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


        CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, April 12, 2002, Issue #57
                  http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com


Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley
Copy Editor / Contributor: Pedro Azevedo
Assistant Copy Editor / Contributor: Brian Meloon
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk
Contributor: Paul Schwarz
Contributor: Aaron McKay
Contributor: David Rocher
Contributor: Matthias Noll
Contributor: Alvin Wee
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez
Contributor: Chris Flaaten
Contributor: Quentin Kalis
Contributor: Vincent Eldefors
Neophyte: Kirsty Buchanan
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 #57 Contents, 4/12/02
---------------------------
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Judas Priest: The Metal Crusade Continues
-- Winds: Let the Cold Winds Blow!
-- Evoken: Tending the Dire Hatred
-- Anaal Nathrakh: The Heart of Necro
-- Entombed: Entombed's Shining Star!
-- Dew-Scented: Inside Out
-- Blind Guardian: Singing Out Loud
-- Angra: An Easy Delivery
-- Black Label Society: Limp Bizkit Must Die!
-- Arkhon Infaustus: Satanic Waste
-- Soul Embraced: On the Right Path
-- Scissorfight: Weirdness From New Hampshire
* Independent Interrogations
-- Biomechanical: Chatting Up a Cyborg
* Album Asylum
-- 7 Angels 7 Plagues - _Jhazmyne's Lullaby_
-- 7th Moon - _Alter Alma_
-- Abortion Clinic - _Premature Birthulation_
-- Ancient - _Proxima Centauri_
-- Archetype - _Dawning_
-- Bethlehem - _Schatten aus der Alexander Welt_
-- Black Dawn - _Blood for Satan_
-- Black Web - _Black Web_
-- Blood Red Throne - _Monument of Death_
-- Brodequin - _Festival of Death_
-- Burnt by the Sun - _Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution_
-- Callenish Circle - _Flesh_Power_Dominion_
-- Carpathian Forest - _Morbid Fascination of Death_
-- Chernobog - _Nuclear Bloodbath_
-- Commit Suicide - _Human Larvae (Earthly Cleansing)_
-- Crest of Darkness - _Project Regeneration_
-- Cruachan - _Folk-Lore_
-- Various - _Czech Assault_
-- Dark Legion - _Bloodshed_
-- Dawn of Dreams - _Darklight Awakening_
-- Deicide - _In Torment, in Hell_
-- Destruction - _The Antichrist_
-- Dew-Scented - _Inwards_
-- Dim Mak - _Intercepting Fist_
-- Dusk - _Mourning... Resurrect_
-- Entwine - _Gone_
-- Even Vast - _Dawning Gloom_
-- Eyes of Ligeia - _The Night's Plutonian Shore_
-- Fall of the Leafe - _Fermina_
-- Final Tragedy - _Greed_
-- Fleshcrawl - _Soulskinner_
-- Furia - _A la Quete du Passe_
-- Godgory - _Sea of Dreams_ / _Shadow's Dance_
-- Grabnebelfursten - _Von Schemen und Trugbildern_
-- Gravewuerm - _Ancient Storms of War_
-- Green Carnation - _Light of Day, Day of Darkness_
-- Horde of Worms - _Wormageddon_
-- Human Eve - _Children_
-- Hypnos - _The Revenge Ride_
-- Hypocrisy - _10 Years of Chaos and Confusion_
-- Impaled Nazarene - _Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace_
-- Infidel? / Castro! - _Case Studies in Bioentropy_
-- Internal Bleeding - _Alien Breed (1991-2001)_
-- Judas Iscariot - _To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding_
-- Judas Priest - _Sin After Sin_
-- Judas Priest - _Stained Class_
-- Judas Priest - _Hell Bent for Leather_
-- Judas Priest - _Unleashed in the East_
-- Lux Occulta - _The Mother and the Enemy_
-- Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_
-- Misteltein - _Divine. Desecrate. Complete_
-- Mork Gryning - _Maelstrom Chaos_
-- Mytile Vey Lorth - _Mytile Vey Lorth_
-- Naglfar - _Ex Inferis_
-- Necrodeath - _Black as Pitch_
-- Nephasth - _Unholy Immortal Triumph_
-- Night in Gales - _Necrodynamic_
-- Nightly Gale - _...And Jesus Wept_
-- Occult - _Rage to Revenge_
-- Phobia - _Serenity Through Pain_
-- Rampage - _Monolith to an Abandoned Past_
-- Running Wild - _The Brotherhood_
-- Scholomance - _The Immortality Murder_
-- Sinckwhole - _Cease to Exist_
-- Skullview - _Consequences of Failure_
-- Sleepless - _Winds Blow Higher_
-- Testament - _First Strike Still Deadly_
-- Various - _The Bells of the Mystical Empire_
-- The Black League - _Utopia A.D._
-- The Haunted - _Live Rounds in Tokyo_
-- The Seventh Gate - _None so Bloody as the Kingdom of Christ_
-- Thragedium - _Theatrum XXIII_
-- Through the Discipline - _Our Lady of Death_
-- Trails of Anguish - _Relentless Abhorrence of Misery's Grievance_
-- Ulver - _Silencing the Singing_
-- Umbakrail - _In Unity Paienne_
-- Underoath - _The Changing of Times_
-- Virulence - _A Conflict Scenario_
-- Vortex - _Colours Out From the Emptiness_
-- Wurdulak - _Ceremony in Flames_
* New Noise
-- AAAAARGH! Bloody 2-Handed Chainaxe Blow - _Elliptic White Square_
-- Actual Time - _Time Frame_
-- Crushing Belial - _Crushing Belial_
-- Datakill - _L'Odio_
-- Malkavian - _Malkavian_
-- Pagan Reign - _Gates of Hell_
-- Serca - _Singularity_
-- Shadeworks - _Sooty Limbs_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Aggroculture: Slayer with Hatebreed and Diecast
* What We Have Cranked, Top 20 of 2001
* Details

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

                 M""MMMMMMMM                         dP
                 M  MMMMMMMM                         88
                 M  MMMMMMMM .d8888b. dP    dP .d888b88
                 M  MMMMMMMM 88'  `88 88    88 88'  `88
                 M  MMMMMMMM 88.  .88 88.  .88 88.  .88
                 M         M `88888P' `88888P' `88888P8
                 MMMMMMMMMMM

     M""MMMMMMMM            dP     dP
     M  MMMMMMMM            88     88
     M  MMMMMMMM .d8888b. d8888P d8888P .d8888b. 88d888b. .d8888b.
     M  MMMMMMMM 88ooood8   88     88   88ooood8 88'  `88 Y8ooooo.
     M  MMMMMMMM 88.  ...   88     88   88.  ... 88             88
     M         M `88888P'   dP     dP   `88888P' dP       `88888P'
     MMMMMMMMMMM

This is the column where we print those lovely  letters  our  readers
decide so graciously to write us. Whether they be positive, negative,
ignorant or just plain spelled  wrong,  you  can  rest  assured  that
they'll be here in their original form. If you'd like to see your own
letter here, e-mail it to <mailto:LoudLetters@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.
All  letters  received  will  be  featured  in  upcoming  issues   of
Chronicles of Chaos.


Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002
From: Tiago Ferreira <theraven@punkmusic.com>
Subject: On the matter of religion...

Greetings,

As I read the e-mail from Frederik Okholm on religion,atheism and why
there weren't replies to his first e-mail I found the sudden urge  to
do reply.In my opinion,and I  stress  the  fact  that  it's  only  my
opinion,the lack of comment on the topic of "Religion and Co." is  in
part due to the content of nowadays Black/Death Metal's lyrics and in
the other part due to the fact that most listeners  just  bang  their
head,cut their bodies and adopt the ideas  on  the  lyrics  of  their
supposed "idols".I don't mean that every listener does this(so  don't
e-mail me with shit)and I know that most of you who are reading  this
don't do that kind of stuff and laugh  at  who  does,because  if  you
are reading this I  think  you  have,at  least,a  minor  taste  music
that's good for your ears.There's a difference between  listening  to
music,something that awakes feelings and emotions inside  of  you,and
being matter of a self imposed brainwash starting with your ears.When
I started listening to Black Metal I noticed  one  thing,the  critics
are REAL critics who know how to support  their  arguements  and  are
very intelligent people.

Unfortunately,the   so   called   herd   isn't   just   composed   by
Christians,Muslims,and other members of organized religions,but  also
by kids(those who biologically respond to the adjective of "kid"  and
those who never grew up attached  to  movements,musical  or  not,that
limited their points of view and the developing  of  their  mind  and
thought).

I just can't stand to see in the news more and more cases  of  church
burning,animal sacrifices with inverted crosses  and  pentagrams,even
human sacrifices,among others,and afterwards who's to  blame?Not  the
kids,not the families,not the  truly  responsible,but  those  to  who
it's easy throwing  the  blame  at,music  bands  like  Slayer,Marylin
Manson,...I am not Christian,not even close,but I  find  stupid  both
the church burning and the blaming of those who have  nothing  to  do
with it.And I quote Neil Gaiman's "The  Sandman"  when  Lucifer  says
:"Why do they blame me for all their little failings?They use my name
as if I spend my entire day sitting on their  shoulders,forcing  them
to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive."The devil made me
do it."I have never made one of them do anything."

I truly agree with Frederik's sentence of  one  self  being  his  own
God.That's how I rule my life,I live according my own standarts,I  do
listen to the music that pleases me be that  Mayhem  or  Super  Furry
Animals,and I also do what I please,as long as I don't interfer  with
the freedom of those who respect my freedom.

Once again,this is just my opinion.Be free  to  e-mail  me  with  any
response.

P.S.:Chronicles of Chaos,congratulations for your wonderful  zine.The
best I've ever seen.

Tiago Ferreira(Portugal)


Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002
From: "S.R. Prozak" <prozak@anus.com>
Subject: Christianity and metal, continued

Greetings,

Since Paul  Schwarz  conveniently  restarted  this  debate  after  it
languished, I thought I'd  share  some  useful  commentary  on  Black
Sabbath from the primary lyric writer  in  the  band,  as  quoted  in
Michael Moynihan's "Lords of Chaos":

Although Iommi later claimed that the band had nothing to do with the
inverted cross, that it was all the record company,  I  think  Geezer
Butler's statement concerning Sabbath's connection to the  occult  is
probably more telling about this matter:

"I found out Satanism was  around  before  any  Jewish  or  Christian
religion. It's an incredibly interesting subject. I sort of got  more
into the black side of it and was putting upside-down crosses  on  my
wall and pictures of Satan all over. I painted my apartment black.  I
was getting really involved in  it  and  all  these  horrible  things
started happening to me. You come to a point where you cross over and
totally follow it and totally forget about Jesus and  God.  'Are  you
going to do it? Yes or no?' No, I don't think so."

Hopefully this clears up some of the intent behind the band  on  this
issue regarding transcendence of morality and nihilistic, occult, un-
PC viewpoints.

Thanks,
SRP


Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002
From: AntiPsuedo@aol.com
Subject: correction on the jan 2002 issue

hey i love the zine but i noticed a little mess up. in the review  of
the new pissing razors album the reviewer (david something...) claims
it to be there "sophmore" effort. It is in fact their 4th cd. and  in
my humble opinion that band has  went  down  hill  since  there  self
titled release (which is a gem). Anyhoo i  thought  id  send  in  the
correction cause there might be someone who will buy that  album  and
realizes it sucks ( in compairison with there older shit)

keep up the kick ass work

dave


Date: Fri, 22 Feb 2002
From: "MICK DESTINITY" <destinity66@hotmail.com>
Subject: DESTINITY

Hail,

Here is Mick from DESTINITY (France).
I read your great review !
I think you are right ! It is a fuckin'gay album (Ah Ah Ah !).
I want to tell you that for our next opus it will be very very
different !
Our music si faster, agressive and occult than ever !
Is it a crime to be young ?
All songs had more than 2 years !
I know that we will kill your fuckni'brain qhen you will listen this
new opus that we record this summer during one month in Germany.
I will send you it !

Best regards,

MICK & DESTINITY


Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002
From: bandi669 <bandi669@freemail.hu>
Subject: about a grindcore show

Hello there!

I'm writing to you about a truly underground concert I attended  last
Friday (22nd March). It was an exceptional occassion, 'cause here, in
the little town of [sorry mate,  the  name  of  your  town  came  out
unreadable due to the special characters you  used  --  ed],  Hungary
good death/grindcore shows are fucking rare. Two bands  were  on  the
bill: Fleshless, who were featured in Coc  #22  with  a  Toronto,  CA
show. So, seeing them here in Hungary, close to the  Romanian  border
was an oppurtunity that I couldn't miss! The other  band  was  Neural
Booster, a wicked Hungarian grindcore outfit.

I was shocked by the attendance: about  20-30  people.  Well,  that's
a  very-very  low  number  of  people,  even  though  the  show   was
well-advertised. Fortunately, this way the moshing was safe, I didn't
have to be afraid of being kicked in the head, or something like that
:))

There were some skinheads in the attendance, and the  concert  itself
was organised by a local skinhead guy. Fortunately, they didn't  make
any trouble, the crowd was great.

Fleshless started the show. For a soundcheck they did Fear  Factory's
Demanufacture. Wow, that was good to hear, even  though  they  didn't
play the full song. And after their intro they ripped into  merciless
butchery. One of the guitarists wore a ski hat, cut out at  the  eyes
and the mouth, he looked like some terrorist, and he banged his  head
like a maniac! That was great to see! Their singer  was  the  typical
death metal singer: long curly hair, and a voice like a fucking pig!!
They put on some really  killer  death  metal,  with  lots  of  tempo
changes, breaks and killer riffs, powered by  a  very-very  fast  and
clever drummer. Me and my friends moshed through their show,  causing
me intense pain in my neck for the day after. Which was my  birthday.
:)) Who cares!

Fleshless  did  covers   from   Brujeria   (Anti-Castro),   Mortician
(Slaughtered - rocked!) and from a  czechish  ('cause  Fleshless  are
czechish) black metal band called Root. They rocked, I wouldn't  miss
seeing them again anytime.

Next on were Neural Booster, the Hungarian grindcore  bastards.  They
were GRINDCORE: their singer was  dressed  in  a  butcher  suit,  and
looked really wicked as he grunted,  screamed  and  shouted  all  the
time. One of their guitarists was a girl: she looked really  cute  in
her Fleshless T-Shirt, as she grinded those fucking fast  riffs,  and
banged her head like a  lunatic.  :)  They  played  about  30  or  35
songs, including a cover of Terrorizer's Fear  Of  Napalm.  Now  that
was killer! Also, Brutal  Truth's  Walking  Corpse  was  executed  so
devastatingly, I couldn't believe my ears!!

So, this was a very  killer  show!!  GRINDCORE  RULES!  All  hail  to
Fleshless and Neural Booster!

bandi669@freemail.hu / Hungary


Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002
From: "S.R. Prozak" <prozak@anus.com>
Subject: letters in coc

howdy,

this is a message to frederik okholm which addresses  issues  brought
up in the letters section of coc #56.

i agree with your  statements  regarding  the  lack  of  intellectual
discourse in metal. no one wants to  see  repetitive  flamewars,  but
conflict is part of what makes any ideology become living instead  of
tired homilies repeated by the embittered. this genre at  its  finest
tackles spiritual, philosophical and linguistic issues  head-on,  but
most of the fans want to evade any responsibility.

i  think  drew   johnston   (conformity@aol.com)   exemplifies   this
phenomenon best. while he's spitting with venom  against  nazis,  for
example, he is "tolerant" of religions and parts of the  genre  which
have no soul or future. by behaving in this manner,  he  is  crushing
attempts for this genre to determine what it does believe,  and  thus
to cease tolerating the rest. metal is an ideological genre, but that
doesn't mean we forget the music.

it seems to me that the major factor holding the metal genre back  is
fans like this, who can't remember how alive  hardcore  or  crustcore
were in their days of the fullest, most "narrow-minded" ideology  and
therefore have no idea how much "diversity" exists  within  even  the
seemingly narrowest thought process. these same people remind  me  of
the politically correct censors i knew at the collegiate level.

i'd like to close with a quote from jim tasikas:
"But what drove Max Cavalera to write such brutal music? I say it was
his fascistic love for  his  ancestry,  his  hate  towards  christian
aliens and government induced poverty."

for every great hate, there must be a great love. varg  vikernes  was
mentioned in the same letter; he speaks endlessly of his love for his
culture and the aspects he appreciates of it, and devotes  relatively
little time to hatred, yet  his  music  is  full  of  love  and  hate
and associated emotions  in  a  panopoly  of  logical  and  emotional
approaches. cavalera had  his  hate,  and  more  than  hope,  he  had
something on which he could work and make something great. it's  when
he turned to god, and to trying to tolerate  the  mediocre  ideas  of
others, that his music became the poprock that it is now.

when the fans stop trying to be "open-minded" and  accept  ideologies
like christianity, humanism and heavy  metal  in  black/death  metal,
there might be some hope for this genre approaching  some  degree  of
intellectualism.  as  it  is,  i  see  mostly  "ideologues"  who  are
repeating  either  tired  leftist  homilies  from  universities,   or
parroting something they do not understand which a thinker like  varg
might make lucid.

frederik okholm, you nailed it when you  said  "why  should  subjects
that abound in  the  interviews  and  reviews  not  exist  in  reader
feedback?" i'd say the answer is encoded in this riddle:

q: what's the difference between a fanboy and a musician?
a: the ability to act independently on powerful ideas or emotions

drew johnston is a fanboy;  cameron  archer  is  a  fanboy.  when  we
get past these "tolerant" attitudes  that  inundate  our  genre  with
christians and other degenerates, we will be able to as a genre self-
define and move  onward  toward  being  an  artistic  category  truly
deserving of independence from mainstream rock, hard rock and AOR.

SRP


Date: Sat, 30 Mar 2002
From: "camilo castro" <camcarcass@hotmail.com>

hello there saying hi from colombia, your zine rules big time keep it
that way, if anyone from colombia wants to make  some  fucking  noise
get off your ass and write 
camilo

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        T H E   M E T A L   C R U S A D E   C O N T I N U E S
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC talks to Scott Travis of Judas Priest
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     There are a lot of Judas Priest fans and music critics out there
who had a hard time digesting the new album _Demolition_ when it  was
released last year.  Many  found  the  album  to  be  a  bland  metal
offering, a far cry from the explosive _Jugulator_ (1997)  (featuring
then new singer "Ripper" Owens) and the classic metal sound that  the
band has been known to deliver since the late '70s. So what happened?
Sophomore jinx?
     During  the  busy  North  American  tour  this  winter  (a  tour
postponed a few months because of the September 11th terrorist attack
in New York City),  Judas  Priest  drummer  Scott  Travis  talked  to
Chronicles of Chaos about _Demolition_, the band's legacy and what he
really thinks about touring.
     "I can't criticize people's opinions about the record.  I  mean,
everyone has them and is entitled to their own one",  starts  Travis.
"The only thing we do when we write a record is look forward and  try
to write songs on what we like, and try to create music  that  sounds
good and the fans will like. We [the band is rounded out  by  dueling
guitarists K.K. Downing and Glenn Tipton  and  bassist  Ian  Hill  --
Adrian] don't try to sound like a certain era  of  Judas  Priest,  we
just write what we feel. People are going to criticize what we do  no
matter what. If we put out a record that sounded  like  it  was  from
1983, a lot of people would be annoyed and say it sounds dated, while
another set of fans would be so excited that we are playing a  record
that sounds right out of 1983. It is a catch 22,  really.  You  can't
please everybody with a new album."
     "The band really doesn't give any thought to that. We just write
songs to correspond to the mood or vibe we are in and just hope  that
the fans like it. For a band like Priest, who  has  been  around  for
thirty years, it is hard to please fans who fall into many  different
eras of the band."
     On the new record,  he  comments,  "I  like  the  new  sound  of
_Demolition_. I think it sounds very refreshing. I am glad it doesn't
sound like something from the 1980s, to be honest. I think this album
has lot of energy and modern sounds to it."
     So, what songs are the band doing live off the new record?
     "We are doing two songs live: "One on One" and "Hell Is Home". I
think both of those songs are great live songs and work well into our
already huge set list of material. "Hell Is Home" is a  really  heavy
Judas Priest song and it sounds great. When you are a band with  this
sort of history, we have to play so many songs from many eras. We  do
a lot of songs, but we make sure not to  grab  material  that  sounds
alike, hence why we play "Hell Is Home". It is  a  song  that  sounds
unlike a lot of Priest's material that we do  live.  It  is  a  tough
situation to be in, choosing set list songs,  but  it  allows  us  to
really comb through some great classic numbers and add them into  the
set."
     And Travis' favourite era of Judas Priest?
     "Oh man, the early '80s is a great era for the  band",  he  says
enthusiastically. "I wasn't in the band back then; I was  playing  in
bar bands back then in Virginia, where I'm from, and was so into what
Judas Priest was doing. Back in the '80s was a  cool  time  for  this
music. I think back then people appreciated rock music more. I  would
have loved to have been in the band back  then.  I  hear  some  great
stories from the band about that period. <laughs> Oh well, I'm in the
band now and couldn't be happier."
     The topic turns to the recording experience of Judas Priest  and
the second studio effort with "Ripper" Owens at the  helm.  What  was
the recording experience like this  time  compared  to  the  work  on
_Jugulator_?
     "This record took a long time to do, almost three years, and  it
was a lot of work but a  great  experience",  Travis  answers.  "Both
"Ripper" and I live in the United States and we had to fly over every
couple of months to England to work on material  and  do  our  parts.
Glenn wrote most of the album. He did a  lot  of  work  in  his  home
studio, and worked at his own pace, so that might have been a  factor
in why it took so long. But we are happy with the results for sure."
     "Nothing was really different this time around. With _Jugulator_
the band had material already written when "Ripper"  finally  joined,
and this time around it was a very collaborative album", he  reveals.
"It feels great to have him in the band. It all worked out  well  for
him joining the band as the singer. I know it sounds cliche,  but  he
really is a  natural,  fantastic  vocalist.  He  has  always  fit  in
personally and musically from day one. Onstage he totally kicks ass."
     About touring,  Travis  says,  "This  has  been  a  really  good
experience for us on  the  road  with  this  album.  I  am  noticing,
especially on this tour more so than the last album's touring, that a
lot of younger fans are  coming  to  the  shows.  We  still  get  the
die-hard older fans showing up, but a lot of younger fans are  making
their way to see us on tour with _Demolition_,  and  that  is  really
cool for us to see. It has been refreshing to see so many  fans  into
metal and coming to the shows. I had heard over the last  five  years
that "Metal is coming back!", and I didn't believe it  for  the  last
three years or so, but since we  have  been  out  on  the  road  with
Anthrax, and we are playing great shows, I can honestly  say  that  I
think there is truth to those comments about metal returning."
     "Playing live is a great thing. Playing in the studio  is  okay,
but you need to do that to get the product out.  But  once  you  play
live and you get beyond the stage and see the faces of the  fans  and
people singing along and having a good time, that right there is what
it is all about. That is why I still do this. It is a party, man!"
     He continues on, "I love touring. It is every  musician's  dream
to go out and tour. When you start playing your instrument and  after
you get good, you want other people to see you do this. You  want  to
go out on the road. If any musician complains about  traveling,  that
is like wanting to become a doctor and not wanting to  see  any  sick
patients. It is idiotic to think like that. It is great to be back on
the road again. We haven't been to North America or  Canada  in  like
three years. This tour is going great so far."
     But during the fall of 2001, the tour took  a  serious  setback.
"It was something that was totally awful and nothing  that  we  could
control", says the drummer about the events of  September  11th  that
affected the North American leg of the world tour  for  _Demolition_.
"We had just finished playing a show in Mexico City and I was packing
the next morning and had the TV  on  when  I  saw  on  CNN  what  was
happening. Needless to say, we didn't get on the plane to Los Angeles
that day and had to stay in Mexico another five days. By the time  we
were able to get out,  shows  in  California  were  scrapped  and  we
decided to cancel the rest of the tour and just take  some  time  off
before going to Europe."
     "There is no positive spin that you can give to what went on  or
to those who lost lives", he finishes off,  "but  the  fact  is  that
Judas Priest is back on the road again in North America and trying to
let all their fans have a good time and try to forget what went on."

