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


      CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, September 1, 2004, Issue #77
                  http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com


Co-Editor / Founder: Gino Filicetti
Co-Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Contributor: Quentin Kalis
Contributor: Xander Hoose
Contributor: Adam Lineker
Contributor: James Montague
Contributor: Jackie Smit
Neophyte: James Slone
Neophyte: Todd DePalma

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

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

Issue #77 Contents, 9/1/2004
----------------------------
* Chats
-- Dismember: Indifferent and Content
-- Mastodon: Where Swims the Leviathan?
-- Inhumate: DIY Grind With a Mind
* Albums
-- Arachnes - _Primary Fear_
-- Bloodbath - _Nightmares Made Flesh_
-- Capharnaum - _Fractured_
-- Cattle Decapitation - _Humanure_
-- Council of the Fallen - _Deciphering the Soul_
-- Decrepit Birth - _...And Time Begins_
-- Dementor - _God Defamer_
-- Dragonauta - _Luciferatu_
-- Elend - _Sunwar the Dead_
-- Eviscium - _Underneath the Buried_
-- Ewigkeit - _Radio Ixtlan_
-- Forest - _Like a Blaze Above the Ashes_
-- HateSphere - _Ballet of the Brute_
-- Incantation - _Decimate Christendom_
-- Insision - _Revealed & Worshipped_
-- Kadotus - _Seven Glorifications of Evil_
-- Lord Belial - _The Seal of Belial_
-- Majesty - _Reign in Glory_
-- Mastodon - _Leviathan_
-- Neurosis & Jarboe - _Neurosis & Jarboe_
-- PsyOpus - _Ideas of Reference_
-- Pungent Stench - _Ampeauty_
-- Runemagick - _On Funeral Wings_
-- Seth - _Era Decay_
-- Textures - _Polars_
* Demos
-- Malebolgia - _Requiem for the Inexorable_
-- Seraphim Slaughter - _To Cataclysmic Path_
-- Terror Ascends - _Of Dark Descent_
* Gigs
-- God Forbid! It's Slayer -and- Slipknot
-- One of Our Drummers Is Missing...
* Rants
-- Black Metal: A Brief Guide

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

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

            I N D I F F E R E N T   A N D   C O N T E N T
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC chats with Matti Karki from Dismember
                          by: Paul Schwarz


Fans had to wait five long years for Dismember's sixth album,  _Where 
Ironcrosses Grow_ (released in March). But as we all know, metal fans 
are notoriously good at keeping the home-fires burning, even  against 
the odds: the Swedes' performance at last year's Wacken proved beyond 
a doubt that Dismember kept a good few hearths warm, despite  erratic 
touring schedules and a complete lack of new releases.                

As  an  original,  old  school  Swedish  death  metal  band  --  who, 
like Entombed, blossomed between 1990  and  1991,  and  were  heavily 
influenced by Autopsy and Repulsion, among  a  host  of  other  usual 
suspects like Slayer -- Dismember command a lot  of  respect  in  the 
metal underground. Today, they stand primarily on  their  reputation. 
Albums of the standard of _WIG_ of course help their  cause,  but  it 
would  take  a  lot,  at  this  point,  for  Dismember's  fanbase  to 
wholeheartedly abandon them, after having effectively kept  the  band 
alive throughout years of business-related difficulties.              

Of course, as I commented last time  Dismember  were  interviewed  in 
these pages, fans like myself are sometimes frustrated by Dismember's 
relative lack of popularity; but damn fine bands don't always receive 
the rewards they deserve, and in the end, perhaps it -is- enough that 
Dismember can continue to play and record without sacrificing more of 
their time and resources than they happily  can.  After  all,  that's 
more than many bands can manage. So, without further ado, here is  an 
interview I conducted with Matti Karki shortly before the release  of 
_WIG_, presented in its entirety, with edits only for clarity.        

CoC: One of the things that I think is interesting about Dismember in 
     this day and  age,  as  it  were,  is  that  from  the  -inside- 
     Dismember is very much something you do in your spare time...    

Matti Karki: Yes.

CoC: Rather than something you're trying to make a career of -- which 
     may have been somewhat true in the early Nineties, I imagine.         

MK: Yeah.

CoC: But you compare that to the status of Dismember from the outside 
     -- take your performance at Wacken this year.  You're  almost  a 
     legendary band <Matti quietly exhales  a  muted  laugh>  with  a 
     trademark sound -- even if the wanky music journalist in us  all 
     can, you know, dissect the band in terms of other influences.    

MK: <chuckles>

CoC: You have a sound where people go: -that's- the Dismember sound.

MK: Yeah.

CoC: Firstly, how do you find that contrast between  the  inside  and 
     the outside of the band? The contrast between what  a  Dismember 
     fan would say to you, and how it -is-, being in Dismember?       

MK: I don't know, because we have been doing this for a long time now 
    -- and it's grown to be a very natural part of our lives. Even if 
    we are not able to do it full-time, it's still a big part --  and 
    we're gonna do this  as  long  as  there  is  interest  from  the 
    outside. I don't really know how I  should  make  the  comparison 
    from the inside and the outside.                                  

CoC: It's difficult, isn't it?

MK: Yeah. I mean, as we see it, we are just Dismember --  and  during 
    the latest years, with the last releases of the  albums  and  the 
    live shows that we've  done,  somehow  there  has  grown  like  a 
    reputation  of,  "Dismember,  old-school  veterans,  they're  not 
    giving up". So... it's kind of fun, but I don't know if we see it 
    that way. We're just... we're just Dismember.                     

CoC: _Where Ironcrosses Grow_ I think very much reflects that in  the 
     same way _Hate Campaign_ did, to a great extent.  What's  become 
     clear to me, retrospectively, since _Death Metal_,  is  that  -- 
     once you were more relaxed with being -just- Dismember  --  your 
     influences started to come out more clearly, or more directly.   

MK: Yeah.

CoC: The Autopsy and Iron Maiden influences are very easy to hear  on 
     _WIG_.                                                                

MK: Yes.

CoC: So do you  think  there's  any  sense  where  you're  not  being 
     particularly adventurous with the albums, because you  know  who 
     you are as a band?                                               

MK: We have a very clear picture of what we wanna do and much of  the 
    stuff -- problems with the record label and stuff like that, have 
    gone away. So we actually had -time- to write this album  in  all 
    peace and quiet, had a  really  relaxed  recording  session,  and 
    just... you know, we felt that we needed to do  a  strong  record 
    and we wanted to look back on the old stuff, and since the market 
    is pretty free -- you know, there's not many bands that play this 
    way -- we felt free. We felt like: now we can  go  all  the  way, 
    back to the roots -- and perhaps with the new influences and  the 
    new, fresh material -- and arrange and organise the stuff the way 
    -we- want it, since -there is nobody else doing this-.            

CoC: The -sound- of the record -is- more like _Indecent and  Obscene_ 
     or _Like an Everflowing Stream_.                                      

MK: Yeah.

CoC: It's more -crusty- around the edges, in a really nice  way.  Did 
     you intentionally make an album for  Dismember  fans  this  time 
     around, more than with any other album?                          

MK: No, actually we just... When we started recording  the  album  we 
    were discussing what we should do, what we wanted to  accomplish. 
    First of all we felt that we were kinda pushed into doing a  real 
    - strong- album because of the long  absence  of  the  band.  And 
    since - now- we feel really comfortable  with  our  status  among 
    many people as death metal veterans, and  expect  us  to  do  old 
    stuff -- not that it's any pressure, 'cause we really want to  do 
    that -- it all felt natural: to go back to  the  old  albums  and 
    pick out the best things of every album. So soundwise we tried to 
    get closer to _Like an Everflowing Stream_.  Influence-wise,  the 
    riffs and stuff just went back to the roots. But we  still  tried 
    to make fresh and interesting music.                              

CoC: It's been five years since the last Dismember album was released 
     -- though _Where Ironcrosses Grow_ was recorded a year ago, four 
     years after _Hate Campaign_. The line-up who recorded _WIG_  was 
     yourself, Fred [Estby, drums], David  [Blomqvist,  guitars]  and 
     Richard [Cabeza] [the core "classic" line-up --  Paul].  Richard 
     only recorded the bass on  "Where  Angels  Fear  to  Tread"  and 
     "Children of the Cross" -- though  he's  featured  in  the  band 
     photo -- and David played session on the rest of the album.  Now 
     you've got Martin Persson as a second guitarist. You had the guy 
     from Necrophobic doing bass  at  your  Wacken  performance  last 
     year. Basically, after you finished  _Hate  Campaign_  and  left 
     Nuclear Blast, what happened with Richard and what happened with 
     Magnus [Sahlgren, second guitarist for _HC_]?                    

MK: Well, Richard got married. He met a  girl  from  the  States  and 
    after a while she got pregnant and they were planning to let  the 
    baby be born here in Sweden. But  during  the  recording  of  the 
    album David got the answer from Swedish immigration:  no.  So  he 
    had to go to the States -- and that was  in  the  middle  of  the 
    recording, so he only had time to do two tracks. Since we  really 
    needed the album done  because  we  had  booked  the  studio  and 
    everything, we just made the decision that David would have to do 
    the rest of the bass so we could get the album done and return to 
    other things like booking shows  and  planning  for  the  future. 
    Magnus just drifted away after our long period of inactivity.  He 
    drifted away, and when we started rehearsing the  new  songs  for 
    the album and went into the studio, he didn't even show up.       

CoC: I remember you telling me this when  we  talked  at  Wacken.  He 
     didn't even quit, you had to call him up and  tell  him  not  to 
     bother coming next time.                                         

MK: Yes. We asked him to leave. We said: this is not going  to  work, 
    you're showing no interest at all, so it's better if you quit  -- 
    and he agreed. So no hard feelings: we just needed to  know  that 
    he's not going to be in the band -- and  so  we  needed  to  find 
    somebody else.  Luckily,  Martin  actually  phoned  us  up  after 
    hearing rumours that we were searching for a new guitarist. So he 
    called us up and asked if there was a chance to try out,  and  he 
    was the second guitarist we tried out and he fitted perfectly.    

CoC: That's very lucky.

MK: Yeah. And when you don't call the guy, he calls you. It's  pretty 
    convenient.                                                           

CoC: Am I right in  thinking  that  if  the  fan  interest  from  the 
     hardcore of Dismember fans -hadn't-  maintained  over  the  last 
     five years, the band probably wouldn't still be around?          

MK: It's a big possibility that after all this trouble we had with  - 
    everything- -- record labels and fucked-up tours  and  everything 
    -- the chance would have been -very- big that we would just  have 
    split up. But 'cause we've been doing gigs here and there,  we've 
    always seen that there's still an -interest-.  So  that  kept  us 
    going, you know, and hoping, "OK, let's do the next album and see 
    what happens." Especially after we did Wacken: the support we had 
    at that show was -amazing-.                                       

CoC: It was great. It was almost like a Dismember convention  --  for 
     half an hour.                                                         

MK: <laughs> Yeah, and the people who enjoyed the music were not just 
    old, hardcore Dismember fanatics. I mean, there  were  a  lot  of 
    young people who were not there from  the  beginning,  and  still 
    seemed to enjoy the music, so it was very fun to see.             

CoC: Yeah. It still has the power to kind of -convert- people on  its 
     own back, the music?                                                  

MK: Yeah.

CoC: How did you track down Dan Seagrave to  do  the  cover  art  for 
     _WIG_? Is he still drawing album covers?                              

MK: Well, we were thinking about who we should get to do  this  cover 
    -- 'cause the guy who did the cover for _HC_ didn't  actually  do 
    that good a job.                                                  

CoC: I would agree with that.

MK: So we kind of felt we wanted to use  someone  else.  OK,  so  who 
    else? Once we'd remembered Dan Seagrave  we  tried  to  think  of 
    album covers he'd done lately. We couldn't think of  any,  so  we 
    thought we'd get in touch with him. I can't remember who sent the 
    e-mail, but we just mailed him and asked if he was interested. He 
    was interested, so we sent him the basic ideas and  some...  very 
    few guidelines. He asked for the  songtitles  and  just  made  an 
    album cover.                                                      

CoC: It's nice that he can still do the death metal thing.

MK: Actually, I think he can because during the years when he did all 
    the album covers for all the bands he developed a certain  style. 
    He began -- if you look at Carnage [1990's  _Dark  Recollections_ 
    -- Paul] and both Entombed ones  [1990's  _Left  Hand  Path_  and 
    1991's _Clandestine_ -- Paul]  and  Dismember  [1991's  _Like  an 
    Everflowing Stream_] -- with this organic feel,  with  a  lot  of 
    things from nature: water, trees.                                 

CoC: Then there's a sort of techno-organic aspect that creeps into it.

MK: Yeah. During the years he made all these albums and  developed  a 
    different style with more futuristic machines involved and  stuff 
    like that.                                                        

CoC: The Suffocation album -- _Effigy of the Forgotten_ -- and  stuff 
     like that.                                                            

MK: Yeah. But somehow he managed to go -back- to the early stuff, but 
    with his -new- style of making his drawings.                          

CoC: So where do Dismember go from _WIG_? Have you got tours planned?

MK: Well, not actual -tours-. We have a lot of shows booked and we're 
    gonna fly across Europe doing shows here and  there  every  other 
    week. So we have a lot of shows booked and  we're  gonna  promote 
    the album - this- way. We'll have to see what  happens  with  the 
    album, how the sales go, the fan reaction and -perhaps-,  at  the 
    end of this year, if there is enough  -interest-,  we'll  try  to 
    make a tour; but otherwise we just keep on, you know, flying down 
    to Greece, doing a couple of shows,  flying  back  home;  a  week 
    later we go to Italy; and on like that. We're gonna  jump  around 
    Europe all spring and summer. And hopefully we'll get these  huge 
    summer- festival offerings later on!                              

CoC: When I spoke to you at Wacken last summer you said, about _WIG_, 
     that if  everything  went  right  the  album  would  be  out  in 
     November, and if everything  went  wrong  it  would  be  out  in 
     February. It comes out in March. How do you feel about that?     

MK: Like I said to you previously, we  were  hoping  that  the  album 
    would come out at the end of last year, but I think much  of  the 
    stuff with Hammerheart turning into Karmageddon Media also had an 
    impact on the release date -- and in  the  end  we  just  stopped 
    bitching about it, you know? OK, -March-: as long as  it  doesn't 
    go further than -March-, then it's OK. So I  guess  it  gave  the 
    guys a lot of time to do promotional work. I've never  done  this 
    amount of interviews for a single album in my whole career.  I've 
    been sitting here for four days now, doing interviews all day.    

CoC: So there are even more interviews than there were in 1992,  when 
     death metal was big?                                                  

MK: Yes.

CoC: It must be a nice contrast to Nuclear Blast's  very  tailing-off 
     attitude to the band. They didn't  even  promote  _Death  Metal_ 
     well enough, let alone _Hate Campaign_, which had  these  little 
     eighth- page ads that you occasionally saw in magazines!         

MK: <laughs> Yeah, it's like, "Look! We have a mid-price CD!"

CoC: <laughs> Exactly. "...the new Dismember album."

MK: <laughs>

CoC: It must be such a different experience being  with  Karmageddon: 
     you're probably one of their biggest bands.                           

MK: Yes.

CoC: You'll probably have more of a chance of getting  _WIG_  in  the 
     album of year polls, having it released  this  year:  a  lot  of 
     press -- and I'm not sure, but I  think  especially  in  central 
     Europe -- tend to miss releases that come out  in  November  and 
     December, unless they get them right on time and all  that  sort 
     of stuff. I think Dismember have the  potential  to  get  really 
     quite high marks in the magazines who really like Hypocrisy  and 
     quite a lot of the other melodic Swedish  bands,  who  are  very 
     popular.                                                         

MK: One thing I heard -- I think it was the German  Metal  Hammer  -- 
    they have this Soundcheck part, and I  think  we  got  on  fourth 
    place, and apparently no death metal band has been -so-  high  on 
    this Soundcheck thing  for  -years-.  So  yeah,  there's  a  huge 
    interest in the band at the moment and the  album  seems  to  get 
    good reviews and people are generally happy  with  it.  So  yeah: 
    let's hope that 2004 will be a good year for us.                  

CoC: As you were saying: you're taking it slow and steady.  It's  not 
     like: let's organise the huge tour and -do it-. It's more  like: 
     let's test the waters, see how it goes, and we'll work  up  from 
     there.                                                           

MK: Mmhm.

CoC: How much time, month by month, do you guys find you  have  -for- 
     Dismember -- or do you have to devote -to- Dismember?                 

MK: Well actually not that much. Since all the  live  shows  we  have 
    done have kept the band quite tight and rehearsed, we only had to 
    rehearse the new songs for upcoming gigs, and actually  we  don't 
    have that  much,  you  know,  "band  time",  except  when  we  go 
    and play. But otherwise, Fred  is  doing  a  lot  of  work,  he's 
    taking care of all the booking nowadays. I  usually  do  all  the 
    interviews, and the other guys were busy doing other stuff, so  I 
    said, "OK, I'll do - everything-. I'll take this  week  and  just 
    sit and talk to all the people." So I mean usually, when  nothing 
    is happening, there's actually very little Dismember time, except 
    for the usual things: I still write lyrics all the time, to  have 
    like a small  "back-  catalogue"  to  go  back  to  when  there's 
    actually a need to do new lyrics.                                 

CoC: So you don't have to stress.

MK: Yeah, and the other guys are just,  you  know,  sitting  at  home 
    doing riffs and just building up material until it's time  to  do 
    the next thing.                                                   

CoC: So it's a very steady process. How much do you get -- not asking 
     figures, but  as  far  as  your  life  goes,  is  Dismember  the 
     occasional cheque that's nice to get, or is it  something  where 
     you think: well, in three months I'll have so  much  money  from 
     Dismember, so I can buy a stereo or something?                   

MK: It's the first option. Of course  we  have  to  think  about  the 
    economic situation, 'cause everybody has jobs and when we go  and 
    play we need -at least- to have that economic  guarantee:  if  we 
    have to take time off work, we need to get  that  money  that  we 
    lose from not working. So we have to take that into consideration 
    all the time, but otherwise Dismember -- well, it's not a  hobby, 
    it's still our lifestyle, it's been there forever, you know.  But 
    we don't have the time to devote to Dismember 100%. We still have 
    families and stuff to take care of.                               

CoC: Have Dismember ever been at a level where you  could  have  quit 
     your jobs?                                                            

MK: No.

CoC: Practice-time permitting, have you considered putting  any  more 
     old songs that haven't been played in years back into  the  set? 
     [Dismember aired some songs at Wacken which until  recently  had 
     not been aired in years -- Paul]                                 

MK: Yes,  actually.  For  the  upcoming  gigs  we  have  rehearsed  a 
    catalogue of about 30 to 35 songs. So we  have  songs  to  choose 
    from. If we do a show and notice this song doesn't cut  it  live, 
    we'll change it for - this- one so that we can try out more,  and 
    keep the set varied. So yes, there are a lot of songs popping  up 
    from the old records.                                             

CoC: Any songs in particular that you'd like to mention, that haven't 
     been aired recently?                                                  

MK: "Life, Another Shape of Sorrow", for example.

CoC: A  cool  song  from  _Massive   Killing   Capacity_,   a   very 
     under-noticed album, in some ways.                                    

MK: Yeah, it got kinda caught up in everything else and though it got 
    some attention, we do have the two camps: either you like  it  or 
    you hate it.                                                      

CoC: Absolutely, but it's definitely one  of  the  ones  that's  also 
     disappeared into  the  Dismember  backcatalogue  more  than  the 
     others. Any old songs that you -won't- be playing, for  sure  -- 
     ones that you looked at and just said, "no way"?                 

MK: <laughs> A lot from _Indecent and Obscene_. Those songs  were  so 
    messy, with so many riffs and  so  many  breaks  and  everything. 
    They're really complicated to play                              . 

CoC: Yeah, I love 'em. <laughs>

MK: <laughs> So they kind of faded from our memories so there's a lot 
    of songs from that album we won't play. We are gonna do "Pieces", 
    though.                                                           

CoC: Can I make one recommendation which I'll make a bet with you on?

MK: OK... <small chuckle>

CoC: I'll bet that if you play  a,  possibly  rearranged  version  of 
     "Skinfather": with that big massive riff in  the  middle  you'll 
     get a big shout from the crowd. I'll bet you  a  crowd  will  go 
     nuts for that <dearn>... <dearn>... <dearn>...                   

