___ _ _ ____ _____ _ _ ____ ___ __ ____ ___ / __)( )_( )( _ \( _ )( \( )(_ _)/ __)( ) ( ___)/ __) ( (__ ) _ ( ) / )(_)( ) ( _)(_( (__ )(__ )__) \__ \ \___)(_) (_)(_)\_)(_____)(_)\_)(____)\___)(____)(____)(___/ _____ ____ ( _ )( ___) )(_)( )__) (_____)(__) ___ _ _ __ _____ ___ / __)( )_( ) /__\ ( _ )/ __) ( (__ ) _ ( /(__)\ )(_)( \__ \ \___)(_) (_)(__)(__)(_____)(___/ Fourth Anniversary Mega-Issue ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, August 12, 1999, Issue #42 http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti Coordinator: Adrian Bromley Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault Contributor: Brian Meloon Contributor: Adam Wasylyk Contributor: Aaron McKay Contributor: David Rocher Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez Contributor: Alex Cantwell Contributor: Matthias Noll NOTE: For more Chronicles of Chaos information, check out the 'Details' section at the end of this issue. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Issue #42 Contents, 8/12/99 --------------------------- * Editorial * Loud Letters * Deadly Dialogues -- Suicidal Tendencies: Of Skateboards, Suicide and Pepsi -- Tiamat: Within the Sun's Own Shadow -- Borknagar: Bullshitting With Borknagar -- Jesus Martyr: Sex, Drugs and... Porno? -- Children of Bodom: The Chil'un Must Rise -- God Dethroned: Eden Must Burn * Album Asylum -- Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_ -- Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_ -- The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_ -- Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_ -- Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_ -- Darkane - _Rusted Angel_ -- Deviate - _State of Grace_ -- Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_ -- Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_ -- earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_ -- Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_ -- Various - _ECW Extreme Music_ -- Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_ -- Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_ -- Extol - _Mesmerized_ -- Fantomas - _Fantomas_ -- Fornever - _We Whom Are..._ -- Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_ -- Godgory - _Resurrection_ -- Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_ -- Lacrimosa - _Elodia_ -- Various - _Lobot Manual_ -- Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_ -- Machine Head - _The Burning Red_ -- Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_ -- Merciless - _The Awakening_ -- Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_ -- Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_ -- MO*TE - _Stash_ -- Nagelfar - _Srontgorrth_ -- Various - _Needlepoint_ -- Novembers Doom - _Of Sculptured Ivy and Stone Flowers_ -- Obscenity - _Demo-Niac_ -- On Thorns I Lay - _Crystal Tears_ -- Satyricon - _Intermezzo II_ -- Sephiroth - _Cathedron_ -- Skepticism - _aes_ -- Soilwork - _Chainheart Machine_ -- Suicidal Tendencies - _Freedumb_ -- Summoning - _Stronghold_ -- Tormentula - _Submit Your Unworthy Soul_ -- Undertakers - _Live in Brutality_ -- Unholy - _Gracefallen_ -- Unusual Sickness - _Sounds of a Shattered Soul_ -- Valse Triste - _Turha Ruokkia Ruumiita_ -- Viking Crown - _Unorthodox Steps of Ritual_ -- War - _We Are War_ -- Various - _White: Nightmares in the End_ * New Noise -- Exhumator - _Condescentions From the Dark Side_ -- Forcefed - _Special Places_ -- In Grey - _Seasons Change_ * Chaotic Concerts -- Milwaukee Metalfest XIII -- Milwaukee, Here I Come Again, by: Adam Wasylyk -- Paul Peruses Wisconsin's Finest, by: Paul Schwarz -- Assorted Assertions, by: Adrian Bromley & Alain Gaudrault -- Canada: No Church-Burners Allowed! Emperor in Canada -- U.S. of A.: Church-Burners Are People Too: Emperor in the USA -- Facing the Breton Storm Season: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in France -- Pigs Feet and All Things Yummy: Nile, Cryptopsy and Co. in Germany -- Take Your Stein, and Ramm It! Rammstein and Soulfly in Canada -- Let Your Soul Fly Away: Rammstein and Soulfly in the USA -- White Trash Convention: Ozzfest '99 -- Bruce Is Back: Iron Maiden in Toronto -- Averse Conditions Inhibit the Endless Usurp of Filth -- Did You Ever Know That You're My Hero? His Hero Is Gone in Toronto * Writer's Wrath -- MTV: Music Television or Money Television? * What We Have Cranked * Details =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____) / /) , , /) )__ _(/ _/_ _____ _ // / (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_ (_____) by: Gino Filicetti Look who's back... your long silent editor has returned to say a word or two about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Well, maybe not today, since all of our thoughts, all of our hopes and dreams, and yes, all of our heart and soul should be pondering the fact that Chronicles of Chaos, the most magnificent e-zine ever to walk the face of the Internet, is celebrating its fourth birthday. Alright, time to turn off the cheese-O-matic and deflate my over-inflated ego and be serious once again. Today marks four years of Chronicles of Chaos. Four years of hard work and lots of unrewarded toil, for a gang of misantropes who chose to associate themselves with this publication. They are the ones who see to it, that the best possible writing is output each month in a consistent fashion. But is not writing for CoC a reward in and of itself? Personally, I must say yes, even though I haven't written an article in over two years, being a part of CoC isn't something I would soon trade in. Perhaps the best part of CoC is working with a fine group of people who are a blast not only to chat to via email, but to drink heavily with as well. This is to all the people who've contributed to Chronicles of Chaos over the past four years, without you, I'd be no where in a hurry. And what of you, loyal reader. Out of our original lot of 80 subscribers, I'm more than curious to know how many are still with us. And even if you weren't here since the beginning, oh so long ago, I want to thank each and every 1700 of you for sticking with us, and showing the rest of the internet that quality is what survives and flourishes, not flashy web sites with a shite-load of graphics. I think I've gushed enough for another year entirely, but I just wanted to set down on electrons that which I've known since the beginning: that without the many great people who've read and contributed to CoC in the past, I would be nowhere right about now. Cheers to everyone, the next fours years should be a blast. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M""MMMMMMMM dP M MMMMMMMM 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP dP .d888b88 M MMMMMMMM 88' `88 88 88 88' `88 M MMMMMMMM 88. .88 88. .88 88. .88 M M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8 MMMMMMMMMMM M""MMMMMMMM dP dP M MMMMMMMM 88 88 M MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b. M MMMMMMMM 88ooood8 88 88 88ooood8 88' `88 Y8ooooo. M MMMMMMMM 88. ... 88 88 88. ... 88 88 M M `88888P' dP dP `88888P' dP `88888P' MMMMMMMMMMM This is the column where we print those lovely letters our readers decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative, ignorant or just plain spelled wrong, you can rest assured that they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own letter here, e-mail it to and enter 'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all letters received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos. Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 From: "S.R. Prozak" Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #41 (1/3) howdy, i'm writing in response to gutterboy's comments requesting more reviews for "christian metal". let me ask: why? and then present my points. 1) earth, a bluesy band, changed to be black sabbath to reflect the band's belief in the occult; its nihilistic power chord riffs were to many an indicator of total breakdown of social order. 2) metal bands from the heavy metal to current day have been fascinated by any combination of the following: ancient mythology, battle, technology, magic, drugs, hate, war, death. 3) some bands, such as black sabbath, led zeppelin, morbid angel, slayer, venom, hellhammer and all of black metal, are either explicitly satanic or use satanic metaphor to express a _post-christian_ existence. 4) death metal is composed of elements of both heavy metal and hardcore, one of which is romanticist and the other of which is ideological/political, each as its own "subculture," or dissident group within social expansion. 5) our world is in deep doo-doo. briefly: we're destroying most of our natural forest land, destroying temperature and atmospheric purity regulators at the same time we commit erosion and runoff to slaughter our streams. the level of industrial pollutants in the world is at an all-time high, as our industry with no regard for human life pays workers minimal amounts to create worthless plastic products and dump the toxic waste generated somewhere obscure. we die of cancers as our corporate owners laugh. metal was founded in 1969, at the height of the cold war, to get beyond conventional thinking. a different way was needed - different from the normal moralistic, prudish, commercially-driven value system that became the hallmark of the western nations to combat "godless communism." at a time when everything was falling apart, we were doing everything "right" according to conventional Judeo-Christian dogma - which failed - hence we have metal. as usual, however, the Christians are waging a propaganda war against us with "metal" bands that emulate non-religious bands, churn out a similar product, and then claim it's art. it's not. it's pure propaganda. no self-respecting metal magazine should honor in any way "Christian metal," as that is adding insult to injury by not only tolerating their brainwashing, but encouraging others to do it! i've debated gutterboy on these points before, and he has conceded every time by withdrawing from logical debate. more attention paid to this issue in the metal community would point out how ludicrous, paradoxical and dishonest "christian metal" is and why serious metalheads avoid its disease. respectfully, s.r. prozak Immortal Death Metal http://www.anus.com/metal/ - reviews http://www.kcuf.org/ - metal radio http://www.evilmusic.com/ - mail order JOIN US... WE ARE THE FUTURE Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 From: Todd Crawford To: Pedro Azevedo Subject: help, music is dying I get COC 'zine emailed to me. I notice that you do the doom reviews. My favorite bands/albums are MyDyingBride, Anathema's "Serenades," Disembowelment, Acid Bath, Katatonia, Septic Flesh, The Cure's "Disintegration," and other individual songs, Lycia, Ordeal, and Hades. The rest of the music world has failed to compare to these bands according to my taste. There are a few others that are worthwhile, but I am desperately seeking something new. I've heard some of the bands from Austria already. I'd like to find some more music like Lycia and Ordeal; something that sounds like a soundtrack to "Bladerunner," or a Shadowrun film (that has not been made of course). I am looking into Current 93 and Endura now, but I know that I do not generally enjoy any of the Cold Meat Industries projects. I don't know what other specifications to give you. I am looking for something progressive, but not too fast or upbeat. Something involving a mixture of non-American metal, ambient, jazz and maybe folk. If you have any recommendations, please respond. You may post this in COC 'zine's next issue. Tod C. Date: 9 Jul 1999 From: David Guerreiro Subject: Attention Loud Letters Hail to all living souls. In the COC #40, Adrian Bromley gave a 9 to the latest Hypocrisy album. I strongly disagree. This is the best Hypocrisy's album ever made, and I haven't seen any bad aspects, so why rating this album with a 9??? Peter Tagtgren is a musical genius, the best musician of the 90's and a talented guitar player. Every thing he does is art. We can't afford to loose this man. A 10 was the minimum score to be given. If you like Hypocrisy don't forget to visit my page at: http://welcome.to/hypocrisy Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 06:51:38 +0530 From: Sunil Subject: Attention Loud letters This is a good magazine and I've been into this from it's very beginning, but I have not been able to get any information regarding a band called 'RIGOR MORTIS'. Not just CoC but I have not found anything about this band in any other magazine. Considering its technicality and the musical complexity, it is one of the most underrated bands in the history of Extreme Metal. Their self-titled album is what I call 'the height of technical Brutality' because no other band can be so technical and yet retain its extreme brutality at the same time.I've never heard anything like this. If any of you out there knows anything about RIGOR MORTIS please let me know. Sunil =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= A R C H E N E M Y O F D I C T A P H O N E S ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by: Paul Schwarz Some of you may recall that in my interview with Arch Enemy's Mike Amott last month, I commented many times on my dictaphone cutting out, to the point where our esteemed Pied (Lead) Piping Editor commented that I needed a new one. I will now explain what was actually "going wrong" with my dictaphone. I have a function on my dictaphone called VAS (Voice Activated System); it is on a switch with "pause" and "off" also being options. For the duration of my Arch Enemy interview the VAS function was, unbeknownst to me, on and thus the dictaphone would happily stay on while Mike was speaking, since his voice comes through the phone at a decent volume, but when I spoke, or occasionally when Mike went quiet, the thing would shut itself off. I kept banging my dictaphone on my desk to "get it started", which seemed to work. Of course it was because of the noise it made, not that I was "fixing" it as I thought at the time. The story is amusing if you picture it, but also a lesson to aspiring interviewers out there: beware of VAS, you can lose interviews to it if you accidentally turn it on. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= __ \ | | | | _ \ _` | _` | | | | | | __/ ( | ( | | | | ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, | ____/ __ \ _) | | | | _` | | _ \ _` | | | _ \ __| | | | ( | | ( | ( | | | __/\__ \ ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/ |___/ O F S K A T E B O A R D S , S U I C I D E A N D P E P S I ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC chats with Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies by: Paul Schwarz By 1982 the band "Suicidal Tendencies" had begun to make some impact on the lives of hardcore, punk and metal followers in Los Angeles' Venice Beach area, the same band had also topped Flipside magazine's end-of-year polls, winning in the categories of "worst band" and "biggest assholes". They went on to produce 1983's hardcore classic, _Suicidal Tendencies_, but were plagued throughout their career by the perception of them which is summed up by the results of that Flipside magazine poll. This was due in part to the outspoken honesty of frontman Mike Muir (which had a tendency to piss people off), the rumours claiming the band were "thugs" associated with some kind of Venice Beach street gang (which led the LAPD to prevent them from playing in many venues in the LA area), the group's sarcastic and humorous image (which led them to be thought of as somewhat goofy) and the subsequent attitude which certain areas of the press took to them (that they were a joke). Still, the band built up a considerable and rabid following and produced some brilliant albums in addition to the aforementioned self-titled debut before things came to an end with 1994's _Suicidal for Life_. In the Spring/Summer of 1997 news filtered through to me that Suicidal were back together, and -damn- did I get a buzz out of that. Finally, it would be possible for me, one who had only recently pledged his allegiance, to see the band live! I waited and waited and very little news actually reached me of what, if anything, Suicidal were doing with their time and reunion. Being the cynic I am, I figured this was a half-assed reunion deal and that the band would disappear into oblivion in an unspectacular second break-up before they made it to the UK or I made it to a place they might be playing (a la 1997's Exodus reunion which ended early this year). Well, it just shows how wrong you can be. Suicidal are currently set to play England's Reading Festival in August and are also setting up a London date for some time in September. They have also, out of the blue as far as I'm concerned, released a new album, which takes the title _Freedumb_. However, I was still skeptical, but after this conversation with the manic Mr. Muir, I was more than restored in my confidence that the band are back, and back with a vengeance. CoC: How would you describe the new record, _Freedumb_, for longtime Suicidal Tendencies fans who've followed you guys for years, who are pretty happy about this new comeback record? Mike Muir: Basically, what we're doing is quite a different approach than what most people are. Like in America we don't have any ads for the record, and we're taking the approach of kinda the way we started off. Fortunately here we're on the Warped Tour, which means we get to play in front of a lot of people, and a lot of the people that we're playing in front of -- I'd say the vast majority -- never heard of Suicidal Tendencies because they're sixteen years old, they're fourteen years old and five years ago [when Suicidal split], they were nine years old. Basically, we have the approach that if we can't win people over by them hearing the music, then we shouldn't be a band and rather than doing a bunch of advertising before the record comes and have people going "Oh, Suicidal's back, I'd better go buy the record", there's going to be a lot of people that even come to these shows that are like, "I've seen Suicidal, I saw you seven years ago" and after we play they're like "Fuck!", and they go out and buy the record and they're going to be playing it for their friends and go, "Have you got the new Suicidal record?" and they'll say "What, they've got a new record?!", "Yeah, check it out!". So they actually hear the music rather than buying it from what happened in the past. So we've felt it's actually the best situation that we've had that. In comparison, in different places we had to do different things. Like in Japan, it's the only place we're actually on a major and it's been our best selling record by far -- and we've always done really well in Japan. We have a belief that it's a fucking great record, the reaction that we've got has been incredible from the people that have gotten it and the reaction is the type that we want: a lot of people that hopefully won't like it are the kind of people we don't want to like it and people that we want to like it fucking love it and Suicidal; the only way we're going to be effective as a band is not how many records we sell but how many people that actually hear the record are fucking screamin' "Suicidal", and that's what's going on right now, so we feel really good. CoC: You were saying you felt that people who went to your live show would be convinced enough to buy the record and really enjoy it. So obviously you think it will not only appeal to the old Suicidal Tendencies fans, because it's you guys, but it'll also appeal to fans of metal or hardcore who are around today. Do you think it'll impress them because it's maybe going beyond what other records of this type are doing these days? [This was a suggestion and not a reflection of my opinion of _Freedumb_ at the time. -- Paul] MM: I think it goes back to where we started. There's a lot of people that won't like it, and they won't like it for the wrong reasons, and the people who will like it will like it because they'll hear it and they'll go "Fuck", and compare it with what else is out there and they'll think it's better than what's out there. That's what we like to do and that's the number one reason why people used to like Suicidal -- because of the music, you know? And the reason why they didn't like it is because "Oh, that fuckin' singer's an asshole", "I don't like the way they look", "They're not this..." or "They don't follow the rules", or that kind of thing -- or they didn't hear the music. So we take it that way: the people that love us is because of the music and what we stand for and so I think that's far more important. Over the years, in the past, we've been exposed as so many different things, a lot of which we I don't think we actually should have been, and now we're very comfortable going about the way that we are now, which I think is going to be far more effective. And I don't believe everybody should hear Suicidal, and I don't believe everybody should like Suicidal, and I think this is the type of record to re-establish us the way we want to be established. CoC: Would you say that you were unhappy at all with the way Suicidal Tendencies ended up before you guys reformed, the _Suicidal for Life_ album, the end of the band? Were you unhappy with that as a final album, or were you unhappy with the fact the band didn't continue? MM: Well, with _Suicidal for Life_ I knew it was going to be the last record I did, that's why it had "shit" or "fuck" in the title of every song on the first side of the record: basically it was because I didn't want to do a commercial record and go on and it made it pretty obvious, you know. Lookin' back, anybody who can't figure that -out-, is not too -bright- [I have the feeling this was directed at me. -- Paul]. So, basically, fortunately there is a lot of changes that were made. I didn't think we'd get back together, but the situation as is now is a situation I never thought would be possible. I'm having a damn good time, you know. We did the Warped Tour in Australia and that was the most fun I've ever had in the band, it was the best tour the band's ever had and it was the most fun I've ever had in my life. Now, if you can say that about your last tour, you're doin' somethin' right, you know. I think this tour is the same situation: I'm havin' an incredible time, I know why I'm here and it's great, you know. I couldn't say that before, I could say before, "Oh, the tour's doing a lot for the band", but it wasn't doing anything for me or it wasn't doing anything in the sense of what I thought should be accomplished. I think right now everybody's -proud- of being in the band and they're also -happy- to be in the band and feel lucky to be in band, and that's the best thing in the world. CoC: With your label, you've come back after quite a while and you're on Nuclear Blast, certainly in Europe I believe, which seemed to me like an unusual label, simply because Nuclear Blast began as a death metal label and that's the way I've known it. I was wondering why you chose them and I was also wondering what you thought of the interesting fact that other old bands like yourselves, who've come back, have signed to Nuclear Blast -- well, SoD have come back, and Manowar are signed to Nuclear Blast. MM: Well, first of all we didn't sign to the label, there's no label that we signed to, the only label we signed to, like I said, is in Japan -- we're on EMI. The whole thing is, we weren't going to sign to any label, we're not going to be on any label but our own. Basically the deal is they're distributing the record, they're buying the records from us and stuff and basically to make a long story short: in America, that's where we have the most control, we know exactly what we want to do, other places you can't, we're not there, we can't follow it up as much. And basically with them [Nuclear Blast] it's because there's one guy who's fuckin' hounded us for two years and to be quite honest I never would be on a label like that, there's not one record on that label I would listen to, I fuckin' hate heavy metal, I hate whatever that other stuff is they call. CoC: Death metal? Black metal? Which metal? MM: Whatever it is, all I gotta say is we've got a song called "Hippy Killer" and everybody should hear it. So, basically, I'm not afraid to go in front of the enemy, you know what I mean. Fuck it, you know. I told the guy and all those dudes [at Nuclear Blast], "There ain't one record..." -- they gave us a bunch of records and we threw 'em all out the window. It was like we were driving down the freeway, we put it on, heard it, threw it out, try the next one, throw it out , so we said as far as we're concerned everything on there is garbage and people get beat up if they listen to that stuff where we're from. So, they know, they know we think it sucks. CoC: OK. I was wondering, then, since you were saying about the running of your own label, etc., I noticed you have a site on the Internet which is full of information, etc.. Are you guys aiming to go the way of the many bands who aim to reach total independence from a label via the Internet: to put out music, as much as possible, on the Internet, and put out records because there are still people who aren't on it. Is that an ideal thing for you, to be able to just control it all in that way? MM: Well, as far as the Internet goes, specifically -- I've been kind of following it for a while because of, well, some people told me, at Sony, they go, "Well, in two years this is going to be, you'll see what's going to happen". That was five years ago and I think a lot of people grossly mis-state what the Internet is going to be, I think it is very important in the sense of my nephew's and niece's all learn on computers and stuff, that type of situation. And especially for areas which in the past, you know, Third World countries, etc. -- they have access to it and stuff and it's a way for people to get information. As far as actually being a vehicle for selling stuff, every year people make predictions about what's going to happen next year and they never come out right. I think it's going to take quite a while before people are actually, effectively selling on the Internet. If you're a small group, you can do good because no-one's going to want to buy your records anyhow, no-one knows who you are, but as far as being on a mass scale, being effective, there's a lot of big groups that've tried that where they've said "This record's only going to be on the Internet", and they don't sell any records. So I think the Internet is more effective as far as disseminating information and stuff, and there's a lot of people, in that case, who say, "I've just got a computer, and I just put "Suicidal Tendencies" in there and "boom!", I found your website, you know, and I didn't even know you guys got back together". So, it gets a lot of information out and it's an important vehicle, but I don't think it's an end-all. CoC: The actual reformation itself happened two years ago. I haven't obviously been following you that carefully, I guess, since then. How much have you done since then, because I haven't noticed a lot done on you guys in the press, and why in particular has it taken quite a while to get a record together? MM: Basically, one of the things that we didn't want to do was to put a record out and say "We're back together, we're putting a record out and we're touring", you know. I think that's the approach most people deal, and that's a definite lack of sincerity, you know, it's more of the job type thing. What we did is -- there's a lot of places we haven't been able to tour to or we've been there once and we went to a lot of places like South America, etc., and basically we've been touring around so people can see what we're doing before the actual record comes out, so that we know we can get back a solid base the way that we wanted to be. I felt that was important before the record came out so that we had a certain amount of people that kind of understood what Suicidal's about so they could lead the way to the new people that get in there. We found that very important going back, like when we toured with Queensryche in America, that was a situation where they were the most played band in America on the radio and on MTV and there were a lot of places that we'd never played before that we played with them and you'd walk in the hallway and after you played they'd go "aaahhh": they'd be running after you and stuff, but the places we played with Queensryche which we'd played many times before -- like in the major cities --, you know, someone would see, they'd come up, they'd say "Hey Mike, what's up, how ya doin'" and you'd talk, and everybody else who'd see, they would be like "Hey, how're you doin'", you know. So it was an atmosphere which was much more conductive to what we think is good. So I think that's very important, that you have that base, and the same thing carries over on this tour [The Warped Tour], there's always a certain element there, that are very familiar with Suicidal, and they go off and people see it, and so you can see the difference between when, quote unquote, "the other punk bands" play and they're skippin' around. I don't know what the fuck they're skippin' for 'cause I ain't skipped since kindergarten. And then when Suicidal plays, it goes off, and then you see the people scramblin' to get the fuck out of there, you know, and I think there's a lot of symbolism for that with Suicidal: a lot of people don't belong, and if you play on skippin', and you feel like this is going to be the same as the next band, you're fuckin' mistaken, and you're going to find out real quick. That's what we call as "the instantaneous baptism and celebration of Suicidal". So when we start, it goes off, and I think people realise right away, Suicidal is not just another band, and I think that's an important lesson everybody should learn. CoC: So from that I draw that the new "punk" movement, the very short-lived punk movement, is not to your liking? MM: No, I really don't think it is punk and I think -that- is a great