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           L E T   T H E   C O L D   W I N D S   B L O W !
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 CoC interviews Andy Winter of Winds
                           by: Aaron McKay


On April 9th, the music community is in for a rare treat. A melodious
effort from the inspired band from Norway, Winds, will find  its  way
into your local metal retail outlet for your listening  enjoyment.  I
am  beside  myself  with  exuberance  that  an  act  of  immeasurable
experience and talent has found themselves on a  label  that  I  hold
near and dear to my heart -- the fastidious The End  Records.  Not  a
surprise that this label would pick up on an outfit so far  ahead  of
its time; Winds nearly blows past us on with their immeasurable skill
and uncontested level of interest a listener invests in a  band  this
compelling. Many try, but rarely is a band capable  of  blowing  away
others in the field with such a style as this band  has  pulled  off.
Winds is an obvious force (of nature) to be  reckoned  with.  If  you
doubt my assessment, listen to some of the  virtual  "who's  who"  of
metal as told by  the  quartet's  keyboardist,  Andy  Winter,  as  he
regales us about those caught in the blustery tempest known as Winds.

CoC: First, congratulations on _Reflections of the  I_!  With  little
     doubt, it is  one  of  the  more  enriching  releases  since  _A
     Treatise on Love_ by Scholomance. What would  you  say  was  the
     catalyst that prompted Winds to record such a  stirring  musical
     composition?

Andy Winter: Basically we wanted to record  an  even  stronger  album
             than the previous one. We knew we had to give it  a  new
             approach, and we also tried our best to outdo  ourselves
             in the  compositions  and  arrangements  of  the  music.
             That's probably why it turned out as great  as  it  did,
             because we didn't repeat ourselves, and  we  didn't  put
             any limitations on our creativity. It's  a  very  honest
             record, and we just wrote the music as it came to us  in
             our moments of inspiration.

CoC: Bring the CoC readership up  to  speed  after  your  release  on
     Avantgarde, the _Of Eternity and Mind_  MCD.  Some  tracks  from
     this new release were formerly  from  _Of  Eternity  and  Mind_,
     right?

AW: Actually, _Of Entity and Mind_ is just included on  the  American
    version of the new release, and  the  only  reason  for  this  is
    because it was never released domestically in the US. It's in  no
    way a part of the album, as it clearly states inside the booklet,
    and since _Reflections of  the  I_  is  a  concept  album  and  a
    continuation of the story,  we  were  a  bit  apprehensive  about
    including the extra tracks at first. But in the end  we  realized
    that making our music available to our fans was  more  important,
    so we decided to set our initial apprehensiveness aside.

CoC: What would you say are the differences between the two?

AW: Musically the new album is more  evolved,  the  compositions  are
    stronger, and there is a more organic vibe on _Reflections of the
    I_, as we had more time in the studio to improvise  and  work  on
    the arrangements.  This  album  definitely  reflects  our  growth
    as musicians and band  over  the  past  year,  and  we  all  feel
    this  is  some  of  the  best  work  we've  ever  done.  More  in
    detail, the production is far stronger and the sound  is  crystal
    clear, the music is  a  little  heavier  and  more  symphonic  as
    we've incorporated a string ensemble in  addition  to  our  other
    instruments. All in all we're  incredibly  happy  with  this  new
    album and how it turned out.

CoC: It seems like vocal mood is very important to Winds.  Would  you
     agree? If so, why? Is it co-equal with the musical atmosphere on
     _Reflections of the I_?

AW: Yes, the vocals are very important, because they are a  big  part
    of the mood in the music. The  different  vocal  styles  contrast
    each other and this is very intentional. I think  the  music  and
    the vocals compliment each other perfectly. The thing about  this
    CD is that for some people it might take a  little  time  to  get
    into because it's very layered and there's a lot going on in  the
    music. But once people have heard it a few times... well, let  me
    put it this way, everyone who has heard it so far thinks the mood
    on this  record  is  something  incredibly  unique.  And  it  is.
    Personal preference will always factor into the picture, but this
    is definitely something that hasn't been done before, whether you
    like it, love it, or not.

CoC: Please tell me  a  little  bit  about  the  wildly  diverse  and
     extremely talented members comprising Winds.

AW: Well, we all come from various musical backgrounds and regardless
    of where we started we now play many different styles  of  music.
    We all have a passion for  classical  music,  and  that  is  also
    greatly integrated into Winds. We  all  have  other  projects  or
    bands on the side, which might be known to  some,  but  even  so,
    Winds  is  a  priority  for  all  the  members  and  everyone  is
    completely dedicated to the band.

CoC: If you would, elaborate on how the critically acclaimed Jan Axel
     von Blomberg (a.k.a. Hellhammer)  tailored  his  wildly  extreme
     capability for voracity so well  to  the  subdued  sounds  Winds
     strives for in your music.

AW: I think this was something  that  came  naturally  to  him.  He's
    played different styles  of  music  for  a  long  time  now,  and
    although he is mostly known for his metal  endeavors,  he  really
    has a wide range as a drummer. He has  a  very  creative  playing
    style as well, which makes him stand out from a lot  of  drummers
    out there, and in Winds we have everything from  blasting  double
    bass drums to laid back jazz beats, so it's  really  the  perfect
    combination for him.

CoC: Would  you  describe  the  band's  musical  representation   as
     conceptual?

AW: Yeah, the albums are concepts.

CoC: Personally, I doubt that I could imagine _Reflections of the  I_
     without the incorporation  of  a  full  string  section  on  the
     album. Please elaborate on the thoughts behind  using  the  Oslo
     Philharmonic Orchestra on _Reflections of the I_.

AW: When we worked with _Of Entity  And  Mind_  we  realized  that  a
    string ensemble would really complement our  music,  so  when  we
    wrote the  music  for  _Reflections  of  the  I_,  this  was  the
    intention from the beginning. A lot of the basic ideas were  also
    originally written for strings, and then the guitars were  shaped
    on top of that. Quite different from most other  bands  who  have
    ever used strings, I would assume. The string ensemble will be  a
    regular thing for us in the future, as it is now a  part  of  our
    sound along with all the other instruments we use.

CoC: I have a special  place  in  my  heart  for  the  song  "In  All
     Reflections" due in no small part to intriguing arrangement  and
     tight guitar riffs. Would you tell  the  CoC  readers  a  little
     about the song?

AW: With the exception of some basic ideas for the intro track on _Of
    Entity and Mind_, this was the first Winds song ever written, and
    thus it was entirely written by me. It's  also  the  most  easily
    accessible song on that CD, and some people called it our  "radio
    hit" or something to that effect. Not that this is a bad thing; I
    think the song turned out very well, and many have this as  their
    favorite track from _Of Entity and Mind_. This is also one of the
    songs I would like to play if we ever do something live,  because
    it's a lot of fun to play and it would be very suitable in a live
    set, even with main focus on the newer material.

CoC: Were there ever discussions on if Winds should integrate a harsh
     vocal style or was  the  "clean"  approach  the  only  one  ever
     considered?

AW: Screaming vocals were not considered at all, as  it  doesn't  fit
    the music. We will not use this vocal style in the future either.
    The contrasting  vocal  styles  we  use  now  create  the  effect
    suitable to the mood of the music, and this will  remain  one  of
    our trademarks.

CoC: Would  you  consider  Winds  a  "dark"  sounding  band  or  more
     progressive metal with a vintage edge?

AW: It's difficult to say, but probably both.  There  are  definitely
    dark elements to the sound, but we're also somewhat  progressive,
    and we integrate strong classical  elements  into  the  music  as
    well. All these things are quite in contrast to each  other,  and
    maybe that is what makes our sound unique. There is a little  bit
    of everything in Winds, but it's tastefully put together  and  we
    always make sure the integrity in the music isn't lost.

CoC: Is there another group you might envision Winds on tour with?

AW: We're not planning to go on tour any time soon, as we  will  most
    likely only do studio work this  year,  but  the  question  is  a
    rather difficult one nonetheless. Avantgarde Music wanted to  set
    up a  tour  for  us  last  year,  but  this  was  a  big  problem
    considering they didn't have a clue what band to put us up  with.
    You'd have to ask the fans, really, because this is too difficult
    for me to answer.

CoC: Why the choice to record at Top-Room Studios?

AW: Our guest vocalist from Esperanza [Drajevolitch -- Aaron], who is
    also a good friend of mine, has used this studio  ever  since  it
    started in 1993. He was the one who recommended it  to  me.  This
    studio had, before us, worked very little with  metal,  and  that
    was one of the reasons why we wanted to use  them  in  the  first
    place. But after us, and especially after Mayhem recorded there a
    few months after we started, this  studio  suddenly  became  very
    popular among metal bands. Luckily we feel rather  confident  and
    in control of the production aspect of our music,  so  we're  not
    afraid of ending up with similar sound as anyone else or anything
    like that, but even so this trend is not something  I  prefer  to
    see, as this studio was originally a studio mostly used  for  the
    recording of acoustic instruments. But  in  the  studio  industry
    it's all about making money and that's a fact whether  one  likes
    it or not.

CoC: Would you say _Reflections of the  I_  is  a  visually  inspired
     album reflected in the cover art on the release? If so, why?

AW: The cover art is inspired by the music, and  it  illustrates  the
    concept featured on the album. Being the visual  presentation  of
    the album, the artwork is  very  important,  because  we're  very
    conscious about the image we communicate,  and  being  a  concept
    such as this is, the artwork needs to be something  the  listener
    can relate to when hearing the music. And we really  couldn't  be
    more satisfied with this. The artwork is perfect for this album.

CoC: Thank you very much for your valuable time you took in answering
     these questions. Please feel free to close this interview in any
     fashion you see fit. Thank you!

AW: Thank you for taking the time to  prepare  these  questions,  and
    also for the support. We appreciate it very much.

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

            T E N D I N G   T H E   D I R E   H A T R E D
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Vince Verkay of Evoken
                          by: Pedro Azevedo


     Perhaps those who enjoy playing or listening to doom  metal  are
the cursed offspring of some fallen angel or whatever other cliche --
but this interview did at times look like some sort of  divine  curse
had been  cast  upon  it.  Originally  meant  as  an  interview  with
Evoken guitarist Nick Orlando many moons  ago,  it  eventually  ended
up answered by  drummer  Vince  Verkay,  after  many  a  problem  was
encountered. Yet, doomed or not, those who were involved  persevered,
and here are Vince's answers to CoC's questionnaire.
     Evoken have delivered three massive slabs  of  doom  metal  unto
this world. The first, the _Shades of Night  Descending_  EP,  showed
promise, but seen in the context of the two full-length releases that
followed, it was just a simple prelude for things to  come.  _Embrace
the Emptiness_ continued the doom/death of its predecessor, but  with
greatly enhanced sound, atmosphere and songwriting. Its  title  is  a
fitting one, as the band mercilessly drags the listener  through  the
bleak fields of sorrow they create. Then _Quietus_ further  increased
the potency of Evoken's crushing sound, as the band continued on with
their masterful dirges. Not simply your basic  slow  downtuned  metal
here: many nuances and  carefully  placed  passages  keep  the  music
itself interesting throughout.
     I urge you to read on if you have even  a  passing  interest  in
doom metal, for Evoken are without a doubt one of the greatest  bands
ever in the genre. Their  latest  opus,  the  magnificently  crushing
_Quietus_, is also, in my opinion, one of the finest records of 2001.

CoC: What was the original feeling that gave birth to Evoken? How has
     it changed over the years?

Vince Verkay: Well, I wasn't the original founder of  Evoken,  but  I
              did join in its early  stages,  almost  the  beginning.
              What started Evoken was basically when we  heard  demos
              from bands  like  Disembowelment,  Thergothon,  Winter,
              etc. -- it was that almost a shock  at  the  time  that
              there were bands that sounded  like  this.  It  was  so
              different from what we were hearing, the way it  almost
              brought chills from such  a  dark,  heavy  and  ominous
              atmosphere. After hearing such sounds  spill  from  the
              speakers, we decided that we wanted to create that same
              atmosphere, to stick out from the rest of the pack that
              was all death metal at the time. When Evoken formed  it
              was to surround that basic concept of being  the  stand
              out from the infinite pile of bands  that  were  coming
              out those days. You have to remember around  that  time
              in 1990, doom this extreme was  in  its  infancy,  with
              very  few  people  coming  to  grasp  that  such  bands
              existed. Over the years we have  expanded  beyond  what
              our initial goal was. As you grow as a band, you  start
              to understand that to accomplish the atmosphere  you're
              looking for, you don't have to simply play at a snail's
              pace for twenty minutes. Now, don't get me  wrong:  the
              main focus of playing this genre is to play  slow,  but
              we just started to realize  that  you  can  incorporate
              other arrangements. Especially now that  we  have  five
              members, each with their own unique perspective on  how
              things should sound. In the very early stages of Evoken
              it was basically only influenced by two  people.  That,
              without a doubt, winded up  painting  us  in  a  corner
              which you can hear on  _Shades  of  Night  Descending_.
              We'll never settle, which basically  is  the  blueprint
              in keeping  Evoken  alive.  Each  album  we  grow  with
              influences coming in from all sides.  I  hope  that  we
              never settle, because when  it  comes  to  that  point,
              there's no reason to continue, no reason to grow.

CoC: With _Embrace the Emptiness_  and  _Quietus_  you  have,  in  my
     opinion, created two of the best doom albums ever. What were the
     most important elements and the musical objective in  your  mind
     when crafting such sombre music?

VV: Wow, that's quite a compliment and something that  I  will  never
    get used to. With both albums, the most important  thing  was  to
    capture the same sound we do live on tape. Something we wanted to
    avoid  was  being  trapped  in  that  void  so  many  bands  find
    themselves in: a band can go  into  the  studio  and  sound  like
    complete crap, then you see them live and it's 100 times  better,
    or vice versa. For us,  production  was  the  main  key,  because
    that's what makes the atmosphere on the album immense. We  wanted
    to be able to hear all the nuances  without  sacrificing  another
    instrument in the meantime. Another concern was to make the album
    the heaviest  ever.  We  have  heard  so  many  albums  that  the
    atmosphere was there but that  heaviness,  that  was  almost  the
    anchor for the music, was missing. That's what makes listening to
    these albums more enjoyable. Just to hear the heavy sound, almost
    weighing you down further and further into unknown depths is what
    I continue to play for. The most important musical  objective  is
    really hard to say as a whole. Each member has their own  opinion
    on what we are trying to achieve. Basically, I can take the guess
    at we're not just happy being one of many doom bands to exist. We
    want to be "the"  doom  band  that  everyone  agrees  to  be  the
    heaviest, darkest, and most ominous doom band ever. To  basically
    look back on all of our releases and not see one  weak  album  or
    one so-so album to be released. So many doom bands  have  started
    out great only to fall by the wayside by creating  something  not
    genuine, almost fake, just to become commercial. That's not  what
    writing music is about, to me anyway. This genre has to come from
    deep within, an outlet, to express  something  that  in  everyday
    life is hard for  the  average  person.  Once  you  abandon  that
    concept to write more commercial material, that's when  you  lose
    that initial drive, that influence that got you started.  If  you
    look back at all the bands that attempted to go commercial,  they
    failed miserably. Those are the bands that  will  look  back  not
    with their heads held high, but with that empty feeling that will
    corrupt their thoughts until they meet their final rest.

CoC: One of the most impressive characteristics of those two  albums,
     at least for me, is how the music remains so solemn  and  sombre
     throughout the disc, when  so  many  doom  bands  fall  for  the
     occasional catchy melody or  whatever.  How  important  is  this
     emotional consistency for you while creating your music?

VV: Very important. I have no problem with bands throwing in  a  more
    "upbeat" riff in a song, because that may represent the anger  in
    their arrangements. I know that maybe the average  listener  will
    have the conception that it's thrown in their  to  break  up  any
    monotony, but that, for me anyway, is not the case. We  basically
    want each and every album to crush from beginning to end. For us,
    that's what doom metal is  all  about.  This  music  isn't  about
    driving your convertible to a rose garden and  playing  cemetery;
    it's about the sombre emotions that everyone feels at  one  point
    in time. For us, it's just easier to write  this  type  of  music
    because it comes from within, with no outside interference.  When
    people ask me about those goth, so-called doom bands  that  exist
    today, I tell them it's a joke, a facade for what they  think  is
    cool. Doom wasn't created  to  bring  lovers  together  in  black
    fishnets, it was created to explore the darker  things  in  life,
    the solemn atmospheres that actually come as a  sort  of  therapy
    for some of us. The average person can sit back, listen to  about
    40 seconds and say "This is just too depressing for me", or  "How
    can you listen to this, it's so  boring".  Well,  those  are  the
    individuals that will  more  than  likely  never  understand  the
    deeper meaning of this music. It's music to be absorbed, not  let
    out. I find this genre actually picks  up  my  day,  rather  than
    bring it down.

CoC: Though it is obvious that your music  is  of  a  very  sorrowful
     kind, I would like to know what sort of effect you would like it
     to have upon the listener; or do you just try to express certain
     types of emotion with the music and let each person absorb it in
     his or her own way?

VV: I really like for each person to absorb  it  in  their  own  way.
    That, for me anyway, is  what  makes  music  that  special.  It's
    something that you can take and turn in into your own.  Obviously
    we write the music to have those sombre and dark atmospheres, but
    the music is much more than that. I would much rather  have  five
    people come up to me and give me five  different  stories  as  to
    what they feel the music holds for them than  to  have  all  five
    come up with the same thing. I firmly  believe  that  when  every
    review, every listener all find the same characteristics  in  the
    music, it's time to either hang it up or try other  ideas.  There
    are some characteristics in the songs that  everyone  will  agree
    on, but that's just a small piece of the entire puzzle. Now,  I'm
    not saying we write these complex arrangements and [I don't  want
    to] sound like a complete artsy-fartsy wanker like I always  read
    about, but I think they go beyond  just  songs  that  are  played
    slow, with a lot of reverb, and heavier than Sally  Struthers  on
    Venus. [Venus' surface gravity  is  roughly  0.9  times  that  of
    Earth, so she'd actually be heavier on Earth. -- ed] I  mean,  we
    basically write this music for ourselves, but we  also  write  it
    for our fans. If we didn't, we wouldn't release albums. We  would
    just sit in our  basements  and  record  everything  on  a  three
    dollar, garage sale radio never to see the light of day.

CoC: Is Evoken all the doom you can  take,  are  you  and  the  other
     members of Evoken able to  enjoy  much  lighter  and/or  happier
     music, or quite the contrary?

VV: Well, we all listen to different things as well  as  similar.  We
    all enjoy doom and try to listen to as  many  bands  as  we  find
    interesting. We also don't pigeonhole  ourselves  and  listen  to
    nothing but. Our influences really have a  wide  range.  I  can't
    speak for the entire band, but I can say with certainty  that  we
    all listen to  bands  like  Disembowelment  (obviously),  Winter,
    Thergothon, My Dying Bride, Shape of  Despair,  Carnivore,  death
    metal, black metal, ambient  bands  like  Lycia,  Portishead  and
    Black Tape for a Blue Girl, Black  Sabbath,  Led  Zeppelin,  Pink
    Floyd, etc.. I also  enjoy  old  U2,  some  tranced  out  techno,
    Lustmord, Brighter Death Now, Type  O  Negative,  Rush,  old  Def
    Leppard, old Disgrace, etc.. I can go on all night  with  a  huge
    list, but these are the ones that come directly to mind.  As  you
    can see, we don't strictly listen  to  depressive  music  and  we
    certainly don't walk around with a puss on  our  face.  It  seems
    harder and harder to have a favorite band  or  even  newer  bands
    that I can enjoy.  A  lot  of  bands  these  days  just  have  no
    relevance to what I like. They either try to sound like Cradle of
    Filth or Cannibal Corpse, but  it's  always  been  like  that,  I
    guess. I guess as I get older I try  to  find  things  I  haven't
    heard before, or things  that  aren't  as  prominent  anymore  as
    opposed to years and years ago. Evoken isn't the  most  inventive
    band, but I also feel that we are doing something that  isn't  as
    dominant out of all the genres, like we stick out a bit from  the
    absolute hundreds and hundreds of bands that exist.  Evoken  will
    never be all the doom I can take, but it does satisfy  all  those
    things that I look for in bands -- that's  what  makes  it  still
    interesting and will always be a part  of  my  life  one  way  or
    another, I will never let Evoken fade away or die.

CoC: How do you feel about the state of doom metal nowadays?

VV: Doom I think is getting better, as far as attention goes. I don't
    think it will attract the attention that the other  genres  have,
    but I think it's growing with time. Doom right now, I  think,  is
    getting the attention it should have received in the  early  '90s
    with bands that were coming out  like  Paradise  Lost,  My  Dying
    Bride, Disembowelment and Winter.  Those  bands,  I  think,  were
    about to come out strong, but then black  metal  stepped  in  and
    basically became -the- genre at the time. I also think it's  good
    to see different  variations  of  doom  these  days  with  Spirit
    Caravan, Esoteric, My Dying Bride, Nebula, etc. all bringing more
    notice to the genre. I know a lot of debates,  I  guess  you  can
    call them, have ensued over what is doom and  what  is  not.  You
    have people saying that Black Sabbath started doom  and  anything
    directly influenced by them, a la "stoner doom", is really  doom.
    Then you have the other  side  of  the  debate  proclaiming  that
    "funeral doom" or "doom/death" are the true  doom  bands  because
    they are more tapped into the depressive side  of  the  music.  I
    always say that for me it doesn't matter what classification they
    are given; as long as you enjoy it and you feel that it holds all
    the elements of what you feel doom is, then hey, enjoy  the  band
    and not the label stamped on them. Even though  doom  bands  live
    are a rare occurrence, I think the  turnouts  are  also  growing,
    depending on where you live, if  you  compare  NYC  to  Buttfuck,
    Egypt... I know from our experience it seems each and every  show
    we see more and more turnout for us and newer converts with  each
    performance. I absolutely love it! It really makes it  worthwhile
    hauling the equipment, dealing with shady clubs, the owners,  and
    incompetent sound engineers. Not too long ago we  would  play  to
    about ten people and  have  nothing  to  show  for  it  but  sore
    muscles,  empty  wallets  from  buying  beer,  and  scratched  up
    equipment. Now, things have been getting  better  with  a  fairly
    larger audience, somewhat sore muscles, half empty  wallets,  and
    our equipment has the proper protective cases. I  guess  we  will
    really see if our audience is growing once we tour, whenever that
    will be. Doom is not only growing in audience, but also in bands.
    Just about six or seven years ago, doom was in sorry shape,  with
    only a few bands, and most were  classified  as  this  ridiculous
    goth/doom, which, I think, hurt the  genre.  Fans  despised  this
    style and all of a sudden it became the poster child as  to  what
    doom was, which in turn hurt the doom bands that  were  doing  it
    the right way and had talent. I still do feel, though,  that  you
    can literally count on your hand how many doom bands are in  each
    country, but that's not  exactly  a  terrible  thing.  What  that
    does is prevent doom from  falling  into  the  same  trouble  the
    other genres experienced. That was too  many  bands  coming  out,
    bands that all sounded alike, eventually  suffocating  the  genre
    and collapsing. Hah, now, I've  read  fan  statements  that  they
    literally can count five or six legitimate doom  fans  from  each
    area, but I think that they could be undercutting it a bit. Don't
    forget, there's a lot of fans out there that keep  to  themselves
    and don't post on the message boards  or  go  to  the  clubs  for
    various reasons. I think people would be shocked  if  they  found
    out how many there could potentially be.

CoC: You are now signed to Avantgarde Records; how  did  this  happen
     and what do you expect this to bring to Evoken's career? How has
     it been going so far? The release of _Quietus_ seemed to  suffer
     quite a long delay in Europe...

VV: Well, Nick was in contact with Avantgarde  for  quite  some  time
    beforehand. I think it was  around  the  time  _Shades  of  Night
    Descending_ was released. Roberto wrote to us saying how much  he
    really liked the album and that he was  disappointed  to  see  us
    picked up already. So, after he heard _Embrace the Emptiness_  he
    was really impressed and  was  entertaining  the  idea  of  doing
    something with us. E-mails went back and forth for several months
    until finally Roberto said "Fuck it, let's  do  it,  fuck  sales,
    fuck losing money,  I  really  want  to  release  something  with
    Evoken", and the rest is history. What we expected was to finally
    have the proper label to push Evoken out to a wider spectrum.  We
    feel that Avantgarde Music has always been  noted  for  releasing
    quality albums and for us to be  a  part  of  that  entity  would
    really benefit us as well as give us a little bit more of a name.
    With previous labels, we  weren't  able  to  reach  our  intended
    audience like we would have liked. We would receive  e-mails  all
    the time from people asking  where  they  could  get  our  albums
    because their local shops didn't carry them,  or  they  tried  to
    reach our label but  heard  nothing  back.  With  Avantgarde,  we
    finally found that one chance, that one real possibility to reach
    out beyond our shores. So far  we  have  definitely  reached  out
    beyond anything we tried before. It has really  been  a  step  up
    for us, but we are  not  finished  yet  by  any  stretch  of  the
    imagination. Of course there are things that  we  feel  could  be
    improved, but that's on both sides  of  the  fence.  We  hope  to
    correct those things so we can expand even further. I think  what
    went sour in that instance was both Avantgarde  and  Evoken  were
    complete strangers a bit. We had to get used  to  a  certain  way
    Avantgarde did things and Avantgarde had to get used to  the  way
    we do things. I think this next release will see better relations
    as well as greater sales, with the proper push on both ends.  The
    delay in getting this past album out was something I really can't
    say I remember; it's a bit foggy for me. As I sit here and try to
    recall, I come up blank. Ah, how the  brain  cells  are  dropping
    like flies.

