_______ __ __ __ ___ | _ | |--.----.-----.-----|__.----| .-----.-----. .-----.' _| |. 1___| | _| _ | | | __| | -__|__ --| | _ | _| |. |___|__|__|__| |_____|__|__|__|____|__|_____|_____| |_____|__| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' _______ __ | _ | |--.---.-.-----.-----. |. 1___| | _ | _ |__ --| |. |___|__|__|___._|_____|_____| |: 1 | |::.. . | `-------' CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, August 4, 2004, Issue #76 http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com Ninth Anniversary Issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Co-Editor / Founder: Gino Filicetti Co-Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo 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: James Montague Contributor: Jackie Smit Neophyte: James Slone Neophyte: Todd DePalma The individual writers can be reached by e-mail at firstname.lastname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com. (e.g. Gino.Filicetti@ChroniclesOfChaos.com). >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #76 Contents, 8/4/2004 ---------------------------- * Editorial * Chats -- Bathory: KICKING*ASS in '85 - Quorthon RIP -- Destruction: A Fully Loaded Discharge of Metal -- Meshuggah: From Nothing to Number "I" -- Serpens Aeon: The Dawn of a New Aeon -- Fall of the Leafe: Autumn's First Triumph -- Descent: Into the Pit of Pain! * Albums -- Ad Hominem - _...For a New World_ -- AmmiT - _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_ -- Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_ -- Bazzah - _Kingdom of the Dead_ -- Deathspell Omega - _Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice_ -- Exciter - _New Testament_ -- Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - _A Queda / A Era do Abutre_ -- Forest of Impaled - _Forward the Spears_ -- Goretrade - _Ritual of Flesh_ -- In Grey - _Sulphur Tears_ -- Infinited Hate - _Revel in Bloodshed_ -- Killaman - _Killaman_ -- Krieg - _The Black House_ -- Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_ -- Martyr - _A Malicious Odyssey_ -- MD.45 - _The Craving (remastered)_ -- Megadeth - _The System Has Failed_ -- Napalm Death - _Leaders Not Followers 2_ -- Nargaroth - _Raluska Part I_ -- Necrophagist - _Epitaph_ -- Officium Triste - _Reason_ -- Pest - _Daudafaerd_ -- Tankard - _Beast of Bourbon_ -- Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_ -- Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_ -- Woods of Belial - _Deimos XIII_ * Demos -- Chapter VIII - _Your Halo Is My Noose_ -- Empyrean Sky - _The Snow White Rose of Paradise_ -- Spiteful - _Upheaval_ -- The Green Evening Requiem - _The Green Evening Requiem_ * Gigs -- Death Never Sounded This Good -- Deicide? We Didn't Need No Stinkin' Deicide! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, _ ___ _, __, _ _, _, |_ | \ | | / \ |_) | /_\ | | |_/ | | \ / | \ | | | | , ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ A N O T H E R Y E A R P A S S E S U S B Y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chronicles of Chaos heads into its tenth year by: Gino Filicetti As August 12th approaches this year, I'm sure there are many of you that will be shocked to learn Chronicles of Chaos turns nine years old on that date. For years, we worked for many many months to gather up an incredible amount of material, so that we could publish it on our birthday. Anniversary issues of yesteryear were incredible behemoths filled to the brim with as many articles as we could muster. Well, things changed in 2003 when we re-opened the doors on a new and improved CoC. No longer were we bound by the limitations of end-of- month deadlines. No longer would articles sit idly by whilst their newsworthiness dwindled, waiting for the next issue of CoC to be published. And thus, with that transformation the notion of an "anniversary" super-mega-behemoth issue died. Regardless of that fact, I wanted to write this editorial to tell all of our readers where Chronicles of Chaos is headed as we plunge into our tenth year of existence. There have been some staff changes recently here at CoC. One of our newest writers, Adrian Magers, has left us to focus 100% of his time on his new band and we wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors. Also leaving our ranks are two of our oldest staff members: Adrian Bromley and Alain Gaudrault will be officially leaving the staff. As you well know, Adrian was the co-founder of Chronicles of Chaos and Alain joined forces with us on our second issue. You just don't get any older than these old timers. Their contributions to CoC made this magazine what it is today. And although they may not be official staff members any longer, they will always be close friends to all of us. With this staff revitalization comes new blood, whom I am proud to announce today: Todd DePalma hails from Long Island and comes to us seeking to expand his writing repetoire and break new ground with CoC, and James Slone is a name you may have heard in the past -- his work at previous magazines caught our eye and we are delighted that he's decided to bring his niche expertise to bear on CoC and our readership. Please join me in welcoming our new additions; we hope to see many great things from them in the future. Those with a keen eye among you will notice a Bathory interview in our archive as of July 16, 2004. This interview is actually a re-print of a rare, early interview with Quorthon back in 1985. Matthias thought it would be a fitting tribute to Quorthon, who passed away unexpectedly in early June. Enjoy the interview and also Matthias' introduction, which gives a lot of insight into the world of early Black Metal at the time this interview was published and Bathory's role in it. Rest in peace, Quorthon. In closing, I want to thank our readers, as I've done countless times in the past nine years. Without you and your continued interest in Chronicles of Chaos, we would have bitten the dust aeons ago. Instead we've stuck with it since 1995 when the Internet was in its infancy, watched competitors come and go and watched the metal scene completely transformed around us -- on more than one occasion. Through it all the only thing that allowed this magazine to survive and flourish for nine years is its indefatigable staff and its sincere and loyal readership. Cheers to you all. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _,_ _, ___ _, / ` |_| /_\ | (_ \ , | | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ K I C K I N G * A S S I N ' 8 5 - Q U O R T H O N R I P ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I just want to wake up, whether it's in heaven or in hell or wherever, open a bottle of whiskey and know that I had a ball!" by: Matthias Noll As you all should know by now, Quorthon sadly passed away on the 7th of June 2004 , at the age of 39. To honor his work, CoC has decided to present the following interview to you -- and for the first time in the existence of CoC, this is not an original piece of work, but rather an interview that was originally published in one of the best printed metal publications that ever existed: KICK*ASS magazine. KICK*ASS disappeared almost two decades ago, and its editor Bob Muldowney has gone MIA as well -- at least as far as we at CoC know. Anyone who senses copyright infringements is hereby asked and encouraged to stand up and be counted. Besides the fact that this is one of the rare early interviews with Quorthon, I find this piece to be especially interesting due to a variety of reasons. This interview provides a look back to a point in time when metal history was actually happening. Several passages (like for example the constant mentioning of the "death metal fad") could easily be taken from a 2004 interview, where the same problems -- namely too many bands, too many crappy releases -- still exist. Replace black with death and it describes the situation towards the end of the second black metal wave or the second demise of death metal during the mid-'90s. From today's perspective it's even more peculiar, because the number of records that got released back then is small compared to what we see today. Some problems have always existed and will never go away. I also believe it might be interesting for some of our readers to see that in the mid-'80s, death and black metal were hardly considered separate genres -- something that is often ignored in discussions about the early days of black metal and about how to categorize bands that range from Mercyful Fate to Hellhammer and Bathory. In addition, there's also the question of "who created black metal", which is as much a topic for discussion these days as it was back in 1985 -- even among the CoC staff. Quorthon has always denied that Venom was his main influence; in this interview, he at least admits that he's heard and even loves _Black Metal_. What's also interesting is his claim to "have been the first maniac to know about Venom in Sweden". If you take this last quote and remember that _Welcome to Hell_ came out as early as 1981 and instantly made a splash in the underground, and that _Black Metal_ got released in 1982, it's hard to believe -- at least for me, who saw and still sees the same similarities as Muldowney -- that Quorthon did not get exposed to massive doses of Venom before the Bathory debut in 1984. Of course this is my interpretation of what may have happened, and what it comes down to in the end is whether you believe that what Quorthon has said over the years about this issue is true or not. Among many other things -- for example, the absolutely hilarious statements about "Wimphammer / Celtic Compost" (and remember this comes from a guy who together with Hellhammer, Frost and a few others is considered to have created the pillars of black metal) -- it's interesting that Quorthon was not at all concerned about his image. The fact that he openly and honestly admits liking Motley Crue and writing ballads and pop music (at a time when Metallica got accused of having sold out with _Ride the Lightning_, and people like Nasty Ronny from Nasty Savage filled KICK*ASS pages explaining what they would do with the chopped-off head of Vince Neil) is absolutely stunning. In the realm of underground metal in the mid-'80s -- which was as much concerned about image and "trueness" (even if the word had no meaning back then) as the black metal scene of today -- this is the equivalent to Euronymous confessing his love for the music of Michael Jackson during the recording session for _De Mysteriis dom Sathanas_. When you look at the "Venom is not black metal because they were never serious" discussions that keep popping up everywhere, it would be interesting to know why Bathory and Quorthon have never fallen prey to the same nonsensical and revisionist interpretation of the past. Despite these surprising confessions, early Bathory has not sustained any damage and miraculously retained an effective shroud of obscurity up to this day. A possible explanation that makes quite a lot of sense to me is the fact that Bathory never played live and never took the risk of damaging their public image by exposing their ordinary selves and lousy skills on stage -- something that I consider to be the main reason why the public perception of Venom as the most evil and menacing people that ever walked the earth went down the drain during the mid-'80s. It seems that Quorthon accidentally (simply because he couldn't assemble a band and show off his flame-throwers) found a formula that would work equall y well for a band like Darkthrone. However, especially during the second half of the interview, Quorthon doesn't come across as being any more "trve", "kvlt" or serious than Konrad, Jeff and Tony, or other people from assorted Newcastle pubs. So, I'll be looking forward to a "Bathory were not black metal because Quorthon enjoyed listening to Motley Crue better than celebrating black masses" thread on our message board. Most importantly, this piece serves the main purpose of paying tribute to Quorthon, Bathory, and especially his importance in the creation of the black metal genre and the fact that he played a main role in shaping metal, even as we know it today in 2004. In addition, I would also like to take the opportunity to hail KICK*ASS and namely Bob Muldowney who conducted this interview (of course the "ed." comments are also his), and who from my perspective also played quite an important role during the rise of black, thrash and death metal. His dedication and totally no-frills style, and the fact that he never refrained from being critical and sometimes brutally honest has and will always impress me. Quorthon himself provides the perfect quote to end my rather lengthy introduction: "I just want to wake up, whether it's in heaven or in hell or wherever, open a bottle of whiskey and know that I had a ball!" May it be so! Thank you for the music! BATHORY - By Bob Muldowney. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (From KICK*ASS Magazine, A Journalistic Poser Holocaust, Volume XXXI, November 1985.) At the time I initially heard the first Bathory album, death metal was just beginning to become the underground fad it now is. I saw the cover, the song titles, read the lyrics and put on the record, and I thought that this was like a vinyl version of the Sodom demo (which, itself, I loved, because it was different from and sicker than anything I've heard since _Welcome to Hell_), nothing more. Speed, satanic lyrics and image, distortion etc. However something made me listen to the album again, and the more I listened to it, the more I realized Bathory was not a band comprised of little kids trying to be offensive and failing. Sure, the speed, distortion and raw production was there, but the more I listened to the album, the more I realized those three factors (speed, distortion and production) were part of the Bathory sound, not the entire Bathory sound. The songs were legitimately heavy, and the more death metal demos and records I heard in proceeding months couldn't come close to delivering the sheer death metal hell that Bathory delivered. I then decided it was time to feature this band in KICK*ASS. However, attempts at such continually proved fruitless. At that point, I further began to realize this was a different band. No names on the back of the album. Not a bunch of kids who wanted to see their "evil" picture in every death metal fanzine to attain limited local "notoriety". Shortly after KICK*ASS #30 came out, I got a phone call from Quorthon, rumoured to be Bathory, a one-man death metal assault squadron. He was not some weenie talking in a "death metal tone of voice". He didn't scream at me about the nuns he's raped, about the black masses he conducts, about the little children he's deflowered then killed. He came across over the phone the same way Tom Warrior comes across to me through his letters -- a normal, intelligent heavy metal musician who enjoys playing brutally heavy death metal music. As a matter of fact, one of the things I vividly remember Quorthon telling me was that he hates "death metal" and simply refers to the music he plays as "heavy metal". I was anxious to do the interview, and when it was over, my respect for and opinion of Quorthon were even greater than they had been before. As I mentioned, it is widely believed that Bathory and Quorthon are interchangeable names. Quorthon is Bathory, Bathory is Quorthon. No other musicians, no actual band. Such beliefs are only strengthened when one notices the lack of interviews he does and the fact that the first record (and now the second one) gives no listing as to band members. I put this theory/question to Quorthon at the start. "I believe Bathory rehearsed for the first time the 13th of March 1983. I met these two guys who already had the equipment and a rehearsal place so I said, 'Hey, why not put something together?' We had a lead guitar player auditioning for us after a month, but he stayed with the band for only three and a half minutes, the time it took the three of us to play one of our songs for him. I think we played a song called "Witchcraft", a song we haven't yet recorded and probably never will." "We never took this thing with the band too seriously. We just wanted to let off a lot of steam and have fun. We didn't even care about writing some original stuff at all the first couple of months. We blasted off with covers of Motorhead, Sabbath, Maiden, Anvil and Status Quo. It's not that we were too influenced by them or really big fans of them, but all three of us knew their songs quite well." After the band's volume forced them out of their current residence, the summer of 1983 found a new place to live and rehearse. "The other two guys came up with this asshole claiming he was the new vocalist of the band. They never really liked my way of singing so they came up with this decayed asshole. Besides, I never sang too much anyway. I ran around and shook my head till my brain felt like it was chopped meat, and I never had any breath to sing. [The new singer] stayed with the band until the middle of February 1984 when I gave him the kick in his ass a few hours before we went into the studio to record two tracks for the _Swedish Metal Attack_ sampler." "I knew the Boss [Boerje Forsberg of Tyfon Grammofon AG Records] from the time I used to help Tyfon out listening to demo tapes and picking out new up-and-coming bands, so when I found out that he was going to put together a metal sampler, I called him up and said he just had to use one or two tracks with us... he gave us a few hours in the studio one afternoon." Quorthon said that "the band" was pleasantly surprised with the favourable response elicited from the public who became fans of the band based on their two songs on that compilation album. However, towards the end of April 1984, the band split up. "We slowly grew away from each other. They were not into this fast metal at all. I wanted to go on with total hellpaced destructive shit. They didn't wimp out at all. They dressed different and listened to totally different stuff than me, but we are still best of friends." What a pleasure to hear, rather than the usual death metal thing when a band member leaves and the remaining members scream about what a poser he is. Despite this split, Tyfon wanted an album from Bathory, so Quorthon began looking around for guys who could fit in (and survive in) Bathory. However, this was not an easy task, as Quorthon discovered that most musicians "would rather bet their ass on a band making sure not to sweat on stage, making sure not to headbang as that is not good for their hairstyle, and a band walking around the rock clubs of Stockholm claiming to be the best with the heaviest record deal, and a band with five blonde members walking home in anger and tearing their Bon Jovi posters apart when they don't get laid after the gig." "I told [prospective band members] what I wanted this band to be all about: I wanted to breath fire with a smashed guitar, wear all these chains, spikes and studded leather, vomit blood. I knew this guy who made bombs and stage effects and he made four flame jets for Bathory spewing out five foot flames. When the record company called and asked how the auditioning was going I told them I had a few guys interested but no one looking crazy enough to be a permanent members of the band." Quorthon went no farther than that, keeping the mystery of the band intact. At this point in time, Quorthon admits he does not have a band together. "The people who I used to jam with a bit have started their own bands now and I don't know... maybe I can find two maniacs in U.K. or U.S. the second album was recorded the same way as the first one [but how was that one recorded?! - ed.], with almost the same equipment [except] on this second one, I used my Marshalls; on the first one, I used my little Yamaha 20W home amp. Whether it was recorded with a 'band' or not, I cannot tell you, Bob. If I told you the true story it wouldn't matter anymore. I want to have this touch of anonymity with the band and therefore I don't do too many interviews." Mystery... suspense... intrigue... anonymity... far more effective than mindless gibberish about satan, evil, and violence, wouldn't you say? Anyone listening to the first album and the second album can't help but notice a heavy Venom influence and draw parallels to Venom over each band's first two albums. The first Bathory album's album cover, song titles and lyrics sounded like they were all the end-product of a Venom fanatic. Additionally the first Bathory album sounded like a faster and more raw-sounding version of _Welcome to Hell_, while _The Return..._ shows the same type of musical "maturation" and production improvement that _Black Metal_ showed over its predecessor. However, Quorthon takes exception to such ideas. "I'm not a fan of Venom at all, though I love the _Black Metal_ album. Before _Black Metal_ and after it, they have not [impressed] me at all. They really could have gone far. I thank them for what they have done for the Satanic-based metal movement of today, but in an exaggerated form." "I have heard Slayer's first [album] and a few [songs from] bands such as Sodom, Destruction, Wimphammer / Celtic Compost [Oh my! - ed.], and I think they all suck. I don't even listen to black metal, death metal, satanic metal, or thrash metal at all. It's mostly crap. I don't say that Bathory is the best or anything, just that I don't like any of these bands mentioned. It's all up to the kid who buys our albums. I may think that Wimphammer / Celtic Compost is the biggest load of horseshit I've ever heard, but I respect them [I can tell! - ed.] and wish them the best of luck in the future. Slayer may have tracks faster than Bathory but what the hell... on the third album, I'll beat them all when it comes to speed." "I write slow metal and fast metal, it all depends on what I have in my balls and on my mind for the day. Bathory have some slow tracks on first album [like] "Necromancy", "Raise the Dead" and "Reaper". On the new album "Born for Burning", "Bestial Lust", "The Rite of Darkness", and the middle part of "Reap of Evil" and the second half of "Sadist" is quite slow. Once I had this question sheet from a magazine and they asked me whether Bathory was death metal, black metal, thrash metal, zombie metal, or even corpse pile metal or simply just skullcrushing fucking metal... What happened to heavy metal?! Bathory is simply just a metal band. It may be totally hellpaced, it may be heavy and really slow. I may sing about Satan, hell, perverted sex, cunts, the power of the weather, blasphemy and... or a totally evil epic; I may dress up in spikes, studded black leather, chains, spit blood, and breath fire, wear all these upside down black crosses and bounce my guitar to the wall while doing the leads in the studio; but it's still metal -- has always been and will always be metal!" There's little doubt from those statements that Quorthon is a true metaller who happens to enjoy playing blood-curdling death metal, and a serious metaller who is sick of what the death metal fad has become. "Yeah, well this satanic thrashing thing has really become a fad alright. I really think it has grown into something I really don't want to be a part of any longer. Too many bands today come up with crap demos that get quite good reviews in underground mags while, at the same time, bands like Slayer and Bathory spend a week in the studio with all the expenses and get an eight or a nine in the same mag. Too many bands today put out shit vinyl and poison the metal market. In a year or eighteen months, this satanic shit will make people throw up all over a metal album." "I am aware of Bathory being one of those bands considered to be Satanic and total evil, but we're not. Bathory is a good way for me to unify my biggest interests in this world: sex, horror, the occult, death, speed, and noise. You may call it an image or not. I don't, because I have never really put up an image. I dress in studded leather and spikes and chains privately as well as [for the band]. I may not be totally evil person, but I have my periods like anybody. My friends say that I change a lot mentally during the period I write the lyrics or a new track." Getting back to Bathory, since Quorthon has never been able to find any permanent or even semi-permanent band members, there has yet to be a live Bathory show. "We've been close several times but when I tell them what we do on stage, the answer is always the same: 'OK, we'll see what we can do.' We've played in front of friends sometimes and thrashing around the rehearsal place, which gave us the reputation as the most outrageous, craziest and wildest thrashing band in Stockholm." One of the main reasons that Quorthon has been able to keep Bathory going, despite all the obstacles, is the strong support he has received from Tyfon Grammofon AB Records, who he said "gave us money, time, and studio dates during a period when no record company would even dream of looking our way. Tyfon gives a very free hand when comes to the band. They don't complain about the material, titles, music, [or] lyrics, they love this evil shit and certainly don't look down at us just because Bathory may not be as good [musicianship-wise] as their other bands. We're like a family, all the bands, and Boss is our father." Quorthon said that the band's first album was recorded in 55-60 hours and cost about $500. "The studio was so small that the whole drum kit could not be used in case we wanted to have enough space for both the bass amp and the guitar amp. I am aware of the first album being a little too short, but I didn't have more usable songs at that time. I had tracks like "Die in Fire", "I Live in Sin", "Take it on your Knees", "Satan, Master", and stuff like that... I didn't want to use "The Return" on the first one because I wanted it to grow and, besides, I needed new lyrics for it. The cover may not be the best piece of art [as well], but I had three days to come up with something or the record company would print a picture on the front." "The second album was a little more expensive, about $3000. We worked on the album for more than two weeks because I wasn't pleased with the sound. The drums were recorded in this big room, like a concert hall, the bass was recorded through an aluminium pipe-line to get this very specific sound, and the guitars [one rhythm / one rhythm-lead] was recorded in the same room as the drums. The cover this time is much better and the fans deserve that. I receive about three or ten fan letters a day. They send me Bathory comics, lyrics in case I'd be out of inspiration and the time gets short, drawings, and pictures of their girlfriend's cunts." "The third album will be much heavier. I have several new tracks and some of them are really heavy, some totally hellpaced and some just thrashing metal at various speeds. The title of the third album will probably be "Music from under the Sign of the Black Mark". It'll be partly recorded in a church. I'll use a ten-girl choir [use them for what? - ed.], instruments from the 14th and 15th century -- the fans can expect a lot of surprises. I want to show them that you certainly don't have to go on at 100mph just to sell or be powerful or wild." Okay, now that we know all about Bathory (or about as much as we'll ever know!), I wanted to delve into the person who is Quorthon. From various statements made thusfar, one can easily see that he is not some death metal weenie, but what goes on his mind when he is not involved in Bathory? What makes him tick? Is Quorthon an image or is it a person? "I may love this evil shit alright but I have distance to what I'm doing. I can take off this studded shirt, look at myself in the mirror, and see an ordinary kid from Stockholm into metal and cunts. I'm not a beast or an overly-sick person. "Quorthon is a two-way thing. First, it's a good name and it fits in with the certain style of Bathory. Second, I don't want to use my real name in case I'd start a new band after Bathory when that days comes, and I wouldn't want people to be reminded of Bathory while looking at me in this new band." Quorthon also wanted to make one thing clear about his vocals. "I must have been the first maniac to know about Venom in Sweden. Cronos has done a lot for this evil thing and I thank him for that, but he didn't inspire me to sing this way as some seem to think. I used to sing through the guitar pick-up once and, shit, that really did sound cool, so I picked the whole thing up, growl and roar like a beast." "I'm totally comfortable when I have my 60 cigarettes a day, some wine and whiskey, a cunt to fuck and a guitar to crank up really loud. I may not live day to day, more like night to night, but I have big plans and I take one week at a time. I just want to wake up, whether it's in heaven or in hell or wherever, open a bottle of whiskey and know that I had a ball!" "I quite like cunts and I've had a lot of them. I like women as friends and as sexual toys. Every new cunt is an experience because they all want to be fucked, licked and beaten up in so many different ways. I have written a few tracks about women. "Born for Burning" is a song dedicated to a witch who lived in Holland from 1521 to 1591. "Bestial Lust" is a track dedicated to this girl I fucked on the lady's room floor at a rock club here in Stockholm, one night who was really into bestial sex." As far as his pre-Bathory days, Quorthon was quite vague. "Let's just say I was born during the middle sixties -- peace, love, and understanding, brother. Bathory is actually my first real band. Before starting Bathory, I got together with some friends and thrashed but I felt I wanted to start something for real. I'm self taught, having started to play the drums a the age of nine, then guitar and bass, piano and some other instruments at the age of fifteen." "I don't like any of these bands out there today playing black, death or simply just decayed metal -- well, today you can use any word and be right, so I can't figure out what band influenced me to perform this type of hellpaced metal. I don't just write this kind of evil shit. I write ballads, rock, pop, and metal because I enjoy writing different kinds of music." "My favourite bands would be Kiss form 1973 to 1978, Sex Pistols, GBH, The Beatles. I like Toyah, the first three albums with Pink Floyd, some Motorhead. I like Motley Crue and Aerosmith, Space Ace Frehley, Sid Vicious, some Triumph, some Sabbath, Ripper, some Sweet stuff, and classical music. That certainly is an odd combination, so you know the end result would have to be sick. It's sort of like throwing ice cream, chopped beef, pickles, vinegar, and onions all together into a blender, mixing then thoroughly, and tasting the end result -- SICK!!! One other thing that Quorthon mentioned to me over the phone. An interview with him was published in some German metal publication which included him saying he liked some Motley Crue songs. He said sometime after that, he received a couple of letters from people who said that they burned their Bathory records when they found out Quorthon was a "poser". Why is he a poser? Because he likes some Motley Crue songs? If he enjoys some Motley Crue songs, some Beatles songs, whatever, but listed his favourite bands as Destruction, Death and Satan's Penis just to "impress" death metal weenies, then he'd be a "poser". And why did these people burn their Bathory records? Does the music sound any different? What a bunch of losers. Anyway, that about wraps up this interview, and I'd have to say that from it all can see that despite the underground fad status which has caused death metal to spit up a bunch of chucks of metallic vomit that do little else but leave a sour taste in any true metaller's mouth, there are a couple of people/bands who are true metallers playing savage death metal with sincerity, all the while keeping things in their proper perspective. Quorthon and Bathory, Bathory and Quorthon. We may never really know for sure if they are one in the same. We may never know the whole story behind Bathory and, while I remain curious, the knowledge of anything beyond what has been discussed this far is quite irrelevant. As long as Quorthon keeps Bathory alive, as long his sincerity is maintained, as long as Bathory remains a viable entity in the metal scene, that's all I care about. Is there anything else? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A F U L L Y L O A D E D D I S C H A R G E O F M E T A L ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC Chats with Schmier from Destruction about the band's first official DVD release _Live Discharge - 20 Years of Total Destruction_ by: Paul Schwarz Whatever your opinion on Destruction -- whether you think they started to suck after the _Bestial Invasion of Hell_ demo, _Sentence of Death_ MCD, their _Infernal Overkill_ debut, or even if you think they've never made a bad album (at least with the main original members present...) -- it is undeniable that they have become thrash metal legends. Perhaps it is even appropriate to say metal legends. Thus a packed-to-the-gills DVD from this German institution is far from unwarranted -- and when the DVD is as thoroughly comprehensive as _Live Discharge - 20 Years of Total Destruction_, there's no reason to complain. Centrally composed of an eighteen-song meta-concert pieced together from three live performances by the band -- and interspersed with backstage footage and the like -- the DVD also features a host of extras, including Destruction performances from the Eighties and backstage featurettes. I spoke to Schmier back in March, before I'd had a chance to look at the DVD, to find out all about it and what Destruction had been up to recently. Hope you enjoy the results. CoC: Destruction have recently been playing shows in Latin America, right? Schmier: Yeah. It was killer. We played three weeks, mainly in Brazil. We had a show cancelled in Costa Rica because we were getting tight on time -- everybody was getting sick and we had to go back to Germany and continue playing here. So to make it back to Germany we had to cancel the show in Costa Rica, but we hope to go back and make up for it soon. CoC: So the tour was successful? S: It was cool. Record sales are improving and the shows had like 1000 people or more every night, so it was pretty cool. CoC: Coming onto the new DVD: how did that come together? S: We took the best parts of each show, so it's actually a complete setlist of a normal Destruction gig, but made up mostly of parts from Switzerland -- from the club show -- and, I think, three or four songs from each festival. I think it's a nice mixture, you know. We have the indoor club show, we have the at-night (Full Force) festival performance, and we have the daylight Wacken festival performance. It has all the, you know, different colours, and I think it's much more interesting than just one single show. CoC: It definitely has the variety: obviously there are only so many minutes you can cram onto a DVD. S: I think we have almost 4 1/2 hours, everything together. That's a lot, I think. We wanted to put as much as possible. We really had problems to fit everything on the DVD, 'cause it was getting very tight. My brother, who was managing the whole thing, he really had problems to get everything on, so we had to squeeze it a little bit, you know? CoC: You had to make some tough decisions to cut together the best footage that you could get into a single show, to the maximum amount of time that you had? S: Yes. It also features a lot of little bits and pieces from the road and also some older stuff. So I think we have the whole variety, and I think for the first DVD we ever did, it's a great job. It's definitely value for money, especially because it also features the Japan-only release live album, _Alive Devastation_. CoC: This live CD features the entirety of the Wacken 2002 show, featured in part on the DVD itself, right? S: Yeah. It's the one where we had the big fuck-up at the end where the stage was totally out of power and we had to stop the show. That's all on there, on the DVD . CoC: Was it hard, getting _Alive Devastation_ [previously only available on import in Europe -- Paul] packaged as a bonus with the - standard- edition of _Live Discharge_? S: Well, we kicked Nuclear Blast's asses over this. We said: we're gonna release it worldwide as a DVD -with- the bonus CD. First of all they wanted to do just a limited edition of 5000. We said no. CoC: So you put your foot down? S: I think it's a cool compromise. This way, everybody that was complaining before that _Alive Devastation_ was a Japan-only release -- that you couldn't get it in Europe -- can get it now for free: just buy the DVD. CoC: For the actual construction of the DVD, did you look to some of the live videos or live DVDs that had been done by other bands? For example, the format you use -- of concert footage interspersed with interview or backstage material -- reminds me of _Under Siege_ and _Live Intrusion_, from Sepultura and Slayer respectively, and even, going right back, to Combat's _The Ultimate Revenge_ Venom / Slayer / Exodus video. S: I think of course you need to see what others do, to improve and to make a nice statement. I've been watching a couple of DVDs -- not even Slayer or Sepultura: they have more been like latest releases of other bands, of other big bands. To see, you know, how high the bar is -- 'cause we definitely didn't want to release something that looks cheap. So we tried to do whatever we could to play in the first league with the DVD thing. CoC: It's a really good thing for a band like you to do. Destruction -- no offence intended -- are a band who stand very much on their reputation, if you see what I mean? S: Yeah. It's true. CoC: People know Destruction. Destruction have a classic sort of status. So even if someone were to put out a cheap Destruction bootleg, a lot of people would buy it just 'cause it was Destruction. So you could have taken a very different attitude, and just issued something 'cause you knew people would but it. It's good to see that you took on the challenge of doing something good. S: For us it was a big challenge because we don't have the twenty years every year. So we felt, therefore, that we also had to prove to people that we're still trying to do our best and, of course, it's a big chance for us to reach those people, also, who never saw Destruction before live -- somebody in Malaysia can now buy a DVD and see what Destruction is all about. The DVD also features a look behind the curtain, a look into the band. That's definitely what I like about the DVD thing: it's not just a plain concert. It's a look into the band, which also gives everybody the chance to see the band. CoC: So, to beg the question, what -is- Destruction all about? What are people going to -see- on the DVD? What is it about Destruction that comes out of the experience of watching _Live Discharge_? S: Basically, it's definitely that besides the show we're trying to have a good time because, you know, the world sucks big time. So I try when I'm on the road with the band to live the tour life. You know, sex, drugs and rock n' roll is definitely... still around. I mean, it's a big -party- for us: to go out there, jam with the fans. Also we try as much as possible to have contact with the fans besides the show. You know, just go out there, sign autographs, shake some hands, have some drinks together. That's what's in all the fucking backstage footage. I think you get a nice view that we are a fucking aggressive live band, that we take our music very serious on stage and we are fighting for some recognition and some political statements also, sometimes. But on the other side we're, as much as concerns the band, trying to have -fun- besides that. That's what you can see in the footage: it's not overplayed, it's just real stuff. And I like that, you know. CoC: Talking about the actual footage, especially from Wacken, was it a difficult process to get the rights to it? Because I've heard rumours that the Wacken organisation makes bands sign contracts to the effect that the Wacken organisation owns the footage. S: Well, it's not that, but it's like: they bring a film team and then you can... pay the whole thing, you know. That usually means that the record company gets an offer -- they say: we filmed ten bands of yours, and if you want the material you pay this amount of money. It's a kind of... you know, eat it or forget it. You cannot choose. The good thing was that we knew that, so we brought our own film team. CoC: You managed to get away with that? S: Well, when they asked us to play we said we wanted to film it on our own, and they told us that was no problem. But when we were there and filming with our own film team, they were like: what the fuck are you doing? Why do you have your own film team? We said: it's in our contract. Don't worry about it. Even when the DVD came out they thought we'd used their footage! CoC: So because Destruction have a certain amount of clout, you -could- say that because the Wacken people couldn't afford to not have you play? S: Exactly. That's how it works. CoC: It's good that you did that: I think that's a bit rich, what the Wacken people do. S: I guess they all do it. They fucking make money out of that. We tried to put even some more footage on the DVD from other festivals where we couldn't film ourselves because it was in foreign countries; and then they made us the offer: three songs, 10,000 bucks. We were like, "Fuck off! How many DVDs do you think we're gonna sell? 500,000?! What the fuck is that!?" So we didn't put on footage from two other big festivals where we had pretty good footage too, but they just wanted too much money, so we said, "No way". CoC: What's the possibility of releasing any of the classic Destruction performances, visual or audio? It's something Mercyful Fate and King Diamond are doing, Kreator are looking into it, and it's a market that's clearly rich. S: You mean the old stuff? CoC: Yeah, classic shows from the Eighties. S: There's not that much existing. CoC: I have a friend who recorded your first show in Frankfurt, when you played at a Tankard record signing which Sodom were performing at... S: I remember. We were there, Sodom were playing and then they were like: Destruction is here! Let's get them on stage and they will play with us. So we jumped on stage and we made some noise, and yeah, that was basically our first show, but it wasn't because it was Desaster. CoC: I've listened to the tape. It's actually quite interesting. There was a rumour that Sodom were upstaged because although you didn't play that -well-, there was something that came out of it. There was some sort of energy that was there, and you can hear it. It comes through the early demos; and in this performance you sort of hear that rough and raw sort of -edge- -- which you then hone, obviously, into the speed metal sound of _Sentence of Death_ and _Infernal Devastation_. S: For us it was just the first time on stage, you know, at this show. So we were kind of excited about it, but it wasn't the best performance ever because, as you can imagine, the first time we were seventeen or sixteen and a half. I don't even remember. We were young. So we just had a blast to be -invited- to go on stage, because at this time the demo tape was just out for a few weeks. The underground was fucking rising big time. We were really surprised about it. So I guess it was a cool thing, but it was definitely not a great show at this time. Talking about those shows: they are really hard to get in good quality. That's why we have some little pieces of some old performances on the DVD also, but the quality is really bad. We tried to get better quality, but it's really hard to find. CoC: Have you been reaching out into the underground, asking if people have anything? S: Yeah. We tried to get some stuff, but the stuff people sent in was -really- bad quality, on VHS tapes. So if you put this into a digital system it's getting worse -- but we're still gonna keep an eye open on that, maybe for a future project we will have the chance one day to do a best of old material, and do like kind of a medley or whatever we can do about it. But it's definitely a problem that it's twenty years ago and the VHS tapes, they're fucking falling apart now. I did just hear that Gary from Tankard -- he told me he has a big collection, so I will come back to him about this, because he told me he's got some stuff from Destruction I never heard of. So maybe, for any future DVDs, if we start collecting now we will have something for the future. There's definitely a couple of songs from old performances on the DVD also. CoC: How balanced would you say the setlist is these days? Do you like to -- or on the other hand, do you feel that you have to play up the old stuff? S: Well, I think the old stuff is a big part of Destruction -- so you cannot leave the old stuff behind and play just the new stuff. I think the balance -- if we headline and play a two hour set, the set definitely features a lot of old songs. Especially the classical stuff, from _Infernal Overkill_. I wouldn't say that we're a band that just plays a lot of new stuff. I think the balance has to be there, and it's actually a 50/50 thing. Basically, if we play a one-hour set, it's a 50/50 thing. If we play a longer set, then it's even more old stuff, I think. CoC: Do you feel like enough of the audience, at least, are -with you- on the new stuff? S: Oh yeah. We have a couple of new songs that are overtaking the old ones right now. "Nailed to the Cross" and "Thrash 'til Death" have definitely overtaken a lot of the old songs. I think if you were to put a top 5 together right now, first place would definitely be "Curse of the Gods", and second place would be "Nailed to the Cross", I think. Those two songs are top hits live right now. Also, "Thrash 'til Death" is one of the songs that people love, also "Butcher Strikes Back". I think those three new ones are on the same level as "Bestial Invasion", "Mad Butcher" and "Curse of the Gods". Sometimes, live, I'll just stop my wocals and people are singing with me, and you see all the horns and the woices -- you can definitely tell that some of the new songs have reached this point where people don't care if it's from the Eighties or if it's from the year 2000. It's just a classical Destruction song, now. CoC: Well, it was nice to talk to you: hopefully we'll see you in the UK some time soon... S: Yeah. A UK tour is still planned. After our last appearance in London we were talking about an English tour and Metalysee had been connecting us with some English promoters, but then, all of a sudden, Metalysee backed up, and I don't know what happened -- really happened; because we never got any confirmation for English dates. There were some strange fuck-ups. Now, our agency is trying to set up something for Autumn or so, some UK tour. I hope it will happen. We will see. I hope so. It's always up to the promoters: we want to play, we just need to find some promoters that are gonna risk their ass on some thrash metal, you know. It's difficult. CoC: Oh, one little thing: is there any thought of adding "The Ritual" into your setlist? Do you still play that? S: We were playing "The Ritual", actually, let's say... two years ago, at the headlining shows. So we still have "The Ritual" in the setlist once in a while. Right now we are working on bringing back some classics and exchanging some others. So we have "Deathtrap" back in the setlist now. We have "Thrash Attack" back in the setlist. So I think "The Ritual" is still on the list -- especially because just recently in Brazil, Kisser from Sepultura was playing with us and he was playing the riff of "The Ritual", and he was like, "Yeah, that's my favourite song!" So we were like, "Hey, maybe we should play it again one day." Because we had it in the setlist on the 2001 tour -- we just try to switch it around a little bit. We almost play every song from _Infernal Overkill_, so sometimes it's just nice to kick out "Tormentor" and bring in "The Ritual", or kick out "Invincible Force" and bring in whatever, you know? You cannot play every song on that album. "The Ritual" is definitely a song that we are practicing right now, again, for upcoming shows because we wanna exchange the setlist a little bit. Right now, at some headlining shows, we are just asking the people: what do you want? So if they're screaming for a song, we just play it because we have them all in the setlist in our heads, we just cannot play 2 1/2 hours of thrash or we will die and people will fucking lose their heads! But close to a two-hour set is usual right now, so it's cool. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= F R O M N O T H I N G T O N U M B E R " I " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Tomas Haake of Meshuggah by: Jackie Smit It's a funny thing, trends. Usually started off the back of something fairly obvious and arbitrary, it's always highly amusing to observe those who are first to jump on the proverbial bandwagon, staunchly claiming to be the ones who were "there from the beginning". With the exception possibly of Opeth, this ironic state of affairs has never been more applicable than in the case of Swedish math-metallers Meshuggah, whose star has been on the ascent from the moment that a morbidly obese Jack Osbourne waddled his way on to television and used their "Future Breed Machine" to intimidate his neighbours. True, they may have been around for more than a decade before that, creating some memorable slabs of metal like _Destroy Erase Improve_, but pre quasi- celebrity endorsement, the majority of the media would not give them the time of day. But times have changed and right now it looks as though the world at large has finally started to "get" Meshuggah. Thankfully though, the band seem just as hungry as ever to dumbfound, confuse and befuddle -- whilst still keeping it heavy, of course. I caught up with drummer Tomas Haake on the eve of the band's recent London show to discuss future plans, past mistakes and the sweet taste of comeuppance. CoC: Your last album, _Nothing_, was released off the back of a lot of publicity and hype. You were on the Ozzfest, you'd been mentioned by Jack Osbourne on their show and you were being touted as the 'next big thing' in virtually every other magazine across the globe. In light of this, are you happy with the overall response you eventually got for the album? Tomas Haake: Oh, of course we're happy with the response. I mean, sales-wise it's not like we've made it big or anything, but it seems like we're getting a lot of credit from other musicians and we're moving head commercially, so that's all good. As far as the Jack Osbourne thing goes, I think it's a bit overblown. It's three minutes of an old song, and I wouldn't really add too much value to that -- I doubt it really helped us all that much. We did get some extra press out of it, but that was from people who were more interested in why we were mentioned, rather than in anything actually about the band. So, we got some more press from it, but at the end of the day, it's not really press that you need. I think that the main reason that we got on to the Ozzfest was not because of Jack Osbourne anyway. The same people that booked us for the Tool tour were very involved in the Ozzfest, and having seen us the year before, they got in contact with us again and that got us on the to ur. CoC: It's interesting that you mention press that one doesn't really need -- in the UK especially, the mainstream metal magazines seemed to have a sudden change of heart regarding Meshuggah following your mention on the Osbournes, in the sense that writers who a few years ago would never give you guys the time of day, were suddenly acting as though they were your oldest and most loyal fans. How do you feel about this shift in attitude? TH: Well, I think it's either a case of the people in the press taking too much notice of the things we talked about, or that people are actually finally coming to grips with what we're doing here. I'm not really sure, but I can imagine that it takes a lot of time for people to understand what we're doing, because it's kind of different. The average listener might not understand what it is on first listen. It's not something that you just put on in the background and leave it on. And that's what we like about this music. We like the fact that people have to really listen to it. You don't put it on at a party or something -- that would wreck the party! CoC: With _Nothing_ Meshuggah seemed to take another step into a more concept-driven and avant-garde direction. Now with your upcoming EP _I_, you've recorded a single song of 21 minutes. What was the reason for doing something like this? TH: Actually it was just one of those cases where everyone says "Fuck, let's do it." We were asked by Jason [Mann, from Mushroomhead], who now has his own small label that he's just starting up, whether we'd like to do something for him. At the time we were kind of in an argument with Nuclear Blast, because according to our understanding we had no more obligations toward them. So, we accepted it, went into the studio and played around and hoped that something good would come out of it, and it did. It's a really cool song -- Meshuggah fans will love it. It's really intricate and it really grabs you as a listener. It also goes through a lot of changes -- there are lots of mellow parts and then there are parts that (for Meshuggah at least) are faster than anything we've ever recorded. It has this kind of unserious touch to it as well; it's quite funny at times, but it has a lot of raw energy as well. I really think that people will like it. CoC: Touching on the label issue for a moment -- your next album (_Catch 33_) is still being released on Nuclear Blast later this year, according to my knowledge. TH: Yeah, that's right. CoC: Have you guys decided to re-sign with them then? TH: No, we haven't re-signed with them, it's just a matter of opinion. They say that we owe them a full-length album and in our opinion we don't, and instead of taking it to court -- no matter who wins the case, the drawback would definitely be on our account, because fans would have to wait longer for the next record, we wouldn't be able to tour... It's basically just a case of saying "Fuck it", and doing it and keeping the fans happy. And it's going to be cool album -- we're not going to be putting out a lot of nonsense. It's not a proper full- length if you will, more like an experimental full-length. Like _I_, it will be one single song, but at full- length. It's going to be much more guitar riff based than anything we have ever done as well, so there won't be as much of the drumming that kind of throws you off -- just more straightforward, but at the same time totally insane riffing. CoC: I guess it stands to reason that this will be quite a departure from _Nothing_? TH: I'd say so, yes. It's definitely experimental and we're not telling people that this is the next official full-length. If you're looking for another _Chaosphere_ or another _Nothing_ that contains a bunch of different songs, then this is probably not the album that you want to buy, but if you're interested in anything that we're doing then it's something you should check out. Like I said, I'm sure that Meshuggah fans will love it. It's definitely a step to the side of what we're doing right now. CoC: Is there a single underlying concept running through _Catch 33_? TH: There is a certain concept running through it if you will, because it is just one song with one set of lyrics. At the same time, the concept is very vague. CoC: Looking back at how Meshuggah has evolved and the extent to which the band take more and more chances with every album, what has been the inspiration behind all these risks you've taken? TH: I don't know, really. In one sense we've started listening to a lot of different music, compared to what we listened to before. We don't really listen to metal all that much anymore -- more electronic and alternative styles. I think -that- on one hand has probably contributed somewhat, and also the fact that we just don't listen to all that much music in general anymore. You know, we make our way as we're going -- we influence ourselves while we're writing, as opposed to being influenced by other bands. We couldn't give, you know, a fuck about what's trendy now or what's working now. We've