that since using the orchestra on _PEM_, it has become yet another part of Dimmu Borgir, or do you think it's more of an experiment and a luxury that might die down a bit more on other albums and not be quite as -integral- a part of Dimmu Borgir? Shagrath: It's hard to say; but it's keyboards, or the -atmosphere- that has always been a very essential thing in our music. I mean, if you listen to the first album, we're very keyboard- orientated; but the bigger the band has become, the more budget we've had to do better things and improve our music. So many black metal bands out there are using keyboards and it's basically stretching it to the limits, kind of, with the keyboards. So we decided that we wanted to have 'the real thing'. CoC: Sure. And it goes along with your work and the work of a lot of other bands; using keyboards to replicate orchestral sounds. Whereas the direction that less bands have gone -- or less bands have gone successfully -- is actually to go down the, literally, -synthesizer- path, where you're creating sounds and that sort of stuff -- more like Seventies funk or Herbie Hancock or something like that. Shagrath: Also, we tried to experiment a little bit more with the samples, this time -- which we haven't really worked much with in the past. Now it's kind of a nightmare to mix a Dimmu Borgir album because you've got a full orchestra, you have the samples, and all these things are happening at the same time, so basically we have a nightmare to mix it and to be able to hear all that's going on at the same time. So when you listen, for example, to the new album, it's not really that sophisticated or complicated -music-, but you still have to listen to it a few times to figure out what is going on, you know; because always so many instruments are playing at the same time. So the more you listen the more you will always find new things. CoC: When you talk about using samples, are you thinking mainly of audio samples like the voices and the marching that you hear on the album? Shagrath: Yes, there are voices from different things, but also - effects-, strange effects that you... when you listen to an effect you're like: what kind of sound is this? You can't tell. We also tried a little bit to work with that. CoC: How much is the album itself recorded -in- samples? For example, for Fear Factory's _Demanufacture_, every riff that repeats is, literally, repeated: they sampled the riffs. Shagrath: You can't really compare it with that, obviously. CoC: So when you record, do you find that the basic instruments like the guitars, keyboards etc., minus the orchestra, are recorded vaguely live, or is it recorded in bits? Shagrath: It's recorded live. Some vocal parts are done like a cut-up thing. If there is a chorus going like two times, maybe we have repeated -that- in some places, but -basically- everything is live. CoC: That's what I thought: I just wanted to check. 'Cause it really does sound very cohesive. Shagrath: Yeah, you know, 'cause if you copied too much stuff, then you would be able to hear those things. It wouldn't feel right. CoC: You'd lose that kind of -feeling- that someone is actually playing the music. It would sound stiff. Shagrath: Definitely. CoC: I think that's something that _DCA_ definitely avoids. In terms of actually writing the music and constructing the songs -- not trying to accuse you here, but speaking realistically -- how much would you say is the songwriting -tempered- by an appreciation of how much any particular track -- when you listen back to it -- would appeal to someone -outside- the band? 'Cause when you're making music to sell to a market and things like that, I think there is an aspect where, you know, you're giving music to other people, not giving it to yourselves. Shagrath: That's true, but still we make music for ourselves. We don't, like, have that in the back of our mind at all: do you think the fans will like this? It doesn't work like that. It basically is built up on what -we- like; and -then- if people like it or not. But we must do something right, you know, because we are basically - selling- a lot more than many other bands in the black metal genre. CoC: I don't know whether it's maybe a question of looking at yourself in abstract. You know, think about yourself; because you -were- (or - are-, possibly) a music fan, a music consumer. And so if - you- like the music, why shouldn't other people like it? I think that's part of it, and I can understand that. Shagrath: It's... I mean, it's... I guess a lot of people ask me about this: is this like a pressure? Because, you know, the last album sold really well: do you have the pressure behind you when you make a new album? Well, it's... at least for this one, the new one, we didn't really feel that, 'cause we were just working every song in a home studio and then it worked so well and we totally relaxed and we didn't even -think- about what -people- would think about it, you know? We thought, basically, about what we like ourselves. CoC: I find that interesting. 'Cause I would think... From my perspective -- if I was a musician and I could play guitar and the various instruments as well as you guys can, and play it in a band -- I'd find it surprising in some ways that I wouldn't do something a bit more challenging. Like if a song was twelve minutes long when you finished it, and you might like it 'cause you play the instruments, so you've got bored with writing the same... you know what I mean, the same sort of things...? Shagrath: Yeah, sure. CoC: And it's interesting 'cause my 'theory' is that Dimmu Borgir have sort of a feel for things that, at heart, are somewhat... not - simplistic-, but simple. Do you know what I mean? It isn't technical for the sake of it. It isn't a musicians' album. You know, there's some part of you that is still very much a music listener. Shagrath: Yeeeaah, I guess so. I haven't really given it much of a thought. CoC: It just seems interesting; because there is a lot of technicality involved in there, and it's surprising to me that it's still very accessible. Those two things are very hard to get together. Shagrath: Yup. CoC: Another thing I was gonna ask about was the idea of "black metal" -- which I'm sure you've been challenged with far too many times by now. Now, I said in a review of _PEM_ that I considered Dimmu Borgir to be a -metal- band, who happened to come out of the black metal scene, and I was reading an interview just the other day with one of you guys where you were talking about how you'd been in thrash metal bands, and death metal bands, and then in black metal bands; but at the core of it you just liked metal music or heavy rock music in general. Would you say that in a sense Dimmu Borgir are simply a - metal- band, and that the black metal thing is, to an extent, somewhat incidental, rather than intrinsic? Shagrath: I think you can find metal -elements- in our music, but it's -still- black metal. It's like the music, you know. But for what we... I mean, Dimmu Borgir is more like a second- generation black metal band. But, I guess, all of us in the band, we don't really listen to the second generation of black metal bands. We are more inspired by all the Eighties heavy or maybe thrash metal, you know? CoC: Have you guys ever thought about writing an 'arena song', as it were? I mean like a song that will have a chanting, anthemic quality to it; 'cause a lot of Dimmu Borgir's stuff is quite catchy; but there's nothing that really appeals to that particular part of the metal audience or crowd market, if you see what I mean. Like what Accept do, or what, say, Overkill can pull off nowadays. Shagrath: For us it's... CoC: Or on the other hand, does that happen? Are there songs from Dimmu Borgir that are treated that way? Like when you play them people sing along and they know exactly what's gonna happen? Shagrath: Yeah sure, almost every show we do there are people like that. Of course there are some songs which people know more about than the others. Yeah. I mean, you can see that all the time, especially on festivals. When we play, maybe, a slow song, a catchy song, the people get into it a bit more easier. And we just kind of follow, you know. CoC: It's just something that I find interesting; because Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir are two of the biggest black metal bands of the last seven to eight years, and out of the two of you, you've really managed to build up an incredible following which at particular points has out-done CoF in sales; but yet Dimmu Borgir have never written quite as -close- to a 'single' song -- that has those kind of -radio- qualities -- as CoF have. It's interesting: in a sense you've sort of kept it more -metal- -- metal in the sort of thrash metal, death metal, black metal sort of sense. Would you say that was ever anything you wanted to branch into? You know, writing a song that people would remember you for the -song-, not just the album, or the name of the band, but this particular song? Shagrath: Not really. I still think that on each album we have a couple of songs that maybe are different or more catchy or easier, acceptable; or for, like, general people or something; but we don't really sit down and think about that when we create the songs. It's more based on what we think sounds killer, you know? CoC: I understand, actually. Shagrath: It's not like, "Right, now we're gonna write the single!", or "hit", or something. That would never work with our music. CoC: I know what you're saying; obviously I can't disagree because you're in the band and I'm not; but what's interesting is to see how many bands surprise you and do manage to make that conversion. Like Metallica: they started off as a thrash band and now they've got all these hit songs. It's interesting to see how bands have and haven't done that. Shagrath: But for us -- if you compare that with Dimmu Borgir -- it's basically the opposite. 