CoC: How would you compare  your  three  records  --  and  especially
     _Embrace the Emptiness_ to _Quietus_?

VV: Hmmm, that's a good question. I would say _Embrace the Emptiness_
    creates a darker atmosphere compared to _Quietus_. I  also  think
    _Quietus_ developed a more haunting and  sombre  atmosphere  than
    _Embrace the  Emptiness_.  One  major  difference,  I  think,  is
    the experience level that  we  gain  with  each  release.  In  my
    opinion, that's something that you can definitely hear. Not  only
    that, _Quietus_ was mixed in digital format  while  _Embrace  the
    Emptiness_ and _Shades of Night Descending_ were  both  completed
    in analog. Digital was cool and very  convenient,  but  for  this
    next release we're looking to go back to analog. Analog, we feel,
    has that warmer sound which really enhances any  atmosphere  that
    you want to hear --  even  though  digital  makes  it  easier  to
    correct mistakes, etc.. What I mean by this is, you start to find
    yourself relying too much on the  computer,  which  creates  this
    almost safeguard, causing us to almost  digress  in  our  playing
    ability, which can pretty  much  cause  us  not  to  rehearse  as
    intensely as we normally  would.  _Shades  of  Night  Descending_
    really was a record we went into the studio blindly.  We  weren't
    together long at all and the ideas we developed only  came  about
    in the studio during recording. We were very  inexperienced,  but
    for what it was worth, I think we did an OK job.

CoC: What can be expected of Evoken in the future? How do  you  think
     your music will evolve?

VV: That's really hard to say, actually. Of course we  will  continue
    to write the darkest, slowest, and most intensely  ominous  music
    we can. Who knows what the future may hold for Evoken.  One  goal
    of ours is to, at some point, try and either play a few festivals
    or tour in Europe. I think first we will wind up touring  in  the
    US only, because it would be easier  for  our  label  to  support
    anything and it would really give us some experience in being  on
    the road. At this point in our existence we haven't traveled very
    far, with the furthest being Ohio, which is about 12  hours  from
    here. We'll just have to see what we can conjure up.  As  far  as
    the music, I really don't like to predict  what  may  happen.  We
    really would rather have things happen naturally than to sit back
    and say "Well, we should try and sound like this or develop  like
    that". There's always the conception that most doom  bands  exist
    for  either  two  or  three  albums  then  simply  fade  away  or
    completely change in their musical approach and wind up degrading
    into something they are not. With Evoken, we want to avoid  those
    pitfalls and go out on top with each and every  album  being  top
    notch.

CoC: Any final words for this interview?

VV: Well, thank you for the interview. I guess we both know  now  how
    e-mail can be a blessing but a curse at  the  same  time...  huh?
    Good luck with future endeavors  with  the  zine.  Everyone  keep
    checking our website for any news we may have. Hopefully, we will
    see everyone on some sort of tour for the next album, and  thanks
    to all of our fans around the world for the continued support  of
    Evoken. Cheers!

Contact: http://www.evoken.com

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                 T H E   H E A R T   O F   N E C R O
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC interviews V.I.T.R.I.O.L. of Anaal Nathrakh
                          by: Pedro Azevedo


It is  not,  in  my  experience,  a  very  frequent  occurrence  that
an underground  band  who  cultivates  their  underground  status  so
blatantly and corrosively as Anaal Nathrakh  would  so  rapidly  gain
recognition from the bigger  metal  and  sort-of-metal  publications.
Having personally witnessed their sonic development since their first
demo [CoC #43] and having interviewed them after  their  second  [CoC
#48, #49], I have to say I have never yet found a trace of  any  kind
of faux-underground and ultimately commercial attitude in this  band.
Just a listen to their first full-length  record  _The  Codex  Necro_
[CoC #56] should provide more than enough proof,  but  V.I.T.R.I.O.L.
-- one half of the duo that is Anaal  Nathrakh  --  proves  with  his
discourse that there is a lot more than mindless sonic aggression  in
Anaal Nathrakh.

CoC: _The Codex Necro_ is your latest  output,  and  the  first  with
     which you can expect more widespread recognition. How  satisfied
     are you with it?

V.I.T.R.I.O.L.: Very. When we started Anaal  Nathrakh,  it  was  with
                complete disregard for the outside world, so the fact
                that our music has been so well received  is  at  the
                very least interesting. In terms of  whether  we  are
                satisfied with the actual recording, yes we  are.  We
                set out to squeeze out the  most  violently  horrible
                puss we could, and we succeeded. That is not  to  say
                that there is not more to come, though...

CoC: You have always been quite successful in the underground  --  at
     least as far as CoC is concerned. However, you now seem to  have
     picked up some impressive praise from bigger magazines  such  as
     Terrorizer and Kerrang! as well with  your  latest  disc,  which
     could thrust Anaal Nathrakh into a rather  visible  position  in
     the metal world. How do you feel about that?

V: It was interesting when Kerrang! asked us for an interview,  etc..
   They sent a photographer to Necrodeath Studios  who  had  recently
   been on tour with some shit but very popular American band. Static
   X or some similar pile of crap. He asked us if we  were  going  to
   get dressed up for the photos etc., and we just said "Er,  no".  I
   don't think he really  understood  our  attitude,  and  we  didn't
   understand his. The journalist I spoke to seemed genuine,  though.
   Terrorizer at least  supports  some  decent  music  sometimes,  so
   receiving attention from them is a bit different.  Basically,  the
   idea is the same as when I have always said we could  easily  sign
   to a huge label if they offered us millions of  pounds.  Not  that
   they would. No one will ever get anything from us  but  absolutely
   vile shit. We do not, and will never compromise. At all. Ever.  As
   long as people understand that they are free to do with it as they
   will, we don't give a fuck. Are we  rockstars,  or  interested  in
   becoming them? No, fuck off. We just keep on doing what we  do  to
   the detriment of everyone else. The end.

CoC: As far as I know, you still don't have a human drummer. Is  this
     situation likely to change? Will it  stop  you  from  performing
     live?

V: At the moment, we have no plans to get a drummer and no  plans  to
   perform live.  There  is  nothing  to  say  we  could  never  have
   a  drummer,  should  an  appropriately  necrotic  and  unspeakable
   individual become available. If we got a drummer, we  could  think
   about live shows, but not before. That is not, however,  something
   that we spend a lot of time bothering to consider.

CoC: Your  sound  currently  conveys  an   unbelievable   amount   of
     aggression at times. How do you  see  that  evolving?  Will  you
     strive for even greater brutality,  or  try  to  diversify  your
     sound?

V: We have already recorded material that is far  more  violent  than
   anything we have so far released. Until the world  is  cracked  in
   two and sent crashing into the  sun,  there  is  always  room  for
   improvement. Basically we will do whatever the fuck we want to do.
   At the moment, that includes  insanity  and  barbarism.  We  would
   never try to do something, we would just do it.

CoC: The same can be  said  about  your  vocals:  some  of  the  most
     desperately hysterical and harsh I've ever heard. Do  you  still
     have vocal chords as such?

V: Just about. A sound guy once asked if I had a distortion box in my
   throat. The whole point of the singing is to get across the  sound
   that's in my head. It drives me fucking mad because  I  can't  get
   away from it, so when it comes  out  it's  pretty  fucking  harsh.
   "Desperately hysterical" is probably a good description.

CoC: How pleased are  you  for  having  _The  Codex  Necro_  released
     through Mordgrimm?  Do  you  believe  they  might  be  the  most
     appropriate label for Anaal Nathrakh, given their profile?

V: Their performance in the UK has been very  good.  Outside  the  UK
   I  don't  think  there  has  been  a  proper  release,  so  better
   distribution could be needed. Nihil, who runs Mordgrimm, seems  to
   have a good understanding of the necro spirit, and that is what is
   necessary.

CoC: You state that "humanity is cancer". Would you like to elaborate
     on that?

V: To launch  into  a  rant  here  would  seem  predictable.  Suffice
   to  say  this:  generally  speaking,  what  is  cancer?  It  is  a
   growing collection of undifferentiated cells that by  itself  does
   little except attempt to perpetuate itself. The byproduct  of  its
   existence and its trying to further its fundamental uniformity  is
   to suffocate and  destroy  everything  around  it  and  ultimately
   itself simply by existing.  In  virtually  its  entirety,  and  by
   virtue of the wasted possibility it represents, it  deserves  only
   to be exterminated. That is what cancer is.

CoC: May I ask what you think about the events that took place in New
     York on September 11th?

V: And give blinkered, ignorant maggots yet another  excuse  to  hurl
   abuse at us? People  who  are  so  stupid  that  they  can't  even
   understand to whom I'm referring when I use the  term  "blinkered,
   ignorant maggots"? No. We'll keep our silence and  they  can  keep
   their pathetic worlds.

CoC: What would you like to see happening in the world during 2002?

V: We would like to become independently wealthy.  The  rest  of  the
   world can go fuck itself. It would be good to be drunk long enough
   to get away from all the shit that seems to coat everything.

CoC: How do you imagine the world will be like ten  years  from  now?
     And when you are in your old age, assuming you live that long?

V: "Assuming you live that long". Thanks for the vote of  confidence.
   It's not an assumption I share either. I  don't  think  about  the
   future. I have an irrational  sense  that  something  horrible  is
   always about to happen -- a lot of people do, so I'm told  --  and
   when I try to picture the future, all I see  is  black.  The  only
   certainty is oblivion.

CoC: Titles such as "Insipid Flock" and "Human All Too Fucking Human"
   seem to speak for themselves, but what exactly  is  the  "paradigm
   shift" that you also mention?

V: Any  given  operative  paradigm  is  the  framework  within  which
   everything operates. For example, in the philosophy of science, it
   has been said that science can exist within the  current  paradigm
   -- e.g. working with and manipulating  data  within  accepted  and
   generally understood ways of thinking -- but can also step outside
   that paradigm and force a paradigm shift. An example of this could
   be the shift beyond Euclidean geometry  whereby  it  was  realized
   that despite theoretically being equidistant  along  their  entire
   length, "parallel" lines would eventually cross  if  extended  far
   enough through space  due  to  the  fact  that  space  itself  was
   fundamentally  curved.  Geometry  operating  under  the  Euclidean
   paradigm could not account for theories such as this -- a paradigm
   shift occurred to a way of thinking  that  could  accommodate  the
   "new reality". This form of realization forces people to  reassess
   the suppositions upon  which  they  base  their  actions,  and  to
   reorient existence in some way. The "Paradigm Shift"  we  describe
   is one of everything toward annihilation.

CoC: "Submission Is  for  the  Weak"  is  one  of  the  album's  most
     punishing tracks. I have to say the opening line and the  attack
     that follows is quite remarkable. Any comments on that track?

V: Yes, it's probably my favourite song from the album too. So savage
   you kind of go "Fuck!" when it comes in, but it has  depth  beyond
   simple savagery. Plus the  vocals  are  especially  unpleasant.  I
   don't think there is anything else that sounds much like it.

CoC: Re-recording "Supreme Necrotic Audnance"  and  "The  Technogoat"
     from your demo CD was a very wise decision, in my  opinion.  Are
     you pleased with the results,  do  you  think  those  two  songs
     benefited from this?

V: Yeah, we know how to get better  sounds  now,  plus  the  original
   version of the first track  had  a  fuck  up  on  the  tape.  "The
   Technogoat" is a lot faster and more violent too, which is  always
   a good thing. Plus it has the section somewhere in the  middle  of
   probably the most inhuman vocals I've done so far. We also did  an
   intermediate demo of that song and one or two others  that  hasn't
   been released, with a different guitar sound.

CoC: The last couple of tracks seems to be recorded at a lower  level
     than the rest, which is quite unfortunate. What happened there?

V: If there is any difference, it's just because it was difficult  to
   mix them. Real necro can be hard to control. You're lucky we could
   force any of it on to the CD at all.

CoC: The  word  "necro"  is  quite  ubiquitous  in  Anaal  Nathrakh's
     discography. In what ways would you say it describes your  sound
     and attitude?

V: Necro needs no  explanation.  There  are  those  who  possess  and
   understand it, and there are those who do not.

CoC: Why the name V.I.T.R.I.O.L., by the way?

V: It means sulphuric acid, which is perfectly appropriate for me and
   what I do in Anaal Nathrakh.  Corrosive,  and  based  on  elements
   which stink of rot.  Plus  it  is  an  obscure  reference  to  the
   Philosopher's Stone which has a perverse relevance to me.  That  I
   won't go into.

CoC: Whilst visiting the current Anaal Nathrakh website,  I  found  a
     prominent advert for a website that  lets  you  search  for  old
     highschool classmates throughout the US. Care to comment on  the
     irony?

V: Erm,  what?  Ah,  yeah,  the  Geocities  adverts  that   pop   up.
   Schoolfriends, film adverts, pictures of Britney Spears, all sorts
   of shit comes up. I think she would have to  be  the  most  ironic
   thing that could possibly be on our site, as she is  the  absolute
   opposite of what if  anything  we  are  about.  Worse  still,  she
   appears to "stand for" what she represents (apple  pie,  sex  only
   after marriage, lack of drug abuse, etc., etc.)  whereas  we  both
   despise what she represents and reject the idea  of  standing  for
   anything at all. Then again, the quantity of pictures of her  that
   are around must lead to individuals somewhere out there who  would
   love to jack her up, beat the shit out of her and  fuck  her  till
   she was dead. So maybe there is some balance in the  world  to  an
   extent. At least the adverts disappear after a few seconds...

CoC: The final words are yours...

V: The world may think it has seen the heart of  necro,  but  it  has
   not. There are further depths to be plumbed, and  we  will  scrape
   them clean of vile shit and serve it up, that  the  maggots  might
   feast. Unspeakable, violent nihilism, rampant.  That  is  what  we
   will create. Be ready, for the next lump of necro vomit is soon to
   come...

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           E N T O M B E D ' S   S H I N I N G   S T A R !
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC chats with L.G. Petrov of Entombed
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     Entombed have a new album out and it rocks. Go figure...
     The first time I played the new Entombed album _Morning Star_  I
was mesmerized, not because of the fact that this  band  still  after
all these years continues to put out great material and expand  their
sound with each recording, but because the band  is  just  having  so
much fun. You can see it in the album cover  (look  carefully!),  the
lyrics (listen carefully!) and in the  grooves  of  the  music  (just
crank this fucker!).
     The new album is  as  exciting  as  going  to  a  Chucky  Cheese
restaurant all hammered with a group of Frat boys. Hell,  maybe  even
more exciting than that!
     Entombed singer L.G. Petrov begins about  the  good  times  with
_Morning Star_: "I think through all that we have been through  these
last few years with the changes in what we have done  musically,  the
band [rounded out by  guitarists  Uffe  Cederlund  and  Alex  Hellid,
drummer Peter Stjarnvind and bassist Jorgen Sandstrom --  Adrian]  is
right where we want to be. A lot has happened, one of the main things
being Nicke [Andersson, drummer]  leaving  the  band  after  so  many
years. He was a main songwriter for the band and we felt his loss. We
put out an album [1998's _Same Difference_] that was kind  of,  well,
musically different than what we wanted to do. But we eventually  got
back to the music that we wanted to do [with 1999's  _Uprising_]  and
things seem to be going a lot better for us now."
     He adds about response to _Same Difference_ by saying, "We  knew
when we made that record that it was going to be a  different  album,
but for the most part we weren't worried about  that  'cause  it  was
just another Entombed album. There were a lot of negative  voices  in
the air when _Same Difference_ came out and that just kept  us  aware
of what we were doing and what needed to be done. When bands  go  off
course and make a different record, possibly a record outside of what
they have done before, it just gives them the initiative to make  the
next record better. And that is  what  we  did  with  _Uprising_.  We
weren't going to throw  in  the  towel  because  people  hated  _Same
Difference_. No way! We just  kept  rolling  along  and  turning  our
Entombed music."
     The new record _Morning Star_ seems to just coast along,  a  lot
of fun and just solid grooves that never seems to slow down. "We have
had a lot of records that have been up and down throughout the years,
but our fans just seem to like it when we just coast along  and  keep
things heavy and exciting. I know we do when we play",  he  comments.
"There is just this really cool feel to this album and that to me  is
a much stronger feeling than trying to go all out and experiment with
a sound and overdo things. We tried to keep the  album  pretty  basic
and have easily written songs."
     So what about _Morning Star_ does  Petrov  like?  Each  Entombed
album must leave a certain impression on him. What does he get out of
the new album?
     "I just think this is -- and I know we say this with each  album
--, but this is the best record. We have made some albums in the past
that we could have done better and I think we made it  up  with  this
album. We got a lot of satisfaction out of making _Morning Star_.  It
isn't a long record, it's quite short, but it is  intense.  We  wrote
it, recorded it and moved on."
     He adds, "This album was a very short process for us. Usually we
spend a lot of time on an album and we didn't want  that.  We  didn't
want to fuss over songs and try to get things right 100%. We just got
the right vibe, made sure it was recorded properly and moved onto the
next song. There was no need to go all out with this record,  it  was
more about a feeling rather than perfection."
     And L.G.'s favourite  songs  on  _Morning  Star_  are?  "I  love
"Bringer of Light" a lot", shouts an enthusiastic L.G. down the line.
"It is such a great song. When Alex brought the ideas to the band  it
seemed like it might be hard to do, but it came out perfect. That  is
such a heavy Entombed song. It is a great song."
     "The whole making of this album was so great, I just can't  stop
talking about it", says the singer with sincerity. "The studio was  a
fun place and it never got boring for us. Sometimes when you are in a
studio and recording it really does make you wish you were not there.
Not this time. It was a blast."
     Through all the "ups and downs" over the years, this year  being
an "up" year for the band with the  release  of  _Morning  Star_,  is
Entombed's frontman surprised that they have lasted this long in  the
music business?
     "Not really", comes the reply. "There is nothing else for us  to
do and we just keep on doing this. This is what we do. We have  never
thought about leaving the band or going on  our  own  separate  ways.
Making music is still interesting for us, and it  has  become  easier
over the years. We are very spontaneous songwriters and our source of
songwriting never seems to end."
     "This is far from feeling like a job. It is just a  lot  of  fun
all the time and we feel very happy and fortunate that we can do this
all the time. Some of us have gotten jobs out of boredom, but for the
most part we don't do anything else but be Entombed.  It  is  simple,
but fun. I've gotten used to it over the years."
     As  _Morning  Star_  plays  on,  it  becomes  quite  clear  that
references of Satan and religion keep  popping  up  here  and  there.
Christ, just look at the cover.  What  gives,  L.G.?  Are  there  any
specific subject matters that the band tackled for this album or  was
it just one big party?
     "We have always written about Satan and once again he pops up in
the lyrics", he laughs. "But from a lyrical point of view  there  are
no really concrete issues we really have an emphasis on; we just take
on whatever comes our way. We just observe and write about it. It  is
that simple", Petrov says while continuing to laugh. "We  take  ideas
from around us, put our own spin on it and record it. We  just  laugh
at everything around us, really, because the world is what it is.  We
can't change anything, so why not have fun?"
     I can live with  that.  Keep  on  rocking  in  the  free  world,
Entombed. Devil horns till the end!

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

                         I N S I D E   O U T
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC chats with Leffe Jensen of Dew-Scented
                 by: Paul Schwarz and Adrian Bromley


Part 1: Is Inwards the Only Way Out?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Paul Schwarz

Dew-Scented are one the finest thrash bands  that  has  emerged  from
Germany since its "golden age", when the likes of Kreator, Sodom  and
Destruction first tore up the scene in the Eighties. Well, maybe they
didn't as much tear up the scene as they did congregate in one corner
of it and make a distinctive loud and offensive noise; to  be  called
"one of the finest thrash bands that has emerged from Germany in  the
last decade" is a compliment -- but in being awarded such an accolade
a contestant  is  not  indicated  to  have  had  to  face  a  lot  of
competition. As you can probably tell, I personally  have  my  doubts
about Dew-Scented; simultaneously, I am in no doubt that they  are  a
tight, powerful metal band that will appeal to many of you out  there
and -do- appeal to me. My reasons for being rather  sharply  critical
in the following email  interview  with  Dew-Scented  vocalist  Leffe
Jensen conducted in  early  January  were  simple:  _Inwards_,  their
fourth album [reviewed in this issue],  though  more  than  unbridled
enough in its vicious metalness to stand tall  over  Nuclear  Blast's
relative-unknown  collective,  seemed  to  me  a  little  lacking  in
vibrancy, despite its undeniable, brutalising proficiency.  Though  I
didn't dislike _Inwards_, listening  to  it  led  me  to  forsake  it
increasingly in favour  of  The  Haunted.  Though  I  haven't  really
altered this stance on _Inwards_ myself, I still think that  many  of
you with more of a desire for volume in your head-down,  thrash/death
collection than me may well find the album and the  band  well  worth
checking out. That said, the band are still on my  interest  list  --
and not just because my (possibly overblown and pretentious)  reading
between the lines "discovered" a hint of the  will  of  Hegel  and  a
healthy dose of Rousseaunian romanticism in the  ideas  behind  Leffe
Jensen's lyrics. I'll -definitely-  be  turning  up  early  to  catch
Dew-Scented live when they come to Scotland with Vader on the 21st of
March.

CoC: If I had to describe Dew-Scented briefly to someone  who  hadn't
     heard the band, I'd call  you  a  mixture  of  The  Haunted  and
     Malevolent Creation (_Retribution_-era). What do  you  think  of
     that description? How would you describe Dew-Scented to  someone
     who'd never heard the band?

Leffe Jensen: Well yeah, I think we can live with  your  description!
              It's obviously very difficult to make  up  a  "neutral"
              opinion about  the  material  if  you  are  playing  it
              yourself, but I would say that both Malevolent Creation
              and The Haunted definitely  have  similarities  in  the
              songwriting approach with Dew-Scented, as we all go for
              the best of both worlds between thrash and death  metal
              and also have the  aim  to  sound  as  uncompromisingly
              aggressive and hard-hitting as ever  possible.  I  also
              do hear  strong  Slayer  references  in  all  mentioned
              cases, so  I  guess  that's  a  good  point  as  well?!
              Dew-Scented's basic intention is to  come  up  with  an
              interesting  mixture  of  untamed  brutality  and  some
              technical  sidemark  in  the  song  structures  without
              losing the overall catchiness. We  grew  up  on  savage
              thrash metal and appreciate vile death metal,  so  that
              will always shine through in our own songs...

CoC: Why do you think that the  metal  scene  needs  Dew-Scented?  Is
     there something missing from it that Dew-Scented can bring to it?

LJ: That's a really tough question and not really  something  I  feel
    very comfortable  answering.  I  think  it's  rather  up  to  the
    listener to decide, at the end of the day! I  think  in  general,
    the metal scene of these days needs more bands  that  believe  at
    strongest in what they are doing and stick to their  "individual"
    musical formula in the long-term,  making  sure  to  always  move
    forwards in quality without abruptly jumping from  one  style  to
    the next just for better instant exposure.  We  have  been  doing
    this for quite some years now, playing our asses  off  on  stage,
    and I feel we have grown a lot as single musicians as well as  in
    terms of being a tight unity. I think our new album _Inwards_  is
    the result of these last years of hard work and I hope it will be
    a record that satisfies the  needs  of  some  other  people  into
    violent straightforward thrash metal too!?  That  would  be  fair
    enough  to  us!  I  don't  think  we  are  a  totally  unique  or
    stylistically "groundbreaking"  outfit,  and  we  actually  don't
    intend to be! After all, we are having a good time ourselves with
    what we are doing...

CoC: Do you find that people are at  all  dismissive  of  Dew-Scented
     because of your German origins in the way that  people  tend  to
     automatically pay more attention to metal bands, at the  moment,
     who are Swedish?

