       ____  _     ____  ____  _      _  ____ _     _____ ____
      /   _\/ \ /|/  __\/  _ \/ \  /|/ \/   _X \   /  __// ___\
      |  /  | |_|||  \/|| / \|| |\ ||| ||  / | |   |  \  |    \
      |  \__| | |||    /| \_/|| | \||| ||  \_| |_/\|  /_ \___ |
      \____/\_/ \|\_/\_\\____/\_/  \|\_/\____X____/\____\\____/
                               ____  _____
                              /  _ \/    /
                              | / \||  __\
                              | \_/|| |
                              \____/\_/
                     ____  _     ____  ____  ____
                    /   _\/ \ /|/  _ \/  _ \/ ___\
                    |  /  | |_||| / \|| / \||    \
                    |  \__| | ||| |-||| \_/|\___ |
                    \____/\_/ \|\_/ \|\____/\____/


      CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 14, 1997, Issue #24
               http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Assistant Editor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@mks.com>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Steve Hoeltzel <mailto:hoeltzel@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Drew Schinzel <mailto:drew@magpage.com>
Contributor: Andrew Lewandowski <mailto:kmvb73c@prodigy.com>
Contributor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder

NOTE: For  more  Chronicles  of  Chaos  information,  check  out  the
      'Details' section at the end of this issue.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Issue #24 Contents, 9/14/97
---------------------------
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Absu: Across Ages Arcane
-- Extreme Noise Terrorists
-- Crematory: Burn Baby Burn
-- Deceased: Night Of The Deceased
-- Lord Belial: As Black As They Wanna Be
-- Orphanage: At The Mountains Of Madness
* Album Asylum
-- Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_
-- Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_
-- Blackstar - _Barbed Wire Soul_
-- Civil Defiance - _The Fisher for Souls_
-- Crack Up - _From the Ground_
-- Crisis - _The Hollowing_
-- Decayed Remains - _Moonlight_
-- Dismember - _Death Metal_
-- Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_
-- Flux - _Protoplasmic_
-- Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_
-- Konkhra - _Weed Out the Weak_
-- Life of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_
-- Living Sacrifice - _Reborn_
-- Mainliner - _Mainliner Sonic_
-- Paradise Lost - _One Second_
-- Putrid - _Neck_
-- Satyricon - _Megiddo_
-- Scarve - _Six Tears of Sorrow_
-- Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_
-- Solarus - _Empty Nature_
-- Bishop of Hexen - _Archives of an Enchanted Philosophy_
-- Voivod - _Phobos_
-- Von - _Satanic Blood_
* New Noise
-- Death of Millions - _Frozen_
-- In Velvet Clouds - _The Frozen Immensity_
-- Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Vital Remains - Unplugged! At The Northwest Hall in Chicago, IL
-- Demonic Pigwalk: Testament with Stuck Mojo and Strapping Young Lad
* What We Have Cranked

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                 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  <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>  and  enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all  letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.


Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997
From: Dejan Lekic <leka@afrodita.rcub.bg.ac.yu>
Subject: Re: Chronicles of Chaos #23 (3/4)

Greeting's to all metallians arround the world!
 When I read interview with Eric (Testament)... I coudn't wait and  I
immediately wrote the letter for You... When someone  say  that  Alex
Skolnick is bad guitarist  or  'the  latest  two  Testament  LP's  is
heaviest than other' I want to scream!

Look , when Alex Skolnic was in Testament they made the BEST! Low  is
full of shit! I like only 'Low' and 'Hail mary'... Demonic is  better
than 'Low'... But in comparison with 'Practice' or 'Souls  of  black'
or whatever You wish from first five LP's, last two LP's are NOTHING!

Old Testament, with Alex Skolnic RULES!
..........
I was very happy to see an interview with Therion!  I  haven't  liked
their old LP's, but  'Teli'  is  something  SPECIAL!  I  imemediately
bought 'real' CD! It is real metal!

Therion did the same as Believer...

Eastern Europe is full of Metallians! So don't think that  You  don't
have our support! :)) Metal fans here doesn't have enough money  even
to buy 10 CD's! (Our month payment is arround 10 CD's!) :( But if  it
is real metal LP we will give our LAST cent for IT! Remember that!
:))

And another thing... In my opinion GERMAN METAL RULES! There  is  few
GREAT bends out of German people, but German metal scene is the BEST!

Dejan Lekic (Leka)                           Greetings from Belgrade!
<LekaMan on IRC>
Omladinskih brigada 2/2
34300 Arandjelovac
Yugoslavia

[Dejan, you misunderstood my question. Not once in the question did I
say that Alex Skolnick was a bad guitarist. In fact, he's one  of  my
favorites, and I agree with you totally when you say  that  the  last
two Testament albums haven't been up to the standard of  the  earlier
ones, primarily because Skolnick is now gone. -- Drew]


Date: Sun, 17 Aug 97
From: Richard Karsmakers <cronos@worldaccess.nl>
Subject: Chronicles of Chaos on Jerry Springer

Hi Gino,

I think what the guy meant was that Gwar was on, who have released  a
CD called, as you may know, Carnival of Chaos. They were on  Springer
in January, and the show has been rerun in the US a few times  since.
Continue the good work!

/--------------------------------------------------------------\
|   Richard Karsmakers                 cronos@worldaccess.nl   |
\--------------------------------------------------------------/

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       __ \                 | |
       |   |  _ \  _` |  _` | | |   |
       |   |  __/ (   | (   | | |   |
      ____/ \___|\__,_|\__,_|_|\__, |
                               ____/

                 __ \ _)       |
                 |   | |  _` | |  _ \   _` | |   |  _ \  __|
                 |   | | (   | | (   | (   | |   |  __/\__ \
                ____/ _|\__,_|_|\___/ \__, |\__,_|\___|____/
                                      |___/


                 A C R O S S   A G E S   A R C A N E
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC manifests Absu's Proscriptor McGovern
                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

Melding heavy-metallic might with high-minded mysticism, the  members
of Absu wield a white-hot hybrid of spellcraft  and  song.  Lest  you
suspect such an utterance to be mere and insincere hype,  let  it  be
known that these guys are definitely one of my  very  favorite  metal
bands, and have been since I first encountered the titanic thrash and
epic esoterica of _The Sun of Tiphareth_,  their  second  full-length
release. (I like their debut album as well, but find _The Sun..._  to
be much more rapt and radiant.) This year's aptly-titled _Third Storm
of Cythraul_ continues  and  refines  the  Absu  tradition,  craftily
chanelling gusts of pure, otherworldly energy into blazing vessels of
darkened, ultra-electrified thrash. (For a full review see  CoC  #18,
and for lots of info on upcoming Absu material, read on.) I  recently
spoke  -  much  more  nervously  than  usual,  I  must   say   -   to
percussionist/lyricist Proscriptor  McGovern  hoping  to  learn  more
about projects past  and  present,  as  well  as  the  band's  myriad
mystical motivations.

CoC: You take a very  unique  and  individualistic  approach  to  the
     occult themes and imagery  which  pervade  your  work.  For  the
     benefit of the un-initiated, could you say a bit to explain  the
     philosophy which informs Absu's sound?

PMcG: Absu  is  strictly,  and  by  far,  a  mythological,  magickal,
      ancestrally-based cult/band. Our music  and  philosophies  have
      absolutely nothing to do with the structure of  society  today,
      or with the human manifestation. Nothing. It has to do with the
      roots of magick that we're interested in, with pride, and  with
      our ancestral roots.  We  are  heavily  into  Mesopotamian  and
      Sumerian  mythology,  and  at  the  same  time  we're   heavily
      influenced on our ancestral side by the Celtic traditions -  as
      in Irish, Gaelic, Scottish, Pictish, and whatnot. Our  wish  is
      to make our listeners truly  experience  and  feel  out-of-body
      observations, with ancestral customs, magick, and  immortality.
      This is what we're interested in, and  what  the  band  is  all
      about. Our goal is to actually put the listener in  our  shoes,
      to travel back in time to when time wasn't  even  an  important
      factor. We want the listeners to trek back to  when  the  sword
      was the law, when killing was a way of life, but  at  the  same
      time you worship nothing but yourself... As you know, the  band
      chose the name Absu out of love and admiration toward the great
      Book of the Dead by Azif - for the overall structure, the power
      and  fascination  behind  the  ancient  Sumerian  and  Assyrian
      mythology.

CoC: What got you started on this particular path?

PMcG: It really started  happening  when  the  members  were  heavily
      getting into finding the first traces of our  ancestral  roots,
      way back in the 13th and 14th century in Ireland and  Scotland.
      Ever since  then,  we're  still  finding  all  these  parallels
      between the Ancient Ones from Sumeria and  the  Celts  and  the
      Pagans - incredible similarities. Even now, Equitant  and  I  -
      our lyrics are making so many analogies between those races and
      civilizations. So basically, this is what it's  about:  magick,
      bloodlust, spellcraft, and ancestral pride.

CoC: You describe Absu as equally cult and  band.  Do  you  think  of
     performance as a kind of ritual?

PMcG: Yes. Yes, in a lot of respects.

CoC: What effects are you striving for?

PMcG: Well, just like any other band, we release a lot of hateful and
      painful aggression  through  the  instrumentation  while  we're
      playing live. But I also feel, when I'm performing  live,  that
      I'm having a lot of out-of-body experiences.  When  I'm  behind
      the kit, especially when I'm doing drums and singing - I  don't
      think of the  human  formation  anymore.  I  feel  like  I'm  a
      serpent. My astrological sign is  Gemini,  which  is  also  the
      cadaceus, and it's very important to me. You know, I feel  like
      I'm the left side of the serpent, which is  like  Apzu...  It's
      hard to explain - it's metaphysical feelings  that  I  feel  on
      stage...

CoC: I know that these things are hard to put into words. Though  not
     exactly in the Absu tradition, I'm kind of a mystic myself...

PMcG: Yeah, that's the best way that I know that I can treat of these
      deathless, timeless, perpetual thoughts of non-human  formation
      that are just constantly going through my mind. And like I just
      said: when I play live, it's a beautiful feeling - but  at  the
      same  time  it's  very  painful,  very  warlike...  a  lot   of
      sensations of battlecraft that I get when we're  up  on  stage.
      And I think I can speak for the  other  members  of  Absu  when
      they're on stage, as well.

CoC: Of  course,  today's  extreme  metal  scene  is  almost  totally
     permeated by Satanism - of one variety or another.  How  do  you
     think that Absu's approach relates to the issues, ideas, and  so
     on, that are important, at least to the more thoughtful  members
     of the Satanic contingent? Do you  see  important  similarities,
     important differences?

PMcG: Well, that's based upon the social issue... And,  you  know,  I
      honestly do not give a shit. I don't give  a  rat's  ass  about
      what other bands say, what they think, what they do.  You  have
      to follow your  own  pathway.  If  you're  a  Satanist,  follow
      Satanism, and be sure and praise it as freely as  you  want  to
      within the lyrical content of your  songs.  As  for  us,  we're
      pagans. In our hearts - in our liquid-glass-cased hearts, we're
      pagans. There's no god but man; we worship ourselves. The  Absu
      cult is based upon magick, bloodlust, and pride. Those are  the
      three basic elements, and we take those three elements and  try
      to create a very  innovative,  very  unambiguous,  annihilating
      force of occult rock'n'roll music. So  I'm  not  trying  to  be
      pessimistic on this question, but it's just gotten to the point
      where I just don't give a shit about the Satanism and  whatnot.
      Of course, there are still  so  many  bands  that  we  share  a
      brotherhood with, throughout this whole globe  that  the  human
      manifestation classifies as  'earth.'  For  example,  Enslaved.
      Ourselves,  we're  not  part  of  any  Scandinavian  or   Norse
      indulgence or ancestral customs - but they're very,  very  good
      brothers of ours, although Absu is  outside  of  the  mythology
      that they study. Or like Deicide. Absu is not classified  as  a
      Satanic band: we are more weird, occult,  magickal  -  but  you
      know, I like Deicide a lot. So it just depends.

CoC: Have you ever heard any criticism  to  the  effect  that  Absu's
     approach  involves  too  much  mixing  of  distinct  occult  and
     historical traditions?

PMcG: Well, if you've seen as many comparisons as  we  have  [between
      Sumerian and Celtic traditions especially], then  I  think  one
      can relate to it. But a lot of people  think  that  we're  very
      pretentious, because we're an  American  band.  They  think  we
      can't be "true" - that we're  not  true,  because  Absu  is  an
      American band. A lot of people in Europe  think  of  Absu,  and
      then they think, "Oh! Morrisound Studios in  Tampa,  Florida...
      Oh! There are a lot of christian churches  in  America...  Oh!"
      You know, since I abide in Texas, I can't  have  pure  Scottish
      blood, obviously. But a lot of  people  in  Europe  think  that
      they're one hundred percent, that their ancestral  customs  are
      strictly limited to themselves. It's bullshit. They're a  mixed
      breed. You  know,  it's  universal.  You  will  not  find  pure
      ancestral blood, except maybe in the  most  rural  farm  areas,
      where they're still speaking the old  languages.  There,  I  do
      believe  they're  still  carrying  maybe  eighty  percent  pure
      ancestral blood. So, yeah, we get a lot of shit for it, but  we
      don't care. If people want to dog us, I  don't  really  give  a
      shit. It doesn't bother us; it only makes us stronger.

CoC: Any other thoughts on these issues?

PMcG: I want people reading this to know that this  is  how  I  truly
      feel. I'm not trying to put on an act. I'm just fascinated with
      my immortality, and with communicating  the  many  thoughts  of
      non-human formation that are always moving in  and  out  of  my
      conscious and subconscious mind.

CoC: I take it that you see your solo project as a real extension  of
     that - a chance to explore all that from a different angle or  a
     different side? [_The Venus Bellona_ is Proscriptor's first solo
     album,  recorded   for   Cold   Meat   subsidiary   Cruel   Moon
     International.]

PMcG: Yeah, basically the idea behind the Proscriptor project  is  to
      let the audience know (quote)  how  I  actually  became  (quote
      again) Emperor Proscriptor Magikus McGovern. It's not  only  I,
      but Equitant and Shaftiel: they have solo projects as well. And
      basically what it's for us to let the audience  know  a  little
      bit more about who we are... But, you know, <laughs> a  lot  of
      people are expecting _The Venus Bellona_ to be a metal project,
      and when they hear it, it's a different  concoction  -  it's  a
      novel about creation through the Venus Bellona.