'Cause with us the bigger we get the more - extreme- we get. And OK, maybe other people think that because Dimmu Borgir sell a lot more albums now they're gonna be very soft and blah blah blah; and they use more orchestra now. And they probably get that impression: that we will become softer. But for us it's the opposite; because if you listen to the first Dimmu album it -is- very soft and melodic and we are getting more aggressive and more brutal - now-. More than it was before. So for us it's the opposite. CoC: I would agree. I'd say especially -- although partially incidentally -- since Nick Barker joined the band. I'm not putting down Tjodalv, 'cause he was a very good drummer... Shagrath: He's a very good drummer, yes. CoC: ...but Nick really does have a very brutal, intense style of drumming, and I think that kind of work has really informed the last two albums. There's a lot of speed, a lot of use of blastbeats and that sort of thing. Shagrath: Yeah, definitely. We are just able to do a bit more things like that than before. So that can also show in the albums. CoC: OK, we're gonna go onto titles and album covers, briefly. Using the three-word string titles -- I'm sure you've been asked this before, but with the last album there was (and I don't know whether it was realised in the band) a certain incongruity with the way that the title ended up sounding, because of the word "puritanical". I think, by comparison, this time you've gone for a much more simply understandable title. Shagrath: Which we did on purpose, because I mean, it's basically too hard for people to pronounce, read and understand the title for the previous one, so we thought it would be better to have a more primitive title this time -- not one that people don't understand. CoC: I know what you're saying; but was it also prompted by the fact that the last album, ultimately, the title didn't quite make sense, as well? Shagrath: It's basically opposites against each other, you know. CoC: It did seem like a bit of a contradiction in terms, ntionally, inte'cause "puritanical... misanthropia" is an resting inteconnection, if you see what I mean. Shagrath: Yeah. CoC: Another thing, on the issue of the band developing: when you played live in London (it was April 2000, I believe) you did a strange thing. You started off playing old material at the very beginning of the set; then you took a break, almost like a band would for an encore -- but half an hour or so in, and with the intro from _PEM_ covering the near-three-minute gap; and then you came on to play the first track proper of _PEM_. Has there been any conscious division of the Dimmu Borgir material since _PEM_, because of the addition of the orchestra and things? Shagrath: Well, basically, for the live thing, it's a good thing to start up with something old that people maybe have been listening to for ages, you know. So they can get into it more easily, rather than listening to a new album, and then you have a tour and it's so fresh that you might not even remember the songs. It's better to basically start off the tour with something old that the audience will recognise, then kick off with newer stuff later in the set. And then also, end the set again with a... -famous- song, you know? Or one of the most famous songs that people know: that's also a good thing because then it kind of becomes a good for the whole show. CoC: Everyone goes out on a high note, kinda thing. Shagrath: Yeah. CoC: I know what you mean. The other thing I was gonna ask you about, about the London show, was -- and people disagreed in their opinions of this, but quite a few people actually did leave early; and to my mind at least, the response was a little bit muted. I was curious how you felt about that: the show in 2000 with Nevermore, Lacuna Coil and In Flames? Shagrath: I think it was a good tour, but I can't say I remember that show specifically, so... CoC: Fair enough. Shagrath: I don't really remember any show we do, specifically: it's the same procedure every day, you know, so it kind of slips your mind, so to speak. But I think the tour -- if there was something completely wrong I would have remembered it, but I think it was pretty good, actually. CoC: Fair enough. Shagrath: As far as I can remember, anyway. CoC: I understand. The other thing I was gonna talk about briefly was the stage set-up for that show -- which I really didn't quite understand. You had a really big stage, and you had keyboards at the back on one side, and drums on the other, and the band at the front. I wondered whether the stage set-up in general was a big issue for the band, because it's become something, again, part of Cradle of Filth's work, but also part of other bands who've become bigger recently, in similar markets. Shagrath: It's basically just a set-up, because we are six people and the keyboard riser is just as big as the drum riser, which means you can't have the drums in the middle, because there has to be some space for everybody, you know? For people to walk and also for both of the risers in the back, and also maybe other things you have on stage like lights and monitors and all that. So it's basically just because it's that set-up for us, you know. CoC: I know what you're saying, but have you ever thought of going into a more arranged stage set-up; 'cause it's something Dimmu Borgir could go into? Like adding aspects of circus or carnival so that, visually, it's more of a performance? Shagrath: Well, the bigger the budget, the better it will be, you know. That's basically all I can say. It's all about the budget: what we are able to afford. But of course we want to give our fans as much as possible. CoC: Absolutely. Shagrath: So I mean, if we had a million bucks to spend on each show on visual effects then we would do that, you know? CoC: Absolutely. Shagrath: But I mean, it's hard when we tour with a lot of other bands 'cause they need their space on stage and it's very limited for, basically, what you can do on stage for our stage show. So it all comes down to that, you know. CoC: It's something that divides Dimmu Borgir, though, from bands with a -brand- and a -trademark- -- you know, bands like KISS. Shagrath: Yeah. CoC: Where like every night you -know- that there's gonna be fire- breathing... Shagrath: Yeah, exactly. CoC: I think in that way it's kind of good though, 'cause it's less of a formula. I think that's perhaps one of the things the band have managed to avoid to a certain extent: a formula, if you see what I mean. Shagrath: In one way it would be good, but I know what you mean. [At this point, I remark to Shagrath that my next few questions are about lyrics: he suggests this would be a perfect opportunity for Silenoz, the band's primary lyricist, to take over.] Silenoz: Hey, Silenoz here. CoC: Hello, how're you doin'? I was just gonna ask you about lyrics, basically. Silenoz: OK. CoC: I was reading some old interviews with DB recently and there was one interview where you were saying that you hoped the words you write in DB albums, the lyrics, would "enlighten people" and "make them start to question things". Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: I'm just curious what you meant when you said that. I'm curious whether you actually think that people will read the lyrics, and - just- from the lyrics themselves, as they are... Silenoz: Yeah, I mean for those who actually read the lyrics and take them into consideration that's a bonus, at least for me personally; maybe for the band too, you know. What I meant when I said like "people should question things": it seems that a lot of people, they just go with whatever's being said or what they see or hear, you know, without actually thinking about what's the case, and why is it like that. So, I mean, in a very... if you look upon religion and all that, that's just how I feel it is, you know. I personally grew up in a very religious neighbourhood. My family wasn't religious at all really, but the neighbourhood made me start to question: why are all these people doing this without actually having a specific reason to do it? There must be something else, something I don't get or whatever, but that's just how I grew up, from that. You know, even if I get told something, I always -- until I see it proven or stuff, I tend to ask questions about it, you know? CoC: I see what you're saying in terms of being inquisitive... Silenoz: Yeah, I try to be... it's something we say in Norway, "nøktern", which means you keep your feet planted on the ground until you have to lift them, you know. CoC: The other thing I was gonna ask you about was what you meant by this -- which I didn't quite understand in the interview, and wasn't followed up on: "...there are far too many soulless and superficial minded beings around that just go with whatever they hear and see without asking why. Not everyone is worthy the gift of life you know." Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: What do you mean by "not worthy of the gift of life"? Silenoz: It's just that, umm... how should I say this in a proper manner? Errr, it's like, people don't really think about why they are here, you know, they just take a lot of things for granted. I grew up, I guess, from a kind of spoilt generation; but as it looks now, the generation after when I grew up are even more spoiled; and, you know, they just take a lot things for granted without even considering or thinking about it. So, in big words, that's basically what I meant with that quote. And it's probably kind of a harsh statement but still I stand behind it 100% because it's... I want people to talk about stuff, you know, and you don't get people to talk about stuff unless it's harsh words that you use. CoC: I know what you mean: if you shock people, they sort of do a double take and actually think about things. Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: So in some respects would you say that applies to the lyrics as well? That there are certain things which are maybe not said as - precisely- as they could be because they're said in a way that tries to get people to sort of light-up; because when people object to something it's when they start thinking about it most? Silenoz: Yeah, exactly, I think when you also read the lyrics on the new album you'll see that I've tried to write them in a more kind of open way. I still think they're more extreme than on the last album, but obviously I've used a lot of symbolism, metaphors and substitutions -- 'cause it's really easy to write it that way -- but still there's a lot of stuff that's straight to the point. I expect some people that are interested in reading the lyrics will take them into consideration. You know, if they feel connected to what I write then, well, that's really a bonus, you know? It's not like we write something to try and convince people; 'cause we have an opinion and we leave -preaching- to the religious people. They can -preach- to everyone, you know: that's not what we do. It's just an opinion, really. CoC: I can understand that. Talking about record labels -- again, sorry for the perennial comparison, but it's notable that Cradle of Filth have recently moved to a major label, Sony. That's something I think Dimmu Borgir, sales-wise, have the potential to do. I'm curious whether you, the band, are happier making metal on a big -metal- label like Nuclear Blast, than you would be on a major label where you would be a smaller artist? Silenoz: Well, you don't have any... guarantees on a major label. The way we are getting priority on Nuclear is so overwhelming, so there is no... we don't have any reason to even consider doing it with a different label, 'cause we have... I mean, Nuclear Blast has really good distribution and they know about metal in general. I mean Markus Staiger, he started his company from his bedroom in the late Eighties, and look where he's got now, you know? CoC: Absolutely. They've really hit it. Silenoz: So I mean, there's a good working relationship between us and Nuclear Blast. They give us a little bit between the fingers. You know we have a deadline for every album, right? But sometimes they see beyond that 'cause they know that if we get too much pressure on us... we have told them, like, if you pressure us with anything whatsoever then you can get the album but you -know- it's not gonna sound like we want it to sound. So they just give us, you know, free hands to deliver the album when we feel it's ready for it. CoC: They know and trust you as a band, you think. Silenoz: Yeah, exactly. That's what makes it so easy. CoC: That's unusual. Silenoz: Yeah, and we're really grateful for that because they don't do that with every album or with every band. We are really happy to have that relationship and they give us something and we give them something back, so it's like a fifty-fifty to make it work properly. CoC: I think it's probably characteristic of the relationship you've had with them in that you've consistently made albums you wanted to, and that always worked, if you know what I mean. Silenoz: Yeah, exactly. CoC: That's not cynical as such, but pragmatically, for them, if you've made albums that work and sell, then they're smart if they don't fuck with that, you know? Silenoz: Yeah. They know that if we can do things on our own, the way we want, then they know at least we have done our part of the deal and it's up to them to do their part of the deal. And so far it seems to be a really successful relationship. CoC: The other thing I was gonna ask about which is somewhat more light-hearted: on the road, I've noticed a lot of bands are playing computer games, because they fit on buses and things like that. Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: I'm curious, 'cause I was reading another interview from a while back where someone was talking about what you guys did apart from playing music, and you said how little time you had. I was just curious what you guys did on tour buses, because clearly that's a large part of your life, having to travel. So I was curious, thereby, what you do with a lot of your time. Silenoz: Well, I'm really interested in geography since I went to school. So I try to, you know, look as much around as possible, especially if there's a place we haven't been to before. Apart from that obviously there's a lot of partying going on -- as usual, you know -- maybe more with us than other bands, but that's how we are. I mean, the six of us work really well together, not only on a professional level but also on a personal level. You know, there's a real camaraderie between us and that's something that's really important when you're on tour for like three months straight. There's a lot of waiting around on tour, you know, but it's up to each individual what you get out of it so I try to keep myself occupied at least with geography and things 'cause I'm really interested in history and stuff too. CoC: 'Cause you're travelling a lot, you find out about the place you're going and that sort of thing? Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: I can see why you do that. So you wouldn't say there's a lot of computer games playing and film watching? Silenoz: Yeah, actually, I'm probably the one that plays -least- computer games. But obviously, you watch a movie and then you meet a lot of friends or acquaintances on tour when you play different places too. So you hang out a lot, you know, try to kill time as much as possible, really. CoC: This, of course, you don't have to answer -- and I'm not looking for a -figure- -- but how much, in general terms, do Dimmu Borgir make money-wise? 'Cause one of the things I was gonna ask was whether anyone had had problems with substance abuse -- you know, the things that go along with bands who have rather -charmed- financial existences. But from what I've read, when you guys run out of money -- 'cause you don't have -quite- enough -- you have to go back to work for a little bit, or what have you, and things like that. Silenoz: Well, that -was- the case a year or two ago. I even had to take a part-time job as a kindergarten uncle. Go figure! But it made me the extra money I needed to pay the bills and stuff. But -now- it seems that since the back-catalogue is - still- selling really good, that at least me and Shagrath won't have to concentrate on extra day jobs and stuff. 'Cause at the same time we don't the have time to do it, so we're really happy that this is some kind of card game that goes on the right side, so to speak. I'm sure there's a lot of people thinking that we are getting rich and shit, but that's not, errrr... I mean, we basically earn an average Norwegian salary -- maybe less than average, but still enough to survive, you know, and pay the bills. But it's like, when you're not touring or you're not recording an album -- like we have done now for the last one and a half years -- and you're kind of tight on money, sometimes you just have to borrow money from someone to keep yourself alive; but the other thing is that the tax rate in Norway is so fucking high, and everything else in Norway is so fucking expensive. So if we would have lived in -- not negatively speaking -- but if we would have lived in Poland, for instance, we would probably have a decent life, you know? CoC: This is something I was thinking of, actually. If you live in Norway and you work a normal job in Norway, you are better off than you are working in Britain, because in Norway the wage-rates are adjusted to the money... Silenoz: Yeah, that's true. CoC: But you guys are making money through a German record company on an international, not a Norwegian, market. Silenoz: Exactly. CoC: So clearly your money is gonna be less valuable to you, if you see what I mean. Silenoz: Yes. CoC: I know you're not complaining about your status; I would hope and think that you're happy to be able live off the music at all. Silenoz: Yeah. But it took us ten years, you know, and it was ten years of fucking hard work too. So it's like -really- good to know that everything you have invested -- not only money-wise but also like your fucking soul and time and everything -- is starting to pay back, you know, but with a good feeling: you don't feel like you ripped people off or anything like that because, you know, you feel that you own, rightfully, what you earn now. But still it's nothing errr... I mean, I don't even have my own car yet, you know? CoC: It's a strange contrast. Silenoz: It is, actually. CoC: Because on the one hand I think, for your age, you're managing a pretty incredible achievement as an extreme -metal- band. Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: But on the other hand, for your age as a job or for your age as a -huge- rock band, or whatever, you know, -monetarily-, you're in a very different situation. It's a strange contrast there. Silenoz: Exactly. It's a tricky situation. I mean, it was like one or two years ago when in-between rehearsals and stuff, you had to have a second job to just be able to have food on the table, so, you know... CoC: That's pretty tough. Silenoz: Yeah. CoC: One last question before we finish. Do you have any opinion on the Tolkien connection with black metal? Silenoz: Actually I am one of the people who hasn't had the patience to read the book, but obviously I've seen the movie. So I cannot say whether, you know -- I'm obviously really fascinated about the movie, but since I didn't read any of the books I don't have any -specific- relationship to it, as maybe other people have. But it's a quite fascinating history that Tolkien made, you know. I understand totally why people are so fascinated about it. I guess that's why a lot of black metal bands have taken inspiration from the stories: it has like a dark and a light side, and at the same time they're really close, they almost blended together from my point of view, you know. CoC: There's no connection, personally, between you and Silenius who plays in Summoning, is there? Silenoz: No, but I expect -- although I don't know him or anything -- that he has also taken his name from the same character I have taken mine from, which is from Greek mythology. A Silenoz is like... it's like the same as Satyrs but kind of a higher range, you know... CoC: I vaguely remember them from first year classics, actually. Silenoz: That's cool. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= N E M O ' S S E A R C H F O R S U C C E S S . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC has a brief chat with Tuomas Holopainen of Nightwish by: Paul Schwarz Big favourites with lovers of so-called "Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-metal", Finland's Nightwish have, in the last few years, become one of extreme metal's "bands to watch". In the wake of the mass popularity Evanescence recently achieved -- and the breakthroughs that Lacuna Coil, crucially, made shortly before -- the now-Nuclear-Blast- distributed, female-fronted Finnish five-piece look set to take the metal mainstream by storm with their forthcoming fifth full-length, _Once_. In the first week of March, I called up keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen to chat about it, the high-profile video the band had filmed with director Antti Jokinen for _Once_'s first single, "Nemo", and what Nightwish were up to for the rest of the year. CoC: You did two sessions with the London Session Orchestra -- and with the second, on February 29th, finished the recording of _Once_. What was it like working with the London Session Orchestra? Tuomas Holopainen: It was totally, absolutely incredible. The first time we went there I was actually pretty scared 'cause I hadn't heard any of the arrangements, but I was pretty confident in Mr. Pip Williams and I was definitely confident with the orchestra as well, because the same guys played in the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" films. So I had all the faith in the world in them, but it was still a very exciting thing to hear them play: it was one of the biggest experiences of my whole career, to have them play my songs. Both sessions were incredible and they really gave a new touch to the album, for the overall concept of the album. CoC: So you think it enhanced what the album -was-? TH: Yeah. CoC: So now you've finished the album? TH: Basically, yeah. We started mixing it today. All the recordings are made and we have about a month's worth of mixing to do. CoC: Where are you mixing the album? TH: At Finnvox studios, in Helsinki. CoC: Is there a release date for it yet? TH: It should be the 7th of June. The beginning of June, definitely. CoC: So everything went to plan in the end, there were no setbacks? TH: No, not in the whole session, really. We had been in the studio since mid-October. The only bad thing about this whole thing is that it's taken so long. But the atmosphere within the band and in the recordings has been really nice, and much better than doing the _Century Child_ album. It's been a real nice process. Too long, but that's a small thing. CoC: When the album comes out in June, what's the plan? Are you planning a tour? TH: Well, we have a few festival shows during the summer, only festivals. I don't know much about that: a few shows in Finland and in Europe. The actual tour starts in August. First we go off to America -- we have fourteen shows there -- after that there's the Finnish tour, Scandinavian tour, European and South American tour. Then we take a Christmas break and continue touring after Christmas in 2005. CoC: You recently did a video clip with Antti Jokinen, who has done videos for Celine Dion, Eminem and Shania Twain, and is currently working on "Exorcist: The Beginning" with Renny Harlin ("The Long Kiss Goodbye"). How was that and what sort of visuals have been prepared for that? TH: To be honest, I haven't seen any of the stuff yet. The original idea for the story was made by me, actually, and then the director saw it and he thought it was pretty cool, but he changed it quite a bit, actually. The band is pretty much playing in a snowstorm so it's a very snowy kind of video with huge special effects -- at least, with our budget, what we can do. But it's something that, at least, nobody in Finland has done before. Antti Jokinen is amazing, he's like a Hollywood star so he really knows how to do this thing and we just wanted to give him a shot and, like I said, I haven't seen one second of the final result yet so I can't tell you anything more. CoC: Are you looking for this album to make you a much bigger band in terms of pop success? TH: Well, that was never the intention, and once you hear the album you'll understand what I mean. This album is gonna be pretty difficult -- difficult is the word, because these songs don't have much "hit potential", that's what I think. Only the single, "Nemo", is written in the "hit song" structure. We just had to do one of them, because of the single. The album has a lot of orchestra. It's very massive. It's very much different parts in the songs. It's more like film music than normal heavy metal songs. It's definitely something unique, and I'm very proud of that. We'll see what happens. CoC: When you go on tour, are there any plans thus far to replicate the orchestral sounds with live players, or is that simply out the of question financially? TH: It's gonna be mini-disc at least for the first shows. We just can't do it because of the money -- it's gonna cost like hell. But there are some plans, some preliminary plans for sometime in 2005, to do some shows with the orchestra and a choir. It would be a dream come true for us. It's gonna take a lot of arrangements, but I think that we're gonna do it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NEIL'S NEEDLE MEETS CARCASS'S BONESAW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Chats with Sven from Aborted by: Paul Schwarz Some might well argue that Belgium's Aborted are not a 'cutting edge' death metal band -- except in terms of their lyrical content. Admittedly their gore-obsessed works of splatter fuse typically death/grind influences to almost Swedish-style passages with artful grace, and emulate Carcass better than the likes of Exhumed or Impaled could ever manage; but in the big picture the band have yet to put out a truly era-defining or revolutionary album. That said, not every band need be era-defining -or- revolutionary; and as far as satisfying the appetite for fresh meat of those who share their tastes in metal, Aborted did a damn fine job with last year's _Goremageddon - The Saw and the Carnage Done_. Presented here is an e-mail chat with vocalist Sven, from around the time of its release. CoC: Aborted are a gore metal band from the perspective that your lyrics seem to focus squarely on gore-related topics. Simultaneously, a fair amount of your sound as a band owes a lot to the likes of Carcass and others who dealt with similar subject matter for their lyrics; but Aborted is clearly not restrictively influenced by so- called gore metal bands: you can hear this from _Goremageddon_ itself. How much does the lyrical subject matter or music of Aborted prefigure its counterpart? Sven: I'd say that the lyrics are an important part of Aborted, being in a way that they have to be of at least some level and not just your regular 'chop hack stab kill' material. Though we always have kept a certain level of black humour hidden within them -- we're not taking this too seriously, there are songs dealing with your regular poop joke, your regular zombie song, but we also have a lot of songs that are based on the acts and reasonings of serial killers and mass murderers. We also put some small critical messages hidden throughout the album, for the listener to find out. The music and lyrics stand completely apart from each other, they are both very important to Aborted but lyrics aren't based on the musical feel of a song or the other way around. I write my lyrics to the music, the song itself, based on topics or thoughts that come up at the moment, if that's what you're meaning. CoC: Do you find that the two aspects (lyrics and music) feed off each other, for example -- and if so, how do they do this? S: Well, in a way you can state that the lyrics build up the same way the music does, or try to as much as possible. They accentuate what the music itself is doing; it's all pretty violent, so you can't talk about roses and delivering pink underwear to your neighbour now can you? As in any band of some level, I think the lyrical aspect has a pretty important part in it. CoC: In today's scene, of which Aborted are a part, there are a number of bands promoting themselves and spreading their music under the "gore metal" banner. American bands like Impaled and Exhumed immediately spring to mind as the kind of acts many will compare Aborted with: though there are distinct differences, the profound influence of Carcass (and related bands) on all three bands in both music and lyrics is striking. Do you have an opinion on how Aborted stand in relation to the music being made around them? S: I wouldn't compare Aborted to any of those bands, musically, but it's true that in imagery and in a lyrical aspect those bands have one point in common, and that is the love for Carcass, one of the best bands that has walked on this planet. As to the aforementioned bands, they are rather strictly limited to the medical world of Carcass; Aborted adds different aspects into it, being about organised religion, racism and social apathy which eventually breeds killers. All those things are present within Aborted, yet we're not putting it too much on the surface. It's true that music evolves, and shall always keep on evolving. As to standing in relation to the music being made now around us, of course we're listening to new bands and checking out other releases; everything we like is getting mixed up in there somehow, and there are no limits. We've always been in search for 'our' own sound of some sort, and I think with this new album, we have in some ways succeeded in calling this to be Aborted the way we wanted it to be from the beginning. CoC: Do you have an impression of the kind of crowd the band draws? S: That differs really, there's a lot of different people at shows, from the regular death metal freaks, to the grindcore fans, up to straight hardcore kids. Everyone is welcome at shows and it's all about respect. I'm not going to bitch to a hardcore kid who's straightedge that he can't like our music, or that we have gay fans that listen to Linkin Park or whatever. I believe everyone into music is into it for the love of music. I don't care what they wear, look like or even listen to besides death metal. It's all about respect: respect for the bands and respect for the fans, as simple as that. CoC: Belgium as a country does not have the same kudos attached to it as, say, Sweden or Norway, in today's extreme metal scene. Do you think your experience of being in a death metal band is substantially different from many because of your national origins? S: In a way it's harder: being from Belgium surely doesn't give you a head start as if you were to come from Sweden, Finland or even Holland. There aren't that much well known or better known extreme metal acts here; in a way Belgium has been behind on this, and not really working on this as well -- though there is a strong scene now, and eventually Belgium will get on the metal map, I'm quite sure. There's some strong bands in the scene now. CoC: Do you feel like you have to try harder to convince people of your worth than, say, the average Swedish band from Gothenburg or Malmö produced at Fredman or Berno respectively, for example, has to? S: Of course, as said above, not a lot of Belgian bands are known or loved; it's quite hard and you have to work very hard to get noticed; but I guess in a way now the stakes are a lot higher here and bands are working harder now, which is a good thing. It's a fact that if your album gets recorded at a well-known studio or produced by a big name and what not, that you'll draw more attention to yourself; quite silly, but that's the way it is. If you show a person a Belgian release and a product recorded at Fredman, what do you think they'll choose? I think it's quite evident. CoC: Was the subtitling of your new album as "The Saw and the