  _______ __                     __      __                      ___ 
 |   _   |  |--.----.-----.-----|__.----|  .-----.-----. .-----.'  _|
 |.  1___|     |   _|  _  |     |  |  __|  |  -__|__ --| |  _  |   _|
 |.  |___|__|__|__| |_____|__|__|__|____|__|_____|_____| |_____|__|  
 |:  1   |                                                          
 |::.. . |                                                          
 `-------'                                                          
                   _______ __                      
                  |   _   |  |--.---.-.-----.-----.
                  |.  1___|     |  _  |  _  |__ --|
                  |.  |___|__|__|___._|_____|_____|
                  |:  1   |                        
                  |::.. . |                        
                  `-------'                        


     CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, Monday, July 4, 2003, Issue #63
                  http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com


Co-Editor / Founder: Gino Filicetti
Co-Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Contributor: Adrian Bromley
Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Contributor: Quentin Kalis
Contributor: Xander Hoose
Contributor: Adam Lineker
Neophyte: Adrian Magers
Neophyte: James Montague
Neophyte: Jackie Smit
Spiritual Guidance: Alain M. Gaudrault

The   individual   writers   can   be   reached    by    e-mail    at 
firstname.lastname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com.                            
     (e.g. Gino.Filicetti@ChroniclesOfChaos.com).

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

Issue #63 Contents, 7/4/2003
----------------------------
* Editorial
* Chats
-- Strapping Young Lad: The World Makes Way
-- Burnt by the Sun: Innovators of the Revolution
* Albums
-- Aeternus - _A Darker Monument_
-- Arcane Wisdom - _Relics of Elder Might_
-- Arckanum / Contamino - _Kosmos wardhin dræpas om sin /
             Emptiness Enthralls (...and the World Is Not Enough...)_
-- Carcariass - _Killing Process_
-- Charger - _Confessions of a Man
              (Mad Enough to Live Amongst Beasts)_
-- Circle of Dead Children - _Human Harvest_
-- Con-Dom / The Grey Wolves - _Many Are Called But Few Get Up_
-- Cradle of Filth - _Damnation and a Day_
-- Cripple Bastards - _Desperately Insensitive_
-- Crowhead - _Frozen_
-- Curse of the Golden Vampire - _Mass Destruction_
-- Destinity - _Under the Smell of Chaos_
-- Enthral - _Subterranean Movement_
-- From Beyond - _Thrashin' Machine_
-- Gilla Bruja - _6 Fingered Jesus_
-- Gorgoroth - _Twilight of the Idols_
-- Graveworm - _Engraved in Black_
-- Immolation - _Unholy Cult_
-- Ingrowing - _Sunrape_
-- Intestine Baalism - _Banquet in the Darkness_
-- Iron Justice - _Post_
-- Jesters Moon - _Jesters Moon_
-- Johnny Truant - _Repercussions of a Badly Planned Suicide_
-- Kult ov Azazel - _Oculus Infernum_
-- Malevolent Creation - _The Will to Kill_
-- Malleus Maleficarum - _Taedium Vitae_
-- Marilyn Manson - _The Golden Age of Grotesque_
-- Mastodon - _Remission_
-- Metallica - _St Anger_
-- Misery's Omen - _To Worship Stone Gods_
-- Mystic Prophecy - _Regressus_
-- Napalm Death - _Order of the Leech_
-- Nebel - _Nebel_
-- Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_
-- Sepsism - _To Prevail in Disgust_
-- Sindrome - _Severe Damage of Reason and Equilibrium_
-- Sinister - _Savage or Grace_
-- Solefald - _In Harmonia Universali_
-- Steelglory - _Wayward Sons of the Beast_
-- Taliandorogd - _Neverplace_
-- The Haunted - _One Kill Wonder_
-- The Human Condition - _The Human Condition_
-- Tomahawk - _Mit Gas_
-- Unsanctum - _Ignite the Skies_
-- Zao - _All Else Failed_
* Demos
-- Born of Thorns - _The Encounter of Light and Dark_
-- Enormity - _Inherent Enslaver_
-- Forcefield - _Casualty_
-- Pitbulls in the Nursery - _Impact_
* Gigs
-- The World Ov Worms Descends on London
-- Marco Aro Dances for the Cat People

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

                    __, __, _ ___  _, __, _  _, _, 
                    |_  | \ |  |  / \ |_) | /_\ |  
                    |   |_/ |  |  \ / | \ | | | | ,
                    ~~~ ~   ~  ~   ~  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~

     I M P R O V E M E N T S   A N D   I N T R O D U C T I O N S
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      Another one joins the fold
                          by: Gino Filicetti


Greetings everyone. I want to take this opportunity to fill you in on 
some of things that have been going on in the CoC camp over the  past 
couple of months.                                                     

As I stated in my very  first  editorial  on  our  new  and  improved 
website, the transformation of CoC and  our  website  is  an  ongoing 
process. Although at times real life rudely intrudes in our  affairs, 
we've been working on bringing  to  light  new  improvements  to  our 
website. To that end, Pedro has just completed work on a new  set  of 
features for our website. The biggest improvement is  to  our  search 
engine. You can now search the full text of any  article's  contents, 
with search keyword highlighting in the results. We've  also  enabled 
searching by label name. Both of these features can be found  in  our 
advanced  search  section  by  clicking  on  the  "Search"  menu  and 
selecting "Advanced Search".                                          

Also, a minor but important  improvement  was  made  to  our  related 
article list. This is the list  that  appears  at  the  end  of  each 
article and provides a link to  articles  on  the  same  band.  We've 
improved the coverage of this  list  to  include  articles  from  ALL 
sections instead of just the current section.                         

Although these aren't earth-shattering new features, they  are  great 
improvements to the general usability of our site. Stay on  the  look 
out for more improvements as we slowly work our way through our Phase 
Two "to-do" list.                                                     

Finally, I'd like to introduce the newest member  of  the  CoC  clan. 
Jackie Smit's debut article appeared in Chronicles of Chaos way  back 
on May 18, 2003 (I guess this  introduction  is  a  little  overdue). 
Jackie hails from South Africa but currently  resides  in  London;  a 
business graduate who's currently working in the glamourous field  of 
market research. Jackie's been a loyal CoC reader for years and years 
with multiple published Loud Letters. And I still contend that  loyal 
readers always make for the best writers... as evidenced by  most  of 
our current staff.                                                    

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

                          _, _,_  _, ___  _,
                         / ` |_| /_\  |  (_ 
                         \ , | | | |  |  , )
                          ~  ~ ~ ~ ~  ~   ~ 


                T H E   W O R L D   M A K E S   W A Y
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          CoC interviews Gene Hoglan of Strapping Young Lad
                           by: Aaron McKay


Many, many moons ago, I spent a good deal of my high school years  in 
downtown St. Pete at a club known as Jannis Landing. There, one  hot, 
sticky Florida evening, I was blessed  to  bear  witness  to  a  live 
performance by the colossal Dark Angel on their "Leave  Scars"  tour. 
While time has slipped like sand through  my  fingers,  never  has  a 
solitary moment of that show eroded from my  recollection.  Over  the 
years, I've run across Gene Hoglan every now and again as he seems to 
have made it a personal quest to participate in as  many  practically 
inventive outfits in need of drumming  talent  as  he  possibly  can. 
Never will you meet a more experienced, kind-hearted student of music 
and human-nature to talk with, so I began our  interview  by  probing 
his ability to change drumming styles like most of us change channels 
on our TVs.                                                           

CoC: From the get-go, what -really- impressed me, generally speaking, 
     is how Gene Hoglan sounds different with  every  band  you  play 
     with. For example, Old Man's Child Gene doesn't  sound  anything 
     like Strapping Young Lad Gene and  that's  different  from  Dark 
     Angel Gene. How do you do it?                                    

Gene Hoglan: That's cool man! I actually try to work on that a little 
             bit because if I were to play  Testament,  it  shouldn't 
             sound like Strapping, and that shouldn't sound like Dark 
             Angel, who shouldn't sound  like  Old  Man's  Child,  or 
             Punch Drunk or anything like that. I try to do something 
             a little different. A lot of that is very easy  to  work 
             around whatever band you're with -- you'll  work  around 
             their style of music. You know, that  helps  me  a  lot. 
             When I'm doing  Strapping,  that  calls  for  a  lot  of 
             chaotic double bass, and a lot of  aggro  stuff  puttin' 
             out a lot of crazy two handed double bills,  like  Death 
             was. Death's music was  very  musician-oriented  at  the 
             time. Chuck Schuldiner would say [to me], "Hey  man!  Go 
             sick." Having an influence like Shawn from _Human_,  the 
             pallet was wide open to paint after that. It was  really 
             cool to use the band's own sound to help create the next 
             level of that band's sound.                              

CoC: Having followed your career, I noticed you seem to take whatever 
     the band was before and morph it into you, a little bit, without 
     detracting anything from the band's own originality.  Your  work 
     with Death is a great example,  I  think.  And  I  would  assume 
     groups would appreciated that.                                   

GH: I think so, I think he did. Chuck always stressed, "Go  sick,  go 
    nuts. I can play over everything you're laying down." I think  we 
    only ever changed one beat on all the songs he  and  I  ever  did 
    together, and that was just because the producer was like, "Dude, 
    I'm not feeling the riff and the beat working together." So  that 
    was no problem. I think we did that  twice:  "Individual  Thought 
    Patterns" and "Symbolic". For all the riffs that we put  together 
    and all the other drum beats and  stuff,  we  only  ever  had  to 
    change one per album.                                             

CoC: As far as Strapping goes, it is my impression that the interplay 
     between the drums and the bass play a huge part  in  this  band. 
     How do you feel?                                                 

GH: Yeah, Byron has such a great style. Byron isn't a flashy  bassist 
    at all, but the bass lines that we lay down  are  real  solid  to 
    augment everything. There  are  so  many  metal  bands  that  the 
    bassist is just an  extension  of  the  guitarist.  He's  playing 
    basically what the guitarist is playing. With us, man,  Byron  is 
    like root note bastard; he pounds on the root note. If you  gotta 
    play the same note for sixteen bars  or  whatever,  that's  okay, 
    it's -where- you place it. A lot of  times,  if  you're  doing  a 
    polka beat, we'll boom-bat-boom-bat-boom-bat  instead  of  laying 
    the bass on the 1 and the 3, we'll lay it on the 2 and the 4, you 
    know... bam-bam-bam- bam-bam-bam-bam,  so  it  just  sounds  more 
    solid.                                                            

CoC: You guys work so well together, it  is  not  like  Byron's  bass 
     playing taking a back seat in the music at all; I hear him  just 
     as much as the guitars, drums, and vocals.                       

GH: Killer, that's awesome, man! He'd love to  hear  that.  I  agree, 
    'cause Byron is a very important part of this whole everything.       

CoC: This album, _SYL_, seems to have taken  Strapping  to  the  next 
     level. I am extremely happy with the length of this album. In my 
     opinion, it is the perfect length for an  album  of  this  kind. 
     It's not too long and it really emphasizes what  you  guys  want 
     to demonstrate in the  appropriate  amount  of  time.  Was  that 
     intentional or something Devin had in mind?                      

GH: No, we didn't say we have to have this album this certain length. 
    Even though some of the tunes seemed kinda long, like "Aftermath" 
    and "Bring on the Young",  but  I  was  like  "ahh...  fuck  it!" 
    There's some three minute tunes on there and  that's  cool.  Just 
    turned out that way -- nothing preconceived.                      

CoC: When you went in, I assume that some of the songs were  written, 
     but it didn't seem like there was  a  strategic  game  plan  in. 
     place You guys just went in and did a tremendous album         . 

GH: Actually, we worked on these songs about eight months  before  we 
    went in. We started writing in January and  started  tracking  on 
    September 10th. We just went in a laid  it  down.  Everybody  had 
    their parts sowed together.                                       

CoC: Sure seems like a well oiled machine. What do  you  think  about 
     the feeling that nearly everytime I go through this  release,  I 
     pick up something new. Would you call that multi-layered?        

GH: Yeah, it definitely is. It  is  one  of  the  more  stripped-down 
    records that we've all put out together. Like Death music totally 
    has, you listen to it once... you get the overall gist, then  you 
    put on some headphones and get something else out of it, you  get 
    stoned another time and start listening to that other  thing  you 
    got goin' on there. The new Strapping record is the same way.  We 
    could have done a whole industrial side to the whole  thing,  and 
    had samples everywhere,  but  we  were  not  really  feeling  the 
    samples. Everyone else is doing it to the tenth degree anyway, so 
    why not just make  it  a  stripped-down  metal  record?  A  prime 
    example of what we think a good metal band is.                    

CoC: This engages the listener to a degree that is fairly rare on the 
     metal scene today.  This  is  provoking,  there  was  a  lot  to 
     communicate with SYL to the listener.                            

GH: I can see your point totally. Ultimately it did come down to just 
    trying to be  the  best  metal  band  we  could  be.  That  means 
    thoroughly crushing. If we are the best metal  band  we  can  be, 
    that means all the other metal bands are gonna start feeling some 
    pain.                                                             

CoC: Would you say that there is some type of  parallel  between  SYL 
     and a band along the lines of Hate Eternal?  It  devastates  and 
     that's a lot what I get from Erik's music, too. There  seems  to 
     be a lot of commonality there.                                   

GH: There's some Morbid Angel influence on the  whole  thing.  That's 
    one of Jed's and Dev's favorite bands, too. I think  we  are  way 
    more familiar with Morbid Angel than Hate Eternal, though I  know 
    Jed loves Hate Eternal. The stuff I've heard from  'em,  I  think 
    it's totally rippin'. There's nothing wrong with standing apart.  

CoC: I am -so- impressed with those clean vocals on "Force Fed" --  I 
     think Devin's done an incredible job with that  song.  What  was 
     his thought behind having  those  vocal  styles  from  clean  to 
     out-and- out devastation with what he does on that track?        

GH: Well, that's Dev, he is the all-encompassing vocalist. He can  do 
    anything. That's the main reason Strapping is as crushing  as  we 
    are -- our vocalist is not tied down to one style or even the two 
    styles of the soft verse and heavy chorus. Dev's dynamics are all 
    over the place and I remember him saying as he  was  writing  the 
    vocal line to the record, "I wanna make things that we  can  pull 
    off live. Never gonna be a problem  for  me  to  sing."  We  stay 
    within a certain range and get crazy within that  range,  so  any 
    song we wanna pull out of a hat on  a  given  night,  we're  like 
    BOOM, we're there. When we were writing the songs, Jed would come 
    up with a riff, we'd start honkin' on it. Five minutes  into  the 
    song when everybody's got their riff down, Dev's  already  laying 
    down vocal lines right off of that. Dev was saying,  "I  remember 
    back in the day when I used to take the  songs  home,  listen  to 
    them in my head, come up with these crazy vocal lines  that  were 
    great to sing in the studio, but to do them live when you've  got 
    fourteen other songs in your set and you're  hittin'  this  range 
    that is just killing you... I'm not going  to  do  that  on  this 
    record." Any song from the record we can pull out  at  any  time. 
    That's pretty cool.                                               

CoC: I think, personally, -very- few bands  are  able  to  pull  that 
     off...                                                                

GH: We all wrote lyrics for the record, too, you know? Dev had a  few 
    lyrics for a few of the songs, but a -lot- of the songs were,  by 
    God, "I gotta go record this, so let's all sit around in a  group 
    and toss out words." [Dev]'d come up with a line  and  say,  "I'm 
    kinda lookin' for somethin' along this line" and Jed'd throw  out 
    a line and I'd throw out a line, Byron'd throw out a line...  All 
    of us would be in there firing in a line and  we'd  all  come  up 
    with vocal lines for him too, and he'd be  like,  "Yea,  cool  -- 
    let's try it!" That's the first time I've ever  tried  this,  and 
    it's pretty unique and I like it.                                 

CoC: Would you say the lyrics  are  as  important  as  the  music  to 
     Strapping Young Lad?                                                  

GH: We were more going more for the function rather  than  the  form. 
    The lyrics themselves weren't the important thing -- it  was  the 
    emotion behind them. It was the aggression that had  to  go  into 
    them. Sometimes even the actual syllabic count of them  and  come 
    up with the lines right then and there. It works. It's cool.  And 
    that's why I personally find it humorous when people are like  "I 
    read all this -heavy- stuff into the lyrics." I'm like, "Man, you 
    know how we wrote the lyrics to this song?" <laughs>              

CoC: Wouldn't you say Devin communicates the emotion of the song with 
     -how- he sings it?                                                    

GH: Oh, yea -- totally! Exactly. Most of this  album  has  first-take 
    vocals. Everything, really. This is pretty much  a  first-take  - 
    album-. I got my drum track done in five  hours.  Byron  got  his 
    bass track down in five  hours.  Jed  did  pretty  much  all  the 
    guitars on the album, so it took him ten hours.  Dev  was  laying 
    down vocals from the very first day and some of  the  vocals  Dev 
    laid down even before we laid down the bass or  guitars  we  kept 
    'cause they were so amazing. There's this one line in  "Devoured" 
    that's like, "Oh God help me with these  dreams  of  100  million 
    souls washed away" -- that was one take! We  got  that  on  film, 
    too. Dev was kinda sitting around in the corner  to  himself  and 
    he's like, "I'm going to go try this thing really quick." We  had 
    the cameras rollin' for everything. We filmed like  24  hours  of 
    footage from the recording of the album for  future  DVD  use  or 
    whatever.  Dev  screams  out  this  line.  Chills  are  goin'  up 
    everybody's spine and he comes back  and  he's  like,  "That  was 
    okay. Lemme try that again." Everyone was, like, "NO!!"  So  much 
    on this record was like that.                                     