opportunity for us. I mean, when we started everyone said we weren't punk, so we don't really give a fuck, but I'll tell you what: the unfortunate thing is that there are a lot of people who use that word and think it is synonymous with cool. You know, [say] "I like -punk-" [and you're] fucking cool, aren't you? And it's like they can name every fuckin' goofy band that never should have been a band as far as I'm concerned, you know. So for us, if it's a situation and we already find this "Oh well, Suicidal, they're "bad"", yeah, OK, we're "bad" but you fuckin' suck, so FUCK YOU! That's what we say. CoC: About the UK, you guys are heading back here for Reading [yearly alternative rock festival held over three days the last week in August in Reading, England -- Paul] and you're lining up a London date for September. How long is it since you guys last played here? MM: A long, long, long time. Some people would probably say not long enough, but... CoC: Well, I wouldn't be one of those, but how do you feel about coming back to the UK and what do you think about your fanbase here and music here in general? MM: Well, I'll be honest, you know -- which has always got me in trouble --, I've never understood, when we went there a couple of times, why we went there. The way I was brought up, my dad said, "You don't do anything just to do it, there should be a reason to why you do things", and those are the few times where I kind of felt that there was really no reason for us to go there, especially in comparison to what was going on. Let me say, every other country, every record we did would sell more and more, and England would sell less and less. And then on the other side, just with press, I remember the first time I did press, in England. I had to have some of my English translated for me because I don't know what the hell they said that I said, because they're havin' me using English expressions, [I'm] like, "What does that mean?!" and they go "You said it" and I go, "I didn't say it, I don't even know what it means!". So it was an interesting experience, I went, "Man, people do things different over here". CoC: That sounds like an experiment in lazy journalism to me. MM: Yeah, yeah, and stuff. So I just kind of like tripped out. I go, "You know, I piss people off enough, and that's just what I say, you don't have to twist it around so I don't even understand what I'm saying", but I look at it this way: it's been a long time and, you know, we should go there, there's a lot of people that are English that you'd see in Europe that would have to go a long way to see you in France or whatever. Basically, I don't think we have much of a following there at all, and I think in a sense that's good because now we can try to actually start all over and see if it makes sense to go back, and I think that's an obligation that we owe all the people that have supported us 'cause they've gotten the short end of the stick in comparison to other places and so I think that there's definitely a lot of people that I owe it to, to support the band in a non-ideal situation. I think also being on the Reading thing, it gives a great chance for a lot of people to see us and I think they're going to realise that this is a far different band than the band that they never heard that they thought they knew what it was. CoC: Sounds like you've had the force of pre-judgement put against you a couple of times. MM: Oh, we did. I mean, going back, and a lot of times you shouldn't have it, but I remember: each record, different stories. One was a guy who wrote us a letter saying he was playing one of the new Suicidal records, I can't remember which one it was, and he was like [to his friends], "Check it out, I got this new band", blah blah blah, and they're like, "Oh fuckin' yeah, that's great". And afterwards he goes, "That's Suicidal". He said everybody dropped their heads and goes, [puts on depressed deep voice] "oh". They were all bummed, you know. So, it's kind of like that situation, but I think it's been so long and nobody really knows who we are now, so it's a good place to start over, you know. Ideally all you want to do is be in a situation where people are going to judge you for your music. If they don't like it, they don't like it, I don't expect anyone to sit there and go "I don't like this but I'll buy the record". So on an even basis I think it's all good and I know, like I said, in Australia the majority of the people were like twelve or thirteen years old, they didn't know who the fuck we were, and it went off big time. And I think that on a pure musical sense, if we don't have what appeals to, like, English people, we shouldn't be there and we shouldn't go back, and that's a real simple thing, you know. CoC: I have no idea where you guys are billed at Reading at the moment, I have no idea what kind of following you guys have, but I'll be there cheering you guys on... MM: I think the whole thing is, like we say, it's not who goes to see you, it's who goes home talking about you. CoC: Agreed. MM: And I think that's where we've been real effective and we can be real effective. I think that is kind of the situation where, in a way, we're kind of the underdogs. A lot of people don't know who we are, they go expecting to see certain bands, and they have to kill their time, so it's like, "Fuck, there's a band playing, I'll go check it out 'till my band comes on". And I think a lot of times they find out their band was not the band they thought it was anymore. So that's one of the great things, it enables us to sneak up on people, whereas before I think that one of the things that turned a lot of people off on us was that there was always the people that liked Suicidal -- they didn't like 'em, they loved 'em, "Suicidal! Suicidal!". And so people kind of felt like they didn't belong because they weren't into the band, they didn't know who the band was, and they'd just see all these people going crazy. So they felt alienated and in this kind of environment there's not really that fanatical part. In LA or places like that there still is, but there isn't that fanatical element [at a festival like Reading] so everybody gets to see it on their own basis and I think that really helps us out. And to be honest, I'd be disappointed if it didn't go over really well, you know, 'cause I'd like to be able to come back and, ironically, a lot of the people we always worked with, the producers and people at the label, were English. And no one ever understood, they always said, "You know what? Your going to be huge in England", you know. They always said, "I don't understand how you sell so many records here, there and there and you don't sell records in England", so ironically it's kind of funny. A lot of people say it's my fault, but... CoC: England is a funny country and people [in general] are funny about people who are honest, that's just life sometimes. [From here Mike and I had to part ways because of time constraints, and thus the interview ended. -- Paul] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= W I T H I N T H E S U N ' S O W N S H A D O W ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interrogates Tiamat's Johan Edlund by: David Rocher With their very brutal indeed first effort _Sumerian Cry_ (1991) set aside, Tiamat have devoted their now ten year long career to fusing the grinding low-case harshness of death metal with the ethereal tones of occult, atmospheric music; and it is probably this songwriting ideal which has constantly marked their albums with a certain form of touching fragility, as if Tiamat's music was constantly only just in maintaining its balance on the sharp edge of the wall between two musical genres. As they disclosed, in 1997, their rather unpleasantly surprising _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_ [CoC #21], Tiamat certainly lost a vast part of their following, as the heart-touching melancholy of tracks like "A Caress of Stars" (_Clouds_) or _Gaia" (_Wildhoney_) receded before more dreamy electronic sounds which many earlier fans failed to comprehend; for this reason, the release of their 1999 vintage _Skeleton Skeletron_ was as eagerly awaited as it was almost feared. Revelling in atmospheric cold-wave and gothic tones, Johan Edlund's latest collection of material is yet another surprise for Tiamat's following, and definitely not what one could have expected as a sequel to _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, though I admit it has, in my eyes, actually failed to equal the beauty of Tiamat's former works. Regardless of my personal appreciation of Tiamat's new musical style, the opportunity to drift through a whole decade of violent atmospherics with soft-spoken mastermind Johan Edlund -- the only original member of Tiamat remaining in the band -- was an offer I could not sanely have turned down; and thus spake this very introspective musician... CoC: I kind of lost track of Tiamat after the release of _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, so could you tell me what's gone on since the release of this album? Johan Edlund: The album was released in April '97 and we played a lot of festivals here in Europe that year, almost every weekend for the whole Summer, then we made a headline tour in the fall, which began at the end of September and continued until mid-November. Then we took a year off, basically -- we did nothing last year, just relaxed, tried to work on new songs, and we didn't really work hard until maybe November last year, when we started to work on the new album. CoC: I guess _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_ was perceived as a pretty surprising change in Tiamat's style, which also happened to come in after a long period of silence, so how was this change accepted by the fans? JE: It was very different, actually, some people really liked it, and some people were pretty shocked or maybe even pissed off about it. But I think it tends to get harder for us not to change, and I guess some people don't know what to expect from us, which is something cool -- if you think you know us and you know what to expect, you will probably be disappointed, because we will prove you wrong! CoC: So you wouldn't really want to release albums in the ways of Bolt Thrower? JE: We can't, really, we don't know how to do [that] -- sometimes I wish I could recreate the sound from an album we have done, but I actually don't know how to do that, so... So much is changing around you, and you develop as a musician, so I don't think it's really possible. CoC: I perceived Tiamat's evolution as being equally important as Samael's, for instance -- what do you think of the way they have moved on to their very atmospheric, electronic sound? JE: I think it was really the best way. It sounds very natural. I've known Samael for a very long time, we toured with them for the first time back in 1991, and I used to trade demos and stuff really long ago, so I've been following them even before they were signed to Century Media, and I think the steps they took were always very cool. CoC: Compared to _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, _Skeleton Skeletron_ sounds a lot more gothic -- how did you change to this kind of music? JE: It's not really that I've been listening to a lot of gothic music, it's more that I really try to work at writing good songs, and songs you could almost play on an acoustic guitar and sing at a barbecue. The last album was a big experiment in sounds, we had a lot of new toys back then that we wanted to experiment with -- programs, keyboards and stuff --, it was all very exciting. But this time we did not feel the urge to do that, and I thought it would be more challenging to try to write very strong songs; and then, it just happened to turn out to sound maybe more like some English bands from the middle of the eighties than Pink Floyd -- Joy Division, Sisters of Mercy, of course... CoC: And about your new line-up -- Lars Skold played the drums on _Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, and I'm familiar with the name Anders Iwers, but I can't remember his musical history... JE: He used to play guitar in Cemetary, and he was actually in Tiamat during a tour back in 1991, as a session member, so both members have a very long history with us. CoC: When you tour now, what kind of audiences attend your concerts now that your music has evolved the way it has? JE: We haven't played live with this album so far, so that's going to be interesting to see. It's working pretty well in the gothic scene, gothic DJ's are sending in reports that they play "Brighter Than the Sun" every day, it seems to work pretty well there, and I hope we can keep the old audiences as well. It has always changed, actually, it was strange to see when we toured on _Wildhoney_ and _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_, the audiences were always pretty mixed, actually. And I think that's pretty cool, anyway. CoC: _Wildhoney_ seemed to be a concept which was oriented around nature -- can you tell me more about this? JE: We'd just had a big discussion with some ex-members -- actually, we almost split the band before _Wildhoney_; there were five guys, and me and the bass player decided to continue, as we didn't share the same opinions about how we should continue. So me and the bass player decided to do something which would really be a lot closer to what we personally listened to at that time -- Pink Floyd and a lot of bands from the '70s, like King Crimson... And the problem was we were not experienced enough, or talented enough, to recreate the sound of Pink Floyd or so... So we started to do something interesting, I think, because we were in a way a death metal band that wanted to sound like Pink Floyd, and we did not really manage it, but we ended up somewhere in between. That made a very original album, that is actually probably even better than blue-printing one of your favourite bands. It's a bit of a happy failure, because you struggle for something -- I mean, I don't consider myself as a very talented musician, I don't have it from birth; if I have to come up with something that sounds good in the end, I have to struggle a lot, I really have to fight for it, and that's what I meant about "recreating a sound". When you're gifted, you always know what you are doing -- well, I'm not always aware of what I'm doing, I just work and work until something comes out, that sounds cool, and I don't really know where it's going to end! CoC: So you're not in complete control of your songwriting, then... JE: No -- it's very uncontrolled, actually! I enjoy that! CoC: You said you couldn't decide to recreate the atmosphere of a particular album -- when you look back upon previous Tiamat releases, what album would you like to be able to recreate? JE: I don't know, actually... Maybe I was wrong. Maybe I would not like to do it, I would just like to know -how- to do it, but I don't think I would, anyway. But I was proud of _Wildhoney_, that album had something special. Being objective, five years later, there are a lot