MK: <laughs> Actually it -is- on the setlist. I think  that  song  is 
    going to be one of the ones we play at almost every show.             

CoC: Good choice.  What  about  your  choice  of  studio  for  _Where 
     Ironcrosses Grow_? You recorded _Hate Campaign_ at Das Boot with 
     Fred as producer and _Death Metal_, the last album you  recorded 
     at Sunlight, was also produced and engineered primarily by Fred. 
     How come you've moved to SAMI? What's happened to Das Boot -- or 
     is there a reason you decided not to use it?                     

MK: It was because, first of all, Das Boot was  very  overbooked  and 
    they were going through a -building- phase when it was  time  for 
    us to record. The whole studio was like a construction  site  and 
    you don't get the peace of mind  to  do  a  good  album  in  that 
    environment. So that's why we decided  -not-  to  use  Das  Boot. 
    Sunlight is not an option anymore. It's history. We'd rather take 
    something else.                                                   

CoC: Yeah, it's funny: black metal bands are recording there now.

MK: It was Fred who knew about the SAMI studio and I think the  first 
    idea was just to record a kind of demo thing there, but then when 
    we actually started the recording process it just kept  on  going 
    and while we recorded we booked the studio further. We did it  in 
    bits and pieces. Doing all the  drums  pretty  fast,  then  doing 
    guitars for two days, having a little break, then going  back  to 
    do some more songs.                                               

CoC: How many studio days was it in total? Maybe a month's worth?

MK: Yeah, a month. About a month.

CoC: Between December of 2002 and March of 2003.

MK: Yeah. The studio turned out to be really nice and there were  not 
    many people -- because if  you're  at  Sunlight,  there's  always 
    different people coming and going all the time. The same  at  Das 
    Boot. Since none of the other metal guys knew about this  studio, 
    we had all the peace and quiet. It's in the middle of  Stockholm, 
    it's really central. It's just in the basement of a building.  It 
    was a  very  painless  recording  --  except  we  had  some  tape 
    troubles. The storage media was acting up all the time  and  then 
    we got this error code on the display. So we looked up the  error 
    code and it said: remove tape as soon as possible,  make  copies, 
    it's going... <laughs>                                            

CoC: ...it's going to blow! <laughs>

MK: Yeah. <laughs> So we were like, "Oh NO!".  But  luckily  we  made 
    back-up copies of that real fast so everything turned  out  okay. 
    If that had happened we would have had to start all over again.   

CoC: How did you -find- SAMI studios?

MK: Through Fred. He was working at Das Boot, and he got hooked up to 
    a place in inner Stockholm, like a small  gig  place.  They  have 
    everything from jazz to rock 'n' roll and stuff like that --  and 
    he did the sound for the live shows. Now, this place is owned  by 
    the SAMI organisation.  It's  a  Swedish  artists  and  musicians 
    organisation. So it's for  people  who  don't  actually  play  in 
    bands, but they are more like studio musicians.                   

CoC: They're like session musicians?

MK: They appear on albums from big -pop- musicians from Sweden.  It's 
    almost like a -union-. It's a really  big  organisation  and  the 
    studio we used is actually in the basement of their  huge  office 
    building.                                                         

CoC: That's the SAMI organisation building?

MK: Yeah.

CoC: What do the letters stand for?

MK: Svenske Artisters og Musikers Interesseorganisation.

CoC: Swedish Artists' Musical Interest Organisation?

MK: Yeah. They have one big  and  one  small  studio.  So  we  jumped 
    between those studios and, you know, first of all, as I said,  it 
    was gonna be more demo stuff, to try out the studio. But  by  the 
    time we started recording we just changed  everything  'cause  it 
    seemed to go so well so we made our whole album instead.          

CoC: So technically Dismember is being funded partly by  the  Swedish 
     government? Would that be right?                                      

MK: Yes. <laughs>

CoC: It's good to see Sweden's supporting its good  music.  One  last 
     question: were you ever tempted to go back to Sunlight, and have 
     a credit from Skogsberg on the album, -just- for  the  old  fans 
     that it would pull in?                                           

MK: <laughs> No. That was never actual. We never thought about that.

CoC: It probably wouldn't be worth the transaction anyway, 'cause the 
     cost of getting him probably  wouldn't  account  for  the  extra 
     album sales.                                                     

MK: Yeah, I mean... <sighs> As far as it  concerns  us,  Sunlight  is 
    history. We noticed when we changed studios for _Hate  Campaign_, 
    that the sound follows us and it's not studio based. We have  the 
    guitar sound that we have and it comes  through  in  a  different 
    studio. That was a big relief, and it gave  us  more  freedom  to 
    look for better deals and different environments to record in.    

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

         W H E R E   S W I M S   T H E   L E V I A T H A N ?
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC chats with Brann Dailor from Mastodon
                          by: Paul Schwarz


In this interview, conducted via phone on March 29th of this year  -- 
long before anyone outside of the band and their immediate circle had 
heard even a note of  _Leviathan_  (Mastodon's  second  album,  which 
comes out on the 31st of August in the US and the 14th  of  September 
in Europe) -- I chatted with drummer Brann  Dailor  about  Mastodon's 
then- recent activities; the recording  of  _Leviathan_,  which  took 
place at Robert Lang and Litho  Studios  (who  have  played  host  to 
Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Deftones,  Soundgarden  and  others  in  their 
time) with _Remission_ producer Matt Bayles (Botch, Pearl Jam,  Isis, 
The Blood Brothers); and the band's appearance on MTV's  Headbanger's 
Ball. Talk also turned to _Leviathan_  conceptual  thrust  --  which, 
as most  of  you  probably  know  by  now,  is  anchored  to  themes, 
ideas and characters borrowed from Herman Melville's  proto-modernist 
masterpiece, "Moby Dick" -- along with Mastodon's current position as 
one of the most commercially promise-heavy bands in ex treme music.   

Calling me at noon his time from the Seattle apartment  that  he  and 
bandmates Troy Sanders, Brent  Hinds  and  Bill  Kelliher  have  been 
sharing for  a  month  while  recording  _Leviathan_,  Dailor  sounds 
like he  has  just  surfaced,  his  pseudo-drawl  and  often  halting 
speech-patterns giving the impression of a  man  who  is  permanently 
stoned. But what becomes apparent is that this is  just  the  way  he 
-sounds-, rather than a reflection  of  his  inner  mental  lucidity. 
Though he sometimes  lacks  the  power  to  articulate  his  feelings 
concisely off-the-bat, Brann nails things on the head with surprising 
regularity once you get him going. He's  one  of  the  most  quotable 
interviewees I've encountered -- and in a good  sense.  Anyway,  here 
you go:  expect  another  Mastodon  interview  conducted  around  the 
album's release, in October or November.                              

CoC: Have you been to Seattle many times?

Brann Dailor: No, this is our first time here, but we've been  living 
              here for a month, so I've made a few friends.

CoC: How is it going, working in Robert Lang and Litho Studios?

BD: We should be finished up tomorrow, with the mixing. At  the  last 
    minute we were listening back to one of the  songs  and  we  were 
    like, "Oh man! We gotta put some vocals over that one  part."  So 
    we had to come in, set up some microphones and record some vocals 
    over on this one part. So now that's the last song that needs  to 
    be mixed.                                                         

CoC: And then the whole  thing's  done,  you  just  need  to  do  the 
     mastering?                                                            

BD: We need to put our samples on the tape today. There's only a  few 
    but we need to put them in there and see if they work.                

CoC: Weave it all together.

BD: Yeah.

CoC: That's worked pretty well ever since the _Lifesblood_ EP,  which 
     you used samples on as well as _Remission_, right?                    

BD: Yeah. It's gonna be more... I don't know.  When  we  did  the  EP 
    thing it was like... I don't know. We just threw some samples  in 
    there. With _Remission_ I didn't want to  use  any  real  -movie- 
    sound-bites or anything like that. I think that's way overdone.   

CoC: I know what you're saying. I think it makes for a more  cohesive 
     musical record if you don't, to be honest.                            

BD: Yeah.

CoC: I mean, I think  obviously  they  can  work  in  there  in  some 
     records, but I agree with you it is  a  bit  hackneyed  at  this 
     point, unless you do it really well.                             

BD: Yeah. It usually just comes off as kinda tacky.

CoC: Exactly. It's a  difficult  thing  to  balance.  So  you've  now 
     finished up the record. What people have you had in  the  studio 
     with you? Relapse were saying you had some  guest  vocalists  or 
     musicians?                                                       

BD: Yeah. It's just guest vocalists. We had Scott Kelly from Neurosis 
    and Neal Falon from Clutch. Neil did a part on one song and Scott 
    did one song.                                                     

CoC: Was that a last-minute thing or had you conceived any  of  these 
     particular parts with them in mind?                                   

BD: Uhhh, well... I've always wanted to do something with Scott  just 
    'cause him and I are really good friends and he's always asked me 
    to come play on his solo projects and whatever, but it never  has 
    been able to come together and happen. So I figured since we were 
    in Seattle and he lives relatively close to here  that  I'd  call 
    him up. And I was like: "Ummm, would it be... -gay- to ask you to 
    sing a song on our record?" and  he  was  like,  "Nah  man,  it's 
    cool." He came out so awesome. It's a Neurosis-ish  part,  so  it 
    sounds pretty cool.                                               

CoC: So is the other song a Clutch-ish part, would you say?

BD: Not really. It just called for a... voice,  I  guess.  It  was  a 
    perfect part. We've done like three tours with Clutch, so we know 
    each other pretty well at this point. So we were like just trying 
    to figure out something for him to do just 'cause  we  just  love 
    his voice, y'know? Both those dudes have two of the most distinct 
    voices -- for me, anyways -- in heavy music.                      

CoC: Working in the two studios with  Matt  Bayles  --  who  produced 
     _Remission_, but also for quite a  few  people,  memorably,  did 
     Botch -- and occupying the kind of position you do -- I remember 
     in  an  interview  with  Digital  Metal  you  talked  of  liking 
     Dillinger and liking stoner rock, and that maybe  Mastodon  fans 
     are on the same page -- you look set to become a similar  figure 
     to Botch for the current way-of- things, in the sense of  having 
     a very specific status. That's in terms of the  underground.  In 
     the bigger picture you might break like  the  next  Nirvana,  in 
     terms of taking a lot of influences from an underground scene -- 
     or at least a scene that's hidden from  the  mainstream  --  and 
     bringing them into your own style as something which I  think  a 
     lot of people may well get into. For you, doing this album, with 
     some of the people who've recorded in the studios you worked in, 
     did you feel like there was anything more there; or was it  very 
     much: let's do it and see what happens?                          

BD: Ahhh... well, I guess going into the  studios  our  only  thought 
    with recording here in Seattle was the fact that last time,  when 
    we did _Remission_, we flew Bayles out to stay with us -- and  we 
    were gonna do the record in two weeks. So he got there; and  then 
    the tape machine broke in the studio we were scheduled to go into 
    and it just became this big mess and blah  blah  blah:  -nothing- 
    worked out. I can't believe that _Remission_ even  got  recorded. 
    Everything just fell apart. We had to get out of  the  studio  we 
    were in and change studios and blah blah blah blah blah. So  when 
    we were going back and forth with the idea of using  Matt  Bayles 
    again I was like: well, you know what, I don't wanna bring him to 
    Atlanta again. I'd rather go to Seattle and work in studios  that 
    he's comfortable in. Get a hotel room -- 'cause also, when we did 
    _Remission_ we were all working our day jobs and were not able to 
    100% concentrate on the record. So we'd work  all  day  and  then 
    have to go to the s tudio and then work in the studio. It  was  a 
    little too stressful. So when we got out here  and  realised  all 
    these huge bands had recorded at these studios,  that  was  cool. 
    It's cool to be in a studio and then look up  and  realise  that, 
    you know, Nirvana and whatever famous bands  recorded  here,  and 
    Litho being the dude from Pearl Jam's studio -- Dave Matthews was 
    just there last week.  We  thought  that  was  pretty  cool,  but 
    basically we didn't really -know- much of that information  going 
    into it. We just knew that we wanted to  work  with  Matt  Bayles 
    again, and we wanted to work with him on his own turf where  he's 
    comfortable so we could try to make it the most -easy- record  to 
    make instead of having it be a stressful thing, you know  what  I 
    mean?                                                             

CoC: The thing that's interesting to me is that, though the music may 
     not be different, with _Leviathan_ it's very possible  that  the 
     cultural impact will  be  different.  The  same  was  true  with 
     Nirvana -- the albums may  in  the  final  assessment  be  quite 
     different, but when  Nirvana  released  _Bleach_  it  was  to  a 
     smaller crowd. It was still a big reaction, but from a different 
     segment of people. I'm always a bit uneasy  asking  bands  those 
     questions 'cause the  reaction  of  the  band  is  usually  that 
     they're very much within  their  own  world.  But  it  is  quite 
     interesting for you guys now, 'cause you are one  of  the  bands 
     out there who could possibly make that step. I  mean,  you  came 
     over to the UK for just a few dates with High on Fire and unlike 
     a lot of bands you  guys  came  back  within  a  year  to  do  a 
     headliner and more dates. Did you find the reaction to  Mastodon 
     was quite strong in the UK?                                      

BD: Yeah, it was huge. We  pretty  much  come  into  every  situation 
    without any expectations. Like you said, we're just  in  our  own 
    world and in our own mind and in our own, you  know,  -band-  and 
    it's just like: yeah, whatever. But when we came  and  played  in 
    London... I thought it was gonna be good 'cause I remembered when 
    we played there with Today Is the Day -- people were really  into 
    the music and were, like, freakin' out.                           

CoC: I think we've been a bit starved of it in the UK -- the noise  / 
     rock / metal / core, whatever-you-wanna-call-it thing.                

BD: Yeah yeah yeah.

CoC: I think in the States a lot more of those bands do the  circuit. 
     In the UK, we get Converge or Botch or Mastodon  or  Keelhaul  - 
     once- in a few -years- -- or that's certainly how it used to be. 

BD: Yeah. Anyway, we were blown away by the reaction we got.  We  met 
    all sorts of really cool people, and we  talked  to  our  manager 
    over there and said we  really  had  to  come  back  as  soon  as 
    possible.                                                         

CoC: Talking about the album's title, _Leviathan_, and  some  of  the 
     song titles that  have  been  released  so  far:  is  there  any 
     significance concerning the lyrics of the album or  your  career 
     in general -- not to  characterise  you  like  Manowar;  I  know 
     there's not gonna be a song about Mastodon ruling the world...   

BD: <laughs>

CoC: Metaphorically speaking. Again, in that Digital Metal  interview 
     you described _Remission_ in metaphorical terms, when faced with 
     the question of how to describe the  album.  I  thought  it  was 
     interesting, incorporating the  cover-art  and  the  conflicting 
     elements in that and the title into the meaning, and  such-like. 
     So, _Leviathan_ being the great beast of the  sea:  is  there  a 
     portent in that title?                                           

BD: Well, this is our second release, but I think that -always-  with 
    Mastodon there's always gonna be some kind of theme that  has  to 
    be worked out way beforehand, obviously. Last summer when we  did 
    the headlining shows of the UK, I was in the  middle  of  reading 
    "Moby Dick". We were in London in fact, and I kinda just  spouted 
    off why we should choose "Moby Dick" as a guideline  of  what  to 
    write about and what to go  for.  I  was  looking  up  all  these 
    passages and reading them to the guys and saying: look, they call 
    Moby Dick the sea-salt mastodon, you  know,  it's  all  in  here. 
    There are so many different images we can borrow from whaling and 
    just the whole thing as a complete package. I thought it would be 
    really, really cool, and I kinda used  Mad  Ahab  as  -us-  being 
    obsessed with, you know, playing music and potentially going down 
    with the whale or whatever, you know what I mean? The whale being 
    the audience, and we just... playing music and touring being such 
    an obsession and just ki nd of like such a  shaky  ground  'cause 
    it's heavy metal music, it's really not -- I mean we're all  like 
    30 years old and it's quite possibly,  almost  definitely,  gonna 
    take you nowhere, you know what I mean?                           

CoC: As far as life security goes, no. Sure.

BD: It's not a good decision to make, to play heavy  metal.  Rap  and 
    r'n'b and stuff like that, that's where the money is at. Rap like 
    Eminem; Britney Spears obviously: those are the people  that  are 
    massively successful, blah blah. But  there's  no  integrity,  no 
    heartfelt anything in that. But we just chose "Moby Dick"  'cause 
    we're all really  interested  in  any  kind  of  folklore.  We're 
    totally into Sasquatch and The Yeti and The Loch Ness Monster and 
    all that stuff, you know. We  like  that  kinda  subject  matter; 
    we're into that kinda subject matter. So I think the record as  a 
    whole, as it's coming together right  now,  has  taken  all  this 
    different stuff -- there's songs about like Fiji Mermaids,  songs 
    about Nephilims and all sorts of crazy stuff going on -- but it's 
    also, we kinda tried to tie it into ourselves and the way we feel 
    about stuff, and try to make it as passionate as possible.        

CoC: How did your recent co-hosting of Headbanger's Ball go?

BD: It was cool. It was kinda crazy because we hadda play a show  the 
    night before and we slept for like one hour and then  we  got  up 
    and had to drive to the city [New York -- Paul]. You have  to  be 
    there at, like, 9:30 in the morning. But you know, it's not  like 
    the old Headbanger's Ball. The old Headbanger's Ball  had  a  set 
    and you could run around and do crazy stuff. This was like:  they 
    sit you down, and you have to sit -right there-. You  can't  move 
    'cause there are cameras -on- you. It's kinda subdued. I'm  kinda 
    thinking that Headbanger's Ball has  just  started  back  up  and 
    probably doesn't have the budget to do a lot of the  things  they 
    used to do, but hopefully it'll gain popularity, and  they'll  be 
    able to run around and go on location like  they  used  to.  Like 
    when they used to be at a Slayer show or an Ozzy  show  and  blah 
    blah blah. We tried to be as loose as possible.  It  helped  that 
    Jamie was there because I've been drunk  on  Hatebreed's  tourbus 
    many times talking with Jamie. S o it was definitely a lot easier 
    than if it had been someone I didn't  know.  But  'cause  I  know 
    Jamie pretty well it was pretty cool: I was just talking  to  him 
    and the cameras are a little bit off  in  the  distance,  in  the 
    dark, so you can't really see 'em. But it was  cool,  y'know:  it 
    did a lot for our band, you know. I mean, we've  been  in  places 
    here in Seattle and people walk up and they're like: I  recognise 
    you from TV! It's like the ultimate goal in everyone's life is to 
    make it onto that little - box-, y'know. It's like: -you were  on 
    the TV!-. It's like you're a different  person  now:  you're  not 
    just that dude, you're that dude from -TV- now. It's weird...     

CoC: It's gotta be a strange thing for Mastodon 'cause Mastodon, in a 
     lot of ways, is about playing live  and  getting  that  sort  of 
     energy and bringing it onto the record.                          

BD: Yeah.

CoC: Mastodon seem to have gone at least beyond where  Today  Is  the 
     Day have gone as far as -- not cracking the  -real-  mainstream, 
     but cracking half-way into the  mainstream,  where  a  -lot-  of 
     people are getting into it. 'Cause there was a huge  buzz  about 
     TItD and I'm not knocking them in the slightest, but as  far  as 
     the music's gone with _Sadness Will Prevail_ and stuff, I  think 
     Mastodon's made a lot more  connections  in  the  last  year  or 
     two...                                                           

BD: Yeah.

CoC: ...and I'm just basically curious about whether you think in the 
     wake of Mastodon and Dillinger Escape Plan as well, making it to 
     the  consciousness  of  many,  whether  a  lot  of  the  general 
     time- signature- changing, quite -solid-, stoner-rock-based  [in 
     Mastodon's case -- Paul]  music  will  make  it  onto  a  bigger 
     plateau. This is coming back to my Nirvana point, I think...     

BD: Yeah.

CoC: ...just because: I totally dig what you're saying -- and I don't 
     wanna jinx it as far where the big money is, but as far as where 
     Nirvana came from in 1991/1990, they came as the  antithesis  to 
     the glam era...                                                  

BD: Right.

CoC: And essentially changed the way that people of the time  thought 
     about a popular rock band.                                            

BD: Yeah.