Carnage Done" a reference to / pun on the Neil Young song? Why did you choose to use a subtitling at all, and why did you want this particular phrase? S: Yes, indeed, it's a pun on "The Needle and the Damage Done" from Neil Young; we originally were going to entitle the album just _The Saw and the Carnage Done_, but we thought it was a bit too long sounding, and not as catchy to the ear as "Goremageddon" is. "Goremageddon" has also been a term we've used from our demo on, and a couple years back some other bands have been using this as well; we didn't like that that much to be honest, so we also wanted to make a statement: this is GOREMAGEDDON. We chose to use the original title as a subtitle cause the whole together sounds pretty cool and it's kind of a blink towards _Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious_. CoC: It sometimes seems like the 'rules' or 'classifications' of metal have now been set down in stone. A lot of bands seem to almost delimit themselves into a sub-generic space to give themselves a 'stronger' identity -- and it certainly makes them easier to pitch at the strongly stratified extreme metal audience. Do you feel like there are boundaries, albeit self-created ones, which 'limit' what Aborted can be musically? S: For Aborted it's quite simple: we put into the music anything we like. It's our personal taste and everyone is into a lot of different things and we're all quite open-minded. We don't give a fuck about boundaries, barriers or whatever labels they put on music; if we like it, and we think it sounds good and fits into the music, it's good. Of course we're an extreme death metal band, so the overall has to sound extreme, but there are no barriers to mix things up a little and keep it interesting. CoC: If you as a band made an album and agreed it was a great Aborted album, for example, would it just be nonsensical for someone else to say, "That's not how Aborted should sound"? S: Maybe for that person yes, personally we wouldn't care about what other people say -- we're still in this band to enjoy what we're doing, and as long as we like what we do, there is no one who has the right to say how we have to sound. We're Aborted, we play death metal, it's pretty extreme and fast, yes. But that's all that is fixed, what is to come is a book that has still to be written. CoC: Is there any form of music or experience which you think should be censored from having an impact on Aborted -- like a personal, profound love of jazz or musical theatre in one of the members, for example? S: As said, we're five very different persons, and we enjoy different things, but we -do- know what goes in and what doesn't. We're open to anything as long as it fits to the song in question and we all like it. So I don't think people have to worry we'll get some cheesy rapping y'all and jazz funk or whatever into it, haha. CoC: What is the best thing about being in Aborted for you, and what would you say is the best thing about Aborted, the band? S: The best thing for everyone in Aborted would be touring, playing shows for different audiences. Playing live is still what it's all about -- no album releases or anything can beat the energy you get from the stage. The best thing about the band Aborted would be the energy we try to give back to the people who come to our shows and appreciate it. We don't try to be the standard band music-wise, and we give 200% at each show. CoC: Is there a lyrical concept or over-arching theme to _Goremageddon_, like the exploits of a gruesome 'doctor', for instance? S: Not to that extent, but the whole thing is all over the medical concept, yes. Lots of songs deal with serial killers. "Ornaments of Derision" deals about David Koresh, a Texan sect leader that lead to the death of hundreds of people because of religious fanaticism. As said, it's just not your regular 'hack stab slash' album; there's a lot more different aspects worked out, yet in a more gathered and streamlined 'medical' concept. CoC: The song-titling on _Goremageddon_ seems to draw a lot on Carcass' early/mid era, especially _Necroticim - Descanting the Insalubrious_. Is this where the inspiration came from? S: Haha, you're the first to actually notice, and yes, the title of the album was both a pun on Neil Young and _Necroticism_. Carcass has been a very influential band to many acts, but I wouldn't say Aborted is in any way a Carcass clone; there are much more influences and different things worked into it than just Carcass. But lyrics-wise, I would have to say we have, at least on this album, worked a bit towards the Carcass feel indeed. CoC: Where did the knowledge and inspiration to write the lyrics and songtitles to _Goremageddon_ come from, both in terms of bands and other inspirations like books, films, real anecdotes and news, etc.? S: Well, lots of the lyrics of the album were written in Denmark, at the hotel where we were staying, or in the studio. We wrote and recorded the album in a period of five months; having worked in two new people in the band, everything had to go quite fast. I just sat down every night while the others were playing and practicing and wrote whatever came to mind. "Meticulous Invagination" is about the first Ted Bundy murder; "Ornaments of Derision" is about David Koresh, as said before; as opposed to "Clinical Colostomy" which is a sequel to "Sphinctral Enthrallment" which is the usual clinical poop joke, and so on. It was quite hard to get everything right without a dictionary, any lecture or anything around, I can tell you that, hahaha. CoC: Without which bands or musical styles could Aborted have never existed? S: Death metal to start with, quite obviously, haha. Some bands: Slayer, Suffocation, Carcass, Dismember, Entombed, Cryptopsy, Grave, Illdisposed, Morbid Angel and much, much more. Contact: http://www.goremageddon.be =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _, __, _,_ _, _ _, / \ | |_) | | |\/| (_ |~| | , |_) | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~~~ ~ `~' ~ ~ ~ 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! Amen - _Death Before Musick_ (Eat Ur Music, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (9 out of 10) It's astonishing to note the degree of separation between what passes for punk these days and what truly goes some way toward defining the term. That said, there has been much whining from various quarters on the topic, but one could perhaps argue that this sorry state of affairs has forced real punk bands to adopt a workmanlike attitude that has ultimately served to benefit their recorded output, case in point being Amen. While the members of Blink 182 were showing off multi-million dollar mansions on MTV's Cribs, the past three years have at best been trying for one Casey Chaos. Dumped by Virgin Records on the cusp of releasing his band's third album and then being slapped with a demand for upwards of $200,000 just to secure the rights to his own music, is only some of the near career-ending turmoil that followed 2000's superb _We Have Come for Your Parents_ effort. Four years on though and instead of cashing in his chips and calling it a day, like so many others would have, Mr Chaos has recruited a fresh set of co-conspirators and poured what little money he had left into _Death Before Musick_. The results speak for themselves. Although not as frenzied as the group's first two releases, _Death Before Musick_ is definitely no less incendiary, providing ample evidence once again that Amen are the combined reincarnation of The Dead Kennedys and Iggy & The Stooges. Indeed, Casey Chaos' debt to one Iggy Pop is especially noticeable on such mid-tempo rockers as "Hello (One Chord Lovers)" and "California's Bleeding". Unfortunately though, the record, like its predecessors, flags a little toward the end. However, in this instance, it is markedly less so than with past efforts, and invariably it does not detract at all from the fact that _Death Before Musick_ is as perfect a rallying call as there ever was for a full- scale riot. Contact: http://www.comaamerica.com Ares Wrath - _War Bombastic Black Metal_ (7 out of 10) by: James Montague (South Satanic Terrorists Records, 2004) "Satan and Tanks -- Together at Last!" I would like to propose the above slogan for Ares Wrath, the latest incarnation of the unforgiving war metal style largely propagated by the underground of Australia and -- as in this case -- Brazil. One can certainly make out the pioneering extremity of their compatriots Sarcofago -- blended with the extremity of 1990s European black and American death metal -- in this brutal twenty minute onslaught of militant blast beats and calamitous guitar shredding. With the album title, and exclamatory track names like "Hail Atomic Bomb!" and "Praise Hail Satan!", Ares Wrath surely aren't looking for prizes in subtlety, and will more or less follow any path that leads to destruction and evil. Good for them! Now, the relentless blasting style of war metal is one which I can only handle in limited doses, but there is much in this whirlwind to suggest that Ares Wrath can produce a real keeper of an album in the future. Most importantly, these sudamericanos have realized that burying a melody somewhere amongst the carnage is not a bad thing, and can add a sinister subplot to proceedings -- it was this little nuance that made Bestial Warlust's seminal work _Vengeance War 'til Death_ such a classic. Furthermore, many of the most diabolical melodies are carried by the bass guitar, giving the album extra credibility in this biased reviewer's opinion. The bassist picks, scratches and slaps the strings around, adding real character to the riffs. The guitarists generally just shred away, and the drummer murders his kit while the vocalist screams his tits off. That's all well and good, but it's the bass guitar that gives the music the winning edge. Another winning aspect of the music is its brevity -- a blasting black/death metal song should not go for six or seven minutes as bands like Abominator would have you believe, and Ares Wrath recognize the need for a bit of wham-bam-thankyou-ma'am conciseness. For a debut MCD, the amount of effort put into the packaging of _War Bombastic Black Metal_ is noteworthy, each of the six songs' lyrics superimposed on WWII archive photos, scenes of nuclear armageddon and the crucifixion of that guy so many people fawn over. Ares Wrath have set out to bombard the listener with every extreme image imaginable, and have managed to back it up with an impressive musical arsenal. Fans of Bestial