LJ: Could be, but that is often used as an excuse by many  bands  for
    the question why they aren't succeeding. I don't  know,  I  think
    there is a massive amount of outstanding extreme metal bands from
    Scandinavia, so it's pretty normal that the scene over there  has
    a bigger focus and profile! As far as the German scene,  I  guess
    it also has a lot to do with the "glorious" past of thrash metal,
    as there haven't been many German extreme acts  that  managed  to
    achieve a huge world-wide reputation  after  Sodom  /  Kreator  /
    Destruction. Maybe Morgoth were the only exception to that!? Then
    again, I think this situation leads to make  the  up  'n'  coming
    bands fight harder for what they believe in and hopefully one day
    get the deserved attention. And the scene over here  had  a  very
    healthy period of evolution, as I think there are plenty of  good
    bands now around in Germany that don't really have the exact same
    sound. I mean, bands like Night In Gales,  Disbelief,  Crack  Up,
    Fleshcrawl, Bethlehem, Agathodaimon, Profanity, Harmony Dies  and
    probably also Dew-Scented have been around for quite some  years,
    always progressing next to each other without sounding  too  much
    alike. But coming back to your original  question:  in  the  very
    last instance, there is only good or bad music to me,  no  matter
    where the band comes from, and I think more people  should  start
    realising that by now...

CoC: What would you say  to  someone  who  claimed  Dew-Scented  were
     nothing but an inferior alternative to The Haunted?

LJ: I take the "alternative" as a compliment, because in  fact  there
    aren't many bands around that are devoted to this style of music!
    All other styles are full of lame copycats and  now  there  is  a
    handful of bands that have a strong Slayer vibe to them  as  well
    as a death metal attitude at the same time, and  suddenly  you'll
    need to put them into competition with each other? I don't  quite
    agree with that! Everybody in Dew-Scented loves The  Haunted  and
    we really appreciate the fact that they had  the  guts  to  write
    their self-titled debut record, because that's probably the  most
    pounding thrash metal record of the  last  ten  years!  Still,  I
    don't think that Dew-Scented is too close to what The Haunted are
    doing and we never meant to "steal" their trademarks, so I  don't
    see the problem here! I would love to hear their opinion on this,
    haha!

CoC: What do you think of Nuclear  Blast,  their  history  and  their
     current roster? Why did you decide to sign with them? How do you
     feel about being on a label that has Primal Fear, HammerFall and
     Narnia on its roster?

LJ: I think Nuclear Blast is a cool  label  and  they  are  (finally)
    opening a lot of new worldwide doors  for  Dew-Scented  with  the
    fact that we are getting far better  promotion  and  distribution
    for our music than in the past, so I wouldn't be able to complain
    at all so far. I guess they respect our album and career  so  far
    and I think they are really satisfied with the media  results  on
    _Inwards_, so things are really looking good for our co-operation
    at the moment! We signed with them  because  we  share  the  same
    vision for this new album and we as a band  have  the  impression
    that they are gonna give  us  the  best  possible  attention  and
    facilities to get the album out to the people who care about  our
    music! We don't have to dig all of their repertoire to know  that
    we are in good hands with the label that  works  for  bands  like
    Destruction, Immortal, In Flames, Lock Up or also Dimmu Borgir! I
    think it's a positive  move  that  they  have  a  quite  diverse,
    all-metal roster and the people working  for/with  us  definitely
    know what they are doing!

CoC: Would you call yourselves a death metal band (as  Nuclear  Blast
     have)? I would say you were more  thrash  than  death.  Do  such
     labels as "death metal" and "thrash metal" really matter to you?

LJ: I would say we are fairly in between both of those "labels",  but
    to  somebody  who  digs  just  well-done,  aggressive  metal,  it
    shouldn't be much of a difference! I wouldn't totally agree  with
    the fact that we are scheduled as "death metal",  but  to  people
    expecting "nice" melodic or old school thrash metal, I  think  it
    does make sense to set a warning that Dew-Scented might be a  bit
    heavier than that. We equally like some thrash  and  death  metal
    bands so again, I don't think  it's  a  big  deal!  Thrash  metal
    riffing and songwriting,  but  with  death  metal  brutality  and
    pissed-off vocals, that would be a good way of putting it in case
    you should really need such a strict "labeling". Haha!

CoC: How important are your lyrics when compared with you  music?  Is
     there some message (or messages) they convey that you  think  it
     is important that people hear?

LJ: Basically the lyrics are meant to  add  to  the  certain  musical
    atmosphere of a song, so of course I would always point out  that
    the music is of bigger importance for us. "Message" is maybe  the
    wrong word, but  _Inwards_  definitely  has  some  guiding  theme
    lyrically, as you might discover by  seeing  the  symbolic  cover
    art, the title of the album and the names of the songs. _Inwards_
    generally deals with the power of inner strength that we carry in
    ourselves and about the fact that we tend to forget more from day
    to day how vital that is and how little we  challenge  it!  Daily
    life is full of shit, society is becoming  more  cruel,  it's  so
    much easier to be frustrated or hopeless these days...  but  then
    again, we could do something about it if we  only  wanted.  Every
    bit of experience and every feeling is  a  source  of  power  (no
    matter if positive or negative) for  our  minds  and  spirits.  I
    think it's too bad that some people are giving  up  fighting  for
    what they feel and that's  the  main  topic  throughout  all  the
    lyrics. I think it would be by far  easier  to  speak  about  the
    individual songs instead of talking about  a  complete  "vision",
    but I hope  you  will  get  at  least  some  input  now?  Yes,  I
    definitely think that lyrics should  be  a  nice  extra  for  the
    listeners that care! To me,  there  are  good  albums  with  crap
    lyrics in metal and some that are just better because  they  have
    some impressing amount of lyrical "wit" on top of good music!  If
    you enjoy reading between the lines of metal  lyrics,  you  might
    like our approach!? But  the  music  will  always  go  first  and
    therefore the lyrics are just there supporting the very angry and
    aggressive vein of the music on _Inwards_...

CoC: You have built up quite a resume' of  live  work,  playing  with
     bands such as Overkill, Morbid Angel, Deicide,  Arch  Enemy  and
     Cryptopsy. How important is playing live for you as a band? When
     you're writing songs, how much thought do you put  into  how  it
     will sound in a live setting?  Would  you  write,  or  have  you
     written, songs that you couldn't perform live, or that  wouldn't
     sound good when played live?

LJ: Playing live is the strongest part  of  death  and  thrash  metal
    music! We would rather consider ourselves as a live act  that  is
    writing albums to be able to go  out  again  to  play  some  more
    shows, instead of the other way around! We have grown quite a lot
    as tight unity in the last couple of years, majorly  due  to  the
    fact that we did as many shows as we could and went through a lot
    of different experiences when it comes to touring! Hmmm, I  think
    you are touching a good topic here, as we perhaps finally managed
    to write  the  right  material  for  a  cool  stage  presence  on
    _Inwards_!? In the past, we somehow always  wrote  two  or  three
    songs per album that we knew instantly  wouldn't  work  out  that
    well in our live-sets, so those songs never got  played,  really.
    With _Inwards_, I somehow think that  we  really  composed  songs
    that are straightforward and imminent, so it has been awesome  to
    perform that material live! I think we learnt a lot about our own
    stronger and weaker  points  as  songwriters  through  all  those
    different shows we did in the turn of the  years,  and  therefore
    _Inwards_ profited a lot from that. I really hope we will be able
    to come over to the UK  soon  for  live  shows  as  well,  as  we
    unfortunately never really had the chance to come over to play...

CoC: What do you think of your version of  "War  Ensemble"  when  you
     compare it to Slayer's original? Why did you choose to record  a
     Slayer cover, why did you choose "War Ensemble", and  what  made
     you decide to include it as a 'bonus track' on _Inwards_?

LJ: Hmm, difficult one as well again! I think 99% of the Slayer cover
    versions done so far by other bands can't live up at all  to  the
    original Slayer song... Well, they just suck!!! I think we  tried
    to make a fair and simple rendition of that classic, massive song
    just to see how we would be able to "represent" it ourselves  and
    also to see how it would come out  when  we  have  it  powerfully
    recorded and produced. The moment we first heard  "War  Ensemble"
    in its final mix in the studio, we felt sure  that  it  came  out
    fine and that it would be better to give it a use on the release.
    We were looking for one track off the session to be used  as  the
    Japanese bonus track for the album, so it looked like an  obvious
    pick that we would leave the cover song for  this  reason!?  It's
    always "risky" to play around with songs of bands that you  would
    consider as direct influence for your band,  so  I  can't  really
    make up my opinion on  whether  we  succeeded  on  doing  a  good
    version of the song or not. It was such a spontaneous choice that
    it only got rehearsed a handful of times, so  we  actually  never
    thought about the "consequences", haha! In fact, we  never  meant
    to get special "attention" for the track and therefore we decided
    not to make it a regular part of the album, as some  people  seem
    to always give special value to  cover  tracks.  _Inwards_  is  a
    record that should stand on its own feet, so to say, just by  our
    own material! "War Ensemble" is a song  that  pretty  much  every
    metalhead is gonna know by heart (or really should!), so  it's  a
    great tune to fully tear up the  audiences  during  a  good  live
    show! Did I mention before that Slayer rule?

CoC: The floor is yours. Say  anything  about  Dew-Scented  you  feel
     people should know that you haven't already touched on.

LJ: Thanks for this interview  and  for  the  support!  It  would  be
    awesome to be finally able to come over for some shows  with  our
    new album _Inwards_. I hope some of your readers  will  give  our
    new record a try, as I think they could  like  what  we  came  up
    with?! Please feel free to visit our website for further  details
    about the band. Take care and stay  heavy!  Chuck  Schuldiner  --
    RIP, you are never going to be forgotten!


Part 2: Outward Bound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by: Adrian Bromley

     "I think things are going as planned with  this  band.  It  just
seems to be all going in the  right  direction",  starts  Dew-Scented
singer Leffe about the band's new album _Inwards_  (their  debut  for
Nuclear Blast) and their growth over the years. "I know  for  a  fact
that all of our fans are still following us and are quite happy  with
the evolution of our sound. We have always done what we wanted to  do
and I think, without sounding cliche, we have done  the  best  record
that we have ever done."
     "We are getting a lot of feedback for  this  record  and  it  is
exciting to hear people so excited about what we have done  here.  It
feels good. We are just trying to keep making the best music that  we
can and learn from our mistakes, to work with the new chances that we
are given with being on a new label and just try to push the  profile
of the band out to the music fans. The scene is growing and it  is  a
lot more open-minded and people like a lot  of  music  and  hopefully
people who don't know us with latch onto what we are doing  with  the
new album. Thrash metal is having a comeback and  we  are  trying  to
seize the day and present ourselves in the best possible way."
     He adds, "We worked hard to write and record the best  music  we
could for  this  release.  We  wanted  to  have  a  good  production,
something we didn't have on the last few records. It took a while  to
get the right production. We were concerned on making  the  music  of
Dew-Scented a bit more technically intriguing than what we  had  done
in the past. We also got a lot more aggressive and I  know  the  fans
like that too."
     And have things changed for Dew-Scented -- the band  is  rounded
out by guitarist Flo, bassist Patrick and drummer Uwe  --  with  them
being on Nuclear Blast?
     "Oh man, we  have  seen  so  many  changes  already",  says  the
frontman about their new home. "We are able to walk through a lot  of
new doors, doors that were locked before we signed to the  label.  It
is getting us excited  about  being  in  the  band  a  lot  more  and
motivating us as a band. The label is really excited  about  what  we
are doing and it is definitely a good sign for us."
     "But I'll tell you one thing, Adrian", he continues. "It doesn't
matter what label's name is on the back of our CD, just  as  long  as
there are people who believe in what we are  doing  and  are  working
hard at making things happen for us. That is  all  we  want  to  see.
There is a lot of good chemistry between us  and  Nuclear  Blast  and
they are extremely proud of the response we are getting."
     With the jump to a major label and things  changing  week  after
week for the band right now, with touring plans and much praise  from
fans and the metal community, the band must be in awe of  how  things
have gone for them since their inception. Are their prime goals as  a
band still intact?
     "That is a difficult question. I think the risk is always big to
fall into a routine with what you are doing and losing the  freshness
in your creativity. I think we have been pretty lucky with this band.
We have learned a lot over the years and known quite well  that  this
was a learning experience. A lot of bands in this genre come out with
a massive debut album and then  slowly  lose  ground  and  are  never
capable of getting that back with their follow-up albums. With us, we
have had to grow with each album and you can hear that when you  play
_Inwards_ next to our older stuff.  You  can  see  that  it  is  much
tighter than previous albums and that we have indeed worked  hard  to
perfect and nurture our sound."
     For fans of Dew-Scented, the new album _Inwards_ finds the  band
stepping up things a notch, in both the technical and aggressive end.
_Inwards_ is a definite monster of a record that exudes so much force
and power but showcases it will  finesse  and  grace  rather  than  a
pompous attitude that some technical death metal outfits  omit.  This
is good, honest playing done with lots of passion. Leffe feels it big
time!
     "We are in love with playing technical music",  he  states.  "We
just want this to be an experience for all of our fans.  We  love  to
bring a lot of this technical stuff into the  death  metal  mix,  but
still keep it catchy and open ended  to  go  other  routes  with  the
musical creativity.  We  are  so  much  into  bands  like  Meshuggah,
Cryptopsy and even Dillinger Escape Plan, they are all so  cool,  and
we wanted those kind of technical features in what we do,  but  on  a
much smaller scale. To just squeeze it into what we play and let  the
music offer up a variety of sounds for people to digest. Our  drummer
is a very technical drummer and we really had to  nail  him  down  to
playing a bit more straightforward with the  music  and  not  be  too
technical on this album. Technical, but  a  but  more  controlled.  I
think in the end, it helped make this record stronger."
     And what about _Inwards_ is he most proud of?
     "I think that this album has a beginning and an  end",  responds
Leffe. "The whole album  just  makes  sense.  It  is  about  full  on
aggression and this record builds up from song to song  and  ends  in
this huge blast beat massacre at the end  of  the  album.  With  past
albums we had mid-paced songs and some of them had too much melody in
them, and this album has a very compact feel to it. Every  song  that
didn't seem to fit the scheme of what we were  doing  with  _Inwards_
was thrown out. We just wanted this album to be one of  those  albums
that you put on and listen from start to finish and at the end of  it
all say, "Man, that was brutal!" and move on."
     Even though the band has been around for almost ten years,  they
are still is in the trenches of the metal community, playing fast and
furious against a sea of other acts trying to get noticed. Where does
Leffe see Dew-Scented in the scope of the metal music world?
     "I don't know, really, I don't think it is fair to  say  we  are
better than anyone else, because at the end of the  day  it  isn't  a
competition for us. We aren't doing anything  original  or  special",
says the singer. "With our music we  are  just  saying  that  we  are
influenced by a lot of '80s death and thrash metal bands."
     He ends, "We  are  just  trying  to  present  what  we  like  in
aggressive metal with our own ideas. I know  there  are  a  lot  more
bands that are more special to the scene than us. I think we are just
a traditional band. I think our music appeals to a lot of people, but
I don't really care how big we become, as  long  as  the  music  gets
heard."

Contact: http://www.dew-scented.de

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

                   S I N G I N G   O U T   L O U D
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC talks to Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     Making that perfect album is not always a lot of fun.  Just  ask
Blind Guardian singer/bassist Hansi Kursch how he and the rest of his
band spent twelve months  in  the  studio  working  on  their  latest
magical opus _A Night at the Opera_ and you'll be sure to get  a  lot
of groans and moans from the usually upbeat frontman.
     "Making this record  was  frustrating  at  times.  It  makes  me
nervous when things take too long. I was doing four months of singing
and it was just becoming this long routine of each day singing all of
these parts. It was  driving  me  nuts",  Blind  Guardian's  frontman
blurts out over the phone. "Charlie [Bauerfeind, producer] demanded a
lot of really intense vocals at times and  it  is  much  higher  than
anything I have had to sing before. It was very  complicated  to  get
all of this going on the right path and it was just taking so long. I
was disappointed that we weren't able to keep the  schedule  that  we
had set for this album, but all of us in the band  [guitarists  Andre
Olbrich and Marcus Siepen and drummer Thomas Stauch --  Adrian]  knew
that we had to take as  much  time  to  make  sure  this  album  came
together smoothly or we'd be dealing with a giant mess."
     "We felt confident with the  music  itself  and  that  it  would
justify the extended recording period that we did  with  this  album,
but to be honest, twelve months on an album is a bit too much for  me
and I don't ever want to go through that ordeal again", he laughs.
     So the lengthy, demanding  studio  work  and  extended  schedule
would explain why the CD single, the 14+ minute epic "And Then  There
Was Silence", was put out? To whet fans' appetites?
     "Yeah, sort of", notes Kursch. "It had been a  long  time  since
our last record and it was sort of a statement, to let fans know that
we were back. We needed to really provide fans with the best possible
excuse for the extended waiting time. A lot of  our  fans  have  been
patient with us, but have also been disappointed that  the  album  is
not out yet. I think we had announced the record to come out in  July
or August of 2001. Then it got bumped to September or October and  we
knew it was too late to release anything and would have to wait  till
2002, so  we  decided  to  provide  the  fans  with  something  quite
excellent to show that we were back by putting  out  the  14+  minute
song, and also including the song "Harvest  of  Sorrow"  [an  outtake
from the _Nightfall in Middle-Earth_ sessions -- Adrian]. I think  by
doing this, we were on the safe side with  our  fans  and  they  were
willing to wait a bit longer for the new album."
     The new album by Blind Guardian caught me by surprise, really. I
mean, while I have numerous Blind Guardian releases in my  collection
at home, I have never been a die-hard follower  of  the  power  metal
band's music. Until now. The new album basks in brilliance: from  the
stellar production work, glorious guitar  riffs  and  heavenly  vocal
harmonies, _A Night at the Opera_ is a great festive  piece  of  work
that does  away  with  normalcy  and  coats  itself  with  a  bubbly,
colourful feel to the music. Just listen to songs like "Battlefield",
"The Soulforged" or "The Maiden and the Minstrel Knight" and you  too
will be singing along and enjoying the night out.
     About the recording of  _A  Night  at  the  Opera_,  the  singer
comments, "We got to a certain point during  the  recording  of  this
record, a record that was very delicate and needed a lot of attention
to make sure it all turned out okay, where we knew that  this  was  a
lot to take on at once. This is a complex  record  and  things  could
easily turn out of control and bring it all crashing  down.  The  big
task was for us to keep things in control and  make  sure  everything
was reaching the same level of creativity  and  mood  throughout  the
album. I also think our producer did a great job of making  sure  all
the dynamics of the record worked well off one another."
     He continues, "For me as a vocalist, I just tried to get  better
with this  album,  as  I  do  with  every  album.  In  terms  of  the
songwriting, it was really weird this time around. Andre provided  me
with complete sections. All the music was done and all I  had  to  do
was add vocals on them. It already had guitar,  drums  and  orchestra
parts laid out and I didn't have a lot of space to bring something of
value out of these somewhat over-packed musical arrangements.  I  was
trying to make my work vital and passionate, trying hard to just make
my voice complement what music had already been assembled  and  given
to me. It was a unique experience, to say the least."
     Speaking of uniqueness, especially when you are  discussing  the
themed escapades of the band such  as  past  works  _Tales  From  the
Twilight  World_  (1991),  _Somewhere  Far  Beyond  (1992)  and  _The
Forgotten Tales_ (1996), _A Night at the  Opera_  is  not  a  concept
album at all. And there  is  a  reason  for  that,  too.  The  singer
explains.
     "When we started to write this album, when it was in  the  early
stages, we considered that this would not  be  a  concept  album.  We
wanted several songs to lyrically have different topics and as we got
into the songwriting process more it became obvious that that was the
case with the material, as a lot of the songs all went off  in  their
own directions. But we did feel that there should  be  some  kind  of
connection between the songs on this  album,  like  a  common  thread
going through them. So  what  we  did  was  try  to  work  in  a  lot
of harmonies into the  vocals,  then  the  guitars  and  finally  the
orchestra. The harmonies on all three levels give this album  a  real
operatic effect."
     "When we were trying to come up with a  name  for  the  album  I
suggested _A Night at the Opera_", says the singer  about  the  album
title. "But I had thought about the  Queen  album  _A  Night  at  the
Opera_ [the 1975 classic album that spawned  the  mega-hit  "Bohemian
Rhapsody" -- Adrian] and was unsure of  using  the  title.  I  didn't
really want it to come across as offensive to Queen's album. The rest
of the guys in the band liked it, so we stayed with it. Plus it  went
along nicely with the somewhat operatic musical arrangements inside."
     With a lengthy album at hand (70+ minutes of  music),  how  then
should fans tackle this record, Hansi?
     "I know from my experience I like to take  songs  on  one  at  a
time, to just really listen to a song and try to get the most out  of
it. That is just me. But with this record,  I  also  would  recommend
that to the fans who pick up this  album,  to  really  sit  down  and
listen to each track very carefully. There is a lot going  on  and  I
think each demands a lot  from  the  listener.  If  I  was  a  casual
listener, I would take  my  time  with  this  album,  because  it  is
demanding and there is just so much going on.  In  short,  any  Blind
Guardian fan should tackle this record how they choose  to.  Just  as
long as they enjoy it."
     And does he still enjoy making music after all these  years,  or
has he found himself wanting to break away from it lately?
     "Oh no", responds Hansi. "I don't think I have ever gotten to  a
point where I was sick of making music. This is what I do and this is
what makes me feel good inside. I really like  to  create  music  and
just make music that inspires other people to start creating music or
just send them off to another world where they can forget about their
lives for a while. I also like  talking  about  my  music  and  doing
interviews. I love to talk to magazines  and  fans  when  we  have  a
record coming out. It allows me to be excited about my work  and  see
how other people are reacting to what we have done."
     With so much quality work under their belts, it must feel  great
to look back and see the work they have done, and add a solid  outing
like _A Night at the Opera_ to the list.
     "I am proud of every album we have done, and when I look back it
just makes me feel good to know that  we  have  progressed  musically
with each album", he states. "With each album we  also  seem  to  get
more and more popular and it  feels  good  knowing  that  people  are
paying attention to our music."
     And the progression continues...
     "The most important goal for us with this album was to  get  the
album out and just supply music fans with  the  best  album  that  we
could make. We always want to sound new, innovative and creative with
each album. It is especially hard  to  start  on  a  new  album  off,
especially with an album like _Nightfall  in  Middle-Earth_  on  your
back, because you accomplished all that you could music-wise in  that
genre and field. You need to search out new fields and new  ideas  to
try to make things different for the band. It is quite  hard  and  it
took us about five months to get into a  decent  songwriting  process
where we could experience significant changes compared to what we had
done with _Nightfall in Middle-Earth_."
     The singer ends off, "We really  had  to  outdo  ourselves,  and
judging by how much time we were holed up in the studio,  I  think  I
can honestly say we did a damn good job."