CoC: It had a lot of different effects on old heavy metal  and  stuff 
     like that.                                                            

BD: Absolutely.

CoC: But -- and it sounds -very- music journalist, but I think  we're 
     due another one. I think some of the stuff that's  come  out  of 
     extreme metal and its crossover, very  strongly,  with  hardcore 
     and stoner rock is sort of -primed- to make that sort  of  thing 
     happen again. I think Botch were primed to do  it,  before  they 
     imploded. On that level would you say that you do feel  --  when 
     you go on tour and when people listen to  the  records  and  the 
     reactions come back -- that you are on the cusp of something, to 
     put it simply?                                                   

BD: I don't know. I guess I just can't see it  or  I  can't  tell.  I 
    guess I feel like... you know... <sighs> I don't know. <laughs> I 
    don't think Nirvana had any idea what  was  about  to  happen  to 
    them, you know what I mean? I don't think any  band  that's  not, 
    like, being - coddled- by the -industry-... and plus I think that 
    things are so much different now compared to how they  were  back 
    then. I think that - because- of the fact that that Nirvana thing 
    happened, there's all these people that are,  like,  looking  for 
    that... - now-, you know what I  mean?  Instead  of  just,  like, 
    letting it happen naturally like it did with Nirvana, people  are 
    trying to - force- it; so if they see anything that's  like,  not 
    even boiling but just on the pot, they're like all  -  over-  it, 
    -immediately-, you know what I mean? Whereas Nirvana, they had  a 
    little bit of time to... cook, you  know  what  I  mean?  Without 
    being completely run through the mill; but as soon as _Nevermind_ 
    hit it was like BOOM! It was -crazy- ! I  remember  walking  into 
    Tower Records and this band  that  all  my  -skateboard-  friends 
    listened to a year ago; now all that's in my face  is  that  baby 
    swimming towards the dollar bill, you know? But you know, I guess 
    I hope that happens, but we're definitely not banking on anything 
    like that. We're just really trying to concentrate and make  sure 
    that we write the music that we wanna write and make  sure  we're 
    not writing for anyone but ourselves, first off. And writing cool 
    stuff and writing really  musical...  -  music-,  you  know.  And 
    writing stuff that's challenging and writing stuff  that's  -new- 
    to us and -changing-: we didn't write another _Remission_  album, 
    you  know  what  I  mean?  _Leviathan_  is  -different-,  it's  a 
    different record. There's singing on it -- but it's  not  like... 
    <laughs> it's not like nu metal  singing:  it  sounds  like  Thin 
    Lizzy or The Melvins or something like that. It's more -real-.    

CoC: I think that -is- reflected in _Remission_. There are aspects of 
     _Remission_ where you can -see- how you could move forward  with 
     it.                                                              

BD: It's gotta grow and open up like  that,  or  else  I  don't  know 
    what we're doin' here. <chuckles> If  we  just  stayed  stagnant? 
    Hopefully that's impossible  for  us.  If  it  ever  gets  to  be 
    stagnant, we'll have to do something else.                        

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

            D I Y    G R I N D    W I T H    A    M I N D
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC chats with Fred Anton of Inhumate
                           by: Jackie Smit


The name Inhumate won't  easily  ring  too  many  bells  with  anyone 
outside the most underground circles  in  extreme  music,  and  quite 
frankly, bassist and chief songwriter  Fred  Anton  and  his  cohorts 
wouldn't have it any other way. Not that it's  for  lack  of  talent, 
mind you. _Life_ is the band's fourth full-length effort  and  easily 
one of  the  most  convincing  grindcore  efforts  you're  likely  to 
encounter this year. More than that however, _Life_  also  serves  as 
the next installment in a grand concept that has spanned the start of 
the band's career. So, why then does Inhumate continue to operate  as 
free agents? Fred explains:                                           

Fred Anton: Basically we want to stay free  of  any  obligations  and 
            commitments to anything other than this band  and  making 
            music. Inhumate is an underground band and will  stay  an 
            underground band. We do what we want, when we  want,  and 
            nobody can tell us any differently, and that  is  what  I 
            think is most important. Sure, without a label things are 
            slower in terms of promotion, but we don't  care  because 
            we're not in a hurry and because this isn't about selling 
            records. Being independent is what's kept Inhumate  alive 
            for fourteen years.                                       

CoC: Aside from the band, you also run Grind Your  Soul  distribution 
     in France. Was this started before Inhumate got together? Do you 
     have plans to develop it into a fully fledged record label?      

FA: No, Grind Your Soul started after the band did,  because  it  was 
    our only way to get enough money  together  to  self-produce  our 
    third album. For the first two albums, we  paid  a  part  of  the 
    studio sessions and we paid for the CD pressing out  of  our  own 
    pockets, which isn't easy. So we collectively decided to start up 
    the distribution company in order to trade our stuff and possibly 
    have some other things to sell. Now  Grind  Your  Soul  has  been 
    going for a while and it's started make some money,  and  we  are 
    able trade with people from all over the  world  and  get  enough 
    cash together to avoid having to put  a  fucking  cent  into  the 
    music, except maybe for our instruments. It will never be  turned 
    into a full-on label though. Grind Your Soul  is  there  to  fund 
    Inhumate, and that's it.                                          

CoC: Judging by some of the other bands on the GYS samplers,  there's 
     clearly  a  big  metal  movement  taking  place  in  the  French 
     underground at the moment -- talk me through some  of  the  best 
     bands and where you think the scene is headed.                   

FA: Yes, I think you're right -- there's  a  really  big  underground 
    metal movement taking place in France right now.  Among  some  of 
    the best bands  around  right  now  would  have  to  be  Sublime, 
    Cadaveric  Decomposition,  Blockheads,  Horrid  Flesh,   Vacarme, 
    Dislocation, Warscars, Heresy, Unformed,  Absurdity  and  Recueil 
    Morbide. It's difficult to say where all this is  headed  though, 
    because of the language barrier.                                  

CoC: Why has the French underground experienced such a boost of late?

FA: That's an eternal question to which  I  have  only  two  possible 
    answers. Firstly, I think that French bands don't try to  promote 
    themselves outside of  French  borders,  and  they  don't  do  it 
    because many of them don't speak English well. It's a  pity,  but 
    that's how things are. Secondly, it's possibly  because  I  think 
    that in France many people believe and almost  religiously  trust 
    in what magazines say are cool bands. This is slowly  changing  a 
    bit with the Internet making it way easier to discover new bands. 
    Also, more people  understand  that  the  underground  can  spawn 
    interesting and serious bands, and slowly they're starting to pay 
    more attention to the scene, which invariably makes it stronger.  

CoC: Going back to Inhumate: you have said that all your albums  form 
     part of an overall concept ("an heptalogy based on  the  concept 
     of Life and the Abolition of Time") -- tell me  more  about  the 
     meaning behind this.                                             

FA: This concept consists of seven albums.  Four  have  already  been 
    recorded and released at this point. _Internal Life_ came out  in 
    1996, and dealt with life before  life;  in  utero  life,  so  to 
    speak. _Expulsion_ was completed in 1997 and picked up  from  the 
    moment of birth. _Growth_  was  released  in  2000  and  concerns 
    itself with all the years  in  which  the  personality  is  being 
    formed. Now in 2004 there's _Life_. It's the  mid-concept  album, 
    which is why in its title you can find  a  word  from  the  first 
    album title and also from the last one of the whole concept,  and 
    it looks at how human beings mature; how they deal with maturity, 
    how they procreate and basically how life goes on. We will follow 
    this with _The Fifth  Season_,  which  will  be  centered  around 
    wisdom that comes from the end of life. _Expulsed_ will  be  next 
    and will look at death and the end of life, basically.  And  then 
    there will be _Eternal Life_, where a person has died,  but  life 
    is still going on through his or her chil  dren  and  so  on.  Of 
    course, life never ends, and in the same way, we'd like people to 
    experience our concept again and again, while at  the  same  time 
    it's a concept that takes place  around  the  music  rather  than 
    through it. We've reached a certain level of maturity in Inhumate 
    after having been together for fourteen years, and at this  point 
    we're still working  really  hard  to  make  this  concept  large 
    and even further reaching. On  a  final  note,  this  concept  is 
    especially based on artwork rather than lyrics. Some  lyrics  are 
    obviously very directly driving the concept forward, but not  all 
    of them -- that would be really boring, I think.  After  all,  we 
    are in a grindcore band.                                          

CoC: With your work being based around such a  heady  concept,  would 
     you say that your departure point  in  dissecting  it  is  based 
     around personal observations or around something more objective? 

FA: I think it's more a commentary; a reflection about life  the  way 
    we see it -- what we are and where are we going to. If  you  have 
    the opportunity to read all our  lyrics,  you'll  see  that  some 
    are  actually  quite  stupid  --  something  that  we  have  done 
    intentionally to reflect conditions  in  human  nature  --  while 
    others are more focused on the observation of things happening in 
    everyday life, which we then reflect into our music.              

CoC: What is the principal message that you are trying to convey with 
     this concept?                                                         

FA: Maybe something like: "enjoy life". I know that  it  seems  crazy 
    for a band who play the kind of music that we do, but why not?        

CoC: Was  it  always  the  intention  to  create   Inhumate   as    a 
     conceptually- driven band?                                            

FA: No, absolutely not. This idea was brought up  after  we  released 
    _Internal Life_, when we were thinking about the next CD. We just 
    basically though: "Why don't we make the next  album  a  straight 
    sequel to the first one?" Then slowly the  idea  of  the  concept 
    began to make its way into my brain.                              

CoC: Considering the fact  that  grindcore  isn't  exactly  the  most 
     diverse musical genre around, do you sometimes  feel  restrained 
     in being able to explore something as complicated as the concept 
     of "life"?                                                       

FA: Not really, because as I  said,  this  concept  is  based  around 
    artwork more than anything else. So basically we create the music 
    and then Christophe writes lyrics. The writing process for coming 
    up with the music has nothing to do with  the  concept;  we  keep 
    music on one side and the concept on the other. It's only when we 
    record that we find some things that bind it  all  together.  You 
    know, we also regard Inhumate as a live band in every  sense,  so 
    we create music that we can perform on a stage. We're not a "home 
    music band", and the kind  of  music  that  we  play  has  to  be 
    composed free of all intellectual ideas. I  think  to  make  good 
    grindcore, you need to be able to follow the urge that's  telling 
    you what to play.                                                 

CoC: Your press-book mentions the names to several upcoming  Inhumate 
     efforts -- does this mean that work on said records has  already 
     begun? Will Inhumate continue after these records are completed, 
     i.e. once the concept has reached its conclusion?                

FA: No, we just have the titles for the upcoming  Inhumate  releases, 
    nothing more. No idea of the music and no  fucking  idea  of  the 
    artwork for the time being. What will happen after that? I really 
    don't know. I do think that Inhumate as a band would have to stop 
    once we have concluded the concept. Inhumate are here  to  create 
    that concept and that's all. If  we  decided  to  go  on  playing 
    together afterward then we'll just  have  to  change  the  band's 
    name.                                                             

CoC: What are Inhumate's plans for the near future? Any touring plans 
     for Europe / UK / USA?                                                

FA: We have a few single shows lined up here and there across  Europe 
    -- nothing in the UK unfortunately. We don't tour at the  moment, 
    because it's so hard for us to all get off work at once,  and  we 
    also have such an energetic stage attitude that  it  wouldn't  be 
    possible for us to go at it every night and not go a little soft. 
    And that is something that we  definitely  do  not  want  to  do! 
    Anyone who doubts that can just have a  look  at  the  multimedia 
    extra on _Life_ to see what I'm talking about.                    

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

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

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!


Arachnes - _Primary Fear_  (Scarlet, 2003)
by: Brian Meloon  (6 out of 10)

Before receiving this album, I'd never heard of Italy's Arachnes, but 
they've been around for over seven years and  this  is  their  fourth 
full-length album. As you'd expect, during that time, they've  had  a 
chance to hone and  polish  their  style.  Unfortunately,  the  style 
they've chosen is generic Italian prog/power metal, which for  me  is 
typified  by  Labyrinth's  1996  offering  _No  Limits_.  This  album 
features the typical singing, the typical guitar  work,  the  typical 
melodies, and the typical washed-out production of Italian prog/power 
metal. Thankfully, they do  branch  out  from  this  style  somewhat, 
incorporating elements from  Yngwie,  Tony  MacAlpine,  Iron  Maiden, 
Journey, some church organ music, and a few other random  influences. 
Another thing that helps to separate them from the pack  and  bolster 
their progressive credentials is that almost half  of  the  songs  on 
this album are instrumentals (and real instrumentals, not just intros 
or segues between songs). So ultimately, this album has a little more 
to offer than a typical album from this genre, but it's not one  that 
will change your mind about Italian prog/power metal. If you like the 
style and are interested in another band competently doing  the  same 
style, then go for  it;  otherwise,  you  won't  find  much  here  to 
entertain you.                                                        

Contact: http://www.arachnes.it


Bloodbath - _Nightmares Made Flesh_  (Century Media, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (8.5 out of 10)

A few things have changed in the Bloodbath camp  since  _Resurrection 
Through Carnage_: vocalist Mikael Akerfeldt left and was replaced  by 
Peter Tagtgren; Dan Swano moved from drums to the second guitar;  and 
new drummer Martin Axerot (Witchery, etc.) has joined the  band.  One 
thing becomes immediately clear when listening  to  _Nightmares  Made 
Flesh_: the Bloodbath sound  has  once  again  changed  considerably, 
whether or not as a result of the new line-up.                        

Surprisingly this change isn't mainly due to the vocals, which remain 
very similar to  Akerfeldt's  performance  on  _Resurrection  Through 
Carnage_. Tagtgren astonishes me with a  brutal,  powerful  and  pure 
death metal performance, hardly ever using his raspier style, which I 
had feared so much would be present on this album. What does not make 
an appearance on _Nightmares Made Flesh_  is  the  "Sunlight  Studio" 
guitar sound which Bloodbath managed to recreate so  successfully  on 
_RTC_. This time the guitars are downtuned  and  immensely  powerful, 
but the godly caustic and ripping tone Bloodbath  borrowed  from  the 
defining albums of the Swedish death metal wave has disappeared.      

The songs on _NMF_ are also less linear,  slightly  less  catchy  and 
don't flow as well as the ten songs on _RTC_. Of course this isn't  a 
Cryptopsy or Deeds of Flesh album, but some of the breaks  and  tempo 
changes turn out to be surprisingly drastic and non-intuitive  for  a 
band that so far has delivered their death metal  in  a  deliberately 
simple and non-technical way. One reason for this might be  that  the 
band is taking advantage of the participation of  a  "real"  drummer, 
who  even  contributes  occasional  blast  beats  this  time  around. 
However, the main feeling I get from  _NMF_  is  that  Bloodbath  are 
trying to lessen the extent of their "tribute"  and  "just  for  fun" 
approach and are instead aiming to establish a more  clearly  defined 
identity as a unit that relies  heavily  on  certain  influences  but 
delivers them as an integral part of their own distinctive sound  and 
style. The fact that I find myself thinking that the new songs  sound 
like Bloodbath far more often than Entombed,  Dismembe  r  or  others 
clearly indicates that the band has strived for and accomplished more 
than just re-animating the glory days of the  early  '90s  or  paying 
tribute to _Left Hand Path_ and other masterpieces. But from  a  very 
subjective, almost selfish point of view, I nevertheless  bemoan  the 
band's decision to say farewell to that -ultimate- guitar sound which 
made _RTC_ considerably more ripping than _NMF_, even if I feel  that 
the overall quality of the songs  on  the  previous  album  was  only 
slightly better.                                                      

In a review that sounds almost entirely negative so far, a couple  of 
things have to be made absolutely clear in the end: _NMF_ is a killer 
record which must appeal to everyone who is into traditional European 
death  metal.  It  is  by  far  superior  to  all  recent  output  by 
Hypocrisy, Dismember and other surviving or re-animated  "big"  names 
-- like for example Grave and Unleashed. Comparable retro  acts  like 
Chaosbreed would sell their souls to be able to write a crusher  like 
"Outnumbering the Day", and I strongly doubt I will  hear  more  than 
two or three death metal albums that are actually superior  to  _NMF_ 
this year.                                                            


Capharnaum - _Fractured_  (Willowtip, 2004)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Capharnaum's second full-length album is an  improvement  from  their 
1998 debut, _Reality Only Fantasized_ [CoC #31] and  the  _Plague  of 
Spirits_ demo [CoC #44] (though "Icon of Malice" from that demo  also 
appears here). Their style of death metal hasn't  changed  much  over 
the years; they still play a thrashy version of death metal  focusing 
more on speed and dexterity than heaviness. Their  riffs  are  mostly 
individual-note lines, which they frequently harmonize, but they  add 
a few chord-based riffs here and there and mix up the tempos to  keep 
things from being too monotonous. The vocals  are  a  shouted  rather 
than growled style, and fit the music pretty well. The  guitar,  bass 
and drum work  are  all  very  good:  the  playing  is  precise,  and 
they're very tight as a unit. Unfortunately, this  album  has  a  few 
significant weaknesses in my eyes.  Most  importantly,  although  the 
individual riffs are average to good, very little  of  the  album  is 
really memorable. In fact,  I  can  only  think  of  three  memorable 
riffs throughout the whole album. To make  matters  worse,  the  song 
structures don't do the memorability level any favors.  Most  of  the 
songs are interchangeable and there is very little  to  differentiate 
them. For  example,  I  have  a  difficult  time  telling  the  first 
four songs apart. It's  only  when  the  opening  riff  to  "Icon  of 
Malice" kicks in that I realize that  I'm  on  the  fifth  track.  As 
another example, I don't  understand  why  "Machines"  is  under  two 
minutes long; it doesn't indicate that it's going  to  be  short,  it 
just unceremoniously  ends,  blending  into  the  next  song.  At  26 
minutes (technically almost 30 minutes,  but  the  last  three-and-a- 
half minutes are a pointless mathrock  exercise),  this  is  a  short 
album even  by  death  metal  standards,  but  it's  well-played  and 
well-produced, and it shows significant  development  for  the  band. 
However, to become one of the elite members  of  the  genre,  they'll 
have to continue to work on their songwriting.                        

Contact: http://www.capharnaum.org


Cattle Decapitation - _Humanure_  (Metal Blade, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (7.5 out of 10)

If you discount the introductory piano piece as simply the  precursor 
to another platter of generic gore-grind, then the first big surprise 
on _Humanure_ is the opening track, where  the  band  break  into  an 
almost symphonic breakdown within its first forty seconds that  quite 
literally  comes  swirling  out  at  you  through  the  Carcass-ified 
riffing. Yes, I used  the  word  "symphonic"  to  describe  a  Cattle 
Decapitation song, and while the San Diego vegan-core merchants  have 
hardly made an attempt to emulate Emperor on their third full-length, 
the follow-up to the rather dull _To Serve Man_ is definitely  a  big 
step up for the band  in  terms  of  overall  musicianship  and  song 
writing, as well as sheer brutality. Songs are faster,  more  complex 
and generally  far  more  adventurous  than  anything  this  mob  has 
delivered  so  far.  Yet,  amidst  all  this  new-found  fervour  and 
ferocity, Cattle Decapitation can at  times  appear  to  be  slightly 
unconfident -- almost as though they're scared to fully embrace th  e 
evolution hinted at on the album's standout moments. Thus the  record 
wanes, particularly toward the end of its running time,  with  tracks 
like "Polyps" and the absurdly  titled  "Lips  &  Assholes"  sounding 
indistinct and uninspiring. That said, it's very  satisfying  to  see 
the band develop to the point where one could reasonably  argue  that 
the weakest track on _Humanure_ still manages to  top  anything  that 
they've offered us before.                                            

Contact: http://www.cattledecapitation.com


Council of the Fallen - _Deciphering the Soul_
by: Jackie Smit  (7 out of 10)  (Season of Mist, 2004)

With the exception of last year's outstanding Vital  Remains  effort, 
Myrtle Beach-based Council of the Fallen are one of the few bands  to 
describe their music as melodic death metal without actually adopting 
the staid  by-the-numbers  folk-infused  approach  of  their  Swedish 
counterparts. Instead, _Deciphering the Soul_ is a record  seeped  in 
American death metal tradition, and Eric Rutan's presence as producer 
only serves to emphasize and  underline  this  fact.  It's  not  only 
Rutan's work that connects these guys to Hate Eternal,  however:  Tim 
"The Missile" Yeung, one-time über-sticksman on  HE's  debut  effort, 
lays down some fairly relentless,  if  slightly  uninspired  blasting 
from the comfort of the drum stool. But it is ultimately the melodies 
that have the most prominent role in the enjoyment of songs like  "No 
Vision of  Prophecy"  and  "Resurgence".  Drawing  from  a  decidedly 
classical school of consonance, the bleak  euphony  present  for  the 
duration of the record propel _Deciphering the  S  oul_  into  almost 
black metal territory on more  than  one  occasion.  This  ultimately 
lends the album its primary voice and creates an overall  feeling  of 
grandiosity -- though not quite in the same league  as  a  band  like 
Nile. Curiously, given  the  extent  to  which  CotF's  music  almost 
invites their presence, solos are in short supply, with precious  few 
tracks exploring any sort of progressive lead work whatsoever.  While 
I am hardly a supporter of throwing in a solo just for  the  sake  of 
it, _Deciphering the Soul_ is clearly an  album  that  would  benefit 
greatly from this added dynamic. It would certainly be  more  welcome 
than the clean vocals used on tracks like "Distant  Memories",  which 
instead of adding variety to the fairly standard  vocal  performance, 
end up sounding contrived and... well, just  quite  lame.  Thankfully 
though, this is the only mediocre ingredient in a  cocktail  that  at 
its best can be pretty damn potent.                                   