CoC: And even those who simply look at the track listing probably get
     a bit of a shock when they see the last song on there... [It's a
     cover of "I Ran (So Far Away)" by eighties wave-rock ensemble  A
     Flock of Seagulls.]

PMcG: Yeah.

CoC: What led to your decision to do that?

PMcG: I'm so indulged and inspired by  so  many  different  types  of
      music besides death, black, thrash, and heavy metal in general.
      I am a keyboardist, and I do a lot of programming. It's  a  big
      interest that I've wanted to take up, and this is  the  perfect
      time for me to pursue a solo career, because I have time to  do
      it. _The Venus Bellona_ is kind of  a  subsidiary  offshoot  of
      what is studied in Absu: magick and ancestral  behaviors  based
      on the Celtic side of the mythology. The Proscriptor project is
      really pinpointing my Scottish roots, and also focuses  on  the
      Dominion Folklore of Thoth. On a lot of the album, I'm  heavily
      influenced by the early eighties wave  of  pre-  and  post-wave
      rock,  like  A  Flock  of  Seagulls  (naturally),  Gary  Numan,
      Romeovoid, Bauhaus, and others. But at the same time, it's also
      got a lot of influence from early to mid-seventies  progressive
      art rock as well... It's experimental music; I  can  play  with
      the ideology or the theme behind the lyrical content. It can be
      post-wave rock; it  can  be  art  rock;  it  can  be  folklore,
      ambient, experimental.

CoC:  Will  there  be  another  Equimanthorn?  [Equimanthorn  is  the
     experimental ritual music project consisting of past and present
     members of Absu, plus certain luminaries from  the  Greek  black
     metal scene.]

PMcG: That's up to Unisound Records - if they can properly  negotiate
      a deal with us. That's totally  up  in  the  air;  it's  a  big
      question mark right now, lingering  in  the  stratosphere.  But
      right now, of course, Absu is  the  numero  uno  priority,  and
      Proscriptor falls second. Equimanthorn has got like four  songs
      recorded, but it depends on the labels that will approach us to
      do another album. So it's just kind of wait and see.

CoC: Regarding Absu: what are you guys working on  now?  I  hear  you
     just recorded an Iron Maiden song?

PMcG: Yeah, a couple of weeks before the  Milwaukee  Metal  Fest,  we
      recorded "Transylvania", the instrumental track from the  first
      Maiden LP. It's coming out on Dwell Records, part of  a  CD  of
      Maiden covers. Also, we just did a song for the  "Gummo"  movie
      soundtrack; the movie comes out on  October  3rd,  which  is  a
      Friday... Right now, we're about to record the title track from
      the canceled mini-CD on Osmose. We're going to re-record  it  -
      it's called  "Thrashstorms"  -  for  a  Necropolis  compilation
      called _Thrashing Holocaust_.

CoC: Another Eighties revival thing?

PMcG: <laughs> Yeah.

CoC: Who else is on this thing?

PMcG: It's going to have a demo track from the original Incubus  from
      Louisiana,  Infernal  Majesty,  Inferno,   Gehennah,   Scepter,
      Usurper, Sigh, Abigail, Guillotine, Aura Noir, Bewitched, Angel
      Corpse, Nifelheim, Satanic Slaughter, and  about  two  to  four
      other bands. I think it's a double-disc.

CoC: When is it coming out?

PMcG: I would guess October or November. After that, we're  going  to
      do a five-song  mini-CD  for  Osmose,  all  new  material.  The
      working title right now is _For  Ioldanach,  With  a  Crown  of
      Gold_. Then hopefully we'll go back to Europe and support that.
      And right now, I'm working on  a  mini-CD  for  my  Proscriptor
      project. So we're keeping busy at the moment.

CoC: So what happened to  the  _Thrashstorms_  mini-CD?  Why  was  it
     canceled?

PMcG: We recorded it and just decided not to release it. I mean, look
      at all these bands doing Kreator,  Sodom,  and  -  naturally  -
      Frost, Bathory, and Venom covers.

CoC: Yeah, that's what I figured...

PMcG: We recorded "Flag of Hate" by Kreator,  "Bestial  Invasion"  by
      Destruction, "Torment in Fire" by Sacrifice -

CoC: <totally interrupting him>: Holy Shit!!  [That  song  rules.  --
     Steve]

PMcG: - one by Necrovore, and then the title track. But  we  decided,
      you know, if Absu ever releases a box set ten or fifteen  years
      down the road, we could feature those  tracks.  I  just  didn't
      think it would be a good move right then.

CoC: Yeah, given the timing, it definitely  would  have  looked  like
     bandwagoning.

PMcG: No doubt. It's just like, look at  Impaled  Nazarene,  look  at
      Marduk, look at Bewitched [all of  whom  put  out  mini-CDs  of
      covers last year]...

CoC: Well, I'm bummed to hear that  _Thrashstorms_  won't  be  coming
     out, because those are cool choices for songs to cover.

PMcG: We've been playing them since  well  before  Absu  was  formed.
      There were bands before Absu like Karrion and  Karnage  -  both
      spelled with a 'K'... wonder why. <laughs> Like Kreator.  We've
      been playing the songs since '88; it's in our blood,  which  is
      why we planned the mini-CD. But, on  the  other  hand,  I  told
      Herve the plan, but I never set any release date - then he puts
      it in a newsletter  for  Osmose.  Then  I  look  in  a  Relapse
      catalog,   and   they   claim   that   they're   carrying   the
      _Thrashstorms_ mini-CD. <laughs> It's never even initially been
      pressed. So I called up Relapse and fucked  with  them:  'Yeah,
      I'll take forty copies.' <laughs> These people fucking kill me.

CoC: As long as we're on the topic of  eighties  metal,  what's  your
     opinion of the way in which that seems to  be  quite  the  trend
     right now?

PMcG: Personally, I  really  do  not  want  to  see  any  more  bands
      deliberately - I hate to use this terminology,  but  -  ripping
      off the eighties style. I think  that  the  [eighties-inspired]
      bands that exist right now - Inferno,  Usurper,  Scepter,  Aura
      Noir, and others - the majority of them are really good. But  I
      hope it stops where it's at right now. You know, I really enjoy
      the bands that are out now, but I don't really want to see  any
      more bands just do the very same thing... But you  know,  I  am
      glad to see a lot of the major thrash acts re-uniting, bringing
      the old spirit back.

CoC: How was your recent trip to Mexico?

PMcG: Very successful - probably some of the best  shows  we've  ever
      played.

CoC: I heard you had a great reception.

PMcG: It was incredible: a lot of violence, big crowds. It was cool.

CoC: What did you think of Milwaukee this year?

PMcG: Yeah! It was the second time Absu played there. The first  time
      was in '95, and I have  to  say,  the  organization,  and  just
      everything in general was at least 80 percent better this  year
      than what it was when we were there in '95.

CoC: Any definite plans for other recording, after the new mini-CD?

PMcG: Well, after we release that, we're going to tour, and  anything
      else that happens after that, we'll just have to wait and  see.
      But basically, I would say that two  of  the  tracks  that  are
      going to be on this new CD will present a sort of image of what
      you'll hear on the fourth album. We just did a new  negotiation
      with Osmose for this mini-CD and the fourth and  fifth  albums.
      We're extremely satisfied with the label.

CoC: One thing that I like about the band is that all three  of  your
     full-lengths have had a fairly distinct  sound.  That  makes  me
     wonder whether you'll go off in yet another (somewhat) different
     direction on the fourth album.

PMcG: Our goal and objective ever since this band began was to have a
      different style and structure and just overall different  sound
      from album to album.  I  guarantee  the  mini-CD  will  have  a
      different sound; the fourth album will have a different  sound,
      a little bit different style. That also  goes  for  the  fifth,
      sixth, seventh, and eighth... That's just the goal for  us:  to
      have a different production, and a little bit different  style,
      on every release. However, we want to still keep  in  the  same
      vein of our own style - the  Absu  style  and  structure.  From
      _Barathrum V.I.T.R.I.O.L._, to _The Sun of Tiphareth_, to  _The
      Third Storm of Cythraul_ - each album varies, each is a  little
      bit different, but I still feel that they  all  reinforce  each
      other.

CoC: Yeah,  I'd  definitely  agree  with  that.  Continuity   through
     variety. Are you happy with the production that you got on  _The
     Third Storm of Cythraul_?

PMcG: The  overall  production,  yes.  The   drum   and    percussion
      engineering portion of it, no, not at all. I've  actually  been
      wanting to re-mix the album - not every song, but like half the
      tracks. For example: "A Magician's Lapis-Lazuli"  -  the  snare
      drum's completely buried. I really wanted to experiment on this
      recording, because I used four different  snare  drums  on  the
      recording - a mistake on my part. I  should've  just  kept  the
      snare drum that I wanted to use the most for  all  the  tracks.
      But the engineer that we used, I don't think that he'd done  an
      extreme, occult metal act before. Another thing is  that  we've
      been selfish: ever since the band's career first started, we've
      self-produced everything. But I think from now on, we're  going
      to need someone else's advice, and we're going to  bring  in  a
      producer  for  future  recordings  for  Absu.  We've  seriously
      discussed using Harris Johns,  the  chief  engineer  at  Skylab
      Studios  in  Berlin.  He's  recorded  Kreator,  Sodom,  Voivod,
      Tankard, Immolation's _Dawn of Possession_, Occult's _The Enemy
      Within_, and others.

[Thanks and cheers to Proscriptor for a very interesting talk, and to
Roberta Evans for making it possible. -- Steve]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

           E X T R E M E   N O I S E   T E R R O R I S T S
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC interview Extreme Noise Terror
                           by: Adam Wasylyk

     Extreme. Noise. Terror. These are  three  appropriate  words  to
describe ENT's latest release, _Damage 381_. It's 90s grindcore  that
takes no prisoners when it comes to speed and outright brutality. The
lost art of this most extreme genre  has  now  been  resurrected  and
hopefully, it's here to stay! The band  have  been  making  headlines
with their line-up troubles, swapping vocalists with Napalm Death but
later swapping vocalists yet again! After much speculation and rumor,
I had the opportunity to talk to vocalist Dean Jones and to find  out
the real story about the situation along with asking him about  ENT's
new record.
     'Basically Napalm Death asked Phil (Vane, ENT vocalist) to  join
about three or four months ago,' Jones begins  about  the  tumultuous
line-up changes that were starting to occur. 'Phil accepted and  they
sacked Barney (Greenway, ND vocalist). This was in the middle  of  us
recording _Damage 381_ so we were without a vocalist for  our  album,
so we thought the logical choice was to ask Barney. So we sent him  a
tape of what we had done on the album, he really liked it so he  came
down and did the vocals. Straight after Barney laid down the  vocals,
I heard that Napalm Death were having trouble with Phil, getting  the
vocals that they wanted out of him for  their  album.  So  then  they
wanted Barney back! Barney agreed to go back to Napalm under  certain
terms and Phil was out of a job and we were without  a  vocalist  yet
again, so we asked Phil back so everything  just  went  around  in  a
complete circle. Barney ended up singing on the  new  album  and  now
Phil's back in the band to tour with us. Napalm Death were  basically
trying to do something different, and Phil was a bit of a guinea  pig
and he was used and tossed aside. That's really what happened.'
     Barney's short stay in ENT  was  a  comfortable  one,  one  that
reminded him of a time long gone. Jones relates the story to me as if
Barney had 'come home' so to speak. 'When he came down to record  the
vocals, he told us he felt so at home, because  the  last  couple  of
records with Napalm were the complete opposite  as  they  (the  band)
were telling him 'Can you mellow your vocals down a bit, Barney?' and
'Can you sing a bit more like Machine Head?' and Barney  told  me  he
didn't feel comfortable doing that and he really felt at home  during
this album because it was back to _Utopia Banished_ for him, which he
felt comfortable with. He really enjoyed singing  and  recording  the
album with us.'
     I was surprised to hear that after Phil's departure for  greener
pastures, no ill-will or bitter feelings by the  band  were  directed
towards him. 'Phil had been with the band right from  the  beginning,
we were all really good friends, and he didn't leave on bitter  terms
at all. We stayed in touch when he was with Napalm. We couldn't blame
him, they offered him quite a bit of money and  Phil  was  really  in
debt at the time, so we couldn't blame him for doing what he did.'
     Our  conversation  swung  to  _Damage  381_,  a  90s  answer  to
(coincidentally) Napalm Death's _Scum_. 'The plan was when we started
making the album, we felt that the last record,  _Retro-bution_,  and
the  one  before  that,  _Phonophobia_,  didn't  have   the   chaotic
extremities that we used to have like our _Peel Sessions_  album.  We
basically listened to our older albums and thought 'Wow, if  only  we
could do something as good as what we  did  on  the  _Peel  Sessions_
again.' We decided that we were going to put back in the scream-style
vocals which we hadn't done for two albums, and also the blast  beats
which we hadn't had for a couple of albums, to really  make  it  more
chaotic and more 'Extreme Noise Terror' again 'cause we weren't happy
with the last two albums before _Damage 381_ as they weren't  extreme
enough in our eyes. It has a slightly more metal feel to it than it's
ever had before, it's total in-your-face grindcore. No  one  else  is
doing it, and we felt there's a big hole in the market for it as lots
of kids want to hear extreme music. As far as I  know,  there  hasn't
been an extreme grind album for probably three  or  four  years  now.
Kids are still walking around with Carcass _Symphonies  of  Sickness_
shirts, early Napalm shirts, and Brutal Truth shirts, and no  one  is
doing that music anymore, so we thought that's what we  want  to  do.
It's the music we like, so we're going to do another grindcore
album.'
     The name of ENT's new  record  actually  has  an  amusing  story
behind it. 'It came about because for track six (the title track), we
just laid down the music when we felt 'we're going to play as fast as
we can and keep it up for as long as possible.'  We  hadn't  actually
laid the vocals down and I hadn't written any lyrics for it  at  that
point, but the guy in the studio with some computer said  'gee,  it's
fast, I put [the song] through the computer and it came up '381''.  I
don't know if the word 'damage' sort of appeared [on  the  computer],
like damaging to the ears, so then it suddenly  clicked  'Oh,  Damage
381! That has a ring to it!' So we decided to call the  song  "Damage
381", and after playing that track to Digby (head honcho at Earache),
he really loved the track and said we should call the  album  _Damage
381_ as  well.  That's  how  it  came  about,  the  song  having  381
beats-per-minute at its highest peak.'
     I wrapped up our talk by asking Jones if the  band  finally  has
some stability with its present members, or could  something  similar
to what happened occur down the road?  'I  think  we're  stable  now.
Everyone is really pleased who's in the band with the album,  no  one
else has day jobs anymore, and no one else is in other bands, both of
which were problems in the past. I think we can now work on the  next
album and we'll be touring soon as well. We're all committed now.'