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

                   A N   E A S Y   D E L I V E R Y
                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC chats with Edu Falaschi of Angra
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     So, you're the new singer, eh?
     "I guess I am", laughs new Angra frontman Edu Falaschi down  the
line from Brazil. "It has been a great experience to join  and  be  a
part of this band.  It  was  pretty  easy  to  join  Angra.  No  real
pressure."
     You'd  think  that  taking  over  the  singer   position   (from
Andre  Matos)  in  an  already   established   band   like   Brazil's
progressive/power/heavy metal act Angra would be quite the task,  but
not for Falaschi, who along with drummer Aquiles Priester and bassist
Felipe Andreoli (who replaced Ricardo Confessori and  Luis  Mariutti)
joined  founding  members,  guitarists  and  main  songwriters   Kiko
Loureiro and Rafael Bittencourt to complete the new line-up of  Angra
and put out the stellar _Rebirth_ on SPV.
     Indeed it does look like it was  an  easy  transition.  Falaschi
explains: "I am  very  famous  in  the  heavy  metal  scene  here  in
Brazil and that made things  easier  for  me.  I  have  been  singing
professionally for about ten years now and people know  me  and  knew
that me joining Angra was a great thing. But it was a  bit  different
around the world and the response that people were giving to the  new
line-up. I think people weren't sure of what  to  expect,  but  sales
have been great, so they must have caught on."
     "We just want people to know that  this  is  a  new  band",  the
singer says. "But the essence of  Angra  remains.  People  understand
what we are doing musically. I am very glad with the results that  we
are getting around the world with _Rebirth_. People just seem  to  be
excited and that makes us even more excited."
     I admit to Falaschi that while I was a fan of  Angra's  previous
work, the new album with him singing far surpasses anything they have
done in my books. The  new  album  soars  under  his  superb  vocals,
especially on tracks like "Millennium Sun", "Heroes of Sand" and  the
title track. Impressive, to say the least!
     "I'm very happy to be a part of this. Everyone  is  saying  that
Angra is much better now, a lot heavier and a much stronger structure
than in years past, and I can hear that. It makes us feel good to see
that people are so into what we have done with  _Rebirth_.  The  band
has matured a lot and the new members, including myself, have brought
a lot more diverse dynamics into what we do now. There is no pressure
to be a part of this and be the frontman. We all know change is  hard
to deal with, but it has been smooth. Musically we are at our best."
     And other than dealing with the  pressure  of  taking  over  the
frontman position, what  was  the  songwriting  experience  like  for
_Rebirth_?
     "We worked as a real team, very much like bothers. I have  known
Kiko and Rafael for a long time and you can just see the  great  work
that we do together. The songs are just so vibrant", he states. "This
album was a lot of fun for  me.  I  composed  three  songs  for  this
record: "Heroes of Sand", "Nova Era" and "Judgement  Day".  The  next
album I hope to contribute a lot more. I hope we all are able to  get
a lot out of us as a team. It all seems to be working really well for
us now."
     This  is  a  very  emotional  record,  a  special  record   that
symbolizes change and perseverance. Does  Falaschi  agree?  "I  agree
totally with your comments", he answers. "There are a lot of emotions
here. We are living a new moment in our lives. When we went into  the
studio to record  this  album  we  intended  to  make  sure  that  we
showcased our best possible work. For all the new members, it  was  a
great experience, because this was going to be the first time that we
would show our talent to the world. Because of  that,  I  think  this
record was an emotional thing for all of us. We put our  hearts  into
every song and every arrangement."
     "This album is probably the most important album of my  life.  I
love this album a lot because I think I my singing is the  best  that
it ever has been. I was so enthusiastic about being a part of  Angra.
It was a big challenge and I think we got through  this  with  flying
colours. We are already composing songs for  the  next  album,  which
should come out sometime in 2003, and it is going well. We are trying
new things, some songs are heavier than what you find  on  _Rebirth_,
and it is so much easier because we are accustomed to each other. The
team effort is glowing bright."
     After singing for so many years in the music business, with  the
solo career and now with Angra,  what  keeps  you  inspired  to  keep
wanting to do this?
     He responds: "The main reason that I do this is because  I  love
singing and creating music, and even though I  know  from  experience
that there is very little money in  this,  I  am  still  inspired  to
create and sing. I love singing heavy metal songs  and  listening  to
heavy metal bands from many different countries. I used to sing a lot
in the bathroom when I was growing up <laughs> and always  wanted  to
do something I love. I love where I am now, being a  part  of  Angra,
and I love that our fans around the  world  are  into  what  we  have
provided them with in _Rebirth_. Right now it can't  get  any  better
than this."
     As some fans of Angra may know,  Falaschi  was  approached  many
years ago to fill the spot of  another  heavy  metal  band  that  had
recently parted ways with their singer. The  band  was  Iron  Maiden.
Explains Falaschi about his 1994 experience (when he was 22): "It was
a really weird and an exciting time for me. I was approached  to  try
out for Iron Maiden after Bruce  Dickinson  had  left  and  submitted
stuff from my previous band at the time,  Mitrium.  It  was  a  great
moment, but so long ago. It really did wonders for me to get my  name
out, especially in Brazil. Lots  of  newspapers  and  magazines  were
talking about this and it was such a big news item."
     "I was very young and I had no real experience and I think  that
was what really didn't get me the  job  in  the  end",  he  explains.
"After that I studied a lot vocally and was always making the  effort
to improve. I am happy that  it  happened  and  that  experience  has
pushed me even farther as a singer."
     That is too bad that he hadn't joined Iron Maiden, 'cause  being
from Brazil, Falaschi must be a good soccer  player  and  would  have
been a great asset to Iron Maiden's recreational soccer team.  "Yes",
he ends laughing. "I am very good at soccer. Of course  I  am,  I  am
from Brazil. <laughs> I didn't make their team, but we could have won
a lot of games..."

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

              L I M P   B I Z K I T   M U S T   D I E !
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          CoC chats with Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     Don't ask Black Label Society singer/guitarist Zakk  Wylde  what
he thinks about today's music scene, 'cause you'll get an earful  for
sure.
     "I have had a lot of people tell me I should be  a  certain  way
and dress like this or that to fit into today's music  scene,  and  I
don't fucking get that", starts an obviously annoyed Zakk Wylde  down
the road during his touring duties with Ozzy Osbourne to  talk  about
Black Label Society's new disc _1919 Eternal_ (on Spitfire  Records).
"What am I supposed to do, make believe I never played with  Ozzy?  I
went to Interscope to look for a record deal a few years  back  after
my ass was dropped from Geffen.  I  was  at  all  these  meeting  and
kissing ass and trying to secure a  deal  and  Interscope  was  like,
"Well, maybe if Zakk changes his image, gets rid of the  leather  and
denim and wears shorts and gets a haircut, then we  could  work  with
him." They wanted me to fucking dress a certain way and  add  hip-hop
to my music? What the fuck? So I  thought  to  myself,  "Who  is  the
catalyst for all of this shit that is  going  down  with  this  music
these days? Limp Bizkit." Okay, cool, now I know that they are  going
to fucking die and I am going to take them  down.  Not  only  are  we
going to do that, but we are going to destroy them."
     I laugh out loud.
     "The revolution is on, man",  blurts  out  Wylde,  deafening  my
laughter. "I'm dead fucking serious! We don't even play  metal  music
anymore, because I don't want to get lumped in with fuckin' nu-metal.
We play IRON!"
     "In reality, this whole industry bullshit is  something  that  I
try to avoid", he adds. "I mean, I just don't want to deal with it. I
write music, drink beers and lift weights. I let my  wife  deal  with
all of the music industry stuff. I just want nothing to do with that.
To this day, I don't know what points mean on a record. I don't  even
want to know. I'd rather just come up with the music  and  have  some
beers with my friends."
     So with the new sound of "iron" in tow, Wylde and his  bandmates
have delivered to us a varied assortment of songs  to  sift  through,
from the memorable first single "Bleed for  Me"  onto  heavy  hitters
like "Battering Ram", "Graveyard Disciples" and "Life, Birth,  Blood,
Doom". Musically more diverse than his past works, the new  album  is
obviously Wylde's need to try new routes to deliver his heavy musical
message.
     About the new album _1919 Eternal_, Wylde states: "For me, as it
has always been, it is about strength,  determination  and  merciless
forever. I just wanted to make sure that this album was  more  pissed
off and angrier than the last album. I  know  a  lot  of  people  are
really liking the new album, but I loved the last two records that we
did with BLS as well. It is all just BLS to me, really.  We'll  never
sell out or be a cheese-dick,  candy-ass  fuckin'  band.  BLS  is  an
underground band still with lots of fans who appreciate what  we  do.
I'm happy with getting some commercial success with  this  band,  but
I'm even happier just cranking out the music and being able to put  a
roof over my wife and kids. At the end of the day, I win."
     "I really enjoyed myself making this record, but it wasn't  like
I planned out what to do with the new album -- I just threw  on  some
old Black Sabbath records and that was enough inspiration to  get  me
going creatively. Ozzy-era Black Sabbath, mind you. No disrespect  to
Ronnie James Dio, I love those albums too, but  those  early  Sabbath
records mean so much to me. BLS is basically Sabbath recycled. We are
just carrying on the torch."
     And much like their  influences,  BLS  has  wasted  no  time  in
offering up new material year after year, something  that  was  quite
common in the '70s and early '80s.
     Says Wylde, "It is just this whole '70s vibe running  throughout
our music, man. I mean, look at Black Sabbath back in the  day.  They
put out an album every year. Nobody does that  anymore,  so  I  guess
there has to be one and I guess it  is  BLS",  he  laughs.  And  fans
appreciate all this music on a regular basis, don't they? "Yeah", the
guitarist answers. "But you know what? The whole meaning  of  BLS  is
bigger than the band's music. That is why it isn't called Zakk  Wylde
and BLS. It is like the name Harley Davidson and the  motorbike.  The
name is bigger than the bike, it is a way of life.  And  it  is  like
that with BLS too. It is just a way of life and fans that come to our
show are all into what  we  do  and  what  we  are  about:  strength,
determination and merciless forever. Everybody that is down at  those
shows are bored of the bullshit and don't give  a  flying  fuck  what
anybody thinks. I got the idea of creating BLS from Sonny Barger, who
started the Hell's Angels. He just wanted to get together a group  of
people who felt the same way he did and were in the same mindset. And
I did the same with BLS."
     While Zakk Wylde has branched out musically over the years  with
his solo work, BLS and Pride & Glory, his work with Ozzy Osbourne  is
what has probably given him the most exposure. To this  day  I  still
worship his debut work on Ozzy's 1988 disc _No Rest for the  Wicked_.
So what does Ozzy think of BLS?
     "He knows about it", he confides, "but right now I'm on tour and
jammin' with Ozzy and that is where my head is at. It  is  all  Ozzy.
I'm bleeding for Ozzy right now. I'm  on  his  team  right  now.  His
colours are the ones I am flying right now", he laughs.
     It's also incredible how Wylde has managed to stay part  of  the
musicindustry after more than ten years, while many  other  acts  and
musicians have faded away.
     "It has been a great experience for me to  be  a  part  of  some
great things musically. I have had a great time and  I  don't  really
regret anything. Well, maybe a bottle of Aquanet  back  in  the  late
'80s", he says, laughing. "Regardless of what I have gone through  to
get here, it has been worth it and I'm still having fun. Fuck yeah!"
     In closing, I ask Zakk what is next for BLS.
     "What's next? I'll tell you. Beating as  much  fuckin'  ass  and
destroying as  many  fucking  stages  and  pissing  and  shitting  on
everything and consuming as much alcohol as possible. It'll be a  big
party this year for sure!"

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

                      S A T A N I C   W A S T E
                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        CoC interviews The 666 Torturer from Arkhon Infaustus
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     When you sit back and look through your metal music  collection,
especially if you are an avid death, black metal or extreme music fan
like I am, there are a lot of fucked up  words  and  images  that  go
along with what we all take  in,  tons  of  albums  worth  of  blood,
violence and other images that would send any non-metal  fan  running
scared. But this is what we digest, and  most  importantly,  what  we
worship. I guess you can say we are all desensitized. But  there  are
certain albums which we come across every once in a while  that  some
of us will question and/or be taken aback by. That album in  question
for me is _Hell Injection_ by black/death  metal  French  act  Arkhon
Infaustus.
     Arkhon Infaustus' disc has got to be one  of  the  scariest  and
most horrifically evil albums I have come across in some time (fellow
Osmose labelmates Sadistik Exekution's new album _FUKK_ scares me too
with its intensity). The album just hit a nerve with me and it really
opened my eyes to what  kind  of  horror  and  hatred  this  band  is
releasing to the world. I'm nowhere near offended, I am  just  seeing
all of this from a different point of view.
     Chronicles of Chaos tracked down Arkhon Infaustus'  bassist  The
666 Torturer to get the real meat on why things are so fucked  up  in
the world of this savage extreme metal act and what it  really  means
to be extreme. We begin...

CoC: You guys are obviously not strangers to censorship.  First  off,
     how does censorship make you guys feel? Does it push you more to
     further your cause and push the envelope? Or do you  just  laugh
     it off and deal with it?

The 666 Torturer: Hail Satan. It just confirms what we think  of  the
                  world. We [the band is rounded out by guitarist  D.
                  Deviant; drummer Hellblaster recently left the band
                  and they are currently looking for a replacement --
                  Adrian] don't do all  this  to  derange  and  shock
                  people. We do it because  it's  the  revelation  of
                  our inner selves. The fact  is  that  what  we  are
                  disturbing to the masses. We know that we are  some
                  anti-part of the world and the world knows it, like
                  a void from the inside. They have fed us with their
                  lives and now we take revenge on them. We have bred
                  upon their morality, cults of  devotion  and  laws.
                  Never did we kneel, never did we follow, and  never
                  did we obey. Censorship is nothing to us, and  they
                  can be afraid, as it will get worse and worse.

CoC: This is a really -evil- record, a record unlike many that I have
     heard in the last little while. What was the mood  like  in  the
     studio and what ideas fueled this new album?

666T: Arkhon Infaustus is born from our need to make  something  that
      was 666% us. And this is the result. What you can hear, see and
      read in Arkhon Infaustus is what we have inside of us. No game.
      No lie. No disguise. _Hell Injection_ was done  with  our  true
      feelings, so that people with sick states of mind can get  into
      it. What we say is what all of you  have  in  your  most  inner
      soul; some hide and refuse to let it out, while others  let  it
      burst away and take all pleasure from this state of being. Look
      at French  priests:  they  try  to  bring  us  their  enslaving
      morality and are here among the first caste to molest children.

CoC: What bands inspired you to start off? Do you  still  hear  those
     influences?

666T: We'd been playing in other bands before, so that we could blast
      off our early influences and start to create our own style. But
      if you really want some names of what I listen to, I would  say
      Incantation, Sodom, Beherit,  Blasphemy,  Bestial  Warlust.  Of
      course, we still listen to all these bands.

CoC: What do you get out of all the music that you make? Is  there  a
     sense of excitement with each album when it is completed?

666T: There is this feeling of finding the right words and the  right
      notes out of us. We are as sick in rehearsals as on  stage.  If
      we didn't feel anything while playing, we will stop. We make it
      for ourselves first, then for Satan and then for  the  perverts
      of the world. We live our  lives  responding  to  our  personal
      pleasures. When there is no adrenaline  anymore,  what  is  the
      reason to live?

CoC: Where does the band fit into today's music scene?  I  personally
     think Arkhon Infaustus has a unique sound, but you may disagree.

666T: We are not at all standing among the  black  metal  crowd  that
      plays some kind of "fastest band contest", but rather with  all
      sick black and death metal bands that really know what violence
      is and the real goal of it. I agree that we created our  sound.
      During the recording session of the _Dead Cunt Maniac_ 7", this
      was really our sound, violent and heavy as death  metal,  dirty
      and raw  as  black  metal.  But  we  don't  intend  to  have  a
      particular sound or style musically, we just play and  make  it
      sound the way we feel and  it  always  ends  up  sounding  like
      Arkhon Infaustus.

CoC: Next to your band, a lot of other  metal  bands  look  tame  and
     weak. Do you like that? I mean, you guys are full on metal while
     many death and black metal acts are playing it safe  these  days
     with their music and image. Do you agree?

666T: Too many bands  play  this  kind  of  music  without  any  real
      understanding. We don't take this image to fit the  music;  the
      music is extreme because we are extreme. Among today's bands  I
      respect Revenge, Impiety, Watain and Aborym.  There  are  still
      some sick people to carry, though in different styles, the real
      spirit of evil upon the earth. No sweet and clean  music.  Some
      people leave our live shows telling people outside that it  was
      too extreme and that what we did was  not  about  metal.  Those
      kind of shitty people are just looking for some nice  black  or
      death metal and leave the show  to  go  back  to  their  shitty
      comfortable little lives. If our image makes these people leave
      and not buy our stuff, then it's all the better.

CoC: Music is meant to convey some kind of message. I think the image
     of the band and album cover says one thing, but what do you want
     fans to get out of the music and lyrics?

666T: All those that listen to it, seeing artwork, lyrics, etc., will
      understand it. If they are not afraid of the message, they will
      understand fully. I don't want to make it easy  to  people;  we
      are not sheep following masters. I want people  to  wonder  and
      experience.

CoC: What about the business and label side of the music industry? Is
     that something you try not to get too involved with or is it the
     opposite?

666T: We don't care at all about  the  business  side  of  the  music
      industry. We chose Osmose because they didn't ask us to  change
      anything. They let us do whatever we want. We  have  no  limit.
      The few parts of the business that I've seen so far would  make
      most of you puke and Osmose is really different  and  not  like
      that. We didn't change when we signed  onto  Osmose  and  never
      will. That is the important thing. We evolve without  changing.
      We've been playing Satanic music for more than ten  years  now,
      and Arkhon Infaustus is the climax of  all  this.  We  are  not
      selling Satan, rather opening one of the gates to him. I am not
      at all into the idea of the Church of Satan, but if they  bring
      some people to the real state of  evil,  pleasure  and  eternal
      cumming, then I support them. We are the black semen waste upon
      the world that liberates it from its former morality.

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

                  O N   T H E   R I G H T   P A T H
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC interviews Rocky Gray of Soul Embraced
                           by: Aaron McKay


Not Frankenstein's monster, Soul  Embraced  hasn't  been  piecemealed
together by cannibalizing other bands' members -- nor is it a  "super
group". One thing is does have is a talent corps  of  musicians  that
aren't afraid to go that extra mile. Traversing the  walkway  stamped
out by Solid State Records'  underlaying  outfit,  Living  Sacrifice,
Arkansas's Soul Embraced marches to  their  own  drummer.  The  sneak
attack power this band packs in their  punch  is  a  prime  reason  I
decided I needed to ascertain  for  myself  (on  behalf  of  the  CoC
readership,  of  course)  what  motivated  this  respectably  devoted
threesome. I was fortunate enough to beat  a  path  to  core  member,
bassist and guitarist, Rocky Gray's doorstep. Here is the fruit of my
journey...

CoC: First off, Rocky, thank you for granting this interview. I think
     it is a real opportunity to glimpse the world as  Soul  Embraced
     sees it. Please tell the CoC readers about the band's  beginning
     -- bringing things current through the new album,  _This  Is  My
     Blood_.

Rocky Gray: The beginning would have to go back to 1997 when  me  and
            my friend David Sroczynski [now in Thy Pain]  decided  to
            do a band called Soul Embraced. We wrote and recorded one
            song that went  on  a  Frozen  Dawn  Records  compilation
            and  soon  after  that,  we  ended  it.  After  I  joined
            Living Sacrifice  in  1998,  I  still  needed  an  outlet
            for the extreme stuff I  was  writing  that  couldn't  be
            used for Living Sacrifice.  So  I  asked  my  friend  and
            brother-in-law, Chad Moore, to do the vocals for a  death
            metal project. He was into it, since his metal core  band
            wasn't really working out.  We  did  the  _Fleshless_  EP
            right away, then did _For the Incomplete_ soon after that
            and that’s when Lance Garvin from  Living  Sacrifice  got
            with the band. A year later we hooked up with Solid State
            Records and recorded _This Is My Blood_.

CoC: Who would you consider an influence on the band's  vocal  style?
     To me, personally, it sounds like a raspier Burton C. Bell (Fear
     Factory)...

RG: Well, I can't speak for Chad, but I know he likes "Corpsegrinder"
    [Fisher] and Chris Barnes from Cannibal Corpse. My vocals --  the
    more clean type -- are influenced by Burton from Fear Factory for
    sure, but hopefully I've added my own flavor to it.

CoC: Musically, where does Soul Embraced's inspiration stem  from?  I
     sure hear some nice Carcass-esque riffs periodically --  similar
     to, but unique at the same time.

RG: We're into a lot of stuff, but the main musical  influences  that
    come to mind are Slayer,  Metallica,  Carcass,  Pantera  and  new
    stuff like Arch Enemy and In Flames.

CoC: One of the things that I most appreciate about the band  is  the
     hard hitting style and chunky riffs. How does the band pull  off
     such a thick and tight sound with three members?

RG: I have no idea. If we like it, we play it and hope it works.

CoC: Tell me a little  bit  about  your  production  duties,  Crystal
     Studios and Thy Pain.

RG: Well, if we didn't record at  Crystal,  I  probably  wouldn't  be
    producing. That ends up happening just because I know the  studio
    and the capabilities we have there,  since  I've  been  recording
    there for probably ten years.  At  this  particular  studio  they
    don't do a lot of metal, so when it comes to producing and mixing
    they're not real sure how to accomplish what were wanting to  do,
    so I take care of that for us so we can get a  clean  and  punchy
    mix. I've known the drummer for Thy Pain for years and years.  He
    knows to get a hold of me when he's  ready  to  record  and  I'll
    produce his stuff for him. Thy Pain was a lot of fun to do and it
    gave me a chance to get some practice in for the mixdown of _This
    Is My Blood_ that I was going  to  right  after  [they  got  done
    recording].

CoC: What are your thoughts about being on Solid State?

RG: We couldn't have given this music to the world without  them,  so
    we are very thankful for that.

CoC: I noticed your use of Travis Smith's talents on the artwork;  it
     was a fantastic job, too. Why did Soul Embraced choose Mr. Smith
     to visualize the band's message on _This Is My Blood_?

RG: Travis is a genius and I couldn't imagine anyone  else  doing  it
    and doing it right.

CoC: In your opinion, how does the _Fleshless_ EP compare to _For the
     Incomplete_?

RG: Well, there's just that musical maturity happening. I can tell we
    got better at writing and playing songs from the EP to  the  full
    length and that's the way it should be. Our next album  shouldn't
    sound like the last one -- it should continue to evolve and  grow
    but still maintain an overall extreme sound.

CoC: I am interested in the song "Scars Remain". It is  probably  one
     of my preferred cuts from _This Is My  Blood_.  Please  give  me
     your take on "Scars Remain".

RG: I dig that song 'cause it's pretty different from the other songs
    on the CD. It's actually  laid  back,  but  it  has  just  enough
    aggression to it to not wimp out. It's one of my favorites, too.

CoC: When playing  live,  does  Soul  Embraced  enlist  the  help  of
     additional musicians?

RG: Yes. Arthur Green (Living Sacrifice)  is  our  bassist  and  John
    Lecompt (Mindrage) is our second guitarist.

CoC: What was the band's biggest career altering moment thus far?

RG: Getting on Solid State Records.

CoC: I've never asked this question in interviews past, but I  wanted
     to see what you had to  say  about  this...  To  follow  is  the
     remaining top 4 CDs I am  currently  listing  as  receiving  the
     majority of time spent in my CD player (_This Is  My  Blood_  is
     listed as number 3). Please comment on any/all of the  following
     catalogue:

CoC: Burnt by the Sun - _Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution_.

RG: Never heard 'em.

CoC: Necrodeath - _Black as Pitch_.

RG: Never heard 'em, but sounds interesting.

CoC: Soul Embraced - _This Is My Blood_.

RG: Dude!... Sweet!...

CoC: Scholomance - _The Immortality Murder_.

RG: Never heard 'em.

CoC: Death - _Spiritual Healing_.

RG: Good record, but it can't touch  _Leprosy_  or  _Human_.  R.I.P.,
    Chuck.

CoC: Lastly, thank you for your valuable time  and  please  end  this
     interview with any parting words you may have for the Chronicles
     of Chaos readers...

RG: Thank you, Aaron and CoC! Thanks to all the metal fans worldwide.
    \m/ y'all rule \m/

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

       W E I R D N E S S   F R O M   N E W   H A M P S H I R E
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC talks to Ironlung of Scissorfight
                         by: Adrian Bromley


     Whoever wrote that rock 'n'  roll  and  heavy  music  was  about
rebellion, partying and scaring the hell  out  of  parents  with  the
music blaring from the speaker must have had  New  Hampshire  heavies
Scissorfight in mind when they penned that.
     But not only are Scissorfight a reckless group  of  individuals,
they also have a real bizarre style/sound that is beyond  comparison,
really. For sure, you need to  hear  this  band  so  you  can  really
understand  the  mentality  going  into  their  weird-o-rama  release
_Mantrapping for Sport and Profit_ on Tortuga.
     In a review that I wrote recently for the band, I said, "If  you
like beer, cheap  women,  bar  fights,  hunting,  giving  the  middle
finger, dirty sex, camping, pissing in the woods, Ted  Nugent,  gross
humour, swearing, biker gangs, leather,  brass  knuckles,  Motorhead,
ignoring  authority,  facial  hair,  poor  hygiene,  Clutch,  driving
long highway stretches, drugs,  tattoos  and  loud  music,  then  New
Hampshire's shit-kicking, heavy rock act Scissorfight  is  just  what
you need." Indeed this band is in a class of their own.
     So this burly bearded CoC scribe tracked down the burly  bearded
singer known as "Ironlung" via e-mail to discuss the band, the  sound
and maybe pick up some hunting tips.

CoC: The one thing that I find really invigorating about Scissorfight
     is the reckless, fun-like atmosphere of the music. What  is  the
     studio experience like  when  the  band  records?  It  must  get
     bonkers in the studio? Beer spilling and just crazy shenanigans?
     Am I right?

Ironlung: Yes, the  short  time  we  [the  band  is  rounded  out  by
          guitarist Octocock, bassist Jarvis  and  drummer  Kevin  --
          Adrian] spend in the studio is chaotic, to say  the  least.
          There are only hazy memories. Thick smoke and  many  beers,
          riot gear and crates of dynamite to provide tension.

CoC: Having been familiar with  past  Scissorfight  work,  there  has
     definitely been some growth -- do you see/hear it? If so,  where
     and have these changes been planned or just happen?

I: If anything, it's about getting the sound you always wanted,  each
   excursion to studio land provides the experience to get  what  you
   want. There is still an element of banging  everything  out  which
   captures the live sound. This record was written  under  different
   conditions where not everything had been performed as a band  yet,
   so there are elements of that to work with, a spontaneity, a shade
   of the unknown.