Contact: http://www.councilofthefallen.com


Decrepit Birth - _...And Time Begins_  (Unique Leader, 2003)
by: Todd DePalma  (9 out of 10)

"Now you stand before me, and I before you, the uncreation
 You regret
 I am the living doorway to re-existence
 With a single breath you can be forever
 I am the (messiah/savior/deliverer) of all"
- Decrepit Birth, "Rebirth of Consciousness"

Perhaps heralding a new  generation  of  conceptually  strong  willed 
artists, Decrepit Birth's debut effort picks up the slack left behind 
as the landmark style put forward by Suffocation caught on and  moved 
away from harmonizing philosophy and sound to increased  emphasis  on 
wowing, unteachable, musicianship. _...And Time Begins_  returns  the 
balance with a seemingly perfect union of thematic  and  song  craft, 
inspired by the atonal forms of  early  Nineties  death  metal,  with 
cover art by Dan Seagrave added for good measure.  The  beginning  of 
each track touches off  a  mantra-like  redefinition  of  sound  that 
pummels for nine tracks in a  psychotic  Tetris  behind  the  rending 
throat of Bill Robinson, who intones a mythology  of  human  history. 
Drummer Tim Yeung (who has contributed his talents to  far  too  many 
albums to list here, uses triggers, but still  I  suspect,  does  not 
possess actual  human  sinew)  anchors  this  swarm,  blasting  aside 
completely indulgent chord progressions as they rain  like  f  ractal 
debris cometting through space. In fact the totality of this  release 
feels like it ultimately aims at aurally portraying the  "Big  Bang". 
The production  balances  every  voice  on  the  record  fairly,  but 
the dizzying flight  of  movement  engulfed  in  distortion  makes  a 
crystal-sounding transfer of every note impossible. As the breaks  do 
practically nothing to interfere with the searing tempos, the pace of 
this album confuses, and some listeners may feel subjected to a  rant 
in a foreign language, ready to brush aside  as  ill  gibberish.  The 
length of the album is to its advantage, and it's hard to imagine not 
playing the full album's chaos in one sitting over  and  over.  These 
thirty minutes communicate the exhale of gods.                        


Dementor - _God Defamer_  (Osmose Productions, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (7 out of 10)

I recently shared in a very interesting conversation with one  of  my 
fellow CoCers regarding the state of death metal in the midst of  the 
genre's current resurgence. My colleague pointed to the fact that  in 
recent times the bar has been raised by bands like Nile and Cryptopsy 
to such an extent that it is  growing  increasingly  challenging  for 
other bands to break out and be noticed without resorting to the most 
OTT brutality or off-beat experimentation.                            

In hindsight, the man definitely had a point. Death metal as we  know 
it right now may be in a similarly  booming  state  as  that  of  the 
glorious early Nineties, but in terms of what passes  for  good,  the 
style has evolved into an altogether more  complex  beast.  The  days 
where a band could rightly be hailed for their unique  production  or 
superior technicality have largely disappeared. In fact, I can hardly 
remember the last death metal album to pass my ears that did  not  at 
least sound mildly impressive on both those counts.  Then  of  course 
there's the question of actual songs. Again, this throws up a  number 
of arguments. Should a band constantly strive to innovate, or do they 
aim to, in the words of Alex Webster, "always be heavier and faster"? 
At what point does the preoccupation with innovation become  counter- 
productive?                                                           

This brings me to Dementor's latest effort. Every one of the  album's 
nine tracks provides a technically superb flurry of death metal  that 
follows the same violent path as Krisiun and  Rebaelliun  in  a  most 
convincing manner. Likewise, Andy  Claasen's  work  from  behind  the 
mixing desk is crushing,  easily  outdoing  recent  efforts  by  Hate 
Eternal et al for sheer, bludgeoning impact. But for all its  merits, 
_God Defamer_  is  unable  to  catapult  itself  into  the  realm  of 
essential listening, simply because it does absolutely  nothing  that 
we haven't heard many times before. A good, possibly even great death 
metal album, yes -- but ultimately no one would  be  missing  out  on 
anything pivotal if they chose to ignore this record. Which in  turn, 
boils things down to a question of how selective one chooses to be -- 
if death metal is your reason for waking  up  in  the  morning,  then 
Dementor is a must-have. If, however, you have bought less than  five 
death metal records in the past year, then chances are that  this  is 
not going to do much for you.                                         

Contact: http://www.dementor.sk


Dragonauta - _Luciferatu_  (Dias de Garage, 2003)
by: Todd DePalma  (6 out of 10)

Boasting a reputation as  Argentina's  first  doom  band,  Dragonauta 
effectively reproduce the late '60s / '70s  "jam"  sound,  channeling 
the first Black Sabbath record or even Jimi Hendrix  integrated  with 
jazz rhythm and Spanish guitar. The "doom" aspect of this  record  is 
lacking in spots; it shares more kinship with the "stoner rock" sound 
-- that starry, foot dragging vibe. Not so much a feeling of darkness 
though the bridge seems to be a lax interest in the occult. The album 
opens with an upbeat rock riff (and  plenty  of  unmerciful  cowbell) 
before gassing out into an excellent limbo of softly  stepping  drums 
and bass, with  clean  but  thick  guitars  that  levitate  like  fat 
hummingbirds in stale air.  The  only  real  downer  on  this  record 
(besides the vocals, which sound more appropriate for a  speed  metal 
outfit) is the lack of follow-through in songwriting  that  surrounds 
these evocative moments.                                              

Though able to conjure up moods  that  are  nostalgic  and  at  times 
unique, Dragonauta are lacking in their  ability  to  deliver  strong 
riffs in combination with the shapeless jam-rock atmosphere  the  way 
their idols did, creating potholes of trite sound along the way.  And 
at times a dead end: "Funeral Magico" is an example  where  the  band 
works completely off the Sabbath blueprint  --  no  less  than  their 
self- titled classic song. The problem here isn't  that  it's  hardly 
original, but that it  doesn't  build  to  nearly  the  same  dynamic 
climax, leaving the listener with no  release  of  the  tension  that 
builds throughout the entire song. If  you're  going  to  imitate  to 
this degree already, you  better  go  all  the  fucking  way.  Still, 
_Luciferatu_ is a neat cut across  the  spectrum  from  the  cult  of 
downtuned overdrive lords like Electric Wizard and Sleep;  for  retro 
enthusiasts the laid back, drifting vibe and variation this album  is 
saturated in is ultimately it's main attractive quality and should  a 
ppeal to fiends of both persuasions.                                  

This CD also contains  a  CD-ROM  video  file  of  live  footage  and 
interviews with the band.                                             

Contact: http://www.dragonauta.com.ar


Elend - _Sunwar the Dead_  (Prophecy Productions, 2004)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9.5 out of 10)

A new Elend album, so soon? Having had to wait for five years to hear 
a breath of  life  from  Elend  after  their  "Office  des  Ténèbres" 
trilogy, this new five(!) album series that started with last  year's 
_Winds Devouring Men_ seems off to  a  flying  start.  As  a  result, 
many pessimists would probably expect  _Sunwar  the  Dead_  to  be  a 
rushed job, where half-baked ideas are  strung  together  to  form  a 
disappointing follow-up to the excellent _Winds Devouring Men_.  They 
would be wrong.                                                       

_Sunwar the Dead_ is an extremely refined album from one of the  most 
talented groups of individuals in extreme music, merging  together  a 
myriad of eclectic, subtle influences. Their neoclassical  (the  term 
is employed loosely here) music continues to evolve:  there  is  more 
percussion, some of which  you  are  unlikely  to  have  quite  heard 
before; there is more experimentation with subtle noise,  without  it 
becoming overbearing; and this time there  is  a  massive  choir  and 
string ensemble (over 50 people in all) to further enhance the  sheer 
vibrancy  of  Elend's  work,  more  so  than  even  before.  This  is 
an altogether darker  album,  more  brooding  and  violent  than  its 
predecessor: much of it is downright unnerving,  shifting  the  focus 
from  the  often  beautiful  and  delicate  introspection  of  _Winds 
Devouring Men_ onto its darkest  reaches.  (The  blackened  shrieking 
hasn't returned, however.) More importantly however, the way in which 
Elend explore this darkness  has  again  been  partially  reinvented; 
threads of what they did before are taken and  woven  into  something 
new, mysterious and gripping. The interplay of  strings,  voices  and 
electronics (in the best possible sense)  is  seamless  in  its  dark 
voyage, transcending the common studio feel of an album and  becoming 
something much closer to the ethereal. This may all  sound  abstract, 
but in a way so is the music: it has to be heard, carefully heard, in 
order to be appreciated.                                              

So, is _Sunwar the Dead_ the ultimate Elend masterpiece?  Well,  even 
if we exclude the "Office des Ténèbres" trilogy  based  on  the  fact 
that its context is quite different, it's still  hard  to  tell  what 
heights they might reach next. I cannot even say for sure  that  they 
have topped _Winds Devouring Men_;  or  rather,  I  think  they  have 
topped it in a number of ways, but the two are considerably different 
albums. _Sunwar the Dead_ is perhaps  a  more  difficult  album  than 
_Winds Devouring Men_, one you may not play as often; but it features 
a number of superb passages and an overall atmosphere that is perhaps 
unparalleled. Given what they set out to do here, this  may  well  be 
Elend's greatest achievement so far -- but I hope they may  still  be 
able to improve on it one day. One can always hope.                   

Contact: http://www.prophecyproductions.de


Eviscium - _Underneath the Buried_  (Still Dead Productions, 2004)
by: Todd DePalma  (5.5 out of 10)

This is the sound of death crawling, infecting; determined death like 
cancer ravaging  from  within.  Composed  of  Ex-Rottrevore  members, 
Eviscium churns out a down-tuned soundtrack to mortal climax  --  the 
kind that requires dental records. Like its predecessors, there is  a 
strong influence from  early  '90s  Swedish  /  Finnish  death  metal 
(Demigod, God Macabre), although the sonic bluntness  of  _Underneath 
the Buried_ far exceeds  the  members'  former  catalog.  Simplistic, 
chugging rhythms spread thickly over six tracks of gore cleft in half 
by their recording dates -- which warrants mention only  because  the 
mixing of tracks four, five and six is more even, whereas during  the 
first half of the album vocalist Mark Mastro is obscured and  blended 
in like  a  fleeting  afterthought  of  guitar  distortion.  Eviscium 
achieves a relative balance between doom  and  death,  being  neither 
overly blasting nor plodding, with  the  most  emphasis  put  on  the 
rhythmic, almost tribal breaks that are crushing yet s  eparate  from 
the popular east-coast slam style. While not relating  any  epiphany, 
this type of old-school cruor is  seldom  achieved  without  outright 
stagnant plagiarism, and it's good to hear something this putrid that 
doesn't toy with any grindcore novelties for a change.                

Contact: http://www.eviscium.com


Ewigkeit - _Radio Ixtlan_  (Earache, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (7.5 out of 10)

James  Fogarty's   hard-on   for   electronic   music   and   ambient 
experimentation has always been evident in his  work  with  Meads  of 
Asphodel, and so it should come as a surprise to no one to find  that 
when given a platform offering the creative  freedom  which  Ewigkeit 
clearly affords him, he delves into this framework of  influences  to 
an even greater extent. _Radio Ixtlan_ is the fourth  album  released 
thus far under the Ewigkeit banner,  and  far  from  being  merely  a 
collection of blackened electronica, Mr Fog (as he  is  known  around 
the Earache  offices  apparently)  has  chosen  to  pour  just  about 
everything barring  country  music  into  the  nine  songs  contained 
therein. The result is a sonic journey that at times smacks  ever  so 
slightly of early Dimmu Borgir ("Powerplant"), Fields of the Nephilim 
("Platonic Verses"), Killing Joke  ("Journey  to  Ixtlan")  and  Moby 
("The New Way"). Unfortunately, for all  the  variety  it  brings  to 
proceedings, this diversity also results in  a  very  uneven  listen. 
It's not so much inconsistency in terms of overall song quality -- Mr 
Fog may not be adding anything truly significant  to  the  genres  he 
draws ideas from, but in general the majority of  the  album  remains 
interesting. _Radio Ixtlan_'s problem lies rather in the inability of 
its content to form a cohesive whole -- a flaw that  is  particularly 
evident when a song like "Strange Volk" lives up to its  moniker  and 
breaks from the quasi- cosmic atmosphere with a bizarre, out-of-place 
folk melody that may as well have been pulled straight off a  vintage 
Amorphis record. That Earache claim comparisons  to  _The  Dark  Side 
of the  Moon_  doesn't  exactly  illicit  any  leniency  toward  this 
effort either. _Radio Ixtlan_ may be an entertaining  record,  but  a 
milestone? Not quite.                                                 

Contact: http://www.earache.com


Forest - _Like a Blaze Above the Ashes_  (ISO666, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (8 out of 10)

Recorded in 1997 but released on CD in 2004, _Like a Blaze Above  the 
Ashes_ is the second album by Forest.  Featuring  four  songs  and  a 
comfortable length of slightly more than  44  minutes,  this  release 
represents two different styles. The first two tracks sound like  the 
ultimately legitimate Slavonic  version  of  _Transylvanian  Hunger_. 
What this means is that infectious melodies and chord progressions in 
the style of Veles, Infernum or early Graveland  meet  the  possessed 
drumming, hypnotising delivery and low-fi production  values  of  the 
Darkthrone classic. Sound-wise the drumming almost disappears in  the 
mix, and the fast strummed guitars with their thick but distinctively 
Eastern European tone together with  the  raspy  vocal  delivery  are 
dominant in shaping the aural character of the two  fast  tracks.  So 
far my description might sound as if  the  music  performed  by  this 
Russian band on _LaBAtA_ is totally generic; that might be  true  for 
the individual ingredients, but not for the fin al result. The fusion 
of the Norse and Polish styles succeeds so seamlessly on this  record 
that it leaves the impression that two parts which  naturally  belong 
together were finally joined.                                         

The second half of _LaBAtA_ consists of material which is far  easier 
to clearly associate with single stylistic and  geographical  regions 
on the black metal map. The last two tracks offer medium-paced, Pagan 
and/or Slavonic sounding black metal, which is not  mind-blowing  but 
nevertheless very well written and performed.  On  these  tracks  the 
slower  nature  of  the  songs  allows  every  instrument  some  more 
space in the mix, and therefore the  production  appears  to  be  far 
more balanced, especially as far as  the  drums  are  concerned.  The 
last track  features  some  clean  vocals  in  an  awfully  bleating, 
semi-operatic style (think  Behemoth's  Nergal  on  some  songs  from 
_Grom_); these are painfully out of tune and tend to make me  cringe, 
but as a whole _LaBAtA_ is an excellent album which everyone  who  is 
into the bands mentioned in this review should seriously seek to  add 
to his collection.                                                    


HateSphere - _Ballet of the Brute_  (Century Media, 2004)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

These five Danes have tapped  into  their  darker  side.  Coming  off 
2002's more straightforward _Bloodred Hatred_, _Ballet of the  Brute_ 
underscores a thicker, more  down-tuned  orientation  throughout  the 
album's forty-five minutes. Heavy  (and  I  do  mean  heavy)  riffing 
ignite  this  highly  volatile  creation.  Producer  Tommy   Hansen's 
penchant for power metal seems to have  added  a  unique  element  to 
HateSphere's approach. Speaking of approach,  guitarists  Peter  Lyse 
Hansen and new bandmate  Henrik  Ehlert  play  off  of  each  other's 
ability on this effort like Holt and Hunolt of Exodus. Really  pretty 
amazing. Mikael Ehlert's convincingly  fortified  bass  lines  anchor 
the album like nothing  witnessed  on  either  _Bloodred  Hatred_  or 
_HateSphere_. This could be  some  of  the  reason  for  the  shadowy 
texture so noticeable on this offering. Be that  was  it  may,  Ander 
Gylanohr marks the second line-up addition.  Ander's  drumming  skill 
busts forth and refuses to hibernate behind all the metal mayhem  set 
down o n HateSphere's latest full- length. Again, Jacob's vocals  are 
enough to rattle the filling from your teeth. Jacob's lyrical  attack 
and throaty style changes will have your head swimming like an  ether 
induced coma.                                                         

At times the condition of rather ordinary soloing permeates  a  song. 
For  example,  the  short-lived  and  uninspired  guitar  feature  on 
"Vermin" falls fairly short of the mark set so high by  the  rest  of 
the track's otherwise thrash-tastic outpouring. In the case  of  that 
song,  favoring  the  more  thrash  inspired  solo  would  have  been 
preferable to showcasing the hardcore  lead  HateSphere  selected  to 
accentuate. To offset that  critique,  admittedly  the  solo  mid-way 
through "What I See I Despise" is a fine exhibition  of  this  band's 
lead guitar playing ability. Not to mention concluding "What I See  I 
Despise" with some of the chunkiest riffs on the album doesn't hurt a 
band's score either -- not by a long shot. Hooks and chops on _Ballet 
of the Brute_ fly like a beer bottles  at  bar  brawl.  As  mentioned 
earlier, the calculatedly dim nuance works well for these  lads  from 
the very beginning intro to the couple of unlisted tracks at the  end 
of the disc. HateSphere doing a  little  "Bark  at  the  Moo  n"  and 
"Caught in the Mosh" -- that's well  worth  the  price  of  admission 
there, ladies and gentlemen.                                          

Contact: http://www.hatesphere.com


Incantation - _Decimate Christendom_  (Listenable Records, 2004)
by: Todd DePalma  (4 out of 10)

This  band's  previous  album  _Blasphemy_  wisely  concentrated   on 
sounding older than a 2002 release, retracing old ground but at least 
aspiring for memorable riffs and harmonization within a thinner, more 
leveled, aged production. Now, with apparent disregard toward  common 
sense, twelve tracks are raked in absolutely sterile production  that 
conflicts  with  the  compositions,  allowing  little  atmosphere  to 
resonate on the very few bright spots related here.  Perhaps  if  the 
songs were substantially different at heart it  could  be  justified, 
but that's only so much wishful thinking.                             