never cared about that stuff. The changes that we've gone through in between _Destroy Erase Improve_ up until the next full-length have been pretty big, but where we'll end up after _Catch 33_ -- that's hard to say. CoC: You haven't considered nine-string guitars yet, have you? TH: That would be difficult. You have to make the guitar neck really long for that. Even with these eight-string guitars that we're using, for them to be intonated properly and to sound good, you need the guitar neck much longer. So for a nine-string you're pretty much stretching the limits! CoC: You mentioned earlier that Meshuggah is being referenced a lot more by other bands lately and your band's influence is starting to become more and more apparent on up and coming acts like Mushroomhead. Out of fan, press and peer recognition -- which do you value as being the most important? TH: That's really hard to say. It's definitely cool that we have influenced other bands, because it's definitely an indication that a lot people listen to our music and a lot of people are into what we do. There's a lot of people that come up to me and say that they're really sorry if we think they've ripped us off, and we usually listen to their stuff and find that there's a lot of our sound going on there. But at the end of the day, we still haven't found anyone that sounds like us. Usually there's a lot of drummers out there that think they can do intricate parts, but to copy the style of guitar- playing and the bass-lines that the guys in our band do is really hard. It's not that we really mind either, though. Music is free for everyone to take and remake. If that's what you want to do, then go ahead. We don't want to do that. We're not interested in sounding like anyone else. We definitely feel like we're pioneers in a way in this metal genre that we play in. As far as getting our music out and getting new fans -- that's what we're about. It gives us the energy to continue. I mean, that's basically what bands do. They try to reach out to new people, and as long as we keep growing with each album, that's a good sign. CoC: So aside from all these things that go along with being in a band, what drives you as a person to still want to make music? TH: Well, within the context of this band, I feel very free. I can program or write or come up with pretty much everything and it won't be like when we started out. We will always try to make songs out of everything that someone comes up with. I mean, if it doesn't work out, then that's okay too. We all have a fixed idea of where we want our music to go and what sort of sounds we trip on where we can say: 'Yeah, that sounds really fucking cool.' So, that's definitely the strongest driving point for me. As a band we also feel that we've only just begun. There's so much more out there to collect and to create. That's a really strong driving power. CoC: Touring with bands that don't necessarily have a strong connection on a musical level to what you do, like Tool, etc. -- is that something you want to do more of in future? TH: That's not something that we necessarily want. To us it doesn't matter if we're opening for a death metal band, or if we're headlining with a band that we love. We just don't want to open up for a band that we think sucks, or have a band open for us that we don't like. That was also the setup with Tool -- they could have had any band, but they wanted us on the tour and we got decent pay for it too. So it's evident that they work in the same way. CoC: Who would be your dream band to tour with? TH: I grew up listening to Rush, so to me it would be great to tour with them, although I don't think that our music would work with that. Tool was definitely one of the bands that I wanted to tour with. Metallica, of course -- I think their fans are a lot more harsh to opening bands, but I think that our music could work along with a lot of different styles. With Tool we didn't expect it to work because of their music style and because their crowd is like 50% girls. We don't really attract girls other than someone's girlfriend, you know. I don't think that we're your typical "girl's music". CoC: You're known for taking a long time between recording albums, so what can we expect from Meshuggah in the next few years? TH: Well, that's the cool thing now -- we have the EP coming out this year and then _Catch 33_ around October / November. So that will be two releases in this year, and we won't tour for them. So right after they're released, we'll start on the next proper Meshuggah full- length. When we're done with that, we'll probably try to stay on the road for a while and get the most out of it. We also want to go to places we haven't been yet, like South Africa, Japan or Australia when we do that tour. CoC: What would you regard as your greatest personal accomplishment in Meshuggah so far? TH: It's really hard to say. I mean, I consider myself a drummer first and foremost, but we really put a lot of collective energy into the lyrics as well. I can't really name one lyric I feel very strongly about, but I think that overall the development that we have gone though lyrically is one of the great accomplishments for me in this band. It's easier for me to learn to play than it is to learn to express myself through writing. We feel strongly about not having the same type of lyrics that all the other metal bands are doing. We try to stay away from all the metal clichés that other bands do. CoC: Any last words? TH: No man, I never have any last words. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T H E D A W N O F A N E W A E O N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Luiz Martinez and Erick Diaz of Serpens Aeon by: Alvin Wee Simmering in the Mexican underground for half a decade with only a single, underrated demo as testament to their talent, Serpens Aeon has finally arisen on Moribund Records as one of the most impressive newcomers in the death metal underground this year. Spawned out of Luiz Martinez and Erick Diaz's departure from cult formation The Chasm in 1997, Serpens Aeon ditched the progressive leanings of their previous bandmates and indulged in a full-on celebration of old-school death/thrash metal. Listeners familiar with their obscure _Raising the Fire Serpent_ demo will recognize much of the same material on the new album _Dawn of Kouatl_ in a much stronger package. Recalling the glory days of Possessed and Sarcofago while flaunting their updated musical abilities with hints of Dissection and latter-day Immortal, Serpens Aeon has accomplished what countless other "retro" bands have set out to do, but failed miserably at: paying tribute to the gods of old while sculpting an original , inimitable new sound. Still, breaking away from the "ex-The Chasm" label has proven difficult for the band, especially with the advertising tack taken by Moribund, clearly drawing on the two founding musicians' associations with their previous band. "Yes, [Moribund label manager] Odin is promoting the band and the album that way, which we know is a good marketing approach to promote the album", agrees the bass-wielding vocalist Luiz Martinez readily. "But we are breaking away from that past since we do play a very different style from The Chasm, and we are making a name for our own as well", he adds. One would assume, given Serpens Aeon's dedication to old-school death metal and The Chasm's slightly avant-garde stance, that musical differences played a crucial role in the birth of Serpens Aeon as a new entity. "Well, we all had that interest for the old school since they are our roots to begin with, and indeed The Chasm had at the time a different direction and another way to approach it", Luiz concurs. "That wasn't the main reason for our decision to take separate ways though. For me, it was more personal than anything else. I was getting more involved with my profession as a tattoo artist and so on." Nodding, guitarist Erick pipes up enthusiastically. "In my case, it was personal as well; I left The Chasm right after we finished the recordings for _Deathcult for Eternity_. At the same time I had quit film-school, so my life was at the right moment for a change. That's when Luiz called me from Seattle, and invited me to go and visit him, and from there we started playing again! We both had the concept to do a side project besides The Chasm even before we left, but it took a little bit of time to put every piece together." What took the band so long to put anything official out then? "Moving to the US definitely has to do with us not releasing anything earlier than now", explains Erick. "Plus getting settled and finding the right people wasn't an easy chore either." Whatever their reasons for parting ways with the Chasm crew, Serpens Aeon have certainly taken a different direction, taking their love- affair with the past to the hilt in both music and concept. _Dawn of Kouatl_ stands as an old-school, thrash metal paean to the ancient Aztecan past, brimming with the imagery of aeons long-forgotten by mankind. With the new breed of death metal bands (read: Nile, Mithras) forsaking the political slant of the early Florida scene for a more historical perspective, one wonders where this sudden obsession with the past originates. "It's not an obsession with the past at all", counters Erick. "We get that sort of response all the time, but in reality we approach the theme in a very different way. It is clear that the Aztecs have a big part in our music, but also is a part of our life since we [Luiz and Erick] were born in Aztec lands. That is our heritage, so that's just a fact. We do not obsess; the past is completely [different from the way] we live in these days, and we are indeed interested in the contemporary music and themes that surround us. We just choose to live our lives in the way that our ancestors did!" Even as one struggles to see Serpens Aeon as a wholly original entity with its own agenda, the band's lyrical and musical themes just beg comparison with that other monument of the scene: Nile. I couldn't resist a prod at their very obvious similarities, and the possibility that Serpens Aeon might be construed as followers, rather than originators in the micro-scene that Nile seems to have single-handedly created. "We are definitely not trying to do what Nile does whatsoever!", insists Erick defiantly. "The way that we approach the Aztec themes in our music and lyrics is mostly a reflection of our everyday life. As I mentioned before, two of the members were born in Aztec lands so it is natural to relate to those roots, rather than try to talk about any other subject. We talk not about Aztec mythology; it is rather how we live our lives with an Aztec approach, how we see our past and how we deal with it in the present and in the future, whereas mythology comprises tales about ancestors, heroes, etc.. Aztecs were ahead of their own time and also had a very wise yet brutal ritualistic calendar, and a knowledge of astrological events, so we try to follow this ancestral path." The lack of printed lyrics on the CD release only adds to the obscurity and mysticism of the Serpens Aeon concept. I ask Erick to shed a little light on the esoteric worlds conjured up by song-titles like "Nectar", "Under the Fifth Sun" and "Circle of Serpens". "Serpens Aeon means the era of the Serpent, to put it in a condensed way. It's the sempiternal Way of Wisdom. The serpent was one of the most worshipped figures in the Aztec society, and represented knowledge, wisdom, eternity, etc.. The way we see and live our lives, and the songs we write, are a mirror of how we are in real life. "Nectar" talks about Pulque, a ritualistic alcoholic drink, the Nectar of Gods, but it actually applies to any kind of alcoholic drink used in a magickal way. "Under the Fifth Sun" is about a new beginning for our kind: the 'Cosmic Race'. It can also be interpreted as a Chant of War; from the Aztec point of view, there were four worlds prior to our world, and each world had a representative Sun and its people, and we live "Under the Fifth Sun". With "The Circle of Serpens", we are depicting our brotherhood, the place we come from and our way of thinking." Taking a step back, I bring up the topic of today's resurgence of death metal in the scene. I wonder, aloud, where Serpens Aeon fits in, given their extreme old-school leanings and the current deluge of sub- par death metal bands flooding the scene. The raw, emotional power of the old scene seems to lacking in many of the newer bands, and it is precisely this atmosphere of primal energy that Serpens Aeon seems to be reviving. Erick nods emphatically, in evident agreement. "Feeling is what most of the new bands lack; they don't have the kind of recordings the early death/thrash bands used to have. [The old bands] didn't have the budget for big studios, but they did have the guts and that's where that visceral sound comes from. We don't fit into the new explosion of death metal, and we are not trying to be the fastest nor the most evil ones; as I said, above it all comes to the visceral way of playing... and I think we are in the limbo between Old and New." Is the old-school atmosphere on _Dawn of Kouatl_ a result of production values perhaps? Sound engineer Curran Murphy isn't exactly famous for working with death metal bands... "Well, before the session we had a meeting with Curran and [producer] Todd, and after we talked and reviewed the details, we felt confident that they both were capable of doing a good job, and they did. The studio itself was amazing; the facilities were top-notch professional, with everything you needed! Besides all the newest technology, they had a nice kitchen, a big yard in the middle of the woods, and a place to sleep and relax... so I think it all reflects in _Dawn of Kouatl_." In conclusion, I question Erick about the band's musical direction for the future. Serpens Aeon's old-school sensibilities will always appeal to the die-hards in the scene, but aren't they concerned with musical progression and development at all? "Well, as we said before, Serpens Aeon is right in between the old and new school", explains Erick. "Musical progression is important, but that doesn't mean we are going to change our style -- just look at what happened with Chuck Schuldiner. He started to get more and more technical, until the feeling and energy were gone, and the music thus became plain and flat, with no emotion at all! Even if we are not looking for balance, it always comes naturally to us and it makes our music energetic and powerful." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A U T U M N ' S F I R S T T R I U M P H ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with vocalist Tuomas Tuominen of Fall of the Leafe by: Paul Schwarz It's rare that a band with a 'metal' sound manages to straddle the gap between catchy, hook-laden pop-sensibility and emotionally involved extremity; yet with their fourth album, _Volvere_, Finnish six-piece Fall of the Leafe have achieved a synthesis that is both unusual and intensely gratifying. Side-stepping comparisons to other metal bands -- either from Finland or cast from what I perceived to be a similar musical mould to FotL -- vocalist Tuomas Tuominen answered all my questions by e-mail (back in March) with a straight-up honesty and care-free humour that was truly refreshing. CoC: Delving into your tumultuous six-year history via your press release, it strikes me that _Volvere_ may well be like a fresh new start, so to speak, for Fall of the Leafe. Your consistent portrayal of the past as a learning curve suggests that -- as a professionally- constructed, catchy and full-bodied album, which projects a solid identity and is getting released on a more reputable label than any other you've been signed to -- _Volvere_ is the first recording you've really been satisfied with. Would you say that's a fair assessment? Tuomas Tuominen: Thank you. Yes, in a way Volvere is a fresh start to us. The truth is that Volvere is probably the first Fall of the Leafe album that has the chance to be recognized by wider audiences. This is largely a consequence of us joining into the Rage of Achilles roster of bands. Firstly, they are a European label. This means we are now operating in our home front, if you will. Second, they are professional and things work smoothly. In the personnel department, we have successfully integrated our old friend and rock 'n' roll animal Matias Aaltonen into the band -- in this process our sound has developed perhaps in an edgier direction. We have stolen Jussi's atmospheric music from him, whipped some groove into it, and out comes _Volvere_. It blends our trademark atmospheric elements and the kind of raw rock or metal edge that Matias and Kaj tend to bring into our jam sessions. And while we do value our past works very much, we do believe, naturally, that _Volvere_ is our best work so far. CoC: Who would you say are your/FotL's core influences, in terms of bands or individual musicians? Paradise Lost and Amorphis seem to me to be the cornerstones of your 'sound', in the broadest possible sense: bands whose careers have produced work that has - essentially- informed what Fall of the Leafe write and perform on _Volvere_ -- other names also come to mind... what say you, Tuomas? TT: Amorphis and especially Paradise Lost often come up as points of reference and it is alright. Both are excellent bands, although I have not followed either very much lately. However, perhaps some of the most important influences to our music come from Jussi's all time favorites. I happen to know, not least because it was already years ago he infected my taste with these, that the cornerstones of his record collection include works by New Model Army, The Mission (UK), Fields of the Nephilim, The Smiths, Dead Can Dance, The Pogues. However, apart from Jussi and myself, none of the other members are very fond of these bands. So while most of our material still comes from Jussi, the band that performs it seems to like very different kind of music. For example, Matias bends more toward grunge like Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam and the likes, as well as bands like The Cult or U2. Now that this issue came up, I am planning on stealing this bastard's collection of The Cult vinyls. K aj, on the other hand, digs the raw approach of, say, Spiritual Beggars or Phil Anselmo's Down. Personally, in addition to sharing many of Jussi's favorites, I am a big fan of the Hellacopters, Radio Birdman, the Finnish space- boogie band Blake, Verenpisara, and above all, anything that involves the world's most soulful rock singer Scott Morgan. So we have a large variety of tastes in this band. It means that a large variety of different influences seep into our work. And if we manage to keep this mess in any kind of control, like I think we can, things