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                    B U R N   B A B Y   B U R N !
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Crematory
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     "On our latest album, _Awake_, you can hear the  development  of
the band and where we came from since our last record,  _Illusions_,"
begins rather talkative Crematory drummer,  Markus,  over  the  phone
from Germany. "With _Awake_, you find  more  melody  and  a  stronger
sound. This is probably the best sound we have been able  to  achieve
with Crematory so far."
     The quintet's latest release, and debut album for Nuclear Blast,
is a hard-stridin' dose of darkened gothic metal. Like  many  of  the
older and newer goth/metal bands within Europe, e.g.  Paradise  Lost,
EverEve, and Left Hand Solution (the latter two are both  on  Nuclear
Blast, too), Crematory believes deeply in the  art  of  emotions  and
story-telling. The music of _Awake_ overflows with  strong  emotional
expression and creative story-telling. "This music we  create  is  an
emotional dream world for us. It is not reality for us. It is just us
having fun and being creative."
     About _Awake_, he says, "We are very happy  with  what  we  have
done this time around and I hope we still  have  a  lot  of  creative
juices inside of us for future records and songs. Right  now  we  are
the #1 gothic/metal band in Germany and we are trying  hard  to  make
that happen for us around the world. We just want  to  be  successful
and keep Crematory around for a long time." Even though it  took  the
band several months in the studio to record their latest  effort  and
achieve the sound they were looking for, according to Markus,  making
_Awake_ was an experience. "We had a lot of fun making  this  record.
We also had a lot of time, almost two months in the studio,  to  work
on this record and experiment in the studio. We carefully etched  out
what we wanted to do within the studio. We re-did  vocals  and  added
keyboards and  just  experimented  to  create  something  strong  and
interesting for people to hear." About their studio work  ethics,  he
says, "When we go into the studio we have about 80% of what  we  want
on the record already done. We let  our  imaginations  run  wild  and
bring forth all these other ideas into the music to make it brighter.
Experimentation plays a key role in the studio work and with what the
end results are."
     Though the  band  -  which  is  rounded  out  by  singer  Felix,
keyboardist Katrin, bassist Harald,  and  guitarist  Lotte  -  enjoys
studio work, Markus reveals that like  most  bands,  Crematory  finds
more enjoyment out on the road. "We are just the type  of  band  that
likes to be out on the road performing. It gets so  busy  and  tiring
when working on a record in a studio atmosphere, and so playing  live
is definitely a form of release for us."
     Seeing that the band garnered a lot  of  notoriety  and  respect
from the goth metal (and metal) community  with  their  last  effort,
_Illusions_, does Markus believe that success affected  the  way  the
band created material and worked on the new record?  He  answers,  "I
don't think the record's success affected the way we created material
for _Awake_. I think we are approaching this record  in  a  different
way though in terms of marketing and publicity. _Illusions_ did  very
well for us but right now with _Awake_, we are on Nuclear  Blast  and
we have really good distribution around the world. We are able to get
the record out to more people and what we are hoping to achieve is to
surpass what we did with _Illusions_ in terms of notoriety and  album
sales. We'll see."
     So what is success for  Markus  and  Crematory?  "It  isn't  the
money... not at all. We just want to be able to tour and play lots of
shows and festivals all over the world. Like I said before, we are in
this to create music and reaching as many  people  as  we  can.  It's
important for us to be able to take  what  we  have  created  in  the
studio and take it out on the road. If that didn't happen what  would
be the point of making new music for people to hear? It's hard to  be
able to do this, go out and tour and all that stuff, but when you get
up on stage and there are people screaming  and  shouting  while  you
play, that is all you need to show you why you do this.  Money  can't
buy that experience."

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

              N I G H T   O F   T H E   D E C E A S E D
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews King Fowley of Deceased
                          by: Drew Schinzel


Way back in January of this year I was lucky enough to receive from a
friend an advance mix of the new Deceased album  (thanks  Jim!).  The
moment I heard the awesome opening riff, I couldn't wait  for  it  to
finally be released, and July finally brought that  joyous  occasion.
Once the CD began spinning there was no  turning  back,  it  was  ten
times better than the  tape,  and  confirmed  that  _Fearless  Undead
Machines_ was almost definitely going to be in my top five albums for
1997.  I  was  quite  lucky  to  have  the  opportunity  to  talk  to
vocalist/drummer King Fowley about all sorts  of  things,  and  among
others, I found out that he's one of the funniest and coolest guys in
metal I've ever talked to...

CoC: What's up?

KF: Man, sorry it took me so long, man, I was fuckin' dialing like...
    I don't know -what- I was doing. I dialed like my own number like
    six  times  man.  It  was  insane.   By   the   way,   Jim   says
    "waaaazzzzzupp!!" So what's up?

CoC: What brought about such a change in your sound? I mean, you guys
     used to be just like old school death metal, and now  it's  more
     melodic heavy metal influenced type of stuff.

KF: I don't personally see that big of a change. I think what it  is,
    is the production, man. I think the production just makes  it.  I
    was telling this guy a little while ago I think  _Blueprints  for
    Madness_ had a lot of old school stuff on it, too. I don't  think
    people heard it because it was just a thundering fuckin' wall  of
    noise. <laughs> I guess it's a little more speed metal than  just
    blasting death, you know. But I don't know,  man,  I  guess  it's
    just natural, it's just what we wrote.

CoC: What's your favorite element of the new album? The  more  deathy
     parts, or the melodic sections?

KF: I like the melodicness of it. I'm a big melody fan,  and  I  like
    the harmonies, and I just like the pacing of the album.  I  think
    the fast parts are fast enough where it's not so  fast  where  it
    sounds like Suffocation or something that I don't -want- to sound
    like. I think that the slow parts sound heavy, and slow, and, you
    know, good.

CoC:  Were  you  influenced  by  bands  like   Dissection   or   Dark
     Tranquillity at all? It sounds pretty Swedish with the  melodies
     at times, at least to me it does.

KF: Yeah, you know what, I guess so  for  a  part,  maybe  with  Mike
    [Smith]'s guitar playing. I know Mark [Adams] doesn't follow that
    at all. I know it, but I'm not  that  inspired  by  it.  I  think
    they're good bands for what they do. But I think those  bands,  a
    lot of their stuff is a little bit boring. It's  like  with  Dark
    Tranquillity, after you hear one album they  all  kind  of  start
    sounding  the  same.  [Well  that's  something  I  disagree  with
    totally, but that's okay. - Drew] I think ours has a little  more
    depth and a little more cleverness to it. I'm not knocking  those
    bands because they definitely can play. But I guess so,  probably
    definitely with Mike Smith's guitar playing.

CoC: Was the whole zombie thing something you always wanted to do?

KF: Oh yeah, it goes back to the second demo, _Birth  by  Radiation_,
    in '88, man. It's like we started doing it then, and we did it on
    the third demo. Then for _Luck of the Corpse_,  it  was  like  we
    didn't have enough room  to  put  it  all  on  there,  the  whole
    concept, so we abandoned it. We were like, now is the right  time
    to get back to it, and I wanted to write all new songs for it and
    just do it now. Yeah I'm a big fuckin' horror freak.

CoC: Are you still happy to be on Relapse? It looks like they're kind
     of moving towards all that ambient/noise stuff.

KF: As long as they don't tell us what to do, and accept us for  what
    we are, I have no problem. I  get  along  with  the  guys  great,
    they're cool, and I support  them  one-hundred  percent.  They've
    been behind us for the new record. I guess we'll be their  'metal
    band,' and they can put out all that gay  fuckin'  ambient  shit.
    The guys are cool, but most of their roster, I just don't get it.
    One of the only bands I think I like  anymore  on  that  label  I
    think is Morgion. I  like  Abscess.  Mortician's  fucking  great.
    Brutal Truth is cool. Other than that, I  don't  know,  who's  on
    there anymore?

CoC: How about Amorphis? They changed a lot.

KF: I don't like them at all. I  think  they  fucking  blow.  They're
    trying to be progressive. I mean, I grew up on  progressive  rock
    as much as metal, I used to listen to that shit all the time, and
    that shit (Amorphis) is -not- progressive.

CoC: What about the old Amorphis?

KF: Yeah, I love the first two albums. It's just all these keyboards.
    I mean, I don't mind keyboards at all, but they just  don't  play
    them right or something. Everybody  says  they  sound  like  Deep
    Purple. They ain't sound like  no  fuckin'  Deep  Purple  to  me!
    Sounds like fuckin' Deep Shit! <laughs>

CoC: [after regaining composure from laughing so hard] So what's next
     for you guys, musically, after  such  a  monumental  album  like
     _Fearless Undead Machines_?

KF: I have no idea. Actually, we were talking about that last  night,
    me and Mark. We were sitting here after practice,  because  we've
    been having a lot of problems with the practice  room,  the  amps
    have been sounding so bad. But we were talking  about  that,  and
    how we want to be and how we  have  to  live  up  to  this  album
    (_Fearless Undead Machines_) now, and make it not  a  fluke.  But
    the next thing we're planning is an  EP  called  _Spirits_.  It's
    going to be really weird. I've already got the titles,  it's  got
    five songs. We've got "The Premonition", "The  Hanging  Soldier",
    "A Very Familiar Stranger", we've got one called "Mrs. Allerdice"
    which is based on the movie "Burnt Offerings", then  the  closing
    one is called "A Chilling Heartbeat",  which  is  based  on  "The
    Telltale Heart", you know, Edgar Allen Poe. You know, it's  going
    to be very morbid. I think it's still going to be very fast, very
    aggressive, very melodic, very intense. We're going  to  go  from
    there just to try out some different production just to  see  how
    it goes. Then that'll carry us  over  to  the  next  full-length.
    We're also planning on doing a  live  album,  and  an  all-covers
    album called _Live for Metal_. It's going to be  all  80s  stuff.
    We're going to do, like, "Deathrider" from Anthrax, fuckin' crazy
    shit, Razor, Whiplash, Metal Church, Nasty Savage covers,  uhh...
    I don't even know, Tyrants, who the hell knows.

CoC: Any Sodom in there?

KF: Nah, there  won't  be  Sodom,  but  there  will  be  thrash  like
    Whiplash, Razor, etc... Agent Steele <laughs>,  if  you  want  to
    call them thrash, I guess they were speed  metal.  Yeah,  as  for
    Sodom and stuff, it's just so done, you  know?  Everybody's  done
    Sodom covers, everybody's done Destruction, Slayer...

CoC: Yup, retro...

KF: Yeah, kind of cheesy, isn't it?

CoC: Yep, totally. It's like with Demoniac, they  used  to  be  black
     metal.

KF: Is that the band on Osmose?

CoC: Yeah. (Evil Omen is a division of Osmose)

KF: Are they still on Osmose?

CoC: Yep.

KF: Jesus. -Now- they're old school?

CoC: Yep. They used to be all  corpse-painted.  Now  they're  wearing
     sunglasses and bandannas... total change.

KF: Oh, Jesus. Sounds like Gehennah. But Gehennah seems real. They're
    definitely cool. Bewitched is okay, Inferno I don't mind, of  the
    Osmose bands. But I don't know what's happening now. I'm  turning
    around every day and someone's play thrash now, and Sodom, Marduk
    doing Piledriver covers, and I'm like "What the -fuck-  happened,
    man? Play your cheesy shit out dude, just  because  your  fucking
    day has come when no one likes you anymore, don't try and jump on
    the next bandwagon." Most people see right through that, at least
    the fuckin' smart people  do.  Not  those  who  live  in  Robotic
    Village. <laughs>

CoC: For the lyrics to the album, was it -just- a story, or  are  you
     trying to convey some message with it?

KF: There's lots of little messages in there about telling the  world
    how fucked up it is. I don't know if you seen that.

CoC: Yeah, I noticed the one about religion.

KF: Oh yeah, It's just the whole world is so damned full of shit, you
    know? And all we're doing is paving our fuckin' road to death. As
    far as the lyrics, I wanted it to  be  traditional  horror  to  a
    point, but very tastefully done,  and  very  disturbing,  because
    there's no happiness in my lyrics, there never will  be.  Nothing
    has a good ending. There's always a  fork  in  the  road.  In  my
    horror movies, everybody dies. There's no hero  that's  going  to
    climb out of the rocks going, "I survived!" In mine,  he'd  climb
    out of the rocks, and then another rock would just smash his head
    in. I just want to keep it  real  dreary,  and  I  want  to  hear
    people's interpretations of the story just to see if what I wrote
    comes across to them as how I wanted it to. Because everybody can
    take it however they want to, you know?

CoC: What was  the  hardest  thing  about  writing  _Fearless  Undead
     Machines_?

KF: The hardest thing for us was just getting a solid place where  we
    could just jam all the time. We were jumping from rehearsal space
    to rehearsal  space  for  _Blueprints..._,  and  finally  we  got
    settled into my house, my basement, to  start  rehearsing.  There
    was no interference, we could sit there and talk about if we want
    to change things. It wasn't like, we were at someone's house  and
    they were cooking dinner. We used to jam with Abominog, at  their
    house, and we'd be there practicing and their drummer would  come
    in and start tuning his drums, playing drum solos, that's kind of
    kooky, you know? But now we're all settled in and we finally  got
    the chance to just the four of us go in  this  little  room,  and
    fuckin' jam and talk about it, and change things. That's  all  it
    really took, was just getting settled in. But  it  kind  of  came
    naturally; some songs came together easier, some  were  instantly
    written and done, some took a lot of changing,  with  new  riffs,
    and rewriting. But you know, I'm happy as shit  with  the  album,
    every song just came out how we wanted it to.