Warlust, Conqueror, Destruktor or Abominator should keep an eye out for these chaps. Contact: http://www.sstcircle.com Cephalectomy - _Eclipsing the Dawn_ (Discorporate Music, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) As my inaugural foray into Cephalectomy's feverishly paced world of chaos and mysticism, I was overcome with the band's ability, form and style; Forest of Impaled had a similar impact. Spearheaded by Corey Andrews, Cephalectomy credits the assistance of two other tortured souls: Jason Nichols and Rob DeCoste. The grind of this Discorporate Music outfit is layered with all the necessary constructs, including a brutal death, crusty black, gut-wrenching grind and a ferocious metal approach all at a nitro-charged jackhammer pace. If that is not enough, the melody is omnipresent throughout the full-length sophomore release _Eclipsing the Dawn_, ultimately making this effort a sizeable powerhouse of staggering fanaticism. Cephalectomy's mysticism, musically and lyrically, soars far above the mediocre and challenges the extreme metal genre in complicated new ways. Furthering their progression, these Nova Scotians might better serve themselves by developing a stronger use of their inescapably intricate melody and timely tempo changes whereby enhancing their overall seismic allure on _Eclipsing the Dawn_. Inauspicious, this band has struck a sinister balance between blunt force and devilish delirium. The articulate pace changes, intense low end and punishing vocal savagery make _Eclipsing the Dawn_'s exactly thirty-eight minutes an experiment in punishment and power. Contact: http://www.cephalectomy.com Crimson Altar - _The Ghost Ship Sails_ (Independent, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (4 out of 10) It was always going to be a difficult thing to review Crimson Altar's debut in the same month as the fantastic new Flowing Tears opus, but even at my most lenient I cannot think of a phrase better suited to this London-based gothic metal outfit than "dull as dishwater". Aside from the fact that their music sounds like a tedious melancholy take on '70s rock, it becomes increasingly evident as the record progresses that vocalist Jude K would benefit greatly by investing in a few singing lessons, since she seems barely capable of holding a note for longer than five seconds. Occasionally, a faint glimmer of charm manages to break through the bogs -- the chorus to "Sick of Shadows" being one such rare moment -- but ultimately Crimson Altar's brand of musical doom and gloom is painful for all the wrong reasons. Contact: http://www.crimsonaltar.com Flowing Tears - _Razorbliss_ (Century Media, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (8 out of 10) It is a sad and undeniable shame that the societal majority has grown increasingly accustomed to accepting what marketing and advertising force-feeds them, as opposed to selecting the best alternative. If indeed the latter were the case it is not inconceivable that Germany's Flowing Tears would long ago have enjoyed a much greater level of popularity. Bred from the same generic stock as their label mates Lacuna Coil, _Razorbliss_ is the first Flowing Tears record to feature Helen Vogt on microphone duties -- and in case anyone is wondering, yes, aside from being quite fetching, she is also much better than her predecessor, Stefanie Duchêne. In fact, word has it that she is largely to thank for the band's heavier approach this time round. That said though, every member of Flowing Tears has done a terrific job on _Razorbliss_, and particularly "Radium Angel" and "Believe" stand out as the highlights of their effort. Throw in one of Waldemar Sorychta's best turns in the producer's chair and you have an album that effortlessly shows up corporate wimp-rock like Evanescence for the tepid hogwash that it is. Contact: http://www.flowingtears.de Grimfist - _Ghouls of Grandeur_ (Candlelight, 2003) by: Jackie Smit (8.5 out of 10) While much has been made of ex-Immortal sticksman Horg's involvement with the Norwegian wrecking ball known as Grimfist, those expecting an onslaught of frostbitten black metal are bound for disappointment. Nay, straightforward and brutal METAL is the name of Grimfist's game -- and a fastidiously played one it is. You see, while Phil Anselmo flaps his gums about his Superjoint Ritual being the most dangerous band in the world, and the mainstream salivates over the rebirth of metal in the so-called New Wave of American Heavy Metal, Grimfist have quietly created an album that recalls the menace and genuine ferocity of the old school. Add into the mix some furiously chugging grooves that are borderline hardcore and a tinge of black metal darkness, and you have a record that no fan of heavy music should be without. While it is true that Peter Tagtren's sterile production at times renders the material lifeless, this is by no means a serious or overly irksome fault. Songs like "Outlined in Black" and "No Compromise" are the products of tremendous talent and passion, ultimately making _Ghouls of Grandeur_ an outstanding debut from a band that clearly have the potential to contribute a helluva lot to this genre we all love so much. Contact: http://www.grimfist.com Immemorial - _After Deny_ (Conquer Records, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (7.5 out of 10) Despite Angela Gossow scaling the top of many a readers' poll by virtue of more than simply her female wiles, the idea of a female- fronted death metal band remains somewhat of an anomaly -- largely one might think due to evidence to the contrary which at best can be described as sparse. Immemorial's Karla can therefore tap herself on the shoulder for further strengthening the feminine cause in extreme music with a performance that not only stands out, but transcends any sort of gender bias purely through ample amounts of raw talent. Not that her fellow bandmates haven't done a commendable job either, mind you. Alumni of the Behemoth school of death metal, Immemorial follow a similar style to fellow countrymen Hell-Born, but for the most part the band are able to pull it off with far greater panache. Were it not for its tinny and often cluttered production, _After Deny_ would most likely have scored even higher; but either way there is little that can mask the inventiveness behind songs like "Corrupted by Death" and "Longing for Sin". If brutal, grinding death metal is your flask of rum, then this record should most certainly be on your shopping list. Contact: http://www.immemorialband.prv.pl Insomnium - _Since the Day It All Came Down_ (Candlelight, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (10 out of 10) When the distant gong of church bells first sounded across eight- tracks and record players the world over some three decades ago, it was clear that heavy music and melody would forever remain entwined in a relationship that more often than not would not be mutually exclusive. As time passed, bands like Iron Maiden developed and laid down the further groundwork that would see classical influences married to metal, and in turn this blueprint was later adopted by a glut of European extreme acts, before gradually trickling through into the rest of the world. Unfortunately as with all good ideas, it soon became an institution, and an increasingly dull one at that, which made the arrival of bands like Opeth -- who proved that the original abstraction still had much to offer from an artistic point of view -- so much more vital. And almost like the de rigueur that greeted the arrival of _Morningrise_ and _Orchid_, Insomnium's sophomore release is an album that could potentially be regarded as perhaps a milestone for many years to come. That _Since the Day It All Came Down_ blows away the band's already impressive debut release (_In the Halls of Awaiting_) in just about every conceivable category is pretty much implied from the start here. Indeed one can only marvel at exactly how far this Finnish quartet has come since forming in 1997. While _ItHoA_ may have hinted at the Scandinavian folk, classical and progressive elements that make up a large part of Insomnium's death metal, _StDIACD_ reveals an understanding of dynamics and songwriting craft that within their genre is virtually without parallel. In the same way "Resonance" is an introverted and sullen piece, stating its intent through the use of primarily a single acoustic guitar, so "Daughter of the Moon" is an aggressive, imposing beast, replete with duelling guitar melodies not unlike those heard on Amorphis' _Tales From the Thousand Lakes_. "Death Walked the Earth", on the other hand, is pure Scandinavian melodic death metal, but retains the band's progressive and experimental flair. With so little to fault on only their second outing, Insomnium have clearly created a situation of tremendous pressure when it comes time to produce a follow-up to what can only be described as a bona fide masterpiece. Be that as it may however, _StIACD_ is nothing short of spectacular in every sense of the word, and as far as albums for 2004 go this already has my vote as perhaps the highlight of the year. Contact: http://www.insomnium.cjb.net Necrophagia - _Goblins Be Thine_ (Red Stream, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (9 out of 10) In the literary world it is publish or perish. Musically speaking, for Killjoy, Necrophagia's founder, this has never been a problem -- though the part about perishing might hold some appeal for this twisted S.O.B. Album after album, this band enjoys a lavishly rich history; Necrophagia has been able to draw off of some powerful experience and side-projects to put together a MCD of accomplished proportions. _Goblins Be Thine_ is wonderfully packaged with a very professional look and feel -- taking massive strides over and above _Holocausto de la Morte_ and most of the rest of the back catalog. Even though my player clocked off six songs, the listed five tracks in this effort provide an alluring exercise in audio terror. While the MCD bears similarity to typical Necrophagia horror movie sampling and blood-curdling imagery, Killjoy, Fug, Marai, Iscariah, Frediablo and Titta develop a strong connection to a heavier, chunkier and "atmospheric" side of the band -- almost like a soundtrack to Dante's "Inferno". It works for these guys. _Goblins Be Thine_ is over-the-top in a restrained and absorbing way. A noteworthy point, as you can see from their well-designed website, is a nice tongue-in-cheek nod to Helloween's "pumpkins fly free" days; however Killjoy obviously could never be mistaken