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        CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, March 13, 2001, Issue #52
                   http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley
Copy Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Assistant Copy Editor / Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Alex Cantwell
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Spiritual Guidance: Alain M. Gaudrault

The   individual   writers   can   be   reached    by    e-mail    at
firstname@ChroniclesOfChaos.com ("firstname" must be replaced by  the
respective writer's  first  name,  e.g.  Gino@ChroniclesOfChaos.com).

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

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

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

Issue #52 Contents, 3/13/01
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Sepultura: Their Nation, Their Voice
-- Novembers Doom: Embrace the Knowing
-- Skyclad: Purveyors of the Bizarre
-- Aurora: Danish Dynamite
-- Soilwork: Predators for Pain
-- Clandestine Blaze: Fanning the Unholy Flames
-- Pain of Salvation: Salvation for the Metal Mind
-- Kalmah: Warriors on the Metal Path
-- Darkwell: Suspects in Darkness
-- Destroyer666: Devils Ride Again!
-- Mythological Cold Towers: Spreading the Faith, Spreading the Word
* Album Asylum
-- Angelcorpse - _Iron, Blood and Blasphemy_
-- Arise From Thorns - _Before an Audience of Stars_
-- Aube - _Sensorial Inducement_
-- Brighter Death Now - _Obsessis_
-- Cannibal Corpse - _Live Cannibalism_
-- Catastrophic - _The Cleansing_
-- Various - _Chamber Metal: Neo-Classical Metal Guitar_
-- Compos Mentis - _Quadrology of Sorrow_
-- Coronach - _The Gift of Foresight_
-- Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
-- Dio - _The Very Beast of_
-- Driller Killer - _And the Winner Is..._
-- Epoch of Unlight - _Caught in the Unlight_
-- Evoken - _Quietus_
-- Gandalf - _Rock Hell_
-- Goatsblood - _Goatsblood_
-- Graveland - _Creed of Iron_
-- Green Carnation - _Journey to the End of the Night_
-- Groinchurn - _whoami_
-- Gulch - _When It Rains... It Pours_
-- Impious - _Terror Succeeds_
-- IRM - _Oedipus Dethroned_
-- Katatonia - _Teargas_
-- Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
-- Kreuzweg Ost - _Iron Avantgarde_
-- Manilla Road - _Mystification_
-- Mob Rules - _Temple of Two Sins_
-- Molasses - _Trilogie: Toil & Peaceful Life_
-- Nargaroth - _Amarok_
-- Negura Bunget - _Maiastru Sfetnic_
-- Nicodemus - _Tales of the Lovelorn & Necromantic_
-- Various - _Overload 2: Tribute to Metallica_
-- Pig Destroyer - _38 Counts of Battery_
-- Sepultura - _Nation_
-- Shalabi Effect - _Shalabi Effect_
-- Soilwork - _A Predator's Portrait_
-- Soul Erosion - _Furious Mind Degeneration_
-- Spaceboy - _A Force That Holds Together a Heart Torn to Pieces_
-- Society 1 - _Slacker Jesus_
-- Sophia - _Sophia_
-- Sunn O))) - _OO Void_
-- The Forsaken - _Manifest of Hate_
-- Thy Majestie - _The Lasting Power_
-- Tsjuder - _Kill for Satan_
-- Vader - _Reign Forever World_
-- Vanishing Point - _Tangled in Dream_
-- Wicked Innocence - _Opium Empire_
-- Witchcross - _Fit for Fight_
-- ZAO - _ZAO_
* New Noise
-- Czort - _Waiting For_
-- Descent - _Pity_
-- In Grey - _...And Once Again the Same Mask_
-- Kaos - _Vision Beyond_
-- Soulscar - _Abandoned_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- The Snow in Their Hearts: My Dying Bride, Katatonia and more
-- The Delta of Death Descends: Nile in Scotland
-- Sirens Singing Soothing Songs: The Gathering in Norway
* Writer's Wrath
-- The Four MusCoCteers, Episode 2
* What We Have Cranked, Top 10 of 2000
* Details

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                      _____)
                    /       /) ,            ,      /)
                    )__   _(/   _/_ _____     _   //
                  /      (_(__(_(__(_)/ (__(_(_(_(/_
                 (_____)

                         by: Gino Filicetti


     Greetings  readership,   welcome  to  another   installation  of 
Chronicles of Chaos. As I'm sure many of you noticed, we haven't been 
able to  release a  new issue  every month as  I so  boldly promised. 
Seeing as the demands and pressures  of our writers' daily lives have 
increased over the past few years, it is getting harder and harder to 
muster up the kind of material that we could in the past; a time when 
many of our  writers could afford to dedicate 100%  of their lives to 
CoC (myself included).                                                
     Well,  times change,  and that's  not necessarily  a bad  thing. 
Therefore, I would like to rescind my earlier promise of returning to 
a monthly release schedule. To  keep our promise would mean releasing 
issues that pale in comparison to our usual fare.                     
     So what we are going to do  is release an issue whenever we have 
enough material to  make it worthwhile. This  will roughly correspond 
to a bi-monthly release schedule. I believe the care and quality that 
goes  into  Chronicles of  Chaos  is  much  more important  than  the 
frequency with which we release issues, and I'm sure many of you will 
agree.                                                                
     One thing I want to make clear  is that in no way does this mean 
that our staff or  myself have lost interest in CoC.  It is just that 
the  inevitable has  happened  and  our "real"  lives  have begun  to 
interfere with our duties.                                            
     On another note,  I would like everyone to join  me in welcoming 
Chris Flaaten  to the position of  full time staff member.  Chris has 
been  writing for  CoC on  a trial  basis since  August 2000  and has 
proven to be  an invaluable member of the team.  I'm sure everyone is 
looking  forward to  his  material as  much  as I  am.  Also, we  are 
welcoming Gabriel  Sanchez back to our  staff as a full  time writer. 
After a long hiatus meditating in  the mountains of Nepal, Gabriel is 
back with a vengeance and hungry for  the life of excess that each of 
us here at CoC enjoy.                                                 
     Also,  on  the  new  writer  front,  we  have  had  a  few  more 
applications  for   contributor  positions  that  we   are  currently 
assessing, so keep an eye out  for some new names appearing soon. One 
of those  names could  even be  yours, if you  think you've  got what 
it  takes  to  knock  our  socks off.  Please  feel  free  to  e-mail 
auditions@chroniclesofchaos.com and  show us what you're  made of. We 
are  looking for  people with  an  exemplary command  of the  English 
language, and optionally some contacts in the scene which can be used 
to procure new material. When  e-mailing for an audition, please tell 
us a little about yourself, why you  think you'd be a good fit on our 
staff, and don't forget to send along a few samples of your writing.  
     Lastly, I want to comment on  a sad state of affairs manifesting 
itself  this  issue.  This  is   the  first  time  in  recent  memory 
that  we will  not  be running  a Loud  Letters  section. The  reason 
being  that no  one has  mailed us  any letters  worth printing.  Our 
loudletters@chroniclesofchaos.com e-mail  address has  become flooded 
with mailing  list e-mails, requests  for banner exchanges  and pleas 
for advertising  space. This is  utter nonsense, people. We  want you 
all  to send  in  Loud Letters  when you  feel  you've got  something 
constructive (or destructive) to say about Chronicles of Chaos or the 
state of the scene in general. Loud Letters is not a forum for cheesy 
advertising or  self-promotion. If you  are not writing a  "Letter to 
the Editor", then  think twice before sending it. That  being said, I 
am saddened  by the fact  that no one seems  to have anything  to say 
these days. It wasn't long ago  that the "War on Christianity" thread 
was raging on. I'm not saying I'd like to see it resurface again, but 
that kind of heated discussion is what our Loud Letters section lives 
for. Let's  make sure  this is  the first and  LAST month  that we're 
forced to omit our Loud Letters section.                              
     It's  about  time  that  I  bid  you  all  farewell.  A  lot  of 
issues  have  been  raised  here  today, and  we  would  really  like 
to  hear  your  take  on  matters.  If  you  have  anything  to  say, 
whether   positive  or   negative,   please  feel   free  to   e-mail 
loudletters@chroniclesofchaos.com  and let  it  all  out. As  always, 
we  promise your  letter  will be  printed  unabridged (spelling  and 
grammatical errors included). Until next time...                      

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          T H E I R   N A T I O N ,   T H E I R   V O I C E
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC interviews Andreas Kisser of Sepultura
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     "You  know, this  is where  they filmed  a scene  for the  movie 
"American Psycho" [the serial killer film based on Bret Easton Ellis' 
disturbing novel]",  I comment to Sepultura  guitarist Andreas Kisser 
as  we  shake hands  at  Montana's  restaurant in  downtown  Toronto. 
"Really?", he relays to me with  a smirk. "I haven't seen that movie, 
sorry."                                                               
     I add,  throwing in the scene  that stems from the  shots within 
Montana's, "You should, it is pretty good. Just make sure I don't get 
you drunk and cart you back to  my place and cut you into pieces." We 
both laugh.                                                           
     And so begins  my conversation with a  relaxed, though obviously 
jet-lagged Kisser who is in Toronto  doing press for the band's ninth 
recording, _Nation_. He's been in Europe for two weeks to promote the 
album, while other members are in the US and Australia to discuss the 
new material. This being his  last interview before catching a flight 
back to Brazil, it is obvious he is relieved his busy day has come to 
an end, but he still has the stamina to talk.                         
     He sips from his glass of Guinness and begins about _Nation_.

CoC: The  band has  obviously changed  quite  a bit  over the  years, 
     whether it be  the direction of the sound and  style of the band 
     or replacing your lead singer.  Change has happened and the band 
     has  evolved.  Does  Sepultura  [rounded  out  by  drummer  Igor 
     Cavalera,  singer  Derrick Green  and  bassist  Paulo Jr.]  feel 
     comfortable  with the  way Sepultura  is  now and  with the  new 
     record -- this being the second record with Derrick singing?     

Andreas Kisser: We feel very  good about everything that  is going on 
                with  Sepultura  these  days.  _Against_  [1998]  was 
                a  very  difficult  experience  for  us  and  it  was 
                definitely a  difficult time for us.  It was actually 
                the  biggest  challenge  of  our lives  to  keep  the 
                band together.  We didn't  just lose our  singer [Max 
                Cavalera], but  also our  manager. And that  made the 
                structure of  it all really  weak and unsure  of what 
                was going on  for us as a band. It  takes time for us 
                to  develop new  ideas and  songs with  Sepultura and 
                right now Derrick is very involved with what we do as 
                a band  in every aspect: the  music, the songwriting, 
                lyrically and  as a friend  and part of the  band. We 
                are feeling very comfortable right now.               

CoC: With _Against_ you had to  really introduce Derrick to the sound 
     of Sepultura,  but with this record  there seems to be  a lot of 
     diversity and varied  ideas going on. That must  make you happy. 
     Is it all just coming together a lot easier now?                 

AK: Definitely. It is a great feeling to have the entire band working 
    together. With Derrick,  it is just allowing him to  become a lot 
    more involved now on this disc. With the last record, it was just 
    the three of us writing the record and Derrick came in at the end 
    to help  complete everything and  get the arrangements set  up to 
    finish the record. The way it happened, it was very confusing. We 
    really didn't have any bigger ambitions for that album other than 
    to keep the band together.                                        

CoC: That record  was  definitely a  turning  point for  Sepultura's 
     career. Am I right?                                                   

AK: Yes, you are. It was a transition period for us. You can't really 
    compare that  record to  any of  our past records  or any  of the 
    future works we will produce as  a band. It was a specific record 
    that kept us together -- and that is all it was.                  

CoC: What  differences do you see  between the last disc  and the new 
     one?                                                                  

AK: I think  this new record  is really showing a  new way for  us to 
    develop new  styles and ideas  for the band, because  Derrick can 
    really sing  and use his voice  in many different ways.  That has 
    allowed us to be able to bring new directions for Sepultura.      

CoC: You went back to Brazil to  record the new album, the first time 
     in many years that you did so. How was that experience like?          

AK: It was  great. It  was good to  be home and  near our  family and 
    friends. The studio  work was pretty relaxed and we  felt like it 
    was a band again.  It felt as a band working  together to get the 
    record done.  It felt like it  did for us with  _Roots_ or _Chaos 
    A.D._. We were confused during _Against_  and had to use our time 
    very carefully  in the studio.  We weren't thinking too  much, we 
    just wanted to do it. With this  record we wrote the album in Sao 
    Paulo and  just took our time  to develop our demos  and took the 
    time to see what Derrick could do  for the band and just grow and 
    enjoy the experience of it all.                                   

CoC: A lot of people will say that most bands lose their stride after 
     five to eight  years. But Sepultura has managed  to stay focused 
     and in form  for more than fifteen years.  Sepultura has managed 
     to stretch  their sound,  but not lose  momentum. Just  how much 
     further is  Sepultura willing to  stretch the sound  and explore 
     new ideas within metal music?                                    

AK: It is  hard to say  or plan what  we will do.  We as a  band have 
    always  felt strongly  about  the present  'cause  the future  is 
    nothing more  than a consequence of  what you do today.  We don't 
    look too far ahead, really. We  are enjoying what we are doing as 
    a band and that  inspires us to try new things  and carry on with 
    Sepultura. It keeps the ideas and the sound of the band fresh.    

CoC: The thing that I think has  been Sepultura's biggest gift to the 
     metal community is your initiative to do interesting things with 
     each record. Why is that important for the band?                 

AK: For  us, we  naturally  want to  have this  kind  of mutation  or 
    movement in what we do. Even if we wanted to make the same record 
    as  last time,  we couldn't  do it.  The spirit  of this  band is 
    really to be open-minded and  learn from your experiences, and in 
    the future, maybe bring those ideas into the band's music.        

CoC: What about Max Cavalera leaving the  band -- do you have any ill 
     will towards him or any regrets with what went down?                  

AK: I have no regrets at all. We learn from our mistakes. That is the 
    spirit of life. You don't always  do the right stuff all the time 
    and you  learn from  it. But  the stuff we  did with  our manager 
    Gloria [Max's wife]  was the right thing to do  at the time. Then 
    it came down to  those two thinking it was to  be another way and 
    they chose  to part  ways with  us and do  something else.  It is 
    unfortunate how it all happened, it  was a very bitter split, and 
    up to this day  we don't really talk to him. It  is very hard for 
    Igor, being  from the same blood  and being his brother.  It is a 
    very stupid situation.                                            

CoC: And from  this incident with max  going off to form  Soulfly and 
     you guys carrying on with Sepultura, many music fans have pitted 
     the bands against one another.                                   

AK: I know, I  know. But both bands are slowly  starting to fade away 
    from  each other  musically. We  are in  two different  worlds. I 
    think it is  probably difficult for Max because  he is constantly 
    changing  musicians around  him. It  is  very hard  to create  an 
    identity with so many musicians coming and going. I think Soulfly 
    is still  very confusing.  I don't really  know what  a "Soulfly" 
    sound is.  I think there is  too much stuff going  on. And having 
    too many guests is making it hard  to really find a sound to work 
    with. It must be difficult to maintain a direction.               

CoC: On the topic of direction and being inspired to create music and 
     just go  with it, what  inspires you to  stay at this  work with 
     Sepultura?  What inspires  you to  do  this after  all of  these 
     years?                                                           

AK: I think music does. That is  the beauty of it all. Everything you 
    do in life  eventually turns into a routine. Our  routine is very 
    special. We travel,  we learn new things every day  and we record 
    music. Music just keeps us excited  and inspired to grow. All the 
    rest of things we deal with in life, we learn to live with. It is 
    getting hard now,  with me being away from home  and away from my 
    kids,  but if  I don't  do this  I won't  be able  to support  my 
    family. There  is a balance  between the two  and I need  both to 
    keep things interesting.                                          

CoC: I want  to talk  to you  about your  thoughts on  each Sepultura 
     record up  to _Roots_. Tell  me your  thoughts on how  they were 
     made, anecdotes or whatever you  wish to relay. Let's start from 
     the beginning:                                                   

-  _Bestial  Devastation_ [1985]  -  This  record  was a  really  big 
surprise  for Brazilian  metal  fans in  the underground,  especially 
because of the state the band  came from, which was very catholic and 
traditional. It made a great impact.                                  

- _Morbid  Visions_ [1986] - This  was the record where  I started to 
like them,  as I hadn't joined  the band yet. They  had a full-length 
album and even though the recording sucked, the aggression was there. 
That was something that really moved the underground scene in Brazil. 

-  _Schizophrenia_ [1987]  - I  joined the  band right  after _Morbid 
Visions_ was released and I brought more of a traditional heavy metal 
influence to  the band's sound, while  learning a lot about  punk and 
hardcore from the  others in the band. That mixture  was such a great 
thing for us. It was a big record for us, a double LP with lyrics and 
big pictures. Recording-wise, it was  a good recording and it allowed 
us to sign with Roadrunner.                                           

- _Beneath the Remains_ [1989] - This  was the first time we had ever 
had an American producer to work with  us and work the sound. We were 
able  to work  in  a sound  we  had never  been able  to  get with  a 
Brazilian producer.  We recorded  in Brazil with  Scott Burns  and he 
really developed out sound. This record really opened up the world to 
us with  this being  a worldwide  release. We  toured Europe  and the 
United States and it was great  to have this feeling of breaking down 
the  barriers and  letting  us  expose Sepultura  to  the metal  fans 
throughout the world.                                                 

- _Arise_  [1991] - _Arise_ was  everything that we couldn't  do with 
_Beneath The Remains_. We had a booklet with lyrics, we had more of a 
nice layout and we recorded outside  of Brazil, in Florida with Scott 
Burns. We toured for two years  with that record. We played with Ozzy 
Osbourne, we played in Russia and Indonesia -- all over the place. It 
was a great experience that we would bring into _Chaos A.D._.         

- _Chaos A.D._ [1993]  - It all started to really  develop for us. It 
was something new. We worked with Andy Wallace in the south of Wales. 
This record  really put  Sepultura in  many places,  not just  in the 
metal scene. It  allowed us to play with bands  like Rage Against the 
Machine and to just be a part of various festivals.                   

- _Roots_  [1996] - When  we had recorded  _Roots_, we had  been away 
from Brazil  for a  long time.  We were  looking towards  Brazil with 
different eyes and ears and really exploring a lot of the things that 
we had denied  before. We brought in African  percussions, the sounds 
and inspiration from  the Indian tribe [Xavantes] and  also our urban 
experiences. It was a very rewarding experience for us all and we all 
got a lot  of out it. We  really established Sepultura not  only as a 
metal  band but  also as  a  metal band  with a  wider audience.  But 
unfortunately, we had  a lot of problems going on  within the band at 
the recording  of _Roots_ and  after a year  of touring Max  left the 
band. We just had to start all over again with _Against_.             

CoC: I think a  lot of metal fans know that  with Sepultura you never 
     get a  half-assed job when  it comes  to a recording.  Even with 
     problems in tow, or long lapses between records, the band always 
     seems to  deliver the goods.  How has fan reaction  been towards 
     the band's music and with Derrick in the band?                   

AK: It has been great. Very positive. The tour for _Against_ was just 
    a great tour for us to get the ball rolling again. We were really 
    facing our  fans and trying to  show what we were  all about. And 
    also, at that  time, Max was saying  a lot of stuff  in the press 
    about all of  what was going on  and we were just  trying to stay 
    out of it and not respond. It  was just a bad vibe all around and 
    we didn't want to feed that vibe. Only the magazines would profit 
    from that, not us or him. Our intention was really to learn about 
    ourselves again on stage and to  keep this band going. Things had 
    changed for  the band and we  just wanted to get  grounded. Right 
    now we  are very much  in form and  our fans know  it. Everything 
    seems to  be in place.  This is something new  for us and  we are 
    prepared to work with it.                                         

CoC: What does _Nation_ represent to you?

AK: This album  really represents a  beginning. _Against_ was  a real 
    transition record  for us.  This record is  really about  being a 
    band and  working together. It  is also great having  this really 
    beautiful concept and  a real positive message in  the album that 
    inspires us to  make music, write lyrics and still  have a vision 
    for Sepultura. We have a wide range  of ideas that we can do as a 
    band and it is a great feeling  knowing that as a musician. It is 
    great to have inspiration.                                        

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                E M B R A C E   T H E   K N O W I N G
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC interviews Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom
                          by: Pedro Azevedo


There are bands that just seem destined to strive for success against 
all  odds, overcome  adversity and,  in the  case of  Novembers Doom, 
reach out  of a  market impregnated with  pretty much  anything -but- 
doom metal  and make themselves  noticed. _The Knowing_ [CoC  #51] is 
the band's third  full-length record, and its  quality, together with 
the fact  that it's being  distributed by Dark Symphonies  in America 
and Pavement in Europe, should guarantee at least some of the success 
they thoroughly  deserve for their talent  and perseverance. Vocalist 
Paul Kuhr tells us about the latest developments concerning Novembers 
Doom.                                                                 

CoC: A lot seems to have happened  with Novembers Doom since our last 
     interview [back when  _For Every Leaf That  Falls_ was released; 
     see  CoC  #31], including  label  and  line-up changes  and  the 
     release of  two full-length  albums. Would you  like to  tell us 
     more about this sequence of events?                              

Paul Kuhr: Sure. It's a long story, but I'll pick it up from where we 
           left off,  a couple  years back.  From the  mini-CD, Maria 
           Abril came  to us and said  she was starting a  label, and 
           wanted to sign us to it.  We did get other offers, some of 
           which I regret  not signing to, and waited it  out to sign 
           to Maria's new  label. We then signed with  her new label, 
           Martyr Music, and at the time  we felt it was the smartest 
           thing we could have done.  We were good friends with Brian 
           Griffin,  and he  was  signing Broken  Hope  and his  side 
           project Em  Sinfonia to them,  so we figured, with  a band 
           like Broken Hope signing to them, and just coming off of a 
           Metal Blade  contract, it could  mean good things  for the 
           label. The thought was Broken  Hope's name would raise all 
           eyebrows to the fledgling label, and the recognition would 
           be there. Martyr started placing ads in the magazines, and 
           started to work  the press. They got the  buzz going about 
           the  label,  and it  was  exactly  what we  thought  would 
           happen. We knew  going into a new label,  that they didn't 
           have the distribution yet, and  there was almost none when 
           _Of Sculptured  Ivy and  Stone Flowers_ was  released [CoC 
           #42]. By  the time  the distro  was in  place, the  CD was 
           seven months old, and the  advertising had already taken a 
           back seat to the Broken  Hope release. We have always felt 
           that a band has the job of writing and recording a CD that 
           is to  the best  of their  ability. We  did that  job, and 
           handed in  a great disc. The  label's job is to  then work 
           the advertisements, press  and promos for the  CD in order 
           to sell  as many copies  as possible.  To this day,  I get 
           e-mails from people  telling me they can't  find the disc. 
           So, none of  us wanted the next CD to  come out on Martyr, 
           with  the  possibility of  the  same  thing happening.  We 
           worked hard for years in this band, and no way did we want 
           nothing  to come  of it.  We all  felt we  deserved to  be 
           treated better than the  red-headed stepchild, so we asked 
           for  our release,  which was  turned down.  We wanted  off 
           Martyr. It was no secret. We felt it was best for the band 
           and the label  for us to part ways. We  were not getting a 
           clean break  from Martyr, and  we were under  contract for 
           two more CDs. I spoke  with Dark Symphonies, who wanted us 
           on  his label,  and explained  our contract  situation. He 
           immediately  went to  bat  for us,  contacted Martyr,  and 
           purchased the remainder of our contract from Martyr Music. 
           _The Knowing_  was then  released on Dark  Symphonies. Ted 
           and DS is  the very best that could have  happened to this 
           band  in a  long  time, and  we're now  at  home where  we 
           belong.  He's already  done so  much for  us, and  I can't 
           begin to tell how nice it is to be on the top of someone's 
           priority list.  The CD  is in its  third pressing,  and it 
           will be released in Europe through Pavement Music.         

CoC: Exactly  how has your  signing with Dark Symphonies  helped you, 
     what have they done to improve your situation?                        

PK: Dark Symphonies is  amazing. The promotion has  been amazing, and 
    they work so  hard for their bands. Everyone  is treated equally, 
    no matter  how much you sell.  They like to create  an all-around 
    impressive package,  and it's all  helped the movement of  the CD 
    greatly.  We're being  pushed in  the right  areas, to  the right 
    people, and we don't get pushed  to the bottom of the totem pole. 
    It's all about  the love of the music, and  not about being rich. 
    Like I said, we're at home with DS.                               

CoC: I heard your bassist Mary Bielich  had left the band, but then I 
     recently read  in your website  she might be staying  after all. 
     What can you tell us about this situation?                       

PK: Mary moved to Pittsburgh, PA  (about five hours from Chicago) and 
    as a  band we all decided  to give it  a try, and remain  a band, 
    hooking up to rehearse a few  times a month. It's been difficult, 
    but Mary has come though for us  with shows and such. I guess you 
    could  say  she's  filling  in  for us  until  we  find  a  solid 
    replacement (which won't be easy).                                

CoC: You have  several doomy labelmates  now on Dark  Symphonies, but 
     you're actually  the only  doom/death band  on the  label... any 
     particular favourites of yours among those bands?                

PK: I'm a  fan of  Rain Fell Within  [CoC #46]. I  think the  band is 
    amazing. DS  made a perfect  choice when they signed  RFW. Autumn 
    Tears [CoC  #45 and #48]  is another  killer group on  the label. 
    Their songs really  touch emotion. Dark Symphonies  is very smart 
    in who they sign. No two bands sound alike.                       

CoC: How  do you  think doom  metal has generally  evolved in  the US 
     since we last spoke?                                                  

PK: I'm not really sure that it has. The popularity may have grown in 
    the style, but without the support of the American scene, it will 
    never be as accepted as in Europe. The States love their grinding 
    death metal, so doom is hard to move. It's gotten better with the 
    popularity of "stoner  rock", and it's a nice link  to our style, 
    but American  doom bands still  struggle to keep  moving forward. 
    This style of music  is not as accepted in the  States like it is 
    in Europe, but we do get  a positive reaction when we play. There 
    is a good  amount of fans who enjoy this  style, and enough bands 
    these days  to have  a few  great shows. Of  course, a  show like 
    Milwaukee MetalFest is the best for  it, because you can play for 
    people who  you would never have  the chance to, and  it's a show 
    like that where you  can "turn" people on to a  style, or to your 
    band. Will we ever be a "big" band in this style? Most likely no, 
    but we  love what we're  doing, and as  long as there  are people 
    around the  world who  will buy and  appreciate our  music, we're 
    happy.                                                            

CoC: _The Knowing_ has been out for a few months now; retrospectively,
     how satisfied are you with this latest record of yours?

PK: I think anytime you complete an album, you listen back and always 
    hear things you would like to change. It goes for the whole band. 
    The CD is great for all of us, and the overall mood and vision is 
    right on the  money, but if we  could change a few  things to the 
    overall sound, we would. Just things  we will make sure we fix on 
    the  next  recording.  It  was  very  long,  and  at  times  very 
    frustrating. It took us about a  year to complete the writing for 
    the  CD, and  in that  time we  struggled with  writing within  a 
    concept. Different  moments of  the CD needed  different sounding 
    songs, so  we weren't  as free  to create.  We had  guidelines to 
    follow, which made it a bit  difficult. The final product made it 
    all worth it, though. Much more thought went into this CD, and we 
    took time  to work  on little things  like background  sounds, or 
    something to enhance a moment, which  we didn't do in the past. I 
    feel this is  a perfect release to follow _Of  Sculptured Ivy and 
    Stone Flowers_, and all the reviews we've seen so far are calling 
    this our best work to date, and I have to agree. The next goal is 
    to make a better  CD than this one, so we're  back to the drawing 
    board.                                                            

CoC: You seem  to have strived  to increase variety and  perhaps also 
     the atmosphere itself in your music with _The Knowing_. You used 
     some female vocals before, but  this time you have also utilized 
     some more piano, acoustic guitars  and more clean male vocals as 
     well, whilst keeping the basis  of your traditional style intact 
     (your death  vocals and  Eric Burnley's  guitar style  being the 
     most recognisable  elements). Do  you agree with  this analysis? 
     What do you feel led to these options?                           