What is offered on this album sounds like repetitive filler  adjoined 
by a biennial  arch  of  pseudo-ambience  that  adds  nothing  except 
another trusty clutter of exaggerated titles: "Unholy Empowerment  of 
Righteous Deprivation".  There  are  a  few  tracks  ("Blaspheme  the 
Sacraments", "Horns of Eradication", "Dying Divinity") that manage to 
escape into a recaptured aura of unconsecrated musical  tyranny  that 
prevails somewhat in spite of the rigid framing of sound.  Otherwise, 
Incantation have presented frankly what is largely  expected  of  any 
other death metal band (just  sound  heavy/cool!).  Trusty  as  ever, 
there are plenty of pinches and bends, collapsing drum rhythms;  that 
prerequisite dive on the open e chord. As the tracks  wear  on,  they 
illustrate the consequences of refinement within a  creative  vacuum. 
_Decimate Christendom_ is technique reduced to a blitz of  mannerisms 
as durable as a wet paper bag.                                        

Contact: http://www.incantation.com


Insision - _Revealed & Worshipped_  (Earache, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (7 out of 10)

It's easy to see where Insision are  coming  from  with  their  much- 
publicized abhorrence of all things melodic. It's no secret that  the 
vast majority of death  metal  records  to  be  exported  from  their 
native Sweden in recent years  have  all  tread  similarly  safe  and 
unchallenging waters  to  earlier  efforts  by  In  Flames  and  Dark 
Tranquillity. Truth be  told,  with  all  this  formulaic  folk-death 
flying around, it's been (with  a  few  notable  exceptions)  a  good 
decade since anything more threatening than a new-born puppy has been 
released by a Swedish death metal band. So, in their  quest  to  show 
their American and European counterparts what  being  brutal  is  all 
about, Insision  unsurprisingly  pull  out  all  the  stops.  Inhuman 
technicality across the  board?  Check.  Indecipherable,  über-brutal 
vocals? Check. Thick, crushing  production?  Check.  Twin  harmonics, 
classically inspired solos, catchy pop- choruses? Are you out of your 
fucking mind?! Yup, on the surface, _Revealed  &  Worshipped_  pretty 
much h as all the makings of a death metal  lover's  wet  dream,  but 
in practice the  reality  is  slightly  different.  Five  songs  into 
proceedings, the undeniable truth  is  that  the  band's  assault  is 
not as refined or focused  as  Krisiun,  not  quite  as  crushing  as 
Suffocation and  not  of  the  same  virtuoso  ilk  as  Necrophagist, 
which ultimately confines _Revealed & Worshipped_ to  the  realms  of 
underachievement. Not that it's in any way a bad album, mind  you  -- 
the complete absence of anything remotely tuneful may mean a distinct 
lack of hooks, but songs like "The Unrest" are  perfect  death  metal 
nonetheless, and I'll be damned if "Ideas of Revolution" isn't one of 
the grooviest, nastiest bastards to make  its  way  onto  an  extreme 
album this year. It's  just  that  Inisision  aren't  quite  yet  the 
snarling behemoth that they so desperately want to, and  indeed  have 
the potential to be.                                                  

Contact: http://www.insision.com


Kadotus - _Seven Glorifications of Evil_  (Blut & Eisen Prod., 2003)
by: Matthias Noll  (7 out of 10)

There's no doubt  about  Kadotus'  origins,  because  in  their  song 
material  I  clearly  hear  obvious  traces  of   Warloghe,   Satanic 
Warmaster, Diaboli and other Finnish bands. While Kadotus are nowhere 
nearly as good as the first two bands in  this  list  were  on  their 
debut albums, I think it's justified to rank them at the  same  level 
as early Diaboli, Baptism and also Satanic Warmaster on the  somewhat 
less impressive _Opferblut_. The production on _Seven  Glorifications 
of Evil_ is relatively clear for a Finnish black metal band,  with  a 
lot of reverb on the very screechy vocals, but easily raw  enough  to 
put off everybody who's not into underground black metal. All of  the 
material on _SGoE_ is  melodic  in  the  typical,  Darkthrone-derived 
Finnish  style,  mainly  fast  and  straightforward  but   with   the 
occasional slower section now and  then.  Of  course  this  album  is 
generic and could even be called derivative, but for those who  enjoy 
the recent Finnish scene this is an absolutely solid release  wh  ich 
is certainly worth purchasing.                                        


Lord Belial - _The Seal of Belial_  (Regain Records, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (5 out of 10)

Lord Belial -- in my humble opinion at least -- have always been  the 
token underachievers in black metal. Going right back  to  the  early 
days of _Enter the Moonlight Gate_ and _Kiss the Goat_, the band have 
consistently remained several steps behind those they have  tried  so 
desperately to emulate -- Dissection, Sacrilege et al --,  and  their 
latest effort, _The Seal of Belial_, is no exception.  The  band  may 
have slowed things down since the formative blasting of "Unholy Spell 
of Lilith", but very little has changed in as far as  their  penchant 
for recycling ideas from classic albums by other bands. The slow-  to 
mid-paced blackened doom of "Chariot of Fire" as an example  presents 
absolutely nothing that hadn't been done to death on a hundred albums 
doing the rounds in Scandinavia around the mid to late nineties.  The 
record's singular saving grace comes in  the  form  of  the  haunting 
"Legio Inferi", which shows the band in a rare moment  where  they're 
able to throw together their para mount influences into a  song  that 
actually works. Yet, while this is a highly enjoyable song, it mostly 
serves to only make one marvel even more  at  the  complete  lack  of 
invention displayed on the rest of the record.                        

Contact: http://www.lordbelial.com


Majesty - _Reign in Glory_  (Massacre Records, 2003)
by: Adam Lineker  (5.5 out of 10)

Many of you will have some kind of opinion on Manowar.  I  feel  that 
I'm probably right in thinking that the view of them as  a  tasteless 
musical joke could be popular. Personally, I rather  admire  some  of 
their earlier albums, but this is outweighed by my  dislike  for  the 
school of heavy metal that they have spawned; a school that has  been 
represented by some of the more deplorably moronic  music  which  has 
drifted through my transom in recent years.  So  I'll  wind  up  this 
gripe now. Majesty obviously  worship  at  Manowar's  altar,  so  the 
thematic concepts of _Reign in Glory_ are boneheaded in the  extreme, 
as one would expect from  songs  entitled  "Heavy  Metal  Battlecry", 
"Will of the Cobra", and "Into the Stadiums". The music itself is put 
through a very forced and unbalanced production, dry guitars slashing 
away under domineering and badly triggered  drums,  whilst  thin  and 
reedy vocals attempt to do a convincing metal  falsetto.  Majesty  do 
come up with the odd decent riff or melodic passa ge, and  there  are 
some good arrangements, but all too few  to  make  _Reign  in  Glory_ 
worthy of more than a couple  of  listens.  Ultimately,  Majesty  are 
limited by the style of metal they play; this  record  has  its  fair 
share of passable  'metal  anthems',  but  there  just  isn't  enough 
variety or maturity to maintain my interest. Should one get past  the 
tedious approach of this record, then one may actually enjoy  it,  if 
only for the rather dynamic, silly  vibe  that  Majesty  create  with 
their homage to the metal gods; for my part, I cannot view this as  a 
serious musical effort.                                               


Mastodon - _Leviathan_  (Relapse Records, 2004)
by: Jackie Smit  (8.5 out of 10)

I can hear the groaning already. "Mastodon sold out!"  "Mastodon  are 
pussies!" "Mastodon sucks!" While these statements may all be down to 
a matter of opinion and, in the light of objectivity, generally prove 
to be untrue, one thing is certain: the hype  preceding  this  record 
certainly didn't do the Atlanta quartet any  favours.  When  everyone 
from the smallest of small underground 'zines to the suits at MTV are 
crowing about a band being "the next Metallica" and  "the  future  of 
metal", it stands to reason that disappointment can never be  lurking 
too  far  back.  Personally,  it's  those  Metallica  comparisons  in 
particular that always get me going. I'd be the last one to deny that 
_Remission_ was a damn fine piece of work, but it has yet to lead  to 
the birth  of  an  entire  genre.  I  mean,  let's  put  things  into 
perspective here! To be fair though, none of the boys  from  Mastodon 
have ever indulged themselves in such ill-conceived hoopla, which may 
well explain why _Leviathan_ has turned out the way it has.           

What's initially most striking about this  sophomore  effort  is  the 
overwhelming feeling that _Leviathan_ is definitely  the  album  that 
Mastodon (the band) wanted  to  make.  Far  from  being  the  drastic 
departure that I've seen other reviews make it out to be, the opening 
snarl of "Blood & Thunder" makes it clear that this is not  going  to 
be _Remission_ Pt 2. As it turns out, many fans will instantly lament 
the greatly diminished presence of the debut's jagged, unhinged vocal 
style, and its retro, unrefined production  --  both  having  largely 
been replaced by something I daresay is distinctly  more  accessible. 
Likewise the band have held true to  their  promise  of  the  "slower 
parts being slower", whilst ignoring the juxtaposition of upping  the 
ante when things get heavier, with acoustic guitars and even  samples 
making subtle headway into proceedings. In fact,  it's  fair  to  say 
that to a large extent, much of what _Leviathan_ offers has  more  in 
common (in spirit at least) with Soundgarden' s _Down on the  Upside_ 
than anything by bands like Neurosis.                                 

But no matter how off-putting these advances may sound on paper,  the 
fact of the matter is that none of these changes  are  necessarily  a 
negative or indeed unnatural thing. Yes, the record will  leave  many 
listeners bewildered and dumbfounded, particularly  after  its  first 
few airings. But then, is that not what the band have, by  their  own 
admission, always set out to do? In the same sense, would a veritable 
reiteration of _Remission_  not  have  courted  its  own  barrage  of 
criticism? Make no mistake about it,  _Leviathan_  is  every  bit  as 
challenging as its  predecessor.  On  the  surface  it  may  be  more 
accessible, but  by  no  means  is  it  even  in  the  slightest  bit 
commercial.  From  the  thick,  choppy  riffage  of  "Iron  Tusk"  to 
the psychotic rollercoaster ride  that  is  "Megalodon",  _Leviathan_ 
is about dense walls  of  larger-than-life  guitars,  Brann  Dailor's 
turbulent percussion and plumes of adventurous psychedelia.           

_Leviathan_ is also a record that demands several  listens  to  fully 
appreciate. After a good twenty or so of these, I still  find  myself 
discovering new things every time I hit the play button on my  hi-fi. 
And so, while I may still not be convinced that this  opus  tops  the 
band's debut, _Leviathan_ nevertheless comes highly  recommended,  if 
mostly for the fact that it does reaffirm that  Mastodon,  regardless 
of the hype, are one of the most exciting prospects  in  heavy  metal 
music right now.                                                      

Contact: http://www.mastonrocks.com


Neurosis & Jarboe - _Neurosis & Jarboe_  (Neurot Recordings, 2003)
by: James Slone  (8 out of 10)

_Neurosis &  Jarboe_  is  a  collaboration  that  seems  natural  and 
inevitable. The former stage darling of the Swans,  Jarboe  brings  a 
blues-laden, southern gothic sensibility into the Neurosis formula of 
claustrophobic guitars and moody back alley ambiance, creating one of 
the most textured rock  collaborations  of  recent  years.  Neurosis' 
psychedelic doom provides the  perfect  bedrock  for  Jarboe's  lurid 
sensibilities. And she's no stranger to  walls  of  distorted  guitar 
either, having long since mastered  the  art  of  navigating  violent 
noise and haunted soundscapes on classic Swans albums like _The Great 
Annihilator_. This collection of songs, culled  together  from  tapes 
passed between her and the  band,  finds  the  center  between  empty 
estrangement and artful violence, marrying Jarboe's usual  themes  of 
religion, obsession, and rejection  with  Neurosis'  carefully  honed 
blister. They've grown immensely  as  a  unit.  No  longer  loud  for 
volume's sake, they've brought quiet  openness  into  their  sound  , 
creating a gulf of silence amid the noise. Droning rhythms  and  airy 
guitar tones are just as prevalent as  bombast,  and  Jarboe's  voice 
bleeds into it, sometimes a blues infected wail  and  other  times  a 
nearly subliminal whisper suggesting words. There  are  moments  here 
that sound more like PJ  Harvey  than  classic  Neurosis,  and  these 
moments, dense and encapsulating, elevate  the  Neurosis  sound  even 
higher. Jarboe's voice brings a decadent swampy atmosphere  to  music 
that cries out for it. The album's a bit too  turgid  and  homogenous 
for classic status,  but  it  definitely  points  in  an  interesting 
possible direction for Neurosis. Like Mike Patton and  The  Dillinger 
Escape Plan, it just seems like a natural fit.                        

Contact: http://www.neurotrecordings.com


PsyOpus - _Ideas of Reference_  (Black Market Activities, 2004)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Rochester's PsyOpus have  released  their  first  full-length  album, 
following quickly on the heels of  their  two-song  demo  [CoC  #67]. 
Their music has changed little from the demo, and in fact both  songs 
from the demo are on this album. Their style is dissonant  metalcore, 
in the same general  style  as  The  Dillinger  Escape  Plan  or  Ion 
Dissonance, but it also incorporates some  influences  from  Lethargy 
(US) [CoC #51], Gorguts [CoC #33], and late '80s guitar  spankoff  -- 
in particular, Richie Kotzen. The guitar work on this album is  truly 
phenomenal, displaying a wide  variety  of  original  lead  and  riff 
styles and switching effortlessly between them. The  drums  and  bass 
are equally impressive,  simply  by  staying  synchronized  with  the 
guitars. The vocals don't do much for me, though: they're done  in  a 
shouted style that neither adds  to  nor  detracts  from  the  music. 
However, although I expected to really enjoy  this  album,  something 
about it just doesn't work for me. I  think  there  are  two  related 
reasons for this. The first reason is that there isn't that much that 
is really memorable or catchy. There are some great  riffs,  but  the 
large majority  of  the  album  is  just  splattery,  dissonant,  and 
chaotic. Unfortunately, this chaos doesn't  really  seem  controlled, 
which brings me to the second point:  their  sound  lacks  tightness. 
That's not to say that the musicianship is  sloppy,  it's  just  that 
they're not attempting the type of tightness that death  metal  bands 
achieve. Combining this lack of tightness with their frequent use  of 
dissonance makes listening to this album a rather tiring  experience. 
Obviously, fans of The  Dillinger  Escape  Plan  and  their  artistic 
brethren will probably not have these objections, and this should  be 
a fine addition to their collections. However, death metal  fans  who 
expect a certain level of tightness may find  this  too  chaotic  and 
unfocused for their liking, and it  should  go  without  saying  that 
there is nothing here to interest those who require hooks or melodies 
with their music.                                                     

Contact: http://www.psyopus.com


Pungent Stench - _Ampeauty_  (Nuclear Blast, 2004)
by: Matthias Noll  (5 out of 10)

So far the really worthwhile thing about the Pungent  Stench  reunion 
has been their fantastic gig at the Wacken Open Air 2002 and the cool 
artwork and photo sessions accompanying their last record _Masters of 
Moral - Servants of Sin_. Musically this come-back album  was  pretty 
much on the average side of things, and to my ears didn't  even  bear 
much stylistic resemblance to the sound and style I  associated  with 
Pungent Stench. At least the latter got fixed this time  around,  and 
my first superficial impression was that _Ampeauty_ sounds very close 
to what the bizarre Austrian trio did on _Club Mondo  Bizarro  -  For 
Members Only _. This means that the description "death 'n' roll" does 
justice to almost all the material on  _Ampeauty_,  which  is  mostly 
based on groovy, bluesy riffs. There are occasional bursts of  speed, 
but in general the album is kept at a medium pace.                    

What has changed in comparison to the Pungent Stench of old is that a 
huge gap has opened between their over-the-top concept and  the  lack 
of  energy  of  their  recent  musical  output.  _Ampeauty_  has  (by 
professional standards) an excellent and full sound, but the delivery 
of the music is almost unhealthily professional, casual and devoid of 
all rawness and spontaneity. It's quite peculiar that the press  info 
accompanying _Ampeauty_ mentions that this album is  supposed  to  be 
"not that much sterile as" _MoM - SoS_, because this is  actually  my 
main gripe with _Ampeauty_. I didn't expect anything  as  vicious  as 
the heavily Autopsy influenced "And Only Hunger Remains"  from  _Been 
Caught Buttering_, but the tameness  of  the  music  and  the  band's 
lyrical concept and sick humour are drifting apart to an extent  that 
what once complemented each other is now very close to being annoying 
and contradictory. Unlike past efforts, the Austrians don't even seem 
to attempt to integrate any parts into their music that mirror  their 
twisted and humorous take on death metal (like for  example  on  hits 
like "Klyster Boogie" or the hilarious but ultimately cool  "Shrunken 
and Mummified Bitch"). Furthermore, El Cochino's growl  sounds  tired 
and forced and even weaker than Glen Benton  of  late,  and  all  the 
lyrical nonsense about amputations, sexual perversions, etc. which he 
keeps delivering as  if  it  was  still  1991  is  getting  close  to 
self-parody -- most of all  because  the  accompanying  music  is  so 
harmless that I would be in trouble if some heavy metal noob asked me 
to name a death metal band which is -not- heavier and more aggressive 
than the year 2004 incarnation of Pungent Stench. To  remain  fair  I 
have to say that some of the material on _Ampeauty_ is really  catchy 
and far from being crap, but after having played it back to back with 
_Been Caught Buttering_ I can't honestly give more than 5 out of 10.  


Runemagick - _On Funeral Wings_  (Aftermath, 2004)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

Runemagick are proving more dependable than  I  ever  expected,  with 
their seventh studio offering hitting my mailbox barely a year  after 
their triumphant  _Darkness  Death  Doom_  effort.  Even  with  their 
prolific songwriting, the band manages to spew forth over 70  minutes 
of gloom-laden  old-school  death  that  never  once  turns  tedious. 
Admittedly, _On Funeral Wings_ is somewhat harder to appreciate  than 
the previous album, given its even more sluggish pace and  depressive 
melody lines. Determined adventurers will nevertheless delight in the 
album's complexity and depth, losing themselves in  dank,  oppressive 
caverns with only the occasional glimmer of radiance to  remind  them 
of how deep  they've  sunken.  Nicklas  Rudolfsson's  tormented  rasp 
continually hints at a melody too  twisted  to  grasp  hold  of,  and 
coupled with bassist  Emma  Karlsson's  wall  of  low-end  frequency, 
reminds one of the grinding morbidity churned out by the early  Dutch 
bands like Asphyx and Pestilence.  All  in  all  another  fa  ntastic 
effort from a criminally underrated band, and  with  the  craze  over 
hyperspeed death metal starting to wane,  Runemagick  will  hopefully 
get the attention they've deserved for so long.                       

Contact: http://welcome.to/aftermath/


Seth - _Era Decay_  (Avantgarde, 2004)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

While I've been aware of Seth's existence for a number of  years  and 
heard several of their albums, I've never been truly engrossed by any 
of their releases. _Era Decay_ is the album that changes this  trend, 
whether purely by merit or partially by chance; either way, this time 
around their mix of aggression with interesting  melodic  twists  has 
succeeded in capturing my attention  well  beyond  reviewing  duties. 
Perhaps the key to its success lies in the  way  this  French  outfit 
have utilized their  melodies:  often  understated  guitar  lines  or 
distant chord strumming is all it takes to carry them, allowing their 
tightly controlled aggression  to  keep  driving  the  music.  Seth's 
futuristic black metal is very well  polished  both  technically  and 
production- wise, as you  may  already  have  guessed,  and  tasteful 
guitar solos are also to be found. Their more aggressive side,  while 
quite dynamic, is good, but not especially remarkable; it  is  mainly 
the aforementioned subtle melodic trickery that truly  elevates  _Era 
Decay_ to something well worth your time. Seth also play around  with 
some electronic touches for atmosphere, and  fortunately  they  don't 
get in the way of the songs. In fact, most of the breaks and elements 
in the album work well together  and  provide  some  welcome  variety 
throughout. Not one  for  the  black  metal  purists  for  sure,  but 
definitely a good and rather distinctive album.                       