CoC: Yeah, well I must say, I think every song is excellent.

KF: I appreciate that, man. Any favorites?

CoC: Probably "The Psychic".

KF: Cool. If I can say this, honestly, that was actually  written  as
    the single. I guess we knew that there weren't going  to  be  any
    real singles, so we just, like, jokingly said,  like,  well,  you
    know how in the 80s, Iron Maiden would put out _The Trooper_  and
    have, like, the B-sides, you know? It's like, there's our 12-inch
    single, you know? We just laughed at it. It just had  that  vibe,
    it's very catchy. Relapse is digging "Fearless...", the song, and
    "Graphic Repulsion" has been getting a lot of good things.  Which
    is kind of strange because when me and Mark wrote  that,  it  was
    probably my least favorite, but when it came out in the studio, I
    was really happy with it. That one had a lot of problems. It  was
    -really- fast. At first, it was probably the closest thing we had
    on the album to blast. I think the next album's going to be  very
    fast. I think it'll be more fast - the next album will  be  very,
    very fast. But it'll be very melodic. But it won't be  like  Dark
    Tranquillity - fast and melodic, because I don't think speed  and
    melody always work that good together. You have to just move your
    dynamics around and let it hit at certain times.

CoC: What do you think about the Korn and Machine Head-type bands?

KF: I don't know how to spell this, but "fuuuyiiillllck." [the best I
    could do - Drew] I hate that shit. I don't like  the  personality
    that comes with it, I don't like the people that listen to it,  I
    don't like the macho fuckin'  image  it  creates.  I  think  it's
    fuckin' silly. It's just so overrated. I mean, anyone could  take
    an open E, and just chug it, and just scream  fuckin'  vile  shit
    over it. I don't know, it just doesn't do anything for  me.  I've
    never been a fan of that style. If I want to listen  to  some  of
    that open E stuff, I'll listen to early Annihilator or something.
    You see, it's good when it  sounds  good...  Van  Halen  was  the
    master of that. It's just silly, man, too macho for me.

CoC: What do you guys have lined up for the rest of this year?

KF: Hopefully we'll go on tour. Who knows if that's going to  happen.
    Write this new EP, try and do a  live  album,  try  and  do  this
    covers thing, all that within the rest of this year.  We're  just
    trying to get out and play, too, we really want to  get  out  and
    play. We're looking for the right tour,  but,  I  don't  know,  I
    don't honestly know what to tell you about that, it's  just  kind
    of up in the air.

CoC: Well, you'll be playing a show with Exodus in New York  City  on
     August 21st right?

KF: We'll definitely be there, we'll be there kickin'  ass.  I'm  not
    looking forward to Exodus, though, man. I don't know...  I  don't
    like this reunion thing they're doing. They're like  "Hey,  look,
    we did one good album and then we sucked for all these years. Now
    we're back doing the good album again!" Am I supposed to  applaud
    them for wimping out, you know? Oh, it's a big money thing.

CoC: Yeah, they're kind of just riding the thrash retro uprising.

KF: Exactly, you know what time it is.

CoC: Well, that's it King. Anything you want to say to the readers?

KF: Just look out for the Deceased album, man. We're as honest a band
    as we can be. We don't fuckin' bullshit nobody, we don't pull  no
    punches, we just do our thing. And you know just remember,  metal
    rules and it always has, and even when this retro thing is  over,
    it still will.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

          A S   B L A C K   A S   T H E Y   W A N N A   B E
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Vassago of Lord Belial
                          by: Drew Schinzel

After much delay, the sophomore effort of  harsh-yet-melodic  Swedish
black metallers Lord Belial, entitled _Enter the Moonlight Gate_,  is
finally out. Reviewed in these pages months ago, the  advance  4-song
tape under scrutiny then was only a  mere  half  of  the  full-length
album, and the newer material does not disappoint  at  all.  Swinging
back and forth from violent outbursts of pure speed  and  aggression,
to mid-paced walks through luscious fields  of  melody  enveloped  by
flute, _EtMG_ is definitely a high-quality release. Guitarist Vassago
took some time off to answer our questions.

CoC: Since your new album _Enter the  Moonlight  Gate_  was  recently
     released, what have you been doing in the meantime?

Vassago: We have been recording some demo tracks for our  next  album
         and we have recorded "Come to the Sabbath" by Mercyful Fate.
         This  cover-version  will  be   featured   on   a   Mercyful
         Fate-compilation released by Listenable Records. We recorded
         it in Andy LaRocque's studio, and we are  pleased  with  the
         result. We will most probably record  our  next  album  with
         Andy. He is great to work with.

CoC: Why was there such a delay between the recording  of  the  album
     (April '96) and its eventual release (July '97)?

V: No Fashion signed a lot of bands during a short  period  of  time.
   This resulted in a chaotic handling of their releases. That is why
   it was delayed over and over again.

CoC: After releasing two albums on No Fashion Records, what  is  your
     feeling towards the label? Are you satisfied with them?

V: Well, let me assure you; they have not bothered one bit  about  us
   until this last month (July '97). The guy who handles  us  is  not
   involved in the scene at all, he is just a clerk who knows nothing
   about metal. The staff at House of Kicks is the  same  staff  that
   runs  a  mail  order  company  called  Sound  Pollution;  and  the
   distribution of albums in  Sweden/Scandinavia,  plus  No  Fashion,
   Chaos Records, and five or six more small  record  labels.  In  my
   opinion, they should be five times as many people to  be  able  to
   handle the situation properly. But then they won't  make  as  much
   money as they are doing at the moment,  so  I  suppose  they  have
   decided to stomp on the bands instead. We are -not- satisfied with
   them. They recently fucked up a tour with  Emperor  for  us.  They
   neglected to answer on time because the clerk that is supposed  to
   run our business was ON VACATION!!! AAAAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!! There
   are a few other labels that want to sign  us,  and  they  were  so
   fucking angry when they heard about this, they  said  "Ahhh,  come
   on, you MUST leave No Fashion now, we will pay the tour at ONCE if
   you sign for us!"

CoC: In music, and especially it seems in metal, maintaining a steady
     band lineup is sometimes difficult, yet the four members of Lord
     Belial have been together since the beginning, in  '92.  Is  the
     band lineup as strong now as it was then?

V: Well, actually it is stronger. The  bass  player  has  never  been
   involved in metal, that is why he has such a unique style in  bass
   playing, but he has grown into his position  completely.  We  have
   never been as strong as we are now, and we are getting better  and
   stronger all the time!

CoC: It seems that although the new trend is to  be  retro  and  very
     80s, Lord Belial has remained solidly  in  the  realm  of  black
     metal. What's your view of the retro uprising?

V: Ha, I suppose it's the kids that grew up with the flood  of  black
   metal music that have thought  "I  wonder  what  these  guys  were
   listening to when they started" and are now  finding  it  cool  to
   plagiarize the "original" metal. I think  Lord  Belial  have  some
   sounds from the 80s as well, though. My personal influences lie in
   this era.

CoC: The band has a great talent for writing majestic  melodies,  for
     both the guitar and flute, yet you  place  them  right  next  to
     violent, fast sections of the songs, structurally. Which do  you
     find more difficult to write,  and  which  do  you  prefer,  the
     melodic or the violent?

V: Well, the melodies are mostly made by Dark, while I like  it  more
   brutal, so my riffs tend to be less melodic. I  like  it  raw  and
   straightforward, but the contrast makes it much better.

CoC: Lord Belial is unique in that  you  incorporate  flutes  into  a
     harsh black metal environment. Do you foresee use of  the  flute
     in the future?

V: Oh, I am assured we will use flute on  our  next  album  as  well,
   along with a few other "different" instruments.

CoC: You placed some female vocals in Enter  the  Moonlight  Gate  as
     well. Can you explain the decision to use them?

V: It was Dark's idea. His girlfriend is a singer in a choir,  so  he
   came up with this idea to make the  contrast  between  melody  and
   aggression even bigger.

CoC: Do you view the band, and music  in  general,  as  an  emotional
     attachment to you, or more as a form of self-expression, or
     both?

V: Since Dark finds it difficult to use  mine  or  Sin's  lyrics,  he
   generally uses his own nowadays, so I can no longer say that I can
   express anything in particular more  than  just  feelings  in  the
   music. Sometimes, I have a totally different  vision  in  my  head
   than what Dark sings about, though. But mostly, it works very
   good.

CoC: How satisfied are you with Lord Belial's two albums?

V: I do not listen so much to  _Kiss  the  Goat_,  maybe  once  every
   second month. I don't think that this album is representative  for
   Lord Belial anymore. _Enter the Moonlight Gate_,  however,  is.  I
   was satisfied with _Kiss the Goat_ for one week, then  we  entered
   the studio with Vassago to create some pure violent  music.  _Kiss
   the Goat_ has its good sides, though.  I  am  quite  pleased  with
   _Enter..._, but I know that our next album will  be  the  best  we
   have ever made!

CoC: What have you got planned for the next album? Will  it  continue
     in the same vein as _Enter the Moonlight Gate_?

V: We have five freshly written songs and they sparkle  with  energy,
   yet it  is  not  the  same  drumming,  it  is  much  more  varied.
   Sometimes, it is MUCH faster, but it is more mixed with heaviness.
   The people that have heard our new material think that  it  is  in
   the vein of _Enter..._, but better still.

CoC: What's planned for the rest of this year?

V: Rehearsals!!! And hopefully a tour. We are VERY  eager  to  go  on
   tour. We have the album on digi-pack now, but it  will  also  come
   out on vinyl. We have t-shirts and long  sleeves,  and  they  look
   excellent. Actually, they are the most  beautiful  shirts  on  the
   market, and this  is  no  bragging,  it  is  stating  of  a  fact.
   <snickers> Personally, I will go on tour with Sacramentum later on
   as well.

CoC: That's the end, Vassago, thanks a lot. Take this  space  to  say
     what you wish...

V: Buy our works of music and art. It is not just a piece  of  metal,
   it is a new world that awaits  to  be  explored!  Thanks  for  the
   interview. Die Hard!!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

        A T   T H E   M O U N T A I N S   O F   M A D N E S S
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Orphanage
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

Fresh originality  is  usually  a  good  thing,  and  Orphanage  have
struggled to achieve that since their  debut,  _Oblivion_,  in  1995.
Mixing an unusual kind of melody (based mostly on choir  singing  and
keyboards) with an even more unusual rhythmic section  was  a  daring
move, as these two might have clashed  instead  of  actually  fitting
together. But the fact remains that _By Time Alone_, in 1996,  was  a
clear improvement over their debut, while focusing on the same ideals
and similar techniques. Orphanage is based around  George  Oosthoek's
death grunts and occasional screams, Rosan van der Aa's female voice,
Lex Vogelaar's unusual guitar  sound,  Guus  Eikens'  keyboard,  Eric
Hoogendoorn's bass, and Erwin Polderman's drums. Coming from Holland,
this DSFA Records band had a big performance at the Dynamo this year,
including a choir in their set; they are now  ready  to  think  about
their next album. Here is my e-mail interview with bass  player  Eric
Hoogendoorn.

CoC: How would you describe the differences  between  _Oblivion_  and
     _By Time Alone_?

Eric Hoogendoorn: The most important  difference  between  _Oblivion_
                  and _By Time Alone_ was the  fact  that  we  worked
                  with a steady lineup on _By Time Alone_. That's why
                  the album sounds more live and more  Orphanage.  We
                  made the songs with the whole band and we grew as a
                  band. In  a  way,  we  work  the  same  way  as  on
                  _Oblivion_, but now we do it together,  so  we  can
                  make better songs.

CoC: How well have the fans  been  reacting  to  your  band's  rather
     unusual style?

EH: Well, in the beginning of  Orphanage  (when  we  made  our  first
    demo), the people reacted a little strangely to our music, but at
    the time we recorded _Oblivion_, more and more people  liked  our
    style. In about a year, we had our  own  fans  and  that's  still
    going on. Each year that we play in clubs, there are more  people
    coming to see us and like us (magazines always  say  good  things
    about  us,  so  that  helped  too).  It's  going  very  good  for
    Orphanage, we are very happy with that.

CoC: Why did you choose to mix the excellent melodies mainly provided
     by Rosan and the keyboards with the puzzling (yet good) rhythmic
     section?

EH: When we were thinking about the concept of Orphanage,  we  wanted
    to put very heavy guitars, bass, drums, and melody together in  a
    way we had never heard before, so every part had to be  original.
    Lex came up with the polyrhythmic, and  Guus  came  up  with  the
    melody. We experimented a lot with that concept, and  after  some
    time, we found Orphanage.

CoC: Does Rosan have any previous professional singing experience?

EH: No. She sang in a choir for a while, that was her experience.

CoC: How did you meet her, and why did she choose to join the band?

EH: Anthony [van den Berg, DSFA Records] met her and  introduced  her
    to the band. She was just the one we were searching for  and  she
    liked the band, so she joined us.

CoC: I gotta ask you this, about the choir you work(ed) with:  what's
     the story behind a name such as The dB's Monkey Spanking Choir?

EH: dB's is the place where we [Orphanage] practice. We have a lot of
    friends there and we recorded our CD in Studio Moscow,  which  is
    part of the dB's  building.  At  the  time  we  were  working  on
    "Ancient Rhymes", we asked everyone to sing with us  how  was  in
    dB's. We called it the Monkey Spanking Choir because of  Ren  and
    Stimpy.

CoC: What are the chances of further live shows with large choirs?

EH: We have done Dynamo Open Air and Best on the  Rocks  with  a  big
    choir (and our CD presentation), but  that  was  only  for  these
    concerts. Now we don't do that anymore because we don't  want  to
    do something for too long.

CoC: Did everything go well for you at the Dynamo this year?

EH: Yes. Dynamo was also, as last year, a great experience, but  this
    year we played on the main festival. You wouldn't believe how big
    that is. When you see so many people there, something happens  to
    you. We played with a big choir and many musicians, and that  was
    a lot of work to practice, to do a concert with so  many  people,
    but everything went okay for us and the people loved  it,  so  it
    was great.

CoC:  Another  DSFA  band  that  played  at  the  Dynamo  was  Within
     Temptation. Would you like to tell  us  more  about  Orphanage's
     role in their remarkable debut album, _Enter_?