PK: I would  agree with you  100%. It  took us a  bit over a  year to 
    write  _The  Knowing_.  We  are all  perfectionists,  and  wanted 
    everything to be  exactly as it was envisioned  when writing. One 
    of the goals we  set for ourselves was to make  sure no two songs 
    on the CD  sounded exactly alike, but maintain the  sound that is 
    our own.  It's not an easy  task, but we worked  hard towards our 
    goal, and I believe we reached it.                                

CoC: I understand you  are already writing new  material, and judging 
     by  the direction  on  _The  Knowing_, I'm  tempted  to ask  you 
     whether  the  music  is   becoming  yet  more  atmospheric  than 
     before... I  can imagine contrast  increasing even more  in your 
     music because of that -- or  will you reduce the heavier parts a 
     bit more in the future to keep that contrast more under control? 

PK: I don't think  we'll ever get too far from  what you would expect 
    from a  Novembers Doom CD.  I can tell  you, the new  material is 
    much like  _The Knowing_,  only at  times heavier,  and catchier. 
    It's still way  too early to tell, but we're  all very happy with 
    the new material  so far. It's coming out faster  and better than 
    we all expected, and we're looking for a November 2001 release.   

CoC: Lyrically, the  "I want to live  my life once more"  part in the 
     chorus of "Silent Tomorrow" seems  to be quite important in _The 
     Knowing_. Do  you agree? Would  you like  to tell us  more about 
     that?                                                            

PK: It's a  bold statement. If  you could  go back, and  re-live your 
    life,  fixing  the mistakes,  and  doing  things differently  the 
    second time around,  would you? I would. There are  many things I 
    would change in my life. Many mistakes that I would avoid. It's a 
    thought that takes its own life in the story.                     

CoC: What meaning  do you  find in  _The Knowing_'s  somewhat unusual 
     cover art? How much  of a connection do you feel  it has to your 
     lyrics?                                                          

PK: The booklet  cover is a shadow  of a person, reaching  for a key. 
    The  key  is knowledge,  supreme  knowledge.  It will  open  "The 
    Knowing". The best way to understand is to sit down and listen to 
    the CD  from front to  back, and read  along with the  lyrics. It 
    will all make sense then. After you read the concept, the artwork 
    all ties in with the story. Travis [Smith] did an amazing job for 
    us, and caught the essence of the story with his artwork.         

CoC: What are your plans and hopes for the future? Touring? Releasing 
     a new album in the near future?                                       

PK: We would love  to hit the road  for a tour, and it  may happen as 
    soon as  2001. 2001 will also  bring the re-release of  our first 
    CD, _Amid  It's Hallowed Mirth_, with  a bonus CD of  live songs, 
    cover songs, and  some rare music not many have  heard. Also look 
    to November for a new CD from us. We're staying busy this year!   

CoC: Please conclude this interview in any way you'd like...

PK: Pedro,  as  always,  thank  you  for  your  time,  and  for  this 
    interview.  It's great  to see  CoC  is still  alive and  kicking 
    after  all these  years. It's  one of  the more  respected online 
    zines  in  the scene  today,  and  I'm glad  to  be  part of  it! 
    Thanks  again! For  updates check  out www.novembersdoom.com.  To 
    hear  music, www.mp3.com/novembersdoom.  And to  buy merchandise, 
    www.darksymphonies.com.                                           

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           P U R V E Y O R S   O F   T H E   B I Z A R R E
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC talks to Martin Walkyier of Skyclad
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     "You're  my  first  interview today",  starts  Skyclad  frontman 
Martin Walkyier. "I'll  be going for another few hours,  way into the 
early morning,  maybe 2:30am. I  guess you're  pretty lucky, as  I am 
still awake to talk to you... <laughs>"                               
     And  so starts  the interview  with  the ever  polite and  jolly 
Martin Walkyier to discuss the  band's new platter titled _Folkemon_. 
It has been a bizarre revolution  of metal mastery and some odd ideas 
thrown in for good measure over the years (just check out the bizarre 
Pokemon a la  cat minstrel cover art), but the  band has endured time 
and their fans are still around to cherish their music.               
     We begin.
     "I think with this record, seeing that it is somewhat of a tenth 
anniversary of Skyclad, we wanted to release an album that brought in 
all of the elements that we have  tried to bring to the band over the 
years. We wanted to offer a bit for everyone. We changed so much over 
the years  and had to adapt  to what was  going on, and we  wanted to 
bring those good ideas into this record."                             
     "We spent a lot  of time trying to make a  record that was fresh 
and full of inspiration, especially  for our debut for Nuclear Blast. 
It all turned out well, I tell you."                                  
     Knowing  quite well  that he  and his  band --  guitarists Kevin 
Ridley and  Steve Ramsey,  bassist Graeme  English, George  Biddle on 
fiddle and keyboard/piano,  and drummer Jay Graham -- bring  a lot of 
fun  and creativity  to their  sound,  does Walkyier  find that  just 
familiar terrain to work with? Or  is there more to Skyclad than what 
people might expect?                                                  
     "I think our  lyrics are very dark indeed if  people really take 
time to  look past the  music that  we play", confesses  Walkyier. "I 
think some  of our stuff  is a lot  heavier and more  disturbing than 
most of the death metal bands out there. We deal with a lot of modern 
social problems like  pollution, unemployment and stuff  that we have 
dealt  with, but  yes,  there are  times  we throw  in  a song  about 
drinking or rock  'n' roll to lighten  things up a bit.  I think that 
lyrically we are  quite intense for the  most part. It is  good to be 
light-hearted at times, but regardless if it is that way or darker in 
idea, we always give the most that we can to what Skyclad does. It is 
always 100%."                                                         
     Listening  to  the  new  album,  there seems  to  be  a  lot  of 
references to the modern age of  mankind, most notably the song "When 
God  Logs Off"  -- no  doubt a  reference of  sorts to  the Internet. 
Right, Martin?                                                        
     "Actually it is a reference to man's obsession with technology", 
he  explains.  "Technology is  a  fantastic  thing  when it  is  used 
properly. But if you look at  most inventions that man has created in 
the last few hundred years, they have  been used in the wrong way, to 
bring forth  death and destruction.  Or exploit the  environment. The 
song really  goes to show  that even  though technology has  taken us 
forward as a  species, we should never forget where  we came from and 
keep a strong hold on our ancestral past. Only from doing that can we 
have a firm grasp of where out future will take us."                  
     Seeing that Skyclad have been known  to bring a lot of diversity 
to their sound,  what is Walkyier's take on many  bands over the last 
few  years working  hard  to bring  multiple  sounds/styles to  metal 
music? Is he impressed? Does he care?                                 
     "I  think it's  really good  when people  try and  mix different 
types of music together 'cause innovation is what music is all about. 
People should  always try to  break new  ground. I admire  anyone who 
tries to do  something different with music  nowadays and experiment. 
I'm not too  fond of bands that follow trends  and jump on bandwagons 
and follow  what is fashionable at  that time. I like  those who take 
chances."                                                             
     So would Martin agree when I call Skyclad "weird"?
     "We certainly are", he says. "And  we are certainly proud of it. 
I  am glad  that  people see  us  that way,  really.  If weird  means 
actually  trying to  pass  a  message off  with  your  music, a  very 
important message about what it means to be a human being in the turn 
of the millennium  and in a world where we  are racing onwards faster 
than our minds can grasp, then I'm proud to call what we do weird. We 
are trying  to make unique music,  a modern metal band  trying to use 
traditional instruments, and  just be proud of where it  takes us and 
the heritage of where we came from. You have to embrace your heritage 
or it will be forgotten."                                             
     And knowing of Walkyier's background, I can't end this interview 
without asking a few questions about his old metal act Sabbat, a band 
who produced  one of metal's most  prized gems: 1988's _History  of a 
Time to Come_.                                                        
     "Actually  I am  reforming the  old band  as a  tribute to  that 
band", Walkyier reveals. "I am actually intending for this band to be 
much better than the original band -- hopefully. It'll be interesting 
to see how  it all works out. The  name of the band is  Return to the 
Sabbat. The reason I am doing this  is because I feel that we weren't 
able  to do  as much  with the  band back  then because  of the  band 
members at  the time",  he reveals.  "It was a  bit of  a personality 
clash back then  and it didn't work  out. The band, which  we plan to 
play a  few shows with,  will be  comprised of myself,  Frazer Craske 
(bass) and Simon  Negus (drums). They both also played  on the second 
Sabbat album (1989's _Dreamweaver_) but not the third one. We had all 
left by  then. <laughs>  We'll also have  another guitar  player (who 
will be in place of ex-guitarist and now producer Andy Sneap) to help 
mend it all."                                                         
     He ends: "We are  trying to make a record that'll  be a good one 
for  all those  that  went out  and bought  the  third Sabbat  record 
(1991's _Mourning Has Broken_) at  that time and were disappointed. I 
think we just owe those fans something."                              

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                    D A N I S H   D Y N A M I T E
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC interviews Anders Vestergaard of Aurora
                          by: Pedro Azevedo


Some of our European  readers may look at the title  I chose for this 
interview and remember the  Danish supporters' chants following their 
victory in Euro '92, but if  you already know Aurora's _Devotion_ you 
will probably be able  to think of a couple more  reasons why I chose 
this  title.  One of  them  could  simply  come directly  from  Claus 
Froelund's rather unusual lyrics  ("It's Just..."). More significant, 
however, is  the Danes' ability  to conjure subdued,  painfully tense 
passages in their music akin  to a premonitory near-silence preceding 
a dynamite blast -- and mold the  ensuing blast into some of the best 
aggressive,  technical  and  somewhat Swedish-sounding  metal  around 
(think Dark  Tranquillity's _The Gallery_,  Opeth and At  the Gates). 
Furthermore, _Devotion_ is also a  very emotional album, something in 
which Froelund's tortured  vocals play an important  role, teaming up 
with the  creative guitar  work and rhythmic  patterns. You  may also 
want to know  that _Devotion_ was my choice for  best record of 2000. 
Interested? Then  read what guitarist  Anders Vestergaard had  to say 
and go get yourself a copy of _Devotion_.                             

CoC: How did this group of musicians become Aurora?

Anders Vestergaard: Aurora's history goes way back to the early '90s. 
                    A  lot of  different persons  have been  involved 
                    under  a lot  of  different  band names.  Anyway, 
                    Aurora as  you know  us today  leads back  to the 
                    mid-'90s  when  Thomas Broberg  (guitar),  Morten 
                    Soerensen (drums) and Carsten  Terp (bass) over a 
                    period, joined Claus  Froelund (vocals) and Allan 
                    Iversen  (guitar).  At  that time  the  band  was 
                    named Aurora Borealis.  After the demo _Childhood 
                    Memories_  was  recorded,  Borealis  was  removed 
                    and  Aurora signed  a  record  deal with  Serious 
                    Entertainment.  After the  release  of the  debut 
                    album  _Eos_ in  1998  and the  recording of  the 
                    mini-CD _Sadiam_, Allan and  the band parted ways 
                    and  in the  end of  1998 I  took over  the empty 
                    slot.                                             

CoC: What is the main element you  possess that you feel can make you 
     stand apart from everyone else in the metal scene?                    

AV: Well, it's really  hard to say. I  guess we can be  labelled as a 
    melodic death metal band, which  isn't that original, but we work 
    with a lot of alternative  elements not normally used within this 
    genre, which  definitely makes  us different!  Another remarkable 
    thing is  that our music  is "pure",  we have never  followed any 
    musical trends. It  may sound like a cliche, but  it's really the 
    truth.                                                            

CoC: I find your rhythmic section  quite remarkable, because it shows 
     both plenty  of creativity and a  lot of skill. But  despite not 
     sticking to easy,  conventional solutions, I think  it all still 
     works very well and the result sounds very tight indeed. Can you 
     describe the songwriting process that leads to this?             

AV: We basically write  most of the music as  individuals. Then, when 
    one of us  has finished a song,  he introduces it to  the rest of 
    the band  and we rehearse  it together, and ideas  like different 
    leads and fills and stuff are just thrown in along the way. A lot 
    of the  time the  final result  ends up sounding  a lot  like the 
    basic scratch; we  sometimes however rearrange things  as a band. 
    Carsten, our  bass player,  has actually  written almost  all the 
    songs for  _Devotion_, even  though he  can't really  play guitar 
    (and I'm supposed to be able to  do so). I actually play a lot of 
    the riffs exactly as  he showed me to. I will,  however, be a lot 
    more active when it comes to songwriting on the next record and I 
    guess that Thomas will also be so again.                          

CoC: The  vocals are  quite varied  as  well, not  to mention  rather 
     extreme at times,  but always really emotional.  As a guitarist, 
     how do  you combine your  work with that,  how does it  all come 
     together?                                                        

AV: Hmmm, a good  question, but I don't really have  an answer to it! 
    Basically, the different  musicians in the band  are just playing 
    what they feel like and are able to. As mentioned, the vocals and 
    lead  parts are  typically put  into the  song during  rehearsal, 
    after the basic songwriting has taken place. We usually never sit 
    down and plan things, we basically just wait and see what happens 
    along the way.                                                    

CoC: How  important is  it for  you  that the  final result  contains 
     emotion  as well  as musical  skill? And  what sort  of emotions 
     would you say you try to convey with your music?                 

AV: For me,  and I also think  that I'm speaking for  everyone in the 
    band now, good  and emotional songwriting is  much more important 
    than  the showcasing  of technical  skills. Of  course, technique 
    often  makes music  more  interesting, so  it's  worth trying  to 
    combine those two things. The technical elements within the songs 
    aren't really  planned, but  we also try  do things  in different 
    ways,  so sometimes  things just  evolve.  There is  no point  in 
    playing technical stuff  just to do it, but if  it fits the songs 
    then it's  just fine. About  the emotions within the  songs: when 
    writing music, I guess that you always put some specific emotions 
    into  the music,  but other  people  can interpret  them in  many 
    different ways.  I know what  emotions I normally work  with when 
    writing songs, but the songs can  make people feel in a different 
    way than I did when writing them.                                 

CoC: The lyrics  are quite out  of the ordinary throughout,  but work 
     really well once  you get used to them... how  do you think they 
     fit with what the band tries to express? Can you provide us with 
     some more details about their meaning?                           

AV: Claus Froelund, our vocalist, is  responsible for all the lyrics. 
    The lyrics are basically based  on his experiences with and views 
    upon relationships,  especially the malfunctioning ones.  I think 
    his lyrics  are different  from the standard,  cliche-like lyrics 
    that a lot of metal  bands write, and emotionally they definitely 
    work together with  the sad and at times twisted  feel within the 
    music. Some  people may find  his lyrics a  bit too weird,  but I 
    guess that's just  because they don't know Claus --  if they did, 
    they would know the true meaning of the word "weird"! <laughs>    

CoC: In my opinion, one of _Devotion_'s highlights is the way you use 
     really atmospheric  passages, sometimes of  considerable length, 
     followed by a very aggressive  sequence that sounds all the more 
     aggressive in that specific  context. What inspires the creation 
     of such contrast in your music?                                  

AV: Well, we always  try to combine different elements  in the songs. 
    That way it  becomes more original and interesting  to listen to. 
    It also  allows us to express  a wider range of  emotions, rather 
    than when  the music is  just blasting  away for four  minutes or 
    something; it creates a certain feeling of wild mood swings.      

CoC: The  last song  on  _Devotion_  actually reminded  me  a bit  of 
     Anathema,  which was  rather surprising.  Do you  find you  have 
     anything in  common with them at  all, musically or in  terms of 
     what you try to express? What  bands would you say you relate to 
     the most?                                                        

AV: I take that as a compliment! I, however, don't think that Carsten 
    has been directly inspired by  Anathema, or any other bands, when 
    writing "You"  or any of the  other songs on _Devotion_.  We have 
    been compared to Anathema before and it's no secret (at least not 
    anymore) that they are one of my favourite bands. I think that we 
    have the same sad and at  times frustrated emotions in our music, 
    which  Anathema expressed  very  well especially  on _The  Silent 
    Enigma_,  _Eternity_ and  _Alternative  4_. It's  always hard  to 
    compare your music to other bands.  As mentioned, we don't try to 
    sound  like other  specific bands,  but a  lot of  reviewers have 
    mentioned  that they  hear inspirations  from Dark  Tranquillity, 
    King Crimson,  Opeth and  The Cure, among  others, which  are all 
    bands that all or some of us listen to a lot.                     

CoC: The record features  rather special, eye-catching cover artwork. 
     What's the story behind it, and how does it fit with your music?      

AV: The piece  used for the front  cover was made by  American artist 
    Chad Michael Ward, who has  also provided covers for Soilwork and 
    Crest of  Darkness, among  others. We  got a  big variety  of his 
    works to choose from and the picture we used was the one we liked 
    the best! There isn't any direct connection between the cover art 
    and the music;  we had never even been in  contact with Chad when 
    he made the picture. But of  course the creative mind will always 
    be able to find similarities between those two things, especially 
    as there is a dark and a beautiful side to both.                  

CoC: Regarding the demise of your label Serious Entertainment -- what 
     happened, and what is your situation now? Is there a new deal in 
     sight yet?                                                       

AV: Well,  Serious Entertainment  went more  or less  bankrupt almost 
    right  after  the  release  of _Devotion_.  It  wasn't  really  a 
    disaster  for  us,  as  _Devotion_  will  still  be  printed  and 
    distributed, but  it spoiled  the promotion work  quite a  bit! I 
    guess SE just  weren't able to pay their bills  anymore. A couple 
    of labels have  already showed interest in us, but  at the moment 
    it's too  early to come  up with any  specific news yet.  We, the 
    band, all agreed on not releasing  any more CDs on SE even before 
    they closed down, as  we all felt that it was time  to move on. A 
    small label like SE couldn't really get us any further than where 
    we are standing right  now. In many ways, SE was  a good and fair 
    label that  just wasn't able to  put enough work into  its bands, 
    and further on didn't have  the necessary funds for tour support, 
    etc..                                                             

CoC: Assuming you do get back on track label-wise quickly (and I have 
     no reason to doubt that), what are you planning to do next?           

AV: We  have just  decided to  enter the  Aabenraa studio  with Jacob 
    Hansen in  early 2001  to demo  three or four  of the  new songs, 
    which we  are currently  working on. The  recordings will  not be 
    released;  we will  only send  them to  interested labels,  etc.. 
    After the recording we will  of course continue writing songs for 
    our next album, so hopefully we will be ready to record an entire 
    new album  when we  finally sign  a new record  deal. We  will of 
    course be going for a better  contract this time, so hopefully we 
    will be  able to tour  some more.  Nothing planned right  now, as 
    usual we must wait and see what happens.                          

CoC: Regarding the new material you've been writing, can you disclose 
     some information on how it sounds like at this stage compared to 
     _Devotion_?                                                      

AV: I think that it is a bit early to make a judgement about that, as 
    we  are yet  pretty early  in the  writing process,  with only  a 
    couple of songs  being totally finished. I guess some  of the new 
    material is  a bit more  melodic and catchy than  _Devotion_, but 
    emotionally it's  probably in the  usual vein. Don't  expect some 
    happy party-tunes from us... <laughs>                             

CoC: Any special messages or final  thoughts you'd like to share with 
     us?                                                                   

AV: Thanks  for offering  us  this interview,  Pedro.  It's been  fun 
    answering your questions.  Hope that some of you  readers who are 
    into music that  is a bit out  of the ordinary will  check us out 
    eventually by visiting our homepage www.aurora.ms. Well, see you, 
    hopefully! Cheers!                                                

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                 P R E D A T O R S   F O R   P A I N
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Bjorn Strid of Soilwork
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     It is  nice to talk  to a musician every  now and then  who just 
seems  to be  totally excited  about  the new  disc, even  if he  has 
already done ten  interviews that day prior to yours.  Case in point: 
Soilwork singer  Bjorn "Speed"  Strid. He's proud  of his  band's new 
disc, the  solid and  ultra-dexterous _A Predator's  Portrait_ (their 
Nuclear Blast debut), and he wants to talk about it -- and with a lot 
of enthusiasm to boot.                                                
     "The biggest  change about  Soilwork's sound  on this  record is 
that it  is very melodic,  but still very  fast and intense.  I think 
there is a lot more atmosphere within our music right now, and we are 
also working in  the clean vocals", beams Strid down  the line trying 
to throw  in a lot  of his thoughts when  asked about the  makeup and 
direction of the band's third offering to the metal world. "I think I 
am very  proud that we  made an attempt to  use clean vocals  more on 
this record. And why  not? Why not ask the other guys  in the band to 
try and find new scales and ideas  to do with their guitar sounds? It 
is hard  to stay happy and  within your area of  musicianship without 
wanting to  explore other options. You  just feel the need  to expand 
and try  new things and we  did just that.  I decided to use  a sound 
coach to help me get a lot out of my clean vocals and I think the end 
result is  pretty good.  I'm very  happy with the  way we  used those 
vocal styles to make the choruses very powerful."                     
     Along  with the  other members  in  the band  -- guitarists  Ola 
Frenning and Peter Wiches, bassist  Ola Flink, keyboardist Carlos Del 
Olmo Holmberg and  drummer Henry Ranta --, Strid notes  that the band 
really hasn't made  an attempt to change their sound  over the years. 
They just  let it evolve, allowing  the music of today's  Soilwork to 
sound a bit  different from their two previous  opuses, 1998's _Steel 
Bath Suicide_  [CoC #34] and  1999's deadly _The  Chainheart Machine_ 
[CoC #42].  Strid comments, "This  record is  a very personal  one. I 
think  this  record has  a  more  personal  sound, though  there  are 
similarities between this  record and the last one. This  record is a 
lot more atmospheric, dynamic sounding and varied opposed to the last 
record, due  to the use  of clean and harsh  vocals. I think  that is 
really only the most notable change. We're growing and it shows."     
     About the studio work, Strid says, "Most of the lyrics and ideas 
for the album were pretty much known going into the studio, but there 
are things  that happen  spontaneously in the  studio, and  they help 
guide it into another direction sometimes. Once you are in the studio 
and you have some of the songs  down, other ideas come into your mind 
and you act on them."                                                 
     On the topic  of the final product, knowing well  what the ideas 
for this disc were when heading  into the studio, is Strid happy with 
the final result?  Does he think the band were  able to capture their 
ideas on the new material?                                            
     "I think this disc was supposed to be a certain way in our heads 
and on paper, but the final  result is much different and much better 
than expected. When studio work  starts, everything you play and work 
on sounds like shit  and it is up to you to mix  the ideas and get it 
to flow together.  It is your job  as musicians to help  make all the 
pieces come together and turn into something worth showing off to the 
metal fans."                                                          
     "It is  hard sometimes to  get a certain  sound or idea  down on 
record", he  adds. "That  easily explains why  some bands  spend long 
periods of time working in the  studio." For anyone familiar with the 
music of Soilwork,  the fast-paced guitar riffs  and supersonic vocal 
cries bring out  a truly hypnotic pattern, speeding up  at a second's 
notice.  It is  fast and  furious. How  does Strid  keep up  with the 
guitar riffs?                                                         
     "I don't know how it all  works, but it does..." He pauses. "The 
way I  bring my vocals into  the band, they compliment  the style and 
sound quite well. As for keeping  up, it takes practice. When both my 
vocals and the band's momentum get going, it is powerful stuff."      
     "A lot of  the songs on the  record are very important  to me. I 
love the way the songs are and  just the sound they deliver. They are 
great songs. I am very fond  of the songs "Like the Average Stalker", 
"Needlefeast"  and  "Structure Divine".  Those  songs  really make  a 
statement for Soilwork."                                              
     Does Strid still listen to the other records they have put out?
     "Yeah", he notes. "I still like to listen to those records and I 
am very proud of what we did with those recordings. I am glad that we 
did what we did with those discs and it's great to see how everything 
for the band up to this point -- with the music we are creating -- is 
all coming from a natural development."                               
     Another thing  I ask Strid is  how the band is  dealing with the 
success they  have been receiving lately.  The band's new disc  has a 
lot of  hype behind it  and Nuclear Blast  is pushing the  album real 
hard. Is the pressure on their end? Are they nervous about it all?    
     "Seeing that this is our first disc for Nuclear Blast, of course 
we are nervous, but we are proud of what we have with this album. The 
label has done a great job and  it seems like we are a high priority, 
so there  is also some pressure.  I think we  are just glad to  be in 
this position with a great label backing  us and a solid disc to play 
and tour with."                                                       
     Looking at  the album  cover and reading  the song  titles (even 
taking note of the  album title), it is quite obvious  this is a dark 
record. Why  so dark and gloomy?  Is the world really  that bad? What 
inspires these ideas for the Soilwork material?                       
     "I'm not a  very destructive person", he starts.  "But these are 
just  tales that  I sing  about  and come  up with.  Songs and  ideas 
inspired by violent and neurotic people  with sick minds. I read up a 
lot on the subject of psychology and the human behavior -- maybe that 
is where it all comes from?"                                          
     He finishes,  "I think we all  need to explore ideas  within our 
music. I have  decided to go this route with  this record. Who knows? 
It may be a  different idea next record. We'll have  to wait and see, 
won't we?"                                                            

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          F A N N I N G   T H E   U N H O L Y   F L A M E S
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC interviews Clandestine Blaze
                            by: Alvin Wee


Long known for melodic, commercially-oriented acts like Sentenced and 
Amorphis, the frozen wastes of Finland conceal much darker treasures. 
Joining the  ranks of  Barathrum and  Diaboli are  Clandestine Blaze, 
purveyors  of grimly  unmelodic, "true"  black metal.  _Night of  the 
Unholy  Flames_  is the  band's  second  outing, and  while  boasting 
slightly better distribution  than the first, promises  to be equally 
obscure and -- in the words  of the diehards -- "cult". Despite their 
desire to remain underground, the band's Darkthrone-inspired material 
deserves better  exposure, so I  decided to hook up  with Clandestine 
Blaze for a little introductory  chat... which turned out longer than 
expected and somewhat controversial too, but here goes.               

CoC: _Night of the  Unholy Flame_" has been out for  some time now... 
     how has the response been so  far, in Europe and the States? How 
     much promotion have the labels done for you?                     

CB: Response has been very good. One  could say it is also because -- 
    like  all the  releases --  album has  been only  sold. Therefore 
    people who buy it mostly know what they will get, and they buy it 
    because they like this type of  material. There has not been free 
    copies sent to magazines etc.,  so there hardly is any journalist 
    criticism received. The little there is, has been positive.       

CoC: How about sales-wise?

CB: LP is  sold out. There is  little more than 100  CDs available at 
    Northern Heritage. I don't have details  of how sales in USA have 
    been, but rather good, I suppose, as I have not heard complaints. 
    This  is achieved  with almost  zero promotion.  There were  1000 
    flyers, and that  is all besides the blackmetal.com  web site. No 
    advertisements, and like said before, no free copies.             