for Michael Kiske(!). Nothing from nothing, the new look to the Necrophagia moniker is a killer touch with respectful representations to Dark Angel and old Death, but uniquely fitting to this gaggle of ghouls who call themselves Necrophagia. If _GBT_ is a glimpse of things to come, Necrophagia's affinity for being strictly "an acquired taste" may be a thing of the past. Contact: http://www.necrophagia.com Skinlab - _Nerve Damage_ (Century Media, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (7 out of 10) As one journeys through this retrospective collection of rarities, spanning Skinlab's decade-long career, one is often struck by just how underappreciated the Bay Area quartet were. You see, while most every other member of the heavy metal fraternity was sporting outlandish day-glo hairstyles and a pair of trousers that appeared to be tailor- made for a small elephant, Skinlab busied themselves keeping things brutal. Shift their career forward by a mere five years and it becomes highly likely that they would have been the toast of the metallic crop. As _Nerve Damage_ so aptly testifies, when their combination of thrash and hardcore worked, they had the ability to be utterly devastating -- and it's no surprise therefore that even in demo form songs like "When Pain Comes to the Surface" still reek of the same class as their album counterparts. However, just as evident (if not more so if you take the nature of this release into consideration), consistency was not Skinlab's forte, and the band often missed the boat completely, coming across sounding disheveled and sloppy. Thus while _Nerve Damage_ will be a delight for hardcore fans, the casual listener might be better advised to give it a wide berth. For the devotees there's tons on offer though, ranging from an amusing selection of covers (Smashing Pumpkins' "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" among others) to demo recordings taken from each of their three releases, to live songs, to some frankly ill-advised remixes. Perhaps the two most sparkling treasures on the album come in the form of "Losing All" and "Beneath the Surface" -- unreleased songs written and recorded after the band's last _reVoltingRoom_ effort -- that cast a bright ray of hope on what Skinlab may still have in store for us in the future. Contact: http://www.skinlabmusic.com The Ravenous - _Blood Delirium_ (Red Stream, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (6 out of 10) If ever one could more assemble a torrid assortment of the rotting greats in the field of gore metal, they'd have the challenge of their lives of topping The Ravenous. "Underground" doesn't begin to explain these cannibalistic (un)human subversive demons, as Necrophagia's Killjoy, Brutal Truth's Danny Lilker and Autopsy's Chris Reifert, among other twisted sorts, wreak havoc throughout their newest pile of steaming blood-soaked cess. Fellow label mates Bethlehem have a near monopoly on pure derangement, whereas The Ravenous challenges their stranglehold on random delusional construct with _Blood Delirium_. Horrific, vivid splatter movie sampling accompanies the perverse subject matter all throughout the newest The Ravenous offering. As if you needed proof, you can imagine what these ghouls can do with song titles like "Nightmares in a Damaged Brain", "Baptized by Demon's Piss" and the always intriguing "A Corpse Is Forever", which is not a love ballad in case you were wondering. Getting past their tracks of celebrated bile-festering afflictions, The Ravenous pile on interesting song arrangement and captivating metal segues to pique the curiosity of even the most discerning critic. Subject matter and lyrical content aside, this band of gore lords incorporate a host of developed arrangements throughout most of their work. Enhanced by a multimedia CD-ROM bonus of "Mordum" and "August Underground", The Ravenous treat their disciples to a depraved and grisly look into the inner workings of their indulgence(s). Without having the benefit of digesting the EP _Three on a Meethook_ (2002), _Blood Delirium_ suffers somewhat compared to the well-crafted _Assembled in Blasphemy_ (2000). The newest effort by The Ravenous stewed untapped behind the scenes ("Festering Beneath the Fog") for sometime before unleashing its wrath on the metal community. Having that kind of time to ferment, a more mature album could have been crafted. While in no way does _Blood Delirium_ fall short on its promise of torturous debauchery, Killjoy, Danny and Chris arguably could have made this offering their (viking) crown jewel. Vrolok - _Resurgence II: Where the Dying Meet the Dead_ by: Aaron McKay (3 out of 10) (Alpha Draconis Records, 2004) Jumping in mid-stream here, maybe I missed something... This is the second of a three part "Resurgence" musical voyage. While Vrolok is "on hold" and focusing attention elsewhere, I may have a while to wait until this "tale of the abyss" reaches fruition in any form somewhere along the way. That said, Vrolok arguably harbors somewhat of a fondness for the likes of Kreig, possibly Pest and/or Nargaroth with their subterranean black metal texture found on _Resurgence II: Where the Dying Meet the Dead_. Unlike the overt message to "strive for the inner funeral", Vrolok's six tracks of abyssal abominable atrocity grate subtly from track to track and ultimately wind up coming across as hampered and very muzzled. The band's two participants include founding member Lord Perosus Diabolus Vrolok, whose duties include everything from vocals to keyboards to skull and antler percussion, and Lurker, a recent recruit having joined in 2003 to add his influence in the area of drums and percussion. Not overly wrapped in the whole "Satan or bust" mentality, Vrolok's lyrics on this second offering of the trilogy focus on a personal voyage -- albeit this voyage is through a "compressed hell" of sorts, but what could one expect? At the very least _RII:WtDMtD_ seems to avoid the tired "Devil this, Beelzebub that and Lucifer the other thing" approach to songwriting. Nonetheless for black metal, this effort comes across as inhibited. What's more, it may be under-produced by choice, but the degree this album is done with that in mind is mostly harsh and musically noisy. To make matters worse, the font on the album cover, including the band's moniker, is highly unreadable. Personally, I have never understood the whole thought-process behind trying to create a certain atmosphere with descriptors on a CD if the damn thing isn't comprehendible at all -- what does that accomplish? Enough of my soapbox tirade. In closing, the vocals in some places on the album and samples on this effort are pretty well a plus, but Vrolok has some gigantic steps to embark upon during their exploration of the abyss in order to be taken seriously above ground with the rest of us in the world of extreme music. Contact: http://vrolokofficial.cjb.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, _, _ _, _, | \ |_ |\/| / \ (_ |_/ | | | \ / , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 Demontage - _Madness Disease_ by: Aaron McKay (2 out of 5) Upon initial spins, this three piece from Toronto Canada spawned visions of the Chicago outfit Cianide and their bottom heavy offering _The Dying Truth_. Quickly, this pans out to be an unfair parallel to draw. Demontage's offers a mix of self-professed "black heavy metal" exploring the highly abused themes of "satanic rites, beer and the undead, and most importantly humanity's bleak and abysmal future" -- all this done through the band's admittedly "sarcastic and callous" manner all throughout the demo. Comprised of Spatilomantis (guitar and vocals), Abominatrix (drums) and Temüjin (bass), Demontage has real stoner metal feel to their '80s throwback style on this eclectic nearly forty minute demo. Wisely, these Canadians are searching for a full-time growler to carry the torch vocally and allow Spatilomantis to turn his full attention to guitar duties. While the protracted guitar passage on the last track of the demo, "Human Altruistic Relinquishment Machine" (where do these song titles come from?!) is an attention-getting outro of sorts, the vocals on this effort scream for some real refinement or outside expertise. As one might expect, the production is fairly harsh ("Retroexorcism" was written and recorded with the aid of a personal computer) and the cover art is more-or-less sophomoric in concept. A key to Demontage's achievement may reside in the ability to secure a skilled vocalist to communicate a more inspired set of lyrical content. Contact: http://www.demontage.5u.com Doreterna - _Titanium Souls_ by: Jackie Smit (4 out of 5) Of the two songs offered on Doreterna's first demo, the band sound at their most comfortable on "When Angels Fall", a track that combines the cold atmosphere of early Enslaved with the riffery and experimentation of bands like Borknagar and vintage Ulver. The more deathly title track is slightly less remarkable -- betraying the band's understandable lack of confidence and maturity. However, it is young days yet for this Guildford-based outfit, and judging by the class of material that they're already capable of putting together, I would not be surprised at all to see them picked up by a label in the not too distant future. Contact: http://www.doreterna.com Project: Failing Flesh - _A Beautiful Sickness_ by: Aaron McKay (4.5 out of 5) Minus the experience and longevity, of course, this three-piece unit are as tight as most any Sodom effort to date. For starters, Project: Failing Flesh displays wickedly superior drumming, especially on the opening track, "A Beautiful Sickness". A clearly defined separation on the instrumentation also seems to be a valid calling card for Project: Failing Flesh. To elaborate, what I mean by that, largely, is the choppiness of the guitar riffs layered fantastically over a discernible bass line. Furthermore, there is little in the way of a substitute for a pronounced, pounding bass, I always say. There is no lack of powerfully heavy chops on this effort, but what gives Project: Failing Flesh their individuality is the science of the remarkable and understated engineering of a sonic experience woven into their precise exercise in brutality. There are light references to My Dying Bride, musically, cut with all the meticulousness of a Dying Fetus track smoothed over with a Sacrifice (_Soldiers of Misfortune_) vocal similarity. "9mm Movie", "Entrance Wound", "Highwire Act" (riff- packed!) and the Venom cover "Warhead" are favorites off this