of things that could have been changed, but it's useless, because the album worked in the end, it's a cool album -- and if something was objectively not very good, I could live with that. CoC: Many Tiamat fans say that _Clouds_ is your best album to date -- how do you feel about that one? JE: It's really a bit of a sad album, because that's when we had those problems with the old line-up. To me, our albums are more like memories, I'm a little nostalgic about the memories of the past. I don't really think so much about how the albums actually sound, because I don't listen to them very often, but when I talk about an album like _Wildhoney_ or even _Sumerian Cry_, then I get very bright memories, because we had a good time. When I think about _Clouds_, actually, that was the hardest time we had in the band, with the most arguments, it was also when business really started to enter the picture, with money problems and stuff... I'm a little bit sorry to say it, but to me, _Clouds_ is a bit of a problematic album, but not for the sound or the songs -- we still play songs from it --, but the making of it was pretty hard. CoC: I guess the Satanic lyrics on _Clouds_ and earlier works seem quite far by now, so how do you feel your beliefs have evolved to this day? JE: If I would say something very positive about _Clouds_, I think that I wrote some of my best lyrics at that time. If I now read the lyrics to "A Caress of Stars" or the title song, I sometimes wish I could write that again, so I guess that means I still completely stand behind what I wrote at the time. CoC: Does this mean that on _Skeleton Skeletron_, the cover of "Sympathy For the Devil" is to be understood in the sense that you still have "sympathy" for your earlier material? JE: It has a lot to do with the title, actually; I think it's such a killer title, and I think that I was also a little bit annoyed in the past that people thought we had left our beliefs on _A Deeper Kind of Slumber_. And therefore, I was working on a song of my own, for which I wanted to steal just the title, and I thought that maybe we should just cover that song, because it's a great one. Although Mick Jagger's lyrics are pretty ironic, for us, I think that the title is a message to tell our audience that we're still pretty much the band that they used to know years ago. CoC: I don't have the lyrics to _Skeleton Skeletron_, so what do the lyrics on this album deal with, mainly? JE: They're more about life, actually, not so much about death or dreamworlds -- especially on the last tour, where I've been trying to build up some kind of dreamworld --, and this is more of a way of dealing with more down-to-earth things. It's been influenced by what we have seen during the ten years of being a touring rock band, dealing with the things you've gone through, like drug problems... _Wildhoney_ was maybe a drug-influenced album, and now I can look back on times like that and write about it from an objective point of view. Therefore, I think it's something positive -- although the topics are pretty gloomy, in a way, it's still positive, because you look in from the outside, and are now out of it. CoC: Concerning the lyrics on _Wildhoney_, I'm still rather puzzled by the lyrics to the song "The AR" -- they're very cryptic and strange lyrics. JE: The AR is the original pentagram from the Sumerian tradition. It's the five-pointed star, where one point is heading upwards, like a symbol of man, you know, like the Da Vinci sign? So it was pretty much about that symbol -- I was very much into symbols at that time, and how very strong they could be for people. CoC: Was the fact that you mentioned the aryan race in this song related to the strength of symbols developed by the third Reich, I mean the way in which they literally defied their army and the war? JE: Not at all, actually. Of course, I've been asked this question before, I knew I would be asked this before I decided to use the lyrics. The thing is that the AR was the original pentagram, and it was also short for the sign of the aryan race. The symbol was called like this by the people who lived some 5000 years ago in the place now called Iraq. I didn't want to censor myself, because I knew that this could be understood wrongly, now, in this century, but I thought "that's not what I'm writing about, so even if people get it wrong, I'd better explain it and stand for it". I didn't want to change it, and now, I'm stealing the chance to explain this to your readers. CoC: Okay! Tiamat have now been going for a whole decade, as _Sumerian Cry_ was released back in 1990, so how do you feel about the way the metal scene has evolved in the '90s? JE: I don't know, actually, I'm not very well informed nowadays, I'm very focused on working with my songs, and I don't feel connected to a scene, I must say. I don't read magazines too often -- it's not that I'm not interested, but I just happen to do other things most of the time. Last year we didn't tour, and we started to have longer breaks in between the records, so we had time off from the band, in which I do completely different things, you know, like watching football, enjoying life a little bit... On the other hand, I meet quite a lot of bands here, I meet Century Media bands that are managed by the same manager as ourselves, and these few last days I've been out drinking with Lacuna Coil, which I think is a really good Italian band, and later tonight Nevermore are going to come here and we'll probably go out bowling, so I meet them all. But you know, we bowl -- we don't talk metal music too much! CoC: When you look at your music and state of mind now, how do you feel when you reconsider the really brutal times of Treblinka? [Tiamat's original name, under which the 1987 demo _Crawl in Vomit_ and 1989 _Severe Abominations_ 7" EP were released. -- David] JE: It seems very far. It was a good time. Of course we were naive, but we were young as well, so you're allowed to be naive when you're that age! CoC: Tiamat is the Sumerian equivalent of Satan, who was slain by Marduk -- do you feel this name still fits the band? JE: It does, because for me it symbolised the darker parts of yourself, and it's something I always tried to get out in my songs. It's not easy, it's sides of you that are hard to deal with, and writing lyrics is like a therapy, you know? And you see, therefore, it fits! CoC: What can we expect from Tiamat in the future? JE: I hope this album does well so we can go on an European tour pretty soon after its release... apart from that, I really don't know! CoC: Last words? JE: You're in France, right? The distribution's starting to work well, and I look forward to France, actually, because we were never that big there, and I hope we can change it with that record, as there are a lot of plans for us now -- I hope they're good! Enjoy the Summer, and see you on tour! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= B U L L S H I T T I N G W I T H B O R K N A G A R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Borknagar by: Adrian Bromley Sure Borknagar's third release _The Archaic Course_ has been out for a long time now, but its powerful array of melody and harsh realms of blackened metal, doused in hard rock sensibility, surely still ignites the passion within all those who still have it in their CD player. To say the least, _TAC_ is a brilliant album (much stronger than their 1996 _Borknagar_ debut for Malicious Records or their 1997 Century Media debut _The Olden Domain_) that helps keep the ways of metal strong and mighty. Borknagar is about passion and the unveiling of emotions one song at a time. By phone from Century Media offices in Santa Monica, California comes the call from guitarist Oystein G. Brun, founding member of Borknagar and prime innovator in helping mould the band through various line-up changes and studio sessions. He's been with this one-time side project, now full-scale band, from the get-go and has aimed at making Borknagar a well-known name within the metal world. At the end of the band's much anticipated U.S. tour with Emperor and Witchery, Brun is excited, to say the least, at the last few weeks of his metal life. He has a lot to talk about. "It was a great time for us on the road, playing all those places we had never been before", quips Brun about the tour. "We had some so-so shows, but then we had some great shows. We have great memories from many shows." When asked about the band's material live and how it has shape-shifted over the past few months and on tour, Brun says: "We've been gradually getting the sound going as the band goes along. I mean we've really worked this material hard. It's great to be able to work on songs and bring them from a studio into the live environment. The music for us has changed a bit 'cause two members quit a while ago and we have two new members, Nick Barker [ex-CoF] on drums and Simen [also of Dimmu Borgir] sings and plays bass, so you can obviously see where they bring in their own character to our material. It's been an interesting moulding of material for us over the last little while." He adds: "We cut out a lot of the acoustics and other stuff from our live set and focused on just keeping it simplistic and being true metal. It's a great time for us on stage." One thing that truly stands out from Borknagar -- at least with this release -- is their unique way of working the ways of metal music. The band's strengthened grasp of eccentricness and raw pairings of heavy metal thunder makes Borknagar come off as something out of the ordinary. While some write them off as too odd, those who follow this band will tell you that's the key to what they do. "Like you said", he states, "it's always been about us doing something that is unique sounding. Our music flows in many ways and some bands can handle that and some can't. We're one of the lucky ones, I guess?... We added a fresh feel to the music scene, I believe. Many people have told us that before and I'm beginning to see that a bit. It's always easy to follow what people are doing, but trying to keep focused on what you want to do can be an obstacle." He continues, "Passion has always been something I have related Borknagar's music to. This is my input, but I think our feelings come out loud and clear and I think people who really get into this music, it's hard to put it aside. I think our music has some value to it." And Brun knows the importance of coming overseas to play, realising that the pulse of much of the metal fans and music industry lies in North America. "I've always wanted to come over to the United States and take in the culture and just have a good time. It seemed like the right thing to come over and play with the band. I've been working hard and pushing Century Media for a long time to make this happen and when it did we were all excited to be able to come over and play the shows and be part of the Emperor shows." Any sightseeing? "Oh yeah... we had to do that stuff while in the States. I'm having a blast. While in New York we went all over the city and saw the World Trade Center. We had a chance to go visit Niagara Falls and also while here in Hollywood we checked out all the sites and many bars. Jens [other guitarist] and I even rented a car and drove down from San Francisco along the great Pacific Ocean coastline. It was a great drive and to see the ocean -- that was great!" With the record being out for so long, Brun acknowledges that the band is currently working on material. "We are already toying with many ideas. How far off is it from what people know -- who knows? It's surely coming together well. I mean progression has always been an important factor for me when it comes to writing material for this band. It's a key factor. We have 50 minutes of material already and we plan on heading to the studio in the coming months. It's different in many ways from what we have done before, but it also keeps the elements and vitality of Borknagar's sound within the material. There has been a definite transition with our material from the first album to the second one up to this one and I'm glad to have that, though in saying that, the essence of Borknagar is present on all the releases." He finishes: "I think the fourth album will definitely aim at being more harsh and raw, with much more screaming vocals than we have used before. We need to experiment a bit more with ideas but it all seems to be working out quite nicely. I think people will be into this as they have been with our past work." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= S E X , D R U G S A N D . . . P O R N O ? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Jesus Martyr by: Adrian Bromley Just one listen, my friends, and you'll be hooked. Hmmm... more like crushed. To the faint of heart, if you can't handle an abundance of sex and powerfully-charged metal chaos, then stay clear of the debut disc _Sudamerican Porno_ from Argentina powerhouse Jesus Martyr. Bible thumpers, you've been warned. This sexually obsessed, powerfully intact industrial metal machine band -- consisting of singer Santiago, guitarist Martin, drummer Guillermo, bassist Bruno and keyboardist Hugo -- has managed to snag a deal with Repulse Records and spread their leper-like ways of painfully sadistic metal numbers to the metal legions of the world. It's a tough regime to ignite, but Jesus Martyr has the goods to do so. One of the main spokesmen of Jesus Martyr's intentions is guitarist Martin. He discusses the abundance of sexual, pornographic ideas and themes spread throughout the recording. "Our lyrics are mainly inspired by the ways of philosophy and religion", he starts. "I studied philosophy as a career and everything I read and learned influences me to come up with such material, or at least to try to get the ideas into the main source of what we do." He adds about the pornography element, saying: "We didn't use porno in its contemporary sense throughout the record. Maybe in some areas, but to note, the word "pornography" in Greek means something like "to write on bitches" and our album is no more than a chronicle about the South American bitches, like media, institutionalised religion and political parties, for example. All of them are looking for a bit of power and money, just like bitches. Like I mentioned before, we have many topics in our lyrics; sex is an important part of it, but this album is very personal and introspective, everything has a different meaning when it comes to the lyrics I write." What's the band's take on today's society and censorship? Martin starts: "I hate everything that has to do with having your rights taken away, and to express yourself is one of them. Argentina (and Latin America in general) has a long history of situations like that arising, military governments did what they fucking wanted with the rights of the people, they didn't even respect some people's right to live. You wouldn't believe the history we have to deal with from 1945 to 1982. Argentina's society suffered a lot and now it is in transition into something better; so nowadays