CoC: Speaking of labels, the companies releasing the album are pretty 
     obscure, with  the exception of  the US distributor.  Aren't you 
     worried that this will affect the sales of the album?            

CB: All CB  releases are  intentionally limited editions.  There have 
    been no  problems to sell a  couple hundred vinyl and  a thousand 
    compact discs. As I'm in charge of Northern Heritage, there is no 
    better label to  be. Naturally NH is exactly my  taste, but if we 
    count that out, End All Life productions from France is the world 
    best  black metal  record  label. Their  non-commercial and  100% 
    dedicated attitude for  the true underground makes  it best label 
    to co-operate with. Blackmetal.com has been supportive and honest 
    from the  beginning, since  the release of  CB's first  demo. And 
    very easy to work with. They  do good work spreading the material 
    over USA, which  otherwise would not have  Clandestine Blaze, nor 
    Northern Heritage records distributed at all. Also they have done 
    great releases, and special support for vinyl as well.            

CoC: But  one must sell albums  to keep on creating  music... this is 
     unavoidable, isn't it?                                                

CB: Selling albums is  not necessity for creating music.  I have some 
    material which has  not, and probably will not  be released, it's 
    only given  as tapes to  some people. I feel  it is good  to show 
    people  that  black metal  underground  is  alive, and  releasing 
    records is a good way to show it. But it is not an absolute must. 
    I'm creating  music for  myself. Music  that I  like to  hear and 
    words  I like  to hear.  It's not  essential how  much the  album 
    sells. Existence of  a vinyl version that will  hold my creations 
    'till  a  distant future,  that  is  a  good point  in  releasing 
    records.                                                          

CoC: A great  idea... but  I'm still  not sure...  Anyway, on  to the 
     music itself.  You play  a very primitive  style of  music, with 
     very few technical elements. One  might attribute this to a lack 
     of skill/experience  rather than a conscious  choice. Simplicity 
     has long  been an  excuse for immaturity.  How would  a listener 
     differentiate  between  your music  and  that  of the  countless 
     immature bands nowadays?                                         

CB: Music  of  CB  is  intentionally  stripped  down  of  unnecessary 
    elements. It would be no problem  to change riffs more often, put 
    some fancy fills and different drumming styles and tempo changes. 
    But I  usually dislike  black metal  like that. I  like it  to be 
    solid,  in a  right way  monotonic, cold  and barbaric.  Music of 
    Clandestine Blaze is  what I want to hear. If  I liked some other 
    type, I would make it that way. When you look at the situation in 
    Finland, I  think it's the  immature kids who play  the technical 
    and sophisticated black metal. I  think it's the older generation 
    who  enjoy  the harsh  and  primitive  music  more. If  you  play 
    Hellhammer,  Bathory or  even  Darkthrone to  a  youth of  today, 
    they'll laugh  and go back to  latest Mayhem or Dimmu  Borgir CD. 
    Kids who  can't play, and  therefore do primitive  music, they'll 
    learn soon and bands become different and deny their "black metal 
    roots". It doesn't  take many years to see which  bands are worth 
    paying attention to. I'm not in a hurry here.                     

CoC: What then are your musical influences? I would guess Darkthrone, 
     Burzum, etc.?                                                         

CB: You're  right about  musical influences. Bathory,  Beherit... you 
    might add to the list.                                                

CoC: There's  a small  but strong  movement today  playing this  raw, 
     primitive  style. Bands  like Judas  Iscariot, Urgehal  and some 
     German acts  like Katharsis,  etc.. What do  you think  of these 
     bands? Any recommendations or preferences?                       

CB: There  are plenty  of good  bands out  there who  play raw  black 
    metal. Finland  alone has Bloodhammer, Warloghe,  Helwetti, Pest, 
    Annihilatus, Uncreation's Dawn, Incriminated, Musta Surma, Horna, 
    and the list  goes on. The rest  of the world also  has many good 
    bands,  Deathspell Omega  being  among my  favorites, also  being 
    released on Northern  Heritage. I'm not worried  about the future 
    of black  metal as music.  Good music will always  exist, despite 
    being minority. Lack of right attitude is frustrating.            

CoC: Indeed,  but  I guess  labels  have  a  hard time  surviving  by 
     supporting such music.  I know: my own distro  carries only such 
     obscure bands/labels, and it's difficult to sell more than a few 
     copies of  anything. Is  there anything  we can  do to  keep the 
     tradition alive?                                                 

CB: I  am used  to small  amounts  of sold  items. When  I work  with 
    Northern  Heritage,  even  bigger  names (in  this  case  meaning 
    Graveland and similar scale) don't  sell more than a couple dozen 
    copies. Therefore I  find it worthy to take  unknown bands' rough 
    demo tapes, even  if it would sell three copies.  I don't want to 
    push things artificially.  All worthy things are  noticed if they 
    deserve it.  It might be  difficult to sell something  that every 
    label  has  and that  is  available  easily,  but when  you  have 
    exceptional releases, they  will sell. I see  many labels pushing 
    hard to  grow bigger  and when they  face difficulties  and their 
    plans don't come true, they are frustrated. I'm satisfied to stay 
    small. That  way those people  who get  stuff from NH  can always 
    trust good and fast delivery and  honesty. Not this "fill out the 
    form  and show  us credit  card" style  that big  labels are  now 
    using.                                                            

CoC: Do you think it'll be able to continue for long?

CB: Underground  will always  be there.  You  can count  on that.  If 
    wannabe mainstream bands  go to mainstream, that  is only healthy 
    for the true underground. Getting smaller doesn't mean the end.   

CoC: Maniac Butcher is  famous for their slogan  "No female vocals... 
     etc."; you follow the same tradition. What is the reason for not 
     including these  elements in  your music?  Don't you  think that 
     music with these elements can  be considered good black metal at 
     all?                                                             

CB: When you look even as little as ten years back, there wasn't much 
    synthesizers in metal, nor female vocals. If you would have asked 
    some metalhead  back then, would  you buy this metal  album which 
    has flute and  violin as main instruments, he  would have smashed 
    your face.                                                        

CoC: So  what do you think  of the bands that  have turned "strange", 
     like Dodheimsgard, Satyricon, etc.?                                   

CB: I do listen  to very experimental music, but what  comes to black 
    metal, it's good  when it is pure. Metal is  supposed to be ugly, 
    filthy and raw.  Metal scene swallows all what is  given. Can you 
    go  to disco  and convince  people that  metal is  actually disco 
    music? No,  you can't. But  when introduced some disco  music for 
    metal crowd as "new style of  metal", they'll soon dig it. I have 
    not  heard  Dodheimsgard since  their  _Satanic  Art_ MCD,  which 
    sucked hard.  New Satyricon  is not  so "strange".  It's actually 
    based mostly on traditional metal instruments and elements. Their 
    MCDs are shit, if you mean those?                                 

CoC: That's what I was referring to. I feel (like you, probably) that 
     today's scene  is but  a shadow  of what it  was in  early '90s. 
     Black metal was created to be  feared and hated, not embraced by 
     kids like it is today.                                           

CB: In a very  short period of time there came  an explosion of bands 
    in several countries.  It was already early '90s  when there were 
    so many followers.  You can ask who  is trendy -- the  guy who in 
    2000 gets interested in black metal  or the guy who jumped in the 
    bandwagon  one month  after he  read some  shocking article  from 
    Terrorizer. Early '90s  had its good things, but  it's often full 
    of romanticized things as well. Black  metal still is all that it 
    was in the early '90s, but  besides it, there is press and labels 
    who try  to convince  us that  some pop  music is  actually black 
    metal.  People are  naturally stupid  enough to  believe that.  I 
    don't think that any punks believe that radio-rock like Offspring 
    is actually punk.  Metalheads should also see  when someone tries 
    to feed  them bullshit. In  early '90s  you have small  groups of 
    bands  which made  black  metal into  big  news. Even  Euronymous 
    declared that  Mayhem should aim to  be big. When it  finally is, 
    see what it  became. Stories around the mystical band  is full of 
    legends which often are not so close to truth we can read between 
    lines. Burzum,  another influential  name. He  did his  thing and 
    is  now preaching  family  values. Then  you  have Emperor,  with 
    eyeliners and black  nail polish, telling how  immature kids they 
    were back  then. And the list  keeps going. I would  not say that 
    it's essential to  reach the same hype it was  back then. There's 
    no  need  to have  these  people  pretending they're  extreme  if 
    they'll  change their  views  as  soon as  their  little fun  and 
    excitement is over.  Bands who remain strong and  keep going like 
    unstoppable force. I think that is what we need.                  

CoC: But do you believe that this popularity can be used in achieving 
     your objectives?                                                      

CB: Popularity  does have  its advantages.  But there  are limits.  I 
    personally did  not know any  "metalheads" in my youth.  If metal 
    would have been 100% underground, I  don't know how long it would 
    have taken  to find it.  Luckily there  was some metal  played in 
    radio, so it  gave first touch for this type  of music, and after 
    that I found my way to the underground by myself.                 

CoC: Speaking of which, what exactly do you wish to achieve with your 
     music? Can it ever be done?                                           

CB: Purpose of music  itself is to satisfy my need  to hear something 
    that is suitable  for my ear and musical  taste. Outside simplest 
    meaning  of "music",  Clandestine Blaze  lyrics and  attitude are 
    tied closely to this. I see  no reason to make music that doesn't 
    express anything. If  people are influenced by my  views, and see 
    new ways to think, that is quite a lot achieved.                  

CoC: Which  brings  us   to  your  lyrics.  Much  of   it  is  openly 
     anti-christian. Why do  you harbor so much  hatred for religion? 
     What is  it about religion that  you hate so much?  Are there no 
     positive points about it at all?                                 

CB: Christianity tries  to feed us  false values. It starts  from the 
    beginning when you are born.  In Finland, state and religion walk 
    hand in hand. As member (to  a certain extent) of society you are 
    stepped over  by values  which are  grotesque and  bullshit. They 
    have love and empathy taken to absurd level, they have worship of 
    the non-existent and enslaving yourself  under it. It doesn't end 
    there, they try to take everyone  else with it. Rules that should 
    only mean something  to those who are christian,  are forced upon 
    everyone. To get some trivial examples: if you own a company, you 
    pay tax to church even if you  don't belong to one. If you commit 
    some  crime during  the  christmas season,  you'll  get a  harder 
    sentence, because  of the supposed  birth of the bastard  jew. If 
    someone is in coma waiting his  death, you can't pull the plug as 
    all life is said to be  valuable gift from god. Etc., etc., there 
    are so many details, but we  all know it. When christianity teams 
    with  state, it  all  turns  to: shut  up  and  work. You  reduce 
    yourself as part  of lords great plans and serve  with a smile on 
    your face. If  you want that, be  my guest. Your lord,  he is not 
    mine. When  they force  their religion  at me,  I don't  turn the 
    other cheek. It's made clear that I'm not one of them, I'll never 
    be. I blaspheme  their "valuable" world for  my own satisfaction. 
    It's not a matter of making the world a better place, when absurd 
    christ  lovers and  liberal  humanists are  hunted  down. It's  a 
    matter of individual doing what he wants and what has to be done, 
    not following expectation that outside world has.                 

CoC: But does it really affect you that much?

CB: I hear  someone say  "why waste  your time,  christianity doesn't 
    affect my life at all, I just don't care about it". Well, today a 
    friend  told me  he  was attacked  by a  couple  of junkies  last 
    weekend. If christian values would not  be so deep in our system, 
    those guys could now be stabbed to death, so they won't bother me 
    or my friends ever again. But no. This absurd christian origin of 
    "brotherly love"  makes system  to help  the lowlife  who himself 
    made all the decisions. If you respond attack with force and harm 
    or kill  someone in process,  you'll be punished and  jailed. You 
    should just shut up and turn  the cheek, take what is given, pray 
    and wait that those people will be helped and guided back to good 
    christian life. Small  things like this prove  you're still under 
    the siege of christian values. To  know and then show people what 
    YOU stand for can not be bad.                                     

CoC: Whew! OK, so where do you draw these sentiments from? Childhood, 
     perhaps? Or  maybe some  bad experiences you  had? I  mean, what 
     made you decide to follow the left hand path?                    

CB: I follow my  own path. Time that  I have spent on  this world has 
    proven it to be right. I  do see myself above the regular people. 
    There's  absolutely  nothing  wrong admitting  that.  People  say 
    "you'll get  over this"  and "you'll  grow up  and become  a good 
    member  of society",  but I  don't believe  that. How  can I  can 
    possibly respect  and learn  from people who  have not  lived one 
    single day in their lives? Their physical age does not give value 
    to their preaching.  My way is the right way,  it would be absurd 
    to believe otherwise. Why continue if you think you are wrong?    

CoC: Some  of your  lyrics  and propaganda  is strongly  anti-Semitic 
     as  well; in  fact,  even  the labels  you're  on  seem to  have 
     anti-Semitic connotations. What do you have to say to this?      

CB: When I  as white man make  lyrics of killing other  white men, no 
    one sees  it as  a problem. If  I write the  same about  jews, it 
    makes several people to ask questions. Then I can ask: who is the 
    racist, me or them? Look around in Europe. You can come here from 
    any different  culture and practice  your religion and  form your 
    own  cultural movements,  but -if-  you  are white  man, in  some 
    countries you can't even salute others in a way it was done a few 
    decades ago without getting problems with authorities.            

CoC: Is all this expressed hate actually racially motivated, then?

CB: I  don't  have  special  deep  hatred  for  some  race.  I  don't 
    necessarily like gypsies or street  niggers here, but in general, 
    I don't like average Finns or Swedish speaking minority either! I 
    never write pure fantasy. "Tearing Down Jerusalem", b-side of 7", 
    received some criticism.  Look at what jews are  doing in Israel? 
    How jewish bankers  have acted since times of  Napoleon? Should I 
    shut up only because after WWII holocaust jews are taboo subjects 
    which should not  be touched? Look at news couple  of months ago. 
    United Nations  condemned Israel  of "large scale  and systematic 
    violations of  human rights"  but European  Union and  USA openly 
    disagreed with this judgement! We see the obvious, but cowards at 
    our  z.o.g. infested  governments can't  admit it.  Zionism, what 
    above  mentioned track  speaks  about, has  been declared  racial 
    prejudice  by United  Nations  already decades  ago.  So how  the 
    FUCK  can Clandestine  Blaze give  people so  many problems  when 
    human-loving  United Nations  have made  similar conclusions?!  I 
    only have less respect for value of man, therefore I can say kill 
    the scum, while others dream of artificial and unjust peace. Jews 
    are target  because of  their religion and  what comes  along it. 
    It's not racial issue for me.                                     

CoC: It's a fine line indeed... haha! The track "Chambers" deals with 
     gas chambers, Zyklon-B, etc.. Are  you saying that the Holocaust 
     was actually  a desirable event?  Does this have anything  to do 
     with why your lyrics aren't included on the CD version?          

CB: Why lyrics are  not included on CD version  is because originally 
    thought was to  not print lyrics anywhere, but only  give them to 
    people upon request. That way it  could be seen how many actually 
    valued  lyrics  and  wrote  and  asked for  them.  End  All  Life 
    suggested LP version should have lyric  sheet in each copy, and I 
    thought why  not, as vinyl  buying people are a  little different 
    from  average CD  black metal  fan. Anyone  who wants  lyrics can 
    write or e-mail  to get them. All lyrics are  available. There is 
    nothing to hide.                                                  

CoC: About the song then? Perhaps you'd like to explain it then?

CB: The  song "Chambers"  does  not  talk about  the  past, but  it's 
    statement for  the future. But  it includes influences  from past 
    too. Look  at second  verse, it  tells about  the fact  that most 
    people just submit to this. They  dig their own graves, they help 
    the  enemy. While  they know  they will  be executed,  instead of 
    showing last resistance and either get killed or break free, they 
    choose only to get killed and even help enemy to do it. Groups of 
    people can easily  run over one or more armed  men, but if people 
    just don't try  to change their position, only  follow orders and 
    submit quietly,  don't they  deserve what  they get?  Third verse 
    talks  about the  fact that  when chambers  are filled  with gas, 
    people sure won't  be nice and full of  religious brotherly love. 
    They'll rage and try to find clean air to breath, climb over each 
    other  to  get oxygen  from  higher  (even  if it's  not  there), 
    violently crush other people to survive themselves. It takes this 
    long to reveal true nature  of humans that they have artificially 
    tried to hide. But it is too late then.                           

CoC: You know it's always tempting to use the label "Nazi"...

CB: Clandestine Blaze  is not nazi  band. Nazi =  national socialist. 
    First of  all: I'm not socialist  of any kind, and  I don't think 
    any black metal should be.  Nationalists think that their country 
    or  people in  it  are  somewhat special,  but  I  tend to  think 
    most  people  are just  meat.  Useless  flesh, often  stupid  and 
    unimportant. I don't think any state  is different, but as I live 
    in Finland, I can only comment  on that. How can I be nationalist 
    in state,  where state  and religion  walks hand  in hand?  How I 
    could join army when majority of  people give oath in the name of 
    god? How  could I be  nationalist in a  state that does  not even 
    respect  itself, but  prostitutes  itself and  spreads legs  with 
    every other nation.  How could I be nationalist in  a state which 
    is against many things I  stand for? Nazism is about conservative 
    values, family values, endless  and unquestionable love for white 
    race  and your  country brothers.  You see  ns/pagan movement  in 
    metal, and sometimes  they try to convince they  are black metal. 
    But since  when was  this socialist  garbage classified  as black 
    metal?! Ten years ago every  black metaller from Norway to Poland 
    remembered to  tell how  LaVey sucked because  of his  humane and 
    life-loving ideology. Now same  people are making "14/88" slogans 
    -- which  simply means "save the  kids, make good future  for our 
    kids".  So  what has  happened?  I  don't  know, but  I'd  rather 
    masturbate on  the bible, shit  on the  cross and burn  the flag. 
    Anti-social and  anti-christ. If  that doesn't make  things clear 
    and I hear once again people saying  CB as "nsbm", I must ask how 
    low can man's intelligence go?!                                   

CoC: OK, I'd like to take you back to your previous material, which I 
     haven't heard, unfortunately. How  do you feel you've progressed 
     so far from  your 7" days? And what direction  are you headed in 
     the future?                                                      

CB: 7" was  third release. It  came after debut  LP [and one  demo -- 
    Alvin]. All the  releases are a little different,  but still, you 
    could take any of the songs and  put it in some other CB release, 
    and it still fits there like fist in the face. There are no plans 
    for  new direction.  I will  keep doing  material and  everything 
    comes  naturally.  Simple, raw  and  primitive  black metal  from 
    beginning to the end.                                             

CoC: I'm sure you have some  plans for your next release... Enlighten 
     us fans: what can we expect from the band in the near future?

CB: Clandestine  Blaze  /  Deathspell  Omega split  LP,  vinyl  only, 
    limited  to 300  copies. Four  songs by  CB, three  by DO.  Total 
    playing time  over 40  minutes. All  exclusive songs  that aren't 
    published elsewhere.  After you  hear Deathspell Omega  music and 
    read the lyrics, there is no doubt who is best French black metal 
    band alive.  Soon exclusive track  is released on End  All Life's 
    compilation LP, vinyl only, 300 copies.                           

CoC: Do  you plan to  play live at  all? For promotion  and exposure, 
     maybe?                                                                

CB: No live shows or tours. I have made some plans that could be done 
    on stage, but on  the other hand I think CB music  is not so live 
    show type  of music. No guitar  heroes, no exciting drum  work to 
    watch, etc.. This  music is for special audience,  and live shows 
    have a lot of regular metal  fans and teenagers. To not play live 
    is not the final decision, but  when and where, that's up to many 
    things. Not very soon, that is for sure.                          

CoC: OK then, that's all for now. Anything to add? Merchandising info 
     etc., maybe?                                                          

CB: No merchandise, no  web site, no MP3, no free  stuff. Contact at: 
    NH,  PL 21,  15141 Lahti,  Finland. clandestineblaze@hotmail.com. 
    Future lies in hands of the strong                              . 

CoC: Erm... OK. You heard the man...

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       S A L V A T I O N   F O R   T H E   M E T A L   M I N D
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         CoC chats with Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation 
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Pain of  Salvation singer/guitarist  Daniel Gildenlow  loves his 
music. He  also loves the fact  that it isn't perfect.  He loves that 
there is room for change.                                             
     "Every album we  do has its own personality and  sound, but in a 
way I  am never  really satisfied  with how an  album turns  out. You 
can't always  be satisfied",  he declares  about the  new progressive 
metal / hard rock-tinged opus _The  Perfect Element Part 1_. "I don't 
think you  should be satisfied  completely because  it is one  of the 
things that  should push you forward  so you strive to  make a better 
record each time."                                                    
     "I just  always feel  that I  could be a  little better  on each 
disc, but it is  a good thing that I want to do  more as the years go 
on. It gives  me initiative to make  a better record than  what I did 
with the current one." He adds, "I am satisfied at this point of time 
with the band and its music."                                         
     He and his  band -- comprised of drummer  Johan Langell, bassist 
Kristoffer  Gildenlow, keyboardist  Fredrik Hermansson  and guitarist 
Johan Hallgren  -- are pleased  with the  studio work and  ideas that 
went into the new record. "This record  I think we did a lot of great 
work. There was  a lot less compromising in the  studio this time and 
that was a great thing to have.  It was a very relaxed environment as 
well. I felt as  the work in the studio went along,  it all seemed to 
go along well.  When you first really start to  do studio work, there 
is the intimidation factor for you  to deal with. But it wasn't there 
this time  as it was with  our first disc _Entropia_  (1997). We just 
had this relaxed feeling  going on and I was at ease  and free to try 
different things  and knew that  people wouldn't  judge me on  what I 
wanted to do. They just felt  that whatever came naturally would work 
best for the recording."                                              
     "Something in the studio doesn't  feel right when you try things 
a certain  way, so it only  seems right to  go out and try  to expand 
your ideas  and do new things.  It feels good to  have people working 
with you that will let you try  to bring things into the band and see 
how they play out."                                                   
     It has been a long road  for Gildenlow, who started playing at a 
young age back in  1984. Plus, as the years have gone  on and Pain of 
Salvation took shape, Gildenlow has  managed to keep focused and make 
the best of everything that came their way. What has been the secret? 
     "I think  one of the  reasons we have lasted  is that we  try to 
work out  the differences within the  band. You know? Try  to fix any 
problems or  situations that come  to the  surface. It isn't  good to 
silence any problems.  That is one thing because we  talk it out when 
we need to. I think we are  all very strong supporters of one another 
and that helps. Musically I think it  all has to do with the changing 
of the band and the evolution of the band. When I started out, when I 
was eleven, I had a whole other sound and idea going on for the band. 
Band members have come  and gone with the music I  have made and from 
out of all the changes came Pain of Salvation in 1991."               
     He adds,  "There is a lot  of inspiration in our  music and that 
makes it all the more enjoyable to digest and play."                  
     One strong  factor in  the corner  of Pain  of Salvation  is the 
respect and praise many critics and  fans have for the band. How does 
Gildenlow feel about all of the  good words being spoken about he and 
his Swedish comrades?                                                 
     "Stuff like that  makes me feel good. It is  true, after all" -- 
he laughs. "I have mixed feelings about all of that. I feel that in a 
way  I have  always  been fighting  the music  norm,  which makes  it 
difficult to get  our music out to the people.  We are flattered that 
people  like our  music, but  it is  sad that  we are  "only" in  the 
progressive metal  genre. I think our  music is a lot  wider than the 
progressive metal  genre. When we are  labeled that, a lot  of people 
who would like our  music don't give us a chance  'cause they see the 
label  tagged on  us.  I think  a  lot of  people  who -really-  like 
progressive  metal are  into  what  we do  because  we aren't  "Dream 
Theater" enough  for them  or play  progressive music  the way  it is 
meant to be played."                                                  
     It seems  as though over  the last few years,  progressive metal 
bands have come out of the woodwork, almost saturating the market. It 
seems as  though everywhere  you look there  is some  new progressive 
metal  band making  the  round  with rehashed  ideas  and so-so  song 
structures. What is Gildenlow's take on all of this hoopla?           
     "I think  every genre is like  that. I think when  Dream Theater 
came out with _Images and Words_ (1992),  it was a miracle in a way", 
he says.  "But at the  same time,  it really drained  the inspiration 
from the  genre, because so many  bands were inspired by  their sound 
and they aimed to sound like that and/or did everything they could to 
be like them. Dream Theater was unique -- why copy it?"               
     "That is one  of the main reasons why this  genre can be boring. 
It is  supposed to  be progressive. It  is funny when  you go  to all 
these  progressive metal  websites and  there  is the  tag that  says 
"music  for the  intellectual"  and  I just  have  this feeling  that 
repetition is going on. I think that one of the main problems is that 
there  is a  lot of  repetition. It  has to  be stopped.  It is  just 
derailing the genre."                                                 
     Gildenlow  finishes, "Bands  of  this genre  really  need to  be 
open-minded. That's why  we have tried to maintain our  own sound and 
tried to make  progressive music the way we want  to, rather than try 
to impress people by being what they expect."                         

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         W A R R I O R S   O N   T H E   M E T A L   P A T H
         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  CoC talks to Antti Kokko of Kalmah
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Having been an  avid metal fan for almost two  decades, I always 
find it exciting while listening to  metal music to just sit back and 
enjoy it as it unfolds.  The chemistry of abrasive sounds, passionate 
rhythms, and the occasional melody  flowing through me, transports me 
to a plane of existence that leaves me full of excitement.            
     I had one of those experiences while listening to Kalmah's debut 
disc, _Swamplord_ (Spinefarm  Records) [CoC #51], late  one night. It 
wasn't some  huge religious experience,  but I  did make note  of the 
qualities that  Kalmah were able  to create within its  melodic death 
metal sound. I  enjoyed the music and  I wanted to get  in touch with 
the band and find  out what makes them tick. So  what's the secret of 
the debut disc, Antti?                                                
     "Our main goal had always  been about playing skillfully on this 
debut disc",  starts Antti Kokko,  guitarist for the  Finnish outfit. 
"We  had five  months  to prepare  for this  record,  and both  Pekka 
[Kokko, brother/guitarist/singer]  and I made  sure that we  used the 
time wisely. Everything  was ready about a month before  we went into 
Tico-Tico Studios, so we had lots of time to polish these eight songs 
we recorded. We  had an extra song,  but we dropped it  off the album 
because it wasn't complete and the  studio time we had planned had to 
be used efficiently. I mean, we only had three weeks to finish up the 
record in the studio. That also included the mixing process."         
     One listen to  Kalmah (the band is rounded out  by bassist Altti 
Vetelainen, drummer  Petri Sankala and keyboardist  Pasi Hiltula) and 
it  is  quite  obvious the  band  draws  a  lot  of their  sound  and 
inspiration from the  likes of Iron Maiden, Helloween  and other '80s 
veterans. Melody  and metal collide  quite nicely on  _Swamplord_. As 
the guitar  player, what  kind of  sound and style  did Kokko  try to 
bring to Kalmah?                                                      
     "As a  guitarist I have aimed  at bringing something new  to the 
metal music",  he states.  "It is hard  to do that,  you know,  but I 
think the way I play is different  from others. I play guitar with an 
extreme hard  touch when it comes  to rhythm guitar riffs.  Listen to 
the solos and melodies  of the music and you can see  what I bring to 
the band."                                                            
     When  asked  to  explain  the  meaning  behind  the  _Swamplord_ 
moniker,  Kokko  replies:  "_Swamplord_   as  the  album's  title  is 
something that we  considered to symbolize an  inner warrior feeling. 
We wanted  a different album  title, different from what  you usually 
see out  there in the metal  scene. We wanted a  title that describes 
our metal path  from the very beginning  to this day. We  live in the 
middle of a barren swamp landscape here in Pudasjarvi and many of our 
songs got  their inspiration from  this kind of environment.  We just 
think the  album title  arouses and gets  people thinking  about what 
type of music we might play."                                         
     The band in their earlier days  used to go by the name Ancestor. 
They released a  few demo tapes before they  eventually changed their 
name and  sound. Does Kokko  notice a  big difference in  each band's 
ideas and musical inspiration?                                        
     "The line-up has been the same  for both bands, but of course we 
have  changed over  the years",  explains Kokko.  "First of  all, our 
musical development as individuals has  certainly changed to a better 
direction, but I'd  have to say that the sources  of inspiration have 
been pretty  much the  same all  this time.  Our music  really didn't 
change until  we brought keyboards  into it. The keyboards  brought a 
huge expanded sound to the music we were playing and it really opened 
our eyes. We  finally found -the- sound and -the-  style we wanted to 
have! At  the same  time we  changed our name.  We somehow  wanted to 
express this change and came up with a new band name."                
     Kokko mentions  how their culture and  surroundings have somehow 
dictated how the band has grown and evolved. Does he really see a lot 
of culture in what they do?                                           
     "Our  name Kalmah  and some  of  our song  titles have  cultural 
traces. Kalmah is taken from a Karelian dialect, which was spoken and 
is  still spoken  by people  who lived  or live  in Karelia.  Karelia 
belonged  to Finland  before the  Second World  War, but  nowadays it 
belongs to Russia. Anyway, Pekka and  some of my relatives speak this 
language. Their  parents were  evacuated to  Finland during  the war. 
It's a fading traditional language, so we want to keep it up although 
we don't speak it very much.                                          
     "There are  also elements of  traditional Finnish folk  tunes in 
our music too", he concludes. "We offer a bit of everything."         