are all good for us. CoC: Your PR statement is written in an intelligent style: it eschews, early on, the route of describing FotL's music, instead opting to present facts of their history. Was your purpose to fill-out people's image of what the -band- FotL are and what their history has been like, while at the same time to -invite- people to enjoy the music on their own, more independent terms? If there was a particular purpose to your unusually well-considered press release, please explain it... TT: I have no idea what documents Rage of Achilles has sent away, but I presume it is the Fall of the Leafe band biography we are talking about here. [We are. -- Paul] I wrote the text with two things in mind. The first one being the fact that I cannot tell this band's story from any other viewpoint than my own. This group is a bunch of down-to-earth blokes and since we have only recently started speaking to each other, I don't know what they all have felt in a given time or situation in the past. So in lack of other viewpoints, our band history is, so to speak, a Fall of the Leafe history through my eyes. Therefore it is impossible for me to present a band biography that would be simultaneously honest and objective. I dropped objectivity. The second thought I had was about one's freedom of independently forming an idea of what we are. All I can offer to our listener is an explanation of what I believe our music stems from. And what I believe we are. Chewing the bits and piec es and spitting them out, saying 'this is what we are, this is what our music is and you had it better to see it that way too or you are a bad person', would be nothing short of under-estimating our listeners who are all capable of independent thought. They wouldn't care anyway. All are free to hear and understand Fall of the Leafe in any way they see fit. My interpretation is mine and forcing it on anyone else would be like stealing one's own. CoC: Any interest in shedding more concrete light on what happened around the recording of _Evanescent, Everfading_? I'd be interested to hear an anecdote about "... the eventful trip up north to Kemi and... the band's batchelor life there." TT: Revealing too much here would ruin my plans of a massively successful release of the _Evanescent, Everfading_ sessions video diary. However, I can tell that the band's van was a hideous piece of junk and was pulled over several times en route up north. But before actually managing to even start the trip, the band noticed that their singer was refusing to go and their drummer had gone missing. Alright, I will cut the crap here. The truth is I only have second hand knowledge of the events because I was not a member of this band at that time. In fact, I was not even living in this country. CoC: How would you connect Fall of the Leafe to Finland? Would you say there is anything intrinsically Finnish to your character? Would you resist or welcome comparisons to the likes of Sentenced or Babylon Whores? TT: Well, we are undeniably Finnish fellows, that is for sure. We don't speak much and if we do, we speak Finnish; we like the sauna, porno, rock music and many of its subgenres, and we like lager. However, apart from the sauna and silence, many blokes in their mid or late twenties are made of the same components regardless of their country. So besides being Finnish, we have cultural ties to many things that do not have a home land. Such as rock music, for example. Now that I have effectively made clear that I have little cultural sensitivity, I am afraid that further comments on this subject will only contribute to me making an ass of myself on an internationally recognized arena. Which is fine, because I care little, and I have further comments. First, the electric guitar is much more a part of my cultural heritage than kantele, and second, people are basically the same everywhere. Only small differences here and there, but people everywhere share quite similar dreams, hope s and needs. Seriously, on my list of components of a good life, nationality in itself does not come close to the top one hundred. Now, I am confused as to whether these comparisons to Sentenced or Babylon Whores should be made to music, or the musicians involved. I do not know any of these people in person, so it is difficult to say. Music-wise, I really don't care much. I don't know what kind of music Babylon Whores play and Sentenced, while quality rock music, should excuse me while I kill myself. CoC: You've played live only six times in your history. Any concrete plans to radically alter this situation in the near future? Do you feel your music, as primarily not rooted in live performance, has taken on a character which lends itself badly to live performance? Do you think gigs are something that will ever become a "high point" in your life as a band? TT: Correction: we have now played live eight times and have more coming. We finally cut our two year live celibacy and are now in the process of changing our previously lame live situation. Our first show in two years we played in support of the Finnish- singing Verenpisara, which features members of Amorphis. With a new line-up, new material, and pretty much a new situation we were a bit uncertain as to what was going to happen with that 'come- back' show. And shoot, we were really good. We managed to shift our songs and our great jam session atmosphere into a live situation. And people liked it too. I could hardly believe my ears when people came up after the show and asked for more. Also, we played another good show at our _Volvere_ release party. So much for being less of a live band, I think. This is all about the scarcity of opportunities to play live. But whenever a possibility comes up, playing live is nothing short of sheer brilliance. It feels good and -- I never tho ught I would say this -- we kick ass at it. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= I N T O T H E P I T O F P A I N ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Duncan Mitchell from Descent by: Paul Schwarz Descent could be called London's best ever answer to Machine Head -- or as some might put it, "The Machine Head Problem". Voted amongst Terrorizer magazine's best unsigned bands in both 2001 and 2002, their combination of thrash metal's rhythmic chops, death metal's downtuned heaviness and the catchy inflections of Pantera's 'power groove' school has assured a steady rise to widespread local notoriety -- backed as it was by increasingly impressive live performances. Though formed in 1998, Descent were relatively unknown until 2000: the year they recorded the impressively-acclaimed, Dave Chang-produced _Focus, Purity, Darkness_ demo. A three-piece at the time, Descent stepped up their touring schedule in the demo's wake. To date, they have supported Shadows Fall, The Crown, Decapitated, Darkane and many more 'name' bands, as well as clocking up many 'underground' gigs besides. One of their final significant 'acts' as a three-piece came when they contributed a moshing (death) m etal mad version of Testament's "Into The Pit" to Blackfish's killer _Thrash Or Be Thrashed_ tribute compilation. But now, with the addition of guitarist Tim Spurr, they've substantially broadened their horizons. As a four-piece who have come to fully embrace Swedish death metal leanings -- and even a progressive turn or two -- on their current four-tracker, Descent are surely a more promise-heavy prospect than ever they were before. I chatted with bassist Duncan Mitchell back in April -- via Internet messaging -- to find out how things were going, focusing mainly on Descent's recent activities, current release and future prospects. CoC: About the new four-tracker: does that have title at all? Duncan Mitchell: No, it's not meant for general release, to be honest. The demo's main purpose is to try and drum up some record company interest -- though people can download it from the website should they wish. CoC: Let's talk about the demo. The thing that struck me, first off, was how different it comes across, compared to the Dave Chang- produced _Focus, Purity, Darkness_. I don't mean the sound though: it's mainly the spirit, I suppose, in which the new demo has been done. Without in the slightest wanting to insult your songwriting on either release, the new demo does not, in contrast to _FPD_, seem like the kind of release Metal Hammer would generally latch onto. Unless their tastes have really changed from "back in the day". DM: Well, there has been a couple of years in-between the two demos, and a couple of line-up changes. _FPD_ was written as a three- piece. Then we got a second guitarist in, then we lost him and got Tim into the band. We have quite a diverse set of inspirations. Marc and Ross are big into power metal and the whole Swedish sound; I'm into my brutal death metal, grind and doom; and Tim is mainly into the classic Florida sound of Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Suffocation... As for not appealing to certain magazines' tastes, I see a bit of a shift in public taste at the moment with bands like Shadows Fall and God Forbid all doing well and sound-wise we're not a million miles away from them. CoC: Did you feel like you wanted to take a darker, more melodically involved and less mosh-orientated approach to death/thrash -- the somewhat nebulous genre you broadly fit into -- with this demo? Does that direction -- in the context of what you said about the demo being mainly for getting a record deal -- reflect the kind of record companies whose attentions you are hoping to attract? DM: There wasn't really a conscious effort to write in a certain style. We all just bring our individual riffs and parts to practice, jam on them and form songs from there. A big difference now compared to FPD is that we have all become far more accomplished musically since then and like I mentioned we have added a second guitar which opens up whole new avenues. As for record companies, we've had a few offers but nothing concrete. There are certain labels I'd personally love to sign to, but as long as we can find a good deal from a honest label, I'll be happy. I think the main problem we have encountered so far is that people can't really pigeonhole us as a particular style (which I think is a good thing) but I suppose it does make us that bit more awkward to market. CoC: I dig what you're saying: they can hear and sometimes perceive the roots of some core aspects of Descent, but A) that doesn't cover the full gamut of what's there, and B) (as you've proved with this latest demo) there's no real way of telling where the band will go next. DM: Yeah... to be honest, I don't think we know ourselves. CoC: Obviously there are limits -- your description of yourselves very broadly as a metal band seems to cover the range well: there's a lot of possibility in that configuration. DM: The songs we are writing at the moment are so different from one to another, some of them are getting stupidly technical and we're all pushing ourselves to the limit musically. But then we have other new songs where we just hold back, look for a groove and try to do something a bit more catchy. I guess that's our old school Pantera, Metallica, Fear Factory influences coming through. We just tend to go with the death/thrash tag. I think it pretty much sums us up. We have hardcore, power metal and even nu elements to our songs, but at the end of the day you have to try and put yourself under a vague umbrella. CoC: And without wanting to put words in your mouth, I'd postulate that what's "nu" about Descent came from death and thrash in the first place -- too many serpents with too many tails! DM: Exactly... people think that Korn and Slipknot were the first bands to down tune to B and crank out a some great grooves, but as we know Carcass, Bolt Thrower and tons of others were doing it all fifteen years ago... CoC: In the context of what you were saying about songs: have you been playing live much recently, and if you have, what have been the reactions to new songs (from the demo or after), and which songs have you been airing? DM: We've been doing a few low-key gigs. Tim is still relatively new to playing live with us. He's only up to his sixth or seventh gig, but we played with Dimension Zero recently and that was awesome. Of the new songs, "Dust of the Fallen" always goes down well. I think that one sums us up best. It's technical, it has some great grooves and its heavy as fuck. "World of Dreams" always goes down well, as well. We always joke that that song will be our hit single, as it's us at our most melodic and catchy. CoC: Any specific support/touring plans for the next four-to-six months? DM: Well, we've just sent out 40+ press packs to labels and venues so it depends what sort of offers we get back, to be honest. We do have a couple of things lined up for the near future, but nothing is 100% confirmed. It's best if people keep an eye on the website for all the latest info. Contact: http://www.descentonline.co.uk =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _, __, _,_ _, _ _, / \ | |_) | | |\/| (_ |~| | , |_) | | | | , ) ~ ~ ~~~ ~ `~' ~ ~ ~ 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! Ad Hominem - _...For a New World_ (Undercover Records, 2004) by: Matthias Noll (7 out of 10) Simple, no frills, raw black metal is what Ad Hominem from France have to offer a new world. I'm not familiar with their debut album and have only heard that previously they've used a drum machine, whereas _FaNW_ features real drums -- so you'll have to do without direct comparisons. I hear remote similarities to Deathspell Omega (pre-_Si Monvmentum Requires, Circumspice_) but overall Ad Hominem are faster, more shredding, less melodic and more concerned about impact than atmosphere. Highly distorted vocals, a killer sound with ripping guitars, and seven relatively short and compact tracks of the same quality and intensity level deal out a vicious punch throughout the whole album. Stylistically Ad Hominem sit in a comfortable and unpretentious but innovation-free spot somewhere in-between blazing speed and blasting, and the simple-as-can-be approach of early Gorgoroth; thankfully they avoid the kindergarden chord progressions of the Marduk school of songwriting, but they also don't achieve the total necro vibe of vintage Gorgoroth. My overall impression is that Ad Hominem have recorded an album which is certainly no masterpiece, but is nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable. Contact: http://www.undercover-records.de AmmiT - _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_ by: Xander Hoose (4 out of 10) (From Beyond Productions, 2004) The amateurism of AmmiT's _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_'s inlay doesn't promise much good, so thankfully I am prepared when I press play. I haven't heard black metal this uninspired for quite some time. And it's not even bad in a funny way, like Goat; it's just... bad. The bio states AmmiT has been heavily inspired by Sodom, Venom and Bathory -- three bands that had a great impact on the scene by doing something new, something exciting. A few exceptions aside, originality is hardly found on this album. _Mass Suicide / Steel Inferno_ consists of three parts, the first one being the 2000 _Mass Suicide_ album, which is actually the best part of this CD. The 1998 _Steel Inferno_ part has a horrible production, exceptionally low-volume and even more uninteresting songs. The last part consists of three songs from their 2004 studio sessions; the sound quality has improved slightly on these songs, but the vocals are so damned horrible it's impossible to listen to this without feelin g ashamed. Had this album been released more than a decade ago, there would have been a chance for AmmiT to sell some copies. But alas, we live in 2004 and albums like these don't live up to any standard. Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_ (Flood the Earth, 2004) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Aphotic are an American atmospheric death metal band that has been toiling in the shadows of the unsigned underground for several years now -- its demos earning high marks and vast praise while record labels strangely looked the other way. This disc unites all three demos the band has recorded to date, including the very limited _Stillness Grows_, and sees the light of day courtesy of Flood the Earth Records. Aphotic's gloomy atmospheric death has a sound of its own -- and finding a young band who doesn't borrow heavily from well-known acts is not an easy task. This isn't to say there aren't some similarities to established artists, but Aphotic show a great deal of personality on every demo. The songs have an understated catchiness and strength to their riffs, which are helped along by unobtrusive background synths. The death vocals are relatively clear and well-integrated with the music, while the drumming plays a competent but secondary role throughout (only the last demo features a human drummer). While I understand the reasons why the band or label decided to have the EPs in reverse chronological order (which may help put the latest material under the spotlight), it might have been interesting to hear the evolution in the band's sound reflected directly on the disc. This is debatable though, and the quality of all three demos remains high throughout; their sound quality is also sufficiently even to avoid any significant continuity flaws. Fans of doom and atmospheric death metal should definitely seek this release and hope that it will prove to be a sign of better things to come for Aphotic. There is great talent and personality in this band, and it would be a shame to waste such potential. Contact: http://www.aphoticdeath.com Bazzah - _Kingdom of the Dead_ (From Beyond Productions, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (3.5 out of 10) OK, so I had just finished writing a fairly critical review of AmmiT's latest album and now I get this thrown in front of my feet. Bazzah hails from Malaysia and apparently they don't have a good studio over there, because _Kingdom of the Dead_ suffers from the worst sound quality I have heard in a very long time. If you like your high frequencies, go for this album -- the producer even managed to get the vocals and bass in that range. It changes somewhat for the better after the first half of the album, making me suspect that _Kingdom of the Dead_ actually consists of two albums. Unfortunately there isn't much info in the booklet, and the info that is there is unreadable. Don't bother finding out for yourself: all nineteen songs on this album are based around the same guitar riff and drum pattern, with probably only the vocalist trying something different on each song. The only other band that comes to mind when I listen to this is Enthroned, but even they are way above the level of