EH: Within Temptation made all the songs themselves, so Orphanage had
    nothing to do with that. Guus gave  some  advice  about  keyboard
    sounds, Lex played on a song and did the production,  and  George
    sung on a song. That's all Orphanage did on the  album.  I  think
    Within Temptation did a very good job on their  album.  They  are
    big in Holland already and I think the rest of Europe will
    follow.

CoC: What's your personal opinion about that band after having worked
     with them?

EH: I didn't work with them on their album but I  recorded  an  album
    with a new band of mine and Erwin's  called  Siliconhead.  Sharon
    den Adel [*excellent* singer -- Pedro] did a song on  our  album,
    so that's the only experience I have with them. I can tell you we
    had a lot of fun together (Sharon is a great singer).

CoC: What's your view on the current Dutch metal scene?

EH: There are a  lot  a  good  bands  right  now  in  Holland.  Other
    countries in Europe see that too, so there is a lot  of  interest
    in Dutch bands on this moment. I hope it will stay this way.

CoC: Is a new album scheduled yet?

EH: We are going to record a new album in February 1998.

CoC: Any idea of what will change in your sound?

EH: I think not much will change, but the songs will  be  (also  with
    the last album) better than _By Time Alone_.

CoC: No more questions, time for a final message to the readers...

EH: Maybe I can express my feelings of what we are about  in  a  live
    situation, so I hope to see you all on tour, okay?  Greetings  to
    all the readers of Chronicles of Chaos.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                   _____  .__ ___.
                  /  _  \ |  |\_ |__  __ __  _____
                 /  /_\  \|  | | __ \|  |  \/     \
                /    |    \  |_| \_\ \  |  /  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!


Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_  (Independent, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (9 out of 10)

Another freebie I received  at  the  Milwaukee  MetalFest,  I  wasn't
expecting a whole lot when I was handed a copy  of  this  full-length
CD. Much to my surprise, I  found  another  slab  of  amazing  sludgy
Louisiana metal, borrowing from  death,  doom,  and  speed,  both  in
musical and vocal approach. Production is great, clear and thick, yet
muddy enough where it needs to be. The vocals are well  thought  out,
always appropriately matched to the music, the  different  approaches
always executed with enough conviction so as to not sound  contrived;
this guy can sing melodically, without over-emphasizing  melody,  and
can scream and growl effectively and potently. Guitars feature plenty
of well-executed  speed  and  death  riffs,  with  occasional  trippy
psychedelic and acoustic tidbits. While there are two guitar players,
they don't  stray  too  far  off  each  other's  lines,  keeping  the
interplay to a minimum; the songwriting  strengths,  though,  lie  in
their ability to keep the intensity and aggression level in the music
high throughout by changing the mood via  different  tempos,  styles,
and textures. Complexity isn't key to their sound as  much  as  sonic
variety within the metal framework. I would say that their sound  and
even one of the vocal styles aren't  entirely  dissimilar  to  fellow
Louisianites (is that a word?)  Exhorder's,  yet  more  involved  and
current, unlike Pantera who took the Exhorder  sound  and  dumbed  it
down for mass consumption. Biggest disappointment for me is the  lack
of much of a bass presence, although drums come out loud and clear, a
good thing since their  frenetic  nature  drives  this  album  along;
always competent, well-defined, with superb fills  and  cymbal  work,
and luckily, butt-kicking double bass. I think death metal fans  with
a penchant for speed and/or melodic leanings  will  flip  for  Abuse;
this could probably even be enjoyed by fans of muscle metal (Pantera,
Machine Head, Biohazard), but it attempts to reach further than that,
and in many ways, it does; I would love to see  fans  of  that  genre
take to more thoughtfully written music. Unfortunately, lyrics aren't
included in the packaging, but the lyrics I'm able to determine  tend
to be lucid, dark, and varied in subject matter; no rough  and  tough
machismo lurking around here. Basically, this band seems to  function
perfectly as a unit,  as  they  swoop  and  dive  through  the  songs
effortlessly, instrumentation very tight, unwavering in  their  sonic
assault. The way in which the songs are put together, the flow of the
album from passage to passage, from song to song,  is  rather  unique
and quite rewarding to the  listener;  thoroughly  engaging  material
well worth recommending. Seek this out.

Contact: ABUSE c/o Brian Strong, 3708 Stefano Street
         Metairie, Louisiana  USA 70002
         Voice: 504-457-0105 (Brian Strong)
         mailto:hbeast@acadiacom.net
         http://www.acadiacom.net/hbeast/abuse/abuse.htm


Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (8 out of 10)  (Grinding Peace Records, 1996)

I was stoked to see these guys play  at  the  Michigan  International
Metal  Fest,  and  they  definitely   didn't   disappoint.   Boasting
ex-members  of  Masochist,  Summon  play  crafty  black  metal   with
excellent, articulate vocals and a keen  sense  for  song  structure,
plus some sonic twists that distance the band from today's hordes  of
wannabe-Scandinavian clones. Keyboards are used very  sparingly,  and
the tempos consistently vary within each song. There are no drawn-out
hyper-speed marathons, but  there  are  still  plenty  of  well-timed
bursts of sharp, skull-drilling snare blasts. Also, Xaphan's  riffing
technique and guitar sound  has  more  in  common  with  the  thrashy
morbidity of early Sodom (_Obsessed by Cruelty_ especially) than with
the tremolo-happy approach of the Scandinavian  second  wave.  Still,
these guys are no mere retro band, and _Dark Descent..._ is NOT  just
another bandwagon-jumping "black thrash" regurgitation  of  trademark
eighties styles. Songs like "Eve of Anti-Creation"  and  "Beyond  the
Gates of Storm" display the strong, varied dynamics typical  of  some
of  the  great  eighties  bands,  but  still  maintain  a   sharpened
contemporary edge. Very cool stuff, with a fairly unique sound.


Blackstar - _Barbed Wire Soul_  (Peaceville, September 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

I can understand that by using a new name, these guys might not  want
to be compared with what they've done before, but really... three out
of four members are well known for their work in Carcass, they  chose
their band's name out of the track listing of the last Carcass  work,
_Swansong_, and even the music sounds slightly like that same  album.
Sorry, but  I  can't  avoid  thinking  of  this  as  a  follow-up  to
_Swansong_, even though Carcass is officially 'dead.' Blackstar  (who
signed with Peaceville) are composed of vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker,
guitarist Carlo Regadas, and drummer Ken Owen,  all  ex-Carcass,  and
former Cathedral guitarist Mark  Griffiths.  _Barbed  Wire  Soul_  is
indeed the kind of follow-up I  expected  to  _Swansong_:  more  rock
influences,  Walker's  vocals  are  a  bit  less  raspy,   and   some
similarities to _Swansong_ are still, even though  at  times  barely,
visible (by the way, check out the BIG surprise to be found in tracks
4 and 8...). So, if you're looking for a  re-recording  of,  say,  my
favourite Carcass  album,  _Necroticism..._,  you'd  better  go  look
somewhere else; however, this doesn't mean _BWS_ isn't good -  it  is
quite good. Rocking with a sharp aggressive edge most  of  the  time,
the musical quality is there in every guitar twist  and  rhythm  they
use, as _BWS_ is easy to get into and  really  catchy  indeed.  "Game
Over" and "Sound of Silence" are my choices for best tracks,  however
several others just aren't so remarkable. Still, Carcass may be dead,
but their 'rot n' roll' lives on as Blackstar.


Civil Defiance - _The Fisher for Souls_  (Blood Orange, July 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (4 out of 10)

I hate to use the words 'odd' and 'cheesy,' but those two words  best
describe the work of Civil Defiance.  Managing  to  cram  progressive
rock, metal, 80s riffs and cheesy lyrics into 37 minutes (8 songs) is
pretty impressive. It really is, I just wish a lot  of  the  material
had been straightforward prog rock/metal instead of spurting out  all
of this weird, jazzy-riffed shenanigans, rock star vocals,  and  drum
solos on top of the rock/metal sounds. Talk about  a  smorgasbord  of
ideas. Some of the songs and ideas I liked ("Death to the Clown"  and
"Dreams Die Fast") but overall I'm  left  with  a  headache  and  not
knowing what just came blaring out of my boom box.

Contact: Civil Defense, P.O. Box 1305, Glendale, CA USA 91209


Crack Up - _From the Ground_  (Nuclear Blast, July 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

While this may not be the best case of death metal music I have heard
in sometime, something about  this  German  quartet's  Nuclear  Blast
debut album _From the Ground_ (their  first  full-length,  _Blood  Is
Life_, surfaced on We Bite/SPV) keeps me coming back for  more.  What
could it be? Well, to let you CoC readers in on the secret ingredient
of Crack Up: the crazy groove. The band just lets loose  thick  riffs
and catchy melodies coated with death-ish growls (similar to Gorefest
and Entombed's style at times), and those real cool vibes  help  make
up for the sometimes annoying and poor vocal styles of singer/bassist
Tim. While _FtG_ may not really be groundbreaking, what Crack Up does
deliver to us is aggressive music built around a solid groove that'll
spark some interest almost every listen. An  overall  decent  release
and definitely a young band to look out for.


Crisis - _The Hollowing_  (Metal Blade, August 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

When I talked to Crisis guitarist Afzaal Nasiruddeen way back in  CoC
#8, we discussed the experimental tendencies of Crisis and the  music
they create. He mentioned  the  band's  love  for  bringing  multiple
styles  into  their  sound.  The  band's  last  release,  _Deathshead
Extermination_, breathed of anarchy and harshness, with  lead  singer
Karyn Crisis detonating huge blasts of anguish and  violence  through
her banshee-like screams. The music itself blended a wide variety  of
death  metal  riffs,  trippy  slow-paced  interludes  and   lots   of
intensity. The music worked for them. The record  did  well  for  the
band, too, putting them on tour throughout North America with  Voivod
and Pro-Pain and helped develop them a pretty good  sized  following.
Now arrives their latest LP,  _The  Hollowing_,  a  record  not  much
different  than  _DE_  as  it  still  caters  to  the  Crisis  sound.
Singer/screamer Karyn Crisis still growls  as  the  music  moves  and
shapes  itself  into  odd  and  eccentric  entities.  After  multiple
listens, I found _TH_ a much more loose record, where  the  band  has
gone off- track with their  controlled  experimentations  and  rather
than providing us with a very  strong,  yet  versatile  release  have
offered us nothing more than a pot-pourri  of  sounds  and  scattered
ideas. The band has also lost a bit of their aggression, relying more
on a trippy, sedated feel on certain numbers rather than  an  all-out
bursts of mayhem. Don't get me wrong, there is aggression  here,  and
Karyn Crisis' demonic vocals rules, but there is  something  missing.
This album is mediocre in my books and it is as if the band has  lost
something along the way between records. I hope they can find it come
the next recording.


Decayed Remains - _Moonlight_  (<independent>, July 1997)
by: Christopher Bruni  (7 out of 10)

Decayed  Remains  have  released  this  noteworthy   CD,   henceforth
expanding and altering the Canadian underground even more along  with
such Canadian notables as Demence, Necronomicon, and Quo  Vadis  (all
from Quebec). _Moonlight_ is a concept CD based on lycanthropy, where
each song flows with a continuity of dark desires. Slightly  straying
away from their death metal past,  Decayed  Remains  incorporates  it
all.  _Moonlight_  treads  forth  on  their  death  metal   leanings,
incorporating metal/thrash influences (Voivod  being  prime  example)
and this time adding some black metal and gothic  influence.  The  CD
begins with a spoken prologue, ending with an epilogue, of course, as
the  band  tear  through  their  eleven  tracks  of  dark  art  in  a
fashionable manner. Whether thrashing it up, breaking into full-blown
acoustics, or goth-ing it up with keyboards, originality does surface
at some moments as the band make quite an  effort  to  execute  their
unique and sometimes banal  style  of  metal.  All  in  all,  another
Canadian hopeful to watch out for.

Contact: Radicart Productions c/o Decayed Remains, C.P. 834 St-Tite,
         Quebec, Canada  G0X 3H0
         mailto:decayedremains@geocity.com


Dismember - _Death Metal_  (Nuclear Blast Records, August 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Bands do not have to progress to be good. Dismember's  fourth  outing
proves this quite conclusively, for they have gone back to where they
started, and produced what is probably their best album.  This  album
lives up to its unsubtle title very efficiently. it has the scent  of
a classic death metal release. Does it sound  dated?  Well,  yes,  it
does, but the the word 'dated'  denotes  negativity  that  is  not  a
factor when considering _Death Metal_, because although no  technique
is new, the songs are; in fact it's just like picking  up  a  classic
death metal album you didn't have. The blend  of  song  tempos  means
that _Death Metal_ also doesn't become  boring  and  repetitive.  The
only flaw (and the reason for  a  9  and  not  10)  is  tracks  7-10,
although none of these are grossly inferior to the rest of the album,
the fact that they are all of similar (fast) tempos and arrangements,
means that the individual tracks don't stand out as  well.  Dismember
are death metal fans; Matti Karki said 'we want to play  death  metal
the brutal way.' Well, they've done it,  and,  like  the  bands  they
love, they've done it well.


Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_  (Earache, July 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

This is probably one of the most anticipated releases this  year  due
to the fact that Napalm  Death  singer  Barney  Greenway  provides  a
majority of the vocals on _Damage 381_. Recorded with Greenway at the
helm after he and Napalm Death parted ways earlier this year to  sing
for ENT (he eventually went back to ND but the vocals were still kept
when original ENT frontman Phil Vane didn't cut it) is  a  powerhouse
assault of grinding grooves and sheer power.  The  songs  are  short,
brutal, and utterly potent. Nothing seems to fall by the wayside here
as ENT has been able to condense all the intensity into one mad rush.
Throw in some vocal duties by Vane and new screamer  Dean  Jones  and
you got a pretty varied assortment of songs and ideas. While I  am  a
big fan of the new ND release, _Inside the Torn Apart_,  I'm  finding
myself drawn more to _D381_ because it avoids the experimentation  of
sounds and styles (something _ItTA_ hits upon) and goes right for the
throat. Slap this sucker on and run for cover.