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               S U S P E C T S   I N   D A R K N E S S
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC interviews Roland Wurzer of Darkwell
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Austrian act  Darkwell are indeed a  gem in the genre  of gothic 
metal music.  Not to say  that their music  is far from  the standard 
gothic metal sounds and style, it's just that the band's debut record 
_Suspiria_  (on  Napalm Records)  has  something  really magical  and 
hypnotic about  it. They, in  my books, are  better than the  rest of 
bands in this genre that have surfaced in the last little while, save 
for fellow  labelmates Tristania.  They too  have taken  gothic metal 
music to new realms.                                                  
     The  record by  Darkwell  -- a  wonderful  assortment of  gothic 
overtones,  dark  and broody  guitar  riffs,  haunting keyboards  and 
enchanting vocals --  just reeks of passion. The  songs meld together 
so fittingly, rarely coming to a standstill, as the emotional visions 
of  darkened ideas  and spirits  rain  down upon  us through  soulful 
numbers. The darkness is there no doubt, but there is a lot of beauty 
to be found within Darkwell.                                          
     Spokesperson/bassist Roland Wurzer talks  to Chronicles of Chaos 
about the inspiration for the band's  debut effort and the music they 
create.                                                               
     "We have  always just wanted to  create music that we  felt good 
about. Music  that was emotional.  Music that was gothic.  Music that 
sounded like Darkwell", starts Roland down the line late one night in 
Austria. "It was very important for us when we made this record to be 
able to just  be ourselves and let the magic  within the band happen. 
We are all  very talented musicians and we are  capable of doing some 
great work. _Suspiria_ is proof of that."                             
     Has it  been easy for  the band --  made up of  singer Alexandra 
Pittracher,  guitarist  Roman  Wienicke, drummer  Moritz  Neuner  and 
keyboardist Christian Filip -- to make a name in the music industry?  
     "Naturally it  has been  quite difficult, especially  in Europe, 
because a lot of the smaller  labels have realized that there is such 
an  influx of  black metal  albums in  the market  that they  are now 
focusing on signing bands that use  female vocals. There are a lot of 
bands getting placed in the gothic metal category and it makes things 
difficult  for us  to push  the  band and  our music.  We are  always 
getting compared  to bands  like Theatre of  Tragedy and  other bands 
like that."                                                           
     I too don't  get the comparisons that Roland says  the band gets 
pigeonholed with. I think Darkwell are  a unique entity in the gothic 
metal realm.  And I'll  admit while  they are  not the  most original 
sounding gothic  band out there, they  at least make an  effort to do 
something fresh and inviting.                                         
     "For  me, music  is  a  great way  to  express  myself. I  think 
everyone in their lives tries to find  a way to express how they feel 
and the emotions inside.  Music was my way of doing  it. Ever since I 
was  thirteen or  fourteen years  old I  tried to  find many  ways to 
express myself. At first I wrote  lots of lyrics and poems, and later 
on I  started putting them together  with my skills as  a musician. I 
worked hard with my instrument and combined it altogether and thought 
the whole thing through and started up a band in the early '90s."     
     "At first I wasn't very skilled  at what I did, I'll admit that, 
but as the years went on I got better at it and it was becoming a lot 
easier to  express what  I was trying  to get out  of me.  Nowadays I 
think we, as  a band, are really  able to work as a  team and display 
our emotional efforts quite effectively."                             
     He adds:  "To be honest with  you, making this type  of music is 
not a very good  paying job. It is hard to really get  a lot of money 
from this,  but for me  being able  to get up  on stage and  play and 
express our feelings  is payment enough. Music comes  deep within our 
hearts."                                                              
     And  while  gothic  metal  music  has  done  very  well  in  the 
underground,  with many  bands out  there doing  quite well  over the 
years, the gothic music scene hasn't  really seen a lot of success on 
a much grander scale, say the  exposure of Metallica. Why does Roland 
think that is?                                                        
     "I think that has  to a lot to do with the  people in the gothic 
music scene  being split  up. Some only  really listen  to industrial 
music, while others  listen to really depressing,  morbid stuff. Then 
some only listen to black metal music and/or the type of gothic metal 
music that we  play. Because of that, and the  styles and visions not 
really  combining  with  one  another, the  scene  stays  underground 
because no one is really making and effort to expose it, I think."    
     "I think one exception might be the success of Type O Negative", 
he comments. "But while they did  see some success, it didn't go over 
with such massive success as would  a mainstream music band. I really 
like Type  O a lot.  I'm a big  fan of Peter  Steele and what  he has 
brought to the scene. It is also great to see how his band's work has 
gone over the years. They started off with some success and gradually 
went on to record a  very commercial sounding record [1996's _October 
Rust_]. But  because of  all the  stuff he dealt  with in  regards to 
label problems, success and life in general, he brought his sound and 
vision back into the underground  with the last record [1999's _World 
Coming Down_]. I appreciate him for that and that is why I admire his 
work."                                                                
     So  in light  of our  conversation about  the success  of gothic 
metal music and how it  has relatively stayed underground, where does 
Roland  see the  next  release of  Darkwell?  Will it  be  more of  a 
mainstream sound? Will it be similar in sound/style?                  
     "I am not sure where we will go. We are currently working on the 
new record. We  don't really say something needs to  go or this needs 
to be harder, we just try to  be as natural as possible. But already, 
with  the three  new  songs we  have started,  there  have been  some 
changes. We didn't  really change too much, I've  noticed, but things 
have  sped  up in  comparison  to  _Suspiria_.  That record  is  very 
mid-tempo. This new  material is indeed much faster. So  it seems the 
new album will offer some new ideas, but none that are forced."       

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                 D E V I L S   R I D E   A G A I N !
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC talks to K.K. Warslut of Destroyer666
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Most  bands throughout  their career  seem to  follow a  certain 
pattern with  their music.  They surface in  the scene,  shift things 
around throughout their careers, try new things and fade away. It's a 
pretty simple procedure, with few bands ever really making and effort 
to try and start over again with their sound and style.               
     But some bands make an  effort to re-invent themselves, not just 
for a certain album theme  or concept, but an all-encompassing change 
to help bring a renewed life, if you will, to the fold.               
     Australian   metal   regime   Destroyer666   --   made   up   of 
vocalist/guitarist  K.K.  Warslut,  guitarist  Shrapnel,  bassist  S. 
Bezerker and  drummer Deceiver --  are one  of those bands  that have 
made an effort to get the ball  rolling once again. They have made an 
effort to  break away from any  set genre and explore  music how D666 
wants to. Trends don't stick to these Aussies.                        
     Chronicles of Chaos hooked up with metal avenger K.K. Warslut to 
discuss their  new album for  Season of Mist, tiled  _Phoenix Rising_ 
(how fitting, eh?), the metal scene  and tour plans for 2001. He even 
offered up some sightseeing ideas, as well.                           
     Here is how it all unfolded...

CoC: I personally  think that this is  your best work to  date. It is 
     quite easy to see the growth of the band since your inception up 
     to _Phoenix Rising_. Why do you think D666 sounds this way?      

K.K. Warslut: Evolution, I'd  say. _Phoenix_  is a  very experimental 
              album for  Destroyer666. We  wanted to break  away from 
              genres. D666  will never be experimental  to the extent 
              of many  bands out  there, but nonetheless  I've always 
              felt a great need to  distance myself from others. That 
              shows in D666, despite in many ways being a traditional 
              metal band. We  don't fit neatly into  any one specific 
              genre.  The worst  genre  for me,  of  course, was  the 
              so-called  "retro" genre.  In  fact, now  that we  have 
              experimented a  little and stirred the  pot, D666 shall 
              resume the  course taken  earlier and  proceed stronger 
              than ever. The next album is composed as we speak.      

CoC: What was  the reasoning for the  album title? Has the  band been 
     reborn, as  that is  usually taken  from the  idea of  a phoenix 
     rising?                                                          

KKW: Yes,  I think  that's the  case in  many ways.  We now  have our 
     strongest  line-up ever,  with all  members contributing  to the 
     wall of sound: S. Bezerker on  bass and Erik on drums. We played 
     New Year's  Eve 2001 and it  seemed unanimous that this  was our 
     strongest line-up ever. The phoenix  symbol is just another form 
     of the  same philosophy that  is inherent  in D666. The  idea of 
     eternal  recurrence. It's  a  philosophy necessary  in order  to 
     start deprogramming and destroying the world.                    

CoC: How do  you think you  guys hold up  to the other  bands playing 
     black metal  inspired music in  North America or Europe?  Do you 
     really care or follow what other bands are doing?                

KKW: I only follow bands I'm interested  in. There's far too much out 
     there now to even think about keeping up with every release that 
     comes out. Fuck the world, I say.                                

CoC: Tell me  about the Australian metal  scene. It seems to  me that 
     there is a lot  of good acts out there right  now, and it always 
     has seemed to be that way. Am I right? What bands do you like?   

KKW: Yeah, the  Aussie scene is  great. Fucking loud and  proud. Very 
     traditional. I love it. For me, Aussie metal started with Hobbs' 
     _Angel  of  Death_  LP  from  '88,  then  Mortal  Sin,  Sadistik 
     Exekution, Disembowelment,  Incubus and Slaughter  Lord. There's 
     no denying that Australia never produced the amount of bands the 
     US and Europe  did, but that is more to  do with population than 
     anything,  I think.  But the  bands we  did produce  were always 
     heavy and  there are a few  world class gems in  there, I think. 
     Some of the  best bands to look  out for at the  moment are Long 
     Voyage Back, Gospel of the Horns, Grenade and Vomitor.           

CoC: The production  on this new  disc is  top notch and  the playing 
     seems to have been captured in  all its might. Was there any new 
     way you went into recording? Do you like studio work?            

KKW: We  recorded differently  this  time around.  We  needed a  more 
     sharp, defined sound.  The songs demanded a  different sound, so 
     we recorded  differently than  we normally  would, which  was to 
     record  the rhythm  tracks  live and  overdub  vocals and  leads 
     later.                                                           

CoC: Was  there certain  material omitted from  this disc  because it 
     didn't suit the flow of things? If so, why were they cut?             

KKW: Yeah, that happens a lot. Some just weren't part of the picture, 
     you know? But  some of those cut pieces will  appear on the next 
     album _Cold Steel for an Iron Age_. This next release will see a 
     mix of _Unchain the Wolves_ and _Phoenix Rising_.                

CoC: Why do you  think most bands don't last more  than a few albums? 
     What has kept D666 alive and going after all of these years? 

KKW: Plain and simple:  FIRE! Fire has kept me with  an up, and 'till 
     now, an inexhaustible thirst for metal and the things you can do 
     with it. The ideas and concepts  that come with being part of an 
     underground extreme music scene are large. You know that extreme 
     sounds generate extreme emotions.  When that emotion is tempered 
     with discipline, the  real war can begin. I  think musicians and 
     artists  today are  simply  messengers. That's  how  I feel,  at 
     least,  and the  magnitude  of the  message  I'm relaying  never 
     ceases to inspire and amaze me. It's feeding me. Some would call 
     that SATAN. I'd certainly call it  heresy. What you attach to it 
     doesn't bother  me. It's that you  see it! Hear it!  And Believe 
     it! And then act on it.                                          

CoC: Mainstream music seems to have  grasped onto a concept that they 
     call heavy metal  (Korn, Soulfly, Metallica) -- how  do you feel 
     about that?                                                      

KKW: I  don't feel  anything. I  turned away along  time ago.  No one 
     should waste energy on things that are not important.                 

CoC: What  bands inspire  or inspired  you in  the beginning?  Do you 
     still listen to those records? Any specific albums?                   

KKW: My influences for Destroyer666 are everything from Black Sabbath 
     to  Burzum  onto  Destruction  and   to  Beherit.  I  listen  to 
     everything. I  guess I've never sat  down and thought I  want to 
     sound like  any one  particular band.  The only  band I  want to 
     sound like is Destroyer666. Here's a few of my faves:            

     Iron Maiden - _Killers_
     Black Sabbath - _Mob Rules_
     Beherit - _Dawn of Satan's Millenium_ 7"
     Destruction - _Infernal Overkill_
     Celtic Frost - _To Mega Therion_

CoC: You seem to have quite the say in the album material -- in terms 
     of writing and playing. Do you like to have control of the music 
     and where  the band is  headed? Does it  just make it  easier to 
     keep things focused?                                             

KKW: I agree that one man will usually have a lot more focus than the 
     group. But that  is something that is slowly  changing, the next 
     album will  see S. Bezerker singing  a few songs and  maybe even 
     Shrapnel will belt  out a few tunes. They are  both writing more 
     material than  ever, so  I think D666  will be  an ever-changing 
     beast.                                                           

CoC: Has the band ever toured  North America or Europe? Hopefully you 
     will  one day  if you  haven't. Any  ideas what  you want  to do 
     should  you  visit  out  shores?  Any  particular  landmarks  or 
     sightseeing destinations?                                        

KKW: No, we haven't  toured anywhere beyond Australia  at this stage. 
     2001 will hopefully see us in  the States. Of course I'd love to 
     go see  all those friends  I'm in  contact with over  there, but 
     also I'd love to try to  see Sandra Good, maybe Lynette Fromm if 
     that were possible. I'd really love  to get in safe proximity to 
     your reptiles and other predators  before they're gone, I guess, 
     particularly the pumas, bears and of course, wolves. I think I'd 
     like to  go tripping out in  one of your deserts  as well, maybe 
     near the  Grand Canyon. Oh,  and the  fucking old cars?  Hell, I 
     love the  old US Steel policy,  big fucking cool long  cars with 
     huge fucking engines. I own a  '69 Pontiac Grand Prix 400 at the 
     moment, so  I'd really love to  get into a left  hand drive one. 
     You know? As they were intended. Yes, I do admire the Americans' 
     pursuit  of freedom  and power  through the  automobile, up  and 
     'till the  early '70s, that  is. After which the  aesthetics and 
     designs seem  to be taken  over by fag-arsed  poofters. Pontiacs 
     and Harley  Davidsons are  the horse  and coach  of our  age and 
     every outlaw  needs a fast horse,  eh? On a more  ghoulish note, 
     I'd really  love to get  to the Plainsfield Cemetery.  It's just 
     south of  Chicago, I think? I  know that it's where  Ed Gein was 
     buried next to his mother. I love  that tale of that man, a true 
     tragedy of the modern age. Very disturbed. If someone were to do 
     a real  life movie of the  man, that would be  unbelievable! And 
     don't give me that fucking "Silence of the Lambs" movie.         

CoC: What  makes you  want to  be a part  of the  ever-evolving metal 
     scene? Why do you play music? Will it eve come to an end?             

KKW: Satisfaction  and  the  pursuit  of  perfection.  Metal  is  the 
     greatest  medium  there is  for  conveying  stronger than  usual 
     emotions.  It  speaks  loudly  to what  is  known  as  someone's 
     "heart". With  that we  can do anything  for the  silent satanic 
     revolution.  Will  it  ever  come to  an  end?  Everything  ends 
     someday. I'm hoping  to be burned in the fire  long before that, 
     though.                                                          

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

               SPREADING THE FAITH, SPREADING THE WORD
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
         CoC chats with Shammash of Mythological Cold Towers
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Ah, the  power of  the Internet.  The power of  e-mail. It  is a 
wonderful  world  we live  in,  much  better  in  my mind  since  the 
invention of the Internet. Don't get me wrong, I used to love writing 
letters and  mailing them to  my parents  and relatives all  over the 
globe, but those days are long gone. The power of the Internet allows 
me to  reach them in  matter of seconds, hours  or possibly a  day -- 
opposed to a week or more via snail mail.                             
     Even  more amazing  in my  books is  the amount  of friends  and 
acquaintances I  have met since Gino  and I started up  Chronicles of 
Chaos many  moons ago  (geesh! Almost  six years!).  Countless bands, 
fans and labels have come and gone, but the real power of metal music 
is alive  and well.  Music binds us  all in some  way or  another and 
indeed there is a true brotherhood in the world of metal music.       
     A few issues back [CoC #49],  I came in contact with a Brazilian 
outfit calling themselves Mythological  Cold Towers, an epic-sounding 
band that  was full of  creative energy and masterful  songwriting. A 
real definite crowd pleaser if there  ever was one, a band capable of 
providing the listener  with powerful metal numbers  that shined with 
varied sounds and intricate song structures on their sophomore effort 
_Remoti Meridiani Hymni -- Towards  the Magnificent Realm of the Sun_ 
for Somber Music. I was interested  in talking to the band, to expose 
them to the masses that read  Chronicles of Chaos, so the e-mail went 
out to the  band. Guitarist Shammash was kind enough  to respond back 
promptly by e-mail. Here is how it all went down...                   

CoC: Tell me about the ideas and  inspiration for the work of _Remoti 
     Meridiani Hymni_.  What ideas  fueled the work  for this  set of 
     material? Are you happy with the end result?                     

Shammash: Our initial  proposal was  born from the  need that  all we 
          have to look  for our roots and where we  came from. To try 
          and track down and understand the past that was left behind 
          over time. Some  of these roots are as  inexplicable as the 
          ancient  Inca  Empire.  Then  we  took  the  histories  and 
          mythological legends,  the ones  wrapped up in  mystery and 
          desolation, and  we [the  band is  rounded out  by vocalist 
          Samej,  keyboardist Flagellum,  guitarist Nechron,  bassist 
          Leonard and drummer Hamon --  Adrian] came up with the idea 
          for a  conceptual album dedicated to  pre-Colombian America 
          and the people that influenced this culture.                

CoC: While not in  abundance, but quit obvious, the  band has managed 
     to bring  a lot  of your culture  into the work  of MCT.  Do you 
     think this works in your favour? Why do these elements play such 
     an important part in your music? Do they?                        

S: Those elements are  as important to our music as  oxygen is to us. 
   We  were one  of the  first bands  in Brazil  to do  this type  of 
   conceptual work,  and at this  time the South American  people are 
   the basis of our work.                                             

CoC: I am wondering if you guys  were influenced by any other artist. 
     I don't hear  much influence (in terms of style  and sound), but 
     it is quite obvious you are  adept at creating long epic pieces. 
     What bands/musicians inspire you?                                

S: Many bands go out  and try to play music a certain  way and try to 
   have an  original sound.  Our sound  comes from  a whole  bunch of 
   influences: heavy metal, classic music, ethnic music, pagan music, 
   epic soundtracks, progressive, etc...                              

CoC: Why do think people should listen to MCT? What more do you have
     to offer than countless other bands?

S: I  think our  music is  full of  some great  lyrical concepts  and 
   ideas. I think  these songs interest people and  provide them with 
   curiosity about  the culture  and the  sacred places  found within 
   South  America. We  tried  to  show people  around  the world  the 
   feeling of value of all the races of the world. That means showing 
   support for those that came before us, like the Egyptians, Mayans, 
   Celts, Incas, Greeks and many more that left traces of their roads 
   of wisdom  to allow  us to  stay alive and  understand why  we are 
   here.                                                              

CoC: How hard is it to get  noticed in Brazil? What is the scene like 
     there?                                                                

S: Here in Brazil  the scene is very strong and  we have many quality 
   bands playing  various styles of  music. Some good  bands include: 
   Miasthenia,  Crux Caelifera,  Serpent Rise,  Morcrof, Dragonheart, 
   Silent Cry, Evilwar, As the Shadows Fall, etc.. And even though we 
   are all  very different in the  music we play, all  of these bands 
   support other bands when it comes to playing shows together, etc.. 
   The scene is very strong and  everyone works together to help each 
   other out.                                                         

CoC: The band  seems geared at working hard at  spreading the word of 
     MCT. Do you get a lot of press and exposure?                          

S: Claudio at  Somber Music has been  doing a great job  at spreading 
   the word  about MTC.  We have been  getting many  positive reviews 
   back about the new album. I think  it comes as a surprise to us to 
   see that a band coming from a country that doesn't export too many 
   bands having  a lot of good  response. It is great  to know people 
   like our work.                                                     

CoC: What is in  store for MCT in the future?  Will the sound change? 
     What do you have in the works -- new material                       ? 

S: We have been pushing the new  album _Remoti Meridiani Hymni_ for a 
   while now, and it was just recently  that we were able to stop and 
   actually start working on new music  for the band. We have already 
   started on some ideas, but their  sounds and styles still lack any 
   real definition. What  I can say is that our  music will be pretty 
   much the same for the next record, though we may highlight some of 
   the better points of  our music and try to evolve  the sound a bit 
   further.                                                           

CoC: Do  you think metal music  is getting boring? What  bands do you 
     like?                                                                 

S: I  believe that  the metal  scene  is going  through an  evolution 
   period where everything  that was done before is  coming back into 
   the music  scene. I see  bands increasing other elements  of their 
   sound and style, and from that they are enriching metal music, and 
   that's  good. Personally,  I  have grown  tired  of hearing  bands 
   playing the same style of music  over and over again and not bring 
   anything important or  different to the heavy music  scene. I like 
   creative bands  that look  to renew and  develop their  sound with 
   each release. As  for the many bands  I like, here is  the list. I 
   like: Black  Sabbath, Candlemass,  Mercyful Fate,  Venom, Bathory, 
   Dead  Can Dance,  My  Dying Bride,  In  The Woods...,  Primordial, 
   Absu, Celtic  Frost, Voivod, King Crimson,  Gentle Giant, Manowar, 
   Borknagar, Hades Almighty, Elend,  Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, The 
   Soil Bleeds Black, Ulver, Empyrium, Arcturus and so many more.     

CoC: Seeing that  music fans in  Central and South America  are quite 
     rabid about  your music,  how long  have you been  a fan  of the 
     metal music scene? Why?                                          

S: You  are  right,  Adrian.  Here  in  Brazil,  the  boys  are  very 
   rabid, perhaps  that is why  we have generated extreme  bands like 
   Sarcofago, Sepultura  and Mistifier.  As fans  of metal  music, we 
   know what we want to hear and we support the bands. Those of us in 
   MCT have been a part of the music scene for a long time, almost 20 
   years! Since my childhood, I  have always hated popular and futile 
   types of  music like  samba. I  found that  through metal  music I 
   could transmit my  feelings and it has allowed me  to look for new 
   horizons and find my identity. Metal is my way of life!            

Contact: mailto:mythological-cold-towers@mailbr.com.br
Contact: Somber Music, P.O. Box 2089, Osasco/SP 06114-990, Brazil
         mailto:somber@albnet.com.br

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

                   _____  .__ ___.
                  /  _  \ |  |\_ |__  __ __  _____
                 /  /_\  \|  | | __ \|  |  \/     \
                /    |    \  |_| \_\ \  |  /  Y Y  \
                \____|__  /____/___  /____/|__|_|  /
                        \/         \/            \/
              _____                 .__
             /  _  \   _________.__.|  |  __ __  _____
            /  /_\  \ /  ___<   |  ||  | |  |  \/     \
           /    |    \\___ \ \___  ||  |_|  |  /  Y Y  \
           \____|__  /____  >/ ____||____/____/|__|_|  /
                   \/     \/ \/                      \/

Scoring:  10 out of 10 -- A masterpiece indeed
           9 out of 10 -- Highly recommended
           7 out of 10 -- Has some redeeming qualities
           5 out of 10 -- You are treading in dangerous waters
           3 out of 10 -- Nothing here worth looking into
           0 out of 10 -- An atrocious album, avoid at all costs!