CoC: With all your experience in all these bands, have you ever  come 
     across anybody who's able to do that?                                 

GH: Naw, that's Dev. There's so many  things  inside  this  man  that 
    other people cannot do. That's why every member of this  band  is 
    totally important and we all feel like we're on a roll  --  to  a 
    'T' -- totally.                                                   

CoC: You guys have stuck with Century Media straight  through.  Would 
     you say Strapping has a pretty good  working  relationship  with 
     the label?                                                       

GH: Up and down there for awhile. Right now it's on the  up.  Century 
    Media's doing a great job! Everybody there's working hard and the 
    record is selling great and  everybody  is  really  happy.  We're 
    all working well together and  [the  band]  has  a  good  working 
    relationship with 'em. I think it is totally killer.  The  things 
    bands need -- we get and we try to be accommodating as  well.  We 
    try to keep our requests reasonable and they understand that.  We 
    renegotiated the contract before this record and it's all killer; 
    it's a good working relationship and hopefully  we  can  keep  it 
    rockin'.                                                          

CoC: With Strapping Young Lad, it seems to me that you  are  able  to 
     flex your drumming muscle that you are known for. Would you  say 
     that to be the case?                                             

GH: I guess I'd say that I flex  the  amount  I  choose.  No  one  is 
    telling me you gotta do more -- that  bums  me  out.  No  one  is 
    telling me you gotta do less --  it's  like,  "Dude,  you're  the 
    drummer, you come up with the part." Also, I love it when  others 
    come up with the parts, too. One of the greatest things that I've 
    done is when someone else comes up with it on a drum  machine  or 
    tying to get a pattern across to me, I'd be like, "Hey, cool -- I 
    wasn't even thinking about that. Let's try that!" I get  to  flex 
    what I want. With this record, I push myself,  but  there  is  no 
    song that I dread playing. I  remember,  my  favorite  tune  from 
    Strapping is "Oh My Fucking God" and I dreaded playing  that  one 
    every night until I got really comfy with it. That was the  first 
    song that Dev and I wrote together. We wrote it in  five  minutes 
    in our very first jam together, and I was so excited I was  doing 
    this crazy stuff, but I dreaded playing it every  night.  I'm  to 
    the point where I don't anymore -- I love playing it live. On the 
    new record, there's nothing I dread. I'm like,  "Fuck  it!  Let's 
    play all of it."                                                  

CoC: Do you know that chunky, fat, heavy, thick part of "Aftermath"?

GH: The fast part?

CoC: Yea!

GH: Oh yea -- totally!

CoC: That is the track I keep coming back to on the album. If  I  had 
     to point to a spot on the new album, that is where  you're  able 
     to flex the muscle you're know for...                            

GH: Excellent! That's killer, man. I remember when we wrote that.  We 
    had the slow part of the tune together for a couple of months and 
    we knew we had to take that song somewhere. We even came back  to 
    the intro and we pinched it  down  a  half-step  and  were  going 
    through it and we got to the spot where it kicks into  the  polka 
    beat and it breaks down. One day, we played through it  and  kept 
    chuckin' on the main riff and then that part  [you  were  talking 
    about] came up and it wrote itself. I went into  full-on  hullin' 
    double bass and Jed went into that triplet riff there; Byron  was 
    poundin' -- we all got chills! We were all  like,  "We  got  this 
    song now."                                                        

CoC: Well, Mr. Hoglan, thank you for all your time and agreeing to do 
     this interview while you are on tour. If there  is  anything  at 
     this point that you'd like to communicate to the  Chronicles  of 
     Chaos readership, I'd be very happy to include it here.          

GH: I guess if everybody buys a  copy  of  the  Strapping  Young  Lad 
    album, nobody's gonna be disappointed. That  could  always  help. 
    Buy a shirt, too! <laughs>                                        

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

     I N N O V A T O R S    O F    T H E    R E V O L U T I O N
     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
       CoC chats with Burnt by the Sun's vocalist Mike Olender
                           by: Jackie Smit


There are very few acts that can lay claim to having produced such  a 
devastating debut as New Jersey's Burnt by the Sun. _Soundtrack to  a 
Personal Revolution_ was one of the undoubted highlights of 2002 -- a 
perfectly executed, uber-violent assault on both the  mainstream  and 
the underground, proving that there are still a  few  bands  who  can 
manage to avoid metal's clichés with suitable aplomb while  retaining 
the unhinged viciousness of a thousand rabid Rottweilers. With  their 
forthcoming _The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good_ effort looming  on 
the horizon, who better to discuss the band's past,  present,  future 
and quite a bit  in  between,  than  their  intelligent  and  affable 
frontman Mike Olender?                                                

CoC: _Soundtrack to a Personal Revolution_ was surrounded by a lot of 
     hype, received outstanding reviews, and quite a  few  zines  and 
     magazines referred to BbtS as "the future  of  metal".  How  has 
     that impacted on the band?                                       

Mike Olender: To be honest, most of that stuff just passes over us. I 
              mean, obviously we're happy to be well-received, and we 
              hope that people will get enjoyment out of what we  do, 
              but it's not something that myself or any of  the  guys 
              in the  band  ever  really  think  about  too  much.  I 
              personally don't read  too  many  reviews,  and  to  be 
              honest I don't really know what a phrase  like  "future 
              of metal" means, so I never pay things  like  that  too 
              much mind.                                              

CoC: For _Soundtrack to a Personal Revolution_ you used  Matt  Bayles 
     (Pearl Jam, etc.) to produce the record  and  you've  chosen  to 
     work with him  again  on  _The  Perfect  Is  the  Enemy  of  the 
     Good_. What was the reasoning behind choosing an  arguably  more 
     commercial producer to work  on  what  is  some  pretty  extreme 
     stuff?                                                           

MO: We recorded the new album in May and basically the  thinking  was 
    that we appreciate his talent and his taste and we want to  sound 
    different to other bands, and certainly want that to come through 
    on the record as well. There's so many metal  records  out  right 
    now that halfway into  a  song,  you  can  immediately  tell  who 
    produced it, and that's creating a lot of really tired sounds  in 
    the scene. At the same time, a lot of those  records  are  really 
    good, but in choosing Matt Bayles we just felt like he would help 
    us take things a step up, which we definitely feel he did.        

CoC: The lyrics to _Soundtrack..._ seem to maintain a balance between 
     extremely personal and well-informed socio-political topics, yet 
     the song titles all seem as though they'd be more  suited  to  a 
     Dead Milkmen album. What was the reason for doing this?          

MO: I wouldn't really  call  them  political  as  such,  but  they're 
    definitely very personal and very serious -- and probably  a  lot 
    more so than the majority of bands out there right now. By giving 
    the songs more humorous names like "Shooter McGavin" and "Dracula 
    With Glasses", we felt like we'd be able to balance things out  a 
    bit. And obviously, like everyone we appreciate and enjoy  things 
    like films and other elements of popular culture and we wanted to 
    show that. When you think about it, a lot of  those  song  titles 
    still are relevant in a way to the song, like for  instance  "Dow 
    Jones & the Temple Doom".                                         

CoC: With the political content of your music  in  mind,  would  BbtS 
     ever get involved in something like Serj's (System  of  a  Down) 
     Axis of Justice movement?                                        

MO: Well, despite the political stuff that's contained in our  music, 
    I still see us as more of a personal project, and  the  political 
    topics in our music were more a reflection on things that  I  had 
    been dealing with at the time that the first album was  recorded. 
    I was working with four different  social  justice  organizations 
    and that's actually still my job -- I'm a public  speaker  for  a 
    social justice organization. So, in  that  sense  there  is  some 
    activity, but we don't want to limit  ourselves  to  one  certain 
    thing and say "this is what we're about -- deal  with  that".  We 
    didn't want people to put us into a mould  and  say  things  like 
    "there's a war going on, what does BbtS  think  about  that".  We 
    just wanted to offer people lyrics that  made  them  think  about 
    things, but we didn't want to tell people what to  think  or  say 
    that this is wrong or this is wrong. If you look at the lyrics to 
    _Soundtrack..._ carefully, they're all kind of turning around and 
    looking inside and seeing things that  bother  you  in  terms  of 
    yourself and for instance your relationship and  attitude  toward 
    materialism. So, of course, there's a  message  to  it  which  is 
    personal, but there's a bit more to it than that.                 

CoC: Okay, so in light of that, how would you define the  concept  of 
     having a "personal revolution"?                                       

MO: I think that a "personal revolution"  is  something  that  people 
    should go through sometime in their life, and obviously there are 
    moments in life where we go through big changes or make important 
    decisions for ourselves, whether it be about religion or  whether 
    it be about life or getting  married  or  starting  a  family  or 
    getting off drugs -- it could  be  any  number  of  things.  It's 
    actually something that you do throughout your life, and  it  can 
    be any number of things, but change and progress is  certainly  a 
    part of life. And in that sense, I really liked  _Soundtrack..._, 
    because I thought that it really made things kind of more open in 
    way. I actually gave a copy of the album to my brother, who is  a 
    very, very devout born-again Christian,  and  is  somewhat  of  a 
    scholar and actually studied at Oxford and Yale.  And  he  really 
    listened to the album and looked into it, and I'm not sure if  he 
    got anything out of it musically, but certainly he said  that  it 
    had gotten him to think about things, which was really the  point 
    of the record -- to not be something that's limited to a  certain 
    age group or whatever. I mean, he  generally  doesn't  even  like 
    this type of music, but he admitted that he  would  certainly  be 
    open to other things after that.                                  

CoC: You mentioned your brother being a Christian and I  saw  in  the 
     _Soundtrack..._  booklet  that  John  Adubato  (guitars)  thanks 
     Jesus. Obviously not in reference to your  music,  but  are  the 
     band members personally very religious at all?                   

MO: No, no,  not  really.  I  mean  John  isn't  what  you'd  call  a 
    born-again Christian, although  he  does  have  some  deep-seeded 
    beliefs. I myself have actually last year grown a lot due to  the 
    certain experiences that I have had, but  it's  certainly  not  a 
    band issue or anything like  that.  John  has  his  own  personal 
    feelings about certain things, but it's definitely something that 
    he keeps very quiet about and would only talk to you about it  if 
    you actually asked him.                                           

CoC: Metallica and Sepultura have both made returned to the fray this 
     year and by all accounts nu-metal is on the way out, so what  do 
     you think of the state of metal and extreme music in 2003?       

MO: Well, I definitely see certain bands becoming a  lot  bigger  and 
    getting more accessible and  appealing  to  a  wider  variety  of 
    people. Thinking purely of acts on Relapse -- I definitely see  a 
    band like Dillinger Escape Plan getting  even  bigger  than  they 
    already are, branching off into an even wider audience.  And  the 
    same with Mastadon -- I can definitely  see  them  moving  on  to 
    bigger and  better  things.  We've  known  them  since  the  late 
    eighties and they're great guys,  great  musicians  and  a  great 
    band. And then of course there's other,  not  necessarily  metal, 
    but more hardcore bands --  I  know  Hatebreed  is  just  getting 
    bigger and bigger. One of my best friends works at Ferret Records 
    and he gave me a bunch of stuff that's very good,  and  with  all 
    the touring their bands are going to be doing  I  can  definitely 
    see them becoming big names soon. A lot of bands aim to  do  what 
    they do  for  a  living,  as  opposed  to  just  playing  on  the 
    weekends, and they're definitely being accepted  more  easily  by 
    the mainstream. You know, probably within the next  three  years, 
    we'll be seeing more extreme music getting a higher  profile  and 
    pretty soon the kids who listen to stuff like Korn and think it's 
    dangerous will all of a sudden not be so rebellious anymore.  And 
    it's a good thing, I think, except if it gets  watered  down  and 
    commercialised -- but I don't see that happening with the  really 
    good bands.                                                       

CoC: You're about to get married, and you've mentioned that you  have 
     a job -- how do you juggle your domestic life, career  and  band 
     successfully?                                                    

MO: Well, it keeps things very busy. I mean, my fiancé  and  I  lived 
    together for quite a long time and I  supported  her  financially 
    for some time as well, so I  don't  see  us  getting  married  as 
    really changing things the way they are right now all that  much. 
    Certainly if we were to have a kid, then that would be a problem. 
    Our guitar player, John, is actually married and his kid is going 
    on two years, and our bass player, Dave,  he's  married  and  his 
    wife is expecting in September. So,  I  think  that  after  that, 
    things will definitely have to be reassessed a  little  bit,  but 
    even now, we aren't able to tour nearly as much as we would  like 
    or probably need to.                                              

CoC: Your forthcoming record _The Perfect Is the Enemy of  the  Good_ 
     is probably on a lot of people's most-wanted lists for 2003,  so 
     what can we expect from the album?                               

MO: Well, that record I will say is definitely  going  to  be  a  lot 
    different from what a lot of people are going  to  be  expecting. 
    And we think that in a good way, because it's reflective  of  how 
    we allowed things to  develop.  The  _Soundtrack..._  record  was 
    recorded as a five- piece, and on this one we  had  to  adapt  to 
    doing things as a four- piece. But we're  actually  very  pleased 
    with how it came out. The production -- how it came out  is  much 
    better than _Soundtrack..._. It's tighter and it has a  lot  more 
    flow than the last album. On _Soundtrack..._ we tended to  change 
    things too quickly, whereas on this one we let things  breathe  a 
    little more and let the different parts ride out more. Lyrically, 
    it's also definitely very different. This time round, we all  sat 
    down and we  decided  to  make  the  lyrics  reflect  on  various 
    discussions that we had had while we were on  the  road,  and  it 
    deals with a lot of stuff that  people  don't  ever  really  talk 
    about that much. _Soundtrack..._ was more  about  looking  inside 
    oneself, whereas this is more  about  looking  around  at  what's 
    going on outside and thinking about what's happening around  you. 
    I think that people may get the wrong idea and say that  BbtS  is 
    now a 100% political band, because this is a very  harsh  record. 
    However, at the same  time  I  would  argue  that  the  album  is 
    actually very A-political, because what we believe is  that  what 
    we see on the news, and the people we see who supposedly  control 
    the economy or determine various world affairs is actually a  far 
    cry from the truth and so all this stuff we see and  argue  about 
    actually means nothing. I mean, why does the Mayan  calendar  end 
    on 2012? Why do the majority of  religions  point  to  this  time 
    right now as being sort of the final chapter  in  human  history? 
    It's things like that and we're sure  it'll  intrigue  a  lot  of 
    people and certainly it's quite a lyrical  departure  for  us  as 
    well, to the extent that we've changed our logo to have a pyramid 
    behind the name instead of  a  star  and  the  album  artwork  is 
    actually a 2000-year old blueprint for a flying saucer.           

CoC: So, it isn't your standard "my parents hate me, life is awful, I 
     want to die" crap then?                                               

MO: <laughs> No, it's ten songs and then people are going to  be  hit 
    by a shitload of stuff at the end and we think that they're going 
    to be really intrigued by what we have  to  offer.  We  hope  so, 
    anyway.                                                           

CoC: Where would you like to ultimately see BbtS go?

MO: I have no idea. There was a time, when we started out,  where  we 
    felt that if we pushed a little harder, got the  right  tours  or 
    whatever,  that  we  could  get  somewhere  in  terms  of  market 
    recognition; but really  that  doesn't  matter.  One  has  to  be 
    realistic as well, because in our  present  situations  we  can't 
    really afford to go touring every other week or every other month 
    and we can't let BbtS become our sole  source  of  income,  if  I 
    can put it that  way.  We  have  to  keep  turning  down  touring 
    opportunities constantly, because our private lives simply  don't 
    allow us the time to do it that  often.  At  the  same  time,  we 
    certainly hope that the new record is going to  open  some  doors 
    for us and generally I just feel that if the band stays  creative 
    and keeps making good records, then that would be good enough for 
    me and that would be something I'd be comfortable with.           

CoC: Any last words, then?

MO: Look out for the new record -- it should hit the stores at around 
    September. We're really happy with it and so is the label, so  we 
    hope that you guys are going to enjoy it.  And,  while  we  can't 
    promise anything, we will try our best to maybe do  a  couple  of 
    shows in areas where  we  haven't  been,  so  keep  checking  the 
    website (www.burntbythesun.com) and we hope to see you guys soon. 

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

                       _, _,  __, _,_ _, _  _,
                      / \ |   |_) | | |\/| (_ 
                      |~| | , |_) | | |  | , )
                      ~ ~ ~~~ ~   `~' ~  ~  ~ 


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!