CoC: What have been the influences of Scissorfight since day  one  --
     and can you still hear them today?

I: There was never any set influence on us other  than  the  weather.
   You can hear elements of stuff we grew up listening to  --  AC/DC,
   Black Flag, etc.. If anything, it was to do the rock  in  our  own
   style the way we wanted to, for our own personal amusement.

CoC: Is this a full-time job for you? I believe Jerry  (of  Warm  and
     Fuzzy PR) mentioned you were  attending  university/college?  If
     so, what are you studying and is the band more hobby then?

I: Everyone has a day job to pay the bills.  There  is  no  money  in
   underground rock. I'm writing my master's thesis (on the drug LSD,
   no less) and  working  as  a  commercial  fisherman.  To  do  this
   realistically you must be able to wear many hats at once, which is
   a good thing.

CoC: What makes you happy about being in the music business? And  mad
     or sad?

I: Our situation is different. We just do whatever the fuck we  want.
   We put out records on an underground label  for  that  reason.  We
   have total control and  a  great  opportunity  for  an  expressive
   outlet, that is the only way to look at it.

CoC: Describe to me a Scissorfight  show.  I  can  only  imagine  bar
     fights and lots of drunk bums mulling around.

I: We get a lot of Travis Bickle  ("Taxi  Driver")  types,  the  most
   alienated and fucked up dirt bags society has to offer, which is a
   good thing.

CoC: Music has changed so much over the years,  i.e.  it  has  become
     very corporate. How did your  band  avoid  from  going  in  that
     direction and just staying true to the spirit of rock 'n' roll?

I: Because we are totally selfish in that we do. This is to  get  our
   rocks off. We don't give a fuck where it  goes  our  how  it  gets
   there. And no corporate flunky would come near us with a  ten-foot
   pole.

CoC: Can you tell me about the writing of _Mantrapping for Sport  and
     Profit_? Any specific song stands out as a favourite one?

I: I dig all of them; "Hazard to Navigation" is pretty  cool.  Mostly
   half of the lyrics were written while working on the fishing  boat
   staring out at the ocean.

CoC: Who'd win in a wrestling match -- you or a bear? I think I could
     take on a bear cub, but not a mama bear. I am a burly guy with a
     beard too, so I think we'd make a great tagteam  if  there  ever
     was need for one. Anyway, who'd win? Would you fight dirty?

I: I once wrote an article for a magazine about bear attacks and  how
   to prevent a bear from mauling your ass. I would kick an attacking
   bear in the nuts first, and then I would go "cave man" style on it
   and break my foot off in its ass!

CoC: Just curious, and playing off the title of album, how much  does
     one caught man fetch  you  (or  other  bandmembers)  during  the
     hunting season?

I: Mantrapping is taken from survivalist guru Ragnar  Benson's  books
   on capturing the most dangerous game. It is important to learn, as
   he says, to keep your ass out of someone else's sling.

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           |-   -|   | . | -_| . | -_|   | . | -_|   |  _|
           |_____|_|_|___|___|  _|___|_|_|___|___|_|_|_|
                             |_|
       _____     _                           _   _
      |     |___| |_ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___| |_|_|___ ___ ___
      |-   -|   |  _| -_|  _|  _| . | . | .'|  _| | . |   |_ -|
      |_____|_|_|_| |___|_| |_| |___|_  |__,|_| |_|___|_|_|___|
                                    |___|


               C H A T T I N G   U P   A   C Y B O R G
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC chats with John K. of Biomechanical
                            by: Alvin Wee


     One listen was all  it  took  to  convince  me  of  this  band's
importance in the  power/prog  demo  scene.  Emerging  like  a  steel
leviathan  from  the  depths  of  the  quietly  simmering  UK  scene,
Biomechanical are  one  furious  squad  hell-bent  on  proving  Great
Britain's worth to the metal world. Despite putting out  one  of  the
more impressive demos in recent years [CoC #56] and gaining  positive
reviews on  the  international  stage,  the  band  has  gone  largely
unnoticed  in  the  past  year's  deluge  of  power  metal  releases.
Comparisons have no doubt been made to their older cousins  Nevermore
and Iced Earth, but what  Biomechanical  really  offer  is  a  unique
view  of  a  cybernetic,  yet  poignantly  human  reality.  Musically
and  lyrically  distinct  from  all  of  the  aforementioned   bands,
Biomechanical's singular cyber-concept is a breath of  fresh  air  in
scene where the dragons and sorcerers have grown  haggard,  providing
the perfect backdrop for the band's blend of technical complexity and
sheer epic scope.
     Despite some difficulty  due  to  the  fact  that  Biomechanical
are  currently  working  hard  on   their   forthcoming   full-length
opus,  I  finally  managed  to  catch  hold  of  an  overworked  (and
probably  hung-over)  John  after  the  New  Year  for  a   bout   of
intensive  interrogation.  Seeing  as  the  band  has  an  impressive
website (http://www.biomechanical.co.uk) with a  wealth  of  detailed
information, we decided to  skip  the  usual  introductory  questions
about the band's history and  line-up  and  proceeded  straight  into
things.

CoC: Greetings John! At the risk of  sounding  cliche,  I'd  like  to
     state my amazement at your demo; it's one of the best demos I've
     ever received and I hope the album will be equally killer.

John K.: Thanks, man! Also thanks for your fantastic review. We  have
         been very surprised by the reaction of some of the websites!
         As for the album, we are working our butts off to make it as
         powerful as possible! We hope that this hard work  will  pay
         off.

CoC: What can we expect from it, then?

JK: Musically, the CD will develop the material you heard on the demo
    into many other areas of the metal style. The  tracks  will  take
    you from one frame of mind to another as aggressive music will be
    followed by an orchestral/choral track -- the title track -- into
    more subdued tones and back to aggressiveness. At the  moment  it
    feels like a journey, which is pretty cool. We quite like the way
    it turns out to be as an album. We hope you will too! <smiles>

CoC: Speaking of the new album; let us know something about  how  you
     managed to get the deal and stuff like that.

JK: Sorry I gave you the wrong impression, dude,  but  we  are  still
    talking to a few labels. The album is funded by us. So we know it
    will be ready at the end of  February  and  we  hope  to  get  it
    released early 2002.

CoC: Oh, I must have misunderstood our previous e-mails...  so  there
     isn't really any concrete deal yet!

JK: We are still talking to a few labels. We wanna  have  this  album
    out early 2002, so we are very focused in getting a deal as  soon
    as possible.

CoC: In that case, how did you manage to drum up interest  among  the
     interested labels?

JK: The guys we are talking to have come back to us purely because of
    the material. We are a very new  band  and  we  didn't  have  the
    chance to do gig after gig. So the only way to go forward for  us
    was to follow the good old way of sending a CD through the  post!
    It takes ages, but I was surprised to find out that  some  people
    responded. As I wrote before, we are still talking with them  for
    the possibility of getting signed and releasing the album soon.

CoC: You mentioned an early 2002 release date... February, wasn't it?

JK: Hopefully it will be out in February. If not, then not much later
    than that.

CoC: I assume the recordings are going OK? After all, this  interview
     caught you in the middle of recording some stuff, didn't it?

JK: The recordings are going OK. I just finished all  of  the  guitar
    parts and I am going to put down the vocals. The bad news is that
    the recordings will be postponed for a while due to the fact that
    our studio will have to move premises. I think we will  get  back
    to work mid-January.

CoC: Your arrangements aren't too simple either;  any  problems  with
     coordinating everything?

JK: As for the arrangements, we didn't have too much  of  a  problem,
    'cause all of the music was laid down  and  all  the  parts  were
    rehearsed very intensively before the recordings.

CoC: I'm interested in your creative process; tell us something about
     how you create your music.

JK: As the songwriter of the band, I always think of a song in  terms
    of what I wanna say with it both  musically  and  lyrically  even
    before I lay my hands on a keyboard. This  way  I  have  a  clear
    understanding of where the  song  should  go  and  what  kind  of
    structure it should follow.  It's  not  as  simple  as  that,  of
    course. Sometimes you think of a song and things don't work  out.
    Then you just have to put down all the elements of the track  and
    decide what's best for it.

CoC: The music has a very visual... almost filmic feel to it; was  it
     intended as incidental music to some mental motion  pictures  or
     something?

JK: The truth is that  I  love  film  music  and  I  have  done  some
    film-scoring  for  short  films,  and  the  way  of  writing  for
    movies is not very dissimilar to the  way  I  write  songs.  Both
    structure-wise and harmony-wise.

CoC: And film music combines pretty well with metal as you've managed
     to show us...

JK: I always wanted to integrate film music with metal music,  'cause
    I think that  there  is  a  lot  of  power  coming  out  of  some
    film-scores.  Composers  like  John  Williams,  Jerry  Goldsmith,
    Elliot Goldenthal and many others have  written  some  incredibly
    powerful music. I have been influenced by them for a  long  time.
    So I though it would be  a  good  idea  to  bring  my  influences
    together and create  something  that  has  both  power  and  [is]
    musically interesting.

CoC: So the album was composed in pretty much the  same  way  as  you
     would a soundtrack to an existing movie?

JK: With writing the album I followed the same rules.  The  album  is
    thought out before it is written. Again, that way I  have  better
    direction and this also creates an easier flow for the album as a
    whole.

CoC: Right then, I'm sure most people who've heard the demo  CD  will
     be wondering about the concept of Mekan.  What's  the  basis  of
     this sci-fi concept?

JK: _Eight Moons_ is about destroying your fears and  weaknesses.  It
    is about beating destructive situations such as  drug  addiction,
    mental and physical abuse by others and in general fighting  back
    to a destiny that others seem to think  is  an  unavoidable  path
    that you have to go through. Damn, I sound like Yoda! <smiles>

CoC: Haha! Go on...

JK: When you fight problems like these you get stronger and  stronger
    and in principle you are fighting and  obliterating  your  fears.
    What you do is that you create an alter ego, you  are  wearing  a
    mask that strikes fear into the heart of your enemies.  In  order
    to describe this reality, I decided to tell the story  through  a
    down and out character who lives on  the  streets  and  the  only
    thing left for him is to wait for his dying day. When  the  night
    falls his body becomes an empty shell. His soul is embodied  into
    a Spawn-type character called Mekan. This alter ego  is  fighting
    his fears, which on the planet of the Eight Moons take flesh  and
    blood forming unspeakable creatures.  There  he  slays  them  and
    hopes that one day he will be  free  of  them.  The  guy  on  the
    streets is the fear in all of us and Mekan represents  the  power
    to fight them.

CoC: So it isn't just pure sci-fi fantasy stuff, there's  an  element
     of reality in there too...

JK: The story revolves around real day to day situations. I  chose  a
    sci-fi angle to describe them.

CoC: Still on  the  same  topic,  then;  do  you  think  this  sci-fi
     angle will be accepted by  the  listeners  who're  used  to  the
     medieval/fantasy stuff the other bands  are  putting  out  these
     days?

JK: I think that as an artist you have to do what you have to do.  If
    you have a certain vision, then you will follow it and hope  that
    others will wanna share it with you.

CoC: I couldn't agree more, and I think it's a breath  of  fresh  air
     anyway after all these swords and dragons. What, then, are  your
     influences when it comes to Biomechanical's concept?

JK: Book-wise Lovecraft comes  to  mind,  and  film-wise  maybe  "The
    Matrix" for the parallel world story. But my main influences come
    from comics such as "Spawn", "The Darkness", you know  this  kind
    of thing. I love the artistic aspect of it all and  I  wanted  to
    create something along those lines.

CoC: And did you intend to have some specific underlying  message  in
     the album?

JK: Will and determination are two of the strongest elements  of  the
    human spirit. We have to awaken them and enhance them in order to
    be victorious against our darkest fears. This is the  message  of
    the album.

CoC: Let's move on to the music now. I hear influences from bands  as
     diverse as Fear Factory, Iced Earth and Metallica.  There  seems
     to be a very slight hardcore influence in terms of  your  vocals
     as well, and one listener -- a friend of mine  --  even  pointed
     out how similar one passage sounded to a Faith No More song!

JK: Faith No More!? Wow! I didn't think of that. The truth is that  I
    don't write this way consciously in order to produce a new sound.
    I just write what comes to mind and feels good to  me.  Obviously
    you have to be careful not to copy everybody else,  but  nowadays
    many bands have influences from other bands.  Don't  forget  that
    there is a 20 to 25 years history  of  solid  metal  music.  It's
    impossible not to sound slightly like someone else in places.

CoC: So what are your specific influences in terms of metal, then?

JK: My influences from the metal world... Maiden, Priest,  Metallica,
    Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Slayer,  these  are  the  ones
    that spring to mind.

CoC: It's also strange that you have a more US  metal  sound  than  a
     European one; why do you think that is so? Surely  you  must  be
     more exposed to Euro-metal, living in the UK?

JK: I haven't had a great deal of  experience  with  Euro-metal.  Not
    because I don't like it or anything like that, but simply because
    I took a break from metal a few years ago to study  orchestration
    and 21st century harmony.  So  when  I  came  back  to  metal  my
    influences were still  Metallica,  Pantera,  Qeensryche,  Slayer,
    etc.. And from the European scene, Maiden, Priest, and those kind
    of bands. The Euro-scene exploded fairly recently and I am  still
    catching up with it. It's difficult, though, with all this work I
    am doing with Biomechanical. You bastards!! <smiles>

CoC: There's this strong classical element in your music.  Where  did
     that come from?

JK: I grew up  with  soundtracks  from  "The  Empire  Strikes  Back",
    "Indiana Jones", "Dune", you know, lots  and  lots  of  symphonic
    soundtracks mainly written  for  sci-fi  movies.  So  my  writing
    influences come straight from these sounds. Also, when I was 14 I
    thought it would be a good  idea  to  listen  to  some  classical
    composers so that I will get an idea  of  where  all  these  film
    music composers gained inspiration and musical direction.

CoC: Any composers in particular?

JK: The first I heard was  Tchaikovsky.  I  was  blown  away  by  the
    power and emotion of his  music!  Since  then  I  heard  quite  a
    few composers,  but  I  can't  say  I  am  a  very  knowledgeable
    classical music listener. My favourite composers are  Stravinsky,
    Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Holst  and  many  others  --  mainly  Russian
    composers. So the fusion of influences is unavoidable. I think it
    works, though.

CoC: I'm sure it would be a dream come true to do like Metallica  and
     hire a full orchestra, wouldn't it?

JK: Symphony orchestra? I would love to. But with our budget  all  we
    could do would be to invite them for a cup of tea and  send  them
    home even before they would get their instruments  out  of  their
    cases!

CoC: But will there be any -real- classical instruments on the album?

JK: Samplers and synths will be used for most of  the  stuff,  but  I
    have dubbed a violin player and a cellist to get a more realistic
    feel of the string section.

CoC: Now let's change topic for a bit. What do you think of  the  new
     deluge of melodic metal bands swamping  the  market?  Many  have
     been criticized by the old-timers for aping Helloween  over  and
     over again. You know, the HammerFall effect?

JK: You know what? If the kids are having fun and if this leads to  a
    more healthy metal  scene,  then  it's  cool  by  me.  You  can't
    criticise the bands for doing what they wanna do. It's the record
    labels who should be a bit more open-minded when signing bands.

CoC: That's a very positive philosophy.

JK: Any band that is out there, gets on stage and plays its heart out
     deserves respect.

CoC: So what do you think -you- have to offer over and  above  what's
     already out there in the scene?

JK: As far as this band is concerned, we will do what we wanna do and
    hopefully some people will believe in our music like  we  do.  If
    people feel that we have something new to offer, then cool.

CoC: OK, back to the album. I know you're very  active  in  terms  of
     mixing and producing your material; why do you insist  on  doing
     all this work  yourself  instead  of  letting  a  possibly  more
     experienced producer handle the job?

JK: It can be a very frustrating experience trusting your music to  a
    producer and then having to wait and see whether  your  stuff  is
    going to be ruined or sound  great.  I  have  had  some  horrific
    experiences with  various  producers  and  my  outlook  in  music
    production has changed dramatically over the last few  years.  My
    motto now is that "if you wanna do something,  DO  IT  YOURSELF!"
    Unless, of course, a world class metal producer has been  brought
    to you by a multinational company. Then OK, we'll talk  about  it
    over a large cappuccino! In all seriousness, I feel lucky that  I
    know how to produce music.

CoC: Isn't it very time- and energy-consuming?

JK: Sure it's hard work, but it pays off when you hear  the  finished
    product! Having worked with Steve Brown [producer  of  The  Cult,
    The Manx and many more] and having finished an album  production,
    I feel experienced enough to take on the task  of  recording  and
    mixing _Eight Moons_. It's not easy, but I think that  the  final
    product is going to be pretty cool.

CoC: Judging from the production on the demo CD, I'd  say  the  same!
     Now, in terms of promotion, I know you've been playing a  number
     of gigs over in England. How did  they  go,  and  what  was  the
     audience like?

JK: The gigs were cool. Obviously I am not gonna say to you  that  we
    had people moshing, simply because many guys were seeing the band
    for the first time. But they were pretty good.

CoC: Will you  be  planning  any  more  shows  in  the  near  future,
     especially outside the UK?

JK: Hopefully yes. We would love to play outside the UK! We  have  to
    focus on the album for the time being and secure  a  deal  before
    thinking of anything else.

CoC: I'd like to break off again:  you're  from  Greece  if  I'm  not
     wrong, so what do you  think  of  the  metal  scene  in  England
     compared to Greece? It hasn't exactly been a  hotbed  for  metal
     since the glory days of NWOBHM, has it?

JK: When I came to England in 1995 I realised that metal  was  pretty
    much dead. So it was really odd for me to try to get in  a  band.
    There weren't too many bands  around  and  if  they  were  I  was
    probably missing them all! A  few  years  later  the  underground
    scene became really strong. This is when I thought it would be  a
    good time to put a band together.

CoC: Right then, that's about all we have time for...  what  can  our
     interested readers do to find out more about Biomechanical?

JK: OK people! Go to our site  and  check  it  out!  Our  album  will
    hopefully be out early 2002. Keep checking the news and join  our
    club for free MP3s and more! _Eight  Moons_  will  be  advertised
    through great sites such as CoC! So check it out! <laughs>

CoC: I'd second that, it's certainly an amazing site! OK, thanks  for
     your time, John. Keep up the amazing work!

JK: Thank you, Alvin, for hosting Biomechanical on this  great  metal
    site!

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

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


7 Angels 7 Plagues - _Jhazmyne's Lullaby_  (Uprising, 2001)
by: Brian Meloon  (9 out of 10)

7 Angels 7 Plagues fall into the rare category of hardcore bands that
I enjoy -- which includes the likes of Lethargy, early  Candiria  and
Red Tide. As you can probably  guess  from  this  list,  7  Angels  7
Plagues is far from typical hardcore. The  base  of  their  sound  is
hardcore played  with  the  skill  and  precision  of  metal  (a.k.a.
metalcore). To this, they add  (in  roughly  equal  parts)  dissonant
syncopative rhythms, flowing distorted melodies,  and  some  acoustic
melodic  touches  reminiscent  of  "alternative"  bands  like  Jane's
Addiction and Don Caballero. At times, they even have a  slight  hint
of progressive metal. The really impressive thing about this album is
the skill with which they handle and blend these musical styles.  The
songs show some very good song development in places, and  rarely  do
they get carried away with a certain style and let it get boring. The
transitions between dissonant to  melodic  sections  and  back  again
rarely sound forced, and in  a  few  places,  they're  even  able  to
incorporate dissonant melodies into their melodic sections  and  make
it sound good. The vocals are also one of the highlights of the album
for me. They're similar to typical hardcore vocals (somewhere between
a shout and a growl), but they have just a hint of  scream  to  them,
which gives them a distinctive sound and adds a sense of urgency  and
power to the music. The playing is excellent;  it's  very  tight  and
quite technical in places. The production is excellent  as  well,  as
both the melodic sections and the heavy sections sound very crisp and
clear. This is a very good release -- bordering on excellent at times
-- and should be enjoyed by both metal and  hardcore  fans  alike.  I
look forward to their future releases.


7th Moon - _Alter Alma_  (Icarus Records, February 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

Listening to the music of this Spanish sextet, it is hard not to hear
The Gathering or Lacuna Coil as the music is pretty  much  played  in
the same format and style  throughout.  While  The  Gathering  has  a
very dream-like  quality  and  Lacuna  Coil  has  a  very  seductive,
passionate flow to things, 7th Moon's format revolves around  a  much
darker element, a real gothic/stoic feel  coming  over  some  of  the
arrangements. This style adds some interesting pieces for the band to
comb through as singer Sonia offers up her vocal passages. While  the
singer has a very beautiful voice (check out the track "The Shine  of
the  Unknown"),  and  the  rest  of  the  band  does  offer  up  some
interesting passages, the music doesn't really  offer  much  that  we
haven't heard before. In other words, there is  nothing  that  really
sets them apart. One thing is to be a great musician,  the  other  is
being able to separate yourself from the rest of  the  pack.  In  due
time I'm sure 7th Moon will find some prestige with what they do, but
for now they'll just have to wait for the spotlight to shine on them.


Abortion Clinic - _Premature Birthulation_  (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley  (0 out of 10)

This has got to be one of the worst CDs I have ever received from any
band since we started doing CoC almost seven years ago. I'm  serious,
folks! This fucking bites! I can look past what some might see as  an
offensive name (obviously Abortion Clinic is out to shock) -- but the
music? Pathetic! From the ridiculous  opener  "Euthanasia"  onto  the
stupidly penned "Anal Vapor" ("...heading to the toilet / I  think  I
got to wipe / I bet that one left a racing stripe...") and other lame
numbers like "Eat the Dead" and "Camelot" (about the  famous  Kennedy
family), Abortion Clinic just goes down the drain wickedly  fast.  Oh
man, it was torture to sit through this. The music is  generic  heavy
metal and the vocals are more spoken/sung than actually sung and that
gets quite annoying after a while. As for the lyrics,  don't  get  me
started. The snippet above should give you an idea  what  lies  heard
should you put this shit album on. I think this was supposed to be  a
joke, but when the music of Abortion Clinic makes bands like Gwar and
Gardy-Loo look like technical metal geniuses, then  the  joke  is  on
them.

Contact: mailto:theband@abortionclinc-usa.com
         http://www.abortionclinic-usa.com


Ancient - _Proxima Centauri_  (Metal Blade, 2001)
by: Alvin Wee  (7 out of 10)

Ancient halts their recent  downward  slide  with  this  surprisingly
powerful assault of mainstream mayhem. Closer to Cradle of  Filth  in
style than their Norse counterparts this time (due in no  small  part
to the keyboards and Kristin's occasional female  snarling),  Aphazel
and Co. depart from the drawn-out monotony of their previous releases
for a more commercially  viable  crunchiness  and  aggression.  While
never reaching earth-shattering heights, the new material presents  a
tighter, catchier side of the band, due  no  doubt  in  part  to  the
commendable Los Angered studios production. Melodic, hummable  tracks
like "Satan's Children" will no doubt gain  the  band  a  substantial
following among the newer  breed  of  longhairs,  even  as  die-hards
bemoan the band's lapse into the characterless sterility  typical  of
newer acts. Moments of brilliance shine through at odd intervals, the
band's  knack  for  creating  ambience  becoming  evident  on  slower
passages (see the intro segment to  "Apophis"),  while  never  really
building on the promising interplay between epic riff and atmospheric
synth. Points given for coming up  with  a  remotely  engaging  album
among all the sub-standard filth, but the black metaller in me  still
misses the atmosphere and obscurity of the _Svartalvheim_ days.


Archetype - _Dawning_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Impressive from the get-go, Ohio progressive metal act Archetype  had
my attention from the opening guitar riff of "Final  Day"  off  their
album _Dawning_. Not only does this talented band of  musicians  know
how to write some great songs, they have the incredible  musicianship
to back it up. With a definite nod to '80s era metal (Helloween, Iron
Maiden) and newer-era progressive metal masters  (Iced  Earth,  Dream
Theater), Archetype delivers a spirited performance that indulges  in
on their influences, as well as showcase their addictive heavy  metal
ways. Singer Greg Wagner's vocals could lead any  metalhead  into  an
anthemic chant and guitarist Chris Matyus dazzles the  listener  with
some solid, intricate guitar work. And the rhythm  section  of  Keith
Zeigler (drums) and Jamie Still (bass) are on the ball too, providing
an interesting back crunch  to  the  heavy  metal  mastery  of  their
bandmates. I have their previous demo _Hands  of  Time_  (1999),  and
while I was mixed about that release, the band has grown and honed in
on their skills with the new disc. With bands like  Iced  Earth,  Jag
Panzer, Twisted Tower Dire and Archetype waving  the  flag  of  heavy
metal loud 'n' proud, music of  this  ilk  will  never  fall  to  the
wayside.