Angelcorpse - _Iron, Blood and Blasphemy_  (Osmose, January 2001)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

     Why is it that so many  great bands in the metal underground die 
so young?  Not even mentioning  the frustrating number of  great demo 
bands who  never even  get a deal,  just think of  all the  bands who 
start promisingly, get  progressively better, and then  split up just 
after  their last  album became  among the  most excessively  rotated 
discs in  your collection. During the  Fall of 1999 I  went no longer 
than a  week at any  one time  without listening to  _The Inexorable_ 
[CoC #44],  Angelcorpse's third and final  album -- and I  must admit 
that it  was a daily need  for a good  few one to two  week stretches 
within that.  But it wasn't  because _The Inexorable_ was  the year's 
most original album:  it wasn't even close. What  made Angelcorpse so 
great wasn't originality. However, if  that stopped you liking -- no, 
make that -loving- -- them, then you definitely missed the point. The 
classy covers  of thrash and  death metal legends like  Morbid Angel, 
Slayer  and Possessed  which are  included  on this  CD may  brutally 
expose  just how  many  -stylistic- debts  Angelcorpse  owed to  such 
seminal bands, but what Angelcorpse brought to death metal was not -- 
and  was  never meant  to  be  -- stylistic  innovation.  Angelcorpse 
brought the  storm, they  reaped the  whirlwind, they  showered pure, 
molten fury  on their  listeners in near-unsurpassable  abundance and 
intensity. Angelcorpse  made music  which showed its  influences, but 
also left the band's individual character fiercely stamped onto their 
brutal, devastating and impressively quality-potent compositions.     
     Pete   Helmkamp's   spite-filled,  raw-throated   vocal   attack 
completed the circle of which the frenetic attack of Gene Palubicki's 
guitar and Tony "Now in Nile"  Laureno / John Longstreth's drums were 
the largest constituent parts. Angelcorpse would not be morphine-like 
addictive without Helmkamp. They would  also not have been quite such 
an  uneasy prospect  as  concerns their  personal views.  Angelcorpse 
-were- a band where many people  -- I was certainly included -- chose 
to forget  about what  personal views  and agendas  might be  held or 
advanced by  the members, and  just got  on with enjoying  the music. 
There  was  no way  -I-  was  going to  miss  out  on such  a  potent 
expression  of power  for  the sake  of  (arguably) bigoted  personal 
opinions only vaguely reflected and  aspersed to in Helmkamp's lyrics 
--  whether clever  or  cowardly, the  skinheaded  ex-Order of  Chaos 
frontman  with  the  vocal  venom  of a  horde  of  vipers  kept  his 
references fleeting  and vague.  This compilation is  not a  recap of 
the  band's career,  it  is  instead a  collection  of  the rare  and 
demo  material they  left behind,  totaling 17  tracks in  all. Their 
o-so-_Altars  of  Madness_  _Hammer  of  Gods_  debut  [CoC  #17]  is 
represented by an alternate version of "When Abyss Winds Return", two 
killer live  tracks and the  _Goats to Azazael_ demo,  featuring demo 
versions  of  four  of  _HoG_'s songs.  The  production-advanced  but 
songwriting-inconsistent _Exterminate_ [CoC #33]  has merely two live 
versions from it presented -- and  more unfortunately it's two of the 
more average tracks  on the record --, while  near-perfect final opus 
_The  Inexorable_  is only  represented  by  an the  earlier-recorded 
"Wolflust" from the 7" of the same name. Aside from this there are no 
less  than seven  covers of  various  metal bands:  ranging from  the 
excellent  (Morbid  Angel,  Slayer,  Sarcophago,  Possessed)  to  the 
average  (Judas Priest,  Iron  Maiden) through  to the  frustratingly 
flawed  version of  Kreator's "Pleasure  to Kill"  -- it  should have 
whipped.                                                              
     _Iron, Blood and Blasphemy_  itself is not spectacular; although 
it's 65  minutes long,  only about  half of it  is really  stuff that 
you'll bother listening  to for more than  mere first-time curiosity. 
However, _I,BaB_  remembers a great,  great band  who may have  had a 
narrow focus, but exploited every  angle of their chosen character to 
finally develop its infectious,  fury-filled brutality to its logical 
conclusion. They will be missed.                                      

Retrospective rating of Angelcorpse releases:
     1. Angelcorpse - _The Inexorable_ (1999) [9.5]
     2. Angelcorpse - _Hammer of Gods_ (1996) [9]
     3. Angelcorspe - _Exterminate_ (1998) [9]
     4. Angelcorpse - _Iron, Blood and Blasphemy_ [8]


Arise From Thorns - _Before an Audience of Stars_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Dark Symphonies, January 2001)

This is the re-release of Arise From Thorns' second self-financed CD, 
consisting  of  progressive  acoustic  music led  by  female  vocals. 
Varying between the tranquil and the upbeat, AFT's very melodic music 
is based on  the synthesis of vocals and  keyboards. Technically very 
good, Arise  From Thorns (who  for some  reason have decided  to call 
themselves Brave from now on) manage  to become quite catchy at times 
and soothing at  others. However, the album lasts for  nearly an hour 
and for  me it starts to  drag somewhat before midpoint.  It tends to 
become too atmospheric and a bit repetitive, and the enjoyment of the 
first few  tracks (which  are reasonably  different from  each other) 
doesn't really  extend to the rest  of the album. Three  bonus tracks 
(one of them  live) are also included in  this remastered re-release, 
taking the  total length  of the record  to 67 minutes  -- so  if you 
really like this,  you'll certainly get plenty of  material to enjoy. 
And the fact is this -is- enjoyable and technically interesting, even 
if for  my taste  there should  be more variation  and a  much darker 
atmosphere surrounding the  music. If you think that  a more acoustic 
and progressive version of The Gathering might interest you, however, 
then _Before  an Audience of  Stars_ should definitely be  worth your 
time.                                                                 


Aube - _Sensorial Inducement_  (Alien8 Recordings, 2000)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8 out of 10)

I suppose if Merzbow can release a  jazz album (_Door Open at 8 AM_), 
then  Aube is  perfectly capable  of getting  down and  dirty with  a 
synthesizer. _Sensorial Inducement_ is Aube the atmospheric, ambient, 
structured noise artist without the  noise. While I hesitate to label 
the contents  of this LP  as "music", it  is undeniably more  so than 
anything previously spit out by  this Japanoise master. The blending, 
fading,  and transfiguration  of synthesized  tones as  they overlap, 
collide, and ultimately collapse is to  be applauded for not only its 
originality but near-perfect  execution as well. There is  a twang of 
repetition of certain electronic themes  in parts coupled with my own 
personal  annoyance  at a  number  of  tones heavily  utilized  being 
synonymous with that  of my telephone. Such a  subjective bias aside, 
there  is little  room  for criticism  here  if one  is  to see  this 
recording for what  it is (an exploration  into synthesizer ambience) 
and not a failed  attempt at noise. Still, to be  fair to all parties 
who  may  possibly  be  reading,  it should  be  noted  in  boldface, 
18-point, Times  New Roman font that  this will disgust about  90% of 
noise listeners out there. This album is to noise what a Depeche Mode 
recording is to heavy metal. The  style is simply not comparable with 
the genre (no matter how well associated  in the past, as is the case 
here). It is a recording  that is undeniably infectious, however, and 
one that I would encourage any fan of the electronic avant garde (and 
non-snoody noise  heads) to grab  hold of quickly. Given  the limited 
LP  pressing of  500  and  Alien8's knack  for  selling  out of  Aube 
recordings, this one is certain to disappear soon.                    

Contact: http://www.alien8recordings.com


Brighter Death Now - _Obsessis_  (Cold Meat Industry, 2000)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

There has never really been a band as weird or as bizarre as Brighter 
Death Now. Read on and you'll know what I mean. Once you get past the 
cum-shot  splattered  girl adorning  the  cover,  Hell awaits.  In  a 
frenzied  outburst of  some  of  the sickest  displays  of noise  and 
electronic mayhem I  have heard in some time, BDN  pours it on thick. 
With songs  like "Intercourse",  "You Got Sperm  on Your  Jacket" and 
a  truly  fucked up  rendition  of  the  Rolling Stones'  classic  "I 
Can't Get  No Satisfaction"  (aptly titled  here as  "I Can't  Get No 
Sadisfaction"), BDN are once again  in top form. The music? Powerful. 
The message?  Disturbing. Fans of the  band will no doubt  enjoy what 
BDN has to offer. For the rest of you who have no idea who these guys 
are, this will  no doubt have your jaw hitting  the ground and either 
a) you'll run screaming  or b) you'll want to hear  it over and over. 
_Obsessis_ is addictive.                                              


Cannibal Corpse - _Live Cannibalism_  (Metal Blade, 2000)
by: Matthias Noll  (8.5 out of 10)

For some  Cannibal Corpse  are representatives  of stagnation  in the 
death metal genre. A band that keeps going, even if they have nothing 
to offer  but variations of the  same old formula. A  former flagship 
which is now outdated, out-performed by younger, better acts. There's 
a certain  amount of truth  in that point  of view, but  there's some 
energy left in  this death metal dinosaur, which,  when gathering all 
its strength,  is still able to  deal out some vicious  blows. 1999's 
_Bloodthirst_ [CoC #44] was already proof of that (I would have rated 
it 8.5 out of  10) and _Live Cannibalism_ turns out to  be one of the 
best  live albums  in the  extreme metal  genre. Featuring  18 songs, 
covering  CC's entire  career back  to 1990's  _Eaten Back  to Life_, 
_Live Cannibalism_ omits one of the typical live album flaws: the use 
of too many tracks from the  current album. Only four tracks are from 
_Bloodthirst_ and they're well embedded in a great set list, which is 
perfectly balanced  and makes  this album a  worthwhile buy  even for 
those who  gave up listening to  CC after _The Bleeding_.  The band's 
performance is almost inhumanly tight, but  as far as I can determine 
not  overdubbed, and  some very  slight timing  inconsistencies offer 
evidence that  this CD was not  recorded in the studio.  The sound is 
unpolished and tremendously  heavy; Corpsegrinder's vocal performance 
is  extremely powerful,  guitars and  bass are  brilliant, while  the 
drumming, like on their studio releases, is tight but repetitious and 
sometimes dull. Overall, this is a very good, enjoyable release which 
perfectly portraits CC's outstanding capabilities as a live act!      


Catastrophic - _The Cleansing_  (Metal Blade, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (3 out of 10)

From an  imaginary letter  to Trevor  Perez: Dear  Trevor! I  want to 
thank you  for creating two  of the best  death metal records  of all 
time: _Slowly  We Rot_ and _Cause  of Death_. Looking back  over more 
than ten  years it  must be  extremely painful  to realize  that your 
creativity was entirely  spent on these two  masterpieces and witness 
that Obituary has  been slowly becoming the boring old  fart of death 
metal Now you're  back with Catastrophic and I wonder  about a couple 
of  things.  Where  the  hell  did you  find  a  lead  guitarist  who 
is  capable  of reproducing  the  two  guitar  solos Allen  West  has 
alternatingly used on each of his appearances? Even more interesting: 
how deep did you have to dive into the toilet which was used to flush 
away the riffs  considered too crappy for mediocre  Obituary tunes? I 
hear that you successfully found and  used them on _The Cleansing_. I 
assume the smell was horrible.  Metal Blade states that "Catastrophic 
infuses the brutal  sounds of Death Metal with intensity  of New York 
Style  Hardcore". Does  that relate  to the  average drumming  or the 
occasional  appearance of  faster-than-Obituary parts  in the  songs? 
Finally, you managed  to get a vocalist who, style-wise,  is an exact 
copy of John Tardy. Unfortunately,  he doesn't have John's incredible 
voice. In that case you could have named your band Cause of Death, or 
maybe Executioner. Pretty  good idea, huh? Trevor, I'm  really sad to 
have to say this, but this is  as bad as Deicide's latest. And, quite 
contrary  to the  Metal Blade  info which  claims "one  will be  left 
wondering what hit  them", I pretty well know what  hit me: a boring, 
below average  CD. On  the other  hand, I'm sure  there are  some old 
school  lunatics out  there  who, confused  and  bewildered by  bands 
like Nile  or Cryptopsy,  look for  something less  complicated, more 
familiar, something which brings back warm and fuzzy memories of days 
long gone. I'll put on _Slowly We Rot_ now and think about those days 
too, but frankly, I don't think  you should make another record. Best 
regards, Matthias.                                                    


Various - _Chamber Metal: Neo-Classical Metal Guitar_ (Dwell, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (4 out of 10)

At times this compilation would put you in mind of Yngwie Malmsteen's 
1988 _Odyssey_  or even _Trilogy_ from  1986. Other cuts are  more in 
tune  with movements  and  riffing comparable  to the  Trans-Siberian 
Orchestra. The rest of the gaps are  filled with, from what I am able 
to tell, mostly  guitarists reaching out to the US  market from Czech 
Republic  by way  of a  tremendous amount  of Tony  MacAlpine, Adrian 
Belew, Vinnie  Moore and  Ritchie Blackmore  worship. Stuart  Hamm, a 
personal favorite, is also observed here with the welcome addition of 
some very imaginary bass playing on _Chamber Metal_. If you own every 
Yngwie CD, you wish Jake E. Lee would invariably release monthly, and 
you  beat up  your cousin  for not  recognizing Blackmore's  diatonic 
minor  scales layered  over  modest blues  riffs,  add another  three 
points  to this  score. For  me, my  GTR album  and David  Lee Roth's 
_Skyscraper_ (Steve  Vai and Billy  Sheehan) will suit me  just fine. 
Most inspired  cut: "Stormy Winter  Nights" by Stanislav  Berka. That 
not just because we know what snow is here in Iowa either!            


Compos Mentis - _Quadrology of Sorrow_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

Having  been  contacted  by  this   Swedish  band  through  our  demo 
submission   e-mail  address,   I   really  didn't   expect  such   a 
professional-looking and sounding MCD as this. _Quadrology of Sorrow_ 
just hits the spot with its  mixture of a melodic Swedish death metal 
basis, bits of symphonic black and more than a strong hint of doom as 
well --  highly appetising for  me. Indeed,  a very well  crafted MCD 
this is,  both in terms  of musicianship and production.  Good guitar 
work, keyboards well  blended into the music,  competent drumming and 
powerful, anguished vocals -- Compos Mentis sound like anything but a 
demo-stage band to  me. They sometimes remind me somewhat  of early A 
Canorous  Quintet, then  In Flames,  then they  apply a  heavier dose 
of  keyboards, and  then  slow  it all  down  to  an anguished  dirge 
--  _Quadrology  of Sorrow_  is  dynamic,  well balanced  and  varied 
throughout without sounding inconsistent.  Apparently a label deal is 
already in  sight for the band,  and indeed I'd be  very surprised if 
they didn't get one soon. Very promising independent debut.           

Contact: mailto:composmentis@mailme.dk
         http://www.geocities.com/composmentisband/


Coronach - _The Gift of Foresight_  (Splatter Tribe, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

I think  it would  be safe  to say  that Coronach  could be  called a 
"mutt" when it comes to describing the style of metal music that this 
outfit plays.  Drawing from  a vast supply  of influences,  the death 
metal vibes  of _The Gift  of Foresight_ are  pretty straightforward, 
but at the  same time a little bit off-center.  Musically, the record 
is a  harsh death  metal attack,  but with a  slight dark  metal vibe 
bringing up  the rear, not  to mention  a classic metal  guitar style 
encompassing some of  the songs. I am not too  fond of the production 
here,  but seeing  that  this is  their first  release,  it is  quite 
obvious that'll change  come album number two. And  plus, the overall 
rawness of  their death metal  sound kind  of works off  the mediocre 
knob-twirling (i.e  "By the Sword"  and the title track).  Overall, a 
good debut that  while not top of  the heap, fits nice and  neat in a 
batch of  numerous unknown bands  that could make something  of their 
band in the next year or so.                                          

Contact: 1769 Bethlehem Academy Rd. Box 2 Cecilia, KY 42724, USA
         mailto:eroxthis@aol.com
         http://www.coronach.da.ru


Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
by: Chris Flaaten  (9 out of 10)  (Nuclear Blast, March 2001)

Every  time I  read a  review  or an  article about  Dimmu Borgir,  a 
discussion of whether it is black metal  or not always seems to be in 
place. I couldn't care less, but I'll choose to call it extreme metal 
in a  diplomatic effort to avoid  the wrath of black  and death metal 
purists. There really should be a third genre, as more and more bands 
use elements from both death and black metal to form something new... 
Nevermind. Back  to the  matter at hand:  Dimmu Borgir  have returned 
with a new  album. For the sake  of accuracy and to  avoid charges of 
plagiarism  I'll  quote  some  lines from  Paul  Schwarz'  review  of 
_Spiritual Black Dimensions_ [CoC #38],  where he compared their then 
newest album to the previous one --  the reason why is that the exact 
same  thing can  be said  when  comparing _PEM_  to _Spiritual  Black 
Dimensions_:  "The  key  difference  is  an  increase  in  speed  and 
brutality (...) The main thing about <new album> is that it is better 
than its predecessor. The guitars  churn out nastier riffs, the drums 
blast harder, the  keyboard lines are more interesting  and (the most 
important  factor)  the arrangements  are  -much-  better." In  other 
words, their new  album is an exact continuation of  what they did on 
_SBD_. Let's explore  this statement. Galder has  replaced Astennu on 
guitar and  this is quite  obvious on some  songs. However, I  am not 
certain that Galder is the sole  source of the vast amount of quality 
riffs  or of  the increased  guitar orientation  on this  album. Nick 
Barker has  taken over drumming  duties from Tjodalv and  although he 
sounds like a  machine on some parts, his precision  and intensity go 
well with  Dimmu's "new" sound.  The keyboard  lines are more  in the 
background now but remain an important  part of their sound. But here 
comes the treat: Dimmu has hired a twelve-piece symphony orchestra to 
play  a  substantial  amount  of  the  keyboard  lines.  Therion  and 
Kamen/Metallica  eat  your  hearts  out,  'cause  their  presence  is 
impressive!  At the  same time  they have  also added  a more  modern 
aspect to the  album with some Kovenant-esque  arrangements and vocal 
effects. The  production is superb  and you can hear  each instrument 
clearly. I  choose not to  describe any songs. Expect  everything and 
enjoy!                                                                


Dio - _The Very Beast of_  (Rhino/Warner, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

It was  only time 'till  this release was to  make its way  to record 
stores and into the hands of  Dio fans worldwide. Finally someone has 
decided  to document  Ronnie James  Dio's stunning  career as  a solo 
singer, and  yes, folks, it rocks.  From the opening surge  of "Stand 
Out and Shout" or the hypnotic  metallic groove of "Holy Diver", this 
disc just flows with passion and true metal mastery from Dio himself. 
Few singers have ever been able  to deliver with such caliber. Listen 
to tracks  like "Rainbow in the  Dark", "Rock 'n' Roll  Children" and 
"The Last in  Line" and you too  will bear witness to  the voice that 
rocked the metal world and never really let go.                       


Driller Killer - _And the Winner Is..._  (Osmose, November 2000)
by: Kirsty Buchanan  (7 out of 10)

This album can  be summed up in  one word: "RAW". After  one listen I 
didn't ever want to  punish my aural nerves in that  way again. But a 
faulty stereo  which will only  read certain  CDs forced me  late one 
night to  enter into the world  of Driller Killer once  more. And I'm 
very glad it did.  "Fire in the Hole" is a  truly fast, frantic track 
which grew on me  the more I heard it, as did the  rest of the album. 
Humour is  one thing I'm  always hunting  and when the  sample before 
"B.O.F.G." made me laugh till I cried  for no real reason, I was very 
impressed.  The samples  and subtitles  to the  songs are  a work  of 
comedic genius  and original  creative skill. "Legalize  Murder Now": 
"Save tax  money, have  a get together,  burn childmolesters  at your 
local  store". This,  although  possibly intentionally  inflammatory, 
seemed  to me  to  embody the  open sense  of  humour Driller  Killer 
display. The percussion,  after a number of times  through, ceases to 
be  as raw  and jarring  to  the senses,  and I  could recognise  the 
inherent skill of it. No compromise indeed!!!                         


Epoch of Unlight - _Caught in the Unlight_  (The End Records, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (10 out of 10)

If you  are not familiar  with this band  -- GET familiar  with them, 
because I believe they embody  all that is American (intense/melodic) 
black  metal. Currently  an  abysmally strong  and tight  three-piece 
outfit,  Epoch of  Unlight (Tino  LoSicco  -- drums;  Jason Smith  -- 
guitar  and vocals;  Joseph Totty  --  bass) have  captured all  that 
is  melodious  and  exacting  in  the essential  core  of  the  black 
metal  milieu. This  invaluable ten  song release  of near  priceless 
proportions  is next  to essential  in any  metal-lover's collection. 
Allow me  to explain why:  have you  ever heard a  Proscriptor (Absu) 
lyrical detonation wrapped  up in a diamond-clear Gates  of Ishtar (a 
la _A Blood Red Path_) veneer?  Me either, not really, until now. "At 
my signal  -- unleash Hell",  begins the sample  at the start  of the 
maliciously executed track six, "Ululant  Cries". I'm willing to say, 
you've heard nothing this labyrinthine in a -very-, -very- long time. 
Epoch of  Unlight, needless to  say, is -hard- to  sufficiently paint 
vividly on a canvass comprised of  merely words. If you haven't heard 
Epoch of Unlight  before, seek this uncompromising effort  out if you 
have any  determination at all  to envision sublime  perfection. This 
may be as close as you'll get.                                        


Evoken - _Quietus_  (Dwell/Avantgarde, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

It sometimes is hard to escape comparisons. I would think Evoken will 
draw their fair  share of My Dying Bride  parallels. Anathema bubbles 
to mind here  too, churning over and over a  quagmire of doomy sludge 
that Evoken seems to have  indulged in frequently. Dark and saturated 
in painful  lamentations, _Quietus_ could sure  stand toe-to-toe with 
the dirge-iest side of Crowbar's _Broken Glass_ yet never release you 
from  the thickest  shroud  of  its black  requiem.  This release  is 
Evoken's  third and  I  have  nothing else  by  the  band to  compare 
its  lethality to,  but  _Quietus_ certainly  captured my  attention. 
Excruciatingly melancholy and dismal,  "Embrace the Emptiness", track 
six, is wonderfully discouraging. The release is nearly gothic in its 
heaviness. I would have to say  that song would totally embrace all I 
have come to appreciate from this group. If any day you feel like you 
could just run your car off a  cliff, don't spin this disc; you don't 
need  Evoken in  the vehicle  behind  you honking  the fuckin'  horn! 
Absolutely a respectable effort.                                      


Gandalf - _Rock Hell_  (Wicked World / Earache, January 2001)
by: Kirsty Buchanan  (4 out of 10)

Exceptionally catchy from start through  to finish, _Rock Hell_ is at 
best a consistently themed "classic rock" album with impressive hooks 
and  standout drumming,  and  at worst  a "spot-the-influences"  game 
which lasts no  longer than it takes to spell  "AC/DC". It's not just 
in  the  actual  riffs  and  percussive  style  that  the  similarity 
arises,  but also  in the  stunningly simplistic  and formulaic  song 
construction. The opening track "L8X  Queen" is a catchy little beast 
which draws you  further into the album, and  inevitably to "Geysir". 
"Geysir" is singularly the reason  to own this album. Although simple 
and  of  standard structure,  it  caused  me  to employ  the  usually 
redundant "repeat" function  on my stereo -- and why  not? AC/DC have 
managed  that way  for many  years. Gandalf  further evolve  a ballad 
based style  towards the end  of this unspeakable  tirade, displaying 
their unoriginality. Except for "Geysir" -- a true ROCK HELL.         


Goatsblood - _Goatsblood_  (Rage of Achilles, November 2000)
by: Kirsty Buchanan  (9 out of 10)

If this is the product of the "rotten social underbelly of Vacouver", 
then I feel we  owe a debt of gratitude to  the Canadian nation. This 
is the  first release  I've ever heard  described as  "heavy grinding 
crust  sludge metal",  but  I  am now  compelled  to  seek out  more. 
"Bitterasbile" opens  the album  as it  means to  go on,  with fierce 
grating  vocals and  cymbal  crashing percussion.  Heavy guitar  work 
complements the  mighty drumming and  both support the  amazing vocal 
style of singer Blair. There is  not a single track present that does 
not  justify its  existence. Amazing  lyricism and  song construction 
simply add  to the reasons  why I love  this album. The  artwork too, 
although  simple, is  effective. Goatsblood:  an extreme  experience. 
Canada: quite scary!!!                                                


Graveland - _Creed of Iron_  (No Colours Records, 2000)
by: Alvin Wee  (7 out of 10)

By  now, most  informed black  metallers won't  even have  to read  a 
Graveland  review:  like  many  of  the bands  on  No  Colours  Rec., 
Graveland have  carved a small  (albeit hardcore) niche of  fans from 
the underground for themselves, and the rest just think they're crap. 
Admittedly, it's  hard to  maintain objectivity in  the face  of such 
material;  while the  music  isn't exactly  award-winning,  it has  a 
certain charm in  the face of more commercial  Viking/Pagan acts like 
Mithotyn  or  (the  terribly  degenerated)  Einherjer.  Taking  their 
somewhat  groundbreaking mix  of folkloric  black metal  on _Immortal 
Pride_ one step  further, _Creed of Iron_ trots along  at a much more 
satisfying pace than _IP_, while  retaining the dense, highly wrought 
epicness  of  the  previous  album. For  those  unfamiliar  with  the 
Graveland's new direction since _Follow  the Voice..._, the band have 
been described in  terms of Falkenbach and  latter-day Bathory. Truth 
is, there's  little out  there to compare  the uniquely  Polish style 
against;  suffice  it  to  say  that _CoI_  is  a  colorful  tapestry 
of  folk-influenced  black  metal  (with all  the  requisite  synths, 
clear "singing"  and gong-smashes),  the underground nature  of which 
belies  its surprising  complexity and  immenseness. Though  sounding 
suspiciously like their label-/country-mates Juvenes, Graveland boast 
a far tighter and more experienced crew, resulting in a complex album 
that opens up with each subsequent  listen. A vast improvement on the 
draggy _IP_, and  certainly a good break from the  hordes of faceless 
"pagan" bands out there. Available on LP and digipak CD.              

Contact: mailto:info@no-colours-records.de


Green Carnation - _Journey to the End of the Night_  (Prophecy, 2000)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

With the  influential In  the Woods... having  recently been  laid to 
rest, Green Carnation had all the  potential to be quite the surprise 
for  those who  mourned the  loss  of ItW.  The work  of the  Botteri 
brothers  (ex-ItW) will  sound familiar,  and even  main vocalist  Rx 
Draumtanzer  tends  to sound  somewhat  similar  to Jan  Svithjod  of 
the  departed  ItW. However,  Green  Carnation  also features  Tchort 
(ex-Emperor  bassist)  on guitars  and  a  list of  guests  including 
vocalists Synne  Soprana (also ex-ItW) and  Vibeke Stenne (Tristania) 
and  also a  part-time violinist,  among other  guest vocalists.  The 
general style isn't far from the very atmospheric doom metal that you 
might expect, and  the album runs for 70 minutes.  Sounds good if you 
like ItW,  doesn't it? Too  bad it doesn't quite  live up to  all the 
expectations. Hardly any  of the material here is as  good as most of 
what  ItW have  done  (though  it's often  quite  similar). The  song 
structures themselves  tend to  go on  and on for  a lot  longer than 
their contents seem to justify.  In addition, the production is below 
average. Draumtanzer's  vocals are often simultaneously  too close to 
Svithjod's for comfort,  yet at the same time never  anywhere near as 
good as his -- and pretty much the same can be said about most of the 
music compared to  ItW. But then again, despite the  feeling that not 
really as  much planning and  maturing went  into the making  of this 
record  as should  have, it  still  avoids sounding  like a  horrible 
caricature of  ItW because  the musicians  involved are  talented and 
still pulled  off a very decent  album. In my opinion  more likely to 
make you  miss ItW  even more  than to provide  much solace,  this is 
mostly a somewhat flawed but still  reasonably good record that in my 
view just doesn't  live up to its potential and  the expectations one 
might have about it.                                                  


Groinchurn - _whoami_  (Morbid Records, November 2000)
by: Kirsty Buchanan  (5 out of 10)

Opening  with the  stirring  "Everything  You Know  Is  a Lie",  this 
release is somewhat inconsistent. The quality of the tracks undulates 
from "Quiet Please" -- a piece of  genius -- to the overtly poppy and 
"sample-tastic" "Blown  Off Course". The  guitar work on some  of the 
lesser tracks is what disappoints. It has the potential to be so much 
stronger, and  yet the band allow  it to be overshadowed  by a merely 
proficient  drummer.  Then,  in  contrast,  Groinchurn  produce  such 
riff-heavy noise as "Coughin'". This  track is truly original and the 
extended period  of roaring  white noise as  it finishes  serves only 
to  emphasise  the  possibilities  lurking  beneath  the  surface  of 
Groinchurn's work. Unfortunately, before  they manage to maintain any 
period of consistency, the level of  the release drops again into the 
poorly structured  "Killkillkill". This could have  impressed me were 
it a  twenty five minute  EP consisting of _whoami_'s  better tracks, 
rather than  being the  forty five minute,  variable quality  saga it 
actually is.                                                          


Gulch - _When It Rains... It Pours_  (MowDownMusic, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

It  is  amazing  how  things  happen in  the  music  business.  Gulch 
(originally an aggressive hard rock outfit named Hostility on Century 
Media) have  been dropped from the  label and changed their  name and 
their style.  The end result is  a new stoner /  southern rock outfit 
that meshes together the sounds of Corrosion of Conformity and Queens 
of the Stone Age. This is not the same band I interviewed way back in 
CoC #6.  The band has changed  too much, and the  commercial angle to 
their  music, not  to  mention the  kind  of monotonous  songwriting, 
really serves a letdown to Gulch. They've moved on, no doubt, leaving 
old fans at the  wayside and trying hard to pick up  new fans as they 
continue down the road.                                               

Contact: P.O. Box 523, Andover, Kansas 67002, USA
         mailto:gulchworks@yahoo.com
         http://www.gulchworks.com


Impious - _Terror Succeeds_  (Black Sun Records, 2000)
by: Alex Cantwell  (6 out of 10)

This is  the latest installment  of what  some are beginning  to call 
"turbo metal". Impious' history dates back seven years now, but aside 
from  demos and  compilation appearances,  this is  but their  second 
release.  Through this  time the  band has  survived several  line-up 
changes as well as members switching instruments. Their current sound 
is  one that  is deeply  rooted in  death and  thrash, and  is plenty 
aggressive  with catchy  hooks and  creative instrumental  interplay. 
Obviously, since  they are from  Sweden, it is  easy to sit  back and 
point out parts that sound like this or that Swedish band, but no one 
could blame them  for drawing upon such rich history,  and they don't 
sound like  any one  band in  particular at all.  The lyrics  are the 
thing that bum  me out about this release, because  they are the same 
mindless drivel  about terror  and pain that  you would  really never 
want to go  through in real life that have  been corrupting the death 
metal scene for 15+ years. Some  people could care less about lyrics, 
but I like a complete package, and this band has come up short.       