Aeternus - _A Darker Monument_  (Nocturnal Art Productions, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7.5 out of 10)

Back  again  with  their  fifth  full-length  album,  the   Norwegian 
black/doom band that turned death metal has severed  ties  with  long 
time label Hammerheart Records and joined forces with  Nocturnal  Art 
Productions. With _A Darker Monument_ Aeternus  have  another  go  at 
topping their brilliant _Shadows of Old_, which they had failed to do 
with their last album _Ascension of Terror_.  A  fresh  approach  was 
mandatory, but unfortunately,  while  Aeternus  have  come  out  with 
something slightly better than _Ascension of Terror_, their  approach 
still suffers from virtually the same shortcomings as last  time.  _A 
Darker Monument_ starts off quite well, with the  mid  to  fast-paced 
"Sword of the Earth", which seems  to  announce  that  Aeternus  have 
decided to shed most of their recent American death  metal  leanings. 
Second track  "Slavestate"  dispels  this  notion,  however,  and  it 
becomes clear we are in for another mixed bag from Aeternus.  Overall 
I find more engaging passages on _A Darker Monument_ than  I  did  on 
_Ascension of Terror_,  but  the  answer  to  whether  Aeternus  have 
created an album that can challenge the mighty _Shadows  of  Old_  is 
clearly negative. Tracks  like  "Litany  of  Ra"  and  "Seen  Through 
Abhorrent Eyes" make  sure  _A  Darker  Monument_  remains  a  worthy 
effort, but with all  the  quality  death  metal  coming  out  lately 
(Immolation, Vital Remains, Behemoth), Aeternus fail to make  a  huge 
impression. Much like what happened on _Ascension of  Terror_,  there 
is simply too much unremarkable mid-paced riffage going on. _A Darker 
Monument_ is still a very competent album and marginally better  than 
its predecessor, but it has neither as much atmosphere as _Beyond the 
Wandering Moon_  and  _...And  So  the  Night  Became_  nor  as  much 
intensity as _Shadows of Old_. In  case  you  are  wondering  why  my 
rating is actually lower than last time even though I find  this  new 
album slightly better than the previous,  the  answer  is  simple:  I 
wouldn't give _Ascension  of  Terror_  an  8  today,  and  _A  Darker 
Monument_ is still not good enough coming from Aeternus.  Considering 
all that this band has done in the past, one  continues  to  get  the 
feeling that Aeternus are underachieving, and so  another  album  has 
gone by in competent but relatively unremarkable fashion.             

Contact: http://www.aeternus.ch


Arcane Wisdom - _Relics of Elder Might_  (Independent, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Heed not the history-oriented band name and album title: the music on 
offer here is a blend of avantgarde black metal akin to some of  what 
Borknagar and Arcturus have done recently --  epic-sounding  but  not 
looking to capture the ancient forest feel of a band like  Summoning. 
While this kind of avantgarde tendencies  may  be  a  sign  of  over- 
ambitious musicians in the early stages of their  careers  trying  to 
bite a piece they won't be able to chew, in this case  Arcane  Wisdom 
actually pull it off very well.  The  reason  for  that  lies  partly 
in the fact that  they  are  able  to  retain  enough  uniqueness  in 
their sound to avoid coming  across  as  second-rate  clones  of  the 
aforementioned bands. Furthermore, in spite of being an unsigned act, 
Arcane Wisdom are actually very good at what  they  do  --  in  other 
words, _Relics of  Elder  Might_  is  not  a  half-baked  attempt  at 
creating grandiose, epic blackened metal. There is plenty  of  talent 
and ideas to be found on this disc, which is remarkably well  rounded 
considering the band's relative lack of experience. Blackened  vocals 
alternate  with  well-  suited  clean  ones,  with  a  complex  sonic 
background of guitar and drum work as well as synths and a variety of 
other instruments. Borknagar's superb _Empiricism_ is the album  that 
comes to my  mind  most  often  during  opener  "Misanthropic  Horror 
Magnified", while  "Maelstroms  of  Majestic  Night"  adopts  a  more 
aggressive stance during its first half before becoming more  melodic 
afterwards. "Symphonia Chaos" loses some of the momentum by exploring 
arrangements that  sound  more  avantgarde  but  are  generally  less 
interesting, but the more melancholic "Theatre  Unfolds"  raises  the 
level again. In addition to these four tracks (each of them seven  to 
eight minutes long), one can also find two  instrumentals  --  one  a 
very good acoustic song, the other more synthetic. The quality of the 
instrumental work, songwriting and production throughout  _Relics  of 
Elder Might_ is made all the more impressive by the fact that this is 
an independent release,  but  I  suspect  Arcane  Wisdom  won't  stay 
unsigned for much longer.                                             

Contact: http://www.arcanewisdom.pt.vu


Arckanum / Contamino - _Kosmos wardhin dræpas om sin /
             Emptiness Enthralls (...and the World Is Not Enough...)_
by: James Montague  (6.5 out of 10)  (Carnal Records, 2003)

Split 7" EPs are a great idea -- they're cheap, they  often  pair  up 
little-known bands with bigger names, and they're  often  quite  well 
presented as  the  two  bands  face  each  other  off  on  the  vinyl 
battlefield.                                                          

In this case, the established band is Arckanum, who  have  plenty  of 
full-length releases behind them (or him, as it's a one-man  project) 
and a strong reputation in the black metal world. The  one  track  on 
offer here is straight-up Arckanum -- this means classic riffs in the 
early '90s Scandinavian black metal style, with a touch of thrash and 
an epic, ancient vibe. The continuing habit of writing all lyrics and 
liner notes  in  Swedish  and  in  an  almost  illegible  old  script 
reinforces this feel. To be honest, this isn't the best material I've 
heard from the band, but it is another strong composition by  one  of 
Sweden's finest black metal exponents.                                

The unknown quantity (at least to yours truly) is Contamino, who play 
raw, old school death metal. Opening with some amplifier  fuzz,  just 
to remind the listener of the demo  recording  conditions,  the  band 
launches into some fairly unoriginal but very catchy death hymns. The 
vocalist is like a cross between a standard death metal growler and a 
grim,  unfeeling  croaker  like  Inquisition's  Dagon,  providing  an 
interesting focal point for the band.  Contamino  also  provides  the 
bulk of the content on this 7" EP, giving two full songs and  a  nice 
instrumental coda for good measure.                                   

As is so often the case, a split EP has seen the  lesser  light  take 
the honours. Now if only Sabbat  would  be  upstaged  on  their  next 
shared effort, that would truly be something...                       

Contact: http://arckanum.cjb.net


Carcariass - _Killing Process_  (Adipocere Records, 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

How someone can actually choose to keep a  name  such  as  Carcariass 
when a certain band with a similar name is such a legend in the metal 
world is beyond me, but in any case the third album  by  this  French 
band is worth looking into. There is some  rather  technical  melodic 
death metal going on here, with four out of the nine tracks on  offer 
remaining instrumental. The album opens with a solo  bass  line,  and 
soon enough the first Death-like dissonant  riff  with  an  odd  time 
signature comes along, as does the first  guitar  solo.  Even  though 
there is a lot of emphasis on the technical side of things, the music 
still remains listenable -- not exactly a barrel of metallic  fun  or 
an onslaught of raw energy, but still enjoyable in its own  way.  The 
production is clear and gives every instrument some room.  While  not 
exactly brimming with  intensity  and  nowhere  near  an  album  like 
Death's _The Sound of Perseverance_, _Killing  Process_  is  still  a 
commendable effort that should be of interest for fans  of  technical 
death metal.                                                          

Contact: http://www.adipocere.fr


Charger - _Confessions of a Man (Mad Enough to Live Amongst Beasts)_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Peaceville, 2003)

It is undeniable that a smart title and suggestive  cover  art  go  a 
considerable way to increasing one's appetite  for  perusing  the  CD 
inside, and while Charger have little of the latter, they do  have  a 
significant bit of the former. _Confessions of a Man (Mad  Enough  to 
Live Amongst Beasts)_ may not be as musically  complex  and  thought- 
provoking as its title seems to indicate, but the  man's  confessions 
certainly come out hard as nails and black as tar. Recorded in  Wales 
by Billy Anderson (Eyehategod, Neurosis,  Sleep),  Charger's  punkish 
sludge sounds every bit as heavy as those names indicate. And if  you 
want more name-dropping, this  band  from  Stoke  on  Trent  will  be 
touring Europe in support of Today Is the  Day  this  year.  Back  to 
_CoaM(MEtLAB) _, you will find a live feeling  mainly  coming  up  in 
between songs that may not be to everyone's liking, but  the  massive 
sound should make up for that. The delivery remains varied, which  in 
a way detracts from my enjoyment of the album. From the  doom  of  "A 
Ventilation System for Cooling Poultry" to the punk of "God  Made  Us 
in the Image of His Ass" (they do have a bit  of  a  knack  for  song 
titles, don't they?), Charger keep their sludge ugly and very  heavy. 
What they fail to do is keep my interest level stable throughout. The 
slower, painful doom sections might get repetitive after some time in 
the absence of some contrast, but I  would  still  definitely  rather 
have more of those and less of  the  mid-paced  punk-laced  material. 
Nevertheless, Charger remain a band to look out for in case you are a 
fan of the genre; _CoaM(MEtLAB)_ is at least an intriguing album with 
several interesting sequences and a devastating sound.                

Contact: http://www.peaceville.com


Circle of Dead Children - _Human Harvest_  (Displeased, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (8 out of 10)

Circle of Dead Children from Pennsylvania have been around for  quite 
a bunch of albums now -- to be exact, _Human Harvest_ is their fourth 
outing. Currently operating without a bass player,  this  three-piece 
is hell-bent on achieving only one thing: sonic terror,  or  as  they 
put it, "creating aural  decimation".  Well,  _Human  Harvest_  comes 
dangerously close to just that, with its hybrid of  Brutal  Truth-ish 
grindcore, Agoraphobic-style hyperfast  drumming  and  Mortician-like 
grumbling. While never being as good as any of these bands, _HH_ does 
feature nineteen pretty solid slaps-in-the-face that'll have even the 
tamest grind-freak banging his head into the walls for the sheer  fun 
of it. Most intriguing are the lyrics, which  more  than  often  read 
like sinister, introspective poetry; rarely does one find such  well- 
written, intelligent lyrics in grind. Production  and  packaging  are 
sufficient, making _HH_ a good addition to your grind collection.     

Contact: http://www.circleofdeadchildren.net


Con-Dom / The Grey Wolves - _Many Are Called But Few Get Up_
by: Alvin Wee  (7 out of 10)  (LOKI - Power and Steel, 2002)

Con-Dom opens up Side A of this split 12" with  more  restraint  than 
we're accustomed to, stitching muffled samples of declamatory  voices 
(largely unintelligible, contributing more atmosphere  than  message) 
into a rippling fabric of crackling and sonorous cosmic dronings. The 
subsequent "Hate Crime" takes us  back  to  familiar  tongue-in-cheek 
Con- Dom territory with a direct song sample  clearly  recalling  the 
artist's obsession  with  black/white  race  wars,  segueing  into  a 
blizzard of derogatory ranting with another  droning  backdrop,  more 
industrial/mechanical than before  but  quite  surprisingly  avoiding 
their  trademark  power  electronics  violence   throughout.   Highly 
atmospheric and stimulating, setting the stage nicely  for  The  Grey 
Wolves' more direct assault on Side B.                                

"Goin' home" seems to consist of one long sample (from  some  movie?) 
set to a curtain  of  typically  high-pitched  electronic  squealings 
and subtle mid-range  waves;  taken  out  of  context  it  lacks  the 
orchestrated conviction of Con-Dom's material (although remaining  an 
excellent track). Something which is taken up rather  nicely  by  the 
caustic title track, an angry voice spitting out  the  words  of  the 
title to a seething mass of mid-range analogue  distortion,  building 
up to an inexorable, blood-boiling climax of the words "my  eyes  are 
burning". Bringing together two of the most (in)famous names  in  the 
power electronics is bound to conjure up high expectations  --  which 
are well met by this lamentably short offering.                       

Contact: http://www.loki-found.de


Cradle of Filth - _Damnation and a Day_  (Sony Music, 2003)
by: Adam Lineker  (6.5 out of 10)

An essential part of the black metal scene,  cross-genre  innovators, 
the world's most unholy boy-band, the worst thing to ever come out of 
Ipswich -- whatever be  your  opinion  of  Cradle  of  Filth,  it  is 
difficult to ignore them. Personally, I have eagerly anticipated this 
record since 2001's _Bitter Suites to Succubi_ EP (of sorts) began  a 
deluge of stop-gap fan bait. Couple this  tedium  with  their  recent 
major label signing, and the stakes are high over Dani's head.        

So, to the good parts of _Damnation  and  a  Day_  first:  it  sounds 
awesome. Guilty in the past of swamping their more metal elements  in 
ambience, the band have evidently  taken  special  care  to  preserve 
their bite. The guitars sound more powerful and polished on this work 
than any other previous CoF release, synching those heavy riffs  into 
place beautifully. Yet all  this  glossy  riffola  would  be  nothing 
without Adrian Erlandsson, whose drumming sounds  simply  magnificent 
on _Damnation..._. Not only  does  he  display  tight  technique  and 
essential rhythmic control, the production on his  kit  lends  him  a 
more powerful attack than ever before, making his  fills  and  blasts 
a real pleasure.  Unfortunately  Robin  Graves'  nocturnal  pulse  is 
woefully missing from the rhythm section. With no disrespect to  Dave 
Pybus, who provides some  very  effective  melodic  bass  lines,  the 
instrument mostly blends into the mix and lacks the presence of  past 
CoF releases. Dani also sounds more subdued on this album;  it  is  a 
relief to hear his voice a little  less  intrusive  than  usual,  but 
after a  career  peak  on  2000's  _Midian_  opus,  it  is  a  little 
disappointing to find him below par.                                  

One big question hanging over this album prior  to  release  was  the 
decision to use  the  Hungarian  Film  Orchestra  and  a  real  choir 
instead of synthesized instruments. The good news is that  these  new 
components sound great, often subtly working in and  out  of  counter 
melodies and accompaniment. Yet, even though it bewilders me  from  a 
musician's point of view, one could  argue  that  the  rich  analogue 
sounds of Martin Foul's Kurzweill Keyboard served the music  as  well 
as, if not better than the  real  instruments(!).  The  inclusion  of 
the orchestra and choir  has  also  lead  to  two  rather  unsettling 
developments. Firstly, dispossessed  'boardsman  Martin  has  had  to 
arrange things other than his traditional surges of ambience to  keep 
him busy, resulting  in  a  mixed  bag  of  effects  that  dabble  in 
electronica. Occasionally it works, more often than not it provokes a 
raised  eyebrow;  the  sampled  fireworks  in  "Better  to  Reign  in 
Hell"  are  a  fine  example  of  this  awkward  frippery.  Secondly, 
although sounding fine behind the prominent metalwork,  someone  gave 
into temptation and decided  to  compose  a  multitude  of  classical 
instrumentals. Cradle of Filth have  been  known  to  undertake  such 
musical excursions in the  past,  but  allowing  the  orchestra  four 
opportunities to explore dark and epic moods does nothing  more  than 
dilute the album. To make  matters  worse,  the  resultant  music  is 
distractingly cringeworthy; rather than arouse my taste for classical 
music, they do more to convince me that Cradle of Filth are  planning 
to write a soundtrack for Conan 3.                                    