things are quite different, but democracy in this part of the world is as fragile as crystal. In two months we are voting for a new president and all the candidates are shitty!! Argentina is a wonderful country, but the political parties here are nothing but clowns. Our society has unfortunately lost all its combative spirit with the terrible economical situation and the unemployment that is oppressing us and taking our strength. We'll see what happens..." Initially starting out as Martyr in 1994 and over the years demoing new material (with elements of hardcore, death, punk and the like moulding into their current sound) and adding a keyboardist, things are looking much better for the band now as they start to work more with Repulse. It's looking pretty good currently. "We did everything you can imaginable to get the name out in the beginning", tells Martin. "But we were really stupid, as we just looked for labels in Argentina and all those idiots (that now are distributing our CD!!) didn't want to release it at all, saying it was "too uncommercial" and nonsense like "it is in English, it won't work". Fortunately, Repulse came into the picture for us, but it was totally by chance. The fact is that we gave a tape with eight songs from our _Sudamerican Porno_ to a guy who had a label in Chile, he showed it to Repulse and then they offered us a contract. We took our time in getting back to them and luckily when we replied they were still interested in our CD and it all worked. They are doing a good job. We have another album coming again through Repulse next year." While most foreign bands seem to do extremely well in Central and South America, very few bands south of the United States (other than Sepultura, Angra and maybe Overdose) get proper exposure and make something for themselves. It's a hard scene in South America. Martin explains. "The musical situation in South America in general is not really bad. Brazil has an incredible scene. On the other hand, in Argentina heavy music is exactly the same as anything else, it's in crisis, about to collapse. The scene is really big and we have lots of bands, but the economical situation is really destroying every chance to do something and music is no exception. Fortunately, we are being lucky and our CD is selling okay. We're happy and are now gaining a lot of fan support which is stemming from good press. I think we are in a good situation right now and it should be that way 'cause we worked a lot to achieve this. I'm glad it all has turned out 'cause this time last year we were on the verge of splitting up. Things weren't working. It's all turned around for the better and we can only be happy with the exposure and respect that Jesus Martyr is getting from metal fans worldwide." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= T H E C H I L ' U N M U S T R I S E ! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews Children of Bodom by: Adrian Bromley "We didn't know shit about anything when we recorded our first record _Something Wild_", starts guitarist/vocalist Alexi "Wildchild" Laiho over the phone from Finland. "It was all just thrown together. The writing, the recording and everything else that came along with it. We weren't even expecting to sell 1000 copies of the record. But something clicked and people picked up on it. We were onto something." About the writing process for the debut disc, Laiho says, "I came up with a lot of ideas for what we were going to do. But when we went into the studio we were pretty fast to hammer out the ideas. It came together very rapidly. We didn't really take our time. We didn't care too much to hang around in the studio, 'cause we would have lost that feeling of intensity, not to mention spending too much on studio time." The band -- which also includes guitarist Ale Kuoppala, drummer Jaska Raatikainen, bassist Henkka Blacksmith Seppala and keyboardist Janne Wirman -- have recently put out their second full-length through Nuclear Blast America called _Hatebreeder_, a continuation of where they left off with their debut disc, a record chock full of black metal-tinged operatic assaults, coated with heavy duty guitar solos, haunting keyboards and well-textured sub sections. So what was the mentality going into _Hatebreeder_? Pressure from the label? Pressure to compete with the success of the debut disc? Laiho states: "There could have been a lot of pressure going into this record, but I had to block out all of that to make this record. I had to focus on music that suited what we wanted to do, rather than what people expected. I'm happy with the final result. We have gotten a lot of experience since _Something Wild_ came out with all the touring we have done and just living and surviving in this music business. I think we have improved as musicians and I for one have improved as a songwriter and that's good to see." On the topic of song writing and studio work, he says, "Writing material takes time for me. I go through phases to write material. I will usually be able to write for two months, and then my mind will be blank for writing for the next three. It gets stressful when you are trying to work on material and nothing is coming to you. The studio is a great place to be. It's where a lot of things change for bands when they are recording. A lot of ideas shape shift in the studio. When we go into the studio I make sure that we have the general idea and we work on it from that point on. Sometimes it takes just the smallest idea to help fuel some creativity and alter a song or chorus. I always record everything I come up with in the studio. Who knows where I can use it down the road." One reason why Children of Bodom seem to stand out from the rest of the pack is their intensity and the band's unique blend of metal both old and new. Laiho agrees. "We have a lot of black metal tendencies, but most of the stuff we play has a lot of old metal influences. It's heavy metal with black metal tendencies. We have classical metal influences, too. Our music is an amalgamation of many musical styles." "We're not afraid to venture out and play music with massive guitar solos and melodic harmonies. We're not afraid to do any of that, but the key thing that needs to be done is to do it with a definite feel for it. Don't just add it into your sound for the hell of it or 'cause it's the flavour of the month. Growing up and learning guitar, I was heavily into the works of Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai. That was a reason why I focused on doing cool guitar soloing on both records. I keep our music pretty straightforward. I don't want to hear a certain band and want to sound like that. I want to do what comes natural and keep it simple. I think it's more interesting if songs have very technical parts. I get off on that." "It's funny to watch all of these bands out there try to jump on a certain sound and try to play it sincerely", says Laiho. "You can see right through them most of the time. I mean, take for example HammerFall [another Nuclear Blast band -- Adrian]. They play '80s-styled heavy metal, you know, hero metal. It's cool and all to be doing that, I mean, we have our own share of '80s influence too running through Children of Bodom, but after they came out all of these other metal bands either came out of the woodwork and starting playing that style of metal or bands added that sound to what they were already doing. It's stupid." He finishes, "Musicians should always play music for the love of it. If it all comes down to how much money you can make with a certain type of music and that appeals to you, then I suggest you leave this business. We don't need that kind of band. There are already enough bands competing out there. I want my band to make it in this business and I don't want any uninspired or rip-off bands keeping me from getting there." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= E D E N M U S T B U R N ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CoC interviews God Dethroned by: Adrian Bromley It's not really a crusade. It's more like an attitude. God and religion needs to be cast to the wayside and God Dethroned singer Henri Sattler wouldn't have it any other way. "There are a lot of reasons why we write so many lyrics against Jesus and religion", starts Sattler from his home in Holland. "I think religion is just an opinion and not a law. The Bible has been written for people to use as a guide to lead a normal life, but the church used the Bible to enforce these laws that it states onto people, telling them what they can or cannot do. I think that's wrong. So in my lyrics I take passages from the Bible and try to make them more down to earth. I try to spruce them up a bit, add some chaoticness to the story lines and really go against the stories that people emphasise as wholesome ones. That's what we're all about" "I love this style of music", confides Sattler. "I can't get enough of it. When I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is put on music. Black metal. Speed metal. Grindcore. It's no problem. This is my life and that helps me continue on what we do as a band (rounded out by other blasphemers Jens, Roel and Beef). I don't need to copy other music. I just get inspired to write all of the time. I pick up a guitar and write. It's an easy process. In order to do this and be an honest musician, you just need to be yourself and write from what you believe in and not what others tell you to do. God Dethroned listens to no one but themselves. It's always been a rule for us." About the new LP and the last record (1997's _The Grand Grimoire_), he comments, "I think we pretty much continued on where we left off. I think we made a good album with _Bloody Blasphemy_", says Sattler. "We didn't know what kind of reaction we would be getting, but so far it's been very good. It's pretty much the same type of record: brutal and fast. We will always be playing music like this and there will be no, I mean NO, way of compromising and slowing things down. God Dethroned is about being fast and brutal. People expect that from us and so do we." And what of today's metal scene? Sattler's thoughts? "There are a lot of good bands out there, but there are a lot of other bands out there that play a certain type of music 'cause it's popular. A few years from now, all those bands will be gone and only the good bands are going to be left. When you compose your own songs and do your own thing, it takes a while to become a popular band. You have to really work to gain a fan base and sell records. That's what God Dethroned is. We don't copy anyone and no one is like God Dethroned." As one would expect, a name like God Dethroned (much like the name Rotting Christ) is bound to anger many people as the band releases material and tours. What kind of flack or negative attention has the band received throughout the years? "It's always been steady", laughs Sattler. "People can't get enough of us or our name. Christian organisations always try to shut down our shows, but we live in a liberal country, so we can say what we want. They try and it never works. We are always in the papers over here 'cause we are a popular band and there is always someone trying to hurt or say bad stuff about what we do. We don't care. We get exposure. One time these organisations even approached the Minister of Justice over here and requested that she forbid our concert. It never happened." He ends, "People can say all they want about what we do. It's their say and that's fine. But we too have a right to go out and promote our views about religion and what have you. Our music and lyrics say it all. We don't mess around. We tell it like it is and fans of God Dethroned like that. That's good enough for us." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= _____ .__ ___. / _ \ | |\_ |__ __ __ _____ / /_\ \| | | __ \| | \/ \ / | \ |_| \_\ \ | / Y Y \ \____|__ /____/___ /____/|__|_| / \/ \/ \/ _____ .__ / _ \ _________.__.| | __ __ _____ / /_\ \ / ___< | || | | | \/ \ / | \\___ \ \___ || |_| | / Y Y \ \____|__ /____ >/ ____||____/____/|__|_| / \/ \/ \/ \/ Scoring: 10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed 9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended 7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities 5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters 3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into 0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs! Various - _A Tribute to Hell: Satanic Rites_ (Full Moon Productions) by: Aaron McKay (3 out 10) Having purchased this dual disc compilation at a favourite haunt of mine in Florida, I had very high hopes for it. It is widely known among most of my friends, to a large degree, that I appreciate Acheron's music very much. -Not- his theories, but definitely his music. Hell, Richard Christy of Death's _The Sound of Perseverance_ fame played with Acheron! Not getting off on a tangent, but I think that is one of the deepest unifying characteristics of the genre we all enjoy -- the music is the tie that binds, regardless of personal philosophy or religious ideology. That said, Acheron is a favourite of mine. So, when I picked up _A Tribute to Hell_ and saw "Evil Dead", speaking of Death, by Acheron listed as disc two's track 16, I thought "SHIT YEA!" Choosing to cover probably the most influential metal band, Death, from _Scream Bloody Gore_, I thought to myself that I couldn't go wrong with this. To say I miscalculated is putting things mildly. Don't get me wrong, the three points I -did- give this compilation comes almost solely from Acheron's cover of "Evil Dead". The other .5, maybe a full point, comes from the fact there is an impressive number of groups here exhibited for the fans. Some notables are unreleased tracks, according to FMP's homepage, from Mayhem, Naglfar, Ever Dark, Apollyon, Sacramentum and Burning Inside (also with Richard Christy on drums and keyboards). The list of awkward, heavy-handed tracks is much more elaborate, if not longer: Mysticum's "Eriaminell", Ash's "The Descent", Mastiphal's "Summoned Howling" and Melechesh's "Desert Pentagram". Most of the remaining tracks, 32 in all, range from adequate to slightly above average, but no true stand-outs other than the aforementioned few. The insert booklet is eye-pleasing, but not too informative. Also, do you think it would have killed Full Moon Productions to state -anywhere- a date when this fucker was made, recorded, or otherwise dreamed-up?! Damn! All things being equal, don't waste your time, energy or money on this unless you feel an overwhelming compulsion to have these tracks that, apparently, are not released elsewhere. Akercocke - _Rape of the Bastard Nazarene_ by: Paul Schwarz (9 out of 10) (Goat of Mendes, May 1999) Though the eight second introductional proclamation and slightly lacking (particularly where the drum sound is concerned) production should give this record a little less than the nine out of ten I have bestowed upon it, the potential for brilliance which the music contained on _RotBN_ possesses gives me license, I believe, to "break the rules" in order to more likely draw your attention to this different and uncommonly good black/death-type metal band. Akercocke, at the core, are violent and ripping death metal which draws black metal comparisons via the kinds of atmospheres the riffs create and the passing similarities one can detect to Cradle of Filth's _The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ (which, though primarily regarded as a black metal record, is certainly strongly death metal influenced). Furthermore, Akercocke do not merely blast it out with the best, they also incorporate searing noise/industrial elements into songs and interludes and thus succeed in adding a fresh dimension to their extreme metal base. The aforementioned "blasting" is also not Akercocke's only way of expressing themselves using only their basic instruments. Though the majority of the album is fast and sung with pronounced "unclean" vocals, "Marguerite & Gretchen" is a creepingly slow, bass guitar dirge led experiment, utilising vaguely choral sounding melodic vocals, which certainly breaks with the traditions of the other influences Akercocke display. The lyrical themes are Satanic, but (unlike many a "Satan!"