Flux - _Protoplasmic_  (Release, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (8 out of 10)

While  other  bands  alienate   their   established   fan   base   by
revolutionizing  their  sound  while  retaining  their   name,   thus
guaranteeing that old fanatics will purchase the album on  the  basis
of name recognition alone, James Plotkin provides ample warning  that
times have altered the style of OLD, the previous  moniker  of  Flux.
Surprisingly, _Protoplasmic_ does not drastically  diverge  from  the
path of previous OLD albums. In fact, the album can be dubbed  as  an
"ambient pop" version of OLD's best moment, _The Musical Dimension of
Sleastak_; the density has  been  thinned  out  and  slowly  evolving
soundscapes have supplanted drastic alterations, yet both retain  the
same emphasis on surreal and mechanistic melodies.  The  addition  of
the stoic Ruth Collins on  vocals  only  confirms  this  dehumanizing
aspect, as does the dub-like percussive programming of  Scorn's  Mick
Harris, who handles the production. While this serves to alienate the
listener, it also generates the psychedelic aura of each  piece.  The
sparse ambience only accentuates this unreality. Each  melody  slowly
melts into space, before Plotkin's sense of repetition replicates the
same  melody,  before  once  again  disintegrating  or  supporting  a
completely unexpected new texture.  Also,  not  only  does  the  prim
spoken word style (which states only the most absurd  of  lyrics,  of
course)  of  Collins'  vocalizations  appear  blissfully  incongruous
amidst the playful melodies, Plotkin occasionally layers  or  repeats
her voice, furthering the nihilistic inhumanity of  it  all.  Anyway,
_Protoplasm_ should satisfy most old OLD fans,  while  others  should
approach with caution, for it gets a bit odd in here.


Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_  (Charnel Music, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (9 out of 10)

Ever wonder what would occur if, say, Joan  Miro  produced  the  next
album of everybody's favorite lugubrious sludgy noise metal trio?  Of
course not, for the result  would  carry  the  abstract  into  almost
incomprehensible depths! Sheer sparsity  and  desolation,  juxtaposed
with transient interludes into utter chaos, would reign! I  pity  the
sanity of a man willing to expose his mind to an entire hour of  such
apocalyptic fervor! Well, tuck away little Bobby and pray  that  your
good wife is vacuuming! Gravitar has unleashed 70 minutes  of  studio
trickery set on deconstructing the mundane formula of rock music, and
in the process create one of the most disconcerting  soundtracks  for
suburban nightmares and urban traffic jams yet to originate from  the
minds of a band which still uses  guitars.  Although,  you  will  not
locate your typically linear guitar structure anywhere on  this  one.
Instead,  everything  is  repulsively  disfigured,   as   the   post-
apocalyptic desolation of subtle dissonances alternate with  virulent
waves of dynamic noise and textured ambience. Occasionally, a  moment
or   two   can   degenerate   into    sheer    experimentation    for
experimentation's sake, yet this is to be  expected  considering  the
vast (and incoherent) array of sounds  utilized  throughout  _NtRoK_.
For  the  most  part,  they  conjure  up  stimulating   and   emotive
hallucinations, and one needs to look back  to  the  last  K.K.  Null
album in order to hear something even remotely similar to  this  (and
true originality is never a bad thing).


Konkhra - _Weed Out the Weak_  (Diehard, August 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Not all good Nordic metal comes from the Sweden /  Norway  /  Finland
trio, as Konkhra's fourth full-length (that I know of)  proves,  even
though there's only two Danish members left in the  band.  Yes,  from
Denmark they are, but after the _Facelift_ EP and _Spit  or  Swallow_
(the  two  albums  with  that  blonde  girl  on  the   cover),   only
vocalist/guitarist Anders Lundemark and  bassist  Thomas  Christensen
remain as Danish members, as they chose to search outside Denmark for
a guitarist and a drummer. The  chosen  ones  were  famous  guitarist
James Murphy (who  also  did  most  of  the  producing,  mixing,  and
engineering) and former Machine Head  drummer,  Chris  Kontos,  whose
drumming was recorded in California  (together  with  the  additional
guitars), while the rest was recorded (and all mixed) in Europe.  I'm
not sure about the future,  as  this  lineup  most  likely  won't  be
repeated, but at least they have done _Weed Out the Weak_ (notice the
subtle sly in "weed out" / "without"), and the result  is  worthy  of
those involved in it. Slick, strong, dynamic, this pack  of  crushing
riffs, lead guitars courtesy of Murphy, and great drumming by  Kontos
won't let you rest for one minute, my favourite track being "Misery",
closely followed by "Time Will Heal" and "Melting". It's a shame that
the vocals aren't just good old death grunts, as Lundemark's voice in
_WOtW_ ranges from a slightly harsher Rob Flynn to something  near  a
death grunt, and while they're good enough,  they  don't  really  add
anything extra to such a powerful instrumental sound (thanks  to  the
very well polished and strong production). _WOtW_ may not  have  that
"Northern Europe feel" to it at all, but it's still impressively well
done.


Life of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_  (Roadrunner, September 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Whoa! What a different record than the  band's  previous  LPs,  their
1993 classic debut _River Runs Red_ and 1995's ill-received but still
hard-hitting _Ugly_. Over the last few releases, the  band  has  lost
their hardcore roots and geared their music more towards a hard  rock
outfit. But that doesn't make the band worse. Does it? No.  In  fact,
LoA have actually become really strong songwriters and  musicians  as
the years have gone along. I mean,  coming  from  a  brutally  honest
debut LP like _RRR_ and the soul-searching opus of _Ugly_,  the  band
has needed to grow better to keep up to par with their  past  writing
accomplishments. The songs on _SSS_ are not only catchy and memorable
(i.e. "Heroin Dreams"  and  the  wicked  first  single  "Weeds")  but
saturated in maturity. Some may write this band off as  'sellout'  or
'posers,' but I say LoA still have what it takes,  and  just  because
they have softened their blows doesn't mean they still can't  do  the
damage.


Living Sacrifice - _Reborn_  (Solid State/Tooth & Nail, July 1997)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Totally heavy from the get go, _Reborn_ really gets the ball  rolling
with a BANG! From opener of "Reborn  Empowered"  onto  heavy  numbers
like "No Longer"  and  "Spirit  Fall",  this  hardcore/metal  quartet
really deliver the goods with strength and conviction. Sounding  more
like a runaway train than one of the thousands  of  generic  sounding
hardcore/metal acts finding  home  in  the  music  community,  Living
Sacrifice have done a phenomenal job at keeping the music  tight  and
interesting. The vocals are deadly and the riffs hit  you  with  true
blunt  force.  Not  since  the  strength  of  Vision  of   Disorder's
Roadrunner Record's self-titled debut have I  been  enthralled  by  a
band of this  music  genre.  While  I'm  not  really  into  promoting
religion through music - seeing that Living Sacrifice base a  lot  of
their material on the 'man above' - I can honestly say that  as  long
as Living Sacrifice keep the music this heavy, I can keep it cranked.
Once it becomes a pulpit, Bible-reading seminar,  I  then  will  lose
interest. For now, this stuff kicks.


Mainliner - _Mainliner Sonic_  (Charnel Music, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (5 out of 10)

Here's another question for you: say you  have  one  of  the  world's
better (defined herein as most frenetic) drummers in  your  band  (in
this case, Yoshida Tatsuya of the Ruins), would you then jack up  the
distortion on your guitars, burying the percussion in the  bottom  of
the mix? No? Alas, Mainliner did not heed your warnings. Even  though
we now have to work a bit  harder  to  discern  the  drums  and  thus
exploit this album's full potential as a headfuck, the effort is well
worth it. Although  once  you  move  beyond  Tatsuya's  efforts,  the
potency of the rest of Mainliner tends to fluctuate.  When  Mainliner
is at their  best,  a  complete  sensory  overload  will  pummel  the
listener, as the intensity factor approaches  the  stratosphere  once
the driving  guitar  solos  and  mincing  production  mesh  with  the
pulsating bass lines and free form percussion of  the  band's  rhythm
section. Yet the horrid production  results  in  a  homogeneous  feel
throughout the album's five tracks (which total only  thirty  minutes
of music), and the structure of the album's two  title  tracks  cause
both to asphyxiate on a string composed of impotence  raveled  around
the listener's correlating sense of ennui.


Paradise Lost - _One Second_  (Music For Nations, August 1997)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Storming straight into #8 in the German top 10, this latest  Paradise
Lost album will earn them many new (mainstream) fans... and make them
lose some of those who were their 'old' fans. This isn't really  what
I expected after _Draconian Times_, as _One Second_ essentially shows
a highly commercial approach, full of pop beats,  pop  choruses,  and
pop arrangements, based on a relatively doomy feeling.  Most  of  the
time, this isn't metal, just lots of goth influences. "Take Me  Down"
is a good example of all this, while songs like "Mercy" and "Blood of
Another" show the kind of boring pop choruses I mentioned,  but  what
really bothers me is that most tracks do  have  good  moments  -  the
keyboard  melodies  are  usually  good   throughout   _OS_   (as   in
"Disappear") and are responsible for a great  part  of  their  score.
"Say Just Words", the promotional  single,  "please-oh-please-buy-me"
as it is, still must get credit for its simple yet effective  chorus.
Similar credit can go to most other songs, such as "Soul Courageous",
"Another Day", "This Cold Life", and "Sane". In my opinion,  Paradise
Lost had been going downhill ever  since  _Gothic_  (-clearly-  their
best work), but right now, I'm not even going to risk comparing  _One
Second_ to _Draconian Times_. What I  can  say  about  _OS_  is  that
overall, it's not bad, but certainly not as great as many say either.


Putrid - _Neck_  (Independent, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (6 out of 10)

My first reaction was not  a  good  one.  Guitarist  Martin's  fuzzy,
overdriven guitars, applied to staccato  hardcore-lovin'  riffs,  did
nothing to bolster the music's impact on a first-time  listener.  The
lack of punch in the delivery is unfortunate, as it  only  serves  to
accentuate how the songs don't quite seem to go  anywhere  at  times,
although  some  people  are  into  that,  I  suspect.  Upon  repeated
listenings, though, I grew to mildly appreciate  the  combination  of
heavy  hardcore  leanings  throughout  with  metal   tendencies   and
alterna-rock familiarities. Putrid make  use  of  several  tempo/mood
changes in each of their songs, which explains  the  lengthy  4-  and
5-minute tracks (by hardcore standards, that is). The stuff  on  this
CD is fairly original to my ears; then again, I'm not  big  into  the
new breed of hardcore metallers, but this sounds  rather  varied  and
experimental, both in the use of instruments and vocal  arrangements.
The bellowed, hardcore-ish lead vocals  (only  mildly  annoying  most
times) are complemented by some guy's interjections,  often  sounding
like an ultra-melllowww Mike Muir.  Vocalist  Sylvain's  tone,  while
mostly gruff, seems to lack depth,  and  quickly  starts  being  'the
instrument you put up with.' With packaging devoid of  lyrics  and  a
flat production,  Putrid's  themes  can  be  tough  to  discern,  but
hardcore-nudgin' titles like "Stateless",  "Mousetrap",  and  "Worse,
Work, Wreck" pretty much give it away. Serge puts  in  an  impressive
performance on drums,  maintaining  a  solid  beat  without  becoming
overly repetitive; lots of juicy, interesting fills and segues to  be
found. Bass, on the other hand, is hardly audible, and  seems  mostly
to follow the guitar lines, but it's difficult to tell; at  first,  I
thought one of the fuzzy guitar sounds was  actually  a  bass,  which
would explain the presence of more than one guitar sound with only  a
single guitarist in the band,  but  if  I  strain,  I  can  hear  the
occasional off-rhythm clean plunking of bass strings. In the end, I'm
left sort  of  lukewarm  about  this  independent  production.  As  a
puzzling aside, I must  note  that  the  last  track,  "Seasons",  is
followed by a minute+ of silence: error, or fruity symbolism?


Satyricon - _Megiddo_  (Moonfog Productions, 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (4 out of 10)

Slammin' global re-mix technology, Norwegian style! The  first  track
on this four-track, 20-minute oddity is "The Dawn of  a  New  Age"  -
re-mixed by Apoptygma Berzerk to get all those silly guitars  out  of
the way of the  booty-bumpin',  now  beats.  Actually,  it's  not  as
totally horrid as my sarcasm probably makes it  sound,  but  I  still
don't like it. I just got done reading Vlad Tepes's awesome,  lengthy
rant against the mainstreaming of black metal, and I can just imagine
what they'd have to say about  this...  Next  up,  "Night  of  Divine
Power", which is a re-recorded version of "The  Dark  Castle  in  the
Deep Forest" from the monumental _Dark Medieval Times_. I  don't  see
the point of this  track.  The  sound  is  cleaned  up  a  bit,  even
polished, but much of the  original's  atmosphere  is  thereby  wiped
away. Third song: a live recording of "Forhekset". The sound,  though
muddy, is better than might be expected from  what  the  liner  notes
refer to as 'a shitty cassette deck.' Too bad the song itself is  the
kind of bland and  uninspired  material  which  typifies  the  highly
overrated _Nemesis Divina_. Finally, a semi-industrial, sample-packed
cover of Motorhead's "Orgasmatron". And the Cold,  Misty  Forests  of
Norway  (tm)  echo  with  the  sounds  of...  sequencers.  Bah!   The
(formerly) extreme goes mainstream once again. I'm glad I didn't  pay
for this. I bartered for it - like a Viking!


Scarve - _Six Tears of Sorrow_  (<independent>, 1996)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

Apparently, these guys want to  be  called  'atmospheric  progressive
death metal,' with perhaps the word 'technical' thrown around, but  I
really don't find any of those terms (save 'metal') appropriate. What
this 30-minute CD contains is six songs  of  melodic  thrash,  mostly
played at mid-to-fast tempos. The  vocals  are  split  pretty  evenly
between gruff death vocals, and more melodic vocals. The death vocals
are fine, but the melodic vocals could be better, as while the singer
isn't off-key, he has a slight whine  to  his  voice.  At  times,  he
sounds eerily like the singer for Damn the Machine. The production is
good: powerful and clean. The playing is tight, and the  drumming  is
very good at times, but there aren't a lot of technical parts  to  be
found. The songs aren't bad,  but  they're  neither  progressive  nor
technical. The band is able to create a moderately unique sound,  but
does so within the confines of the melodic thrash  genre.  The  songs
mostly follow standard forms, and there  isn't  an  overabundance  of
radical style or tempo shifts, although there are a good  variety  of
moods in the six songs. This is a good  disc,  but  it's  not  really
outstanding in any respect, and it isn't what I've seen it hyped as.


Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)  (Sonic Unyon, August 1997)

Hamilton, Ontario heavyweights SND return to the hard music scene  of
Canada with a crushing release (the follow-up to 1995's superb  _Auto
Body Crusher_). For those of you who do not know of  SND,  I  suggest
you find out fast before I come to your house and  bust  your  chops.
This album is great. With a very Fu  Manchu/Kyuss  dirge  sound  -  a
sound  full  of   heavy   riffs,   powerful   vocals   (supplied   by
drummer/singer Tony), and a killer rhythm section to boot  -  SND  is
all you need to get you through the day. Crank this shit  and  forget
about all your troubles. Check  out  the  killer  instrumental  title
track, as it doesn't get any  heavier  than  that.  Powerhouse  music
that'll pin ya to the floor.

Contact: Sonic Unyon, P.O. Box 57347, Jackson Station
         Hamilton, Ontario, Canada  L8P 4X2
         mailto:jerks@sonicunyon.com
         http://www.sonicunyon.com


Solarus - _Empty Nature_  (Release, 1997)
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (3 out of 10)

One perk of owning your very own  record  company  is  that  you  can
release any mediocre album which features  your  participation.  Bill
Yurkiewicz, head honcho  of  Relapse,  has  exercised  his  right  to
release degenerate shit with the release  of  _Empty  Nature_.  While
good ambient drills beneath your skin and good psychedelia completely
alters  your  reality  structure  (see  Gravitar   or   Flux),   _EN_
accomplishes  neither.  Instead,  Solarus  replicate   the   art   of
nothingness;  vacuous  swirls  of  ambience  and  a  repetitive  beat
inconspicuously fester for a few minutes before dissipating into  the
void in which they hardly arose from in the  first  place.  Even  the
assistance of James Plotkin on guitars and production couldn't inject
life into this travesty.


Bishop of Hexen - _Archives of an Enchanted Philosophy_
by: Andrew Lewandowski  (7 out of 10)  (Hammerheart Prod., 1997)

With the possible exception of _The Filemnice Occultist_ by  Master's
Hammer, no "concept album" has ever truly impressed  me.  _AoaEP_  is
almost the first exception. Throughout the  album,  Bishop  of  Hexen
closely align the path of their music with  that  of  the  story,  an
original metaphorical tale concerning transcendence achieved  through
Satanic transgression. While not the most revolutionary  of  concepts
for a black metal band, lead singer Balzamon  wields  a  surprisingly
potent  grasp  of  lyricism,  although  the  band's  Israeli  origins
occasionally manifest within a few incongruous phrasings.  Musically,
the band relies on the keyboard and synthesizer work  of  Dimrost  to
provide the story with a background. Dimrost's work benefits from one
of the richest keyboard sounds on a metal album, yet  this  comes  at
the expense of the guitars and  drums.  Since  they're  relegated  to
inconsequential roles, they add almost nothing to the overall  sound.
Thus, BoH  would  benefit  from  phasing  them  out  completely,  and
possibly adding some more  diverse  instrumentation  to  support  the
melancholic synths and add further embellishment to  the  plot.  More
importantly, I would not have to call BoH a  black  metal  band,  nor
would I have to waste time inventing a new classification under which
BoH can wallow along with every other former "black metal" band  that
utilizes synthesizers and a clean production. As is, this is still  a
relatively adventurous endeavor,  and  BoH  undoubtedly  succeeds  in
relating their concept.


Voivod - _Phobos_  (Hypnotic, 1997)
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (9 out of 10)

While I somewhat enjoyed their previous release, _Negatron_, I  found
it spotty and a bit too 'hard alternative' sounding, too  simplified,
too unidimensional, particularly for Voivod. I'm glad to report  that
_Phobos_ is clearly several steps beyond _Negatron_, compositionally.
This is a dense album full of complex songs with plenty of  odd  time
signatures and tempo changes. My first  impression  of  _Phobos_  was
admittedly not a very good one. I found the songs sort of samey,  the
overall sound not especially dynamic, but repeated listenings  slowly
revealed the true nature of this beast. This  is  Voivod  recapturing
the style of songwriting their long-time fans have  been  waiting  to
hear for almost ten years, while successfully incorporating a fresher
sound and edgier attack which relies on mood and strangely  memorable
passages rather than  outright  speed,  though  that's  not  entirely
surprising given their later releases with former frontman Snake. I'm
also  happy  to  hear  newcomer  Eric   Forrest's   vocals   presence
downplayed,  taking  on  a  more  inhuman,  mechanical   style,   yet
distinctly analogue nevertheless. Lots  of  well  thought  out  vocal
effects give the right touches at the right times, conveying well the
surrounding music's aura. And of the music, Piggy's chops (pardon the
pun)  are  top  notch;  his  undeniably  unique  way   of   stringing
almost-grating chords together is  compelling  and  always  delivered
with expert precision and timing. Drumming is excellent as always, if
not a bit subdued by the muddy production. Actually,  the  production
is quite decent in general, although I have a difficult time figuring
out whether Away's riding the cymbals a bit too much  throughout,  or
whether that's  a  knob-twiddling  problem.  From  listening  to  the
advance cassette sans lyrics, _Phobos_ seemed to be a concept  album,
mostly in the way the  songs  flow  into  one  another;  even  though
difficult to determine without a lyrics sheet, the mood and style  of
the album, as well as the song titles, sort  of  led  me  to  believe
there was a common  thread  amongst  at  least  some  of  the  songs,
excluding the last two tracks,  one  co-written  with  Jason  Newsted
(Metallica, Flotsam & Jetsam), the other a cover  of  King  Crimson's
"21st Century Schizoid Man" (great cover, great song).  According  to
Away, whom I subsequently bumped into at a gig of theirs in  Toronto,
it is in fact a concept album; while the lyrics don't  seem  to  make
much conventional, lucid sense, they do transmit a matching  grimness
to the accompanying music. All  in  all,  _Phobos_  harkens  back  to
older, heavier days of the band, without sounding dated nor trendy. A
must for metal fans of all genres.


Von - _Satanic Blood_  (Hellspawn Records, 1997)
by: Steve Hoeltzel  (7 out of 10)

I like this even more than the score might suggest, but in  terms  of
musical prowess, it's pretty low-grade stuff. Also, the sound quality
is occasionally spotty; this sounds  like  it  was  mastered  from  a
cassette. Still, Von scores big (with  me)  for  its  combination  of
spooky conviction and odd uniqueness. If you've heard Dark  Funeral's
cover of this cult US band's "Satanic Blood",  then  you've  got  the
formula for  this  entire  eight-song,  20-minute  recording:  riffs,
beats, and song structures which all define  the  word  'simplistic,'
with an aura of malevolent sickness hanging over everything  like  an
unsettling rotten smell. Proto-black-metal riffs  exude  menace  that
mounts through sheer  repetition,  while  death-ish  vocals  proclaim
weird lyrics in a guttural chant.  Very  cool  stuff,  likely  to  be
enjoyed if you've got a hunger for the truly feral and  raw.  On  the
other   hand,   if   you're   annoyed   by    musicianship    of    a
less-than-professional caliber, you'll have to look elsewhere for the
bitchin' chops and sweet licks which you crave.

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            / /\  /  __/\ V  V /  / /\  / (_) | \__ \  __/
            \_\ \/ \___| \_/\_/   \_\ \/ \___/|_|___/\___|

If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a  bio  if
you want to be reviewed;  our  address  is  included  in  the  zine's
header.

Scoring:   ***** -- A flawless demo
            **** -- Great piece of work
             *** -- Good effort
              ** -- A major overhaul is in order
               * -- A career change is advisable


Death of Millions - _Frozen_  (10-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (****-)

This demo didn't arrive at CoC HQ like most of our demos do.  Instead
I received a copy of _Frozen_ from Death of Millions  (DoM)  at  this
year's Milwaukee MetalFest and I gladly told the band  that  I  would
review it. Well guys... here  we  are:  D-Day!  The  Texas  quintet's
10-song tape is a roller-coaster ride through numerous sounds, styles
and speeds - everything from brutal death  metal  to  straightforward
death metal to atmospheric metal. Quite a good mixture if you ask me.
While the grinding groove and death growls seem  to  take  precedence
over slick riffs and brutal intensity, I found a lot  of  the  band's
material to be very well orchestrated and planned. It seems as though
the band not only likes to deliver crushing blows to our cranium, but
also coat their music with interludes and one heavy  atmosphere.  I'm
totally digging this demo and hoping that the band keeps their  music
this interesting from here on in - stay away from trends  guys!  Good
production also helps makes this onslaught of noise  and  heapage  of
brutality a worthwhile listen every time you crank it up.

Contact: Death of Millions, 808 Chrisholm Valley Dr., Round Rocks,
         Texas, USA  78681
         Bookings: (512) 441-6065
         http://www.io.com/~someguy/


In Velvet Clouds - _The Frozen Immensity_  (5-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (***--)

When I saw this debuting Portuguese band live [CoC #21], I  mentioned
the fact that they had two  dedicated  vocalists  (a  grunter  and  a
screamer) who provided  an  entertaining  live  performance.  I  also
described them as being "an aggressive mix of  Cradle  of  Filth  and
Brutal Truth." That's how they did sound live, but after listening to
their demo tape, I must say that there's no  Brutal  Truth  to  their
sound, and even the Cradle of Filth influences aren't so huge - still
easy to notice, though, namely on the keyboards; however, things  are
usually slower than CoF. This 30-minute  demo  tape  shows  a  better
balance of aggression and melody than their live set, and my  overall
opinion about this band is better now, even  though  they  did  sound
much more powerful live. "... And I Wish to Die" (been  listening  to
early Anathema, guys?) shows what the band  is  all  about:  the  two
vocalists, mid/fast-paced metal with some melodic parts  provided  by
the keyboards and guitar. "With Crows I Fly" is slower, doomier, with
a steady (yet a bit simple) keyboard melodic background  and  a  poor
attempt at copying Cradle of Filth's female vocals; the  lead  guitar
shows up again, but much less effectively. "Glacier  Winter"  doesn't
add anything new, the bad news being that the quality is again  lower
than before. However, "Drops of Life" shows In Velvet Clouds back  in
top shape, as in the first track, and finisher "A Lilt in Your Dream"
keeps up the pace. What ends up subtracting one from the 4 out  of  5
rating they deserved is the production, which is rather fuzzy,  their
lack of originality, and a few minor details. Still, a good demo with
a few good highlights, clearly better than the average 3 out of 5.

Contact: Jose Ricardo, Rua Manuel Fernando Tomas n.17
         4760 Vila Nova de Famalicao, Portugal


Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_
by: Alain M. Gaudrault  (*****)  (3-track demo)

Turns out this material isn't quite hot off the press, as  the  first
track, "Build Fear",  previously  appeared  on  a  double  seven-inch
compilation, while "Swallowhole" and "Gagged Whore" were on  a  split
ten-inch with Grief.  Regardless,  it's  madly  infectious  grinding,
groovy Louisiana sludgecore. Sadly, I've not heard their  full-length
release on Dwell Records, _Pussysoul_; needless to say,  I'm  on  the
lookout. Able to fuse the grooviest, sludgiest riffs seamlessly  with
grinding  blasts  of  well-controlled  ferocity  and   noggin-banging
mid-tempo churning, Soilent Green do not fail  to  deliver  a  solid,
consistently captivating assault. The variety of vocal styles -  from
a  slightly  muted  shrieking  bark  reminiscent  of  EyeHateGod  and
Exhorder, to a low gurgle, to muffled spoken word - works  remarkably
well  with  the  ever-changing  tempos  and  off-beat  rhythms  found
throughout.  The  guitars  have  this   flowing,   buzzsaw   quality,
detracting from any bass sound, though; unless, of course,  the  bass
is in fact fuzzed out and plainly audible! Drumming is superb,  never
tiresome, although the drummer may  want  to  lay  off  the  constant
cymbals. Yet, the beat is always fresh, and meshes perfectly with the
accompanying music, while standing its  own  ground  in  the  overall
sound. My only wish is that the tape didn't end so soon. Kudos to Ben
for graciously parting with a copy upon our  chance  meeting  at  the
Milwaukee MetalFest.