this crap. Stay clear of this and go for something real. Deathspell Omega - _Si Monumentum Requires, Circumspice_ by: Matthias Noll (3 out of 10) (Norma Evangelium Diaboli, 2004) Deathspell Omega's new album seems to split their core audience right through the middle. Some consider this a masterpiece. Others, and unfortunately I do belong to the second category, feel that this is a total disappointment, full of boring, overlong, pretentious and self- indulgent songs that are anything but memorable -- or going anywhere. While DO were always considered generic by some, I've always felt that their riffs and melodies where totally distinctive, unique and instantly recognizable. These trademarks have disappeared almost completely on _Si Momumentum Requires, Circumspice_ and, if I hadn't already known, I would have never, ever been able to recognize the band. The flowing nature of previous DO work has given way to a generally faster, more dissonant and almost hectic approach, which features far more breaks and which, in quite a few places, structurally and rhythmically reminds me of Satyricon on their _Nemesis Divina_ album. _SMR,C_ is a concept album dealing with "a theological dispute on the divine essence of the Devil, the roles and virtues of faith and the place of man therein" -- and I'm sure a tremendous amount of work has gone into this project. But as interesting as this sounds, I've never managed to spin this album without already getting bored during the third of the thirteen chapters which are obviously necessary to bring the dispute across. From then on, the main impression I get is comparable to being present at a 72 minute lecture which turned out to be pointless and useless right after the introduction. Congrats on the full and powerful sound, but for the rest of the record I have to say that, if this really is the first of three similar 'acts' or albums, then I'm afraid that DO have ceased to exist in my personal black metal world. Exciter - _New Testament_ (Osmose Productions / The End, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (5 out of 10) Getting past the all the images of a Spinal Tap power metal emissary resurgence is a real test for any reviewer. You know what I mean -- Sinner and their ilk have more-or-less (re)warped the power metal scene beyond all recognizable comprehension. So what, right? At least we have Exciter. These speed metal stalwarts from Canada have enough time on the circuit to rename the whole damn scene Exciter Metal. After twenty-five years, the recent _New Testament_ offering may logically be viewed as a "best of" album. What makes that special? The fifteen tracks are re-recorded with the newest ever-evolving Exciter line-up. Most are familiar, at least somewhat, with Exciter. Having forsaken their original moniker, Hell Razor, in favor of the more Judas Priest-esque Exciter name, this late1970s band takes their singing seriously, as would any Halford enthusiast; think "Freewheel Burning" sung with Rob under-the-weather and that's what you butt up against hearing Jacques Belanger's vocal style. This collection of Exciter favs, by my count, makes ten officially released albums. Obviously originality goes bye-byes with a "best of", but the production on _New Testament_ is solid and that winds up being a large plus. The ability (and cojones) to recreate past material is another. Testament did this with _First Strike Still Deadly_. In one reviewer's opinion, that revision by Chuck Billy and the boys sounded more relevant for one reason or another. _New Testament_ incorporates a wide diversity of Exciter's catalog, yet it plays out similar to being ridden hard and put away wet. Much like having Massacre (finally) put down "Corpsegrinder" on _From Beyond_, we can all be grateful for Exciter's willingness to offer this collection on one CD. Reviving "I Am the Beast" and "Blackwitch" make even the most conventional fan wanna "Stand Up and Fight"! The sixty-six minutes this disc spins is a bit too long and runs the risk of sounding rehashed after that length of time . When all is said and done, in spite of this "Brutal Warning", folks, even I have to admit sheepishly that Exciter have kept "Long Live the Loud" close at heart. Contact: http://www.theendrecords.com Filii Nigrantium Infernalium - _A Queda / A Era do Abutre_ by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) (Independent, 2004) Portuguese act Filii Nigrantium Infernalium are all about good old- fashioned thrash, with the unusual twist of singing in their native tongue. Gathering two of the band's efforts, this disc provides half an hour of their somewhat eccentric brand of thrash, accentuated by piercing vocal shrieks. Venomous and determined, FNI rip through each track while leaving in their wake some reasonably memorable hooks and choruses. Both works suffer from a somewhat underwhelming production and a certain lack of consistency, but they have their moments and plenty of character shines through. It would be interesting to hear what FNI might be able to come up with given a bigger budget to work with, as there seem to be some good ideas floating about. Until then, this release will remain mostly for the consumption of a limited audience. Contact: http://www.infernalium.com Forest of Impaled - _Forward the Spears_ (Red Stream, 2003) by: Todd DePalma (4 out of 10) The opening track of this album begins with a short lead-in by way of orchestra, very cinematic amidst the sounds of feat-hoofs crunching along the dusty ground and the clamor of weaponry. In the next few seconds we are launched into a trampling, viciously coordinate march of metal, completely unrelenting for two or three briefly epic and bloody minutes. What happened? From here on the album deflates into a plainly derivative, if energetic endeavor that falls short of the band's potential, still apparent in at least a few tracks among the ennui. This group has always contained a slight thrash element, full of melody but never being completely "melodic" -- a trait retained on this release with several catchy riffs here and there that (thankfully, I guess) never become overdone or harmonized into something... Swedish. Nor do these riffs seem to ever actually build to anything interesting or -- more of a necessity -- sustain their own integrity. The latter is disappointing, the former contemptible. They are from Poland after all. Any interesting hooks usually appear in the first minute or so of a track ("Sons of Cain", "Into the Mouth of Oblivion") and from then on become surrounded and vanish within energetically played, but impersonal guitar rhythms over the assault of Duane Timlin's drumming -- which is sublime because in our age of tech-sa vvy percussionists he's actually hitting the goddamn things. As it is, I can hardly hold it against him that his work is not Atlas enough to prop up this material. Vocalist / bassist Marcus M. Kolar (since departed) brings a fierce amalgam of styles together that are enjoyable and stirring to hear: a mix of rasps and David Vincent-like deeply spoken echoes. But of the ten tracks here only the title track, "I Am the Temple to Eternal Death" and the ceremonial "Orgy of Unearthly Delights" rise above something other than standardized sound. Contact: http://www.forestofimpaled.com Goretrade - _Ritual of Flesh_ (Displeased Records, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (8.5 out of 10) Gore-grind and gore-death bands seem to be popping back to life lately. Does it mean it's the new big thing? I don't know, but I can't say I'm not happy with it. As long as quality improves I'm happy with my served dish of mangled torsos, severed limbs and rotting brains. Goretrade fulfills a fair share of my needs with _Rituals of Flesh_. For a gore band they have a very decent production, and the vocalist manages to squeeze a nice juicy grunt from his vocal chords -- there's not much left to be desired. It is true that the drums could be a little heavier, but that doesn't deflect my attention from the music as a whole. While the bandlogo gives me slight flashbacks of the good old Impetigo times, musically I would love to see these guys perform as opening act to Cannibal Corpse or Jungle Rot. Granted, _Rituals of Flesh_ is not as good as the latest album by Splatterhouse, but this album does feature a member of Internal Suffering! And it does have artwork by Jon Zig! If any of you freaks don't mind spending money on more than one album this month, you should be chopping your way through a mass of zombies right now to make it to the record store. In Grey - _Sulphur Tears_ (Last Entertainment Productions, 2004) by: Pedro Azevedo (6 out of 10) Separated by only a few days, two discs arrived in my mailbox from previously unsigned bands gathering demos for their inaugural label release: first Aphotic and now In Grey. Much like the Americans, these Swedes have been producing demos for quite a few years, and now seem to have found a light at the end of the unsigned tunnel. Last Entertainment Productions is the label that took responsibility for releasing their latest work _Sulphur Tears_ along with a few tracks taken from previous demos, as In Grey now hope to gain greater visibility in the metal scene. In Grey haven't changed their style much over the past few years, tweaking rather than reinventing their sound with each successive demo. _Sulphur Tears_ is no exception, in spite of the addition of three new members to the fold. Their gothic metal is at times vaguely reminiscent of present day Katatonia -- though featuring much more of a gothic look and a bouncier kind of sound, far from the bleakness Katatonia can display, sometimes bringing to mind Sentenced instead. Their melodic and chorus-heavy style is repeatedly explored throughout the disc as In Grey try to play to their strengths. While this approach reduces variety, it can also work in the band's favour at this early stage in their career. You can easily pick out a few sticky choruses and riffs from _Sulphur Tears_, and that's a bonus for a band still looking to make a name for themselves. In Grey also include the occasional variation to their chorus-oriented material, which is quite welcome. _Sulphur Tears_ shows the band is continuing to grow, especially in the guitar department, while the new singer makes a rather indifferent impact in the band's sound. The disc starts somewhat poorly but improves later on, as the band struggles to keep things at a constantly good level. Helped by a decent production, In Grey sound more like a band capable of clinching a label deal than before, and this release could well set them on their way to success. Some more originality and consistency and a less evident desire to make a hit single out of nearly every track would be advisable in the future, but _Sulphur Tears_ should already provide reasonably good entertainment for fans of the genre. Contact: http://www.in-grey.com Infinited Hate - _Revel in Bloodshed_ (Displeased Records, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (6.5 out of 10) Those of you who have been paying enough attention to what has been happening in the scene have seen this album coming. Rising from the ashes of Sinister, Infinited Hate includes most of the final line-up of Sinister -- even female gruntster Rachel Kloosterwaard has taken the step to provide _Revel in Bloodshed_ with vocals. The album clocks a nice 37 minutes of non-stop death metal action from song one to song eleven. You're not allowed, not even for a single moment, to catch your breath. Not that I mind though! What I do mind is that both production- and song-wise it could have been better. Sinister has made better songs than we can find on this album, and the production is a bit thin for a brutal Dutch death band. The usage of a drum machine doesn't really become obvious unless you pay attention to it; perhaps it does explain why there are only some sporadic breaks in speed. Nonetheless, if you have always liked Sinister and don't mind a more grindcore-oriented direction, you will like _Revel in Bloodshed_. If you're looking for more variation, don't go looking for it here. Infinited Hate has taken the other direction and it doesn't seem like they are willing to turn back soon. Killaman - _Killaman_ (Displeased Records, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (9 out of 10) Those who mourned over the disbanding of Murder Corporation can finally put their grief behind them. Under the name Killaman comes their new incarnation, consisting of Rune (vocals), Johan (guitar/bass) and Rikard (drums). Those of you familiar with the Deranged line-up might recognize a name or two as well. _Killaman_ is not as much the continuation of the Murder Corporation sound as it is the taking of a new course, mixing death with thrash and a sniff of grindcore. On the eleven songs on this album, Killaman doesn't let their guard down for a second: from the first notes to the last, your senses are bombarded with non-stop violent riffing, aggressive drumming and clear, deep growls. Think of a death metal version of The Haunted's debut album and you might get the idea. Having a fast-paced album without any slower pieces means something has to be done to hold the attention: the tiny insane guitar parts that can be found throughout the songs do the trick perfectly. Clocking in at a decent 32 minutes, _Killaman_ is a worthy debut album that leaves a desire for more. It's good to hear that in the meantime, a second guitarist and permanent bass player have been found. If these guys are playing at a club near you, go check them out! Contact: http://www.killaman.net Krieg - _The Black House_ (Red Stream, 2004) by: Todd DePalma (10 out of 10) After a seasonal round of split releases and limited demos, 2004 brings the third full-length release from Krieg, and the first thing to note (sensibly... obviously, I suppose) is the album cover -- the preferred style having changed over time from the illustrations of Gustave Doré to obscure black & white photography. The cover art captures a psychic prison "In effigie" representing the artists inner "dreamstructure", but also a metaphor for its cognizant manifestation on record. Though the conceptual nature of _The Black House_ gives the most explicit framing for the band's work, emphasizing personality, it remains alienating. The contradiction of this approach is the nucleus of the album's strength. These are not songs begging for understanding. (No lyrics, as usual. No sampling either.) And although this is the most "listenable" Krieg yet, the band retains its raw hallmark, remaining only semi-apparent like a phantom to the listener. Twelve tracks reflect a wider range of songwriting -- and with them a necessary change in production, allowing the guitar to have more clarity, capturing a more gothic sound in the truest sense: often resounding a synthesis of Misfits (circa _Earth A.D._) and Darkthrone. The slashing, militaristic riffs of "Deviant" and "Sickening Voices Without Speech" display a handle on catchy rhythm breaks that were either non-existent or previously indecipherable in earlier works. There is even a racing but somber instrumental track, complete with closing guitar solo. Imperial's vocals abrasively plow through the storm of sound, belching multi-layered screams that do not stray drastically from his unique and familiar style. But once the ceremonial, trodden tones of "Venus in Furs" (Velvet Underground) enter, Imperial is able to sing-scream over the slow chord changes, which is surreal enough and compounded by the euphoric stupor of the music itself. In a genre so accustomed to masking so much sameness in bloated and overused descriptions, there is only one term that truthfully describes this type of sound, in a word (most innocently): Separatist. Contact: http://www.destructionritual.com Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_ (Moribund , 2004) by: Todd DePalma (7.5 out of 10) This is the third album proper by the one-manned sound enterprise Leviathan, a ghostly ambient work with strong black metal tendencies. Twelve tracks of suicide-themed music that bear a wide range of influence gathering industrial, death, darkwave and rock into over one hour's worth of schismatic time changes, as songs segue to the next and within themselves portraying a dream landscape of criminal thoughts. Leviathan's music is cowled in scraping production, often challenged by its melodically diverse personality. Bass is worthy of its even mix, while guitars are thin and comparable to _A Blaze in the Northern Sky_ or early Sepultura, and not surprisingly a speed/death element emerges early on with "Heir to the Noose of Ghoul". Whatever the more traditional instruments are involved in, there is always some element that further affects the unbalanced, schizophrenic mood displayed: bombs, wind, choirs, chamber sounds, keyboards and the effectively frightening (if at times whiney) hissing vocal performance by mastermind Wrest. _Tentacles of Whorror_ is most rewarding when delving into its ambient side, showcased in "A Necessary Mutilation" and the spacey, Lynchian vibe of "Blood Red and True: Part 3". While this zealous blend of technique is interesting, the styles are more stacked rather than interwoven, and the more blatant black metal sections seem to be weighing down a much more potent creative force. "Vexed and Vomit Hexed" is easily the dullest piece, while track seven blasts through three minutes of rough, unspectacular hysteria then splits -- focusing on hypnotically reverberating guitar notes, loosely reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine, over a mid-paced stride. When splitting these types completely: one half appears a journeyman to early Burzum while the other half could be approaching its own sage-like summit. Recommended as a semi-brilliant, darkly engineered dichotomy of art. Contact: http://www.moribundcult.com Martyr - _A Malicious Odyssey_ (Black Owl Records, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (8 out of 10) Another dip into Martyr's blackened waters, this release represents the second offering from these guys following up the incredible effort on Regimental Records, _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_. Gone largely is the fiery, scorched playing style of their previous effort, replaced with a more feverishly stripped-down approach in favor of speed and purity of form; simply two ways of tackling the same black metal objective. While there are still strong elements of Martyr's musical rhythmic change-ups that accentuate their material perfectly, _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_ exploited this particular feature to a fine art. This is no question that Martyr still harbors a great deal of potential. Under the surface of material laid forth on _A Malicious Odyssey_ waits a whole host of paths less traveled by others on the