-screaming release) also show evidence of having had both thought and time put into their writing. Akercocke have produced a dark, distinctive and somewhat original record; they have been let down slightly by production as many unsigned bands are, but their talent and potential shine through and make _RotBN_ the best release from an unsigned band I have heard this year. Contact: Akercocke, 97 Victoria Rd., London, N22 4XG, England http://www.dialspace.dial.pipex.com/georgesabellicus mailto:akercocke@hotmail.com The Atomic Bitchwax - _The Atomic Bitchwax_ (MIA Records, July 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10) If there was one band out there that really got me going from first note these last few weeks, it has to be the music of Atomic Bitchwax. Based on highly volatile rock grooves meshed with stoner rock-like deliverance and really "out there" ideals, Atomic Bitchwax is the saviour for all those fans out there wanting something new to take in. Well... spread for "Big Daddy", baby, 'cause the lovin' of music on this nine-song release is so rich it'll leave you craving more. With guitarist Ed Mundell of Monster Magnet, ex-Godspeed/Daisycutter bassist Chris Kosnick and ex-Slaprocket drummer Keith Ackerman along for the ride, you couldn't choose better co-pilots. Far more instrumental than some might think, Atomic Bitchwax rock solid every way they can on their debut disc. Black Funeral - _Moon of Characith_ by: Alex Cantwell (1 out of 10) (Full Moon Productions, June 1999) This was seriously disappointing. I was a happy man when this arrived in the mail, because the cover looked menacing and I knew from previous listens that the music of Black Funeral was uncompromising, raw black metal. Well, _Moon of Characith_ is nothing like that. Gone the way of Ulver and Dodheimsgard, only far more incriminating, Black Funeral is now on some kind of ambient/techno/noise trip that can be described in one word -- dumb. The whole CD is a sort of minimalist keyboard kind of thing, with some gay beats thrown in for bad measure. I am not anti-ambient at all, and if this was good ambient, I would complain only a little bit -- but this is just sad. The killtaker is the female vocals, which are nothing but strategically placed moans and groans. Black Funeral (or Michael Ford, but now includes Shanna LeJeune as well) has in the span of a few short years gone from "vampyric" black metal, which was dumb in concept but produced some good music, to this Mortiis wannabe stuff. How's that for artistic integrity and longevity? Contact: Full Moon Productions, 2039 Roxburgh Court Lakeland, FL 33813, USA mailto:fmp@fmp666.com Cirith Gorgor - _Onward to the Spectral Defile_ by: Paul Schwarz (6.5 out of 10) (Osmose, May 1999) Cirith Gorgor pound out some violent and intense black metal at speeds which are above the average, and score browny points for the intensity and sheer violence they display with this approach. This assault is underpinned with a competent use of melody which traces the passages of the hard riffs underneath the blasting (and also frequently and creatively breaking) drums. Unfortunately, the vocals are painfully faceless and compound _OttSD_'s core problem: lack of variation. _OttSD_ doesn't vary enough over the course of its ten tracks to keep me interested for its forty two minute duration. If brutality is your thing, though, you could certainly do worse. Darkane - _Rusted Angel_ (WAR Music, June 1999) by: David Rocher (10 out of 10) Despite the mild letdown that Carnal Forge's _Who's Gonna Burn_ [CoC #36] embodied, WAR Music releases on the whole prove to be damn good news; and Wez Wenedikter's songwriter extraordinaire breeding ground has indeed once again provided the goods above all hopes. Fusing technical Swedish death metal tones with the violence and unbound aggressiveness of late eighties' Bay Area thrash, Darkane's first and essential effort is a ruthless slab of extreme metal that successfully recaptures (and doesn't merely rehash) the power and industrial inhumanity of Meshuggah, the frantic violence of Razor, the raucous low-case heaviness of Carcass and the jaw-dropping duelling lead guitar virtuosity of Arch Enemy, all this sealed within the fathoms of Darkane's own brilliant songwriting style. While the string section lead by axemen Christofer Malmstrom and Klas Ideberg and bassist Jorgen Lofberg never ceases to develop fantastic ideas and technicality oozing with utter heaviness, ex-Armageddon skinsman Peter Wildoer -- arguably one of the finest and most technical extreme metal drummers out there -- provides the backbone to the constant breaks and syncopated rhythmic parts with his complex, pounding drumming and sparkling cymbal play; Darkane's fantastic vocalist Lawrence Mackrory demonstrates with what ease and precision he shifts from angered thrash vocals, akin to Razor's Bob Reid's, to high-pitched grating black metal screams, to thick, phlegm-churning death metal roars. With a good production, _Rusted Angel_ would have been a great album, but Darkane have chosen to ignore the usual Abyss and Fredman studios, and recorded this offering in Upssala's Dug Out studios, with the mighty production genius Daniel Bergstrand at the mix... This results in a production which is absolutely -stellar-, loud, crunchy, clear, thick, powerful and perfectly balanced, and which makes _Rusted Angel_ the definitely cardinal release it is. Sweden's new extreme masters Darkane are technical, violent, varied and catchy way beyond what words can describe -- I've seldom heard metal get better than this, and I don't recall many first efforts having instantly burnt me to a crisp the way _Rusted Angel_ has done. Above all doubt, one of 1999's, and probably this decade's, finest death metal releases. Buy or die. Deviate - _State of Grace_ (I Scream Records, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (7.5 out of 10) It's quite easy to see why this popular Belgium hardcore/metal outfit has been going strong 'n' heavy since their inception in 1991. Their production value alone says "experienced", and the overall deliverance of the band is monstrous. Much like the works of veteran hardcore acts like Earth Crisis, Hatebreed and Integrity, Deviate always seem to be able to muster up enough spark and solid rhythms to keep the record tight and in control. While the record does sway from time to time with generic sounding hardcore "-isms", it's the power hitter songs like "Dawn of Mankind" and "Empty World" that clear away from that, that hit ya hard 'n' heavy each time out. On a whole, the disc rocks, just a few ideas that seem to lack attention in the song writing process. Go mosh! Contact: http://www.iscreamrecords.com Dismal Euphony - _All Little Devils_ (Nuclear Blast, May 1999) by: Adam Wasylyk (8.5 out of 10) This album was a total shocker to me. Not having cared much for their prior releases, _All Little Devils_ contains a definite sound departure; less bombastic and more concentrated on catchy choruses and smoother riffs. Gone are the traditional, raw black metal days in favour of a more polished product. This exudes total class. My admiration for the band revolves around the female vocals, which are actually quite good (considering the many so called female "singers" in other black metal bands I've had the displeasure of hearing), the new vocalist (whose name I'm unaware of) gives the album a certain amount of charm. Once tracks like "Rage of Fire", "Victory", "Psycho Path" and the title track enter your ears, they won't leave your head any time soon. For once, a band that diversifies their sound and succeeds. Dominance - _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_ (Scarlet, 1999) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) Despite what the album title might lead the potential buyer to think, this isn't much of an "epic" album as far as the usual preconceptions about the usage of great keyboards and various classical instruments are concerned. In fact, despite the very reasonable keyboard intro and outro, there's nothing especially epic about _Anthems of Ancient Splendour_, as this is basically guitar-driven blackened death metal -- not that guitar-driven music can't be epic, of course, but this particular album is relatively normal. Title-induced misconceptions notwithstanding, this Italian band plays very competent and quite dynamic and varied blackened death metal and reaches some especially good moments during "Immemorial Iced Lake" and "Engraved", thanks to effective rhythms and riffs in the former and guitar work in the latter, together with a competent vocal delivery. Dominance occasionally remind me of The Elysian Fields' excellent _We, the Enlightened_ in the way they use some slight influences of black and Swedish metal in their basic death metal sound, even though the similarities don't go far (The Elysian Fields opt for a doomier and more classically influenced style, which is generally not the case here). Though I don't know what happened with the production during the second half of the track "Anthem of Ancient Splendour", the band sounds very determined throughout _AoAS_ and have succeeded in creating a good album overall. earthtone9 - _Off Kilter Enhancement_ (Copro Records/PHD, July 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (9.5 out of 10) In a day and age where metal music has been run through the ringer so many times and nothing seems fresh or innovative anymore, it's nice to see bands like Nottingham, England's earthtone9 surface into the picture. I raved about the last record _lo-def(inition) discord_ [CoC #35], and I'm gonna rave about this one too. These guys fuckin' rule. There is no question in my mind that this band has got to be one of the most eccentric and hard sounding ones out there. With shades of Coalesce, VoD and Cave-In bringing up the hardcore front, the waves of adrenaline that earthtone9 disperse to the listener are no doubt inspired by such versatile acts as Neurosis and Tool, but they manage to add their own flavour and groove to the mix. The result? One happening cocktail mix, my dear metal friend. It's an incredible ride to take upon yourself with each listen, as the music of earthtone9 really seems to radiate an ethereal vibe at times, allowing you, the listener, to cautiously sit back and take in the music content of this band, taking into account their breathtaking deliverance and tight musicianship. Get hooked on tracks like "I Naugal Eye" and the stunning work on "Simon Says" and "Grind and Click". I know, I know... I'm babbling on about this band, but this stuff is the shit. This comes highly recommended and easily in my top ten of 1999. Ebony Tears - _A Handful of Nothing_ (Black Sun Records, June 1999) by: David Rocher (8 out of 10) The possibility, back in 1998, that there would be no sequel to Ebony Tears' rather unequal 1997 debut _Tortura Insomniae_ [CoC #30] (this being due to the fact that members Johnny Wranning and Conny Jonsson wanted to concentrate on their power/thrash project Dog Faced Gods) wasn't really something I was losing any sleep over. Admittedly, _Tortura Insomniae_ did feature a few cool, enticing tracks (that were mainly catchy thanks to the adjunction of nice violin playing) but the album was generally let down by an excessively weird production, perfectible songwriting and Johnny Wranning's annoying vocal style, that unceasingly shifted from death to black and back, and then suddenly mutated into brutal raucous tones -- all this for no apparent reason, right in the middle of a phrase. With _A Handful of Nothing_ however, Ebony Tears have placed the emphasis on aggressiveness and efficiency, and basically recorded a second album that, in my eyes, has the enjoyable, spicy taste of a "no more mister nice guy" kind of declaration. Conny Jonsson's guitar work now bears the stigma of thrash-influenced death metal riffage a la Gothenburg, Johnny Wranning has put and end to his iffy experimenting with vocal styles to concentrate on a rasping, aggressive form of singing, and the violin, which I can only guess was finally perceived by the band as being a misplaced element in their music, now only appears on one single track (the short, distorted instrumental piece "Erised"). Solidly welded onto the thick skeleton of the powerful and fast drum playing (syncopated double bass drumming galore!), the bass and guitars are now given all necessary leeway to develop alone the catchiness and appeal that the violin offered on _Tortura Insomniae_... and it works like it never did before! _A Handful of Nothing_ has turned out to be a catchy, energetic and violent album that never loses its firm double grip on power and melody and shows -vast- improvement on Ebony Tears' earlier songs. Not only will fans of their first output definitely recognise the band with this new effort of theirs, but _A Handful of Nothing_ is also quite able to appeal to metalheads who had failed to be keeled over by the cool, but nonetheless rather "tepid" music played by Ebony Tears so far. Various - _ECW Extreme Music_ (Earache, July 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (3 out of 10) This is a compilation of extreme music tracks chosen to musically represent Extreme Championship Wrestling. Harry Slash and the Slashtones' "This Is Extreme" provides an intro, and a boring one, of sorts to this comp. It is followed by a remix of White Zombie's "El Phantasmo and the Chicken Run Blast-O-Rama" which is nearly the same as the original, and, additionally, tedious in the extreme (sic). This record contains a virtual plethora of covers, and I will tackle these collectively and comparatively now. Kilgore, Motorhead and Anthrax all, in my opinion, chose very poorly the covers they were to contribute. "Walk" by Pantera and "Enter Sandman" and "Phantom Lord" by Metallica are their respective contributions