Contact: SOILENT GREEN c/o Ben Falgoust, 1332 Apple Street
         Metairie, Louisiana, USA  70001
         Voice: 504-887-3911

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        \ \ \/_/_\ \  _ `\  /'__`\   / __`\ \ \/\/\ \  /'___\
         \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
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           \/___/   \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/  \/__/ \/_/\/____/
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    \ \ \/\_\    ___     ___     ___     __   _ __\ \ ,_\   ____
     \ \ \/_/_  / __`\ /' _ `\  /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/  /',__\
      \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\  __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
       \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\  \ \__\/\____/
        \/___/  \/___/  \/_/\/_/\/____/\/____/ \/_/   \/__/\/___/



          V I T A L   R E M A I N S  -  U N P L U G G E D !
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                Vital Remains, Incantation, and Ember
               Northwest Hall, Chicago, August 8, 1997
                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

     The flyers for this show should have advertised  "Vital  Remains
Unplugged" - because that's exactly what we got to see, as the club's
pissed-off head honcho cut the power on the headlining band only four
songs into their set. I suppose this was kind of a letdown,  but  the
entire  incident  was  just  too  funny  to  result   in   any   real
disappointment. First, though, the rest of the story...
     I managed to score myself a free "in" to this  show  by  tagging
along with the Ember guys, who graciously offered me a place to crash
for the night in exchange for some help moving gear and whatnot.  So,
not long after I completed the trek from Iowa City  to  the  suburban
Chicago homestead of guitarist Ali and drummer Abbas, it was time  to
load the band's equipment into Ali's bronco and bassist Allen's  car,
and head into  the  city  to  the  club.  Joined  by  Chris,  who  is
temporarily filling in for Abbas on drums, our two-car convoy set out
on a little pre-show cruise through one of the, shall  we  say,  less
charming sections of town. But despite  the  rush-hour  traffic,  and
except  for  the  occasional  little  swerve  to  miss  an  obviously
crack-addled pedestrian, the ride itself  was  basically  uneventful.
(Some street vendor called us "bitches" or something like that, but I
suppose that's pretty routine.) Just a few blocks from the  club,  we
stopped at the downtown apartment  of  vocalist  Pete  and  guitarist
Nader, only to find an ambulance parked in front, blocking  our  way.
Classic!
     It turned out that Pete and Nader had already left, so we  piled
back in and  drove  to  the  hall,  finding  the  two  aforementioned
thrashers loitering around in front, greeting us with the Sign of the
Horns and swilling 22-ouncers of Old English  800  wrapped  in  paper
bags - true inner city style! The club itself was what you might call
'intimate,' with a maximum legal capacity of just over 200, and three
damn long flights of stairs to be mounted before gaining  entry.  And
so up those stairs we went, repeatedly, until all the gear  was  more
or less in place. The band then went about getting everything  hooked
up and doing a bit of sound-checking, before kicking  back  for  what
would turn out to be quite a long wait to play.
     The monotony of this wait was broken up  at  one  point  by  the
appearance of members of the Chicago PD, keeping the city  safe  from
evil by demanding that all of our many spikes, bullet belts,  and  so
on, be removed - not merely from our bodies, but from  the  premises.
According to the cops, these are  weapons.  Hmmm...  funny  how  most
criminals these days prefer guns, when spiked arm bands  are  cheaper
and don't require maintenance or  ammunition...  Anyway,  our  unholy
little entourage had quite the pile of  "weapons"  which  had  to  be
transferred to Allen's car. Then more waiting around.
     Eventually, the doors opened and folks started filtering in, and
by the time about 50 or 60  people  (minus  their  weapons)  were  in
attendance, Ember finally got to play. They performed  an  impressive
set of their thrashy, blackened material,  especially  during  "These
Darkened Wings", "Dance of the  Ancients"  (my  personal  fave),  and
"Divinity". They also played a newer song, "Sheading", as well  as  a
cover of the Misfits' "Earth  AD"  -  a  fitting  choice,  since  the
Misfits were playing with Megadeth somewhere  else  in  Chicago  that
very night. (This probably explains why there weren't more than about
75 or 80 people at this show, total.) All in all,  I  really  enjoyed
their set, and once they've acquired a bit more live  experience  and
stage presence, along with a bit more vocal endurance on Pete's part,
I think they'll be a very convincing live band. (For more description
of their sound, etc., see the reviews of their demos in CoC  #22  and
CoC #17.)
     After Ember came local  black  metallers  Profanacion  -  but  I
missed them, having decided to take a walk with Pete and  Nader  down
to the strangely aromatic liquor store. Our objective: more OE - once
again, enjoyed out of a paper bag, the True Underground Wino way.  We
ended up loitering out on the street for quite a while, looking evil,
critiquing the band's performance, taking in the ambiance, and so on.
I spent a few minutes chatting with Joe Lewis of Vital Remains  about
this and that, then helped the Ember guys move some  more  equipment,
then spent some more time curb-side, milling around and watching some
neighborhood kid yelling threats and insults  at  passing  motorists.
Then it was back upstairs for - more  waiting  around!  A  rumor  was
circulating to the effect that Incantation were waiting to get  paid;
in any case, they weren't in any hurry to play.
     Their set definitely proved to be worth the wait,  though.  They
played as a three-piece, with no bass - which  greatly  enhanced  the
clarity of the drums and guitars, even if it did  take  some  of  the
weight out of their sound.  (Guitarist  John  and  drummer  Kyle  are
joined on this tour by Daniel, also  of  The  Chasm,  on  guitar  and
vocals.) I had been a bit disappointed by these  guys  in  Milwaukee,
but on this night they more than  delivered.  In  particular,  Kyle's
drumming just blew me away! His amazing speed  and  wicked  precision
powerfully propelled the band through the many nefarious time changes
that crowd their material. The quickened newer  stuff  like  "Shadows
from the Ancient Empire" and "Forsaken Mourning of  Angelic  Anguish"
sounded just killer. (See CoC #22 for a review  of  their  new  MCD.)
Indeed,  the  whole  set   was   pretty   crushing,   though   closer
"Profanation"  took  a  couple  tries  to   get   started   properly.
Regardless, these guys just smoked.
     Finally, the time came for Vital Remains.  As  in  Milwaukee,  I
thought that the first two songs of their set were a little bit  flat
when compared to the incredible "I Am God" and "Battle Ground"  which
follow them. ("Battle Ground" rules, and if you haven't  checked  out
_Forever Underground_ yet, you're missing out. CD review in CoC #20.)
Once again, cool riffs abounded, Joe Lewis roared out great vox,  and
Joe Suzuki proved to be a true master of the blast beat. Indeed,  his
blast-mastery was impossible to ignore when the power was cut to  the
P.A., making the drums the only audible instrument!
     Let me backtrack a bit here... The  house  lights  had  come  up
during the band's second or third song, but this did nothing to deter
them from playing on. Realizing this, the guy in charge of the  venue
took it upon himself to personally instruct the guys to quit  -  with
quite humorous results. See, this guy was  all  of  about  four  foot
eight, and easily in his fifties, with a good-sized belly, wearing  a
Hawaiian-print shirt and a very silly-looking eye shade / golf  visor
thing. Just before the end of Vital Remains' third song, he walked up
next to the shirtless, spike-clad Joe Lewis at the mike stand, and as
the song ended he bellowed, "The Party's  OVER!!!"  -  which  had  no
effect whatsoever on Joe. The  band  plowed  into  their  next  song,
thrashing away, and the poor  guy  had  to  just  stand  there,  arms
folded,  looking  -extremely-  pissed  off   at   these   disobedient
long-hairs. Meanwhile, the band just  kept  on  ripping  through  the
song: an eight- or nine-minute  piece,  during  which  the  guy  only
seemed to get more and more annoyed. (By the  way,  I'm  not  dissing
this guy at all - just saying it  was  funny  to  see  him  up  there
glaring daggers at the  band.  The  dude  was  MAD.)  Finally,  after
sharing the spotlight with the musicians for five minutes or  so,  he
opted to walk offstage and literally  pull  the  plug  on  the  sound
system. The band, however, thrashed on, with Joe  going  mad  on  the
bass, guitarist Tony running through  the  crowd  shaking  hands  and
slapping fives, and Suzuki finishing out the song perfectly on  drums
- drawing laughter  and  roars  of  approval  from  the  audience.  A
-classic- ending!

[Thanks and cheers to all who helped to make my trip to this show not
only possible, but also tons of fun. -- Steve]

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

                    D E M O N I C   P I G W A L K
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            Testament, Stuck Mojo, and Strapping Young Lad
            Big Dog's, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 6, 1997
                          by: Steve Hoeltzel

     For the sake of honesty, I should start by saying that I am  not
a fan of any of these bands. So if this review comes across as a  bit
lackluster, that's why. It's not that anyone played poorly; in  fact,
all three bands really performed their material well. It's just  that
I don't really get into said material:  I  prefer  more  extreme  and
artistic  metallic   manifestations   to   all   this   comparatively
conventional, unchallenging, 'Headbanger's Ball'-ish stuff. But  what
the heck - I wanted to see Gene Hoglan play the drums for SYL, and  I
also figured that watching Testament could be fun  in  a  memory-lane
sort of way. (However, don't expect me to lapse into any "those  were
the good old days" schlock, because as far as I'm concerned, the last
five years or so have probably been extreme  metal's  best  ever,  at
least in terms of the quantity of energy going into the scene and the
quality of results coming out. But I digress.)
     Despite its kind of hokey name, Big Dog's is a  great  place  to
catch a show: it's smallish to medium in  size,  with  a  pretty  big
stage and a consistently clear and powerful PA. Seeing  Morbid  Angel
there was awesome. On the other hand, seeing Gwar there  sucked.  But
then again, that's because  Gwar  sucks.  Hmmm...  digressing  again;
sorry.
     Strapping Young Lad played first. My lack  of  familiarity  with
their material limits what I'm able to say about  their  performance,
but all in all, I felt that Gene Hoglan single-handedly - and  solely
-  made  watching   them   worthwhile.   Actually,   I   should   say
'double-footedly,' because the guy's double-bass  technique  is  just
unbelievable, and it's really cool to watch the crazy moves he  pulls
off up top while machine-gunning the crap out of  the  pedals  below.
Very impressive. I must say, though, this band's material  didn't  do
anything for me. Not that their delivery wasn't full-on and skillful.
It's just that the music itself struck  me  as  too  gimmicky,  in  a
'Beyond  metal,  this  is  cyber-charged  hard  music  for  the  21st
century!' kind of way. Not my cup of tea - nor my horn of ale, nor my
bucket of blood, if you catch my drift, heheheh...
     Next  up:  Stuck  Mojo.  Based  on  my  experience  with   other
rap-influenced 'metal' bands, I expected to find  these  guys  either
totally laughable or highly annoying, and probably both. After seeing
them perform, however, I have to give them credit for  being  a  good
live act, nowhere near as crappy or irritating as I had expected. The
reason: they put much more energy  into  sharp  riffs  and  hammering
percussion than into  rap-styled  running  on  at  the  mouth.  Picky
bastard that I am, I would hesitate to call them a  -metal-  band  in
the purest sense of that term: their material is more grounded in the
simpler dynamics of rock, with  a  heightened  emphasis  on  up-front
rhythm (owing to the  strong  rap  influence),  plus  metal's  highly
amplified guitar punch. But even if they're a far  cry  from  extreme
metal's cutting artistic edge, they do possess the  ability  to  Rock
the House; I'll give them that. Loads of  energy  from  everybody  on
stage, songs packed with hooks, and great drumming, too. Again,  it's
really not my thing, but it wouldn't  be  fair  to  slag  their  live
performance just because I'm not a fan of their songwriting style.
     Finally, Testament. At least, I think it was  Testament  -  they
used such absurd amounts of fog that  visual  confirmation  of  their
identities was difficult. Anyway, whoever was up there played a good,
tight set which didn't skimp on  Testament's  earliest  material,  as
well as showcasing some of the latest, reputedly much heavier  stuff.
Indeed, the newest songs were pretty weighty by Testament  standards,
displaying some definite death metal influences -  but,  it  must  be
said,  never  approaching  the  compositional  unorthodoxy  or  sheer
guttural fury of premiere death bands like Cryptopsy or  Incantation.
No, the new Testament material is mosh metal all the way, even if the
vocals occasionally descend into death metal depths. By far,  it  was
the band's oldest stuff that went over the best, with "Over the Wall"
and "The New Order" proving  especially  thrash-able.  Chuck  Billy's
vocals held up superbly (even with all the fog, which I found  pretty
amazing), and those great thrash guitar  breaks  rang  out  loud  and
clear. And true to tradition, Chuck laid down some pretty wicked  air
guitar on his cut-off mike stand all through Testament's set.
     All in all, I'd have to say that all three bands did a solid job
of presenting their material - so any real fan of these groups  would
no doubt have greatly enjoyed the evening. I can't count myself as  a
member of that particular  camp,  before  or  after  this  show,  but
hopefully this is still a fair-minded account of the proceedings.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

            W H A T   W E   H A V E   C R A N K E D ! ! !
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gino's Top 5

1. Proscriptor - _The Venus Bellona_
2. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_
3. Brutal Truth - _Need To Control_
4. Prodigy - _The Fat of the Land_
5. Monster Magnet - _Spine of God_

Adrian's Top 5

1. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_
2. Life Of Agony - _Soul Searching Sun_
3. Blunt Force Trauma - _Bled Out_
4. Shallow, North Dakota - _This Apparatus Must Be Earthed_
5. Manowar - _Louder Than Hell_

Brian's Top 5

1. Dimmu Borgir - _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_
2. Ved Buens Ende - _Written In Waters_
3. Ruins - _Graviyaunosch_
4. Gates of Ishtar - _The Dawn of Flames_
5. Dark Reality - _Blossom of Mourning_

Alain's Top 5

1. Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_
2. Strapping Young Lad - _City_
3. Soilent Green - _Painting Pretty Pictures with Dirty Words_ <demo>
4. Flotsam and Jetsam - _High_
5. Voivod - _Phobos_

Steve's Top 5

1. Asgaroth - _The Quest for Eldenhor_
2. Summon - _Dark Descent of Fallen Souls_
3. Adramelech - _Psychostasia_
4. Vlad Tepes / Belketre - split CD
5. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_

Adam's Top 5

1. Absu - _The Third Storm of Cythraul_
2. Gehenna - _Seen Through the Veils of Darkness (The Second Spell)_
3. Morbid Angel - _Covenant_
4. Immortal - _Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism_
5. Extreme Noise Terror - _Damage 381_

Drew's Top 5

1. Obtained Enslavement - _Witchcraft_
2. Niden Div. 187 - _Impergium_
3. Algaion - _General Enmity_
4. Hypocrisy - _The Fourth Dimension_
5. Iced Earth - _Days of Purgatory_

Andrew's Top 5

1. Gravitar - _Now the Road of Knives_
2. Dissecting Table - _Human Breeding_
3. Aeturnus - _Beyond the Wandering Moon_
4. Loren Nerell - _lilin dewa_
5. Discordance Axis - _Necropolitan_

Pedro's Top 5

1. Dimmu Borgir - _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_
2. Dark Tranquillity - _The Mind's I_
3. Katatonia - _Brave Murder Day_
4. Emperor - _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_
5. Autumn Tears - _LPfDC Act II: The Garden of Crystalline Dreams_

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               |  --  |  -__||   _|  _  ||  |  ||__ --|
               |_____/|_____||____|___._||__|__||_____|


Homepage: http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos

--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically  distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all  forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as  classic  and  progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of  album  reviews  from  a
wide range  of  bands,  as  well  as  interviews  with  some  of  the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any  time  by  sending  a
message with "coc subscribe <your_name_here>" in the SUBJECT of  your
message to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. Please note that this command
must NOT be sent to the list address <coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>.

AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is  send  a  message  to  us  at   <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>.   The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X"  where  'X'
is the name of the requested file (do not include the  quotes).  Back
issues are named 'coc-n', where  'n'  is  the  issue  number.  For  a
description of all files available through this  fileserver,  request
'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all file names.

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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #24

All contents copyright 1997 by individual creators of included work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.