nearly flawless demo. Truthfully, I have trouble deciding now between the P:FF version and the Massacre cover of "Warhead" as to the superior of the two renderings. That said, anyone who knows my taste and my love for Massacre's musicianship knows that is a compliment of the highest order. Good things could be headed this band's way if given the chance. Get in on the ground floor now. Contact: http://www.projectfailingflesh.com Saturate - _I Bleed Away My Mind_ by: Jackie Smit (2 out of 5) For the greater part of their first demo, Saturate sound very confused. On one hand they flirt with the monotone chug of hardcore, and an instant later they attempt to incorporate garish nu-metal influences into their sound. Predictably, it leads to fairly sub- standard results. This isn't to say that Saturate are an entirely lost case -- for however uninspiring their music sounds, they perform it with great fervor and precision. Clearly though, a lot of work needs to be done before this Swedish trio are anywhere close to playing at an international level. Contact: http://listen.to/saturate/ Stand Aside - _Tears of the Dragon_ by: Jackie Smit (3.5 out of 5) Stand Aside hail from London and produce slabs of extremity that are very similar to what passed for Euro metalcore in the mid-'90s. Predictably for a band that have only been together for just a shade over one year, much of what is on offer here is fairly pedestrian, but to their credit Stand Aside infuse each song -- specifically those toward the middle of this seven-track effort -- with enough character to make the listen at least consistently enjoyable. The high-pitched vocals tend to get a tad monotonous at times, but that is a symptom of this style of music rather than an outright criticism, and all things considered I shall look forward with optimism to what Stand Aside can produce next. Contact: http://www.standaside.co.uk =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _ _, _, / _ | / _ (_ \ / | \ / , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ A G H O U L S N I G H T O U T ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Morbid Angel & Akercocke @ The Mean Fiddler, London, UK March 23, 2004 by: Jackie Smit It's a hair over 21:00 in a woefully oversold Mean Fiddler, and I'm standing two punters' lengths away from the stage barrier, caught in what borders dangerously close to an involuntary sodomy sandwich. It's hardly surprising though. After all, this is the first time that the reigning heavyweight champions of death metal have played these shores in nearly three years, and with the accolades currently being lavished upon their latest _ Heretic _ effort, it would seem as though a triumphant return is most definitely on the cards. To be fair though, tonight's barely contained exuberance may have been augmented by Akercocke's opening performance. I had heard horror stories of unparalleled audience hostility toward bands penciled into the Morbid Angel support slot (Gorgoroth being escorted off stage by police at a certain European venue, anyone?), but tonight the Cockes pull it off in fine style. Grimacing and writhing his way through a half hour set that includes "Becoming the Adversary", "Enraptured by Evil", "Scapegoat" and a rousing rendition of "Leviathan", the ever enigmatic Jason Mendonca leads his comrades-in-metal through a ferocious set which, although lacking actual volume, gets the anticipation running at fever pitch for the arrival of Tampa's finest. This brings me to the opening chords of "Day of Suffering" -- a song that tonight bears a striking resemblance to the trumpet-call of the apocalypse. Inevitably it almost instantly incites a mosh pit that is akin to a full-scale riot; one which sustains itself and indeed grows increasingly out of hand as Morbid Angel flay the audience with the likes of "Curse the Flesh", "Dawn of the Angry", "Chambers of Dis", "Pain Divine", "World of Shit", "Cleansed in Pestilence", "Enshrined by Grace" and "Bil Ur-Sag". To top off a performance that tonight is truly second to none, we're even treated to two surprises in the form of the much-loved, rarely played "God of Emptiness" and "Where the Slime Live". But what really gets my (and the rest of the gathered legions') juices flowing are the classics: "Rapture" and "Lord of All Fevers & Plague" sound better than ever, and aside from perhaps Slayer doing "Angel of Death", I can not think of a better way to close out a show than with "Chapel of the Ghouls". The past few years have seen many contenders step up and challenge Morbid Angel's status as the leading exponents of deathly extremity, but there's a magic to their performance which goes beyond the high technical standards that quite frankly is par for bands of this caliber. Their reign may not be as undisputed as it once was, but as the evening's proud display proves, it will take some doing to strip Morbid Angel of their title. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= MIDLANDS METAL, MARSUPIAL MADNESS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND SCOTLAND'S SIGN FOR THE NORSE HORDES TO RIDE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaleb, Dionysus and The Fall of Boss Koala at The Westport, Dundee, Scotland, April 12th, 2004 by: Paul Schwarz The only local band on tonight's bill, The Fall of Boss Koala, rather cheekily, don't appear on stage until over half an hour has passed since their scheduled 20:30 start time. But though such behaviour seems best interpreted as the result of blind arrogance or deep-seated insecurity, neither aspect seems to infect the young five-piece who finally take the stage. Boss Koala have certainly come -some- way since their not unimpressive but relatively indistinct performance at last year's Revoltfest: though playing to a more meagre audience, their performance tonight is sewn together with a melodic sensibility that before only seemed able to properly embrace the generic. There's enough noise- and metal- to balance the emo- that throbs at the "core" of Boss Koala's being; they're developing into a formidable force; but most importantly, they're finally becoming their own band. To look at them, you'd almost expect Glaswegian gladiators Dionysus (also veterans of last year's Revoltfest) to continue the "core"- connected thread kicked off by Boss Koala; a lone In Flames T-shirt (worn, tellingly, by the band's -keyboardist-) gives only the vaguest hint of how pure (and yet blackened) a -metal- band now stands on stage. Mostly attired in combat trousers, and sporting as much short as long hair (one member is even be-dreadlocked!), Dionysus dress -- like many of their local contemporaries and demi-predecessors, from Broken Oath and Godplayer to Co-Exist and Madman Is Absolute -- in "hardcore casuals". But were you to walk in blindfolded and listen to any of the brash, thrash and death-infused "black power" -- think Cradle of Filth or Bal Sagoth, rather than Public Enemy, at their best -- that belters they air tonight, you'd swear Dionysus have at least one spiked wristband, inverted cross, corpse-painted face or at least a solitary -sword- between them: they don't. Interspersing tracks with unashamed yet characteristically self-aware comments like, "Try to imagine a horde of Norsemen riding into battle: that's what this song is about" or "This one's about dragons and stuff" in a straight-up style which simultaneously avoids pompous grandiosity on the one hand and cheap irony on the other, Dionysus elicit ever-loudening roars of approval and fond amusement from their fully savvy crowd with each can of melodious metal whup-ass they rip open. Rooted in the black/death underground by their own tastes alone, Dionysus effortlessly shirk expectations, transcending the generic in one fell swoop: probably because, where they come from, they pretty much -are- a one-of-a-kind, almost by default. Acceptance may be hard-won among "metal-metal" people for a band who eschew fashion "trends" so thoroughly, but in an era where the likes of Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall and God Forbid are crossing over big time, a band like Dionysus have a serious chance of being judged purely on the aesthetics of their -own- music and performance, outside of sub-generic category. The combination of visual and aural inputs may initially seem "wrong", but when you watch Dionysus make it work you'll quickly realise how "right" it ultimately is: your neck will tell you so the next morning! Vibrant, technically accomplished, and yet gratifyingly give-'em-what- they-want straight in style, the melodic metal-making of Midlands- based four-piece Kaleb perfectly fits the mood of a crowd whose lust for "pure metal" -- the local parlance for the traditional stuff, a la Iron Maiden -- has already been ignited by Dionysus. Galloping, harmonising and grooving their way through a wickedly tight forty-odd minute set -- taking in six of the eight tracks from their self- released _Alive_ CD and a ripping cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" -- the young foursome (whose oldest and youngest members are two brothers, aged 21 and 16) successfully embrace that universalising metal spirit that flows through Eighties Iron Maiden and Metallica; but without reproducing riffs like brands ( thdarkness ). Nods to latter-day melodic metal heroes like In Flames and Iced Earth confirm how contemporary a prospect is being dealt with; Kaleb do occasionally stumble on a song-title or a riff that evidences their scene-less status or seems to somehow show them up as greenhorn upstarts; but when you pick apart the niggling scene politics of it all, you're left with a young British band who are unflinching about playing melodic heavy metal, and have the balls, skill and singer to make it work like a charm. Now how often does that happen? [Addendum: I feel compelled to mention that my relationship to Kaleb is not an entirely disinterested one; not only does my good friend and fellow CoC contributer Adam Lineker play bass in the band, but I am also now actively and directly involved in helping them further their career. I would claim that these factors did not bias my review of Kaleb one way or another; but I thought it was dishonest not to mention these connections here.] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, ___ _, _ _, _, | \ |_ | /_\ | | (_ |_/ | | | | | | , , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ 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 #73 All contents copyright (c) 1995-2004 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.