and, in my view, there is a lot wrong with the mere principle of these bands doing their chosen covers. In Kilgore's case, no-one should be covering a seven year old tune by a huge-selling band, and you certainly shouldn't be covering what is probably their most popular song. The cover adds nothing to the original -- which is hardly a classic in itself, it just happens to be a song a lot of people can get into. Motorhead should not be covering Metallica in my view, and I'd certainly say that, again, the most overplayed and popular song from the band's most successful record is hardly a good choice. Anthrax's error is not as much the choice as the execution. I would have thought the point of covering a really old, cool and heavy Metallica track would be to show up the band's current commercial direction by churning out a ripping version of the track; instead, Anthrax play a competent cover but add nothing in vitriol, heaviness or depth to the original, even though I imagine they have access to way more money and time than Metallica had to do _Kill 'Em All_. The final insult is John Bush's vocals, however, which fit so badly it is almost embarrassing to listen to. What's interesting is that I think if Anthrax and Motorhead had swapped Metallica songs, we would have ended up with a much more satisfactory pair of covers. Bruce Dickinson turns in The Scorpions' "The Zoo", which is not a track I am familiar with. It is a bit tedious but seems decently done. Megadeth's "Trust (ECW mix)" is not dance-beat infused but seems only to be an extended instrumental: it's boring. Tres Diablos is a Pantera offshoot band which I think features all members except Phil Anselmo. Some upfront, Primus-esque bass work makes it somewhat interesting, but overall it is somewhat simplistic and uninteresting, and has sections where the band simply fall back onto Pantera trademark riffs, rather shamefully. Monster Magnet's "Kick Out the Jams" (from the promo-only _Space Lord_ EP) is energetic and worthwhile: probably worth checking out if you're a big Monster Magnet fan. The remaining bands are Earache's own. Morbid Angel's godly "Prayer of Hatred" (from my favourite record of last year, _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_) is included and Cathedral and Iron Monkey also turn in tracks. The Cathedral track is from their most recent _Caravan Beyond Redemption_ disc and is much better than I had expected out of the band since losing track of them after the tedious _Supernatural Birth Machine_ and patchy _Carnival Bizzarre_ albums. The Iron Monkey track is cool and extreme doom-type stuff which reminds me of Sleep's recent _Jerusalem_ disc. Overall, a lot of unnecessary and boring covers and remixes mean that nothing unreleased from here is worth picking it up for, while its value as a sampler is limited due to the small number of quality album tracks included. Empyrium - _Where at Night the Wood Grouse Plays_ by: Pedro Azevedo (7 out of 10) (Prophecy Productions, June 1999) This entirely acoustic release by Empyrium is not a very surprising move for them considering the acoustic components of _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_ [CoC #30], but I expected something more consistent overall and also better as far as the second half of the album is concerned. Perhaps I expected too much because of the excellence of _SoM&MF_, but still the opening title track was quite promising. Simple acoustic guitars, a flute melody, then a deep male choir in the background with normal Empyrium clean vox on top and some simple percussion towards the end. Very atmospheric and pleasant. The second track, "Dying Brokenhearted", is also quite good; similar to the first, minus the percussion and featuring only some whispered vox, and overall very based upon acoustic guitar work, like most of the album. The next track, "The Shepherd and the Maiden Ghost", features more sombre spoken vocals and some cello, which could have been used much more frequently and effectively, in my opinion. The fourth track, "The Sad Song of the Wind", is indeed a sad song, again based on acoustic guitar and sombre vocals, plus some more flute. The spoken vocals work quite well, whereas the results achieved by the chants vary considerably. From this point onward, however, things are never again as interesting as before. The acoustic guitar starts to become somewhat repetitive and nothing very interesting is added, culminating in the rather strange eighth track of this 32 minute long release, "Many Moons Ago..." -- a very medieval/folk-sounding song that seems rather out of place here. The atmosphere created by the first few tracks is partially lost by now and _WaNtWGP_ ends with a new version of "When Shadows Grow Longer", originally from their previous album, with a lot of chanting and an acoustic guitar background; nothing very remarkable when compared to the original. Though not excessively similar, _WaNtWGP_ isn't far from some of what Ulver did with their own acoustic album. Ulver's _Kveldssanger_, however, is overall superior, thanks mainly to the fact that the album doesn't start to rapidly lose interest or atmosphere after its midpoint, as is the case with Empyrium's. Overall, I expected something sadder and more sorrowful (the first four tracks do get quite close to that) and also more stirring -- in the end, those were the main elements that Empyrium achieved to make _SoM&MF_ so great, and I expected the band to somehow re-create them in a different way with acoustic instrumentation better than they did in the second half of the album. Still, the first half, though not entirely as brilliant as I expected, is nevertheless very good and the second isn't anything terrible at all, just average; it's just that, coming from Empyrium, I feel that _WaNtWGP_ could have been better. Entombed - _Monkey Puss (Live in London)_ (Earache, June 1999) by: Adam Wasylyk (6.5 out of 10) You would think that a live Entombed album recorded during the Gods of Grind tour would be a good album. You'd think that, right? How disappointing it was to give _Monkey Puss_ a few spins and never feel the energy or satisfaction an Entombed gig always brings (evidenced by their mind-blowing performance in Toronto on their _To Shoot Straight..._ tour). Despite covering some great material ("Stranger Aeons", "Sinners Bleed", "Evilyn", "Left Hand Path"), they actually came off sounding tired and uninspired. Who would have thought? Also the recording of the gig can be faulted, you can actually hear the quality improve and go down within a single track. To be brutally honest for a moment, Earache should stop trying to make money off bands that aren't on Earache anymore (e.g. Carcass) and look to the (bleak?) future rather than trying to recapture past glories. Guys, as opposed to releasing best-ofs or live albums, why not go out and sign a new and fresh metal band!?! Now there's an idea. Extol - _Mesmerized_ (Endtime, June 1999) by: Alex Cantwell (7.5 out of 10) To accompany Extol's brilliant 1998 debut _Burial_ [CoC #34] comes _Mesmerized_. It features one totally new song ("Enthralled"), a newly recorded version of "Prodigal Son" from the _Embraced_ demo, a previously unreleased song from the _Burial_ sessions ("Storms of Disillusions"), industrial remixes of "Burial" and "Renhetens Elv" by Sanctum, and an ambient remix of "Work of Art" by Raison d'Etre. The cover art is once again done by Kristian Wahlin, and is very similar in design to the _Burial_ cover, but with a different painting. The CD is a cool digipak and, like _Burial_, falls under the art direction of the brilliant Samuel Durling. The new song is a killer -- very technical, with many different parts. If this is a clue into the future sound of Extol, current fans will not be disappointed at all, because "Enthralled" is sleek and razor sharp. The immediately recognisable difference in the newly recorded version of "Prodigal Son" is that it is downtuned from where it once was, so it sounds much different. Disappointingly, the intro is not done with acoustic guitar like the demo version. The biggest change, though, is that they have created two entirely new parts in the middle of the song. "Storms of Disillusions" features guitarist Ole Borud on clean vocals, but they are distorted through the whole song, which adds an interesting atmosphere. This track also has a guitar solo in it -- something that they haven't attempted since their very earliest recordings. Although I think Cold Meat Industry's Sanctum has interesting music, I don't care much at all for these "industrial remixes" that they did here. Only a few riffs or vocal lines from the original songs ever surface in these musical dissections, and the final product seems patchy at best. The "Work of Art" remix by Raison d'Etre (also on Cold Meat) is actually really cool because it is basically just one ambient droning sound for the whole duration of the track, but as is stated inside, uses only original sounds, so I guess that they didn't use any of the parts from the original, and you sure can't hear any. While these industrial remixes are somewhat interesting, they take up half the CD -- valuable space that could have been used for more original Extol music, which is why I didn't rate this CD higher. Nevertheless, this is essential for the Extol fan and very recommended for other interested parties as well. Contact: Endtime Productions, PO Box 17142, SE-402 61 Gothenburg, Sweden mailto:endtime@durling.com Fantomas - _Fantomas_ (Ipecac Records, June 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (8.5 out of 10) If singer Mike Patton (ex-Faith No More) isn't committed to an insane asylum after authorities hear this LP, I don't know what'll happen to him. He's off his rocker! He's flipped his lid! Comprised of equal shares of insanity, mayhem and brilliance, one can't go wrong with sampling the work of Fantomas. Don't be afraid, kids. With a supergroup of henchmen helping out in the wings -- ex-Slayer / Grip Inc. drummer Dave Lombardo and King Buzzo and co. from The Melvins --, this lil' puppy really socks it to ya. Put this on, sit back and listen to the madness unfold. You'll never get the image of Patton running around the studio screaming incoherently out of your head. In short, nothing sounds at all right here, but inexplicably it all works out in the end. Contact: Ipecac Records P.O. Box 1197 Alameda, CA. USA 94501 Fornever - _We Whom Are..._ (, 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (7 out of 10) Omaha, Nebraska quintet Fornever have two things going for them right off the bat: 1) Brian Griffin (Broken Hope / En Sinfonia) producing and 2) an interesting array of material that spawns many genres of metal music (from death metal chants to doom/gloom riffs and choruses). That said and done, prepare yourself to journey into the solidly played five-song outing from these heavy hitters. Get ruffled up by the intensity of such songs as "Divine Immortal" and "Purify" and drawn into the stirring closer "The Garden of Never". While not perfect throughout, for the most part the styles represented here are in good hands. It's good to see a band step above the normal realm of metal music every once in a while, especially a relatively unknown band like Fornever. Solid work from a band that obviously worked hard to get where they are. No doubt they will have a future. Contact: http://www.fornever.com mailto:fornever1@hotmail.com Goddess of Desire - _Symbol of Triumph_ (Metal Blade, 1999) by: Adrian Bromley (5 out of 10) Sounding like a mix between the sinister stylings of death metal and older Slayer (circa _South of Heaven_) / Megadeth (circa _Peace Sells..._), the music here just seems to roll forward, no real variety thrown in. Sure it's brash and rockin', willing to give a wallop to the head every so often, but had this record had songs as bitchin' as the women adorning the CD inlay, then maybe it would have been more of a "Triumph". Godgory - _Resurrection_ (Nuclear Blast, April 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (5 out of 10) _Resurrection_ is a disjointed, though well produced, album created by more-than-competent musicians. The opening title track begins with a gothic-sounding keyboard atmosphere, which is then interspersed with big crunchy bar chord strums and pounding drum hits. The vocals which soon enter are growled, though these do vary to being spoken or clean, but not tunefully so. Strangely, this doom-like song is followed by the 100% Gothenburg death metal sounding "Crimson Snow". Though _Resurrection_ continues with songs more in the vein of the first from here on, there is still variation. Current-Hypocrisy-esque riffs emanate from a few songs while gothic atmospheres and symphonically catchy choruses are a fixture in most of the remaining tracks. The end result lacks identity, but my problem with this release is that none of the music is anything to get excited about. Closing _Resurrection_ with a cover of Accept's "Princess of the Dawn" was definitely a bad move, however. The end and beginning of an album are quite significant things in my view and to have the last memory of your album in someone's mind being someone else's song seems like a bad thing to me. Godgory have poured salt in this wound by choosing an album closing song to cover and by doing a cover which is pretty unexciting, though its attempt to combine the crunchy guitars and gothic tendencies of Godgory's music into the Accept original is partially successful and certainly daring. Overall, though, this is little more than an average album. Katatonia - _Tonight's Decision_ (Peaceville, September 1999) by: Pedro Azevedo (8 out of 10) If I knew every Katatonia album except their 1998 effort _Discouraged Ones_, I would have been seriously surprised, or even baffled, by _Tonight's Decision_. However, considering its predecessor _Discouraged Ones_, Katatonia's first album for Peaceville becomes a bit more of an expectable output, though that will most likely not be very clear during the first few listens. With guest Dan Swano somewhat unremarkably replacing Jonas Renske on drums, the biggest changes, or at least the most immediately apparent ones, concern Renske's vocals: still clean vox only, but different. These differences are quite hard to describe, as his vocals are rather varied throughout the album, but they're basically more "sung" than before; often less sombre, softer, apparently not as doomy. With time, though, a lot of it ends up sounding quite doomy after all; nevertheless, some of Renske's vocal delivery failed to convince me this time, some of his experiments didn't turn out so well and a few tracks suffer from that. As indicated by the once again superb and meaningful artwork, the album still carries an overall atmosphere of doom in its own way, differently but effectively, though perhaps not quite as much as before. But as I listened to _Tonight's Decision_ again and again, I gradually overcame most of the impression of strangeness and awkwardness I initially had. A few of the song structures are somewhat more