Musically _Damnation and a Day_ is similar to the work  on  _Midian_, 
but with a far greater scope  and  a  wider  incorporation  of  sonic 
elements. Make no mistake, this  record  is  huge  in  execution  and 
concept. Yet almost inevitably, one is left feeling that Cradle  have 
over-egged the pudding. The  songs  are  lengthy  without  exception, 
exploring multiple motifs, but the quality has been stretched out  to 
breaking point . Whereas _Midian_ offered us glossy  slabs  of  great 
atmospheric metal, _Damnation..._ serves up  overblown  constructions 
that only capture your interest in sporadic  bursts.  There  is  very 
little of Sarah Jezebel Deva on this record,  and  there  is  also  a 
pitiful amount of  lead  guitar  melody  --  the  guitar  solos  have 
completely disappeared from Cradle's sonic palette. For all the grand 
elements brought to this album,  so  much  of  it  washes  over  you. 
There  are  moments  of  classic  metal  brilliance,  but  these  are 
countered by excessive, meandering dirge. There are  some  innovative 
melodic passages, but mostly they sound forced and  confused.  Dani's 
lyrical creations on this record are equally convoluted,  muddying  a 
familiar concept (Milton's Paradise Lost and  then  some  more)  with 
unnecessarily vague word play.                                        

It is a real shame that Cradle's mainstream label debut should  sound 
this misguided; one can painfully hear the effort that has  been  put 
into making _Damnation and a Day_ a reality. What  will  sadden  most 
CoF devotees is  the  reality  that  the  insidious  atmosphere  that 
suffused _The Principle of Evil Made Flesh_ through to  _Dusk...  and 
Her Embrace_ has all but disappeared; this opus doesn't even have the 
dark metal glory that gave _Midian_ its magic. I can't  bring  myself 
to deem this record a totally  bad  one,  but  it  is  far  from  the 
crowning musical achievement that the band needed.  Cradle  of  Filth 
haven't lost an inch of their musicianship, nor do they  seem  devoid 
of creative ideas, but with _Damnation and a Day_ they have lost more 
than they have gained.                                                


Cripple Bastards - _Desperately Insensitive_  
by: Xander Hoose  (9 out of 10)  (Necropolis / Deathvomit, 2003)

One of  my  highly  anticipated  albums  for  this  year  comes  from 
the Cripple Bastards. Having had  the  pleasure  of  reviewing  their 
_Misantropo a Senso Unico_ album and seeing them play  live,  they've 
rapidly become one  of  my  favourite  hardcore/grind  bands  in  the 
scene. Upon first listen, _Desperately Insensitive_ was a  bit  of  a 
disappointment, but after tweaking the bass  and  treble  a  bit  and 
increasing the volume, my faith was restored. In true Cripple Bastard 
way, _Desperately Insensitive_ includes more than a handful of  songs 
(nineteen this time around) and there's a great stylistic  diversity, 
especially in the vocal approach. Guilio  manages  to  alternate  his 
growling death metal style with a Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth) screech, 
then turns to hardcore shouting, and ends up mixing it all  together. 
Nice! With songs  rarely  clocking  over  two  minutes,  _Desperately 
Insensitive_ is a good album for those with attention deficit --  but 
a total running time of 28 minutes is still a bit on the  short  side 
for me. Lyrics are in English, Italian  and  --  correct  me  if  I'm 
mistaken  --  Czech  ("Rak  Ne  Prestaje"),  and  the  artwork  looks 
excellent. If you're into hardcore/grind, then do  yourself  a  favor 
and pick this album up.                                               

Contact: http://www.cripplebastards.com


Crowhead - _Frozen_  (My Kingdom Music, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (5.5 out of 10)

It seems to be a very popular  thing  nowadays:  mixing  gothic  with 
poppy danceable elements, creating something  commercially  safe  for 
the young impressionable goth-heads,  EBMers  and  new  wavers.  Some 
bands are easily forgiven for it: Funker  Vogt  have  made  it  their 
trademark, Peter Tagtgren's Pain does it with such  style  and  grace 
that it's a pleasure to listen to, and  Misery  Loves  Co's  swansong 
_Your Vision Was Never Mine to Share_ never received  the  credit  it 
deserved. Crowhead, on the other side, lack the  genius  and  instead 
present us with cheesy song structures, horribly  sentimental  vocals 
and cliché keyboards. Only at the end of _Frozen_ do we see some guts 
with the usage of harsher electronics and a sinister atmosphere,  but 
by then it's too late to  save  the  album  from  going  under.  True 
gothic/electro lovers will be much better off with Apoptygma Berzerk, 
Pain or VNV Nation. A word  of  consolation  for  Crowhead:  my  goth 
girlfriend does seem to like this album. Figures...                   

Contact: http://www.crowhead.com


Curse of the Golden Vampire - _Mass Destruction_  (IPECAC, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (9 out of 10)

Those of you unfamiliar with Curse of the Golden  Vampire  cannot  be 
blamed, because this collaboration between Alec Empire (Atari Teenage 
Riot),  Kevin  Martin  (Techno  Animal)  and  Justin  Broadwick  (ex- 
Godflesh) has never received the proper attention  it  deserved.  The 
first collaboration album  was  released  in  1998  on  Alec's  label 
DHR and featured aggressive techno  breaks  with  a  strong  hint  of 
industrial. The album wasn't a big success, even though  it  explored 
some new territories for all parties  involved.  _Mass  Destruction_, 
the new Curse of the Golden Vampire album, is  a  second  attempt  at 
bringing new and refreshed music to the masses, strangely without the 
help of founder Alec Empire. Mixing  the  aggression  and  vocals  of 
Godflesh with the heavily distorted  beats  of  Techno  Animal  turns 
_Mass Destruction_ into something far more  lethal  than  what  we're 
used to from either artist -- think of a  bass-driven  hardcore/noise 
version of Phantomsmasher and you might be on the right track.  Don't 
be mistaken, the material on this album might be  a  little  bit  too 
inaccessible for Godflesh fans who think that  guitars  are  a  vital 
part of music, while  the  aggro-vocals  might  turn  away  the  more 
hardcore electronics crowd. Still, _Mass Destruction_  is  definitely 
worth a try for fans of Atomsmasher, Atari Teenage Riot and the  Fear 
Factory remixes. IPECAC did a good job on signing  CotGV  and  I  can 
only express my hopes that we will see more material  in  the  future 
because the 36 minutes on this album went by a little too quickly for 
my taste.                                                             


Destinity - _Under the Smell of Chaos_  (Adipocere Records, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (4 out of 10)

From the onset this disc invites reviewers to sharpen their  critical 
teeth on it: amateurish front cover, terribly cliché band  photos,  a 
dubious band name, and (last but not least) the kind of  album  title 
that is likely to have you shaking your head in disbelief.  Get  past 
all that though, and what you have is essentially a Cradle  of  Filth 
derivative. Many moons ago,  back  in  1996,  a  band  called  Hecate 
Enthroned was heavily criticized for sounding too much like CoF;  yet 
anno 2003, what Destinity have come up with is  just  another  second 
rate imitation of Cradle of Filth, in this case with some touches  of 
Limbonic Art in the keyboard department. Much  like  another  band  I 
recently reviewed, Illnath, Destinity seem to  have  made  no  effort 
whatsoever to avoid such an obvious trap on this, their -third- disc. 
I can excuse a debuting band to some extent  for  trying  to  emulate 
their idols a bit too much, but when you've been  around  for  a  few 
albums this lack of originality is bound to seriously weigh you down. 
The album is competently carried out  for  the  most  part  and  even 
features some good passages,  as  Destinity  seem  to  have  improved 
somewhat since their last offering (at least judging by the rating it 
was awarded). Nevertheless, this band still has a long way to go both 
in terms of musical relevance and of course originality.              

Contact: http://www.adipocere.fr


Enthral - _Subterranean Movement_  (Displeased, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (7.5 out of 10)

Norwegian black metal  band  Enthral  might  not  ring  a  bell  with 
everyone, but in the past they've shared members  with  Dimmu  Borgir 
and The Flesh and their resumé includes two full-lengths. Having been 
around since 1996, they've had some style  changes  --  from  a  more 
classical sound with cello and soprano vocals, they moved  towards  a 
style reminiscent of earlier Covenant and Satyricon. The main problem 
with Enthral and their _Subterranean Movement_  album  is  that  they 
have to compete in a league where bands with a cult  status  get  all 
the attention, while smaller bands have to be  really  innovative  or 
extremely good in order  to  reach  a  target  audience.  Enthral  is 
neither: innovation is not what Enthral is aiming at with their rock- 
solid textbook black songwriting; and while Enthral  are  good,  they 
are not extremely good. If they're good enough to make it to the next 
level remains to be seen, but those who give this album a  try  might 
be pleasantly surprised. _Subterranean Movement_  won't  do  you  any 
wrong, that's for sure.                                               

Contact: http://www.enthral.org


From Beyond - _Thrashin' Machine_  (Painkiller, 2003)
by: Alvin Wee  (6 out of 10)

No prizes for guessing where this Belgian duo draw their  influences: 
this mini-album continues the  German  mid-'80s  legacy  with  twenty 
minutes of non-stop Kreator worship  by  ex-members  of  "cult  Black 
Metal act" Moribund  (according  to  the  press-sheet).  Impressively 
tight, the band  rips  through  four  energetic  and  well-structured 
thrashers replete with melodic solos and neck-breaking riffs,  albeit 
without breaking any new ground or  sounding  particularly  exciting. 
This is one of those albums you can't really fault for being poor  in 
any department, but somehow lacks the requisite punch of great  retro 
albums like Swordmaster's _Deathraider_ or Nifelheim's early work  on 
most tracks. Which is a sad thing,  as  these  headbangers  sometimes 
manage to get the '80s feeling  down  pat,  especially  on  the  wild 
thrasher "Nightmare" where  Slayer-esque  leads  duel  with  pounding 
riffs and maniacal drumming to create a  masterpiece  worthy  of  any 
Destruction or Sodom record. I'd recommend waiting for a  full-length 
to see these maniacs' true power, but then again '80s fanatics  might 
already be drooling at this. [Note: Last I heard, Painkiller was  not 
responding to e-mails. Try their snail-mail address on the website.]  

Contact: http://www.painkiller-records.com


Gilla Bruja - _6 Fingered Jesus_  (Retribute Records, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (8 out of 10)

Retribute Records has rapidly become the home of some very  promising 
extreme bands, and with  the  second  Gilla  Bruja  album  they  show 
they're still on the right track. This  four-piece  from  England  is 
mixing plenty of good  riffin'  with  dirty  growls  and  chilled-out 
grooves; think of Brutal Truth jamming with Buzz:oven trying to cover 
Iron Monkey -- you'll get the idea. I can't say I haven't heard  this 
style of music before, but it's being done expertly here, and if  you 
add a perfect production to that you get an album that can't do  much 
wrong. Songs like "Where Low Life Grows" and "The Door" will have you 
bouncing round the house in mere seconds,  while  some  of  the  dual 
vocal parts ("All for Blame", "A Season to Wither") show a  different 
side of the band. For the restless  ones  among  us,  there  are  the 
obligatory up- tempo songs as well ("Harvest"). A minor  drawback  is 
that even a short album like this gets quite repetitive after a while 
-- something I see happening with many bands in  this  genre.  Still, 
Gilla Bruja has done their best to satisfy us all  with  _6  Fingered 
Jesus_, which I can only qualify as sludge in its  finest  form,  and 
hopefully we'll see them touring around soon.                         

Contact: http://www.gillabruja.com


Gorgoroth - _Twilight of the Idols_  (Nuclear Blast, 2003)
by: Jackie Smit  (8 out of 10)

I last encountered  Gorgoroth  on  their  crushing  1997  _Destroyer_ 
effort -- the title track of which I once convinced a radio DJ for an 
adult- contemporary station to play at 11:00 am. Six years and thirty 
phoned- in complaints later, it would appear, judging by the sound of 
opening track "Procreating Satan", that not much has changed at  Camp 
'Roth, and I'd happily wager that the band's influence on the  recent 
spate of necro black metal has been somewhat  overlooked  by  critics 
and fans alike. However, it is on the following number,  "Proclaiming 
Mercy" that I'm quite surprised to hear a  rather  dramatic  drop  in 
pace. Perhaps this is the "more mature  and  refined"  approach  that 
their bio alludes to? Either way, they incorporate  the  more  subtle 
tempo very effectively, and despite the  slowdown,  the  music  still 
bristles with malevolence and anger. Their darker, more haunting side 
is brought to the fore even more  vividly  on  "Exit  Through  Carved 
Stones" and "Teethgrinding" -- without a doubt two of the best  black 
metal songs to grace these ears so far  in  2003.  Warp  nine  blasts 
aren't completely cast aside however, and purists may breathe a  sigh 
of unholy relief when "Of Ice &  Movement"  launches  into  its  raw, 
frostbitten dirge. Unfortunately though,  this  is  the  last  proper 
track on the album -- a mere 25 minutes into proceedings. Considering 
that this is supposed to be the  full-length  follow-up  to  _Incipit 
Satan_, I would have expected the band to at least attempt to come up 
with something a little longer and more substantial than your average 
MCD. _Twilight of the Idols_ is without a doubt a top notch,  if  not 
excellent release, but (and I feel in this case that it's  more  than 
reasonable to direct this as a criticism) the experience is over  far 
too soon to truly justify its existence.                              


Graveworm - _Engraved in Black_  (Nuclear Blast, 2003)
by: Jackie Smit  (6.5 out of 10)

Listening  to  Graveworm's  latest  effort,  you'd  be  forgiven  for 
thinking that you'd fallen asleep and awoke back in 1996.  Certainly, 
if Graveworm had their way, then that  would  surely  have  been  the 
case, as the music on offer on  their  Nuclear  Blast  debut  doesn't 
sound at all unlike Cradle of Filth's _Dusk... and Her  Embrace_  and 
Dimmu Borgir's _Enthrone Darkness Triumphant_. It  should  also  then 
come as no surprise to learn that Sarah Jezebel Deva herself  at  one 
point collaborated with the band -- though unfortunately her  efforts 
weren't captured on this, their  fourth  full-length  record.  To  be 
honest, Andy Classen's outstanding production job probably makes this 
band sound a notch better than they really are, but it's hard to deny 
the instant appeal of songs like "Legions Unleashed" or  "Abhorence". 
Likewise, the overall feel of the record  is  captured  well  by  the 
group's tight and corrosive performance. The problem  is  that  we've 
seen this all done before -- and executed with greater flair -- by  a 
fair amount of other acts, who have mostly now moved  on  to  greater 
heights. That said however, Graveworm's latest attempt sounds a  hell 
of a lot more convincing than the new Cradle of Filth, so  if  that's 
your musical tipple, then you might be well served to give these guys 
a look.                                                               


Immolation - _Unholy Cult_  (Listenable, 2002)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

It has been a long road for Immolation; and still, in the ever unjust 
"scene", these New Jersey natives are not widely recognised.  It's  a 
pity really; not only have Immolation "got back  on  the  horse"  --- 
having released three albums in the  last  four  years,  compared  to 
their two in the preceding seven  --  they've  successively  bettered 
themselves ever since Dee Snider / Riot  producer  Paul  Orofino  got 
behind the desk for _Failures for Gods_ (and stayed there). Each  new 
Immolation  album  has  given  the  band  a  better-suited  and  more 
encapsulating sound, and with each album, Immolation sharpened  their 
skills as twisted, technical death metal songwriters. Unlike so  many 
"good" death metal bands around today, Immolation aren't only for the 
nostalgia freaks: they aren't struggling to  catch  up  with  anyone. 
Instead, they play their own game. Of course,  there  is  much  about 
Immolation which is - rooted- in the American death metal "tradition" 
of which they are a part; but these roots are not rules -- or if they 
are, then Immolation have certainly gone beyond bending them: _Unholy 
Cult_ moves to its own twisted, lurching and yet ever arresting beat. 

If you're familiar with any of Immolation's last three albums, you'll 
recognise them as the authors of the eight songs here presented after 
hearing a mere few seconds of any track. Yet when you've  given  more 
time to _UC_ -- a  full  listen  to  any  single  track  will  do  -- 
you'll notice just how far Immolation have come;  even  since  2000's 
classy _Close  to  a  World  Below_.  Though  thoroughly  brutal  and 
uncompromising, Immolation's fifth album  is  expertly  nuanced,  and 
blessed with  a  sound  that  beautifully  articulates  its  tortured 
malevolence. A sinister amalgamation of magnificent riffs, incredible 
rhythms, sterling solos and arresting arrangements -- to name  but  a 
few of its qualities -- _UC_'s main body  is  a  near-masterpiece  of 
modern death metal.                                                   

Unfortunately, there are "buts". Firstly, there's the album's  cover. 
Depicting the crucifixial shadow cast from the top  of  a  foreground 
church with an evil face -- apparently  lupine  --  dwelling  in  its 
darkness, the image only serves to reinforce scene  stereotypes,  and 
will doubtless put off many who would relish the music  it  encloses. 
Put simply, _UC_ looks  like  your  average,  boring,  by-the-numbers 
death metal album --  though  it  is  actually  something  much  more 
special. _UC_'s opening  minute  is  also  disappointing;  a  droning 
three-note progression creates a dynamic which the crushing  kick-off 
of "Of Martyrs and Men" capitalises on; but it's  old  news.  It's  a 
tactic Immolation have used more than  once  --  on  their  last  two 
albums, in fact: they would have done well to do something  different 
this time, or at least not repeat themselves in such a bland style.   