Contact: mailto:archetype@archetype1.com
         http://www.archetype1.com


Bethlehem - _Schatten aus der Alexander Welt_  (Red Stream, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (6.5 out of 10)

There is almost too much happening here for the average metal fan  to
wrap their brain around. Transformations of spoken words into musical
concepts to explain the atmosphere of this album's plot all laid over
the never typical dark suicide rapture Bethlehem exists to create  --
it is saturating. I like _Schatten aus der Alexander Welt_,  but  I'd
wager you couldn't tell that from my rating  of  the  disc...  I'm  a
Bethlehem  fan  through  and  through  and  dyed  in  the  wool,  but
-- at times  --  this  double  disc,  bonus  American  version,  gets
extravagantly strung out,  even  for  me.  Permeating  every  radiant
nerve on a case by  emotional  case  basis,  _SadAW_  embarks  toward
the semi-lucid conscious, but only  when  absolutely  necessary.  The
textbook definition of deranged, Bethlehem again pushes the  envelope
of metal. Look not for the presence of riffs or blast beats  on  this
effort, but concentrated insanity runs rampant. Not  for  the  casual
fan.


Black Dawn - _Blood for Satan_  (Necropolis, October 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (3 out of 10)

I can't believe I am again consigned to reviewing another  "I'm  more
evil than you"-type band. Nothing new can  be  found  on  _Blood  for
Satan_ -- nothing! You most assuredly can glean whatever  Black  Dawn
is trying to pass off as "true black metal" from many, many different
genuine black metal outfits, most of which I can appreciate. The same
gratitude -cannot- be said for BD by any stretch of the  imagination.
Having roots back as far as 1992, I wonder as I listen to this why BD
cares to even try anymore. Riffs like on "Enemy of the Day" save this
disc from complete unadulterated musical bankruptcy, but they are too
far and few between to be consequential. If  Black  Dawn  is  serious
about the banal instruction on  the  CD's  back  cover  that  "_Blood
for Satan_  should  only  be  listened  to  during  the  practice  of
self-mutilation", why -- OH WHY -- haven't these guys bled to  death?
They are the farcical  ringleaders,  right?  More  misrepresentation.
Yawn...


Black Web - _Black Web_  (Music Online, 2001)
by: Vincent Eldefors  (8 out of 10)

Black Web is a new Swedish band whose name you should  remember  from
now on, because they are one of the best newcomers I've  heard  in  a
very, very long time. The band isn't really new, since  they  already
started out in 1992, but this is their first album  release  so  far.
The music of Black Web is a hybrid between hard rock and  metal,  but
what stands out the most is the remarkably strong vocal  work,  which
reminds me a little of Lemmy  Kilmister  at  his  best.  Don't  think
Motley Crue or something like that now, though, because this album is
a lot heavier than they ever were and it rocks like very  few  albums
do. The slower tunes don't always maintain the standard of  the  rest
of the album, but all in all this record is definitely  worth  buying
if you are into any kind of heavy music. Perhaps the vocals and music
don't work perfectly well together in every single track either,  but
that is luckily only a minor flaw. Fans of  Motorhead  will  probably
love this album, although I personally think Black  Web  has  a  much
more promising sound than Lemmy and the boys ever had.  Sweden  still
has a lot to offer to the realm of hard music and I am very glad that
there are still people who believe in this kind of music, because the
mainstream is becoming worse and worse these days. The first half  of
the album is amazing and you just have to listen to the  title  track
"Black Web", which is one of the most powerful tunes I've ever heard.
Black Web is not an extreme band, but they  are  still  great  and  I
think they will appeal to you whether you are a fan of metal or  hard
rock. Let's just hope that they can continue in the same vein in  the
future. Check out this band and your life  will  never  be  the  same
again...

Contact: http://www.blackweb.nu


Blood Red Throne - _Monument of Death_  (Hammerheart, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (8.5 out of 10)

Now here is a surprise! A brilliant  Norwegian  death  metal  release
which  is  not  in  the  neo  death/black  fusion  style  of   Zyklon
or Myrkskog!  Mainman  Tchort  seems  to  be  another  north-European
workaholic who manages  to  almost  simultaneously  release  multiple
albums  of  astonishing  quality  (e.g.  Green  Carnation,   reviewed
elsewhere in this issue). _Monument of Death_ mainly hails the  death
metal style of the early '90s while avoiding  to  sound  close  to  a
single band in particular. This record is fast-paced, but there's  no
speed for the sake of  speed  here,  no  note-by-note  Suffocation  /
Morbid Angel  rip  off,  and  no  stupidity  Six  Feet  Under  style.
_Monument of Death_ blazes along when necessary and  throws  elements
from Florida death metal, thrash and, occasionally,  Norwegian  black
metal ("Dream Controlled Murder") into a fiery melting pot.  Whenever
the pace settles to mid or up-tempo, Blood Red Throne  come  up  with
riffs of truly murderous proportions that can put  everything  Slayer
have done since _Seasons in the Abyss_ to shame. Just listen  to  the
insanely grooving and crushing riff-fest of "Mary Whispers of  Death"
or the last minute of closing track "Path of Flesh".  _MoD_  features
nine clearly distinguishable tracks of consistently great quality and
its production balances clarity  and  heaviness  exceptionally  well.
Bloodbath's _Breeding Death_ EP [CoC #48] might  be  the  most  valid
point of reference when it  comes  to  comparisons  to  other  recent
records. Like _Breeding Death_, this does not redefine the genre  but
is one of the few really entertaining death metal releases of 2001.

[Pedro Azevedo: "In abstract terms,  _Monument  of  Death_  is  cold,
 precise and methodic in its brutality, albeit somewhat sterile -- as
 indicated by its cover art. The practical side is that  even  though
 it is far from  revolutionary,  it  is  among  the  most  impeccably
 executed and unpretentiously enjoyable death metal  records  of  the
 year. Hammerheart's gimmick of  having  a  limited  special  edition
 featuring "a suicide kit with blood from all the bandmembers"  seems
 to be the only real novelty here, but _MoD_ nonetheless remains damn
 good fun."]


Brodequin - _Festival of Death_  (Unmatched Brutality Records, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (5.5 out of 10)

As far as death metal albums go, there is not much that can  top  the
sheer brutality and violence of this release. The  lyrics  aren't  so
much lyrics as various descriptions of violence and torture -- hardly
surprising given the name of the  band  (a  brodequin  is  a  torture
instrument used to crush its victims legs, often to  such  an  extent
that the bone marrow would be forced out). Not that it really matters
too much, as the vocals consist of  an  impenetrable  growl  that  is
impossible to decipher, even with the aid of a lyric  sheet.  One  of
the problems I have with this album is the production,  which  leaves
much to be desired. The drums and -- to a slightly lesser  extent  --
the vocals dominate the mix, to the  detriment  of  the  guitars.  In
addition, the drums have a hollow, tinny  sound,  which  sounds  more
than slightly odd on an album of this genre. Furthermore, there is  a
distinct lack of variety in the drumming. Don't get me wrong  --  I'm
all for blastbeats, but when the drumming  consists  of  little  more
then that, it starts to get more than just a little boring, and  when
the drums are as high in the mix as they are on _FoD_, an  additional
and inevitable sense of monotony is created. Their music as  a  whole
is unceasingly repetitive and boredom quickly sets  in.  With  better
production and guitars higher in the mix  it  might  have  been  more
interesting to hear, and I definitely would  be  interested  to  hear
what Brodequin manage to achieve next time round.

[Alvin Wee: "It's been a long time --  since  Broken  Hope  went  all
 technical -- that brutal grind like this  has  graced  my  mutilated
 ears. Reminiscent of the classic New York sound  a  la  Suffocation,
 Brodequin serve up their second  steaming  splatterfest  that  lacks
 neither hooks nor tightness. Lack  of  originality  shouldn't  be  a
 problem in this genre, so if names  like  Impetigo  and  Regurgitate
 bring a smile to your lips, these twisted Texans should satisfy your
 craving. Solid stuff, just don't bother deciphering the lyrics."]

Contact: Unmatched Brutality Records, Michael Bailey, PO Box 12023,
         Knoxville, TN 37912, USA
         mailto:info@unmatchedbrutality.com


Burnt by the Sun - _Soundtrack to the Personal Revolution_
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)  (Relapse, 2002)

Removing the fact that I  think  this  album's  title  is  completely
killer, you'd never  believe  it  was  produced  by  someone  closely
associated with bands like Screaming Trees or the insipid Pearl  Jam.
My money is on the fact that you'd, like me, swear Steve Austin  from
Today Is the Day, Matthew Jacobson from Pig Destroyer, or my  mom  --
-anyone- but somebody tied into a group like Pearl Jam! At any  rate,
it works. While pulling inspiration for _Soundtrack to  the  Personal
Revolution_ from frenzied phenomenons,  Burnt  by  the  Sun  captures
all the forcefully kinetic energy  available  to  grind  onto  a  CD.
Piercingly cleaving and rich in nice cuts in the song patterns,  this
band turns over ten mostly  riff-packed  dips  into  the  razor-laced
landscape BbtS generates. I encourage you to pay special attention to
the resourceful "Boston Tea-Bag Party"; it is laced with some  killer
change-ups and instantaneously obligating parts that make ya  sit  up
and take notice. The powerfully inspired and aptly named  _Soundtrack
to the Personal Revolution_ is this  five-piece's  first  full-length
offering, if you can believe it. If an EP like was  reviewed  in  CoC
#53 appeals to you at all, this version of a longer variety will be a
big bonus. Kind of like illuminating something by the rays of the sun
or manmade light -- both get the job  done,  but  one  sure  as  hell
outshines and outlasts the other. You are hereby encouraged to  mount
your own individual repulsive insurrection  and  grab  Burnt  by  the
Sun's newest effort -- it is an aggressively fine coup de grace.


Callenish Circle - _Flesh_Power_Dominion_
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)  (Metal Blade, February 2002)

Dutch quintet Callenish Circle's musical  history  is  just  slightly
untypical -- initially spreading their name with a  doom-laden  death
metal release (_Drift of Empathy_)  which  was  somewhat  reminiscent
of the sadly disbanded  Caustic's  _Moments  in  the  Infinite_  MCD,
Callenish Circle have since evolved in time to embrace the  tones  of
the renowned "Gothenburg  Institute  of  Death  Metal".  Their  third
full-length release, _Flesh_Power_Dominion_, perfectly fits  in  with
this evolution, yet somehow leaves some very noticeable flaws open to
criticism. Although Callenish Circle's great songwriting is,  on  the
whole, as efficient as it is technical, some typically Swedish  riffs
just tend to float over the top, and indulge in  excessively  melodic
dirges which turn out to be more annoyingly notey than they can claim
to be really catchy. This tendency unfortunately deprives some  parts
of _F_P_D_'s tracks of much of the power they deserve, a  flaw  which
is sadly at times acutely reinforced by the excessively thin, rasping
vocals. On the other hand, Callenish Circle do have their moments  of
truly powerful genius, when they focus on powerful low-end aggression
or a less  Scandinavian-sounding  approach,  as  they  do  on  tracks
such as the potent "Take  Me  Along",  or  the  beautifully  touching
"Bleeding". As the excellent cover of Death's classic "Pull the Plug"
clearly testifies to, Callenish Circle  display  technical  abilities
which are sufficient by far, and an intriguing, unusual  approach  to
their death metal -- however, these riffing Dutchmen still  at  times
seem to be searching for a musical style they are one hundred percent
comfortable with; and although  _Flesh_Power_Dominion_  does  display
some flaws (which are  made  all  the  more  apparent  owing  to  its
generally high quality), Callenish Circle are becoming a force to  be
reckoned with. I can now only hope that  the  sequel  to  their  2002
effort shall comfort me in my great expectations  for  them  --  with
their songwriting abilities so clearly displayed, their next  release
can't decently afford to fall anything short of sheer brilliance!


Carpathian Forest - _Morbid Fascination of Death_  (Avantgarde, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (5 out of 10)

Carpathian Forest are being  hailed  as  one  of  the  few  Norwegian
black metal  acts  that  didn't  compromise  and  still  worship  the
"old" sound. The meaning of "old"  is  rather  the  mid-period  Sodom
style of Motoerhead influenced Teutonic  thrash  than  _De  Mysteriis
dom Sathanas_-era Mayhem or the  necro  sound  of  early  Emperor  or
mid-period Darkthrone on _Under a Funeral  Moon_.  Carpathian  Forest
are heavy in a simple, grooving way and do  have  a  few  odd  tracks
which ignore the formula applied to the majority of their  songs  and
feature untrue instruments like saxophones and eerie  sound  effects.
CF's previous album _Strange Old Brew_ does work quite  well  for  me
and is a nice and simple piece of blackened metal with rasping vocals
in a world of modern day Emperor, Zyklon,  Satyricon,  etc..  _Morbid
Fascination of  Death_  got  recorded  during  the  same  session  as
_Strange Old Brew_ and features  Tchort  on  bass  and  Anders  Kobro
(In the Woods...) on  drums  supporting  CF  mainmen  Nattefrost  and
Nordavind. At first this seemed to guarantee a  consistent  level  of
quality between the  two  records.  After  listening  to  _MFoD_  I'm
strongly suspecting that what's getting  served  this  time  are  the
inferior parts of the year 2000  sessions  in  the  guise  of  a  new
record. With the exception of re-recorded demo track "Knokkelman" and
the Mayhem cover "Ghoul", there's not much on _Morbid Fascination  of
Death_ to get excited  about.  It's  certainly  not  the  production'
fault, as it is loud and powerful in  a  clear  and  clean  way.  The
majority  of  the  song  material  is  downright  boring  this  time.
Unfortunately, _MFoD_ turns out to be a  superfluous  release  and  a
pretty weak follow-up to the convincing _Strange Old Brew_ (8 out  of
10 in my books).


Chernobog - _Nuclear Bloodbath_  (Unsung Heroes Records, June 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (2 out of 10)

Although black metal is renowned for its ultra  low  budget  bathroom
production, "raw" and "primitive" releases, I haven't heard  anything
that quite matched the level of production (or more  accurately,  the
lack thereof) on this album and I doubt if there  is  any  album  out
there that has. Admittedly, this is actually a  demo  released  as  a
proper album, so I guess one shouldn't expect too much  --  but  even
so, I can easily say that this is the worst sounding demo  I've  ever
heard. Fine, I hear you crying out, the production's terrible. I  can
handle that. Tell me about the music. Well, I can tell you  that  the
album opens with a couple of arpeggiated chords. Beyond that I  can't
really say, as the production is so  terrible  that  it  pretty  much
renders this demo unlistenable. The production results in the  vocals
sounding like, say, Dani  Filth  on  a  cheapo  tape  deck  with  the
volume turned  up  to  full.  Massive  distortion  to  the  point  of
indecipherability. Most of the time the drums  sound  like  pneumatic
drill -- unfortunately I'm not being figurative. The drumming  really
does sound like a pneumatic drill. And the guitars are  buried  under
this mess of drums and vocals. Occasionally I can hear a decent  riff
struggling to the surface, but  it  is  quickly  overwhelmed  by  the
drums. In fact, this album has to be  deliberately  underproduced  to
create such a raw sound -- I can't imagine a  garage  band  recording
anything in their, er, garage which could sound as bad as this.

Contact: UHR, Mark Vignati, 260 Overlook Dr, Covington, GA 30016, USA
         mailto:uhr@mindspring.com


Commit Suicide - _Human Larvae (Earthly Cleansing)_
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)  (Willowtip, 2002)

I  have  played  Commit  Suicide's  album  _Human   Larvae   (Earthly
Cleansing)_ quite a lot lately. And it  wasn't  because  it  is  just
28-plus minutes long and I can get more  spins  in  a  day  than  the
average album. So why so many spins? Because it is so damn good!  The
new offering by this Pittsburgh death/grind quintet is truly  a  work
of art, a blasting flow of  reckless  intensity  on  one  end  and  a
technical grinding assault at the  other  end  of  things.  Heavy-set
vocals come down on the listener with the might of a  stream  roller,
while the ferocious  guitars  wail,  the  frightfully  potent  rhythm
section shakes the foundations  and  the  powerhouse  drumming  sends
the music into a  chaotic  tizzy.  Fast  as  lightning,  I  tell  ya!
Grinding numbers like "Ablation", "When Nothing Exists", "Hollow" and
"Epiphany" will send shocks of enjoyment to fans of great  new  heavy
hitters like Circle  of  Dead  Children  and  Backstabbers  Inc.  and
classic grind outfits  like  Napalm  Death  and  Haemorrhage.  Commit
Suicide are way ahead of the  pack  with  this  latest  offering  and
anyone who says otherwise after hearing  this  record  needs  to  off
themselves. Truly devastating stuff here!


Crest of Darkness - _Project Regeneration_  (Listenable, 2001)
by: Vincent Eldefors  (6.5 out of 10)

Black metal is one of the easiest styles of metal to play, but it  is
definitely not easy to make it sound good. The vocals have to be evil
and raw, but still not annoying. The music has to  be  very  fast  or
symphonic, but without becoming monotonous. Some  black  metal  bands
create some of the best music that can be found on this earth,  while
others create some of the worst. The Norwegian band Crest of Darkness
lies somewhere inbetween the two categories. This is  the  band  that
was originally formed as a solo project by the former Conception bass
player Ingar Amlien, who had always been  interested  in  the  darker
side of life and therefore also the darker side of music. To be  able
to realize his black visions he had  to  do  this  in  another  band.
Perhaps because of his previous experience, the  music  of  Crest  of
Darkness is very progressive and experimental, but still  contains  a
sharp brutal edge. Ingar Amlien has  always  wanted  to  present  his
music as black and Satanic, but this time the lyrical  concept  deals
with the future of mankind, a future where technology may become  our
worst enemy. The music is  often  quite  interesting  thanks  to  the
nice riffs that can be  found  here  and  there  on  the  album,  but
unfortunately it gets a little too chaotic and annoying in  the  end.
Another thing that makes me rate this album rather low is that  I  am
not too fond of the  hissing  male  vocals  and  Kristin  Fjellseth's
female vocals. Kristin has a pretty nice  voice,  and  I  think  they
could have made it sound a lot better than it does here (she has  now
left the band for her other band Pale  Forest).  I  must  admit  that
Crest of Darkness is a creative band who isn't afraid to  experiment,
but unfortunately this album didn't impress me much.  It  works  very
well as background music, though.

Contact: http://www.crestofdarkness.com


Cruachan - _Folk-Lore_  (Hammerheart, 2002)
by: Vincent Eldefors  (9.5 out of 10)

Cruachan is certainly not the most productive band in the history  of
metal, but what counts is that they are one  of  the  absolute  best.
Their first album _Tuatha Na Gael_ was a landmark in  the  black/folk
metal field, but the second one, _The Middle Kingdom_, was a lot less
black. That is also the case with this third release  from  Cruachan.
Except for the last track (which is actually one of the best),  there
is nothing here that shows the slightest resemblance to black  metal.
Even though there are some people  who  only  like  Cruachan's  first
album and think they have wimped out since then, I am definitely  not
of that opinion. _Folk-Lore_ is really a continuation  of  what  they
began on _The Middle Kingdom_, but with every single element  further
improved -- the songs are  even  more  complex,  the  music  is  more
varied, and the female vocals by Karen  Gilligan  are  stronger  than
ever. Add to this a top-notch production job and you will  understand
that Cruachan have risen to become one of the  most  important  metal
bands today. They are creative,  innovative  and  dare  to  challenge
everyone and everything.  I'm  really  glad  that  the  band  decided
against signing the deal they were offered by Century  Media  in  the
mid '90s. Instead they have been able to develop their own sound free
from any label pressure. The most important thing  about  Hammerheart
is that  they  offer  their  artists  artistic  freedom,  which  will
inevitably bring out the best in  every  band.  Almost  every  single
track of this album is exceptional, except for "Spancill Hill"  which
sounds a little foolish to me. _Folk-Lore_ is without a doubt one  of
the most unique and beautiful metal  albums  ever  made.  The  Romans
didn't succeed in eradicating the cultural  diversity  of  Europe  --
Celtic music is still alive and better than ever before.

[Paul Schwarz: "It is  extremely  boring  to  listen  to  music  that
 harmonises old Bathory  riffs  with  a  coy  Celtic  chorus  --  and
 extremely infuriating to find the same band making the same horrible
 mistake twice of trying to make it sound good."]

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


Various - _Czech Assault_  (Relapse, 2001)
by: Brian Meloon  (6 out of 10)

Relapse's third offering in  their  "underground  campaign"  features
five bands from the Czech  republic:  Imperial  Foeticide,  Negligent
Collateral Collapse, Contrastic, Intervalle  Bizarre  and  Fleshless.
Each band gets from four to six songs, which is more than enough time
to make up your mind about them. Imperial  Foeticide  start  off  the
disc with four short tracks of brutal grind/death (plus a short intro
and outro). While the music is competently  played,  it  really  adds
nothing new to the genre. Negligent Collateral Collapse are next with
five songs of industrial-tinged death metal. Aside from the extremely
guttural vocals and some samples and effects,  there  isn't  much  to
differentiate them from the other  bands  here.  Contrastic  are  the
third band here, and by far the most unique. Their style is a mix  of
punk, hardcore, death metal, jazz, and assorted weird sound  effects.
All of their songs are pretty different from each other. They  remind
me of Australia's Alchemist, both from the general sound of the music
and especially the vocals, but Contrastic are a  little  weirder  and
more diverse. Intervalle Bizarre follow Contrastic  with  four  songs
(plus an intro) of fast death metal. The music is competently  played
and reasonably good, but the music is  hurt  by  a  production  which
makes the vocals inaudible at times. Finally, Fleshless  wrap  things
up with four more songs of death metal.  Once  again,  the  music  is
competently played and reasonably interesting, but  not  outstanding.
As you'd expect from an "underground" release, the  production  isn't
very good, though it's  passable.  Notable  exceptions  are  the  low
vocals in  Intervalle  Bizarre  and  the  very  clear  production  of
Contrastic. Personally, I'm a little disappointed  by  the  selection
of bands, although  they're  all  reasonably  competent.  I  would've
preferred to hear something from Godless  Truth,  Forgotten  Silence,
Vuvr [CoC #56], Agony or Love History, though admittedly those  bands
might not be "underground" enough for  Relapse.  There's  some  great
music coming from the Czech Republic, but  the  bands  on  this  comp
don't show it.


Dark Legion - _Bloodshed_  (DeadSun Records, October 2001)
by: David Rocher  (4 out of 10)

The Polish death metal scene just seems to  be  writhing  organically
with an endless supply of technically proficient, musically  inspired
bands -- acts such Lost Soul,  Decapitated,  Yattering  or  Hate  are
often hot on godfathers Vader's heels, a  lethal  nervecurrent  which
DeadSun signees Dark Legion seem to be fusing with both in  body  and
soul. Unfortunately, though their technical proficiency  can  not  be
questioned, it is Dark Legion's truly musical  abilities  which  turn
out to be a blemish; this Polish quartet's  warlike  death  metal  is
tight, brutal  and  competently  played,  yet  the  globally  chaotic
structures, often uninspired arrangements  added  to  the  imprecise,
shifting production let _Bloodshed_ down pretty badly. Although  some
interesting, powerful melodies do surface sporadically throughout the
nine tracks plus intro on this recording, this debut release  on  the
whole seemingly tends to grunt, grind and blast around aimlessly, and
no matter how hard I try, I  can't  find  myself  being  even  mildly
interested by Dark Legion's material. I can only  hope  that  in  the
near  future,  they  will  return  to  display  with  consistent  and
efficient  songwriting  skills,  as  although  their  pure  technical
abilities are clearly apparent, this release is unfortunately  not  a
wholly recommendable listen.


Dawn of Dreams - _Darklight Awakening_  (WWIII, November 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

For whatever reason, Germany has been hiding this five  piece  outfit
and not sharing very well  with  the  rest  of  the  steadfast  metal
community. After kicking around the scene  for  some  time,  Dawn  of
Dreams erupts with this debut in  WWIII  and  I  am  thrilled  beyond
words! Slicing up their feet from  walking  the  black/death  razor's
edge, Dawn of Dreams, if losing their balance and falling off,  would
surely land death metal side up. They have considerably more to offer
than a bland formula for fire licked rhythms and piercingly  militant
drive. Pulling apart the  scene,  DoD  delivers  a  amplification  of
measured bursts of musical intensity that needs to be felt more  than
described. Pay close attention to "Watch the Sunrise",  "The  Sirenes
Dreaming" and "Dwell in My Embrace" for DoD's  raw,  nearly  reckless
surrender to their  passion  for  music.  I  can't  wait  to  hear  a
sophomore endeavor from these guys. With  their  gilded  black  death
style, Dawn of Dreams is the real thing.