Contact: mailto:blacksun@dolores.se


IRM - _Oedipus Dethroned_  (Cold Meat Industry, 2000)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Trying to  decipher the visions  of IRM is not  as easy as  one might 
assume,  even  when  you  know  of the  band's  thirst  for  abstract 
soundscapes  and haunting  ambient  numbers.  As _Oedipus  Dethroned_ 
unfolds,  the sounds  are rather  subtle, no  big guffaw  of abrasive 
ideas thrown  at our  faces. As  the disc  continues on,  the madness 
becomes a bit more apparent, as IRM begins to take up a frenzied glow 
of creativity,  though I'll admit,  I didn't  really find it  all too 
interesting. While IRM  does create some solid  surges of soundscapes 
and ambient passages, their music this time out goes on with one less 
supporter of their current drive.                                     


Katatonia - _Teargas_  (Peaceville, March 2001)
Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_  (Peaceville, March 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (both 9 out of 10)

As the brilliant title track opens  the _Teargas_ EP with its _Sounds 
of Decay_-like guitar work and heartbreaking chorus, one is likely to 
have  a  strong premonition  that  _Last  Fair  Deal Gone  Down_  may 
turn  out to  be a  significantly superior  album to  its full-length 
predecessor  _Tonight's Decision_.  The preview  EP then  goes on  to 
unveil its two exclusive tracks: first the equally emotional "Sulfur" 
(also rather  reminiscent of the  _Sounds of Decay_  and _Discouraged 
Ones_ era  guitar-wise), and  "March 4".  _Teargas_' playing  time of 
less than 15  minutes will most likely  seem claustrophobically short 
as you play it  over and over again waiting for  _Last Fair Deal Gone 
Down_ to become available. And then the remaining 50 minutes of music 
Katatonia  have  to  offer  this  time  (including  a  repetition  of 
"Teargas") will stare  deep into you and challenge you  to repeat the 
mistake  you made  by allowing  the EP  to sink  its claws  into your 
heart. Katatonia have  always had a knack for  producing records that 
have  all the  potential to  become something  of a  soundtrack to  a 
period of  one's life, and  they have done  so again with  _LFDGD_ -- 
much more so  than with their comparatively  less inspired _Tonight's 
Decision_. _LFDGD_ is of course in the same vein as the _Teargas_ EP, 
although a few of its tracks  deviate more from what you might expect 
from Katatonia. "We  Will Bury You" is based on  an electronic rhythm 
section,  and, even  though  it isn't  a bad  song,  the chorus  does 
become rather  annoying with  time. "Sweet  Nurse" is  highly unusual 
both  musically  (almost cheerful  to  begin  with, even  if  perhaps 
sarcastically so) and lyrically. Also,  after a few seconds of "Clean 
Today" you may  be expecting a half-growled shout  of "Jump!!" rather 
than  the  relatively  typical  Katatonia  riff  that  follows.  This 
brings  me to  the new  drummer,  Daniel Liljekvist,  whose style  is 
rather different  from what  I expected.  Nonetheless, he  is clearly 
a  talented  drummer and  was  probably  partly responsible  for  the 
enhanced and  increased dynamics found  in _LFDGD_, which  features a 
hard-hitting  drum  sound  and  Katatonia's  trademark  thick  guitar 
backdrop  (occasionally enhanced  by a  touch of  violin-like synth). 
Even catchier  than _Discouraged Ones_  while every bit  as emotional 
and  musically more  intense and  dynamic than  that first  record of 
their clean vocal  era, _LFDGD_ is an outstanding return  to top form 
for  Katatonia.  Renske's  vocals  are better  than  ever  and  truly 
remarkable, even if occasionally somewhat sweeter than might be ideal 
(which  is  especially true  of  Nystrom's  backing vocals).  _LFDGD_ 
contains a  considerable amount of material  worth a 10 out  of 10 on 
its own, and is one  thoroughly listenable, enjoyable and affectingly 
emotional record.                                                     


Kreuzweg Ost - _Iron Avantgarde_  (Napalm Records, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Trying to  find words  to describe  the work  of the  bizarre project 
Kreuzweg OST  is hard enough. Trying  to get through the  disc in one 
listen is  even harder.  From the minds  of Silenius  (Summoning) and 
Martin Shirenc  (Pungent Stench)  comes Kreuzweg OST,  a militaristic 
soundtrack that in the band's own  words is an "interpretation of the 
themes and facts  surrounding World War II". Using  samples from both 
English and German propaganda during the  war (as well as hundreds of 
other loud and odd samples -- even a cool "Dark City" clip), Kreuzweg 
OST roll onward for more than 65 minutes of brutality and sheer sonic 
mayhem. Be prepared!  I can see how many might  be confused about the 
work of the band  and/or put off by all of  the sounds and happenings 
throughout  the disc.  But  those  who have  enough  patience to  sit 
through a full spin shall be  rewarded with a truly unique experience 
that'll surely stand out from everything  else they have heard in the 
past few months.                                                      


Manilla Road - _Mystification_  (Sentinel Steel, 2000)
by: Alvin Wee  (9 out of 10)

OK, confession  time. As cult  as Manilla  Road might be,  I'm hardly 
familiar with the band's previous  material, apart from their _Dreams 
of Eschaton_ demo. Expecting the  mid-paced melodic epicness of their 
earlier material,  I was rather  put off by the  unexpectedly thrashy 
nature of _Mystification_ at first, despite having been warned before 
about the band's new direction on the album. The trademark atmosphere 
isn't  as evident  as  before,  but still  shines  through in  slower 
segments of tracks  like "Children of the Night" and  "Spirits of the 
Dead", and becomes more apparent in the album when listened to in its 
entirety.  In fact,  the entire  masterpiece  is a  brilliant mix  of 
aggression and  melody; the  highly atmospheric,  Poe-inspired lyrics 
and  Mark Shelton's  uniquely  mournful vocal  delivery  wrap up  the 
musical  package in  shrouds of  rich  atmosphere. It's  a pity  that 
classic albums like _Mystification_, _The Deluge_ and _Crystal Logic_ 
had to wait so  long for the slew of re-releases  this past year, but 
it was  worth the  wait considering the  quality of  Sentinel Steel's 
re-issue. The lavish, full-color booklet boasts remarkably impressive 
artwork inside  and out, offering  not only the lyrics  but extensive 
liner notes  on the band and  album history. Equally splendid  is the 
sound: exciting and  bold, without any hint of  '80s fuzz surrounding 
it. Takes away some of the nostalgia, some might argue, but the sheer 
power and  intensity of the music  are all the more  apparent for its 
crystal  clarity. The  only thing  remaining is  the label's  adamant 
refusal to handle overseas orders, a strange decision considering the 
European market for metal...                                          

Contact: mailto:metal@sentinelsteel.com
         http://www.sentinelsteel.com


Mob Rules - _Temple of Two Sins_  (LMP/SPV, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (4 out of 10)

While I  didn't mind the  band's debut  disc _Savage Land_  (1999), I 
find the new release by this talented German progressive metal outfit 
a tad  bit ego-driven. Majestic  intros and pompous guitar  riffs and 
vocal melodies  flow like a  raging river as  the band hits  a solid, 
"high-on-our-horse" stride and never let go.  This is a tad cheesy as 
well, with musical segues that could  be part of some lavish Broadway 
musical. I dunno,  I'm being a little harsh here,  but how come bands 
like  Blind  Guardian  and  even  Vanishing  Point  (reviewed  below) 
are  full of  creativity  and  enthusiasm and  don't  come across  as 
prick-like? Just an  observation. No doubt Mob Rules  has the talent, 
they just don't need to flaunt it as excessively as they do here.     


Molasses - _Trilogie: Toil & Peaceful Life_  (Fancy, 2000)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (10 out of 10)

In the  Gabriel Sanchez tradition of  bringing to CoC music  that its 
target audience would likely not touch in a thousand years, I present 
my exposition of Molasses' _Trilogie_. To me, extreme music was never 
about being loud  (necessarily) nor pushing the  moral limits through 
overt offensiveness in  lyrics and style. It has  been, and continues 
to be, the production  of music that is as challenging  to the ear as 
it  is  to the  heart  and  soul. Molasses  intertwine  traditionally 
non-intersecting styles to  produce an outlaw brand of  music that is 
as atmospheric, dark, and richly  poured over with beauty as anything 
I have ever encountered. "Saint  Catherine", perhaps the finest track 
on  the album,  could  invoke an  internal stir  from  even the  most 
hardened,  emotionally desolate  listener. The  group's awe-inspiring 
rendition of "Amazing Grace" brings the touch of a non-existent deity 
into the empty  soul of an atheist;  if but only for a  moment. By no 
stretch am I too proud to  admit there is something frightening about 
the way  Molasses scratches  across my  heart. The  atmospheric noise 
backdrops  to  the  acoustic  instrumentation  mesmerizes  while  the 
lyrical content penetrates  the emotions; filling them  with pain and 
sorrow  track after  track.  There is  an  impeachment of  ideologies 
throughout  _Trilogie_  that  seeks  to  poetically  deconstruct  any 
listener's prejudices to style, form,  and life itself. I told myself 
repeatedly  that I  would never  dare review  this for  CoC, but  the 
internal  pressures  are too  great.  The  music  has opened  up  and 
resealed too many wounds not to  share. My aserious approach to music 
antithetical to the CoC norm has been shattered. There is nothing but 
the strongest encouragement  on my part for all to  give this one its 
fair due. Anything less would be to sinfully deny the personal impact 
of this recording and my total regards for its majestic qualities.    

Contact: Fancy, PO Box 493, Place du Parc, Montreal,
         Quebec H2W 2P1, Canada


Nargaroth - _Amarok_  (No Colours Records, 2000)
by: Alvin Wee  (6 or 8 out of 10)

You're probably wondering about the dual rating I've given this "new" 
album; fact  is, it's  an indication of  most Nargaroth  material: if 
you're already a fan  then you'll love it, if not  you'd need lots of 
persuading.  Being  primarily  a  collection of  old  and  unreleased 
material,  _Amarok_ is  all  the more  catered  towards pleasing  the 
band's small but hardcore group  of supporters. Nargaroth is still an 
unbelievably underground act, and for those unfamiliar with the band, 
this  one-man act  lies  in  the realms  of  old  Burzum (names  like 
Mutiilation, Abyssic Hate, etc. come to mind). The back cover shows a 
Mystic  Circle  shirt  being  torched to  cinders;  'nuff  said!  The 
familiar title track of their first LP "Herbstleyd" kicks things off, 
and despite it being a "different  version taken from Promo", I'm not 
really  convinced of  its inclusion  here. A  fine song  nonetheless, 
taking  us to  a melancholic  rendition of  Burzum's "Black  Spell of 
Destruction". Somewhat raw  around the edges (the way  it should be), 
it's surprisingly  convincing, with Kanwulf's shrill  cries adding an 
almost tangible  anguish to  the song. Things  go way  downhill after 
that with the inclusion of two demo tracks: slow, unsophisticated and 
downright boring. A peek into the booklet reveals the abysmal quality 
of  the English  lyrics, but  the title  track, an  unreleased studio 
recording,  proves him  a better  German  poet by  far. As  mentioned 
before, this  one will appeal to  hardcore supporters of the  band (8 
points), but  for newcomers to  the "No Colours scene",  the previous 
album  _Herbstleyd_ would  be  a  far better  intro  to  the band  (6 
points).                                                              

Contact: mailto:info@no-colours-records.de ($20)


Negura Bunget - _Maiastru Sfetnic_  (Bestial Records, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

The darksome  Transylvanian trio  have returned,  and this  time they 
seem to  have realised  a great  deal of  their potential.  They have 
clearly been busy since I interviewed  them [CoC #47], judging by the 
spirit they  managed to  imbue _Maiastru Sfetnic_  with, in  terms of 
both music  and packaging (hand-made  black digipak). During  its six 
tracks, which add  up to nearly an hour, _Maiastru  Sfetnic_ can take 
you  on a  journey through  grim mountains  and chasms  -- and  misty 
forests  as  well, or  something  would  be  seriously amiss  in  the 
record's black  metal spirit. You may  need to be in  a very specific 
frame of  mind to fully enjoy  this, but that's precisely  the key to 
the album's essence: the atmosphere  and feeling it contains; the way 
the  stripped-down  guitars,  drums  and occasional  basic  touch  of 
keyboard all  gel into  cold, majestic  compositions drenched  with a 
primordial, mystical feeling. The  abstract vocals further contribute 
to this rather unique result that transcends objective musical value. 
Negura Bunget won't  be winning any awards  for outstanding technical 
prowess, but they  do manage to balance spontaneity  and execution so 
that it hardly harms the album  at all. A very impressive record that 
definitely seems to contain a lot of belief and dedication.           

Contact: http://www.members.tripod.com/~NeguraBunget/
         http://www.bestial.ro


Nicodemus - _Tales of the Lovelorn & Necromantic_
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)  (Dark Throne Music, 2001)

Listening to  Nicodemus' offering, I  couldn't help but hear  work of 
Cradle of Filth,  most notably their latest  offering _Midian_. While 
_Midian_ is a great record,  I am having trouble digesting _Tales..._ 
for the  sheer fact that  it comes across as  a CoF clone.  While the 
band experiments with some cool keyboard work, softly sung vocals and 
some bizarre industrial-tinged  arrangements, it is hard  to drop the 
thought  that they  are just  rehashing  CoF and  the numerous  other 
modern  black  metal bands  ravaging  the  black metal  scene  (Dimmu 
Borgir, etc.). Place  a red flag on Nicodemus and  their offering, as 
most black metal  fans will say exactly what I  am implying with this 
review: "This is nothing new. I've heard this before."                

Contact: Dark Throne Music, 5098 Foothills Blvd. Suite 3 PMB 307,
         Roseville, CA 95747, USA
         http://www.darkthronemusic.com


Various - _Overload 2: Tribute to Metallica_  (Dwell, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (6.5 out of 10)

For whatever reason, I never heard the original _Overload_ tribute. I 
may possibly have enjoyed Steel  Prophet's version of "Fade to Black" 
and "The Eye of  the Beholder" by Sickness. As it  turns out, I never 
had  the  pleasure. Anyway,  the  newest  in  this line  of  infernal 
offerings to Metallica, Dwell feeds  us its usual gathering of mostly 
underground groups. Solarisis ("Nothing  Else Matters"), Last Chapter 
("Escape") and Blasphemy Divine ("Welcome Home (Sanitarium)") are all 
suitable covers. Toward the middle of this disc, with the addition of 
Noctuary's version of "Leper Messiah" and From the Depths belting out 
"For Whom  the Bell  Tolls", is  where my  interest peaked.  Both are 
excellent renderings and could very easily make one believe they were 
the original  authors of these  tunes due to the  effortlessness with 
which each  track is  played. The disappointment  of the  tribute was 
unfortunately  at the  hands of  Diabolic butchering  an already  bad 
song, "The God that Failed". The  dual vocals on the song were almost 
insufferable. On  the other  hand, an unknown-to-me  Kentucky quintet 
called Abominant absolutely ripped on their version of "Battery" in a 
fashion I thought not possible. Killer! The sixty-five minute, twelve 
track  compilation  ends with  a  fine  hail to  the  not-so-recently 
lackluster outfit known as Metallica  by virtue of Coffin Texts doing 
the always irreproachable "The Call of Ktulu". Purchase this only for 
the fact that most  of the bands on here do a fine  job and -not- for 
the  reason Metallica  needs any  more indulgence.  For those  of you 
who've  been to  www.romp.com, you'll  know what  I mean  when I  say 
"Prunes BAAAADDDD!"                                                   


Pig Destroyer - _38 Counts of Battery_  (Relapse, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Reckless and out  of control, the music of Pig  Destroyer will surely 
throw  many for  a  loop and  others just  running.  Molded from  the 
various music stylings of grind, metal and noisecore, Pig Destroyer's 
Relapse debut (an amalgamation of other their previous releases up to 
this  point) just  detonates on  impact. No  time for  music fans  to 
prepare for the  onslaught. Right for the jugular. With  38 tracks in 
just under  40 minutes, it  isn't that hard  to figure out  just what 
kind of wallop these boys pack. Do the math, Einstein, and see if you 
can take the sonic assault.                                           


Sepultura - _Nation_  (Roadrunner, March 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

I  applaud the  new  Sepultura  disc for  not  only overflowing  with 
brutality  and intelligence,  but also  for managing  to add  another 
level of creativity to the band's fold. With a diverse discography as 
Sepultura has, it  is great to see _Nation_ bringing  out yet another 
era of Sepultura  unlike their past work. Back for  his second outing 
with  Sepultura, singer  Derrick  Green shines  on  this, the  band's 
9th(!)  recording. Whether  he's  screaming his  head  off on  opener 
"Sepulnation", "The Ways  of Faith" or the  brilliantly executed "Uma 
Cora", or subduing  us with his vocal range on  "One Man Army", Green 
brings  a  lot  of  range  to  Sepultura.  Matched  with  the  rhythm 
section  of drummer  Igor  Cavalera  / bassist  Paulo  Pinto and  the 
ever-resourceful guitar  work of guitarist Andreas  Kisser, Sepultura 
returns to the scene with a much better disc than their last offering 
_Against_ (1998). It isn't better per  se (I loved _Against_), just a 
lot more focused  and much, much more intense. This  record is really 
emotional and  really focuses  on educating  the listener.  Check out 
some great guest stars on the disc as well, most notably Jello Biafra 
(the  weird "Politricks"),  Hatebreed's  singer  Jamey Jasta  ("Human 
Cause") and  Dub-Reggae star Dr. Israel  (the cool track "Tribe  to a 
Nation"). On a closing note, I must comment: isn't it funny that both 
Soulfly  and Sepultura's  (with Green)  debuts were  good, but  their 
sophomore efforts just  hit the target dead on? It  just goes to show 
that  bands can  break apart  and  good things  can come  out of  it. 
_Nation_ is definitely worth traveling to.                            


Shalabi Effect - _Shalabi Effect_  (Alien8 Recordings, 2000)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7 out of 10)

It would seem that my reviews are growing more and more fringe to the 
associated CoC musical  style as I now explore  the psychedelic works 
of  Shalabi Effect.  Comprised  of  two CDs  which  clock  in at  131 
minutes, it  has taken me  nearly three  months of on/off  listens to 
properly formulate  my thoughts on this  recording. Psychedelic music 
is by  no means  my forte.  In fact, it  comes as  not even  a fringe 
interest. Perhaps due to my disdain for hallucinogenics and narcotics 
(the  key,  I  hear,  to finding  Jefferson  Airplane  an  "intensely 
interesting and fulfilling listen"), I wrote the genre off as being a 
nice compliment  to drug culture  and spiritualism through  a needle. 
Shalabi Effect has helped alter my view on the matter considerably as 
they construct warped  sculptures of sound that borrows  as much from 
the electronic  as it does  the acoustic. Noisey in  parts, musically 
transcendental in others,  there is a battle of light  and dark which 
finds synthesis  in a sea of  blinding color. There is  nothing harsh 
about the  works contained on  this album  and it is  quite enjoyable 
that it be  the case. "Harsh" and "extreme" are  words too often seen 
as synonymous in  the evaluation of music. While there  may be appeal 
in the  darker side of that  which is extreme (especially  to the CoC 
reader), no soul is so absent  of color that nothing but the blackest 
of the black come crashing out of one's stereo all the time. There is 
nothing  maddening about  the sounds  here and  the delight  (even if 
it  be  an  idiot's  delight)  walks  hand-in-hand  with  the  music. 
Recommended.                                                          

Contact: http://www.alien8recordings.com


Soilwork - _A Predator's Portrait_  (Nuclear Blast, 2001)
by: Chris Flaaten  (8.5 out of 10)

The follow-up  to _Chainheart Machine_ [CoC  #42] is here, and  it is 
everything I expected it to be. Soilwork continues with their melodic 
and intense thrash/death  metal, adding a dash of  new elements while 
maintaining most of the winning  formula of _Chainheart Machine_. The 
album kicks straight off with intense riffing on "Bastard Chain", but 
it is on the next nine tracks that they really show what they're good 
at. Weaving  in melodic  guitar harmonies, soothing  background synth 
and, for  the first time,  clean vocals in their  riff-attack GTI(tm) 
engine, they squeeze in the last  grain of variation such music needs 
to never grow  repetitive or tiresome. I am unsure  who is behind the 
clean vocals;  I've heard some say  it is Strid himself  while others 
have mentioned  Mikael Akerfeldt from  Opeth. My guess would  be that 
they're sharing the melodic vocal duties. It sounds great, whoever it 
is. Soilwork have  a few qualities about them that  really shine, now 
stronger  than ever.  First, they  are extremely  talented musicians. 
Furthermore,  they do  not go  overboard with  technicality, although 
they surely could.  Instead, they make music that  simply kicks human 
bacon and  is a blast  to play. The  result is superbly  played music 
that flows smoothly from one killer  riff to another, from one killer 
song to another and yes, from  one album to another, it seems. Anyone 
into intense metal should be able to thoroughly enjoy this album.     


Soul Erosion - _Furious Mind Degeneration_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Shock Wave Records, 2001)

Brutal death metal  with a technical edge is what  Soul Erosion offer 
with  this debut  MCD. Allegedly  influenced by  styles ranging  from 
metal to jazz and classical, this  French band has made an enjoyable, 
though somewhat  derivative, debut with _Furious  Mind Degeneration_. 
Looking at  the very typically '90s  death metal band photo,  one can 
identify the logos  of bands such as Morbid Angel,  Deicide and Death 
depicted in the textiles, whilst the cover art is also typically '90s 
death metal. Fortunately, Soul Erosion  don't turn out to sound quite 
as  predictable as  these  visual elements  might  indicate, even  if 
they're hardly  remarkable for  their originality. In  addition, they 
deliver their material  with a considerable degree  of conviction and 
tightness,  and  the  music  is  also  unhindered  by  the  competent 
production. A very decent debut MCD from a band who still have a long 
way to go before really becoming  remarkable, but also seem like they 
might have the potential to do so.                                    


Spaceboy - _A Force That Holds Together a Heart Torn to Pieces_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (Howling Bull, January 2001)

Listening to cosmically  charged stoner rock outfit  Spaceboy is like 
watching an episode of "COPS" on Fox TV: you never know what is going 
to happen.  And while Spaceboy has  a bit of everything  for everyone 
(metal,  stoner  rock, jazz  drumming),  the  music  of the  band  is 
actually quite easy to follow, though after a first few listens you'd 
disagree. But as time goes on, the sounds and barrage of noises start 
to take shape  and the sound of the band  becomes more obvious. Chaos 
reigns within,  but the  ideas and  creativity shine  with sincerity. 
Spaceboy need  not worry about what  we think. They should  just make 
sure not to  lose that spark of  what seems to be  a winning element. 
Also, producer  Billy Anderson  (Neurosis, L7) did  a stellar  job of 
keeping the live feel so grandiose.                                   

Contact: Howling Bull America, P.O. Box 40129, San Francisco,
         CA 94140-0219, USA
         http://www.howlingbull.com


Society 1 - _Slacker Jesus_  (Inzane Records, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

I admit,  I like what lead  singer Matt Zane (Yes!  The porn director 
for those in  the know) is doing  with his band Society  1. The ideas 
are  there, I  just don't  think the  music really  stands up  to the 
amount of creativity  Matt Zane has in him and  how he actually wants 
to approach the structure of the song. Sounding like a (weaker) cross 
between  Fear  Factory,  Psychotica,  Marilyn Manson  and  newer  era 
Ministry, the music  of Society 1 is flat, uninspired  and not really 
going anywhere. Zane  tries to make things work, and  they do on some 
numbers (i.e "Get My Back" and "Look at Your Life"), but overall this 
is a  wasted cause, as  it could have  been ten times  better. Here's 
hoping the new  record (tentatively titled _Exit Through  Fear_) is a 
much better  sonic ride for  us to digest next  time we meet  up with 
Society 1.                                                            

Contact: Inzane Records, 4570 Van Nuys Blvd. Suite #303,
         Sherman Oaks, CA 91403, USA
         http://www.inzanerecords.com


Sophia - _Sophia_  (Cold Meat Industry, 2000)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

Fans  of  Arcana, take  note.  The  new  solo instrumental  album  by 
Peter  Pettersson has  been released  into  the world,  and while  it 
is  a  far  cry  from  the  beautifully  sculpted  sounds  of  Arcana 
(this is  much darker),  the overall  feel is  pretty much  the same. 
Brandishing a  real classical theme  to the music,  Sophia transcends 
from subtle soundscapes into darkened chimes of fury. And in tow with 
Arcana, Sophia also  manages to bring forth numerous  ideas into song 
structures with such simplicity, making them all forge together quite 
nicely. The production as well is impressive, with each note sounding 
so vivid  and full of  life. At times, it  seems fitting to  say that 
Sophia's music could serve as a soundtrack for a war between kingdoms 
during the  chivalry period.  The music of  Sophia is  an interesting 
departure  for Pettersson,  and I  hope this  is not  just a  one-off 
release for him, because I'm anxious to hear more.                    