complex than before, though the album is overall still mostly simple structure-wise. Several tracks tend to successively reveal themselves more worthy than initially suspected with each listen, but there are still enough less than brilliant choruses, passages and vocal arrangements here to keep the rating down to an 8 out of 10, as quality varies a lot within most tracks, from brilliant to somewhat unremarkable and misplaced-sounding. Instrumentally, Katatonia's current direction is hard to pinpoint, as it varies considerably from track to track: "Right Into the Bliss", for example, sounds quite like _Discouraged Ones_-era Katatonia; "A Darkness Coming" reminded me of present day Anathema; and a lot of the album reminded me of nothing in particular, not even earlier Katatonia. Not to say that this is all completely different, nor clearly less metallic than before -- typical Katatonia guitar elements still pervade a lot of the record --, but this -is- overall considerably different from _Discouraged Ones_ and after being given a generous enough chance it can prove itself a very good album. It's just that Katatonia have done better than "very good" several times in the past, and that's only occasionally the case here. Lacrimosa - _Elodia_ (Hall of Sermon, 1999) by: Alex Cantwell (6 out of 10) This is interesting, as it features the London Symphony Orchestra throughout its entirety, and was apparently composed entirely by members of the band. Of the eight tracks on _Elodia_, there are two kinds of songs: those where the orchestra performs the vast majority of the music and those blending Lacrimosa's metal/rock with the orchestra, sometimes to astounding results. All of the lyrics are in German, and the male and female vocalists both have powerful voices. They don't sound so good, though, especially the male vocals, but they certainly are powerful. The music is enjoyable, sometimes giving way to huge, lavish orchestral parts, and other times crushingly heavy. Another interesting thing is the fact that I had never heard this band previous to receiving this in the mail, and it seems that it would be quite an undertaking to hire the London Symphony Orchestra. Is Lacrimosa huge in Europe or something? How could an underground band afford something like this? Well, I don't have answers to those questions, but I can say that this is powerful music in its own right, and I would enjoy hearing a similar undertaking from any metal band who thinks they could pull it off. Contact: mailto:hallofsermon@compuserve.com Various - _Lobot Manual_ (Lobot Music, 1999) by: Gabriel Sanchez (6 out of 10) Hey look, a noise compilation... with no liner notes. Fuck Lobot Music then. When I open up a compilation, I want to see liner notes with artist addresses, thank yous, and a bit of background (hell, I'll settle for 2 out of 3), not "Lobot Manual - For more information write to:". When I purchase the fucking CD I want the fucking information in my hands while I listen to (what I hope to be) good noise. Oh well... where is ranting going to get me? At least the noise is going to be good... right? This compilation is a fine example of what happens when you put together the hoi polloi generic garbage noise/power electronics artists and have absolutely no big time names with uhm... let's see... TALENT to carry the lot. After running down the list of artists, I came to the conclusion that I had pretty much no idea who just about any of these people were, where they were from, or what sort of style they mingled with. Instead, I found myself bouncing from track to track holding my breath and hoping that it wasn't going to be even cruddier than the one I just finished with. There are some artists who take steps in the right direction towards making this mildly enjoyable, such as Dyslexis Coup's opening track and one followed a few tracks later by Dysthemia Scars. Flutter shoots out with a piece which hits just around average for them, though I found myself highly amused by the use of R2-D2 as a source sound. The rest of the compilation (as mentioned above) is throw away, though even the cruddiest bands have a few seconds of interesting noise here and there. I hear the profits for this are going to Food Not Bombs and the guys who made it are real nice... oh well. Buy it for that, or move on, I say. Contact: Lobot Music, 808 F St. #309, Davis, CA 95616, USA Lunar Aurora - _Of Stargates and Bloodstained Celestial Spheres_ by: David Rocher (7 out of 10) (Kettenhund Records, May 1999) Already Lunar Aurora's fourth full-length effort, _OSaBCS_ is a hateful offering of epic, very symphonic and warlike black metal that testifies to this German band's growing identity; indeed, despite the fact they never lacked musical qualities, Lunar Aurora had so far not always succeeded in being personal enough for them to really stand out among the plethoric black metal tide. This new album should, however, open all eyes to these black metallers' sincerity, as their violent blend of bellicose rage and eerie melody continues to refine, even after the metal scene has seemingly turned its back on this now rather breathless blackened metal genre. With a suitably murky, yet interesting and appealing production, the music contained on _OSaBCS_ is intricate and very varied, as serene atmospheric passages brutally transform into epic extremist assaults, carried by spectacular drumming and tight guitar playing; Lunar Aurora's main quality is that they don't merely rely on overwhelming facile keyboard melodies to turn lame guitar riffs into supposedly appealing and accessible tracks the way Mystic Circle do. No, Lunar Aurora actually consider synthetics as the very flesh of their songs, on the same level as the strings, drums or vocals, and in fact retain a considerable level of violence and harshness throughout the whole of _OSaBCS_. Even though symphonic black metal has been worn down to its weakest expression by countless bands making excessive use of single-fingered synthetic wannabe virtuosity, Lunar Aurora have proved, in my eyes, how faithful they are to this genre and its origins, a faith which truly haloes their art with a most occult and baleful light. Machine Head - _The Burning Red_ (Roadrunner, July 1999) by: Jody Webb (9 out of 10) In the past, I respected Machine Head because I thought they had their own sound, which I am finding to be an increasingly rare thing the more CDs I hear. But I never liked the music enough to be a fan. Now that _The Burning Red_ has seared my stereo, things are different! Rob Flynn has delivered what I consider to be the finest Machine Head album to date. While demonstrating the wisdom to avoid the staleness trap, Flynn simultaneously shows his deep talent by writing songs that are different -and- good. What it means is that Machine Head has mostly moved on from the simple, crushing tracks like "Ten Ton Hammer" to craftier cuts such as "Nothing Left". Fans, do not be distressed! The songs remain thick and muscular, and continue to feature that signature high pitched scream from the guitar pickups. In fact, the band achieves a supreme crunch on "Exhale the Vile". The only negative comment I have here concerns the notable influence from Korn on two of the songs. Did the new guitar player, Ahrue Luster, bring some baggage with him? Fortunately, it is a well done Korn sound, but whoever was responsible should check that baggage at the door next time. Finally, I never thought this before, but Rob Flynn has a great voice. Actually, he has a couple of great voices. I didn't know he could sing. I didn't know he could do throaty death metal. I sure didn't know he could rap. And I didn't know he could force his lungs to the point of failure, which happens on "The Blood, the Sweat, the Tears", at the end of which Flynn gasps "I'm gonna pass out..." before a collapsing sound is heard in the studio. _The Burning Red_ is balanced and good, through and through. My only question is, what is this fascination with burning things? Marduk - _Panzer Division Marduk_ (Osmose Productions, May 1999) by: David Rocher (9 out of 10) Allegedly and undoubtedly Marduk's most violent opus to date, _Panzer Division Marduk_ definitely has the devastating heaviness to match its uncompromising pretences! In a mere half hour of devastating, insane lightspeed brutality, Marduk have succeeded -- and with slightly more finesse at that than the blatantly unsubtle cover art suggests -- in spawning an album so massively aggressive it almost makes Immortal's ruthless masterpiece _Pure Holocaust_ sound like atmospheric black metal... The elements that concretely make the monstrously hostile deity _Panzer Division Marduk_ sound that much more aggressive than the Swedes' two latest efforts, namely _Heaven Shall Burn..._ and _Nightwing_, is that the powerful rhythm section lead by Fredrik Andersson and B. War does indeed move with greater velocity than it developed on _Heaven Shall Burn..._, but the greatest impression of speed is undoubtedly due to Morgan Hakansson's faster and more aggressive guitar lines, and the way in which Legion once again screams his baleful, unearthly grating vocals over the strings' saturated sound. Marduk's appointed guru producer Peter Tagtgren has once again graced this maelstrom of aggression with a very fitting sound that rings loud, sharp and powerful, and that greatly enhances the thick aura of malevolence and brutality emanating from _Panzer Division Marduk_. After worrying many fans with their rather mitigated 1997 album _Nightwing_, Marduk have this time again demonstrated that they are still, and beyond all doubt, the "fist in the face of God" Legion has claimed they are -- _Panzer Division Marduk_ is an outrageously warlike and totally unsubtle slab of pure hate, and an intense and very murderous new chapter in Marduk's blasphemous career. As Immortal so justly phrased it, "only the music of the truly dedicated will survive", and Marduk have once again clearly shown, if there ever was a need for this, that their charred, evil mark will undoubtedly remain seared deep into the poseur black metal scene's hide. Merciless - _The Awakening_ (Osmose, May 1999 / 1990 reissue) by: Paul Schwarz (7.5 out of 10) The praise I have heard bestowed upon this slab of violent thrash probably led me to expect too much out of it. I expected a vaguely original and crushingly crisply written late-eighties death/thrash assault, but what I got was a somewhat painfully Kreator-esque collection of fast thrash songs which, though well-written, are nothing special. Riffs, rhythms and vocals remind one instantly and strongly of Kreator while the pessimism of lyrical passages like "Don't wait for tomorrow / 'cause there is none" indicate clearly the period this was made in. To be fair, _The Awakening_, though far from being essential or classic, is a pretty fast, heavy and well-written late-eighties thrash record with decent lyrics, and worth checking out if you're looking for something to keep your _Extreme Aggression_ and _Beneath the Remains_ discs company. Mlehst - _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_ by: Gabriel Sanchez (7 out of 10) (Bandaged Hands Produce, 1999) _The Difficulty of Crossing a Field_ is another in a long line in the latest noise trend of using CD-R as a means of releasing material. While I don't mind the format at all (in fact, the quality of the recording is much better than that of previous analog methods), I am starting to get in a bit of a tiff over the lack of originality in the packaging; most notably the sleeves for the jewel case. There is no information about the recordings, the artists, where to contact them, etc.. Just a dot matrix printed graphic with some cheap font logos. I know it is my duty here to inform you about the contents on the disc and not the package, and I do apologise, but... well... damn it's annoying! Anyhow, as for the noise itself... standard Mlehst. There's plenty of atmospheric style noise with a heavy minimalist overtone to the whole deal. If one is popping this in and expecting a harsh lesson in spontaneity and chaos, you bought the wrong damn disc. If a more laid back and surreal experience raises your Bismark, then by all means take a ride on the Mlehst express (though I must confess it moves more like a turtle with polio than a rip roaring steam engine). In all honesty this type of deal isn't my cup of tea, so I hope I did not ruin anybody's day by not fingering my own anus over it. It's perfectly acceptable for what it is. Final word. Mortician - _Chainsaw Dismemberment_ (Relapse, July 1999) by: Paul Schwarz (0 out of 10) Boring, uninventive, unnecessary. Three words which have always applied to Mortician, and which fit _CD_ like a glove. That said, this is the closest to enjoyable slab of Mortician I have yet listened to. If you are as yet uninitiated to the "delights" of Mortician, my advice would be to stay that way. However, if you want to know what you're letting yourself in for should you decide to indulge in the dubious pleasure of listening to _CD_, here is what will await you. Mortician produce death metal of a distinctly fuzzed-out, dirge-like quality. The structures mimic early grindcore/death bands like Carcass and, though mostly conducting themselves at lightning speeds (attained with the aid of a drum machine), Mortician also ear-mark the likes of Celtic Frost and Autopsy as influences by virtue of occasionally slowing their pace and attaining a more sludge-based sound. They constantly intersperse various obscure and classic horror movie samples into their albums to serve as intros of sorts for songs. For the record, the above mentioned bands to whom I compare Mortician, are themselves bands I respect and like very much, so explanation is needed as to why, though sounding somewhat like them, I think Mortician suck so supremely. Mortician's riffs are boring, almost beyond belief; the epitome of bad grindcore death. They lack any creativity when placed in a late-nineties context, and do absolutely nothing but bore seven shades of shit out of me. They don't invigorate, convey emotion; anything. The structures for songs which they employ are similarly unexciting, there is nothing creative or endearing, and I feel only the most primitive of minds could have failed to come up with structures of the complexity Mortician utilise. The drum programming is atrociously boring and lacking in creativity (there's that word again), no impressive breaks or rolls, nothing to excite, just percussive 4/4 smashes, occasional standard rhythm playing, and blast beats all the rest of the way. Will Rhamer tops it all off marvellously by barfing and grunting his way (like a man committing illegal acts of buggery with a wild animal, who is not sure whether his actions sicken or excite him) through this 48 minute (minus samples) trip through a death metal dumpyard of reused riffs, tired old lyrical themes and the out of date, decaying idea that brutality is all that a death metal album needs to be good. A number of people have proclaimed that Mortician are "cult" when I express my