But the most frustrating part of  _Unholy  Cult_  is  its  close.  As 
"Bring Them Down" builds toward  a  final  climax,  expectations  are 
running high: but instead of delivering a majestic final stroke -- or 
bringing proceedings to a close by gradually fading out on a riff  as 
ominously portentous as the one which capped off "The Devil  I  Know" 
on 1999's _Failures for Gods_ --  Immolation  fade  out  on  a  bland 
repeated progression, leaving you  feeling  cheated  and  frustrated. 
It's unfortunate that  these  low  points  cannot  be  satisfactorily 
edited out -- as duff tracks could be.  Yet,  despite  their  crucial 
placings, they don't spoil _UC_ but simply mar  its  near-perfection. 
Immolation would do well to  re-evaluate  --  or  at  least  vary  -- 
aspects of their image and overall album structuring in  the  future; 
but if they continue to  write  music  as  compelling,  crushing  and 
differentiated from the norm as they have with _Unholy Cult_, I  must 
admit that I'll keep listening even if they  don't  vary  their  more 
formulaic elements.                                                   

[Jackie  Smit:  ""Of  Martyrs  and  Men"  leads  Immolation's  latest 
 assault; a sublime guitar piece begins  the  song,  hinting  at  the 
 approach of something unspeakably sinister, before all  hell  breaks 
 loose. With the force of a nuclear  hurricane,  the  beast  that  is 
 Immolation roars to life. Make no mistake --  this  is  as  good  as 
 death  metal  gets.  Ross  Dolan's  vocals  are  immense,  powerful, 
 threatening -- an essential cog  in  the  bleak,  violently  melodic 
 Immolation framework.  "Sinful  Nature"  follows,  annihilating  any 
 doubt one may have had about Immolation's dominance. Elsewhere,  the 
 sprawling, eight-minute title track lends a progressive edge to  the 
 proceedings, while  "A  Kingdom  Divided"  shows  off  the  band  at 
 their most crushingly effective --  almost  murderously  determined, 
 blending seamlessly through more tempo and riff  changes  than  most 
 so-called "math-metal" bands could ever dream of. _Unholy Cult_ then 
 culminates in "Bring Them Down", the sound of the beast obliterating 
 the final drabs of resistance. If  _Close  to  a  World  Below_  was 
 Immolation's ascension to the veritable 'next level',  then  _Unholy 
 Cult_ is the ultimate consolidation of all their strengths  and  the 
 final expulsion of every single thing that could possibly hold  them 
 back."]                                                              

Contact: http://www.immolationdirect.com


Ingrowing - _Sunrape_  (Obscene Productions, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (6.5 out of 10)

Ingrowing's debut album _Suicide Binary Reflections_ didn't  do  much 
for me, and its  logical  follow-up  _Sunrape_  fails  to  change  my 
opinion  about  the  band.  This  Czech  four-piece  plays  grindcore 
the heads-on, unsubtle, straightforward  way.  Aggressive  riffs  and 
growling  vocals  make  up  the  lion's  share  of  the  sound,   but 
unfortunately they are not dense enough to cover up  the  tinny  drum 
sound. The production is reasonable; nothing  cutting-edge  here,  so 
with most songs sounding very much alike -- and also very  much  like 
those on the last album -- I can hardly  recommend  _Sunrape_  unless 
you're a die-hard grind fan. Apparently though, these guys are  worth 
checking out live, so if they're playing close by give them a try.    

Contact: http://www.obscene.cz


Intestine Baalism - _Banquet in the Darkness_  (Blackend, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Six years ago, Intestine  Baalism  released  their  debut  album  _An 
Anatomy of the Beast_, which so far remained their only outing.  Back 
then it really weaved its way nicely into my CD player, evolving from 
what initially appeared to be an average death metal release  into  a 
truly addictive disc full of leads and hooks that wouldn't let go. It 
took this Japanese band a damn long time, but  they're  finally  back 
with _Banquet in the Darkness_, and I'm pleased to  report  that  the 
musical elements essential to the success of their  debut  are  still 
present. Furthermore, _Banquet in the Darkness_ has managed to repeat 
anno 2003 the kind of addictiveness its predecessor showed six  years 
ago -- relatively speaking, since the competition has been very tough 
in the death metal field lately. _Banquet in the Darkness_ is one  of 
those rare albums that sounds old-school  without  coming  across  as 
outdated, just bringing back fond memories while remaining worthwhile 
in its own right. Though Japanese geographically,  Intestine  Baalism 
remain mostly  Swedish  musically,  ranging  from  reasonably  brutal 
Swedish riffs to downright crystalline lead guitar comparable to Arch 
Enemy. While Intestine Baalism do not sound like  a  band  aiming  to 
outshine everyone else's technicality or shame their brutality,  they 
still rank sufficiently high on both aspects; and  more  importantly, 
they have a remarkable knack for  keeping  it  all  entertaining  and 
memorable. _Banquet in the Darkness_ is unlikely to  change  anyone's 
perception of death metal or make it into  many  end-of-year  charts, 
but it remains a very competent and unpretentiously enjoyable album.  

Contact: http://www.intestinebaalism.com


Iron Justice - _Post_  (L.S.D.O., 2002)
by: Alvin Wee  (9 out of 10)

This  long-delayed  material  was  once  thought  lost  forever  when 
Jonathan Kan of L.S.D.O. apparently went MIA in 2001; the  double  7" 
set now rightfully sees the light of day  with  the  label's  revival 
this year. And what a reappearance: _Post_ showcases Iron Justice  at 
their vitriolic best, finally  delivering  the  high  standards  I've 
always felt this duo were capable of.  Spewing  deliciously  venomous 
vocals and harsh industrial  percussion,  opener  "Defeated"  hammers 
home the project's new-found rhythmic side, showing a distinct  sense 
of structure and focus as the  track  shifts  and  pans  into  varied 
levels of metallic harshness. The three remaining tracks continue  in 
a vicious, rhythmic vein, a tad surprising  to  those  expecting  the 
classic Whitehouse / G.O. power electronics drift on  their  previous 
Cold Meat offerings. A fair bit of analogue synth abuse (put to  good 
use on the delicious Haus Arafna-esque final track) coupled with tons 
of cleaner high-end  noise,  and  no  lack  of  machine-gun  metallic 
bangings, whipping up an overwhelming cacophony when coupled with the 
insane  hate-filled  rantings.  Reminiscent  of  the  old  industrial 
masters in terms of  structure,  but  injecting  a  modern  sense  of 
aggression and dynamism to the old-school aesthetic  which  few  pure 
power electronics acts seem capable of (aside from Tarmvred  and  the 
like). Packaging is taken down more than a notch from  the  elaborate 
box-set promised long ago, but still in slick L.S.D.O. fashion with a 
black and a white disc and the obligatory postcards. Another  feather 
in this excellent label's cap, and surely one of  the  highlights  in 
recent times.                                                         

Contact: http://www.lsdo.us


Jesters Moon - _Jesters Moon_  (Independent, 2002)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

This tight, experienced four  man  outfit  from  America's  Northeast 
scene have a rough 'n' tumble sound that's  very  provoking  even  to 
someone as wrapped in the complexities of other styles of metal as  I 
am. Back in the day, a band known as Blackkout  stalked  the  Florida 
metal scene. In a lot of ways, Blackkout's flexibility of sound lives 
on in Portland, Oregon's Jesters Moon.  Punchy  and  straightforward, 
this four-piece seem to know exactly what kind of music they want  to 
put out and accomplish it rather brilliantly  with  this  self-titled 
effort.  While  their  scope  is  mostly  limited,  their  power  and 
expertise is never drawn into question on this  ten  track  offering. 
Starting off with some mood-laced ambience on "The  Battle",  Jesters 
Moon pulls the listener in almost immediately with their hard-hitting 
approach. Change-ups pepper the  CD  and  provide  a  not-so-delicate 
method to capture attention from its very first notes. Understandable 
vocals take center stage as Bryce Van Patten  undertakes  guitar  and 
keyboard duties in addition to serving as JM's man  behind  the  mic. 
Bryce has moments in his throaty technique like one might expect from 
a Dio or Udo. Fantastically distinctive instrumentation litters  this 
effort without ever detracting even a single iota from the full metal 
rampage created by Jesters Moon; the  sixth  cut,  "Amnesia",  speaks 
volumes to this point. Imagine a revved-up Queensryche doused in '80s 
Accept meets Jake E. Lee's Badlands. Check out the evolution of  this 
band into the group now referred to  as  Jesters  Moon  and  all  the 
experience evident on  this  disc.  Fans  of  effective  guitar  work 
without the over- the-top, showy solos have soul-mates  in  Bryce  as 
well as second guitarist, Vido  Sinn.  Preston  Hatch  on  drums  and 
bassist Alvin complete JM's line-up -- all very proficient  at  their 
respective crafts and display it rather well on this album. There  is 
a lot to enjoy on this nearly 55 minute release. Snap to  it,  folks, 
and belly up to the bar for Jesters Moon's brew of nostalgia;  you'll 
even thank me the next day.                                           

Contact: http://maninblackmusic.com


Johnny Truant - _Repercussions of a Badly Planned Suicide_
by: Xander Hoose  (8 out of 10)  (Undergroove, 2003)

I'm always sceptical when the press announce a band to be  'the  next 
big thing'. Well, in the noisecore  scene,  Johnny  Truant  has  been 
called so by more than one magazine, so I was anxious to find out  if 
_Repercussions of a Badly  Planned  Suicide_  would  live  up  to  my 
expectations. The album contains a mere  seven  songs,  but  clocking 
around 50 minutes altogether they can hardly be  blamed  for  writing 
simple songs -- au contraire. _RoaBPS_ is very multi-layered,  dense, 
and manages to portray a great diversity within the individual  songs 
while still sounding spacious. Not for a  moment  do  the  individual 
instruments blend together; they're all carved  out  sharply  in  the 
mix. Excellent. Musically I'm very much reminded of  noisecore  mates 
Coalesce, Converge and Knut. Which is  where  I'll  have  to  make  a 
strong point against Johnny Truant: even though they're very  skilled 
and professional players, there is not really  anything  on  _RoaBPS_ 
that I haven't heard  before  by  their  competition.  For  instance, 
incorporating clean vocals is nice, but done before  by  Drowningman; 
the superb incorporation  of  breaks  into  the  music  is  something 
Dillinger Escape Plan  is  renowned  for...  I  could  go  on  citing 
references but the point is clear: Johnny Truant is an excellent band 
that has brought us an excellent album, but they're not the next  big 
thing. For now, my money is set on the  next  Dillinger  Escape  Plan 
album with their new vocalist, but those who  cannot  wait  for  that 
have a very good temporary alternative with _Repercussions of a Badly 
Planned Suicide_.                                                     

Contact: http://www.johnnytruant.co.uk


Kult ov Azazel - _Oculus Infernum_  (Arctic Music, 2003)
by: Adrian Magers  (6.5 out of 10)

In a word: fierce. The calculated chaos that is Kult  Ov  Azazel  has 
ushered forth its second full length (their other album  _Triumph  of 
Fire_, and initial offering _Order of the Fly_ have both sold out  in 
CD format) and it's  a  monster.  Poised  at  the  forefront  of  raw 
American black metal,  this  four-piece  subscribes  to  a  no-frills 
ideology. No keyboard, no melodic breakdowns, no  clean  vocals,  and 
strategically roughened production. Luckily, Kult  Ov  Azazel  are  a 
good enough band to not pigeon hole themselves. They write some  damn 
catchy  riffs  (though  only  conventional  to  ears  conditioned  to 
harshness), and coupled with the  excellent  drumming  of  Goss  "The 
Hammer", _Oculus Infernum_ becomes a lesson  in  brutality.  However, 
the ongoing unrelenting hatred may become tiresome after a few tracks 
to some listeners, and the vocals could use a  little  more  variety. 
Despite a few drawbacks, I found this album to be enjoyable in  small 
to medium doses, despite the fact that I generally prefer this  style 
of metal sprinkled with gothic moments and guitar harmonies. So kudos 
to KOA for representing America to the rest of the black metal world. 

On a side note: _Oculus Infernum_ hasn't been released in the  States 
as of this review, but one can order the CD directly  from  the  band 
from their website.                                                   

Contact: http://www.kultovazazel.com


Malevolent Creation - _The Will to Kill_  (Nuclear Blast, 2002)
by: Jackie Smit  (8.5 out of 10)

Let's face it: there aren't too many people out there who would  have 
lost much sleep over the idea of Malevolent Creation calling it a day 
after 1994's _Eternal_. Following up four  strong  releases  with  an 
equal amount of mediocre hogwash, struggling  to  clutch  on  to  the 
slightest semblance  of  an  original  idea,  Phil  Fasciana  and  Co 
nearly had us forget  all  about  the  mammoth  potential  and  class 
that this band had once  exuded.  Seemingly  determined  to  confound 
our expectations of their Nuclear  Blast  debut  however,  Malevolent 
Creation have returned to the fray with one of the most powerful  and 
wholly surprising comebacks possibly ever pulled  off  in  the  death 
metal genre. A key factor in this turnaround is the presence of  Hate 
Plow vocalist Kyle Simmons, replacing Brett Hoffman. He may look like 
a member of Bad Religion, but he can shred a larynx with the best  of 
them, and infuses tracks like "All That  Remain"  and  "The  Will  to 
Kill" with a bristling, almost  frantic  energy  that  dropkicks  the 
listener into submission.  Notwithstanding  the  instrumental  effort 
though -- for a band fifteen  years  into  their  career,  Malevolent 
Creation look to have discovered riffs and grooves I doubt they  even 
thought they had in them. The  bulldozer  chug  of  "Reborn"  or  the 
Tyson-uppercut of "Divide and Conquer" not only sound  more  exciting 
and dangerous than anything MC have attempted in  many  a  moon,  but 
also seethe with the kind of energy and violence you'd expect from  a 
band in their prime. Yet, impressive as it may be, _The Will to Kill_ 
doesn't always hit the mark quite so effectively. "Assassin Squad" is 
dull and cliché; the kind of throwback death  metal  snore  I'd  have 
expected the band to produce five  years  ago.  Thankfully,  however, 
this is no longer the standard, but rather the exception. And  not  a 
moment too soon.                                                      

[Matthias Noll: "Is it possible to be in  the  death  metal  business 
 for twelve years, release  your  nine  albums,  and  still  have  no 
 trademarks? The new vocalist sounds a bit like Gorefest's Jan Chris, 
 which is not a bad thing, but how can I explain what the band behind 
 him sounds like? Well, much like Arnie's opponent in "Terminator 2", 
 who was able to shift shape and look like the floor, the  band  that 
 once released the brilliant _Retribution_ seems to have  managed  to 
 cleanse their music from everything that would have made it possible 
 to identify them  as  Malevolent  Creation  in  a  blind  test.  And 
 unfortunately, with the exception of the killer title track, I  hear 
 nothing but faceless mediocrity on this album."]                     

Contact: http://malevolentcreation.cjb.net


Malleus Maleficarum - _Taedium Vitae_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)  (Oaken Shield / Adipocere, 2002)

_Taedium Vitae_ may sound pretty raw and dirty, but it is  remarkably 
engaging right from the  first  scream,  riff  and  drum  barrage  on 
opening track "Bleeding Runes". The rough production  is  nonetheless 
powerful and drives  Malleus  Maleficarum's  black/thrash  home  very 
efficiently.  Desperate,  searing  vocals;  harsh,  inspired   riffs; 
intense, varied drumming: these  are  the  ingredients  that  Malleus 
Maleficarum have combined to turn _Taedium Vitae_ into  a  just  over 
half hour long veritable black/thrash feast.  While  the  vocals  and 
guitar work are top notch for this genre, the quality of the drumming 
(which is well highlighted by the production) has to  be  emphasized: 
S. Nergal dazzles with the sheer speed of his  drumming,  but  what's 
more unusual, also for the way the various elements of the  drum  kit 
are explored to keep the drum  work  interesting.  Truly  a  powerful 
beast, in some ways akin to Svartsyn's  excellent  _...His  Majesty_, 
_Taedium Vitae_ sees Malleus Maleficarum grow from unknown  newcomers 
to top of  their  barrel  in  my  books.  Shame  about  the  apparent 
production level problems during the otherwise great "Ancient Blood", 
but this is definitely one of  those  special  records  that  can  be 
thrown on  for  a  half  hour  rush  of  sheer  energy  and  metallic 
inspiration.                                                          

Contact: http://www.adipocere.fr


Marilyn Manson - _The Golden Age of Grotesque_
by: Xander Hoose  (9 out of 10)  (Nothing / Interscope, 2003)

Marilyn Manson's star rose quick  in  the  mid-nineties;  _Antichrist 
Superstar_ became the ultimate album for frustrated alternative teens 
who felt that most electro/industrial bands on one side were too dull 
or traditional, and alternative music on the other  side  being  just 
too damn nice. Marilyn Manson provoked,  shocked,  amazed,  horrified 
millions of parents and thus became an instant icon.  Regarded  as  a 
modern-day incarnation of the devil by  some  and  a  cheap  musician 
cashing in on Trent Reznor's popularity by others, there's  no  doubt 
that any artist in the late nineties has provoked so much  discussion 
and sold so many albums  because  of  it  than  Marilyn  Manson.  But 
instead of milking his image further, he chose a different  path  and 
reinvented himself as Omega, a  modern  Ziggy  Stardust.  _Mechanical 
Animals_, artistically and musically his  greatest  achievement,  was 
too big a leap from the aggressive _Antichrist Superstar_ for many of 
his fans. As a result, the press started  looking  for  a  new  black 
sheep (and briefly found one  in  Eminem)  and  the  hype  subdued  a 
little. With _Holy Wood_, Manson tried  desperately  to  reclaim  his 
former throne by rehashing _Antichrist Superstar_ elements -- without 
much success. The album  was  in  many  ways  a  big  disappointment. 
Manson disappeared from the spotlights, and most remarkably  replaced 
bassplayer Twiggy Ramirez with electrowizard Tim Skold  (KMFDM).  The 
result is _The Golden Age of Grotesque_, an album  unlike  any  other 
Manson album. Where  most  of  Manson's  albums  had  a  very  strong 
identity, identity is something completely lacking on _The Golden Age 
of Grotesque_. Most of the songs are heavily influenced by Skold  and 
are especially  similar  to  material  on  the  KMFDM  album  if  you 
disregard the vocals. Another over-obvious influence is Ministry,  in 
riffing and drumming. But _The Golden Age of Grotesque_  shares  most 
with another group from the eighties: My Life With  the  Thrill  Kill 
Kult. The lyrical  silliness  and  inanity  (songtitles:  "Doll-Dagga 
Buzz-Buzz Ziggety-Zag", "Ka-Boom Ka-Boom", "Use  Your  Fist  and  Not 
Your Mouth")  breathe  the  same  Kult  atmosphere,  and  the  female 
background choir of "mOBSCENE" is more than a wink at the Kult's _Hit 
& Run Holiday_ album. So what does this all make _The Golden  Age  of 
Grotesque_? Marilyn Manson succeeded well in creating a soundtrack to 
the decadence of the '30s. In not taking his  songs  and  lyrics  too 
seriously, Marilyn Manson created a two-headed monster:  _The  Golden 
Age of Grotesque_ doesn't sound much like  a  Manson  album,  but  it 
might very well be one of his best.                                   