Sunn O))) - _OO Void_  (Hydra Head, 2000)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

With  its  four  tracks  comprising  nearly  an  hour  of  music,  it 
should  not  be  deeply  surprising   to  learn  that  _00  Void_  is 
essentially ambient as  an "album". The style of  the three originals 
and  re-arranged  Melvin's  track  on offer  here  centres  around  a 
spectacularly  low,  overdriven  bass-line/hum.   This  is  the  only 
constant  throughout all  the tracks,  progressing with  treacle-like 
rhythm and speed -- slow, slow, slow and slower is the name of Sunn's 
game. If  you allow yourself  to relax  and let this  soporific sonic 
experience wash over and into you -- whether with the help of illicit 
substances or merely a quiet,  dark and focussed atmosphere -- you'll 
find all sorts of ambient sounds  floating about in _OO Void_, subtly 
hidden beneath a sea of the lowest rumbling bass tones. The effect on 
your  mind can  make you  hallucinate sounds  that aren't  or weren't 
there  -- or  were they?  --, or  it can  merely set  you off  into a 
dream-like state of recollection  or vivid imagination. Sonically, if 
you liked Sleep's  _Jerusalem_ or other records of its  ilk, then the 
sloth-like pace of  _OO Void_ may very well appeal  to you. _OO Void_ 
is certainly not  "normal" or "average", it's more or  less a love or 
hate  record --  either you  "get  it" or  you don't  -- which  seems 
doubtful to ever be in constant  rotation on your stereo, but will no 
doubt be treasured, even if it be as a novelty, to those who are into 
its sound.                                                            


The Forsaken - _Manifest of Hate_  (Century Media, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

There is  no doubt in my  mind that The Forsaken's  debut for Century 
Media will  be in my Top  20 of 2001 come  next year. This is  such a 
punishing and brutal release, full of strong songwriting and powerful 
delivery.  The Forsaken  is  also  the most  brutal  band on  Century 
Media's roster,  save for maybe  Krisiun and Cryptopsy.  These Swedes 
pack an aggressive  spirit that prospers from  some melodic overtones 
and technical prowess.  The first week I had this  record, I couldn't 
stop  spinning  it.  It  just  seemed  so  fresh  and  inviting.  The 
Forsaken's death metal assault, thanks to ever-skilled producer Tommy 
Tagtgren,  has managed  to present  itself with  some real  admirable 
qualities, while  still not afraid  to scare  the bejeezus out  of us 
with its violent edge.                                                


Thy Majestie - _The Lasting Power_  (SPV, 2000)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

I can't  really understand why it  is I enjoy  this as much as  I do. 
Very close to a power rock album (yuck!), but there is also much more 
there -- more  interesting for certain. I know nothing  of this band, 
so all  that I give  you here  is completely subjective  and somewhat 
blind and  crude. Fifteen tracks  total, but  some of these  cuts are 
more or  less build-ups  or precursors to  the longer  songs. Intense 
guitar work with  clean but very appropriate vocals  spin the musical 
yarn of medieval triumph, tragedy and tears. Most notable comparisons 
sound-wise  would  perhaps  be  HammerFall, but  certainly  Demons  & 
Wizards. I  have to admit, "Under  Siege", the fourth song,  not only 
gives the  listener a good  feel about  where Thy Majestie  is coming 
from,  but takes  things a  step  farther by  condensing pretty  much 
everything  on _The  Lasting Power_  into  one track.  A nice  intro, 
catchy riffs and solid playing, softened interludes, all at a lengthy 
clock time  of just over eight  minutes. If you are  a hardened power 
metal skeptic  like me, give  Thy Majestie  a try before  selling the 
whole genre down  the proverbial river forever. They  did wonders for 
my outlook.                                                           


Tsjuder - _Kill for Satan_  (Drakkar Productions, 2000)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

Despite  their notoriety  for  horrendous  service and  laissez-faire 
attitudes, Drakkar  Productions has  an admittedly uncanny  knack for 
signing quality  bands. After  stirring up  more than  a buzz  in the 
underground, Nordic blacksters Tsjuder finally  show up on the French 
label  with an  impressive debut.  Touted as  "Chainsaw Black  Metal" 
(with "an Isvind  member"), _Kill for Satan_  effectively ignores the 
recent  descent  of  Norwegian  black  metal  into  techno/industrial 
hybrids,  recalling  instead  the  glory days  of  "true"  raw  black 
metal. Nothing  less than  a full-on  assault of  flesh-ripping riffs 
and sulphurous,  Immortal-style shrieks,  _KfS_ reeks  of _Diabolical 
Fullmoon  Mysticism_ spirit;  in  the true  Norwegian  style of  old, 
chainsaw-wielders Draugluin and  Co. belch up a packed  31 minutes of 
harsh,  unmelodic hellfire  and  brimstone.  Nothing too  spectacular 
considering the  mid-nineties' deluge of  such bands, but  in today's 
scene, such an album takes on a far greater significance in upholding 
the  traditions  of  primitive, no-nonsense  black  metal.  Die-hards 
missing the good  old days where a single keyboard  note was anathema 
will enjoy this  blast from the past, and  progression probably isn't 
in  this quartet's  dictionary  at all.  Still,  with the  incredible 
tightness and  intensity on  offer here, this  makes for  one helluva 
listen in between all the symphonic kitsch.                           

Contact: mailto:drakkar2@wanadoo.fr ($18)


Vader - _Reign Forever World_  (Metal Blade, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (6 out of 10)

Vader's  follow-up to  the  blistering _Litany_  [CoC  #47] hits  the 
stores a lot faster than expected. It's a beefed up EP with a playing 
time of just over 30 minutes -- about as long as their normal albums, 
but fortunately  sold for a  lower price and therefore  more quantity 
for money than  usual. What we get is three  new songs, three covers, 
two live tracks and the two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of 
_Litany_, one of which is  a short intro-type instrumental. All three 
new tunes  are very convincing,  offering some more variety  than the 
heads down, blasting from start  to finish approach used on _Litany_. 
The amount  of breaks  and tempo  changes has  increased considerably 
while still  remaining in  the typical 1986  Slayer-on-steroids vein. 
When it comes to cover versions  there aren't many bands in the death 
metal genre that I consider less interesting than our Polish friends. 
What Vader usually do is  speed things up slightly, present sometimes 
sloppy-sounding reproductions  of the original riffing  in the guitar 
department  and  basically  rely  on the  strength  of  the  original 
material  beefed up  by their  tremendous  drummer Doc.  This, in  my 
opinion, only  works occasionally  and "Total  Desater" (Destruction) 
and "Freezing  Moon" (Mayhem) --  the latter with some  vocal effects 
similar  to the  recording  on  _De Mysteriis  dom  Sathanas_ --  are 
forgettable.  "Rapid Fire"  is quite  OK, mainly  because of  greater 
differences between  Vader's version  and the Judas  Priest original. 
The two  live tracks are  good, again  with a highly  impressive drum 
barrage on "Carnal". The bonus material from _Litany_, however, isn't 
really spectacular and, if included on the original album, would have 
added  nothing to  it. Too  bad  that the  band has  not worked  with 
engineer Adam Toczko  this time around and the  sound, especially the 
drums, is  nowhere as devastating as  on _Litany_. Overall this  is a 
mixed bag  and only the good  three new songs prevent  _Reign Forever 
World_ from being superfluous.                                        


Vanishing Point - _Tangled in Dream_  (LMP/SPV, January 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

While Australia's Vanishing Point remind me a bit of Dream Theater -- 
with their  melodies and guitar paying  --, they are no  doubt one of 
the more promising progressive metal acts  I have heard in some time. 
Rich melodies and  tight musicianship keep the "dream"  alive here as 
the  band's  momentum  never  loses  a  step.  Intriguing  ideas  and 
passionate vocals echo throughout _Tangled in a Dream_. It is nice to 
see a young band (they formed in 1997) have such a mature sound after 
just a  few years working  on it. Ace  production as well  makes this 
record, and  most notably  songs like  "Surreal", "Closer  Apart" and 
"The Real You", stand out and glisten with intensity.                 


Wicked Innocence - _Opium Empire_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

While I am familiar  with the band's name, I can  honestly say I have 
never  really heard  much from  Wicked Innocence  'till now.  The new 
disc,  titled _Opium  Empire_,  is a  pretty  charged-up death  metal 
record with shades of Cannibal  Corpse running rampant throughout the 
tracks. But while  there are numerous death metal  acts going through 
the  same route  of  doing  things, Wicked  Innocence  add  a bit  of 
dexterity and technicality  to their death metal  playing. Songs like 
"Breed", "Territory of Wickedness" and "The Playground" are monstrous 
numbers that not only hit you with a gripping death metal groove, but 
also a swift array of stylings  to add some substance to the material 
at hand.  I heard once  from a friend that  the only good  thing that 
came out of Utah was desperate  Mormon girls looking for some action. 
I'll  have to  correct him  next time  he mutters  that joke.  Wicked 
Innocence do some nice damage with their death metal assault.         

Contact: 2131 West Theckson Road, Salt Lake City, Utah 84119, USA
         http://www.wickedinnocence.com


Witchcross - _Fit for Fight_  (Old Metal Records, 2000)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

Undoubtedly a classic  like this one (obscure as it  may be) deserves 
more  than  an  eight  rating,  but as  a  re-release,  the  somewhat 
lacklustre production values of King  Fowley's Old Metal Records drag 
the score down  a full point. As usual, OMR  fail to capitalize fully 
on the release, providing their usual one-piece card cover instead of 
a nice  thick booklet. Then  again, we  thank them for  exhuming this 
long-lost slab  of traditional NWOBHM-tinged metal.  From red-blooded 
rock anthem  "Rocking the Night  Away" to the heavier  "Killer Dogs", 
this  Danish outfit  prove there's  more to  the '80s  than Venom  or 
Destruction. A few listens later and you'd be hard-pressed not to hum 
along to a memorable  tune like "Fight the Fire" or  tap your feet to 
the excellent  opener "Nightflight to  Tokyo". Fans of  heavier stuff 
like Exciter might find this a tad too "hardrock-ey", but if you've a 
soft spot for "real" NWOBHM, then Witchcross stands proudly among the 
ranks of  Jaguar, Praying  Mantis and  Tokyo Blade.  By the  way, I'd 
safely recommend OMR's entire catalog  of re-releases, just drop them 
a line at:                                                            

Contact: Old Metal Records, 5953 N. 10th St, Arlington, VA 22205, USA


ZAO - _ZAO_  (Solid State, February 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

Chunky, thick  like a hardy and  wholesome winter beef stew  -- these 
boys  know  their  metal  -and- they  make  it  interesting.  Keeping 
the  fascination  factor in  high  gear  these  days is  becoming  an 
increasingly difficult task for most bands to pull off. With all that 
I am  exposed to through  the industry, I  often ask myself  why that 
is... I've come  to a relatively conclusive  hypothesis that everyone 
seems to  be pushing the  "horror" or "speed" envelope  of brutality. 
Some if not most listeners and fans have become numb and desensitized 
because of this, I feel. ZAO will fix that! Shakespeare penned in The 
Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark,  Act III, scene ii, "For in the 
very torrent,  tempest, and as I  may say, whirlwind of  passion, you 
must acquire  and beget  a temperance that  may give  it smoothness". 
ZAO  is  both a  tempest  and  an  exercise  in smoothness.  For  the 
speed-freaks, that  end of  the spectrum is  totally filled  with the 
superior track ten, "At Zero". Wait 'till you hear it -- ZAO probably 
meant  zero room  for  velocity escalation  on  that song.  Otherwise 
_(Self-Titled)_ is  compelling riff after compelling  riff. This band 
explores every avenue to pull  the listener into their music, leaving 
no stone  unturned. The mid-ranged  throaty death shout  is effective 
and  enticing.  A  redefinition  of  metal is  at  hand.  Robust  and 
beefy, _(Self-Titled)_ is nourishment  rationed for the music-lover's 
well-being. The soup line forms at www.solidstaterecords.com for your 
portion of ZAO. It'll sure as hell stick to your bones!               

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If you have a band, don't forget to send us your  demo,  including  a
bio,  if  you  want  to  be  reviewed.  We  accept  demos  either  on
traditional   media    or    MP3     format.     E-mail     us     at
<mailto:Demos@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>  to  know  which  is  the   most
appropriate postal address for you to send your CD or tape,  in  case
you are sending one, or to indicate the location of  a  website  from
which we can download the MP3 files  of  your  entire  demo  (but  do
NOT send any files attached to your e-mail).

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


Czort - _Waiting For_  (8-track demo)
by: Alvin Wee  (*****)

Proving  that Poland  isn't  just about  deluded  pagan warriors  and 
unlistenable NS black metal projects, Czort play a bold mix of brutal 
thrash and traditional heavy metal on their second demo tape. Opening 
with the  infectious metal anthem "This  What Is the Best",  the band 
then charges into all-out assault  mode on "Stony Joke". Musicianship 
is  impressively  tight  for  a  demo band,  and  the  blazing  solos 
littering  the songs  prove the  band's musicianship  isn't something 
to  laugh  about.  The  outstanding  "Magic  Embrace"  is  remarkably 
atmospheric and intense  at the same time, having got  the old German 
technique down  pat, and I'm  not exaggerating  when I say  it stands 
alongside  the work  of  old heroes  like  Deathrow or  Necronomicon. 
Almost every  track is  unique and  exciting, and by  the end  of the 
tape, I'm thoroughly convinced of  the band's competence. Good thrash 
like this doesn't turn up everyday,  and with jokes like Machine Head 
tarnishing the  once-formidable Bay  Area, Czort certainly  deserve a 
shove in the right  direction in the form of a  label deal. The band, 
now called Chort, is currently working on  a new demo, so drop them a 
line at mailto:chort@poczta.onet.pl -- you won't regret it.           


Descent - _Pity_
by: Adrian Bromley  (*----)

It's  a "pity"  that  these  guys didn't  really  try  to get  better 
production for their  five-song offering. Descent's disc  is good for 
what it  is (thrash/death  metal), but  the cluttered  and definitely 
weak production easily brings this sucker down. The production offers 
up a  continuous echo  sound and  that doesn't  really stick  well to 
metal assault. I  also think the singing on the  record isn't very up 
to par with the style they are  trying to play. The pieces aren't all 
in  place yet  for  Descent, so  let's hope  2001  brings about  some 
changes for their new material.                                       

Contact: 298 North Military Road, Fond Du Lac, WI 54935, USA
         mailto:jotun_138@hotmail.com
         http://www.geocities.com/descent_fdi/


In Grey - _...And Once Again the Same Mask_  (3-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (**---)

More goth-sounding and especially a lot closer to Paradise Lost's pop 
era than their  previous output _Seasons Change_ [CoC  #42], this new 
demo CD  from these  Swedish gothic  metal hopefuls  turns out  to be 
quite a bit of a disappointment. I  felt a label deal and possibly an 
interesting record  might follow _Seasons  Change_, but In  Grey have 
unfortunately achieved neither. Far too simple and repetitive for its 
own good,  the opening track "Once  Again" seems to try  to force its 
way into becoming  a hit single of sorts without  having much to back 
that up, and the result is quite annoying. A little bit more movement 
and a touch  of gruff-ish vocals at least add  some variety to second 
track "Mask", but the overall quality doesn't improve. Instrumentally 
and  vocally  unremarkable,  trying  to  be  catchy  but  just  being 
annoying, this  demo CD  is going  nowhere fast  at this  point. "The 
Same" finishes things off --  a somewhat better, generally slower and 
doomier  track with  a  poor chorus  that seems  to  have been  taken 
straight  from some  other  upbeat  song and  pasted  onto this  one. 
Overall  a disappointing  effort,  lacking  originality and  positive 
progression since their previous output  -- the low rating I'm giving 
it is also partly  due to the fact that I expected  a lot better from 
In Grey after their previous demo.                                    

Contact: http://www.in-grey.com


Kaos - _Vision Beyond_
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

It is totally true  that you can't really judge a  book by its cover. 
Looking through the inner  sleeve of Kaos' CD I saw  the picture of a 
band that  could have easily passed  for an alternative rock  band. I 
was not sure what I was getting  into, but I was worried. Needless to 
say, my worries scattered like a bat  out of Hell after the first few 
killer guitar riffs  from opener "Sound Mind, Body &  Soul". This Bay 
Area thrash/speed band just ignites  on impact, playing catchy guitar 
riffs  and screaming  vocals.  And while  speed is  the  key to  this 
release, the band slows things down at  times and even funks up a few 
numbers to  add some  diversity. Masterful  playing is  everywhere as 
Kaos keeps  the sounds  of the  '80s alive and  well in  2001. Choice 
cuts: "Levitate" and "Eye of the Mind".                               

Contact: http://www.kaosamongus.com


Soulscar - _Abandoned_  (6-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (****-)

As  the band  has done  in the  past with  their demos  that we  have 
reviewed  here in  Chronicles  of Chaos  Vancouver,  BC act  Soulscar 
once  again ignites  their  passive death  metal  assault with  solid 
production. The end result this time around is the wickedly addictive 
six-song  offering titled  _Abandoned_. A  good mixture  of technical 
death metal, melody, thrash metal  and creative songwriting help make 
_Abandoned_  into  a record  worth  caring  about, rather  than  just 
blowing it  off for  being standard  death metal  music. This  is far 
from  that,  much  higher  than your  average  generic  death  metal. 
Guitarist/bassist/vocalist Andrew Staehling and his partner in crime, 
drummer Chris Warunki, are a dynamic team in the studio and it shows. 
Tight and  in control,  _Abandoned_ rarely loses  the listener  as it 
glides from  song to song. Also,  nice cover of Megadeth  track "This 
Was My Life".                                                         

Contact: Andrew Staehling, 4450 Valencia Ave., North Vancouver,
         BC V7N 4B1, Canada
         mailto:andreweurope@hotmail.com
         http://www.mp3.com/soulscar/

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        \ \ \/_/_\ \  _ `\  /'__`\   / __`\ \ \/\/\ \  /'___\
         \ \ \L\ \\ \ \ \ \/\ \L\.\_/\ \L\ \ \ \_\ \ \/\ \__/
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           \/___/   \/_/\/_/\/__/\/_/\/___/  \/__/ \/_/\/____/
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    /\  _`\                                       /\ \__
    \ \ \/\_\    ___     ___     ___     __   _ __\ \ ,_\   ____
     \ \ \/_/_  / __`\ /' _ `\  /'___\ /'__`\/\`'__\ \ \/  /',__\
      \ \ \L\ \/\ \L\ \/\ \/\ \/\ \__//\  __/\ \ \/ \ \ \_/\__, `\
       \ \____/\ \____/\ \_\ \_\ \____\ \____\\ \_\  \ \__\/\____/
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           T H E   S N O W   I N   T H E I R   H E A R T S
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Soundisciples, Beyond Dawn and Thine
             at Rio's, Bradford, England, March 2nd 2001
      by: Vicky Anderson <mailto:blackroseimmortal@hotmail.com>


     To go, or not to go -- that had been the question for some weeks 
regarding the PeaceFest,  which featured all five  bands currently on 
Peaceville's roster.  Would it  be worth it?  Would Thine  sound like 
they did in  the good old days? Are Beyond  Dawn and Soundisciples at 
all interesting?  Would Katatonia do a  good live show, and  would My 
Dying Bride  be as "boring" as  some reckoned at their  recent London 
appearance?  Peaceville  would have  to  woo  us old  fans,  somewhat 
perturbed by  the recent cheap and  bonus-tracked re-issues (swines), 
with something pretty damn good.                                      
     I'll go anyway, I decided, truly  not knowing what to expect and 
fearing the worst from a bunch  of bands I was secretly suspicious of 
having  seen better  days. I  made  detailed and  intricate plans  to 
keep  my  journey  running  smoothly, plotted  to  meet  pals,  found 
accommodation addresses...  and promptly  fell foul  of the  evils of 
consumerism  when I  got  to Liverpool  and found  all  my cards  had 
expired and  I couldn't  access any  money. To  go, or  not to  go, I 
pondered miserably, even  at the eleventh hour. But thanks  to a last 
minute loan I boarded a bus for Bradford, surely the coldest and most 
perplexing city  on earth. Due to  the monetary hold-up I  had missed 
the friend  I was supposed  to meet,  was freezing cold  and couldn't 
find my way around the city. Once again I felt like packing it all in 
and turning  around and  going home, adamant  My Dying  Bride weren't 
going to be worth all the misery and hassle.                          
     Upon  arrival, though,  it became  a different  story and  I was 
cheered up  greatly by finally  meeting whom  I was supposed  to meet 
earlier, and finding more old friends besides. Add beer and free gift 
and I was chilled.  This ain't so bad, I thought,  glad the hard work 
was over and ready to be entertained for all my troubles.             
     The first  band came on, and  my hopes faded fast  that we would 
see any  of Thine's old  material. Despite  their debut _A  Town Like 
This_ [CoC #32] being  sold at the back of Rio's for  a fiver, it was 
like watching an entirely different band.  Sure, any band is going to 
sound different after four years between  releases, but, I kid ye not 
-- something has  gone horribly wrong with Thine. What  had once been 
the most promising act in  Bradford’s doom hotbed has suddenly turned 
into a  Therapy?-type pop-rock band,  and a  bland and forced  one at 
that. Out are the classy, meandering  songs about love and death, and 
in is  an altogether more  mainstream outfit. It is  unfortunate that 
their  output has  been  so sparse,  so  that those  of  us who  were 
impressed with _A Town Like This_ could have seen this disaster as it 
evolved, and  not been  so damn shocked  at the  transformation. Alan 
Gaunt's unique vocal work is still impressive, but alas wasted now on 
a band  I can't  see any  old fans  willing to  embrace. May  they go 
far  with  this  sell-out  ruse,  but frankly,  they  were  an  utter 
disappointment.                                                       
     Beyond  Dawn  and  Soundisciples  were  the  two  bands  on  the 
Peaceville roster I knew little about, and, like Thine, they suffered 
from the  sort of low profile  that doesn't interest people  who just 
want  to see  My Dying  Bride.  Amiable Norwegians  Beyond Dawn  were 
playing to the  same passive crowd as Thine had  just suffered, while 
the few people in attendance stayed at the bar. Their decidedly lo-fi 
ditties  roused little  interest and  suffered from  atrocious sound, 
which  admittedly wasn't  their fault.  This, unfortunately,  was the 
kind of  music I'd  put on  to relax,  and as  a result  Beyond Dawn, 
professional shoe-gazers, faded into the background. The Scandinavian 
components of the Peacefest seemed very shy this evening, as verified 
by Katatonia's later performance.                                     
     Soundiciples intrigued  those who  fancied a bit  of a  mosh, as 
they were the first band of the evening to actually have the attitude 
to draw attention  to themselves. They got off to  a confident start, 
using a funky  sample of the theme from "Where  Eagles Dare" to rouse 
some anticipation.  Although hardly original,  they were a  breath of 
fresh air to the crowd, who  finally felt like something was going to 
happen. Myself, I  know when I've had enough of  that rap-metal stuff 
and headed for the bar, anxious that the time was coming for what I'd 
been waiting for for weeks... the next legendary band.                
     Katatonia, now a  five-piece, emerged to a  truly ravenous crowd 
looking  terrified.  Starting  out quiet  and  self-conscious,  Jonas 
Renske's beanie  hat pulled  so far  down it's  doubtful he  even let 
himself see the  crowd in front of  him, the band got off  to a shaky 
start with  "No Good Can  Come of  This". My main  apprehension about 
seeing this lot live  was that a band that the  listener makes such a 
powerful connection with at home alone wouldn't be able to share this 
gift with the masses. But the choruses of songs like "Strained" ("I'd 
like to try to live my life again / I'd like to see where I was going 
wrong") and "For My Demons" ("You would never sleep at night / If you 
knew  what  I'd  been  through"), that  seemed  so  heart-wrenchingly 
personal  on CD,  actually worked  very well  live. It  was a  rather 
cathartic experience  to know  such emotional lyrics  weren't wasted, 
and were truly appreciated. I'm  paranoid, but I keep expecting those 
loons in  red baseball caps and  nu-metal shirts to turn  up and ruin 
everything as usual. Happily, some things are still sacred.           
     The band soon felt at ease, although they remained quiet between 
songs. Fans shouted out for older material, requesting mostly "Brave" 
and  "12"  from _Brave  Murder  Day_,  but unsurprisingly  there  was 
nothing from  that era or  before _Discouraged Ones_ [CoC  #31], from 
which  they  showcased  "Nerve" and  "Deadhouse".  Once  comfortable, 
Katatonia went from  strength to strength. They  previewed new single 
_Teargas_, and  received rapturous  applause for  "I Am  Nothing" and 
"For My  Demons" from _Tonight's  Decision_ [CoC #42]  in particular. 
And when  finished they tootled  off into the  night, no doubt  for a 
stiff drink,  leaving a delighted  crowd. They gave a  formidable and 
moving  performance, so  modestly that  I doubt  they even  knew what 
they'd done.                                                          
     Up  until  then  the  gig  had been  a  sometimes  strange,  yet 
reflective showcase of  the state of European metal in  the year 2001 
(like it or not). Peaceville is now  a very varied label. Gone is the 
corpsepaint, the hair, the death vocals, even the standard uniform of 
black.  The bands  on  previously  had dumped  all  that  to look  as 
indistinguishable as  possible. Image is  no big deal (I  myself have 
hit the "gotta get a job" stage  and know all about that), but seeing 
My Dying Bride amble on stage, clad in black with plenty of hair, was 
a satisfying sight. Well and truly forgiven for the _34.788%_ debacle 
[CoC #35], the band swaggered on  and showed everybody just how these 
things are done.                                                      
     With an  enthusiasm I  repeatedly miss  by not  attending enough 
small-scale gigs, MDB got down to business. A mixture of the intimacy 
of the  venue, and the  band being back home  at Rio's for  the first 
time in  five years gave  an electric atmosphere  -- to be  honest so 
enthralling I can't even remember the  run of the setlist. All I know 
is  that each  song chosen  was an  unexpected delight,  because with 
nothing to  promote but a "greatest  hits" of sorts [CoC  #51] (which 
no-one in  the crowd  ever need buy),  the band were  free to  play a 
mixture of  every release to  date. They  even previewed a  new song, 
"The Cruel Taste of Winter".                                          
     The newest additions to the band brought two necessary elements. 
A female  keyboard player  reproduced Martin  Powell's greatly-missed 
violin sound, and new guitarist  Hamish Glencross (ex-Solstice) was a 
joy  to  watch.  In  fact,  the whole  band  seemed  to  be  enjoying 
themselves immensely, and that made for a highly exciting gig, with a 
setlist including "The Cry of Mankind", "Turn Loose the Swans", "Your 
River", "A Kiss to Remember"  and even "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera 
Empyrium". Only two songs from the  last album, _The Light at the End 
of  the World_  [CoC #44],  made the  gig: "Edenbeast",  the powerful 
opener, and "Fever Sea".                                              
     There was much moshing and even stagediving to be had, adding to 
a real air of celebration. Early on, singer Aaron Stainthorpe slashed 
open his finger, which left his hand  bloody for the rest of the set, 
but so immersed in the performance was he that he didn't even seem to 
notice. This  gig was a  joy because not only  did the band  sound as 
powerful as  they do when you're  at home, but they  managed to share 
this intimacy and not compromise,  still creating the atmosphere of a 
true spectacle. Quite unexpectedly, the set had a vibrancy and energy 
even during the  longer tracks that left me  properly gobsmacked. Yet 
it still  moved me, with  poignant lyrics and those  wonderful riffs, 
for example with one of my favourites, "The Snow in My Hand".         
     As for  all the  deliberating, all the  "should I,  shouldn't I" 
pre-gig pondering  -- more fool  me for underestimating in  the first 
place. I reckon calling it PeaceFest wasn't such a misnomer at all. I 
found  myself feeling  actually  peaceful afterwards,  like I'd  been 
starving  and  just been  given  a  bloody  good feed.  An  extremely 
rewarding  night, and  a true  credit to  My Dying  Bride --  they've 
certainly still got  it. Although I doubted it would  be a worthwhile 
endeavour, there's nothing like that  feeling when you know something 
has all been worth it -- and then some.                               