Contact: http://www.innomineseth.com


Textures - _Polars_  (Listenable, 2004)
by: Paul Schwarz  (10 out of 10)

Like the antidote to some insidious disease, _Polars_ should, by  all 
rights, be causing bands to split up left, right and  centre.  Rarely 
does  any  band  make  an  album  as  simultaneously  infectious  and 
adventurous as  Textures  have  in  this  six  song  /  eight  track, 
55-minute metal masterpiece: the fact  that  _Polars_  is  the  Dutch 
band's -debut- just gives its  brilliant,  diamond-in-a-shitpile-like 
radiance an extra shade of magnificent clarity. This is truly one  of 
those albums that puts the majority of up-and-coming acts  to  shame, 
and in a -big- way.                                                   

Recorded over a near-two-year period without any assistance  from  an 
outside -- let alone -known- -- producer, in a studio the band  built 
themselves -- and originally released self-released in August 2003 -- 
_Polars_, by sharp contrast, sounds like  a  professionally  recorded 
album, even bettering the work some of metal's  'big  gun'  producers 
have done over the last few  years.  (No  wonder  Listenable  snapped 
Textures up and released _Polars_ properly with only a remastering to 
alter it.) Of course, it probably helped that guitarist  and  back-up 
vocalist Jochem Jacobs is somewhat of a producer in  his  own  right; 
who having worked on film scores and theatre projects for a number of 
years has recently begun producing other musical  artists,  and  this 
month finishes his engineering course at a musical conservatory;  yet 
at the same time,  it's  not  like  Textures  were  simply  -blessed- 
by having a  seasoned,  veteran  producer  among  their  number.  The 
incredible  production  that  propels  _Polars_  to  its  snow-capped 
heights is, technically speaking, more or less the work of  amateurs. 
Recorded, produced  and  mixed  by  the  entire  band  --  with  only 
engineering and mastering being handled by individuals  (synth-player 
Richard Rietdijk and Jacobs, respectively) -- _Polars_ is  a  living, 
breathing testament to Textures' dedication  to  their  art,  not  to 
mention their immense talents on just about  all  fronts  of  musical 
creation. It is this all- round excellence which has prompted  me  to 
award _Polars_ perfect marks. It is perhaps not a "perfect" record -- 
whatever that means... -- but full-points scores need not be reserved 
for records which - sound- or -seem-  "perfect":  they  can  also  be 
awarded to bands who excel  themselves  both  against  the  odds  and 
against expectations -- and Textures have done this in spades.        

The immense breadth of feeling, depth  of  sound  and  musical  scope 
which _Polars_ encompasses is ill summed-up by words. But to  put  an 
impression into your mind of what this marvel 'sounds like':  imagine 
Meshuggah-worthy off-kilter riff  work,  interspersed  by  vice-tight 
modern thrash (a la The Haunted, at their  best)  which  periodically 
explodes into  vast,  richly  melodic  space-outs  (like  you'd  find 
on Strapping Young  Lad's  era-defining  _City_  album),  then  winds 
its way into a solo  section  which  would  fit  snugly  on  a  Cynic 
album before slamming to a close in  neck-snapping  style.  That's  a 
crude description of "Swandive",  which  opens  _Polars_  --  and  it 
hardly even scratches the surface of what the  album  has  to  offer. 
"Young Man" --  which  kicks  in  just  after  follow-on  "Ostensibly 
Impregnable", a magnificent melding of  mind-bending  Meshuggah  chug 
and Townsend/Cynic-like subtleties that some of our Dutch readers may 
have been lucky  enough  to  see  the  video  for  on  MTV,  as  it's 
apparently been in pretty heavy rotation in The Netherlands --  could 
be characterised as a Textures take on melodic Swedish  death  metal; 
but despite on preliminary listens seeming somewhat  derivative,  the 
song is in fact a stunning exemplification of how fresh and seemingly 
timeless a track can be created from such well-known elements -- if a 
truly talented group of songwriters are behind its creation.          

But though the  more  traditionally  structured  'side'  of  _Polars_ 
(think vinyl, people) is truly stunning,  it  is  in  its  final  two 
tracks that Textures' true genius is revealed.  Lasting  over  thirty 
minutes, this 'side' sees Textures explore prog rock  format  from  a 
metal perspective, and achieve a degree of  success  that  is  almost 
entirely unparalleled. The eighteen-minute  title  track  is  a  more 
convincing "epic" than Nile, Metallica or any other metal band I  can 
think of has penned. Its closing segment --  strongly  recalling  the 
best work of Gabriel-era Genesis  --  comprises  the  most  beautiful 
and truly -moving-  five  minutes  of  music  I've  heard  all  year. 
Fourteen-minute outro-of- sorts "Heave" closes the album with a grace 
and vulnerability that few metal bands ever evidence; and in contrast 
to so many ambient outings in its field, is  a  seriously  worthwhile 
listen.                                                               

The ultimate icing on the proverbial cake  of  Textures'  talents  is 
that they are a phenomenal live act; a band who can boil their  head- 
expanding, intricately textured sound into its raw essence, and expel 
it note-perfectly without losing emotional depth  or  dynamic  punch. 
Though it's certainly the best metal album ever to  emerge  from  The 
Netherlands; the best debut album to emerge this year; and one of the 
finest and most ambitious metal album's I've -ever-  heard:  _Polars_ 
is only the beginning. Buy it. Listen to it. Go and see Textures play 
when/if they come your  way  (Europeans  should  get  the  chance  in 
October when the band tour with Alchemist; North  Americans  may  get 
lucky in the Spring of next year).  But  most  importantly,  perhaps, 
rejoice and revel in the fact that there is a -new-  band  out  there 
who are moving metal into the future without forgetting or  forsaking 
its  past;  who  are  forging  sounds  which  exemplify  the  style's 
strength's without  succumbing  to  its  weaknesses;  an  d  who  are 
ultimately making music which validates how vital and vibrant 'metal' 
is, while simultaneously  proving  --  against  common  critical  and 
public opinion -- that the style is  a  barrier  to  progress  and  a 
closed door to emotional depth. To those closed-minded morons I  say: 
listen and learn...                                                   

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

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


Malebolgia - _Requiem for the Inexorable_
by: Brian Meloon  (3 out of 5)

Malebolgia  hail  from  North  Carolina,  and  this  promo  is  their 
third  recording.  It  features  two  songs  from  their  forthcoming 
self-financed debut full-length album. Their music is pretty standard 
death/grind, featuring the traditional  blast  beats  and  hyperspeed 
guitars accompanied by a combination of guttural  and  raspy  shouted 
vocals. I wasn't expecting to like it after  hearing  the  first  few 
seconds, but to my surprise, it's actually  reasonably  well  played. 
Unfortunately, there's very little  in  the  way  of  dynamics:  it's 
pretty much top speed all the way through. There  are  a  handful  of 
medium-tempo parts, but they're few and far between. In addition, the 
blasting drums and the sheer speed of the music tend to drown out the 
guitars, so it's hard to really pick out the guitar  riffs.  For  me, 
this makes it difficult to enjoy, as I  don't  find  the  music  very 
memorable or interesting. Ultimately, it's  competently  played,  and 
for those looking for a death/grind fix, this should do nicely.       

Contact: http://www.malebolgia.com


Seraphim Slaughter - _To Cataclysmic Path_
by: Todd DePalma  (1 out of 5)

This demo CD-R is the first offering from Seraphim Slaughter, a black 
metal four-piece out of New Jersey. The music here is pretty  by-the- 
numbers black metal. Norwegian  mimicry  taking  pleasure  in  clumsy 
instrumentation and the "raw" quality of the  guitar  that  seems  to 
lose its juice as the songs wear on. The  vocals  are  the  strongest 
element to the music here and pretty much overpower  the  guitar  and 
drums with a continuous stream of lengthy croaks and  snarls,  though 
nothing original or stirring. Unfortunately the only truly  attention 
grabbing point of this disc is a fifteen second or so break on  track 
two that sounds like  some  kind  of  surf-jig  on  a  Dead  Kennedys 
record... More motivated youth without direction.                     

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


Terror Ascends - _Of Dark Descent_
by: Aaron McKay  (3.5 out of 5)

As happens from time to time with  the  massive  amount  of  material 
flooding the underground, some recognizable some  obscure,  a  rather 
numbness  sets  in.  Reviewers  and  listeners  alike  become  rather 
disinterested or complacent with bands reliably  recording  the  same 
albums with each and every effort. Some twist it here, some flavor it 
there, with only minor modifications to speed, structure  or  length. 
Once and awhile an act stands out among the crowd. Terror Ascends  is 
one of these bands. While just over seven minutes in  duration,  this 
southern Virginia trio have released a demo that exhibits  an  energy 
quickly recognizable  as  a  gift  for  the  extreme.  Morbid  Angel, 
Vader, Sinister and maybe even Deicide spring  to  mind  when  taking 
in what  Terror  Ascends  is  putting  out  there.  Very  appropriate 
multi- expressional vocals lay thick  on  the  substantive  meat  'n' 
potatoes of this band's delivery. Sterthanas Infernal incorporates  a 
low-end guttural technique primarily seasoned with a less exces  sive 
serpentine delivery reminiscent of Epoch of  Unlight's  vocal  style. 
Instrument separation  displays  another  strong  suit  for  TA.  Not 
relying solely on speed, the bass and drum playing are able to  share 
center stage periodically. Decent  tempo  changes  and  a  harmonious 
blending of rhythm and power, this outfit is  more  than  capable  of 
keeping any fan's attention, albeit only  for  just  over  the  seven 
minutes the demo unfolds. Having witnessed bands come and go, I would 
be willing wager, given the  means  and  motivation,  Terror  Ascends 
could develop their ability to captivate  a  listener  throughout  an 
entire full-length effort.  "Of  Dark  Descent"  and  "Compulsion  to 
Kill", as you might guess, eulogize profanely the fury and  wrath  of 
any blackened / death metal group worth their  salt  --  nothing  new 
there. Can't win them all, but for this infinitesimal peek  into  the 
music for a wanton world, Terror  Ascends  rises  to  the  challenge. 
Putting aside the trite subject matter of their lyrical c ontent  and 
brevity of this demo, how far they'll climb might just be limited  by 
their own aspirations.                                                

Contact: http://www.terrorascends.com

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

               GOD FORBID! IT'S SLAYER -AND- SLIPKNOT
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   Slipknot, Slayer and God Forbid
               in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, August 13th 2004
                           by: Aaron McKay


Not just Anytown, USA -- this was Cedar Rapids, Iowa. An eastern Iowa 
river town, C.R. is Iowa's second  largest  city.  Rockwell  Collins, 
General Mills and Quaker Oats are all, in some way,  synonymous  with 
this community. On Friday the 13th of August, it was also  known  for 
God Forbid, Slipknot and the mighty Slayer.                           

The tremors started at 7:00 pm. That being the start time -- due to a 
minor setback at the box office when I arrived to claim my tickets, I 
missed the initial first notes  of  the  night.  I  walked  into  the 
palatial U.S. Cellular Center around 7:20. This venue is no  stranger 
to me: formerly known as the Five Seasons Center, many a night did  I 
make the trek to Cedar Rapids for a concert. Pantera.  Morbid  Angel. 
Metallica. Let's  face  it,  Iowa  gets  a  less-than-par  score  for 
chalking up metal acts that visit the state, so when bands come, I go 
in support.                                                           

Catching the opening monolog  by  God  Forbid  frontman  Byron  Davis 
introducing the killer "Gone Forever" from the Century Media  release 
of the same name, I knew instinctively the force of the  evening  was 
already in full effect. Calling it old school thrash, Byron, Doc  and 
Dallas Coyle, John Outcalt and Corey Pierce proceeded  to  again  set 
the Richter scale needles jumping with their gargantuan live presence 
and passionate energy.                                                

Mentioning the stellar video for "Antihero" from the  _Gone  Forever_ 
effort, Byron shoves forth a  defiant  middle  finger  aimed  at  the 
song's theme of the inconceivable corruption of  others.  God  Forbid 
dives into a live version of the track to which the recorded  version 
pales by comparison. As their set time runs short, the  band  quickly 
unleashes "Broken Promise" from _Determination_ at just  about  7:30. 
Whipping up the crowd like few bands could before Slayer, God  Forbid 
held their own, certainly blazed new ground in the heartland and  won 
more than a few Iowa fans that night. Catching up to Doc later in the 
evening, I thanked him for their set and asked, now more  than  ever, 
that they always keep in mind the old and new God Forbid fans here in 
Iowa when hitting the road in the future.                             

Slayer. A force to be reckoned with in their own right. A  juggernaut 
of epic proportions. A band needing no introduction. Who hasn't heard 
of these titans of metal? The bigger question is why  were  they  not 
headlining?! I chalked it up to the fact that maybe, quite  possibly, 
Kerry and the boys  traded  nights  at  the  top  of  the  bill  with 
Slipknot, this night strategically placing Iowa's own nu-metal act in 
the closing spotlight while in Cedar Rapids. Whatever the  rationale, 
I focused my energies on seeing Slayer -- my 21st time.               

The bell tolls 8:00 pm. The intro to "God Hates Us All" fades in to a 
deafening roar. Having witnessed this guys in 2002 at the Seven Flags 
Event Center in Des Moines,  I  was  more  than  ready  to  again  to 
sacrifice my (in)sanity at the altar of these legendary madmen.       

Never phased by anything, Tom Araya welcomes the crowds after  having 
a plastic bottom bounced from his microphone  mere  inches  from  his 
face. "War Ensemble" screams through U.S. Cellular Center to a wildly 
frenzied audience.                                                    

The quintessential frontman, Araya eyes the  pit  in  front  of  him, 
asking if everyone's doin' fine, pausing to make sure. After a minute 
or so Tom continues on with the show, but not before tipping his  hat 
to those in uniform.                                                  

"Who out there has loved ones making the ultimate  sacrifice?",  asks 
Slayer's spokesman. The fans respond  enthusiastically,  shaking  the 
venue nearly  to  its  foundation.  "Mandatory  Suicide!"  comes  the 
answer.                                                               

Often referred to as the Slayer love song, "Necrophilia" is  up  next 
with a seamless transition into  "Seasons  in  the  Abyss".  At  this 
point, I wondered to myself quietly in the midst of all the thrashing 
and commotion caused by the ebb and flow of the crowd around me,  how 
-any- band would want to be put in the position of  following  Slayer 
on stage. Kinda like getting clothes from your grandma  at  Christmas 
after Santa brings ya a plasma television.                            

"Stain of Mind" from _Diabolus in Musica_  began  as  Slayer  rumbled 
into their second half-hour. "Bloodline",  "Dead  Skin  Mask",  "Hell 
Awaits" and an adrenaline infused version of  "Payback"  broke  loose 
before Jeff, Kerry, Tom and the prodigal drummer Dave Lombardo ducked 
backstage before the encore.                                          

Returning for "Postmortem", the primed and ready  fans  cried  loudly 
enough to knock the paint from the walls. "Reign in Blood" and "South 
of Heaven" preceded the final signature piece to end the set,  "Angel 
of Death".                                                            

Never a disappointment, Slayer could always tear down the rafters  in 
any city. In fact, where compulsory and  programmed  metal  seems  to 
have become the flavor of the week,  Slayer  has  never  looked  back 
throughout their more than two decades; they are the soil most  bands 
have placed their roots.                                              

The crowd was eager for the headliners, and Des Moines' Slipknot took 
the stage shortly before 10:00 pm.  The  Iowa  "maggots"  rushed  the 
stage as the nine costumed hooligans lead by Corey Taylor  filed  out 
of the darkness to take their places.                                 

Belting out "Three Nil"  to  follow  the  barrage  of  opening  songs 
reinvigorated the pit. Taylor inviting fan participation and reliving 
the days where he was the one in the crowd watching Pantera, Kiss and 
White Zombie, Slipknot fired away with "Duality", also from  _Vol.  3 
(The Subliminal Verses)_.                                             

Corey confirmed my hunch that the last  time  Slipknot  visited  Iowa 
was on the Pledge  of  Allegiance  tour  before  busting  forth  with 
"Disasterpiece" from the album named from their home state, _Iowa_.   

As they finished up "Vermilion", a song  dedicated  to  a  couple  of 
Corey Taylor's family members who passed away recently, I came to the 
conclusion that I had enough. I'm not a maggot or even much of fan of 
Slipknot's style and antics, so about an hour was all I could endure. 

As I gathered up those who accompanied me to the show in  preparation 
to leave, I took a quick glance at the  guy's  shirt  immediately  in 
front of me. An older black tattered "T" adorned  with  the  Misfits' 
silhouetted skull was  staring  back  at  me.  I  looked  up  to  see 
the over- rehearsed choreography unfolding  on  stage  presently  and 
pondered: is this the direction  metal  has  taken?  From  Slayer  to 
Slipknot  --  who  would  have  thought?  Then  again,  you  have  to 
acknowledge the Slayer to God Forbid's connection, as  well.  Without 
that  last  nugget  of  consolation,  my  friends,  my  outlook  that 
particular Friday the 13th would have been far more horrifying.       

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

  O N E   O F   O U R   D R U M M E R S   I S   M I S S I N G . . .
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Download Festival 2004, 6th/7th May, Donington Park, England
                          by: Adam Lineker


I arrived at Donington Park an hour before midday, under a  calm  but 
overcast sky. After being refused entrance to  the  press  area  (the 
only place where one encountered any effective  security)  I  had  no 
option but to negotiate the heinous queue for  admission  wristbands. 
During this  time,  I  busied  myself  with  straining  to  hear  THE 
DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN as they banged out their  disjointed,  cerebral 
noise on the main stage. I know nothing of how they were received  by 
the early crowd, but every second was a pleasure  from  where  I  was 
standing, as it ensured that Opeth would not be on whilst I was stuck 
outside.                                                              

I was fortunate enough to gain entry at the very beginning of OPETH's 
set, charging through the gate and  scaling  the  embankment  to  the 
eerie strains of "The Drapery Falls".  With  only  half  an  hour  to 
perform, the  band  from  Stockholm,  Sweden  played  a  very  select 
arrangement of their most accessible  material  to  an  audience  who 
appeared appreciative, if not completely understanding.  Offering  up 
the mellow _Damnation_ cut "To Rid the Disease" to a  festival  crowd 
initially struck me as a  bad  idea,  but  somehow  the  Opeth  magic 
worked, permeating their grey,  midday  setting  with  a  cold,  dark 
atmosphere. The band  punctured  their  own  momentum  by  taking  an 
eternity between songs, but they succeeded on a  musical  level  with 
proficient and stirring performances of "Deliverance" and  "Demon  of 
the Fall". Still, it is a  fair  judgement  to  say  that  an  early, 
open-air half hour is  not  the  best  setting  to  enjoy  the  Opeth 
experience.                                                           

Over on the (secondary) Snickers Stage, VIKING SKULL were responsible 
for some  no-frills,  ballsy  rocking  out.  With  flashes  of  AC/DC 
providing the high points of some  ludicrously  entitled,  oily  rock 
songs, the band relished every moment of their stage time, and  large 
amounts of energy were exchanged  between  performers  and  audience. 
Though they wouldn't seem out of place  performing  in  your  average 
biker bar, Viking Skull performed with guts and aplomb,  entertaining 
a crowd through a shared exuberance for unashamed, nostalgic fun.     

After such a dirty rock  and  roll  explosion,  I  wondered  how  the 
gentlemanly extreme  AKERCOCKE  would  come  be  received.  From  the 
moment that the band's decorative equipment was wheeled  onstage  the 
atmosphere began to build, but nothing could have prepared me for the 
moment when the four be-suited men strode  out  onto  the  stage  and 
worked the audience into a frenzy with a  passionate  Satanic  chant; 
the sense of pure evil  and  menace  emanating  from  the  stage  was 
palpable. Akercocke then proceeded to deliver the goods  in  striking 
fashion, blasting  their  violent  and  technical  metal  with  total 
control and potent venom. The intensity of "Of  Menstrual  Blood  and 
Semen" inspired the first pits of the day  as  the  assembled  throng 
gave themselves up  to  the  Akercocke  blast.  Renditions  of  newer 
numbers "Leviathan" and "Son  of  the  Morning"  provided  the  set's 
melodic highpoints, but undoubtedly the most memorable image  of  the 
performance was the calm, expressionless face of David Gray as he put 
hi s  kit  through  the  most  breathtakingly  technical  display  of 
drumming that would be seen over the whole festival.                  