Contact: http://www.marilynmanson.com


Mastodon - _Remission_  (Relapse Records, 2002)
by: Jackie Smit  (9.5 out of 10)

Every once in a while, those of us who have been listening  to  metal 
for longer than the duration of yesterday's craze can't help but  get 
a little bored. Sure,  there  are  a  lot  of  good  bands  and  some 
excellent albums doing the  rounds,  but  sometimes  one  craves  the 
overwhelmingly jubilant exuberance experienced when  you  heard  that 
first Slayer or Morbid Angel record. With thrash -- a  tasty,  albeit 
far from new, prospect -- set to  seemingly  make  a  comeback,  this 
could well have been a relatively slow period for metal with  regards 
to  true  innovation,  but  for  the  outstanding  efforts  of  bands 
like Mastodon. If your  jaw  hasn't  nestled  itself  in  comfortably 
next  to  your  feet  at  the  sound  of  the  aptly  titled  opening 
track  "Crusher  Destroyer",  then  you  probably  don't  like  heavy 
music. A flurry of dramatic drum-rolls, accompanied  by  one  of  the 
nastiest riffs this side of _Hell Awaits_  and  augmented  with  near 
off-the-scale aggressive  vocals  mounts  the  first  attack,  before 
Mastodon suddenly throw an almost stoner-like curveball on "March  of 
the Fire Ants" and then mainline a ferocious,  dense  wall  of  sound 
back into the  listener's  veins.  Mastodon's  magic  lies  in  their 
ability to remain  constantly  unique  on  their  second  album,  and 
to constantly surprise and  challenge  the  listener.  Thick,  sludgy 
guitar-led stampedes are followed seamlessly by  lengthy  jazz-  like 
soundscapes -- every element polarised from the other, yet  remaining 
thoroughly appropriate at all times.  They  defy  categorization  and 
just when one  thinks  you  have  them  figured  out,  a  track  like 
"Trilobite"  leaps  out  and  replaces  the  curious  question-  mark 
above your head. Along  with  the  equally  excellent  Burnt  by  the 
Sun, Mastodon are possibly one  of  the  freshest,  most  thrillingly 
entertaining and captivating bands to be unleashed in aeons.  And  if 
ever you needed  your  faith  replaced  in  the  beautifully  diverse 
monster that is metal, then Mastodon is sure to have you back on your 
knees in no time -- in a strictly non-sexual sense, that is.          


Metallica - _St Anger_  (Vertigo, 2003)
by: Jackie Smit  (7 out of 10)

Before even attempting to listen to Metallica's much-hyped and talked 
about "return to form", one needs to clarify for oneself  the  extent 
to which you're willing to overlook their  past  indiscretions.  It's 
probably a fair assumption to say that for most people  reading  this 
review, Metallica more or less lost the plot  after  _...And  Justice 
for All_. Their infamous self-titled  follow-up,  while  an  adequate 
record by most fair standards, already failed to come within sniffing 
distance of its predecessors, and by the  time  _Load_  and  _Reload_ 
came into being, Metallica had become everyone's  favourite  band  to 
hate. Of course, musical reasons were not the only motivation  behind 
particularly older fans' growing disdain of the fallen thrash heroes. 
The widely publicised legal spat with file-sharing  pioneers  Napster 
was not only regarded as an attack on their fans, but  as  a  clearly 
money-hungry behemoth grubbing for yet more of the almighty dollar.   

So, enter _St Anger_ -- touted by the mainstream press as a return to 
the band's roots, the rediscovery of the _Ride the  Lightning_  sound 
and a million other promising  PR  slogans.  In  the  meantime,  Lars 
Ulrich has stated somewhat suspiciously that he "no longer  wants  to 
be a control freak" and James Hetfield is  fresh  out  of  rehab  and 
clearly more together than ever before. So, are we  to  believe  that 
_St Anger_ is indeed any good? Well, the proof is  in  the  listening 
and the answer is  both  yes  and  no.  The  reason  for  my  earlier 
reference to the  listener's  capacity  for  forgiveness  is  because 
however much _St  Anger_  kicks  dirt  in  the  face  of  Metallica's 
preceding three records, the cynical ex-fan could quite  easily  find 
fault with the album, despite its heavier and  faster  approach.  For 
one, the lyrics on the album at times appear to  be  almost  absurdly 
immature -- more like a bunch of has-beens  attempting  to  recapture 
former glories than a veteran act with a new lease on life. Likewise, 
the music, while certainly the heaviest the band has  produced  since 
_...And Justice for  All_,  at  times  fails  to  sound  natural  and 
spontaneous -- a particular symptom of opening track "Frantic".       

Despite these complaints however, _St Anger_ is a good, if not  great 
record. Truly this should have been the sequel to _...And Justice for 
All_. As promised, the band have succeeded in  taking  much  of  what 
made them great in the eighties, given it  a  contemporary  edge  and 
distilled these elements into a proper heavy metal album. While  this 
is sure to confound  and  probably  upset  a  great  chunk  of  their 
mainstream-weaned audience, those among us who have longed  for  them 
to show the Linkin Parks and Papa Roaches of this world how it's done 
may well have a reason to rejoice.                                    


Misery's Omen - _To Worship Stone Gods_ (Hellflame Productions, 2003)
by: James Montague  (9 out of 10)

Here's one for the books -- a killer Australian band  that  -doesn't- 
play in the old-school black/thrash or war metal vein. Misery's  Omen 
is an ambitious trio from South Australia that plays black metal with 
a twist (they call it "Abysmal Dark Progressive Black Metal", and the 
music lives up to the self-inflicted hype).  Sometimes  it  will  rip 
along mercilessly, with the versatile  vocalist  screaming,  growling 
and shrieking in falsetto. Other times it will slow  down  with  some 
psychedelic melodies and excellent clean bass lines  that  twist  and 
cycle, writhing over one another in a way reminiscent of  the  finest 
Greek metal acts like  Necromantia,  or  the  Italian  gods  Mortuary 
Drape. Another band that comes to mind is Bethlehem,  simply  because 
of the reckless, wrist-slashing nightmare that  this  music  conjures 
up.                                                                   

_To Worship  Stone  Gods_  is  a  7"  EP  featuring  two  5-6  minute 
long  pieces,  "Antarctic  Ice  Chasms"   and   "To   Worship   Stone 
Gods".  The  former  track  is  closest  to  pure  black  metal  with 
its  speed  and  agression,  while  the  latter  is  a  slower,  more 
brooding epic with haunting  bass  melodies.  Both  songs  come  with 
the highest recommendations, and  although  this  vinyl  release  was 
limited to  500  copies  and  is  now  sold  out,  they  also  appear 
on  the  band's  debut  CD,  just  released  on  Bindrune  Recordings 
(http://crionicmind.org/bindrune/). You should  definitely  seek  out 
this CD -- it's rare you'll  find  a  new  metal  band  with  such  a 
fine  combination  of  instrumental  ability,  songwriting  nous  and 
originality.                                                          

Contact: http://www.miserysomen.com


Mystic Prophecy - _Regressus_  (Nuclear Blast, 2003)
by: Jackie Smit  (6 out of 10)

Aaaah, power metal -- a sub genre as equally easy to poke fun at,  as 
it is to enjoy in a popcorn-movie sort of way. Quite what made Mystic 
Prophecy special enough to capture the attention of the  powers  that 
be at Nuclear Blast is anyone's guess, but whichever way you look  at 
it, the opening riff to "Eternal Flame" is killer and almost  manages 
to silence the deafening laughter which is sure  to  accompany  their 
many lyrical references to hell, demons, wizards, and "having no time 
for regrets". Elsewhere on the record, "Lords of Pain"  unleashes  an 
almost Nevermore-esque guitar cluster-bomb, before dissipating into a 
dire mess of predictability. Of course, "The Traveller" (the  album's 
halfway mark) couldn't ever have been anything but  the  'reflective' 
acoustic interlude, while the solo on  "Forgotten  Soul"  proves,  if 
anything, that Mystic Prophecy can at least  play  their  instruments 
with greater  flair  than  your  average  leather-clad  gorilla.  The 
haunting "Regressus  -  Lost  in  Time"  meanwhile  actually  manages 
to transcend to some  extent  the  trappings  of  their  power  metal 
prison. The point, however, is that their  music  is  so  unashamedly 
by-the- numbers that if your tastes veer  even  slightly  toward  the 
challenging,  then  _Regressus_  will  have  you  nodding  off  after 
five  minutes.  They  may  appeal  to  fans  of  testosterone-addled, 
fist-in-the-air, (most  importantly)  overtly  masculine  metal,  but 
there's simply not enough successful experimentation  and  innovation 
on offer here to give them an edgeways  over  the  many  other  power 
metal acts vying for your hard- earned right now.                     


Napalm Death - _Order of the Leech_
by: Jackie Smit  (9 out of 10)  (Snapper Music / Feto Records, 2002)

Love or hate them, but few can refute the fact that Napalm Death  are 
one of the most persistent and hard-working death metal bands in  the 
scene today  --  a  point  hammered  home  quite  bluntly  on  2000's 
outstanding _Enemy of the Music Business_. _Order of  the  Leech_  is 
the logical sequel to said  album:  faster,  heavier  and  even  more 
aggressive, showcasing a band who come  across  as  commendably  more 
vibrant and alive than probably ever before in their career. Layering 
the kind of intelligent socio-political lyrics that would make  Jello 
Biafra proud over their frenetic deathgrind maelstrom, Napalm  ignite 
proceedings with "The On-Going War on  Stupidity"  --  a  brilliantly 
bludgeoning statement of intent. "Forced to Fear" proves that  Napalm 
can easily hold their own next to math-metallers like  The  Dillinger 
Escape Plan, and "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" stands out easily as one 
of the most aggressive tunes you are likely  to  hear  (possibly)  in 
your life. Unlike _Enemy of the Music  Business_  however,  the  disc 
does have its weaker moments. "Lower Yourself"  for  instance,  while 
aiming its  assault  at  a  highly  deserving  British  monarchy,  is 
musically not much more than a semi-coherent mesh of ideas that never 
quite manage to gel. Ultimately  though,  _Order  of  the  Leech_  is 
another great album -- a reliably Napalm Death album -- and one which 
any fan of the band is bound to lap up.                               

[Matthias Noll: "If there ever was an extreme metal band that managed 
 to rise from the dead after several disastrous albums, it has to  be 
 Napalm Death with their  amazing  _Enemy  of  the  Music  Business_. 
 Fortunately, there are no signs on _Order of the Leech_ that  Napalm 
 Death will ever return to the mosh-core  borefests  of  albums  like 
 _Inside the Torn Apart_. Barney and Co. grind on in a fashion  which 
 is similar to _EotMB_ but sometimes more dissonant and a  good  deal 
 crustier and more  like  late  '80s  UK  hardcore.  Comparatively  I 
 find the songwriting on _EotMB_ a  lot  more  interesting,  and  the 
 artificial drum sound this time around tends to get  on  my  nerves, 
 but it's certainly good to see Napalm Death coming forward  with  an 
 album that manages to crush a lot of the competition  even  if  it's 
 just good and not excellent."]                                       

Contact: http://www.enemyofthemusicbusiness.com


Nebel - _Nebel_  (Oaken Shield / Adipocere, 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (4 out of 10)

It seems that for every Malleus Maleficarum there has to be  a  Nebel 
--  or  rather  a  bunch  of  them,  unfortunately.  This  apparently 
self-titled release (unless the words  "Hymns  of  Destruction"  that 
make up the entirety of their booklet are to be taken  as  the  album 
title) suffers from a shortcoming  of  virtually  every  aspect  that 
makes  Malleus  Maleficarum's  _Taedium  Vitae_  so  damn  good.  The 
production is flat, the vocals are unimpressive, the riffs are mostly 
uninspired, and the drumming remains monotonous throughout. The below 
average production might still have resulted in a cavernous, sinister 
sound with  some  potential,  but  ultimately  the  material  is  too 
straightforward, unoriginal and repetitive. Furthermore,  the  ending 
of every song seems to have been lazily chopped off, which  is  quite 
annoying. The band  apparently  split  up  after  this  debut  album, 
something that is unlikely to be noticed by too many people.  Nebel's 
35 minute blackened effort isn't utterly terrible, but  it  pales  so 
much in  comparison  to  albums  such  as  their  labelmates  Malleus 
Maleficarum's _Taedium Vitae_ that it has to  be  discarded  as  just 
another unremarkable disc.                                            

Contact: http://www.adipocere.fr


Nile - _In Their Darkened Shrines_  (Relapse Records, 2002)
by: Jackie Smit  (9 out of 10)

Nile have become somewhat of an anomaly of late -- a  band  which  by 
all rights is too devastatingly brutal to ever be in danger of  mass- 
acceptance, yet somehow seems to be getting  a  harder  push  in  the 
media than a lot of nu metal acts these  days.  Perhaps  publications 
like Kerrang! are trying to mask their bias against  death  metal  by 
including  a  comparatively  safe  act  like  Nile  in  their  weekly 
regurgitation, but either way, it could well lead to a  boom  in  the 
genre of nigh on late eighties  proportions,  particularly  when  the 
uninitiated realise the genius of _In Their Darkened Shrines_.  Where 
_Black Seeds of Vengeance_ often eluded perfection by  straying  into 
less than  coherent  sub-progressive  rambling,  _In  Their  Darkened 
Shrines_ instantly captures the  listener  with  a  more  mature  and 
focused approach, while at the same time blending in several elements 
new to the Nile formulae. Of particular note is the swirling overture 
of "Unas Slayer of the Gods"  --  a  lengthy,  diverse  and  powerful 
track, which ultimately stands out as the centre-point and  highlight 
of the recording. Similarly  "Sarcophagus",  with  its  slow-thudding 
tempo and chugging riff, adds a  new  dynamic  to  the  album,  which 
previous Nile releases have lacked up to this point. Far  from  being 
polished and toned-down however, Nile's brutality appears  to  be  in 
overdrive  on  album  opener  "The  Blessed  Dead".  And  while  Nile 
thrash away mercilessly on their instruments, the Egyptian  theme  is 
ever-present in the form of sampled  sounds  and  epic  synths  which 
complete the band's beautifully grotesque, alluring soundscape. While 
I would not go as far as to call  _In  Their  Darkened  Shrines_  the 
death metal highlight of 2002, it is undoubtedly a worthy purchase -- 
an album which reveals more of itself with every listen,  and  stands 
as testament to the tremendous amount  of  talent  alive  in  extreme 
music today.                                                          

Contact: http://www.nile-catacombs.net


Sepsism - _To Prevail in Disgust_  (Displeased, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (5 out of 10)

I usually do my best to try and find positive aspects  about  albums, 
but some bands make it very hard for me. Sepsism is such a case; I've 
tried to listen to _To Prevail in Disgust_ a couple of times now, but 
the songs are so uninspiring  my  attention  is  drawn  to  basically 
anything happening around me  except  the  music  itself.  Through  a 
sloppy and gruff production, we're fed ten songs that have nothing to 
add to our death metal catalogues. Except for some  interesting  song 
structures (like in "Soiled With  Corruption"  and  "Advanced  Mental 
Collapse") the guitar work is standard, drumming is only average  and 
the vocals aren't worth mentioning. And  instead  of  using  original 
movie samples we're treated to the same average  sound  cuts  we  can 
find on any other death/grind album. Instead  of  _TPiD_  I'd  rather 
recommend you Cannibal Corpse, The Ravenous or Dying Fetus.           