extreme scene presently. As mentioned before, Martyr's technique has evolved somewhat, which may be due to the departure of N. Silence -- a central member over the last seven years. This development of their style could be viewed as a maturation of Martyr's sound. Being a sucker of the more raw aspects of _To Confirm When Destruction Comes_, admittedly it took some time for _A Malicious Odyssey_ to fully take hold upon its arrival. Still a three piece, this outfit continues to enjoy a rich and full sound. "Downfall" drives forth a pounding punishment of choppy riffs without sacrificing any of the harsher, unforgiving expressions of Martyr's zealous sound. Immediately following that track, "Failure of the 4th" embodies what I consider the undercurrent of their technique. Catchy, with an enticing guitar accompaniment winding its way through the onset of the song then dissolving into the basic searing structure before resurfacing toward the end of track's six minutes of wild enmity. Most assuredly a ba nd to consider and monitor with interest. Contact: http://www.blackowlrecords.com MD.45 - _The Craving (remastered)_ (Capitol Records, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (1 out of 10) Call me a sucker for happy music, but MD.45's _The Craving_ has always been one of my favourites. This collaboration between Dave Mustaine and Fear frontman Lee Ving was the perfect mix between thrash metal and that kick-in-your-ass punk attitude that only Fear could provide. The catchy, intriguing guitar riffs and melodies have kept me happy during many car rides. With a decent production, I couldn't really find anything bad about this album -- so why remaster this classic album? Now that I finally get to have a listen, I am shocked. No, I am outraged. Mister almighty Dave Mustaine has not remastered the album, he has stripped the original album of Lee Ving's vocals and laid down his own vocal tracks. And it doesn't stop there: upon mixing his new vocals in, he has completely ignored the balance between the volume of his vocals and the rest of the instruments. So what the new _The Craving_ is, is Dave Mustaine raping the original songs with the instruments too far in the bac kground. Unbelievable. Not only do Dave's whiny vocals make the album hell to listen to, using the old bandname is downright hypocritical. MD: Mustaine, Dave. 45: the Latin L and V for Lee Ving. For this effort in backstabbing I refuse to give mister Mustaine a higher rating than the one I'm praising the album with now. Those of you who don't know _The Craving_, please go find the original. Megadeth - _The System Has Failed_ (Sanctuary Records, 2004) by: Brian Meloon (5 out of 10) After Metallica's _St. Anger_ [CoC #63], one should've expected that Megadeth would record an album that goes back to their roots. And after hearing the MP3 of "Kick the Chair" from their website, I had reasonably high hopes for this album, as that song sounds like something that might have come off my favorite Megadeth album, _Rust in Peace_. But instead of returning to the sound of their pre-sellout albums, Megadeth's latest offering is a hodge-podge of elements from throughout their discography. Aside from the fact that it's professionally produced and played, this isn't a very good album. One major reason for this is that there just aren't very many good riffs here: most of the riffs are either derivative or cliché, and the only ones I find decent are the handful that remind me (usually very strongly) of riffs from _Peace Sells_ or _Rust in Peace_. Another main problem is that it lacks consistency, so it comes off sounding more like an anthology than an indivisible body of work. For example, three of the early songs use samples, but none of the other songs do, and three of the last songs feature religious overtones, yet none of the others do. I frequently found myself wondering which album each song might have come from, and finding that some songs contained elements of a few of their albums. Strangely, they also seem to have picked up influences from outside their discography, such as "Tears in a Vial", which sounds more like early Tesla than any Megadeth album. Given all of these influences, it's hard to find any new elements that they've brought to this album -- so what we're left with is a rehash of their old ideas, arranged and packaged as a new album. Still, this is an improvement over _Risk_, for example. But while it restores some of Megadeth's sagging credibility, I think it's too little, too late to win back many of the fans of their earlier albums, myself included. Contact: http://www.megadeth.com Napalm Death - _Leaders Not Followers 2_ (Century Media, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (8 out of 10) I had been looking forward to hearing this record for a while. Sure, cover albums are fast becoming a dime a dozen and it can be argued that they are little more than a convenient way for a band to release something they can make money off while fans salivate in anticipation of their next full-length. But, as the first instalment of Napalm Death's _Leaders Not Followers_ series pointed out, covers albums can also serve as interesting, if nostalgia-inducing reinterpretations of forgotten classics, especially when the Brummy legends take a song like "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" (originally by The Dead Kennedys) and turn it into a bona fide Napalm Death classic. Consequently, _Leaders Not Followers 2_ avoids the lazy cash-in of cover-albums like Six Feet Under's _Graveyard Classics_, and goes straight for the jugular from the word go. There aren't any surprises, and for once that's almost a relief -- hell, you'd have been a fool for expecting anything to the contrary anyway. _Leaders N ot Followers 2_ serves up nineteen tracks of warp-speed violence that hit the mark again and again. On an odd few occasions one might wince at the inclusion of a number that's clearly not quite working as it should, but when you have an album that features blistering adaptations of Agnostic Front's "Blind Justice" and Discharge's "War's No Fairytale", you have a record that contains enough primal aggression to power a small city. Add to this the album's ultimate highlight (Sepultura's "Troops of Doom") and there really is no way that you can go wrong with _Leaders Not Followers 2_. Contact: http://www.enemyofthemusicbusiness.com Nargaroth - _Raluska Part I_ (No Colours, 2004) by: Matthias Noll (5 out of 10) Recorded during the same 2001 sessions as _Raluska Part II_ -- with Moonblood's Occulta Mors on drums, but Kanwulf's vocals added in March 2004 -- _Raluska Part I_ is technically not all too different from the second part, which was released back in 2002. The sound is identical, the mood and general direction of the material is the same, but the quality of the tunes isn't. Those who thought that _Geliebte des Regens_ was too slow and plodding might have reason to rejoice, because (out of three songs and an intro) _Raluska I_ features two fast tracks; but as a whole, it leaves the impression of by-the- numbers Nargoroth material. After the "Trauermarsch" intro -- based on the traditional "Marche Funebre" theme, used by Candlemass on _Nightfall_ and there credited to an interpretation by Chopin -- the title track "Raluska" starts off the EP in decent fashion, although it's certainly no outstanding track -- and upon closer inspection just standard Nargaroth mid-tempo fare. (The "Marche Funebre" theme makes a return here, but is lousily integrated into the song itself.) Track three, "Where the Cranes Fly", is definitely the most interesting of the three actual songs -- utilising blazing speed and unusual, interesting chord progressions. The last track, "The Tears of a Man", does justice to its pathetic title, consisting of a lukewarm riff that sounds disconcertingly familiar if not worn-out, fast but absolutely monotonous and boring drumming and some totally unimaginative and repetitious rasping by Kanwulf. This material might have gone down a lot better if both EPs had gotten released as a whole, with a track-list that cleverly mixed material from both, but as it is _Raluska Part I_ is sadly only worth the money for die-hard Nargaroth fans. Necrophagist - _Epitaph_ (Relapse Records, 2004) by: Jackie Smit (8.5 out of 10) And so yet another supremely worthy contender steps up to the no-holds barred battle royal that is the current death metal scene. In 2003 we were blown away by the likes of Zyklon, Morbid Angel, Krisiun and Akercocke, and likewise in 2004 we've already seen superb efforts by Decapitated, Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation. Now comes _Epitaph_ -- an album which if anything gives new meaning to the phrase "inhumanly technical". Off the back of the hyperspeed scale-based opening of "Ignominious & Pale", one might even be nudged as far as to say that this German quartet give Trey Azagtoth and the late Chuck Schuldiner a run for their money in terms of pure instrumental virtuosity. Indeed, Morbid Angel and Death influences do feature heavily on this record, but unlike many of their peers currently trying to make headway into this style of death metal, Necrophagist have enough original ideas to deliver some outstanding songs of their own. Not content to merely blast away (Eric Ru tan, please take note for when you record the next Hate Eternal album), the band shift seamlessly through a variety of tempos, melodies and atmospheres, creating a deep-rooted sense of dynamics which one unfortunately doesn't hear all that much anymore. "The Stillborn One" is a perfect example, starting off with a chunky pinch-harmonic riff before building to a Nile-esque speed explosion, which in turns tails off into one of the most haunting guitar leads this side of _South Of Heaven_. Relapse Records obviously know they're onto something special here as well, and have ensured that the production on _Epitaph_ is second to none -- every instrument is given ample to room to breathe. The bass guitar in particular is cast in the spotlight, which is not something you hear on death metal records every day. That said, there is more than enough skill being displayed here to ensure that a sterling production effort simply acts as the trifecta on an album which quite frankly kick s ass on too many levels to mention. [Brian Meloon: "Aside from some questionable decisions in the songwriting department, this is a very good slab of technical death metal, and a more complete album than their debut. I'd score it 9/10, and rate it above Capharnaum, but below Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession among recent technical death metal releases. And yes, it's far beyond Morbid Angel and Death for sheer technicality."] Contact: http://www.necrophagist.de Officium Triste - _Reason_ (Displeased Records, 2004) by: Xander Hoose (8 out of 10) Usually I let doom metal albums pass, as I don't have the patience to sit them out, but for some reason I couldn't get it over my heart to let this one go. Officium Triste is one of the best doom bands that I can think of; their songs are very well textured, have deeper layers so you will keep finding out new elements to the songs on repeated listens, but mostly I really dig the vocals. Vocalist Pim has a very clear grunt, up to the point where I would call it 'well-pronounced'. Not on one single moment does his throat sound forced, yet there is enough power in it to give the song a brutal but sad edge. Opener "In Pouring Rain" is actually quite fast-paced for a doom song; a good ear will recognize the melody of "The Final Countdown" near the end, brilliantly interwoven with the song. While "In Silent Witness" is very slow and melancholic, Officium Triste picks up pace again with "This Inner Twist". The longest song on the album is "The Sun Doesn't Shine Anymore", my personal favourite. This album has a clearer sound than _Ne Vivam_ and doesn't focus much on guitar solos anymore. While not an outstanding album, _Reason_ is a very good disc for those who yearn for melancholy yet don't want to drown in sadness. Contact: http://www.officiumtriste.com Pest - _Daudafaerd_ (No Colours, 2004) by: Matthias Noll (7 out of 10) Pest, the Swedish band, is one of the newer signings of Germany's No Colours label. I had been considering purchasing their first full- length album _Desecration_, but a couple of samples on the No Colours website did not fully convince me. This, along with Aaron McKay's less than favourable review in CoC, prevented me from adding their album to my collection. With the EP _Daudafaerd_, featuring a single 20-minute track, I decided to take the risk. In the end it's better to waste 9 Euro instead of 13, and I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. Like almost every other black metal band these days, Pest does not innovate the genre while delivering the trademarks of raw black metal within a slow and melancholic framework, with strong vocals, a raw but surprisingly powerful sound, and riffs and melodies that fortunately do not sound overly familiar. _Daudefaerd_ is not the ultra- aggressive, Darkthrone inspired kind of material some might be expecting from Pest. Instead it's much closer to, for example, the material on Satanic Warmaster's _Black Katharsis_ EP, as far the general mood is concerned. _Daudefaerd_ is a slowly flowing piece which consists of three major themes and riffs which get delivered and combined at epic length with a couple of slight alterations, twists and turns. Basically it would have been possible to slice away three or four minutes in the second half of the track without anyone missing a lot, but as a whole _Daudafaerd_ works. Never does it sound as if shorter songs were just combined to create a single long track, and it succeeds in wrapping the listener in a shroud of melancholy and sadness. A positive surprise, and from now on Pest are on my list of bands which I believe might have an ace or two up their sleeve. Let's hope they already deal it out on the next full-length. Tankard - _Beast of Bourbon_ (AFM Records, 2004) by: Matthias Noll (8.5 out of 10) Maybe it's the power of well brewed, superior German beer that can bring someone back from dead. Who knows? Fact is (I should better say opinion) that Tankard have recorded an album that totally and utterly crushes every album bands such as Kreator, Sodom or Destruction have released since the German thrash revival started a couple of years ago. To my ears this is a thousand times better than even the new Exodus. Who'd ever have thought that thrash 'the Frankfurt way' could sound better than one of the Bay Area legends?!? _Beast of Bourbon_ is easily the best Tankard album since _Chemical Invasion_. A totally brilliant and crushing sound, courtesy of Andy Claassen; frantically thrashing songs like "Under Friendly Fire", or the even better stuff from the second half of the album like "The Horde" or "Beyond the Pubyard"; cool solos: this is killer from start to finish. The only exception is the Cocksparrer cover, "We're Coming Back", which sounds far too German for its own goo d, but is fortunately put at the end of the record. Gerre and his fellow beer-drinkers have successfully gotten rid of all the melodic crap which made albums like _Disco Destroyer_ so atrocious, and replaced it with pure energy, fun and aggression. A prime example of a true return to form. Frankfurt thrashers do indeed, and once again, rule tonight! Contact: http://www.tankard.org Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_ (Relapse, 2004) by: Aaron McKay (7.5 out of 10) Sauntering rather unknowingly into the Today Is the Day boot camp just a few years back at the Milwaukee MetalFest with their 1999 release of _In the Eyes of God_, Steve Austin and his clan have never strayed far from their erratic trademark style. Tipping my hat to that fact, this band has never remained satisfied or stagnant by anyone's definition. One more statement of the obvious: Today Is the Day is absolutely an acquired taste; like the mezcal worm, maybe. Gusano!? While late in life realizing the somewhat addicting paranoia of this outfit, _Kiss the Pig_ is more of the same to pacify the monolithically frenzied disciples -- yet ratcheted up to a fever pitch. Now that is saying something for this band! Ramped up by design in an effort to outdo himself, Steve Austin added more than a few right angles that musically doubled back on themselves while going in three directions at once with _KtP_. Confusing? Yes! Interesting? Hell yea! Typically what one would expect from these guys and their vast experience on the entire scene. Mike Rosswog from Circle of Dead Children on drums and, again, Chris Debari on bass join the fray on this new whitewashing of sanity they collectively call _KtP_. As you might expect, Mr. Austin's vocals are ever-changing. Sounding occasionally like an adolescent, whispering other times, but always developing this vocal approach as if coming from everywhere at once. The spotlight on this album seems to land squarely on Steve's communication of TItD's unabashed acrimony. "This Machine Kills Fascists" is an outstanding example of the shear danger inherent in a band able to meld atypical structure, untold aggression and militant riffing. Possibly arguments of the principles of government and political persuasion aside, the merciless sonic brutality Today Is the Day represents is what has become an industry standard for even the most disjointed in the grindcore field. _KtP_ climaxes with a double digit track clocking in at just over twelve minutes. "Birthright" may be longer, and qualifies for an honorable mention for rolling what sounds like more than one song into a single track, it does punctuate this band's penchant for a certain definable discombobulation. Crazy like a fox. Over thirty-six minutes of punch-drunk abject dizziness, with a madman's creepy perseverance -- _Kiss the Pig_ will amaze you (again) with style, but not surprise you with novelty. But really, would you have it any other way? Contact: http://www.todayistheday.org Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_ (Century Media , 2004) by: Jackie Smit (6 out of 10) If anything is to be said for Unleashed's seventh studio effort, it's that at the very least it delivers a marked improvement over 2002's _Hell Unleashed_, and the cringingly self-deprecating _Warrior_. At the same time though, one has to wonder just how badly we need a new Unleashed album, given its place in an increasingly saturated genre. Sure, songs like "Winterland" and "Destruction" are skillfully performed examples of old-school death metal, but even by vintage standards they still come up pretty short against the likes of recent Bloodbath and Demonoid efforts. Likewise, Fredrik Folkare's superb sound engineering is crisp and hard-hitting, but no amount of audio tinkering can hide the relentless absurdity of cliché dribble like "I only fuck the dead" or "You open wide and prepare to receive / a hunger for sex unseen". Ultimately, with _Sworn Allegiance_ it is very much a case of nothing lost and nothing gained. It's an album that will more than likely please existing f ans, but offers absolutely nothing to highlight it over the efforts of its numerous superior contemporaries. Contact: http://www.unleashed.nu Woods of Belial - _Deimos XIII_ (Firebox Records, 2003) by: Xander Hoose (5.5 out of 10) After a slow, haunting intro ("Worm of Na'ruq"), all hell breaks loose. Or at least that's what you would expect; unfortunately, Woods of Belial's sluggish doom metal is far from powerful or intrusive. Instead, we are served a somewhat bland and poorly mixed album with three songs clocking over ten minutes and one clocking a little under. Most of them feel like a lifetime though, and they manage to let all the obligatory ingredients pass by as well -- the cheesy keyboard backset on "Halla", the church bells on "The 13th Horror". They even mixed in a bit of industrial, according to the bio. I'm sorry, but throwing a few effects over the mix doesn't make this music any more industrial than your average doom metal band --especially the half- hearted attempt at ambient industrial on "Pervertum II", which is not even worth listening to. 51 minutes is a long ride if there's not much happening; if Woods of Belial can learn that no one is forcing them to write ten-minute-plus songs an d that they should compact their songs, I will give them another chance. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, _, _ _, _, | \ |_ |\/| / \ (_ |_/ | | | \ / , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 Chapter VIII - _Your Halo Is My Noose_ by: Aaron McKay (2.5 out of 5) Complete with a new name, this five piece outfit (formerly known as Krvnk) has now offered up a real Kafka-esque effort with metal-tinged hardcore enough to properly (de)hydrate a University of Florida frat keger -- at least for the thirty-four plus minutes the CD runs. Dark and estranged, Chapter VIII seems to develop yet another blurring-of- the-lines between two related, yet diametrically unique genres. Crumbsuckers did this, as did countless others, but Chapter VIII have (again) thrown their proverbial hat into the ring. Not overpowered in form or feel, the metal riffing is absorbed quite well into the general overall feel of the fast-paced fury of _Your Halo Is My Noose_'s nine original tracks; the album closes with an unusually stripped-down cover of Billy Idol's "White Wedding". I'm always up for pushing the envelope, but "White Wedding"? If keeping with Billy Idol is a must, "Rebel Yell" may possibly have been a more convincing selection to demonstrate Chapter VIII's c onvictions, but that is one humble reviewer's opinion. Anyway, these guys would no doubt be a welcome addition to a Shadows Fall / Mastodon tour. Dirk delivers a performance highlighted by strained vocals enough to pique the interest of J.R. Hayes (Pig Destroyer) devotees. The disc starts of with some solidly crafted material, as "Hourglass" may convince you, and henceforth infuses musical arrangements plentiful enough to keep the listener duly curious. Overall, _Your Halo Is My Noose_ is a deliberately coordinated sonic metalcore stoning, but just enough to say Chapter VIII didn't fall asleep at the wheel of imagination. Contact: http://www.chapterviii.com Empyrean Sky - _The Snow White Rose of Paradise_ by: Aaron McKay (5 out of 5) The three piece outfit is very well packaged and delivers an audible dance of decadence and delight. Light and dark, images of Milton's "Paradise Lost" and Dante's "Divine Comedy" run like a raging current throughout this disc. Hot and cold, this Chicagoland area outfit has ostensibly blurred the genre lines significantly, to the point where any listener might question what he or she is hearing. In fact, the fast paced passages with eerily soft harmonies interrupting the momentum are just enough to challenge anyone's delicate balance. The six total tracks are epically long. Each pummel, yet caress, all the while pounding and pacifying with each precisely played note. While Empyrean Sky treads lightly with elements of doom, their skillfully paced tempo changes and the ability to utilize crossover melodies with artful ambiance demands attention. The finest example of Empyrean Sky's aptitude on _The Snow White Rose of Paradise_ is a song that shares the band's name. "Empyrean Sky" has something for everyone: beginning with a stormy atmosphere, the track builds to feature during its more than eleven minutes of track time a finely crafted programming (synth) array, wildly outrageous riffs, and subterranean inhospitality that calls into question the concept of reality itself. Finally, the incorporation of both harsh and cleanly sung vocals is engagingly vital to Empyrean Sky's demonstration as they recreate a musical experience exploring disgrace and redemption. Putting things as bluntly as I possibly can: why aren't these guys signed to a major label yet?! Contact: http://www.wormwoodproductions.com Spiteful - _Upheaval_ by: Pedro Azevedo (3 out of 5) Spiteful's _Upheaval_ is firmly rooted in classic thrash, and to a much lesser extent death metal. This isn't exactly going in a revolutionary direction, you might say -- but then again demos don't usually do that -- and while derivative, Spiteful are a competent thrash band. The production on this demo CD may not be of a great calibre, but it's reasonably balanced and suits Spiteful's sound quite well. Beefy riffs abound, and the band seem well on their way to creating an interesting live set for thrash metal crowds. They manage to show some of that vibrancy on disc, but remain a few steps short of remarkable and a few more short of original. Still, as far as demos go, _Upheaval_ is quite a decent effort from a band that may well grow into something more interesting and unique in the future. Contact: http://spiteful.gq.nu The Green Evening Requiem - _The Green Evening Requiem_ by: Aaron McKay (2 out of 5) Hints of Opeth dance with wild abandon on this self-titled demo from Philadelphia's own, The Green Evening Requiem. For starters, this outfit does place more of an emphasis on the harsher vocal style here than most of Mikael Akerfeldt's work, but the cleaner sung lyrics do infiltrate all four tracks in delicate form. This can be heard nowhere better than on the second cut off the demo, "Dawn". This track also has the distinction of offering an inspiring outlay of talent as well. Picking up the tempo around the three minute mark, "Dawn" definably lays waste to all serenity, but then regroups and manufactures a finely laced, mood-induced surreal soundscape. Most of TGER's material is geared toward enhancing an overall atmosphere. Emotionally speaking, this band is not understated or docile in their approach to song writing in order to conceptualize their sonic vision; at times running a Diabolical Masquerade feel through their material like a current. Maybe it is the Katatonia connection that can be felt here. What is meant by that is Blakkheim has an ability to coerce both stark and subtle qualities into roles with bands embracing his versatility. At times, so does TGER. Slightly over twenty-five minutes in length, this demo is deep with competence and mastery. The Green Evening Requiem, however, appear to prefer a more well-traversed path -- that path being one of forsaking a certain Byzantine boldness for the stability of their influences. It is prudent to lean on the support of those that inspire you, but to forge your own path is a reward unto itself. Given time, a firm line- up and proper motivation, The Green Evening Requiem has within itself the capacity to make brand their mark. Until then, "Tomorrow Is Just Another Day". Contact: http://www.greenevening.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _, _ _, _, / _ | / _ (_ \ / | \ / , ) ~ ~ ~ ~ D E A T H N E V E R S O U N D E D T H I S G O O D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Death Angel and Descent @ The London Garage, England, 15 July 2004 by: Jackie Smit Less than a year has passed since my first encounter with the live- powerhouse that is Death Angel, and I will forever recall how on that particular occasion they promptly proceeded to not so much surpass, but completely obliterate any expectations and presuppositions that I had about them. It is mightily disappointing therefore that their second visit to the Capital in less than a year is greeted by an audience that barely exceeds the Garage's halfway mark, notwithstanding the fact that this time round they're touring off the back off what is easily one of the most convincing thrash efforts of the last decade in _The Art of Dying_. In stark contrast however, "convincing" is hardly a word that I'd use to describe tonight's opening entertainment, Descent. Their ability to play their instruments with an admirable level of prowess may be unquestionable, but when it comes to piecing together a memorable song, matters are unfortunately not so cut and dried. Tantamount to their shortcomings this evening is their frontman's insipid between- song mumbling, which pretty much sets the tone perfectly for the bona fide yawnfest which inevitably follows. The UK's answer to Machine Head? I don't think so. Thankfully it's not long after Descent have completed their seemingly endless droning that the acoustic intro track off _The Art of Dying_ breaks the sound of audience chatter and signals the imminent arrival of the Bay Area legends. The reception, despite the poor turnout, is overwhelming. Spearheading their set with the dual-headed assault off "Thrown to the Wolves" and "5 Steps to Freedom", Death Angel very quickly make it clear that regardless of the feeble turnout, they intend to give people their money's worth. To comment on Death Angel's ability to recreate the magic of albums like _Act III_ and _A Frolic in the Park_ would be like telling Jenna Jameson that she has a nice rack. Rob Cavestany and company take the act of performing on stage to a level that only a precious few are able to attain. This becomes particularly evident when Andy Galleon is handed the microphone to handle vocal duties on "Spirit" -- while playing the drums! Needless to say, his flawless delive ry has virtually every punter in the building gasping in disbelief. But it's not only Mr Galleon who gets the opportunity to flex his vocal muscles tonight; as the evening progresses, we are treated to a Rob Cavestany-crooned rendition of "Word to the Wise", and possibly one of my favourite moments of the evening, Dennis Pepa punking it up on "Land of Blood". This is not to say that Mark Osegueda is extraneous to the success of the evening's set though. Indeed, the dreadlocked one is the consummate front man throughout: always energetic, always enthusiastic and spot-on with every bile-soaked line he spits out on classics like "Bored", "Seemingly Endless Time", "Evil Priest" and "Voracious Souls". If it's not quite clear enough by now, let me reiterate: Death Angel rule. Period. Whether or not tonight's performance tops my first encounter with them is up for debate, but the bottom line is, no self- respecting metalhead should let the opportunity to catch these guys in action pass them by. If you do, you may as well go ahead and admit that you think Linkin Park are "da shit, yo", and Fred Durst is your role-model. I've often wondered why, with all Metallica's talk of returning to their roots and once again making "heavy" music, they don't put their money where their mouths are and take a band like Death Angel out on the road with them, as opposed to the gang of imbeciles commonly referred to as Limp Bizkit. What's the matter, Lars? James? Afraid of a little competition? Judging by tonight's show they have every right to be. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= DEICIDE? WE DIDN'T NEED NO STINKIN' DEICIDE! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Akercocke, Mystic Circle and In Aeternum @ The Mean Fiddler, England, 8 June 2004 by: Jackie Smit A haphazardly written sign tacked to the front entrance of The Mean Fiddler reads: "Due to circumstances beyond our control, Deicide will not be performing this evening." Unsurprisingly, the look on the faces of those who have taken the trouble to leave the office early, travel from far and wide and generally made the effort to make it to this evening's show, tell a mixed tale of disappointment, astonishment and disgust. Never mind the fact that this tour was announced in early March, giving Deicide ample opportunity to review the conditions set by the promoter (which supposedly is the reason for this unprofessional display), but one could safely bet that if both the band and the tour organizers had had the common courtesy to give punters even one week's notice, the Damageplan and Mastodon shows taking place down the road would have provided two very attractive alternatives for a night out. Be that as it may, one would reasonably expect that in the light of these circumstances, the management at The Mean Fiddler would show just the slightest hint of empathy and competence in dealing with the disgruntled ticket-holders. Instead, they opt to solve the problem by charging attendees an additional £8.00 for entry, with the instructions that they will once again be obliged to sacrifice both their time and effort in order to get refund, but returning the tickets to the outlets they bought them from. Now certainly, I understand that doing things any differently might cause the odd complication, but in the light of the fact that over five hundred people have been told, upon their arrival at the venue, that the band they came to see won't be playing, I would suggest that any additional administration on the part of The Mean Fiddler would be a small price to pay to at least slightly appease the disappointed fans. Predictably, most of the people who were queuing outside go a big rubbery one when informed about this, and when security finally do open the doors after nearly an hour past schedule, precious few of them decide to go ahead and watch the remaining three acts. For the rest of us, as if things couldn't get any more ludicrous, Swedish death metallers In Aeternum are given possibly the worst production that I have ever encountered. To their credit, the quartet do play their hearts out, but it is to no avail. Their sound is so muddied and distorted that one can barely hear their frontman thank the crowd when it comes time for them to leave. The less said about Mystic Circle the better. Their ultra-generic black/death ironically provided the opening "entertainment" the last time that Deicide played The Mean Fiddler. They were terrible then, and they're even worse tonight. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little over-critical after the manner in which tonight kicked off. But songs like "666 - Mark of the Devil" and "God Is Dead - Satan Arise" are about as tepid and dull as their titles. Worse still, the absence of Deicide gives the band additional time to inflict their aural torture on us, and it is only after forty-five minutes of suffering that the band finally say their last goodbyes. So with In Aeternum and Mystic Circle not providing any sort of escape from the frustration that has thus far plagued this evening, the majority of those present are just about ready to cut their losses and call it a night. That is until local heroes Akercocke take to the stage and play not only the best set I have ever seen them perform, but indeed quite possibly the most brutal, convincing set I have seen all year. "Scapegoat", "Enraptured by Evil", "Praise the Name of Satan", "Son of the North" -- every song sounds more intense and more determined than the next, and as if knowing that the onus is on them to make the best out of a rather fucked-up situation, they pore absolutely every last ounce of energy they have into their performance. It's over all too quickly, and as if to underline their contempt for the very patrons that pay their wages, the Mean Fiddler security visibly rush to hit the lights, and begin urging the road crew to dismantle the backline and the rest of the equipment. This leaves Akercocke with no opportunity to provide us with an encore, even though they could most probably have played for a good hour more and still keep everyone captivated. Nevertheless their show provides a confident testimony that, provided they can create a worthy successor to their last _Choronzon_ opus, the world will soon be mentioning them in the same breath as the very elite of extreme music. I will freely admit to not being a fan of theirs since the very beginning, but based on the ample evidence provided by their last record and by the subsequent live shows I have had the pleasure of seeing, I stand happily corrected. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W H A T W E H A V E C R A N K E D ! ! ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pedro Azevedo's Top 5 1. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Calculating Infinity_ 2. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Irony Is a Dead Scene_ EP 3. Kaamos - _Kaamos_ 4. Aphotic - _Stillness Grows_ 5. Deströyer 666 - _Cold Steel... for an Iron Age_ Brian Meloon's Top 5 1. Necrophagist - _Epitaph_ 2. Novembre - _Dreams D'Azur_ 3. Mirrorthrone - _Of Wind and Weeping_ 4. Vehemence - _The Thoughts From Which I Hide_ 5. Alex Masi - _Attack of the Neon Shark_ Paul Schwarz's Top 5 1. Textures - _Polars_ 2. Venom - _Welcome to Hell_ 3. Today Is the Day - _Kiss the Pig_ 4. Type O Negative - _Bloody Kisses_ 5. Nocturnus - _The Key_ Aaron McKay's Top 5 1. Unleashed - _Sworn Allegiance_ 2. Borknagar - _Epic_ 3. Malevolent Creation - _Warkult_ 4. Hatesphere - _Ballet of the Brute_ 5. God Forbid - _Gone Forever_ Matthias Noll's Top 5 1. Piledriver - _Metal Inquisition_ 2. Graveland - _Carpathian Wolves_ 3. Nehemah - _Requiem Tenebra_ 4. Overkill - _Feel the Fire_ 5. Impaled Nazarene - _Ugra Karma_ Jackie Smit's Top 5 1. Torture Killer - _For Maggots to Devour_ 2. Cattle Decapitation - _Humanure_ 3. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Miss Machine_ 4. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_ 5. Damageplan - _New Found Power_ Todd DePalma's Top 5 1. Disasterous Murmur - _Rhapsodies in Red_ 2. Agiel - _Dark Pantheons Again Will Reign_ 3. Ennio Morricone - _Once Upon a Time in the West: The Original Soundtrack Recording_ 4. Leviathan - _Tentacles of Whorror_ 5. Krieg - _The Black House_ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __, __, ___ _, _ _, _, | \ |_ | /_\ | | (_ |_/ | | | | | | , , ) ~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~ 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 #76 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.