Over on the main stage it was nearly time for CRADLE OF FILTH. I knew 
from the word go that The Filth  were  going  to  have  a  hard  time 
following Akercocke's triumph. Unfortunately they  failed  miserably, 
and gave this long time Cradle fan his first  big  disappointment  of 
the day. Beginning their  set  with  recent  _Damnation  and  a  Day_ 
material was an early warning, the  opening  song  going  on  for  an 
eternity before the band finally launched into  an  underpowered  and 
unengaging "Cruelty Brought Thee Orchids". A  band  famed  for  their 
more unsavoury elements, here the most unpleasant thing about CoF was 
the surly presence of backing singer Sarah Jezebel Deva, who couldn't 
have looked more  sickeningly  disinterested  if  she  had  tried.  A 
somewhat paunchy Dani Filth did his best to work up  the  crowd,  but 
his band just floundered as they struggled to keep the reigns  taught 
over a dodgy sound  and  a  sloppy  performance;  the  showcasing  of 
unimpressive new song "Gilded Cunt" (yes, I know) only succe eded  in 
lowering the tone. Ultimately Cradle of Filth were upstaged (not  for 
the first time) by their own stilt walkers and dancing girls, who put 
on a highly entertaining backing show of high camp theatre and daring 
stunts.                                                               

Meanwhile, over on the small Barfly stage,  BURST  were  successfully 
provoking a wrestling  match.  Despite  the  spirited  and  competent 
performance, I struggled to focus on the band as six  guys  with  the 
physique of Phil Anselmo joyously beat ten bags of shit out  of  each 
other in the pit next to me. All credit then to  Burst  for  creating 
such a good atmosphere with their metallic  jolts  and  grooves  that 
people found the need to fight each other; a fact not lost on a  band 
who evidently enjoyed themselves  whilst  maintaining  an  impressive 
musical presence.                                                     

After this macho display, it seemed appropriate to procure  beer  and 
food, and then find a  place  to  watch  THE  DISTILLERS  from  afar. 
Although I have read much of the great punk  energy  that  this  band 
create, none of it reached  me,  and  I  struggled  to  cultivate  an 
opinion that was anything other than  apathetic.  Despite  the  husky 
sexiness of Brody Dalle's voice, it  was  hard  to  pay  any  serious 
attention to them. Still, to their credit they were nowhere  near  as 
annoying as THE HIVES, who played  a  set  of  sound-a-like  material 
ripped wholesale from The  Stooges.  Whilst  frontman  Howlin'  Pelle 
Almqvuist accused every other band of having "downtuned  guitars  and 
amps that sound the  same  whatever  they  play",  his  band  twanged 
through a dull, irritating set that made me  wish  to  be  elsewhere. 
Luckily, there was a better place ro be.                              

With the cancellation of STATIC X, and the  moving  forward  of  Arch 
Enemy, I decided to  give  IGGY  POP  AND  THE  STOOGES  a  miss.  In 
retrospect, this is a decision that I don't regret in the least.      

The last time I wrote about ARCH ENEMY was a painful experience, as I 
had left their "Anthems of Rebellion" tour show in Glasgow with a lot 
of doubt and disappointment (look for 'Sad Eyes Question  Future"  in 
the Gigs section of CoC if you're interested). This time, however,  I 
witnessed one of the most exhilarating performances of metal  that  I 
have ever experienced.  After  a  lengthy  intro,  the  band  emerged 
onstage though a thick haze of smoke and  lights  and  exploded  into 
"The First  Deadly  Sin",  inciting  an  immediate  reaction  in  the 
remarkably large and tightly packed crowd. Each member  of  the  band 
seemed to give off  a  light  of  their  own,  the  star  quality  of 
this group more evident than ever.  Passionately  ripping  through  a 
set comprised almost entirely of  _Wages  of  Sin_  and  _Anthems  of 
Rebellion_era material, it was hard to identify a  peak.  Whether  it 
was the early inclusion of a frenzied "Ravenous", being hugged  by  a 
complete stranger during the beautiful lead bridge of "Dead E yes See 
No Future", or watching a crazed metalhead climb  up  the  supporting 
structures to a suicidal height and hurl himself off during "We  Will 
Rise", I cannot tell. What I remember most of all is that  there  was 
a very  powerful  manifestation  of  the  metal  spirit.  Arch  Enemy 
completely dominated Download 2004, and one can only  hope  that  the 
shockwaves of this significant event will travel far.                 

Exhausted after such an unrelenting metal experience, it was time  to 
meander back to the mainstage and find a place to crash whilst SUM 41 
peddled their pop punk  nonsense.  Though  they  offered  nothing  of 
musical interest, it was decided that this band are probably  one  of 
the last bands of their genre that  ought  to  be  exterminated.  The 
strength of their endearing performance energy carried  even  through 
the formulaic frippery being played, and their  inability  to  resist 
the temptation  to  cover  old-school  metal  classics  belied  their 
ability to play a lot better than they really ought to.               

Having only caught the end of their set, much pleasure  was  acquired 
through the brief offering of AC/DC that filled in  the  time  before 
headliners LINKIN PARK took to the  stage  and  totally  underwhelmed 
most of the audience. They generated about as much excitement as what 
you might get from playing the  record  very  loudly  at  the  bottom 
of  your  garden,  and  their  weaknesses  became  quickly  apparent. 
Although able to entirely replicate their studio  albums  live,  this 
quickly became horribly boring. Though on one level such  proficiency 
shouldn't be ignored, most of the band had  very  basic  instrumental 
parts, and the only mildly  impressive  performances  were  given  by 
singer Chester Bennington and MC  Joe  Hahn.  There  were  no  fills, 
deviations, interpretations, or even any  real  evidence  to  suggest 
that it was actually being performed  live.  Between  songs  we  were 
treated to the insufferable ego of third rate rapper Mike Shinoda and 
his equally plastic counterpart. The most remarkable thing a bout the 
whole show was the division in the Donington crowd: whilst those down 
at the front seemed to love every minute of being  postured  at,  the 
majority of those assembled seemed ambivalent; a fact not lost on the 
band themselves, as they tried to get their fans  to  boo  those  who 
were just watching. Such actions left me feeling  horribly  cold  and 
the only thing that preserved my good humour were the audible  shouts 
for Slayer that were gradually increasing towards the back.           

When Shinoda dragged the event to a new low with his  awful  hip  hop 
pretentions ("when ah s'ay yimmy yammy like dis y'all say like dis!") 
it seemed like a good time  to  leave.  Apart  from  being  a  rather 
underpowered headlining act, their attitude left me  feeling  totally 
alienated. This band are one of metal's  biggest  representatives  in 
the mainstream world, but they are so far  removed  from  what  metal 
means to me. What I mean is that they didn't generate  that  musical, 
emotional, unifying metal vibe.  They  didn't  really  seem  to  care 
or understand  that  they  were  headlining  Donington.  They  didn't 
understand that they couldn't force the crowd to  be  down  with  the 
kids. Maybe I am too sentimental but  still,  someone  should  inform 
Joey DeMaio; if there was ever a bunch of wimps and  posers,  it  was 
Linkin Park on this night.                                            

Deciding that a lie in would be preferable to having to listen to Ill 
Niño, I arrived at Donington in the early afternoon. My second day of 
Download began with the end of SOULFLY's  set.  Having  never  gained 
much but amusement from Max  Cavalera's  stompy  nu-third-world-metal 
efforts, I was pleasantly surprised by the  atmosphere  generated  by 
"Eye for an Eye". The band themselves looked  a  little  disorganised 
and scruffy, but it was hard not to get caught  up  in  their  bouncy 
groove.                                                               

Machine Head were supposed to follow this up, but due to a  delay  on 
the behalf of Slayer, the whole running order did a quick shuffle and 
forward-passed the thrash titans to an evening  slot  on  the  second 
stage, whilst shoving Rob Flynn's mob up  the  ladder  a  little.  So 
next we were treated to  a  spirited  show  by  DAMAGEPLAN,  the  new 
incarnation of ex-Pantera  brothers  Dimebag  and  Vinnie.  To  their 
credit, the Abbots have recruited some  solid  bandmates,  and  their 
mission-of-metal statement came across loud and clear. What let  them 
down was the music itself, which never seemed close to  the  standard 
set by their  past  output;  numbers  such  as  "Fuck  You!"  sounded 
exceptionally moronic. Still, Damageplan were responsible for one  of 
the biggest moments of the whole festival when  they  slammed  out  a 
titanic rendition of Pantera classic "Walk". Despite any  quibbles  I 
have with their current material, it is great to see Dime and  Vinnie 
rocking out again.                                                    

After a quick trip to the overpriced stalls, I watched from  afar  as 
MACHINE HEAD  tore  it  up  on  the  main  stage.  They  exceeded  my 
expectations massively, and seemed to occupy Donington Park even more 
so than the previous night's woeful headliners.  As  they  began  the 
opening track of new opus _Through the Ashes of Empires_,  I  scanned 
the whole crowd from distant back to  heaving  front  and  gained  my 
first real impression  of  how  epic  the  occasion  really  was.  In 
this environment, Machine Head's performance  may  have  seemed  more 
breathtaking than it actually was, but they undoubtedly delivered the 
goods. While Flynn's dialogue and stage  banter  was  awkwardly  dumb 
("this next song is an eight minute laymenshun on Death, y'all"),  it 
wasn't enough  to  bring  down  a  performance  that  generated  some 
powerful vibes, peaking with career highlight "Davidian". Personally, 
I've always been a bit apathetic towards  Machine  Head,  but  during 
this Download appearance they went up in my estimation conside rably. 

As I waded to the front for SLIPKNOT's  set,  an  expectant,  nervous 
tension  began  to  manifest  and  grow  in  the   assembled   horde. 
Thankfully, the 'Knot delivered one of the festival's  most  balanced 
performances and my expectations were well met. The band threw out  a 
well constructed, career  spanning  set,  which  somehow  managed  to 
include all the hits whilst pushing all the right buttons, though the 
older numbers were met with the  greater  reactions.  The  individual 
performances of guitarist Mick Thompson  and  vocalist  Corey  Taylor 
drew most of my attention; unquestionably  Slipknot's  ranks  include 
some passionate and committed musicians, however nauseous one can  be 
made by the hype. However, for a band who have been repeatedly touted 
as the world's most extreme and  dangerous  group,  this  performance 
felt very safe. The chaos onstage seemed to be  controlled  and  well 
executed instead of spontaneous, and while there was  a  lot  of  pit 
action, it had a friendly vibe; I had a very good time ac ting like a 
nutter and still had room for handshakes all round. This vibe  rubbed 
off on the band, as positive energies were exchanged to make  this  a 
quite satisfying  feel-good  event,  just  as  long  as  you  weren't 
expecting new levels of mayhem and insanity.  I  left  the  pit  just 
before the end, as  "Wait  and  Bleed"  began  to  sound  out  across 
Donington, to take part in an altogether different affair...          

These days the sheer  arrogance  of  SLAYER  is  becoming  harder  to 
forgive. Having turned the bill  almost  on  its  head,  they  nearly 
incited a riot amongst  the  assembled  crowd  by  pushing  the  time 
back even further, and  the  engineers  reinforcing  the  barrier  in 
preparation were injured by flying bottles flung from  the  impatient 
(slayer)crowd. Threats to  pull  the  band's  set  in  response  only 
stirred things  further.  Slayer  appeared  onstage  in  front  of  a 
claustrophobic and restless crowd; not a moment too soon  either.  As 
they launched into "Disciple", pandemonium ensued. The  crowd  became 
one giant, boiling, inescapable pit and  the  venue's  support  posts 
were swamped with desperate, flag waving  bodies.  Having  personally 
considered and rejected this option myself, I  eventually  fought  my 
way to the security of  the  front  barrier.  Slayer's  set  included 
all  of  their  classic  tracks,  with  a  few  nice  surprises,  and 
their performance was the trademark Slayer onslaught  of  energy  and 
aggression; the _Reign in  Blood_  to  _Seasons  in  the  Abyss_  era 
material providing most of the high points. What almost  ruined  this 
was how the band could come  onstage  after  such  a  delay  and  say 
absolutely  nothing  to  an  audience  who  had  waited  in  a  state 
of discomfort  for  hours.  Couple  this  with  the  fact  that  they 
inexplicably kept walking off between songs, and one begins to wonder 
how complacent Slayer are becoming. Despite my  misgivings,  I  still 
became totally caught up in their ferocious barrage of vintage thrash 
metal. I'm just waiting for the moment when I  can  once  again  feel 
that the spirit of a Slayer gig isn't just generated by their devoted 
fans.                                                                 

So, from one thrash titan to another. Headliners  METALLICA  followed 
Slayer's trend of showing up over two hours late,  and  the  Download 
crowd actually began to show their disapproval en  masse  until  Het, 
Kirk  and  Rob  had  the  grace  to  come  out  onstage  and  explain 
themselves. The reasons why they had kept us waiting were  soon  made 
clear: Lars Ulrich wasn't there. Hospitalised due  to  some  "mystery 
illness" (which was unofficially reported to be some sort of  nervous 
breakdown), Metallica were  cut  down  to  a  three  piece.  However, 
instead  of  pulling  the  show,  they  stuck  it  out  alongside  an 
assortment of replacement drummers.  This  in  itself  was  a  highly 
commendable gesture. However, understandable as it may be,  Metallica 
were incredibly sloppy and there were  moments  when  it  looked  and 
sounded as if certain  songs  were  falling  apart.  Slipknot's  Joey 
Jordison performed the majority of the set, something for which  most 
mainstream metal magazines have lauded as the moment of the festival. 
A ll credit to Joey's solid impromptu performance,  but  this  simply 
wasn't the case. If anything truly awesome came out of this  spirited 
but clumsy set, it was the opening salvo of "Battery" and  "The  Four 
Horsemen", which featured none  other  than  Slayer's  Dave  Lombardo 
behind the kit; every thrash fan's dream come true. His pedal work in 
Battery was simply breathtaking, displaying to  the  Donington  crowd 
just how much more powerful a drummer he is than Ulrich. Yet  despite 
even this, Metallica didn't really pull it off, seeming at half power 
and performing a reduced set. Undoubtedly the band did the best  they 
could have done, and the performance was indeed emotionally engaging, 
but after their life- affirming show at Leeds the year  before,  this 
was an unsatisfying end to a good festival experience.                

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                         __,  _, _, _ ___  _,
                         |_) /_\ |\ |  |  (_ 
                         | \ | | | \|  |  , )
                         ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  ~  ~   ~ 
                     
         B L A C K   M E T A L :   A   B R I E F   G U I D E
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                          by: Quentin Kalis

This is an article intended as a  short  yet  informative  guide  for 
people  who  are  generally  familiar  with  metal  but  are  largely 
unacquainted  with  black  metal.  At  the  end   I   have   provided 
mini-reviews of what I consider to be the ten  most  influential  and 
essential black metal albums.                                         

Definition
~~~~~~~~~~

The exact definition of "black metal" is a hotly contested subject: a 
quick perusal of the archives of any metal message board will  reveal 
the extent to which even today it remains a hotly contested topic  of 
debate. One can find entire threads dedicated to the question whether 
the new Satyricon and Enslaved can be  considered  black  metal.  Two 
main camps have emerged over the last few years:                      

1. One school of thought, which I will call the "Purist" view, claims 
that the term "black metal" refers only to underground acts (in  this 
context a "mainstream black metal" act is one which is signed to  one 
of the larger independents, such as Nuclear  Blast  or  Candlelight). 
These underground acts tend to have a rawer  and  noticeably  simpler 
style.                                                                

2. The second school of thought, which I call the  "Inclusive"  view, 
permits a wider definition which includes more mainstream acts,  such 
as Emperor, and also  bands  such  as  Marduk,  Dissection  or  Dimmu 
Borgir. These bands tend to have superior production values  and  are 
often more  technical  then  their  underground  counterparts.  These 
bands tend to be more  melodic  then  their  cruder  sounding  peers, 
and may also have a  stronger  focus  on  keyboards.  Sometimes  this 
categorisation becomes overbroad and  Viking  metal  bands  (such  as 
Mithotyn or Einherjer) are lazily and erroneously considered as black 
metal. I have even heard Children of Bodom being called black  metal, 
which is pushing the boundaries too far.                              

Black metal is notoriously hard to  define,  and  vague,  pretentious 
statements  such  as   'black   metal   is   the   nihilistic   audio 
representation of all the misanthropic  evil  inherent  in  man'  are 
unhelpful. But perhaps the following exposition, taking into  account 
both of the viewpoints above, is the best:                            

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of metal characterised by  snarled 
or shrieked vocals and raucous tremolo riffs. The bass tends  to  be, 
for all intents and purposes, non-existent. Production  tends  to  be 
trebly and raw. Most  bands  adopt  a  relatively  simplistic  style, 
though some of  the  more  mainstream  acts  (Emperor  is  a  notable 
example) are more technical. Generally, technicality is frowned  upon 
and soloing is infrequent and  hardly  ever  used.  A  clearer,  more 
discernible  but  atonal  vocal  style  is  often  used,  usually  in 
conjunction with a harsher shrieking style. Keyboards are  frequently 
adopted. Usage of folk, neoclassical and, to a lesser extent, ambient 
elements is frequent.                                                 

Unlike genres such as thrash or  death  metal,  black  metal  has  an 
underlying philosophy behind it, and no definition of black metal  is 
complete without a consideration of its  ideology.  Lyrically,  black 
metal bands are at the very least  violently  anti-Christian  if  not 
outright Satanists. It must be noted that the idea of Satanism is not 
cast in stone and ranges from a relatively medieval  style  of  Satan 
worship through to the more intellectual  strains  of  Anton  LaVey's 
notorious Church of Satan. Some have adopted Asatru, the contemporary 
revival of the old Norse religion, as their spirituality  of  choice; 
and in recent years this has often been  accompanied  with  a  strong 
nationalist outlook. An overriding feature of almost all black  metal 
is the fascination with the past:  many  black  metal  bands  include 
anachronisms, such as  the  use  of  medieval-sounding  melodies  and 
instrumentation, posing in Middle Ages inspired clothing, or  harping 
about a return to the ages long gone. The writings  of  Tolkien  have 
exerted a great influence on black metal -- more so perhaps then  the 
writings of Anton LaVey -- and this is reflected in  the  many  names 
adopted from his mythical world (e.g. Gorgoroth,  Burzum,  Isengard). 
Although it is unclear as to how many bands have actually  read  "The 
Antichrist" by  Nietzsche,  his  views  on  Christianity  have  found 
widespread acceptance.                                                

The astute reader will have noted that I refer largely to  tendencies 
rather than  hard  and  fast  rules.  This  is  due  to  the  musical 
diversity of black metal and the near-impossibility of constructing a 
definition  that  would  incorporate  albums  as  disparate  as  _Det 
Frysende Nordariket_ (Ildjarn), _Panzer  Division  Marduk_  (Marduk), 
_La Masquerade Infernale_ (Arcturus) and _With No Human  Intervention 
_ (Aborym). Despite assertions to the contrary,  black  metal  is  an 
incredibly varied genre -- certainly more so than death metal.        

The Origins of Black Metal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Although many believe that black metal started in Norway  during  the 
late Eighties / early Nineties, its true  origin  was  much  earlier. 
Many accept Venom as the first black metal band, and thus the  band's 
debut album, _Welcome to Hell_, released in 1981, can  be  considered 
as the true genesis of black metal. Other notable  albums  from  this 
period include Celtic Frost's _Morbid Tales_, Bathory's _Bathory_ and 
_Apocalyptic Raids_ by Hellhammer.                                    

It should be noted that none of these acts  were  regarded  as  black 
metal in the beginning. On the eve of his sophomore effort, Bathory's 
Quorthon described his music as "heavy  metal";  Celtic  Frost  have, 
depending on what you read, been described as being both  thrash  and 
death metal. Venom is  firmly  rooted  in  NWOBHM.  Their  music  was 
described as being "black metal"  well  after  the  most  influential 
black metal albums were released. It is  a  term  which  only  became 
widely used with the rise of the second wave.                         

The second wave was  constituted  of  Norwegian  black  metal,  which 
started in the late Eighties and reached its peak  between  1991  and 
1994. Many of the most important albums were released in this period, 
including Mayhem's _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_  and  Darkthrone's  _A 
Blaze in the Northern Sky_.                                           

Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal and Mayhem are the  most  important  and 
influential bands of the period. However, these bands were  just  the 
tip of the iceberg when it came to the nascent Norwegian black  metal 
scene, and contributions by bands such as Emperor, Thorns,  Satyricon 
and Ulver, amongst many others, cannot pass by unnoticed.             

Originally, the aim was to forge a return to what they considered  to 
be the true death metal sound and was a reaction  against  what  they 
perceived to be the commercialization  of  death  metal.  This  'true 
death metal sound' later became what is now  known  as  black  metal. 
Death metal bands in  this  period  tended  to  perform  in  everyday 
clothes and appeared on stage in tracksuits and  sneakers.  This  was 
unbearable for the likes of Euronymous, who adopted a more 'shocking' 
and 'anti- social' image.                                             

The Norwegian acts spurred on the rise of black metal's  third  wave. 
The two most significant albums, both of which were  instrumental  in 
accelerating its spread and popularity, are Emperor's _Anthems to the 
Welkin at Dusk_ and Cradle of Filth's _Dusk... and Her Embrace_.      

Emperor was one of the original Norwegian bands,  but  it  was  their 
sophomore full-length that drew widespread  interest  and  attention. 
_Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_ showcased an unprecedented degree  of 
complexity and technicality. It was well received, and placed  highly 
on virtually all "Best of 1997" lists.                                

Another noteworthy album was Cradle of Filth's seminal  _Dusk...  and 
Her Embrace_. Whether Cradle of Filth  can  be  considered  as  black 
metal is one of  the  most  highly  debated  topics,  though  it  has 
subsided in recent years as Cradle of Filth  have  veered  towards  a 
more obvious commercial sound with each  subsequent  album.  Whatever 
you may consider Cradle of Filth to be,  there  is  no  denying  that 
impact that _DaHE_ has had on the scene, and  its  influence  can  be 
felt in many bands commonly considered to be black metal, such as the 
(early) works of Hecate Enthroned and Agathodaimon,  which  at  times 
border on outright plagiarism. Even Ancient, who  were  part  of  the 
nascent Norwegian scene, were clearly influenced by Cradle  of  Filth 
on some of their later works.                                         

Alongside Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth were to become one  of  black 
metal's crossover bands, gaining fans from the nu-metal /  commercial 
(Pantera, Metallica) metal crowd as well as attention from  the  goth 
community.                                                            

Black metal was no longer confined to Scandinavia and  bands  started 
to emerge across the world, from countries as culturally  diverse  as 
Japan (Sigh), USA (Judas Iscariot) and  the  Czech  Republic  (Maniac 
Butcher). Scenes started to  become  established  across  the  world. 
Perhaps the most significant scene was the "Legions Noires" or "Black 
Legions" of France, which gave birth to legendary bands such  as  the 
short-lived Vlad Tepes  and  Belketre.  Although  the  Black  Legions 
collectively only released a handful of ridiculously limited  albums, 
they nevertheless had a huge  impact  on  the  development  of  black 
metal.                                                                

Some black metal bands became more experimental, and  bands  such  as 
Arcturus, Sigh and later Solefald released albums that  can  be  best 
described as black metal avant-garde. Bands such as Aborym and ...And 
Oceans borrowed from dance and EBM.                                   

The third wave was further by its rapid increase in popularity within 
the underground (and by underground here I mean bands  that  are  not 
signed to one of the major labels, such as  EMI  or  Virgin)  selling 
more albums than any other underground  genre.  Labels  scrambled  to 
sign black metal bands and a lot of unoriginal nonsense was released, 
but in the end the imitators and hangers-on  either  found  some  new 
ideas or disappeared. Black metal reached its  apex  in  1997,  after 
which sales started to decline. Given the rapid increase in bands and 
its splintering into various scenes and  subgenres,  it  is  hard  to 
select the most influential albums  of  this  period.  (As  mentioned 
earlier, Emperor's _Anthems to the Welkin  at  Dusk_  and  Cradle  of 
Filth's _Dusk... and Her Embrace_ are  probably  the  most  important 
albums in terms of influence from this period.)                       

The Future
~~~~~~~~~~