Contact: http://www.sepsism.net


Sindrome - _Severe Damage of Reason and Equilibrium_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Independent, 2003)

Newcomers Sindrome  clearly  take  their  music  very  seriously,  at 
least judging by this EP: complex structures  and  arrangements  form 
the basis of their  musical  creations,  although  from  a  technical 
perspective  things  never  get  really  flashy.  Sindrome's   subtle 
complexity stems from an apparent yearning to create music  that  has 
plenty to offer beyond the first few listens, and that  is  something 
they have already achieved to a considerable extent on this debut EP. 
Indeed, Sindrome sit pretty high on the evolutionary ladder  already, 
with a sense of musical  layering  that  is  not  initially  obvious. 
Sindrome's closest musical reference is possibly Tool, a  band  I  am 
not overly familiar with;  either  way,  the  sprawling,  atmospheric 
compositions are  certainly  far  from  being  chorus-based  or  very 
metallic. The song structures  remain  mostly  interesting,  but  the 
music tends to feel like  it  could  use  some  more  intensity.  The 
glowing exception is provided by the instrumental  closing  track:  a 
superb, tranquil piano dirge with some vague  background  noise  that 
requires no intensity  whatsoever.  The  vocals  are  generally  very 
melodic, often effect-laden to the point of coming across as  vaguely 
synthetic (a couple of times even  slightly  reminiscent  of  Cynic), 
and  merge  very  well  with  the  guitar  work.  _Severe  Damage  of 
Reason and Equilibrium_ is certainly an interesting debut  EP  which, 
though somewhat lacking in intensity, shows plenty of  potential  for 
Sindrome.                                                             

Contact: http://www.spiralsektor.com


Sinister - _Savage or Grace_  (Nuclear Blast, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (7 out of 10)

Sinister has a long record of  getting  rated  7  out  of  10  by  my 
colleagues at CoC, with the exception of a 7.5 for their last  album. 
Although I tend to hold Sinister's _Hate_ album in a somewhat  higher 
esteem than that, I more or less agree with the conclusion  that  can 
be drawn from this trend: they're definitely not bad, it's just  that 
they're not that good. With  _Savage  or  Grace_,  Sinister  continue 
nicely along this path. Some of the songs show a slight  increase  in 
technical skill compared to some of  the  previous  albums,  but  the 
(female) vocals tend to blend in with the wall of  sound.  Almost  on 
purpose I would say, as if they realize that Rachel isn't the best of 
death metal vocalists, but having a female singer is a big asset when 
it comes to live performances. Ah well, having seen  them  live  more 
than once I can't really blame them for it. _Savage or Grace_ (in its 
meager thirty minute glory) is an album that won't  conquer  any  new 
souls and remains  faithful  to  the  old  ones.  A  safe  pick,  but 
definitely no recommendation.                                         

Contact: http://www.sinistercentral.cjb.net


Solefald - _In Harmonia Universali_  (Century Media, 2003)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8.5 out of 10)

Having released a superb debut album (_The Linear  Scaffold_)  and  a 
virtually indigestible follow-up (_Neonism_), Solefald recovered to a 
large extent from that faux pas with  2001's  relatively  simple  but 
effective _Pills Against the Ageless  Ills_.  This  time  we  are  no 
longer treated to the yarns  of  Pornographer  Cain  and  Philosopher 
Fuck (the two characters from _PAtAI_),  but  you  can  rest  assured 
Solefald's creativity is as vibrant and unbridled as  ever.  Contrary 
to what happened in the past, _In Harmonia  Universali_  sounds  much 
like an amalgam of  Solefald's  previous  albums  --  with  yet  more 
elements thrown in, of course.                                        

The seven minute long masterful album opener "Nutrisco  et  Extinguo" 
shows that there's often more to describe in a single  Solefald  song 
than  in  many  a  band's  entire  album:  starting  with  Ulver-like 
acoustics and whispered Norwegian words that bode well for what's  to 
come, it also includes brilliantly integrated saxophone segues and an 
outstanding doomy section with slow piano, as well as  a  variety  of 
riffs, keyboard work and vocal approaches -- and it all  makes  sense 
together. An amazing track, and although this  level  of  consecutive 
brilliance is never quite repeated,  the  first  half  of  the  album 
remains on a superb quality level  most  of  the  time.  "Mont  Blanc 
Providence Crow" harks back to the more rocking  _Pills  Against  the 
Ageless Ills_ in fine form; "Christiania  (E.  Munch  Commemoration)" 
contributes three different languages (English,  French  and  German) 
and some innovative choirs and synths; "Epictetus &  Irreversibility" 
speaks of dichotomy with its blackening and softening; and "Dionysify 
This Night of Spring" contains another catchy chorus and a  masterful 
mid-section crescendo.                                                

Indeed,  _IHU_  moves  along  extremely  well  until  just  over  its 
midpoint, when track  six  (the  inventive  instrumental  "Red  Music 
Diabolos") finishes. At this stage  the  listener  has  already  been 
bombarded with a  huge  array  of  musical  twists  and  turns,  four 
languages, and a multitude of styles and  feelings  --  only  a  mere 
sample of which is described  above.  From  this  instrumental  track 
onwards, however, the last four tracks (especially  "Buy  My  Sperm") 
seem a bit lacklustre compared to the superb first  six  and  end  up 
dragging the overall rating down a notch. Still, not everything is  a 
waste on these tracks, with good moments on "Fraternité de la  Grande 
Lumière" (the doomy mid- section) and  "The  Liberation  of  Destiny" 
(the occasional fast bits).                                           

As ever before, the listener is likely  to  often  feel  teased,  and 
sometimes even mocked, by the music of this remarkably (over)educated 
Norwegian duo. Most of the time the listener  will  almost  certainly 
believe he is eating a highly delectable meat roll that Solefald have 
carefully prepared, but every now and again  he  will  be  forced  to 
wonder whether what he is eating isn't actually his own brain, finely 
chopped and palatably seasoned by the grinning Cornelius and  Lazare. 
Whichever the  case,  this  is  a  dish  that  demands  patience  and 
attention to detail in order  to  reveal  all  its  hidden  flavours, 
ultimately offering up some fine  rewards  to  those  who  persevere. 
Solefald remain one of the most unique bands  around,  and  when,  in 
spite of some inconsistency, they  really  get  it  right,  they  can 
achieve great things.                                                 

Contact: http://www.solefald.org


Steelglory - _Wayward Sons of the Beast_  (Independent, 2003)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

A very welcome surprise from these Singaporean lads still holding the 
torch of true metal high;  a  piece  of  trad-metal  from  a  country 
favouring the extreme black and death  styles  is  always  a  special 
thing. The opening track wastes no time in starting the  headbanging: 
rooted firmly in the early Metal Blade  camp,  this  anthem  bristles 
with raw yet melodic riffs, epic singing and  blazing  leads.  Things 
continue pretty much in the  same  vein  with  uplifting  and  catchy 
choruses, setting feet stomping and fists pounding  in  a  charmingly 
unpolished way reminiscent of  early  Skullview  or  Gothic  Knights. 
Great stuff to set any true metaller's blood boiling, marred only  by 
the occasional wailing of what appears to be  the  session  vocalist, 
who manages to carry all the  tunes  with  great  effort,  but  fails 
lamentably on the difficult high passages. Still, these  boys  aren't 
afraid to rock out with hummable melodies a  la  Stormwitch  like  on 
"Lucifer's Path", but in a considerably more American vein ( the '80s 
Cleveland / Auburn Records  sound  comes  to  mind),  and  even  epic 
_Fear of  the  Dark_-era  Maiden  references  abound  on  "Apparition 
(Spirits Within)". With a little experience and a stronger  vocalist, 
these warriors should have no problems  standing  alongside  all  the 
Metalucifers and October 31s of the scene; meanwhile this $6 slab  of 
steel is highly recommended for all those still loyally  keeping  the 
faith.                                                                

Contact: hauntedmelody@hotmail.com


Taliandorogd - _Neverplace_  (Adipocere Records, 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

This six song, half  hour  long  disc  belongs  to  the  ever-growing 
class of releases that  are  not  bad  at  all,  but  fail  to  bring 
much that  is  new  to  the  world.  Think  polished,  melodic  black 
metal; think a somewhat softer Dimmu Borgir  with  more  heavy  metal 
leanings and guitar solos, and you won't be far  off  the  mark.  The 
oddly-named Taliandorogd fortunately  avoid  the  more-evil-than-thou 
imagery trappings,  and  stick  to  creating  well  played  and  well 
produced melodic  black  metal.  They  are  unlikely  to  cause  much 
impression with this competent if rather indifferent  and  unoriginal 
debut, but nevertheless it does leave the lingering  impression  that 
better things may well come from this band in  the  future.  For  the 
time being, however, they just about barely  escape  dismissal  as  a 
Dimmu Borgir clone; they should therefore build  on  their  strengths 
and distinctive elements, and work on finding  an  identity  that  is 
more their own in  the  future  --  so  that  the  follow-up  to  the 
reasonably promising material on _Neverplace_ won't  end  up  in  the 
second-rate-clones bin like their labelmates Destinity.               

Contact: http://www.adipocere.fr


The Haunted - _One Kill Wonder_  (Earache, 2003)
by: Adam Lineker  (8.5 out of 10)

Ambient snarls of distorted metal drill into your psyche  before  the 
introductory bludgeon of "Privation of Faith Inc."  erupts  from  the 
speakers, confirming your suspicion that The Haunted have become just 
that little bit darker. The  first  track  proper  "Godpuppet"  is  a 
chaotic and violent mining of the traditional thrash vein, with  some 
of the most blistering riffs the band have recorded  since  "Undead". 
_One Kill Wonder_ is also the heaviest record that The  Haunted  have 
released so far. Aside from the production, the major perpetrator  of 
this new found brutality is vocalist Marco Aro, who  delivers  a  far 
more assured performance than his debut on 2000's _The  Haunted  Made 
Me Do It_ opus. The frontman's voice  has  become  thicker  and  more 
powerful since he first joined The  Haunted  and  he  dominates  this 
record, asserting merciless authority over the  deep  and  aggressive 
music.                                                                

"Shadow World" is one of the best tracks The Haunted  have  ever  put 
their name to: a melodic and infectious work that has  potential  for 
'classic' status track. "Everlasting" is  a  more  thrash  orientated 
piece of violence, burning  with  choice  riffwork  and  malevolence, 
before the second peak of the album arrives to the sound of  marching 
feet. "DOA" recalls the ending motif from "Forensick" (_The Haunted_, 
1998) and is a masterpiece of musical intensity; it also  is  another 
reminder  of  how  Marco  Aro  has  transformed  from  Pete  Dolving- 
worshipping hopeful into one of extreme metal's finest singers.  With 
an irresistible chorus and  an  excellent  development  section,  the 
piece ends in a cataclysm of duelling lead tremolos that  merge  into 
the wail of an air raid siren,  leaving  a  disturbing  pause  before 
"Demon  Eyes"  kicks  in.  The  first  moment  of  respite  from  the 
onslaught, the instrumental is a rather average affair.  With  little 
virtuosity to impress us, this is something of an interval before the 
carnage continues.                                                    

Although the tracks are solid and the musicianship high,  the  thrash 
engine loses a little steam (going into downward spiral) for a couple 
of tracks until the opening riff of "Shithead"  bites  in  and  pulls 
things back  up  again.  "Bloodletting"  is  a  change  of  pace,  an 
insidious barrage of grooving riffage held  together  by  Per  Moller 
Jensen's drumming. As the music surges in and out, we are treated  to 
the lead interplay of Anders Bjorler and guest  Michael  Amott  (Arch 
Enemy, Spiritual Beggars, formerly of Carcass). The album closes with 
the title track providing an exciting but all too  brief  full  stop. 
_One Kill Wonder_ is a strong work, displaying all the talent of  one 
of metal's finest bands. As a devout fan, I feel  that  a  couple  of 
tracks are a little  bit  Haunted-by-numbers;  although  a  few  more 
wouldn't have gone a miss. Yet this is still one of the best  records 
I have heard all year; I am deeply sorry to break the straight run of 
nines awarded by CoC in the past -- don't let it put you off!         


The Human Condition - _The Human Condition_  (Independent, 2003)
by: Adrian Magers  (5 out of 10)

Former Sacred Reich guitarist Wiley  Arnett  has  resurfaced  in  the 
metal  world  with  The  Human  Condition,  a  kind  of   bare-bones, 
four-piece, rock metal band. Chances  are,  some  Sacred  Reich  fans 
might be into this, but THC isn't quite  as  aggressive  as  Arnett's 
former band. Rather, on their debut offering (in the form of a  short 
four-song EP) they  exhibit  a  slightly  more  "bar  band"  quality. 
Unfortunately this tends to dull the songs a bit, and  little  stands 
out. The solos are excellent, but always seem to come at  predictable 
times. Overall, though executed with a  lot  of  passion,  The  Human 
Condition lacks a strong identity. With  Arnett's  technical  prowess 
and skill, and the ambition that these  four  obviously  exhibit,  it 
won't take too much for them to put out a hell of a full length  when 
the time comes. However, until  then,  there's  definitely  room  for 
improvement.                                                          

Contact: http://www.thehumancondition.us


Tomahawk - _Mit Gas_  (IPECAC, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (6.5 out of 10)

Being  a  big  fan  of  Tomahawk's  self-titled   debut   album,   my 
anticipation rose higher and higher the closer this follow-up came to 
its release date. Now, after a dozen listens, I have to admit  I'm  a 
bit disappointed. Well, quite a bit disappointed, really.  It's  hard 
to point out where it all goes wrong for me, but I  can't  shake  off 
the impression that Mike Patton's vision is becoming  blurred  trying 
to divide his attention  between  all  the  different  projects  he's 
involved with. I'm not claiming there are bad  songs  on  _Mit  Gas_: 
"Rape This Day" is a happy  twisted  punk-tale,  "You  Can't  Win"  a 
Zappa-esque surfish song, "Rotgut" and "When the Stars Begin to Fall" 
could've been left-overs of the debut, while  "Captain  Midnight"  is 
turned into an electro-ballad, "Desastre Natural" a Mexican  waltz... 
On paper, it's the ideal Tomahawk album mixing fucked up  ingredients 
into fucked up songs. But somewhere along the  way  Mike  Patton  has 
lost his track of the red line that's supposed  to  run  through  the 
album, connecting it all together. Without it, _Mit Gas_ sounds  like 
a bunch of blanks shot by someone who doesn't know what  he's  aiming 
at. Memorable songs that stick in your head after the album has  been 
played are sparse, which is a shame because all the Tomahawk  members 
are top-quality musicians. Anyway, _Mit Gas_ will find its way to the 
fans. Undoubtedly, many will not feel the same mixed emotions  I  do, 
but in all honesty, I'm hoping a third Tomahawk album will be able to 
truly surprise me once more.                                          

Contact: http://www.ipecac.com


Unsanctum - _Ignite the Skies_  (Cacophonous / Visible Noise, 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (6.5 out of 10)

UK's Unsanctum is a relatively fresh and young band (with an  average 
age of around 17), having existed for a mere two years and  with  one 
demo to their name. They did however  manage  to  get  picked  up  by 
Cacophonous, who gave the band the opportunity to record _Ignite  The 
Skies_ at Necrodeath studios. A  crusade  against  pop  music,  _ItS_ 
features a mix between death metal, black  metal  and  some  hardcore 
elements -- they call it deathcore. For eleven tracks  we're  exposed 
to average guitar and bass playing and interesting drumming.  It's  a 
shame, however, that the vocals have such a bland sound in the mix. I 
can't honestly say that I'm a big fan of Unsanctum's screeching vocal 
style, but on _ItS_ the vocals seem to be detached from the  rest  of 
the music, creating a vocal  layer  with  very  limited  use  of  the 
frequencies. Halfway through the album you either manage to block out 
the vocals and enjoy the music, or the vocals start annoying you  too 
much to keep listening to the album. A  shame,  and  hopefully  their 
next attempt will be better than this.                                


Zao - _All Else Failed_  (Solid State (re-release), 2003)
by: Xander Hoose  (7 out of 10)

Not having heard the original _All Else Failed_ record, it's hard for 
me to delve very deep in the differences  between  the  original  and 
this re-recording of their 1995 album. Why a  band  would  completely 
re- record one of their own albums is still a big question to me, but 
nonetheless Zao did it and this is the result. Objectively, _All Else 
Failed_ is  a  very  good  mix  between  metalcore  and  black  metal 
influences. Songs are atmospheric, tight, catchy and it's obvious all 
the musicians are very skilled. However, there's  too  much  midtempo 
riffing on the album, making some of the songs drag on towards  their 
end, which is a shame. A little more  variation  wouldn't  have  hurt 
here, and a good example of a band who operates in  this  exact  same 
style while  keeping  a  better  eye  on  diversity  is  Shogun  (now 
defunct, unfortunately). Even through Zao is obviously  more  skilled 
technically than Shogun, the latter manage to keep their  songs  more 
interesting; if it wasn't for Zao's excellent closing song "All  Else 
Failed" I doubt many people  would  remember  how  the  album  ended. 
Another curious fact is the omission of two tracks that were  present 
on the original _All Else Failed_ album, "In These Times of  Silence" 
and "Simple Reminder", making this not just  a  re-recording  but  an 
incomplete re- recording. Strange. Still, this album is a  good  pick 
for both Zao fans and metalcore fans in general if  you  see  through 
the flaws.                                                            

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

                        __, __, _, _  _,  _,
                        | \ |_  |\/| / \ (_ 
                        |_/ |   |  | \ / , )
                        ~   ~~~ ~  ~  ~   ~ 


Scoring: 5 out of 5 -- A flawless demo
         4 out of 5 -- Great piece of work
         3 out of 5 -- Good effort
         2 out of 5 -- A major overhaul is in order
         1 out of 5 -- A career change is advisable


Born of Thorns - _The Encounter of Light and Dark_
by: Adrian Magers  (4.5 out of 5)

Symphonic black metallers Born of Thorns  have  slowly  been  carving 
their mark deeper and deeper into Finland over the  last  few  years, 
and also appeared on the recent Cradle of Filth tribute  _Covered  in 
Filth_, on which they contributed the standout track  --  a  faithful 
rendition of "To Eve  the  Art  of  Witchcraft".  However,  once  one 
introduces himself to Born of Thorns' other material he soon realizes 
the band's full  talents.  They  compose  metal  that  is  beautiful, 
melodic, dramatic, and is put together in a  very  grandiose  manner. 
Their biggest strength lies  in  their  transitions;  the  songs  are 
structured perfectly. The one complaint I can think of is length,  as 
there are only three songs ("The Encounter", "Of Light", "And  Dark") 
on this demo EP totaling under 20 minutes of  material.  But  the  CD 
serves its purpose, as I'm definitely craving more  Born  of  Thorns. 
_The Encounter of Light and Dark_ was  recently  picked  up  and  re- 
distributed by Oak Knoll Productions, so think of this  as  a  second 
chance to pick up some top-notch melodic black metal.                 