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        T H E   D E L T A   O F   D E A T H   D E S C E N D S
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  Nile, Sleath, Regorge and Co-Exist
        at the Cathouse, Glasgow, Scotland, February 6th 2001
                           by: Paul Schwarz


     Opening   one  of   the   finest  nights   of  extreme   musical 
entertainment I have yet had the pleasure of witnessing was Glasgow's 
own  Co-Exist. These  purveyors  of blasting  and slamming  grindcore 
(with  a hint  of  hardcore), like  every band  on  this bill  except 
Sleath,  are prime  Relapse  Records material.  Fair enough,  neither 
Co-Exist nor Regorge, both coming  from Glasgow, would necessarily be 
best advised to  choose a label so far flung  from their home country 
to  reside  on,  but  in  terms  of  musical  quality,  attitude  and 
individual  intensity  either  would  fit  snugly  onto  the  Relapse 
roster, as  headliners Nile  already do.  Formed recently  of members 
of  long-running and  much  revered demo  act Confusion  Corporation, 
Co-Exist are, to its  members at least, a fun band  -- a release from 
what became a  relatively thankless and time-consuming  venture, I am 
told. That  they are  a fun band  in the eyes  of their  members took 
nothing away from  Co-Exist's performance. In fact,  the band's light 
hearts and  comparable humour  added much  to it.  I would  have been 
impressed  and invigorated  by Co-Exist's  half hour  set of  quality 
grind if it  had been played with  straight faces -- when  a band can 
intersperse  blasting speed  with moments  of  Today Is  the Day  and 
Neurosis-like dissonant intensity like these  guys can, it's hard not 
to get drawn  in. However, the humour element  injected combined with 
the band's  markedly physical performance --  featuring such carefree 
antics  as  the band's  bassist  sprawling  on  the floor  in  Spinal 
Tap-like  comedy  fashion  --  made  Co-Exist  a  more  than  usually 
memorable support  act. One  example of their  knife-like spontaneous 
humour came at  one point in the set when  the drummer announced that 
the  band's next  two  songs would  be their  last  for the  evening. 
Greeted by vocalised disappointment from  the crowd, he quipped, "You 
fuckin' wanna  see Nile  or not?", and  launched Co-Exist  into their 
next lurching and blasting song. As profound an example of a group of 
proficient musicians  who know how  to write songs --  however simple 
and short they may  be -- and get into the groove of  what they do in 
the raw, live arena is rarely  found in signed or unsigned bands, and 
though  Co-Exist aren't  yet musically  on a  level to  challenge the 
bigger guns of their stylistic approach, their rounded performance -- 
possessing  energy and  humour  and  displaying formidable  technical 
ability -- reminded me pleasantly of the all-round experience it used 
to be  to see  Brutal Truth  live when they  were still  in business. 
Co-Exist may not be a band of  the same level, but they have the same 
balanced elements as the masters of  grind used to have in their live 
shows, and that is something not only to be thankful for, but to make 
seeing Co-Exist a priority on my list of things to do in the next six 
months.                                                               
     Promising local  death/grind hopefuls  Regorge followed.  As had 
been the case when I last saw them, supporting Dismember [CoC #48] at 
this very venue,  Regorge had done anything but stand  still since my 
last  encounter  with them.  The  furious,  blasting crush  the  band 
brought forth  after their  militaristic intro  had finished  was let 
down only by a minor murkiness of sound which clouded its subtleties, 
and  the fact  that the  band's new  lead vocalist  had to  date only 
clocked up a meagre  few gigs with the band. By  the time Regorge had 
begun  their second  song, I  was better  tuned into  to the  rushing 
intensity  of  their music,  and  began  to  notice that  the  band's 
compositions  had become  yet more  vibrant and  involved, while  the 
musicians playing  them had obviously  been practising hard  of late. 
The tightly controlled speed and  fury of the percussive assault laid 
down by the  band's drummer suggested he'd recently been  locked in a 
room with just his kit and a  week's food for company. The band's one 
real mistake was attempting to cover At the Gates' "Blinded by Fear". 
They made a noble attempt to do  justice to a great song, but neither 
their sound  nor their  playing either  mimicked the  song's original 
sound effectively, or framed it in another, still positive, light. It 
wasn't the  right song to  play and  Regorge humbly admitted  as much 
before playing it,  but the band should have  trusted their instincts 
over  their  exuberance,  and  given  us another  one  of  their  own 
compositions for delectation in the place of this faint shadow of the 
work of  a greater band. At  present, the band's new  vocalist is the 
only noticeable chink  in the band's increasingly  rock solid armour, 
and he can be forgiven for his performance this evening. Nonetheless, 
taken solely on  its own merits, his low death  growling and grunting 
did not  have the  character and  conviction to  it which  the former 
bassist/vocalist who  now handles  the backing vocals  possessed. The 
new boy  should improve with  time and practice,  but I for  one hope 
Regorge  won't be  taking the  road  of milking  the brutal  American 
death/grind market by leaving his  vocals as characterless and solely 
brutal  as they  came out  this evening.  Despite my  few misgivings, 
Regorge put on  a stunning performace, and one showing  that the band 
continue to strive  towards greater things. None of  their classy new 
material is yet available --  their unremarkable _Decerebate_ demo is 
the last thing the band officially offered up --, but very soon a new 
demo will see  the light of day,  and I would strongly  advise any of 
you favourable to fresh death metal  and grindcore to keep an eye out 
for it. I certainly will be.                                          
     Do you  remember Dearly Beheaded? Well,  if you do then  you can 
approximate the sound of Sleath by  estimating how much DB would have 
progressed  their  metalcore groove  by  now.  Composed partially  of 
ex-Dearly Beheaded  members, Sleath may  not sound exactly  the same, 
but  its certainly  not  hard to  believe that  this  band is  ex-DB. 
Unsurprisingly, the  band's style destined  them to be  tonight's odd 
ones out in terms of speed. It didn't help Sleath's case that as they 
began, all I could hear was  their snare drum and their singer pushed 
the band yet lower in my  esteem when he began repeatedly and angrily 
demanding the crowd to come down  the front and mosh -- crowds should 
mosh of  their own  accord, not  'cause you tell  them to.  It's fair 
to  say  that Sleath  deserve  some  respect for  evidently  throwing 
themselves  into  their performance,  but  ultimately  on grounds  of 
musical  quality as  well as  style, not  to mention  the quality  of 
performance offered,  I'd rather have  had more Regorge  and Co-Exist 
and forgone Sleath's lengthier performance, and from the looks of the 
crowd -- not  many takers for that  offer of moshing --  I wasn't the 
only one.                                                             
     Nile were of course the  band that everyone present, ultimately, 
was  waiting  for, this  being  their  first  ever appearance  on  UK 
mainland, and specifically  in Scotland. Despite the  feel of tension 
building up on Nile's intro, their initial assault of "Black Seeds of 
Vengeance"  did not  start their  set  as the  band would  inevitably 
continue. A mild murkiness of  sound muddied this initial assault and 
the "Pestilence  and Iniquity"  that followed, but  by the  time Nile 
were throwing "Serpent Headed Mask",  "Stones of Sorrow" and "Ramsees 
Bringer of War" our way there was nothing technically amiss either in 
band  or  sound-system,  and  consequently nothing  that  could  halt 
Nile's  warpath of  destructive and  infectious musical  carnage. The 
"Libation..." intro provided  a brief respite before  a crystal clear 
"Masturbating the War God" came hurtling forth and Nile followed this 
on with a  collection of _...Nephren-Ka_ favourites:  "Opening of the 
Mouth" and  "Howling of the  Jinn". "The Black Flame"  brought things 
back to a deceiving calm for  the last time before its explosion into 
chaos and "Smashing the Antiu"  closed the forty-odd minute set. Nile 
were intense,  infectious and  enjoyable to an  extent I  have rarely 
experienced  with  any  band  or  event. I'd  banged  head  and  fist 
furiously, I'd  air-guitared to  riffs and  solos and  shouted myself 
near-hoarse echoing  the lyrics to  songs or suggesting  additions to 
Nile's setlist. But I was still not satisfied; my work as a screaming 
lunatic  was  not done;  Nile  had  left  the stage  without  playing 
"Defiling the Gates  of Ishtar". As the band  finished with "Smashing 
the Antiu" and made to leave I screamed the missing song title at the 
top of  my voice and, furiously  and frantically, joined the  rest of 
the crowd  in attempting  to chant  Nile back  onto stage.  Who knows 
whether it was  our efforts that made the difference  or whether Nile 
were just  testing our mettle  (or metal?)  by leaving, but  they did 
indeed returned  to the stage --  and within only a  few minutes too. 
They proceeded  to play "Defiling  the Gates  of Ishtar" --  my voice 
almost died with  the cry of pure joy  I let out as they  did -- with 
what was probably  the cleanest, most powerful sound of  the night. I 
can hardly conceive of how the evening could have been better or more 
enjoyable,  and  I  certainly  would  have  been  content  with  much 
less  than the  utter brilliance  Nile  (and some  of their  support) 
delivered. Nile were enrapturing; they  may not have been flawless in 
performance,  but a  minorly  flawed Nile  performance  amounts to  a 
downright -amazing- performance from just  about any other band. Like 
Cryptopsy, Nile are  in a different league to the  general melee, and 
though I could  have seemingly improved their performance  for my own 
tastes and in  minor ways by changing it, this  does not detract from 
the fact that this is the best gig I've been to in years.             

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      S I R E N S   S I N G I N G   S O O T H I N G   S O N G S
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                    The Gathering and Pale Forest
           at John Dee, Oslo, Norway, on February 16th 2001
                          by: Chris Flaaten


     John Dee is a small club and seemed sold out for this concert. I 
do not think  The Gathering sells a lot of  albums in Norway. Limited 
sales would at  least explain why they chose such  a small venue (250 
max) and why they have never made  it over to Norway before. Now they 
were finally here  and I looked forward to finally  seeing them live, 
although I  would have preferred to  have seen them six  years ago on 
their _Mandylion_ tour.                                               
     Pale Forest acted as support. Earlier that day I had, by chance, 
learned  that they  are from  Gjovik,  Norway, and  that they  played 
"hard, melodic music". The music  they presented was mellow hard rock 
with female vocals. Many of the  songs had similar structures and the 
order in which they were played also seemed... wrong. The first three 
songs were all very slow, while  their last was the most dynamic one. 
Perhaps this made more sense to  the non-extreme metal loving part of 
the  crowd. It  was  quite  obvious that  some  of  the members  were 
nervous, but except for a couple  of minor mistakes from their second 
guitarist it didn't affect the  musical aspect of their presentation. 
The  female vocalist  delivered a  strong performance  and saved  the 
audience, at least  the metal-loving part of it,  from utter boredom. 
Well rehearsed, good sound, but still very easy listening.            
     The Gathering opened  with "Rollercoaster", one of  the best and 
most energetic tracks  from _if_then_else_ [CoC #48],  and it sounded 
amazing. John Dee is an awesome place for gigs, as both the sound and 
atmosphere are always top notch.  The Gathering, lead by my favourite 
vocalist Anneke van Giersbergen, presented  a set with few surprises. 
The focus  was mainly on their  two latest albums, with  "Shrink" and 
the  title  track  from  _Nighttime Birds_  [CoC  #21]  and  "Strange 
Machines" from _Mandylion_  [CoC #7] also making the cut.  As I said, 
the set was almost  as expected, but I had hoped  they would at least 
play  "Sand and  Mercury" since  it is  on their  recent live  album, 
_Superheat_. "Probably Built in the Fifties" was the only track I was 
surprised they didn't play. The songs  from the new album worked very 
well live,  especially the  faster tracks like  "Shot to  Pieces" and 
"Colorado Incident". The performance was almost flawless. The drummer 
drifted away from  the background sampling for a brief  moment in one 
of the songs, but he looked deeply regretful about this and therefore 
I'll be  generous and  call them -very-  professional. Anneke  was as 
amazing as I had hoped for, a vocal genius. Their concert was rounded 
off with a breathtaking performance of "Travel", and although it made 
me want  more, I was  perfectly OK with going  home as it  had gotten 
quite late. I hope they decide to come back in the future.            

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  @!!  !!@  @!@ @!@!!@!  !!@   @!!   @!!!:!   @!@!!@!       !@@!!
   !:  !!:  !!  !!: :!!  !!:   !!:   !!:      !!: :!!          !:!
    ::.:  :::    :   : : :      :    : :: :::  :   : :     ::.: :

          @@@  @@@  @@@ @@@@@@@   @@@@@@  @@@@@@@ @@@  @@@
          @@!  @@!  @@! @@!  @@@ @@!  @@@   @@!   @@!  @@@
          @!!  !!@  @!@ @!@!!@!  @!@!@!@!   @!!   @!@!@!@!
           !:  !!:  !!  !!: :!!  !!:  !!!   !!:   !!:  !!!
            ::.:  :::    :   : :  :   : :    :     :   : :

Here is where things get ugly. Writer's Wrath  gives  our  writers  a
chance to voice their own opinions about certain hot  topics  in  the
scene  today.  Check  out  this  column  for  the  most  obscene  and
controversial ramblings this side of the National Enquirer.


	       T H E   F O U R   M U S C o C T E E R S
	       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
			   by: Paul Schwarz


Episode 2: COMING TO A JOURNEY'S END
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wheels of Spiel: No Sleep Til Brittany
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Matthias woke me as planned at  around 9am, and after a fleeting 
breakfast  and a  stop-off at  a petrol  garage for  munchable in-car 
supplies, the  two of  us were  off on  our 700km  journey: deserting 
Deutschland  to  ravage Rennes.  We  trawled  through the  acceptable 
Frankfurt traffic  to the sound  of Iron Maiden's _Brave  New World_. 
Matthias expressed his doubts about  the record's overall quality, as 
did  I, and  we both  agreed at  the time  that ultimately,  the only 
really worthwhile song was opener  and first single "The Wicker Man". 
It reminded me of one of the conversations I'd had with Matthias when 
he'd come to visit me in London  a few month before: he'd pointed out 
that 'Maiden had no power in  their guitar sound, an observation with 
which I heartily  agreed. It was thus appropriate that  as we hit the 
autobahn and  Matthias floored the car  until he was above  the speed 
limits  of  all  other  European countries,  our  musical  soundtrack 
changed: Vader now  ruled our airwaves! "Wings" and "The  One Made of 
Dreams" flew by as rapidly  as the scenery before "Xeper", _Litany_'s 
crowning glory, was assailing our ears. "Those drums are pure power", 
comments Matthias  when I mention  that the near-techno sound  of its 
bass drums  has been  an objection I've  heard levelled  at _Litany_. 
"...When we come to do our albums, or songs, of 2000 to 2010, I think 
this'll  be in  it", Matthias  adds. I  think Matthias  was right  on 
the  ball with  both  those  comments; "Xeper"  is  a timeless  metal 
monstrosity which I'll  bet money I'm still willing  snapping my neck 
to it when I'm thirty.                                                
     A  roadside   stop,  Death's  _Symbolic_,   _Individual  Thought 
Patterns_ and _The Sound of  Perseverance_ and Exhumed's _Gore Metal_ 
later,  and  Hypocrisy are  attempting  to  _...Destroy Wacken_  from 
Matthias' car stereo. Unfortunately, they fail to destroy anything as 
I  can  hear --  one  speaker  and a  production  sound  at the  same 
frequency  as  a  car  engine  does Tagtren  &  Co.  no  favours.  As 
Angelcorpse's _The  Inexorable_ becomes our  soundtrack, conversation 
turns to the  views and character of frontman Pete  Helmkamp, after I 
commented that guitarist Gene Palubicki  made a somewhat arrogant and 
unimpressive  interview  subject, in  my  view.  Matthias recalls  an 
article in  Metal Maniacs  which exposed what  a poser  Pete actually 
seems to be.  In the article, the skinheaded frontman  is quite happy 
to rant about  how many "so-called death metal band(s)  (...) need to 
be shut down and shut down hard!". He claims many such bands "have no 
connection  with the  real  essence of  metal! Aggression!  Ferocity! 
Hatred!", and bemoans  the fact that "Most kids are  unaware of great 
bands like Abominator and Krisiun."  He further believes that "People 
are going  to pick our  album [_The Inexorable_,  CoC #44] up  and it 
will (...)  become clear just who  is riding the metal  name on looks 
alone".  That's all  well and  good;  everyone is  entitled to  their 
opinions, and  I for one would  echo some of Pete's  noted above. But 
when you  are so vocal  in criticism, it would  seem weak to  fail to 
name names,  instead pointing the  finger at a  supposed, unspecified 
multitude who cannot then counter you personally. You'd think someone 
so full  of disgust and contempt  would at least have  the decency to 
tell us which bands to avoid as  well as which to check out, wouldn't 
you? Pete, however,  is reticent when asked to do  so, replying first 
with a flat  "No", before adding that  "The list would go  on way too 
long." Metal  Maniacs asks him  for just  five names, but  Pete still 
maintains that  he'd "prefer  not to  at this  point in  time." Metal 
Maniacs provoke  him by  asking whether he  feels "warlike"  and when 
Pete gives the  affirmative insist that he  "name some fuckin´names!" 
The response is  a sinister laugh. I think no  more comment is needed 
on that one...                                                        


Words of War
~~~~~~~~~~~~
     God Dethroned's _Bloody Blasphemy_ dents my ears as Matthias and 
I move onto the  subject of war in the context  of passing the famous 
Second World War battlefield at Verdun. The battlefield where tons of 
arms  and armour  are  still supposed  to reside  due  to the  volume 
discharged  during the  war sparks  conversation about  war films.  I 
remark on the  merits of "Saving Private Ryan"'s first  25 minutes of 
realistic bloodshed  as a message  against war, Matthias  praises the 
whole film, somewhat disagreeing with  my characterisation of it as a 
bit too Hollywood and emotionally  manipulative. Talk moves on to Sam 
Peckinpah's  "Cross of  Iron"  (called simply  "Steiner" in  Germany) 
which  I comment  as meritorious  for featuring  heroes who  are also 
German soldiers -- a group  often unnaturally demonised. Matthias saw 
my point -- that simply because people were German in the time of the 
Nazis, they  were not  automatically evil --  but points  out rightly 
that "Cross  of Iron"'s heroes  are anti-Nazi Germans. We  both agree 
this is  a bit of a  copout from making  the point I was  driving at, 
though I remark  that though it might have been  a deliberate bias of 
the filmmakers, it may also have  been the result of studio politics: 
non-evil  but politically  neutral German  Second World  War soldiers 
might have been just a bit  too much for popular audiences to accept. 
Matthias concludes by  pointing to what he believes is  the best film 
at demonstrating that soldiers are soldiers (or sailor-in-war in this 
particular  case),  people  typically in  unpleasant  situations  who 
ultimately tend  to more be doing  a job than furthering  a specific, 
political cause: "Das Boot". I haven't  seen the film, but judging on 
what I've heard said about it, and the people who've said that it's a 
very good film, I'd recommend it.                                     


The Arrival of the Demons From Deutschland
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     After a few confusions navigating Paris, Matthias and I are soon 
close to Rennes  with Lock Up's _Pleasures Pave  Sewers_ blasting and 
massacring its way  to our ears. As  we park the car  in Rennes train 
station's underground car park,  the project's origin -- Terrorizer's 
_World Downfall_, an  undisputable grindcore classic --  is halted so 
we can  go meet  Pedro, due to  arrive any minute,  and Dave,  who is 
driving into town for the meet. After a few minutes waiting, Matthias 
and I meet Pedro,  and as we are walking towards  the main foyer, Mr. 
Rocher ascends the  escalator, burnt to crisp by the  sun and wearing 
his distinctive  Primordial shirt, which Pedro  rapidly expresses his 
admiration for. Pedro is introduced  to Terrorizer for the first time 
-- to  my astonishment -- and  after locating Dave's car  we all head 
off for  food. You'd never believe  it (at least not  until you taste 
it!),  but the  best  Pizza  I've ever  tasted  --  and, I  estimate, 
existent in the world -- is in  Rennes. After picking up some of this 
fine food and some of what  we christened "Summoning beer" (the brand 
was called  Loburg) we  speed back  to David's  abode to  commence an 
evening of talking (and laughing), mostly about metal.                

     In part  3 we'll get  to the really  good stuff; be  prepared to 
laugh and think about the music you love and the scene behind it, not 
to mention  about some of the  amusing things that occurred  while we 
were all  together which were without  any relation to music.  I must 
apologise for  not getting further  in this second instalment  of The 
Four MusCoCteers, but  I have been quite amazingly busy  the last few 
months, and really haven't had a great  deal of time to spare. I will 
do my damnest to make sure  the next instalment is more punctual, and 
more expansive.                                                       

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            W H A T   W E   H A V E   C R A N K E D ! ! !
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         Best Albums of 2000


Overall CoC Writers' Top 10
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Based on each of the writers' personal top 10]

 1. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengeance_
 2. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
 3. Dark Tranquillity - _Haven_
 =. Immortal - _Damned in Black_
 5. In Flames - _Clayman_
 6. The Crown - _Deathrace King_
 =. Vader - _Litany_
 =. Venom - _Resurrection_
 9. Spiral Architect - _A Sceptic's Universe_
10. Immolation - _Close to a World Below_
 =. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_

Gino's Top 10

 1. Immortal - _Damned in Black_
 2. Nasum - _Human 2.0_
 3. A Perfect Circle - _Mer de Noms_
 4. Venom - _Resurrection_
 5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - _Californication_
 6. Radiohead - _Kid A_
 7. Hypocrisy - _Into the Abyss_
 8. Cradle of Filth - _From the Cradle to Enslave_ [1999]
 9. Impaled Nazarene - _Nihil_
10. Nile - _In the Beginning_

Adrian's Top 10

 1. At the Drive-In - _Relationship of Command_
 2. Blood Duster - _Cunt_
 3. earthtone9 - _arc'tan'gent_
 4. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_
 5. The Haunted - _The Haunted Made Me Do It_
 6. Snapcase - _Designs for Automotion_
 7. Deftones - _White Pony_
 8. Drowningman - _Rock and Roll Killing Machine_
 9. Amen - _We Have Come for Your Parents_
10. Cryptopsy - _And Then You'll Beg_

Brian's Top 10

 1. Martyr - _Warp Zone_
 2. Lethargy - _Discography '93-'99_
 3. Weakling - _Dead as Dreams_
 4. Spiral Architect - _A Sceptic's Universe_
 5. Symbiosis - _Crisis_
 6. Symphony X - _V_
 7. Quo Vadis - _Day Into Night_
 8. Ancient Wisdom - _...And the Physical Shape of Light Bled_
 9. Extol - _Undeceived_
10. Nocturnus - _Ethereal Tomb_

Alain's Top 10

 1. Punchdrunk - _Music for Them Asses_ [1999]
 2. Mr. Bungle - _California_ [1999]
 3. Immolation - _Close to a World Below_
 4. Deeds of Flesh - _Path of the Weakening_ [1999]
 5. Immortal - _Damned in Black_
 6. Devin Townsend - _Physicist_
 7. Cephalic Carnage - _Exploiting Dysfunction_
 8. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_
 9. Burzum - _Hlidskjalf_ [1999]
10. Cryptopsy - _And Then You'll Beg_

Adam's Top 10

 1. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengeance_
 2. Der Blutharsch - _Track of the Hunted_
 3. Carpathian Forest - _Strange Old Brew_
 4. Rotting Christ - _Khronos_
 5. Discordance Axis - _The Inalienable Dreamless_
 6. Immortal - _Damned in Black_
 7. Impaled Nazarene - _Nihil_
 8. Vader - _Litany_
 9. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_
10. Morbid Angel - _Gateways to Annihilation_

Pedro's Top 10

 1. Aurora - _Devotion_
 2. Thy Serpent - _Death_
 3. Dark Tranquillity - _Haven_
 4. Rapture - _Futile_ [Dec 1999]
 5. Enslaved - _Mardraum - Beyond the Within_
 6. Discordance Axis - _The Inalienable Dreamless_
 7. In Flames - _Clayman_
 8. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengeance_
 9. The Crown - _Deathrace King_
10. Primordial - _Spirit the Earth Aflame_

Paul's Top 10

 1. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengeance_
 2. Cryptopsy - _And Then You'll Beg_
 3. The Chasm - _Procession to the Infraworld_
 4. Immolation - _Close to a World Below_
 5. Vader - _Litany_
 6. Napalm Death - _Enemy of the Music Business_
 7. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
 8. Discordance Axis - _The Inalienable Dreamless_
 9. Drowningman - _Rock and Roll Killing Machine_
10. Aghora - _Aghora_

Aaron's Top 10

 1. Venom - _Resurrection_
 2. Morbid Angel - _Gateways To Annihilation_
 3. Wumpscut - _Bloodchild_
 4. Dark Tranquillity - _Haven_
 5. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengence_
 6. Fleshgrind - _The Seeds of Abysmal Torment_
 7. Viking Crown - _Innocence From Hell_
 8. In Flames - _Clayman_
 9. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
10. Himinbjorg - _In the Raven's Shadow_

David's Top 10

 1. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
 2. The Crown - _Deathrace King_
 3. Throne of Chaos - _Menace and Prayer_
 4. Nile - _Black Seeds of Vengeance_
 5. Ominous - _The Spectral Manifest_
 6. Napalm Death - _Enemy of the Music Business_
 7. Decapitated - _Winds of Creation_
 8. Kalmah - _Swamplord_
 9. In Flames - _Clayman_
10. Finntroll - _Midnattens Widunder_

Alex's Top 10

 1. Extol - _Undecieved_
 2. Overcome - _Immortal Until Their Work is Done_
 3. Underoath - _Cries of the Past_
 4. Ultimatum - _The Mechanics of Perilous Times_
 5. Narcissus - _Newwave Techno Homicide_
 6. Enslaved -  _Mardraum - Beyond the Within_
 7. In Flames - Clayman_
 8. Oil - _Refine_
 9. Rotten Sound - _Still Psycho_
10. AC/DC - _Stiff Upper Lip_

Matthias' Top 10

 1. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
 2. Vader - _Litany_
 3. In Flames - _Clayman_
 4. The Crown - _Deathrace King_
 5. Entombed - _Uprising_
 6. Dark Tranquillity - _Haven_
 7. Napalm Death - _Enemy of the Music Business_
 8. Cradle of Filth - _Midian_
 9. Cryptopsy - _And Then You'll Beg_
10. Venom - _Ressurrection_

Alvin's Top 10

 1. Desaster - _10 Years of Total Desaster_
 2. Tierra Santa - _Tierras de Leyenda_
 3. Axel Rudi Pell - _The Masquerade Ball_
 4. Cradle of Filth - _Midian_
 5. Mayhemic Truth - _In Memoriam_
 6. At Vance - _Heart of Steel_
 7. Zemial - _For the Glory of Ur_
 8. Thy Primordial - _The Heresy of an Age of Reason_
 9. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_
10. Running Wild - _Victory_

Chris' Top 10

 1. Spiral Architect - _A Sceptic's Universe_
 2. Nevermore - _Dead Heart in a Dead World_
 3. Embraced - _Within_
 4. Dark Tranquillity - _Haven_
 5. Immortal - _Damned in Black_
 6. Borknagar - _Quintessence_
 7. Spock's Beard - _V_
 8. Morbid Angel - _Gateways to Annihilation_
 9. Enslaved - _Mardraum - Beyond the Within_
10. Mayhem - _Grand Declaration of War_

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DESCRIPTION
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Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  a  FREE  monthly  magazine  electronically
distributed worldwide via the Internet. Seemingly endless interviews,
album reviews and concert reviews encompass the pages  of  Chronicles
of Chaos. Chronicles of Chaos stringently emphasizes all varieties of
chaotic music ranging from black and death metal to  electronic/noise
to dark, doom and ambient forms. Chronicles  of  Chaos  is  dedicated
to the underground and as such we feature demo reviews from all indie
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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #52

All contents copyright 2001 by individual creators of included  work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.


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