The decline did in no way affect the progression of black metal,  and 
only  the  most  naïve  would  believe  that  the  relative  loss  of 
popularity of  the  genre  would  mean  its  demise.  All  the  major 
labels have several black metal bands  on  their  rosters,  and  many 
smaller labels (such as No Colours Records and  Drakkar  Productions) 
specialise almost exclusively in black metal.                         

A lot  of  would-be  Nostradamuses  predict  that  black  metal  with 
a  strong  electronic  influence  --  think  Aborym  or  latter   day 
Dodheimsgard --  will  be  the  future  of  black  metal.  I've  read 
predictions about that in  respect  to  almost  any  rock  and  metal 
subgenre you could care to name -- and they have all been  wrong!  At 
best a new sub-genre will be established, but this  will  in  no  way 
supplant the more traditional  forms.  In  addition,  the  widespread 
adoption of electronic elements in black metal is made unlikely by  a 
strong and pervasive focus on the ancient past for a futuristic genre 
such as EBM or industrial  to  exert  a  noticeable  influence  on  a 
significant number of bands. Nor are the above mentioned 'black metal 
avant-garde' acts such as Arcturus the future of  black  metal:  some 
bands are simply too  idiosyncratic  for  their  basic  style  to  be 
espoused by others.                                                   

The future of black metal is dependent on  a  fourth  wave  emerging. 
Most of the first wave  are  no  longer  active,  and  the  Norwegian 
veterans have either broken up (Immortal, Emperor)  or  have  changed 
their style to the point where it is debatable whether  they  can  be 
considered black metal at  all  (Satyricon,  Enslaved).  Few  notable 
bands have emerged from Norway since the  mid-Nineties;  clearly  the 
impetus behind the fourth wave  will  originate  elsewhere.  Although 
various scenes have been established around the world, the one that I 
believe will be the force behind the impending  fourth  wave  is  the 
Eastern European scene. Already Poland's Graveland and the  Ukraine's 
Nokturnal Mortum are probably the most popular acts amongst the black 
metal underground, and their names are familiar to many whose  tastes 
are more mainstream.                                                  

Musically,  there  is  a  tendency  towards  a  greater  clarity   in 
production as well as a more epic vibe with  these  bands,  sometimes 
combined with a folk influence. The overt Satanic tendencies of their 
Norwegian counterparts have been abrogated  in  favour  of  a  strong 
nationalistic slant, usually accompanied by a neo-Pagan spirituality. 

However, the rise of Slavic black metal has been accompanied  with  a 
rise in National Socialist beliefs, which, although not exclusive  to 
Eastern European bands, does appear to be most prevalent there.  This 
is also  a  possible  inhibiting  factor  preventing  its  widespread 
adoption -- the larger, more commercially orientated  labels  usually 
refuse to sign bands that are overtly racist, and the smaller  labels 
simply do not have the funds to promote their bands  as  strongly  as 
the bigger labels. In addition, some smaller labels such as Voices of 
Wonder refuse to sign National Socialist black  metal  (NSBM)  bands. 
Even if they had the funds, many countries  have  hate  speech  laws, 
which inhibits more widespread promotion.                             

The reasons behind the adoption of National Socialism in black  metal 
form a complex hydra-headed affair which can become the  basis  of  a 
doctoral thesis, and I cannot possibly consider  all  of  them  here. 
However, it is worth noting  that  from  the  earliest  days  of  the 
Norwegian scene, a strong nationalist creed was  present  --  and  is 
still present. In addition, the line between racism and nationalism / 
patriotism is an extremely thin and perilous one: if one is  strongly 
nationalistic, whereby one is proud of belonging to his  origins  and 
of belonging to a particular social group, then it is no  great  leap 
to start seeing other groups as inferior.                             

The 10 Most Influential Black Metal Albums
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Criteria: The following albums were chosen because of the impact that 
they have  had  on  successive  bands.  A  fair  amount  of  personal 
preference has also affected the bands chosen, and  in  a  list  this 
short it is sometimes the only way to make a choice between two bands 
who are arguably equally important. For example, can it be said  that 
Satyricon are more influential than Thorns or Ulver? I  have  focused 
exclusively on the first and second waves of black metal. The  reason 
for this is simple: these are the bands most often cited  by  current 
black metal bands as being their biggest influence. Ratings  are  not 
given, as I wouldn't mention them unless they were worth  10  out  of 
10. However, they are of more than historical interest and  stand  in 
their own right as classic black metal albums that should be in every 
fan's collection. If you don't have them, start saving!               


Venom - _Black Metal_ (Neat Records, 1982)

Although relatively tame by today's standards, they certainly weren't 
when they released their debut back in 1981 --  at  which  time  they 
were one of the first bands to explicitly and unambiguously espouse a 
Satanic outlook. The genesis of black metal was Venom's seminal debut 
_Welcome to Hell_. Any one of their first  three  albums  could  have 
been chosen, as they are all classics, but the reason  _Black  Metal_ 
was chosen was largely because it has the quintessential  Venom  song 
"Countess Bathory" -- as well as being the album that provided a name 
for the  developing  genre.  Venom's  simplistic,  raw  sounding  and 
sloppily played songs were to be the blueprint from which all  others 
would follow in one way or another. Although they superficially don't 
sound like most black metal bands, virtually all of the  basic  audio 
characteristics are present; the major difference lies in the vocals, 
which are sung in a clear and decipherable voice,  having  little  in 
common with the shrieked vocal styl  e  of  almost  all  black  metal 
bands. Their Satanic aspect may have been a gimmick, and it  may  not 
have been. Either way, it ushered in one of  the  most  potent  metal 
subgenres.                                                            


Bathory - _Bathory_ (Black Mark, 1984)

Any  of  Bathory's  first  five  albums  can  rightly  be  considered 
a classic and  have  collectively  had  the  biggest  impact  on  the 
development of  black  metal  --  selecting  just  one  as  the  most 
influential is an exercise in futility. The best option was to simply 
go back to the beginning where it all started: on his short and nasty 
self-titled debut. Most of the songs struggle  to  attain  the  three 
minute mark, the music is  simple  and  sloppily  performed  and  the 
lyrics are laughable. At another time and another place,  this  might 
have been seen as juvenile and doomed to  obscurity.  But  the  sheer 
uncompromising violence  of  the  music  --  which  was  pretty  much 
unrivalled in 1984 --  meant  that  this  album  couldn't  simply  be 
dismissed. Like many other  black  metal  classics,  the  end  result 
was greater than the sum  of  its  parts.  Later  albums  would  show 
considerable growth and progression, but  none  would  replicate  the 
'take no prisoners' attitude and youthful aggression of _Bathory_.    


Celtic Frost - _Morbid Tales_ (Noise, 1984)

It is significant that while Celtic Frost do not fit comfortably into 
either death,  thrash  or  black  metal,  each  genre  has  tried  to 
claim Celtic Frost as one of their  own.  Their  debut  album  was  a 
relatively raw and simplistic affair, unburdened by  the  avant-garde 
accoutrements that would be experimented with at a later  stage.  The 
abrasive sound was probably due more to lack of  funds  than  design, 
but would nonetheless serve as a blueprint for  future  bands.  Their 
signature riffs have been much copied and their influence can be felt 
almost everywhere, in bands as  diverse  as  Samael  and  Darkthrone. 
Their signature song, "Circle of the Tyrants", is probably  the  most 
covered song in extreme metal, with everyone from Obituary to  Mystic 
Circle having a go at it. Although they were never one  of  the  more 
technical bands, their unique and original  sound,  combined  with  a 
desire to experiment, meant that they would be remembered long  after 
their demise.                                                         


Immortal - _Pure Holocaust_ (Osmose, 1993)

Immortal got off to an unpromising and noisy start  with  _Diabolical 
Fullmoon Mysticism_, barely recognisable as an  Immortal  release  in 
comparison to later efforts. But its successor _Pure  Holocaust_  was 
an entirely different beast: gone were  the  death  metal  overtones, 
replaced with the characteristic cold  production  that  came  to  be 
known as the Norse sound. _Pure Holocaust_ sounds less noisy than its 
predecessor, but infinitely more  hateful,  with  more  angry  songs. 
Immortal are one of the more unique black metal bands both  in  terms 
of sound and appearance, thanks largely to Abbath's unique croak  and 
grim frostbitten appearance. If it were  any  other  band  attempting 
this image, it would probably be extremely cheesy; but with  Immortal 
it somehow just seems right.                                          


Satyricon - _Dark Medieval Times_ (Moonfog, 1993)

_Dark Medieval Times_ is a noisy affair, drawing on  folk  music  and 
the Middle Ages for inspiration --  a  sharp  contrast  to  the  more 
urbane image Satyr is currently cultivating. The use of folk elements 
and the 'floating' guitar  sound  combine  to  create  an  incredibly 
atmospheric album. While the insubstantial sounding  guitars  may  be 
considered a flaw by some, it provides the album with a unique  sound 
largely unduplicated by the black  metal  community.  Indeed  without 
this sound, _DMT_ would lose a lot of its potent ambience. Along with 
Ulver, Satyricon were one of the first acts to utilise folk  elements 
and were possibly the first 'trollish' bands.  Many  bands,  such  as 
Wyrd and Nokturnal Mortum, have since then successfully  merged  folk 
instrumentation and melodies with black metal.                        


Burzum - _Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_ (Misanthropy, 1994)

While  _Hvis  Lyset  Tar  Oss_  is  superficially  similar   to   its 
predecessors, the stronger song writing as well as the  inclusion  of 
the amazing "Det Som Engang Var" meant that  this  album  stands  out 
(albeit only slightly) from  his  other  work.  This  album  features 
all the Burzum trademarks,  namely  droning  guitars  and  minimalist 
drumming, all accompanied  by  Vikernes'  unique  wail.  _HLTO_  also 
features the obligatory  ambient  track,  "Tomhet",  which  showcases 
Burzum's skill in creating ethereal ambient music, present throughout 
and an integral part of his black metal period, although  sadly  much 
ignored.                                                              


Darkthrone - _Transylvanian Hunger_ (Peaceville, 1994)

Fenriz and company took the basic black metal outline that  they  had 
helped pioneer on the amazing _A  Blaze  in  the  Northern  Sky_  and 
stripped it of any and all frills, resulting  in  a  sparse,  hateful 
album. The thin production later became known as the "necro'"  sound. 
The raspy croak that passes for vox and the stripped down guitars are 
the very embodiment of black metal simplicity, while the  practically 
non-existent production resulted in the bass being totally  inaudible 
and the drums dissolving into an undifferentiated sludge.  These  are 
far from being negatives, as _Transylvanian Hunger_ embodied the very 
spirit of black metal and formed the seed from which it was to  grow. 
Much imitated, but never  equalled,  _TH_  stands  above  almost  all 
others.                                                               


Enslaved - _Vikingligr Veldi_ (Voices of Wonder, 1994)

Unlike most of their peers,  Enslaved  eschewed  Satanism  in  favour 
of a neo-Pagan  world  view,  focusing  heavily  on  Norway's  Viking 
heritage. Many bands would advocate similar ideas, but Enslaved  were 
probably the first to do so (barring Bathory's Viking era  material). 
_Vikingligr Veldi_ is a delightfully lengthy and  repetitive  affair, 
utilising  the  same  cold  Norse  production  as  Immortal's   _Pure 
Holocaust_. But instead of playing furious  black  metal,  a  greater 
emphasis is placed on creating atmosphere, inducing an almost trance- 
like state in the listener. Like all other albums mentioned  here  it 
is a unique album, yet it feels necessary to draw attention  to  this 
fact here, as it tends to be in the shadow of most of the other bands 
/ albums mentioned in this section.                                   


Emperor - _In the Nightside Eclipse_ (Candlelight, 1994)

One could not imagine a more suitable name for  the  creative  entity 
centred around the duo of Samoth and Ihsahn, as at the time of  their 
premature demise they were  the  undisputed  lords  of  black  metal. 
Although it was _Anthems to the Welkin at  Dusk_  that  brought  them 
widespread acclaim, _In the  Nightside  Eclipse_  ensured  that  they 
already could be considered as one  of  black  metal  elite.  Emperor 
fortunately dropped the fuzzy guitar sound of  the  _Emperor_  EP  in 
favour of a more focused and infinitely more intense sound.  Although 
the lyrics are inferior to those on _AttWaD_, they  were  nonetheless 
already superior to those produced by  the  vast  majority  of  their 
contemporaries. While they were not the first black metal act to  use 
keyboards, they were probably the first to adopt a more majestic  and 
-- pun unintended -- imperial sound, and helped pave the way for  the 
more melodic and symphonic black metal acts.                          


Mayhem - _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_ 
     (Deathlike Silence Productions / Century Black, 1994)

This album was the  result  of  a  mixture  of  chance,  luck,  skill 
and talent. Dead's suicide resulted  in  the  recruitment  of  Attila 
(Tormentor) for session vocals, whose unique, weird  vocals  provided 
the perfect backdrop to Euronymous' furious riffs. While  Euronymous' 
guitar style  was  widely  influential,  Attila's  unorthodox  vocals 
didn't exactly set the scene ablaze.  The  bass  (performed  by  Varg 
Vikernes or Hellhammer,  depending  on  which  story  you  choose  to 
believe) is unusually prominent and sounds  particularly  ominous  on 
tracks such as "Pagan Fears" and  "Life  Eternal".  The  drumming  is 
impeccable, provided by black metal's best drummer,  Hellhammer.  All 
of these factors combined to form one of the definitive  black  metal 
albums, one which  remains  a  classic  ten  years  after  its  first 
release. This album also proved to be the albatross  around  Mayhem's 
collective necks, as while it  was  massive  progression  from  their 
primitive death metal roots, such was the import of this  album  that 
all of their  subsequent  work  was  doomed  to  be  in  its  shadow, 
irrespective of the quality.                                          

Concluding Thoughts
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It will be interesting to see what the next few years will  bring  to 
black metal. As I mentioned earlier, I strongly believe  the  impetus 
behind black metal's fourth wave will be in Eastern Europe. This  may 
be somewhat muted, as the National Socialist tendencies will act as a 
dampener on more widespread adoption. Nonetheless, Slavic black metal 
will come to dominate black metal in years to come. Scenes in  France 
and Germany, as well as  in  many  other  countries,  will  obviously 
continue to develop and  coalesce;  however,  eyes  will  be  trained 
further east.                                                         

This will not result in the disappearance of any black metal subgenre 
-- there will be a place under the sun (moon?) for the raw  shameless 
Bathory copycats as well as the more futuristic acts.                 

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

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

Gino Filicetti's Top 5

1. Ewiges Reich - _Ewiges Reich_
2. Ministry - _Houses of the Mole_
3. Svartsyn - _Destruction of Man_
4. Pest - _Ad Se Ipsum_
5. Dolorian - _Dolorian_

Pedro Azevedo's Top 5

1. Elend - _Sunwar the Dead_
2. Faith No More - _King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime_
3. The Dillinger Escape Plan - _Miss Machine_
4. Seth - _Era Decay_
5. Necrophagist - _Epitaph_

Brian Meloon's Top 5

1. Avec Tristesse - _How Innocence Dies_
2. Drudkh - _Autumn Aurora_
3. Moonlyght - _Progressive Darkness_
4. Kadenzza - _Into the Oriental Phantasma_
5. Capharnaum - _Fractured_

Paul Schwarz's Top 5

1. Cult of Luna - _Cult of Luna_
2. Textures - _Polars_
3. Bob Dylan - _Live at Aarhus 15-06-1996_ [bootleg]
4. Cradle of Filth - _Nyphetamine_
5. Mastodon - _Leviathan_

Aaron McKay's Top 5

1. Ministry - _Houses of the Mole_
2. Amorphis - _Far From the Sun_
3. The Amenta - _Occasus_
4. Entombed - _Inferno_
5. Iced Earth - _The Blessed and the Damned_

Matthias Noll's Top 5

1. Terror - _Lowest of the Low_
2. Evoken - _Quietus_
3. Deteriorot - _In Ancient Beliefs_
4. Funebrarum - _Beneath the Columns of Abandoned Gods_
5. Forest - _Like a Blaze Above the Ashes_

Alvin Wee's Top 5

1. Nightwish - _Once_
2. Desiderii Marginis - _Strife_
3. Ataraxia - _Saphir_
4. Nastrond - _Celebration of the Four_
5. Darkwood - _Herbstgewolk_

Quentin Kalis' Top 5

1. Butterfly Temple - _Wheel of Chernobog_
2. Nargaroth - _Rasluka Part I_
3. Krieg - _The Black House_
4. Blood Axis - _Blot: Sacrifice in Sweden_
5. Blood Axis - _The Gospel of Inhumanity_

Jackie Smit's Top 5

1. Rotting Christ - _Sanctus Diavolos_
2. The Amenta - _Occasus_
3. Danzig - _Circle Of Snakes_
4. Samhain - _Initium_
5. Morbid Angel - _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_

Todd DePalma's Top 5

1. Behemoth - _Zos Kia Kultus_
2. Atrocity - _Infected / The Art of Death_
3. Burzum - _Burzum / Aske_
4. Wumpscut - _Eevil Young Flesh_
5. Krieg - _The Black House_

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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #77

All contents copyright  (c)  1995-2004  by  individual  creators  of 
included work. All rights reserved.
All  opinions  expressed  herein  are  those  of   the   individuals 
expressing them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of  anyone 
else.                                                                