Contact: http://www.bornofthorns.com


Enormity - _Inherent Enslaver_
by: Adrian Magers  (3.5 out of 5)

_Inherent Enslaver_ wastes no time getting started. Enormity  put  on 
display some  great  riffs  in  the  opening  track  "Better  Without 
Reserve" and stay consistent throughout the four tracks  on  a  quite 
impressive demo. If I were to play devil's advocate I  could  nitpick 
that the band's treading on familiar  territory,  but  it's  hard  to 
argue with the deadly guitar lines on this CD. Enormity dabbles in  a 
few different areas in the  realm  of  melodic  death/black,  leaning 
mainly towards the death side, and taking heavy  influence  from  the 
older Gothenburg artists. There are a few blackened moments  --  most 
notably Jani Nistaken's vocals, which most closely resemble those  of 
Shagrath, but overall are recognizable in their own regard. The songs 
are to the point,  all  around  just  over  three  minutes.  Enormity 
utilize a  formula  that,  when  done  right,  can  keep  a  listener 
interested in songs twice that length, but apparently they've decided 
to take a less predictable route,  thus  sharpening  their  songs  to 
bite-size pieces of crushing melodies and lead-inspired  twin  guitar 
interplay that beg to be played over and over.                        

Contact: http://www.enormityband.cjb.net


Forcefield - _Casualty_
by: Jackie Smit  (1.5 out of 5)

The first Forcefield effort to be brought to my attention may have  a 
far superior sound to most of the many demos  I  had  under  scrutiny 
during the past few years, but did a three year-old come up with  the 
main riff to "Afterlife", the disc's opening track? Two  (count  'em) 
notes repeated in what makes Korn sound like Dillinger  Escape  Plan, 
and just when things seem ready to kick  into  gear,  the  band  pour 
sulphuric acid on their thrash/death attempt with one  of  the  worst 
attempts at funk/rapping I have ever heard in my life. While this may 
still have been  somewhat  understandable  coming  from  a  group  of 
overzealous third world youths, Forcefield's bio leads me to  believe 
that they have been active in music  since  the  early  nineties.  No 
surprise then that they have yet to be paid attention by  any  labels 
of note. The title track fares a bit better than its predecessor, but 
the band still persist on incorporating  the  most  ludicrous  of  nu 
metal clichés at the most inopportune times -- never  mind  the  fact 
that their primary style  is  actually  quite  old  school.  "Morning 
Booze" rounds out the three song  collection  and  its  dire  subject 
matter pretty much suits the quality of the song. I'd hate  to  sound 
nasty, but this is one  of  those  times  where  my  only  advice  to 
Forcefield would be to get back to the drawing board in a hurry.      

Contact: http://www.forcefield.tmfweb.nl


Pitbulls in the Nursery - _Impact_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (3.5 out of 5)

Armed with the kind of name that will spark curiousity in some people 
as to their sound, Pitbulls in the Nursery aim for  the  throat  with 
their first demo CD. However, _Impact_ doesn't quite make the kind of 
damage one might imagine from their name -- at  least  in  the  sense 
that the onslaught here is  a  lot  less  frantic.  Pitbulls  in  the 
Nursery are essentially a groovy death metal band with a Chris Barnes 
doppelganger on vocals;  rather  than  an  all-out  hyperblast  death 
metal machine set to unleash bloody  chaos.  Their  sound  does  have 
considerable "impact"  though,  with  a  production  that  emphasizes 
the low-end frequencies nicely and  comes  across  as  very  adequate 
considering this  is  just  a  demo.  PitN's  approach  is  based  on 
percussive riffs  and  rhythmic  hooks  rather  than  melodic  leads, 
resulting in a very American-sounding concoction. Again as their name 
might suggest, the music is hardly very cerebral, but it does  remain 
tight, reasonably involved  and  entertaining  despite  its  lack  of 
originality. Overall, apart from the unusual band name, _Impact_ is a 
very competent, albeit not extraordinary, death metal demo.           

Contact: http://pitn.free.fr


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

                             _, _  _,  _,
                            / _ | / _ (_ 
                            \ / | \ / , )
                             ~  ~  ~   ~ 

                THE WORLD OV WORMS DESCENDS ON LONDON
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Zyklon, Myrkskog, Reign of Erebus and Void
               @ London Camden Underworld, 6 June 2003
                           by: Jackie Smit


Before I begin this review, I feel that I should clarify an important 
point from my perspective. Living in the British capital has afforded 
me the opportunity  to  see  several  live  acts,  and  with  greater 
frequency, I find myself agreeing with Mr Kerry King's  opinion  that 
there's more to a stage performance than simply playing  your  band's 
music. Regardless of how good a band might  sound  on  disc,  or  how 
technically proficient songs are rendered to the audience,  the  keys 
to the success of the group's set lie  in  the  outfit's  ability  to 
communicate with and to the audience, the band's conviction, attitude 
and enthusiasm for their work. Having attended upwards of thirty gigs 
in the past twelve months, I find that in this  sense  the  Americans 
seem to generally have the edge over their European counterparts in a 
big way. Where Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Nile and  Immolation  simply 
resonate with visceral on-stage intensity and consistently create  an 
atmosphere of excitement throughout their shows, the same can not  be 
said of bands like Samael, Sinister  or  unfortunately  in  tonight's 
case Zyklon and Myrkskog.                                             

Opening  acts  are  pretty  much  always  set  for  a   rough   ride, 
particularly when they are the  lead-in  for  two  bands  as  eagerly 
anticipated by an audience as tonight's main attractions. However  at 
the same time  an  opening  slot  of  this  profile  can  provide  an 
excellent platform for a band to win over  many  new  fans.  Too  bad 
then, that nobody  seems  to  have  told  this  to  industrial  black 
metallers Void -- the first act to take to the Underworld stage  this 
evening. With beats and samples provided by a very nonchalant looking 
character standing behind a fully set up PC, the  band  already  lack 
the dynamic of a live drummer and don't seem motivated  to  launch  a 
plausible attempt to compensate for this. While  both  the  guitarist 
and bassist at times indulge  the  audience  with  the  odd  bout  of 
headbanging, it is the vocalist who pours acid all  over  the  band's 
performance. Either drunk or stoned  and  utterly  disinterested,  he 
treats the audience with a veritable sense of  contempt.  Never  once 
even thanking the few members of the crowd who do applaud,  he  flays 
himself around in a distinctly patronizing fashion in  between  vocal 
sections and storms off stage halfway through  the  final  song.  The 
reason for this is quite unapparent, because even though Void  suffer 
from the odd sound gremlin it certainly isn't comparable to  some  of 
the acoustic disasters the Camden Underworld has been host to in  the 
past. Now were their actual music any good, this  unprofessional  and 
frankly disgusting display would not have bothered me  so  much;  but 
for the  most  part  every  song  just  sounds  like  an  incoherent, 
pretentious mess. I have seen some shoddy opening acts  in  my  time, 
but Void are possibly the biggest pile of shit to ever darken a  bill 
with their presence.                                                  

With both their _Superior Massacre_ and _Deathmachine_ records  being 
current favourites of mine, things look set to get much, much  better 
when Norway's Myrkskog hit the stage. While playing as a three  piece 
diminishes their stage presence somewhat, they  do  a  great  job  of 
recreating their hellish noise on  stage.  The  problem  is  that  in 
between songs, both front man and bassist retire to the rear area  of 
the stage and spend easily thirty seconds to a minute talking to each 
other and taking swigs of water. Now, I certainly don't begrudge them 
a bit of liquid refreshment (Lord knows, they probably need it),  but 
when this happens after every song,  it  starts  to  feel  more  like 
you're watching a rehearsal as opposed to an actual performance,  and 
ironically -- seeing as how Myrkskog drummer Secthdamon  fronts  them 
-- the same problem will hamper Zyklon's set later on. On the  bright 
side, "Domain of the Superior" and "Bleeding Wrists" sound fantastic, 
and although Myrkskog's constant 1000 BPM sometimes makes them  sound 
a bit one dimensional, they at least seem excited to actually  be  on 
stage.                                                                

I'm not sure why I was initially a bit sceptic about Reign of Erebus, 
but they turn out to be the  highlight  of  the  evening.  Not  being 
particularly familiar with any of the their material, their  furious, 
aggressive and raw black metal assault is made all the more enjoyable 
by the fact that the band  seem  literally  overjoyed  to  have  been 
included on the evening's bill. For  the  duration  of  their  thirty 
minute set, they give their absolute all -- to the extent that I find 
myself genuinely sorry for the vocalist when his microphone cuts  out 
during a storming rendition of what I'm  led  to  believe  is  a  new 
track. In fine style  (and  unlike  Void  before  them)  their  sheer 
determination simply bulldozes  through  this  proverbial  roadblock. 
It's almost a shame to hear them announce their  last  song  for  the 
evening, but one thing is for sure -- Immortal, Marduk and others  of 
their ilk had better start looking over their shoulders.              

With  their  forthcoming  sophomore  opus,  _Aeon_,  looming  on  the 
horizon, tonight is the perfect opportunity for Zyklon  to  not  only 
show off  their  new  front  man,  Secthdamon,  to  a  rabid  English 
audience, but also stir up some valuable  word  of  mouth  for  their 
upcoming record. They succeed admirably in both  respects,  but  like 
Myrkskog they have yet to master the art of connecting properly  with 
an audience. On the bright side, Secthdamon's vastly  superior  vocal 
range adds a whole new dynamic to Zyklon's already impressive  veneer 
and  new  tracks  like  "Psyklon  Aeon"  and  "Core  Solution"  sound 
fantastic. Ex-Emperor man Zamoth towers over the left of  the  stage, 
leering at the audience and overseeing  the  chaos  spewed  forth  by 
his new proteges, his previous  highly-acclaimed  musical  endeavours 
clearly awarding him a level  of  charisma  far  above  that  of  his 
bandmates. But despite excellent performances of  "Chaos  Deathkult", 
"Transcendental War" and a rapturously received rendition  of  "I  Am 
the Black Wizards", it still feels like Zyklon  should  have  offered 
more. And when they conclude their set after just forty five minutes, 
one can't help  but  feel  even  more  saddened  at  the  thought  of 
Emperor's demise.                                                     

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

                 MARCO ARO DANCES FOR THE CAT PEOPLE
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              The Haunted, Stampin' Ground and December
             at the Glasgow Cathouse, February 28th 2003
                          by: Adam Lineker


Sometimes  a  journalist  really  appreciates  his  privileges.  Upon 
arrival at the Cathouse I am greeted with one of the larger queues of 
metallers I have  ever  seen.  At  the  door  one  learns  that  this 
multitude of blackened, spiky figures waits in  line  for  the  eight 
remaining tickets. It would seem  that  word  has  spread  about  the 
majesty of The Haunted and most of the Glasgow  scene  want  to  know 
what all of the fuss is about. Once through the doors, I  don't  look 
back.                                                                 

With the venue jammed to the rafters, December  are  welcomed  by  an 
expectant and buzzing audience. One of the more  un-uniform  bands  I 
have witnessed, December perform adequately. The band would  seem  to 
have quite a 'no-frills' approach to slamming out their  death  metal 
and this strikes a chord with  the  audience,  who  remain  attentive 
throughout. When not casually addressing the throng  in  an  American 
drawl, the bespectacled vocalist lurches between deep guttural  roars 
and dog-bothering screeches, never failing to cut through  the  noise 
and grate on your brain. The rest of the  band  perform  tightly  and 
efficiently, and although somewhat  linear  in  style,  December  are 
blessed with a strong sound and good form.  Their  presence  on  this 
bill seems appropriate.                                               

With the foundations firmly laid, Stampin' Ground are  left  to  take 
the evening to the next level, which they do in style. Delivering  an 
inspired  and  energetic  performance,  one  could  be  forgiven  for 
believing they are the headliners; in their own words, "for the  next 
forty minutes, this is Stampin' Ground's time". Sinewy vocalist  Adam 
Frakes-Sime is  truly  at  ease  in  the  heated  and  claustrophobic 
environment, taking great delight in exchanging banter with  a  mock- 
patriotic Scottish audience. Spending as much time in or on the crowd 
as on stage (as per usual), the frontman's efforts provoke one of the 
most joyous and chaotic moshes I've ever had to escape from. With the 
bouncing riffs and thumping hardcore grooves matched by the  pogo-ing 
guitarists, the band seem almost synchronised with the beat.  Special 
mention must go to bassist  Ian  Glasper,  who  commands  a  zen-like 
presence through his musical and physical performance.  Incorporating 
much of their  most  effective  material  and  stylistic  trademarks, 
Stampin' Ground are truly awesome. As the show climaxes with  Frakes- 
Sime splitting the crowd in two and smashing them  together,  one  is 
left wondering how The Haunted  can  possibly  top  the  evening.  If 
anything, this proves exactly how caught up in the moment I was.      

As a devout fan of the headliners, I should have known that tonight's 
performance was going to be no less than excellent. Yet, in truth, it 
is far from merely excellent; it is a phenomenal,  almost  revelatory 
experience. From the moment guitarist Jensen strolls onstage  to  the 
furious ending  rendition  of  Hate  Song,  The  Haunted  maintain  a 
crescendo that begins with awe and ends  in  euphoria.  Blending  the 
strongest material from new opus _One Kill Wonder_ with an  abundance 
of older favourites, The Haunted seem nothing  short  of  titanic  as 
they thrash out songs like "Chasm", "D.O.A."  and  the  anthemic  "In 
Vein". Oft regarded as the modern Slayer, the band show  exactly  why 
they possess  such  a  title  with  a  display  of  musicianship  and 
solidarity that defies belief. Marco Aro  seems  to  take  particular 
(and peculiar) satisfaction from the fact that he is playing  at  The 
Cathouse, meowing at the girls in the audience before "Hollow Ground" 
and inexplicably skanking like Michael Jackson, but aside from  these 
bizarre moments of japery he holds an unquestionable presence on  the 
stage, delivering his vocals with confident power and  ferocity.  The 
intricate  lead  interplay  between  Jensen  and  Anders  Bjorler  is 
flawless and thankfully well  supported  by  the  sound;  one  should 
expect so as producer Frederik Nordstrom is seen lurking  behind  the 
onstage equipment. Underneath the axemanship of these  two  virtuosos 
thumps the rhythm section of Jonas Bjorler and Per Moller Jensen, who 
efficiently keep the reigns taught and still find space to  pull  off 
blinding fills. As the band close their set it seems believable  that 
they are able to put the ghost of At the Gates to rest;  in  response 
to shouted requests, Marco Aro distractedly replies with "C'mon Guys, 
that band aren't around anymore".  One  can  only  commend  them  for 
this; tonight is theirs and they  know  it.  Grinning  appreciatively 
throughout and lovingly praising the ecstatic audience,  The  Haunted 
remind everyone present just why they fell in love with metal in  the 
first place. As the lights come up, there is a  triumphant  smile  on 
every face in the building -- including the Bjorler twins.            

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

                      __, __, ___  _, _ _,   _,
                      | \ |_   |  /_\ | |   (_ 
                      |_/ |    |  | | | | , , )
                      ~   ~~~  ~  ~ ~ ~ ~~~  ~ 

Web Site: http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com
FTP Archive: ftp://ftp.etext.org/pub/Zines/ChroniclesOfChaos

--> Interested in being reviewed? Please ask for a local mailing 
    address by e-mailing us at:

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

                    Europe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com

                 NorthAmerica@ChroniclesOfChaos.com

                RestOfTheWorld@ChroniclesOfChaos.com

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


DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  a  FREE  monthly  magazine  electronically
distributed worldwide via the Internet. Seemingly endless interviews,
album reviews and concert reviews encompass the pages  of  Chronicles
of Chaos. Chronicles of Chaos stringently emphasizes all varieties of
chaotic music ranging from black and death metal to  electronic/noise
to dark, doom and ambient forms. Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  dedicated
to the underground and as such we feature demo reviews from all indie
bands who send us material, as  well  as  interviews  with  a  select
number of independent acts.


HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any time  by  sending  an
e-mail to  <mailto:Subscribe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>  with  your  full
name in the subject line of the message.

You may unsubscribe from Chronicles of Chaos at any time by sending a
blank e-mail to <mailto:Unsubscribe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #63

All contents copyright  (c)  1995-2003  by  individual  creators  of 
included work. All rights reserved.
All  opinions  expressed  herein  are  those  of   the   individuals 
expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of  anyone 
else.                                                                