Deicide - _In Torment, in Hell_  (Roadrunner, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (6 out of 10)

In CoC #50 I came  to  the  conclusion  that  Deicide's  last  record
_Insineratehymn_ was "one of the most boring records I heard  in  the
last ten years". In the twelve months since  then,  nothing  happened
that changed my opinion about this album. Never did I foresee that my
jaw was about to drop when I put  on  evil  Glen's  last  output  for
Roadrunner, _In Torment, in  Hell_.  I  was  indeed  encountering  an
exciting, grooving riff! With expectations as low  as  mine,  Deicide
probably didn't have that much to achieve to make  me  give  slightly
more praise this time, but in all honesty, a good portion  of  _ITiH_
-is- okay. The -- by Deicide standards -- uncommonly short  pregnancy
period to deliver another meagre 30  minutes  of  material  seems  to
have had some  positive  effect  on  the  results.  _In  Torment,  in
Hell_ sounds a  bit  rawer  than  its  predecessor,  avoids  some  of
the slow, plodding  monotony,  and  the  majority  of  tracks  manage
to hold my  attention,  something  which  could  not  be  said  about
_Insineratehymn_. Stylistically this is in between the debut and  the
dumbed down approach of _Serpents of the Light_, while neither  being
in-your-face like _Deicide_ nor  as  straightforward  and  catchy  as
_SotL_. Unfortunately, with the exception of stating that this sounds
clearly like Deicide and that Benton's vocals have never been deeper,
there is nothing really remarkable about _ITiH_. Overall, this CD  is
miles away from being a top death metal record and I'd like to advise
everybody who does feel tempted to buy it just because it's  the  new
Deicide  (who  were  so  shockingly  controversial  and  brutal  many
years ago) to check out _Necrodaemon Terrorsathan_  by  Belphegor  or
Aborted's  _Engineering  the  Dead_  instead.  You'll  buy  far  more
convincing records with -- to my ears -- enough good Deicide in  them
to help you live without _ITiH_.


Destruction - _The Antichrist_  (Nuclear Blast, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (7 out of 10)

When reviewing _All  Hell  Breaks  Loose_  [CoC  #48],  Destruction's
reunion record, I was complaining that "less technicality would  have
resulted in more power and ultimately better, more cohesive songs." A
slightly more  focussed,  more  to-the-point  approach  is  the  main
difference between _AHBL_ and _The Antichrist_. The best example  may
be the aptly named opener "Thrash Till Death", which  uses  a  simple
but very effective riff almost all  the  way  through.  Besides  this
minor improvement, Destruction  have  of  course  not  changed  their
formula and still play their fairly intricate, break-laden, unmelodic
version of Teutonic thrash metal. What still  makes  them  unique  is
Mike's typical flowing  riffing  and  Schmier's  gruff  but  somewhat
powerless trademark vocals. Although Mike's ever-busy guitar work has
its moments, the  songs  are  still  too  long  and  sadly  not  that
different from each other. Even after  the  tenth  listen,  the  main
distinction between individual tracks is the chorus,  which  consists
of pretentious songtitles  ("Dictators  of  Cruelty",  "Bullets  From
Hell") which always and predictably get shouted over and over  again.
Sometimes, _The Antichrist_ makes me go "wow, these  guys  are  quite
good for their age",  but  ultimately  _The  Antichrist_  is  lacking
something: on first listen it sounds heavy and aggressive,  but  over
the course of 40+ minutes it starts to become boring and suffers from
a lack of really interesting  songs.  Substract  the  "the  legendary
Destruction" bonus and you'll have something which pretends to go for
the throat but never manages to make the kill. In  my  eyes,  neither
_The Antichrist_ nor the new Kreator record show enough substance  to
make the much talked about resurgence of German thrash  more  than  a
short-lived phenomenon. Don't get me wrong, _The Antichrist_ is not a
bad record and certainly more than just a reminder of  the  good  old
days and how cool "Bestial Invasion" still sounds. But, on the  other
hand, this does not fare too well when it has to compete with records
by younger bands playing a comparable style. Last  time  I  mentioned
Defleshed, this time it's Dew-Scented's _Inwards_, which is a perfect
example that some of today's thrashers owe a lot to  old  Destruction
but manage to single-handedly slaughter _The Antichrist_.


Dew-Scented - _Inwards_  (Nuclear Blast, January 2002)
by: David Rocher  (9.5 out of 10)

Although it can most  likely  be  stated  that  Dew-Scented's  latest
releases  to  date,  _Ill-Natured_  and  _Innoscent_,  were   decent,
efficient,  yet  ultimately  dispensable  recordings,   this   German
quartet's  anno  2002  milestone  is   guaranteed   to   have   hairy
heads-a-banging in many an abode throughout  this  year.  Truthfully,
_Inwards_ is one hammer  of  a  recording,  a  blasting,  razor-sharp
thrashing death metal session which  mercilessly  tramples  all  over
most present-day "thrashing" releases just like they  didn't  matter.
Germany's unsuspected yet unambiguous reply to the godly At the Gates
monument _Slaughter of the Soul_, _Inwards_ simply oozes and  writhes
with murderous power and precision  --  the  ruthless  fusion  of  an
uncontested _Pleasure to Kill_ with all the coolness  and  undisputed
aggression of Jensen/Bjorler trademark "riff a  la  tractor-pulling",
mercilessly distilled by sole axeman  Professor  Riffmeister  Floryan
Mueller. From the first seconds of the staccato-laden opener  "Bitter
Conflict"  to  the  final  echoes  of  the  blasting  closing  number
"Reprisal", the thrashing rhythmical trinity (rounded off by skinsman
supreme Uwe  Werning  and  surgical  bassist  Patrick  Heims)  within
Dew-Scented deliver a  "Mutterload"  of  nuclear  riffs  and  blasts,
surgically winding leads and  raging  rhythmic  onslaughts.  Vocalist
Leffe  Jensen  superbly  caps  this  merciless  offensive  of   sheer
technical rabidity with his throaty,  powerful  vocals,  making  this
thrashing death metal gem a  true  lesson  in  the  art  of  incisive
musical potency. A sterling production crafted by Holy  Moses  axeman
Andy Classen -- who knows, if  anyone  ever  will,  how  to  spawn  a
brutally heavy thrash sound -- deals the final lick of aural violence
to this exceptional release; short and sharp -- if the once  glorious
German thrash scene ever needed fresh blood  in  which  to  seal  its
future, Dew-Scented have all the haemoglobin and guts to  secure  it.
Undoubtedly one of 2002's top five releases, no matter what.


Dim Mak - _Intercepting Fist_  (Olympic, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon  (6 out of 10)

Dim Mak consists of three-fifths of  Ripping  Corpse,  so  you  could
confidently expect  this  to  be  a  tight,  professional,  technical
slab of death metal.  And  on  all  of  those  counts,  it  delivers.
However,  this  disc  has  the  same  effect  on  me  as  Cryptopsy's
_Whisper Supremacy_ does: it's a repetitive mess of  brutality.  Like
Cryptopsy's _None So Vile_,  Dim  Mak's  previous  album  _Enter  the
Dragon_ had a very important and  difficult-to-acquire  feature:  the
songs were catchy and memorable. However,  on  this  album,  Dim  Mak
de-emphasized the groovy, catchy riffs of their debut in favor  of  a
more brutal and denser sound. The result is certainly more aggressive
and heavier, but it quickly gets repetitive. In addition, aside  from
a few places, the riffs are less technical than on their  debut.  The
production doesn't help matters either, as it's  muddy  sounding  and
the riffs don't stand out clearly. On all these counts, this album is
inferior to their debut. Fans of hardcore-inspired death metal should
search out _Enter the Dragon_, and skip this offering.


Dusk - _Mourning... Resurrect_  (Lost Disciple, 2002)
by: Aaron McKay  (9 out of 10)

Almost totally unknown to me until this dark beauty  arrived  in  the
mail, I've been trapped by Dusk's obscure extravagance. From  what  I
understand from the CD inlay, Dusk, who have  since  disbanded,  just
happened to be one of the very first outfits Lost Disciple stocked in
its  mail  order  infancy.  From  what  I've  heard  on  _Mourning...
Resurrect_, I am absolutely certain I would have  clamored  for  more
from Dusk. The heaviest cuts from Gorguts mixed  with  some  Coercion
and Cianide complete with heavy-handed deadened drum beats. This kind
of material works me up into a frenzy. The well-timed and atmospheric
placement of the synth and ambient chant puts _Mourning... Resurrect_
nearly at the top of anything  done  doom-oriented  before  or  since
Dusk. While I chose not to, a listener could successfully argue a  My
Dying Bride correlation. I rather think that is an off-handed, novice
comparison doing little to shed much light on the masterful work Dusk
was responsible for. While there are eleven tracks  present,  I  will
openly admit my admiration for the band's 1994 self-titled effort  --
overwhelming in its totality and  murky  milieu.  Upon  listening  to
_Mourning... Resurrect_ time and time again, I  rue  the  passing  of
such a talented band, but thanks to Lost Disciple (and Rich),  Dusk's
heritage will go on.


Entwine - _Gone_  (Century Media, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (4 out of 10)

Entwine initially began life as a death metal band  before  switching
to the relatively more  sedate  and  contemplative  style  of  gothic
metal, claiming that death metal was  simply  too  boring.  If  their
debut release is anything like this, their  sophomore  release,  then
perhaps they should have stuck with death metal. Who knows, it  might
just have been less boring.  The  singer  is  undoubtedly  trying  to
sound all weepy and emotional, yet comes  across  as  sounding  quite
insubstantial. Plus his slightly nasal vocals get irritating after  a
few songs. The musicianship  is  adequate,  if  somewhat  lacking  in
songwriting skills.  I  can  safely  say,  without  any  reservations
whatsoever, that this  is  the  most  banal,  mediocre  gothic  metal
release I have ever heard. And I have heard my fair  share.  All  the
songs follow the same pattern: intro, soft part, heavy part,  chorus,
soft, heavy part, alternate heavy  and  soft  parts  till  end.  Then
repeated again in the next song. Variety would not go  unappreciated.
The use of such formulaic pop-songwriting may help to explain why the
single "New Dawn" managed to make into the  Top  10  in  the  Finnish
charts -- I guess the Finns have the same bad  taste  as  just  about
every other country in the world. Recommended for  anyone  who  finds
Britney Spears' or Backstreet Boys' songwriting  techniques  combined
with gothic metal elements intriguing or entertaining.


Even Vast - _Dawning Gloom_  (Painkiller, 2001)
by: Alvin Wee  (7 out of 10)

Yet another pre-release maxi-single  from  Painkiller  Records,  this
time round the unveiling of Italian Goth-meisters Even Vast. Much  as
I'd like to avoid making the obvious comparison with The Gathering or
Lacuna Coil, _Dawning  Gloom_  is  more  a  dreary  _Mandylion_  than
anything else, and so derivative it almost  defeats  the  purpose  of
putting it out  as  a  new  release.  Commendable,  however,  is  the
band's ability to sound vaguely engaging  and  thoughtful,  something
even bigger names struggle to  do  at  times.  Minimal  yet  superbly
refined, the acoustic "Scared for  the  Last  Time"  showcases  these
Italians' impressive  song-crafting  capabilities,  while  the  title
track, as imitative as it is, proves the band  both  technically  and
compositionally on par with the best of them. The  crunchy,  plodding
guitar work sets  the  dreary  backdrop  perfectly  for  Antoinetta's
melancholy crooning, and the band's sense of  cohesion  is  downright
impressive. All the members play off each  other,  trading  riff  for
chord in a dense polyphony accentuated by Antoinetta's dulcet  tones.
It's possible this bunch would have eclipsed Scabbia & co.  had  they
emerged earlier,  but  for  now,  the  hurdle  of  being  labeled  as
imitators looms large for them.

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


Eyes of Ligeia - _The Night's Plutonian Shore_
by: Quentin Kalis  (7.5 out of 10)  (Unsung Heroes Rec., June 2001)

Judging from their moniker  and  album  title,  Eyes  of  Ligeia  are
heavily influenced by Edgar  Allan  Poe.  His  melancholy  tales  and
poems, replete with grim, near  horrific  overtones,  are  a  fitting
influence for a doom metal record. I'm surprised Poe hasn't exerted a
greater influence over some of the more sombre bands. Eyes of  Ligeia
is yet another one-man band on UHR. While I think that the  formation
of many one-man bands is due in part to musical pretentiousness  (the
"no-one has the same vision / understands me / can do it as  well  as
me" syndrome), Eyes of Ligeia's  Toby  demonstrates  that  he  indeed
possesses the necessary talent to pull it off. The guitars produce an
unusual, high-pitched, almost artificial sound, almost as  if  it  is
trying to sound  like  a  keyboard  imitating  a  guitar.  Definitely
different. The vocals too are different from  the  norm:  instead  of
sorrow-filled mournful  clean  vocals  or  death  style  grunts,  the
vocalist utilises a whispery, high-pitched rasp. Despite the  unusual
sounds, the slow mournful pace of the songs leaves  no  doubt  in  my
mind that this is a doom metal album. The song  structures  bring  to
mind the likes of _As the Flower Withers_-era My Dying  Bride  whilst
undeniably retaining an aura of originality.  Simply  like  no  other
doom metal band. Unfortunately, Toby has put Eyes of Ligeia  on  hold
at the moment as he concentrates on  his  other  project,  Amphigory,
which should also be worth a listen or two.

Contact: mailto:eyes@eyesofligeia.cjb.net
         http://eyesofligeia.cjb.net


Fall of the Leafe - _Fermina_  (Icarus Records, February 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

There seems to be a common theme  running  throughout  the  music  of
Finnish act Fall of the Leafe: diversity. The band's third  offering,
their second for label Icarus Records in Argentina,  finds  the  band
carrying on with their folk/melodic  death  metal  angle  with  their
music, surprisingly infectious at times  and  always  an  interesting
listen. Like another band from their  homeland,  Kalmah,  FotL  isn't
afraid to mix things up and be proud of their heritage and  integrate
it into their metallic flow. Check out tracks  "Stumbling  Stone"  or
"Chameleon Loop". While I think some metal fans might find the  music
of this band a tad odd at times, for those with an ear for  diversity
and eccentric metal music, this band will no doubt have  you  wrapped
up with what they do. But like their past releases, I find the vocals
a tad annoying at times, somewhat whiny but easily  forgettable  once
the music gets flowing. A good listen.


Final Tragedy - _Greed_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

Not sure what to make of this  French  progressive/atmospheric  metal
duo and their -long- song arrangements. Not to mention the fact  that
singer Delphine Cochand sounds like she was across the hall from  the
microphone when she was recording the vocals -- the songs  have  this
very distant, hollow sound to them. While there are some nice  sounds
flowing within this eight-song, 49+ minute release, I'm sorry to  say
that I  felt  bored  by  the  mid-mark.  The  reason  being  is  that
most of  the  songs  revolve  around  the  same  style/pattern,  soft
passionate singing over tranquil/majestic guitar amongst  a  somewhat
archaic/gothic overtone, thus making it really difficult for any real
song to break out of this overused mold and shine in  the  spotlight.
Not to say that Cochand or her partner (Jean-Luc Millet)  can't  make
beautifully sculpted music -- they can -- it  just  seems  as  though
their excess feel and flow  of  things  really  took  away  from  the
developing each song. Too much, too long and  not  enough  character.
Trying to pick out a memorable song from the bunch here is  difficult
and I think the best advice I can offer would be to  tack  on  a  bit
more substance to the  songs,  bring  them  up  from  the  melancholy
drudgery they are wallowing in and add some colour and break  out  of
this blandness. The promising moments on _Greed_ come only  in  small
patches.

Contact: mailto:final.tragedy@wanadoo.fr
         http://perso.wanadoo.fr/finaltragedy/


Fleshcrawl - _Soulskinner_  (Metal Blade, November 2001)
by: David Rocher  (7.5 out of 10)

Fleshcrawl's sixth full-length, _Soulskinner_ totally lives up to its
blatantly poetic title,  and  righteously  embodies  all  the  sweaty
finesse and growling delicacy I have  by  now  come  to  expect  from
Germany's own old school Swedish deathsters. Needless  to  say,  once
again, as their  fans  will  most  likely  already  have  anticipated
on, little has occurred  in  the  scope  of  a  hypothetical  musical
evolution Fleshcrawl may one day choose to follow. Such  a  whimsical
trend would be most  unworthy  of  these  Germans'  blasting  career,
and the only change showcased  by  _Soulskinner_,  when  compared  to
Fleshcrawl's previous opus, the  50%  early  Dismember,  50%  _Heaven
Shall Burn_-era Marduk release _As Blood Rains from the  Sky..._,  is
that _Soulskinner_ actually tends to be  somewhat  slower  --  whilst
nonetheless retaining all-out frantic breakneck  velocity.  An  extra
slab of massive heaviness and chunkiness (quite reminiscent, in fact,
of _...For Victory_-era Bolt Thrower riffage) has  successfully  been
introduced into the raging, mangling maelstrom invoked by the  rhythm
department, efficiently capped  off  by  Sven  Gross'  bowel-churning
growls. _Soulskinner_ is as blatantly  unoriginal  and  efficient  as
death metal will ever  get,  and  though  I  doubt  whether  it  will
actually earn Fleshcrawl any new  fans,  the  simplistic,  ruthlessly
outspoken death metal it offers is bound to content the hordes of the
band's existing followers.


Furia - _A la Quete du Passe_  (Adipocere Records, October 2001)
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)

The  sounds  emanating  from  this  very  promising   French   band's
thousand-facetted,  polymorphous  first   full-length   release   are
reassuring tones indeed. After the once  active  French  death  metal
scene slipped into a  coma  a  number  of  years  ago  following  the
untimely demise or prolonged  lethargy  of  bands  such  as  Crusher,
Loudblast, No Return or Massacra, it now looks as  though  a  searing
electrical shock has  sent  extreme  metal-laced  adrenaline  flowing
through the veins of a scene which now teems  with  massively  potent
reformations or new bands -- No Return, Scarve, Symbiosis or Gurkkhas
are confirming  their  immense  potential  with  each  of  their  new
releases, and it looks as though Furia  are  all  set  to  become  an
unhallowed force to be reckoned with. Throughout the thirteen  tracks
on  the  concept  album  named  _A  la  Quete  du  Passe_,  countless
influences and melodies intermingle to form a compelling, varied  and
intricate opus. Although the rabid label sticker lurking within every
music  journalist  could  maybe  hastily  and,  at  all  rates,  very
imprecisely file Furia under "heavy black metal",  this  French  band
encompass much more than  one  rash  definition  may  even  dream  to
describe. From the Iron Maiden-tinged opening riff on "A la Quete  du
Passe" to the hyperblasting blackened  death  metal  segues  on  "Une
Quete Sans Lendemain", from  the  Kind  Diamond-laden  start  of  "Le
Jardin d'Eden" right over to the thrashing number "Le Sacrifice de la
Vierge", Furia  display  awesome  musical  creativity  and  downright
impressive technical skills as their  material  effortlessly  mutates
from splendorous heavy metal  leads  into  high-speed  melodic  death
metal onslaughts. Furia's strong rhythm section, fronted by a  highly
versatile drummer and an inspired string department, is  graced  with
the lucid, interspersed interventions of keyboards, which are  always
used to their best possible effect -- and  are  also  left  out  when
their participation would do nothing to help Furia's  furious  metal.
Fortunately,  _A  la  Quete  du  Passe_  has  been  graced  with  the
production to match the convincing power it displays, and even though
I believe a more "organic"  sound  would  have  fitted  this  release
better than the squeaky clean, very digital-sounding  production,  it
would be unwise to begrudge the band for  this;  in  fact,  the  only
point one may decently moan about on Furia's first full-length is the
wall many bands trying to open  their  sound  to  female  chants  and
keyboards fail not to run straight  into  --  at  times,  fortunately
unfrequently though, Furia over-enthusiastically merge catchy,  heavy
rhythmical segues with epic keys and/or feminine  vocal  lines,  thus
heading for a very willing, unwitting yet nonetheless  headlong  dive
into a world of heroic musical cheesiness. This  punctual  irritating
feeling however does not pervade _AlQdP_, and Furia's debut effort is
undisputedly a most promising blaze of creative energy emanating from
a French scene that badly needed fresh blood on which to  thrive.  It
may now only be hoped that their success will thrive both within  and
beyond French borders, as Furia are way as deserving an extreme  band
as many of their Scandinavian, American or European counterparts.


Godgory - _Sea of Dreams_ / _Shadow's Dance_  (7 and 4 out of 10)
by: David Rocher  (Hammerheart, July 2001 [reissue])

The somewhat untypical Swedish melodic death metal outfit Godgory was
initially signed to the German-based label Invasion Records who,  you
may recall, also released Cryptopsy's first effort,  _Blasphemy  Made
Flesh_ -- a very ominous recording, which was eventually reissued  by
Displeased Records. Indeed, as Invasion Records suddenly  disappeared
from  the  scene  a  couple  of  years  ago,  facing  an   increasing
circulation of rip-off  allegations,  bands  such  as  Cryptopsy,  or
Godgory (now signed to Nuclear  Blast),  found  themselves  homeless,
with  requests  for  their  out-of-print  former  releases  remaining
unheeded to. Hence, Hammerheart Records have reissued and repackaged,
in double-CD form, Godgory's praiseworthy 1995 debut _Sea of Dreams_,
and its rather disappointing 1997 sequel, _Shadow's  Dance_.  Indeed,
after the beautiful, acoustic-laden depths of _SoD_, the  tentatively
heavier and  more  powerful  material  on  _SD_  just  fails  to  hit
its mark:  an  unbalanced  production  (excessively  loud  drums  and
unconvincing  guitar  fuzz),  cheesy,  overemotional   spoken/melodic
vocals, and acoustic guitar lines subdued by keyboards all contribute
to make _SD_ a rather dispensable experience. _SoD_,  however,  still
retains much of the charm it displayed at the time of its release  --
its convincing production, courtesy of Dan Swano's Unisound  studios,
attains an accurate balance between the mid-tempo guttural  heaviness
shed by the potent rhythmic section combined with  Matte  Andersson's
powerful vocals  and  the  delicate,  crystalline  acoustic  melodies
wisely interspersed  throughout  the  tracks.  Godgory's  atmospheric
death metal debut was, and so remains to this  day,  a  profound  and
very enjoyable release, graced with generally catchy songwriting, and
with the very remarkable and characteristic talents of axemen  Stefan
Olsson and Micke Dahlquist --  few  Scandinavian  death  metal  bands
could, at the time,  claim  to  have  such  proficient  and  inspired
guitarists in their ranks. However,  as  I  already  broached,  quite
contrarily to _Sea of Dreams_, irritation-tinged boredom soon sets in
when listening to the blunt  _Shadow's  Dance_  --  the  contrast  in
musical and lyrical depth between these two  albums  is  astonishing,
and a re-release of _SD_ alone could hardly, nowadays,  have  claimed
to be a worthwhile  investment.  _SoD_,  however,  despite  the  ugly
packaging -- not that  the  original  Invasion  Records  release  was
beautiful, far from that -- is fully worth a  listen  for  metalheads
out there who have discovered Godgory with _Resurrection_.


Grabnebelfursten - _Von Schemen und Trugbildern_
by: Vincent Eldefors  (7.5 out of 10)  (Ketzer Productions, 2001)

Some bands just don't seem to want to become famous and known to  the
entire world, and the German Grabnebelfursten is  one  of  them.  The
little information I have on the band is that  they  have  apparently
released a mini-CD called "Sakralasthetik" on the German  label  Last
Episode prior to this. This band definitely deserves  more  attention
than they are willing to draw to themselves, because their  brand  of
black metal is quite unique, exciting and varied. Their music is very
atmospheric and melodic and the vast range of vocal  styles  used  on
this album is rather impressive. They are not afraid to use keyboards
either, although this will automatically make them  "trendy"  in  the
eyes of  some  Darkthrone  fanatics.  They  are,  however,  far  from
sounding like Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir, who would sound rather
mediocre without their symphonic arrangements. The closest you  could
come to imagining the music of this album is as a mix  between  early
Cradle of Filth and Ancient Rites, although Grabnebelfursten is a lot
rawer and less polished. These Germans will show the world that black
metal is far from dead and there are  still  new  worlds  to  explore
musically. The only thing I don't understand is why  a  bigger  label
hasn't picked them  up,  because  this  album  deserves  a  lot  more
attention than it has been given (which is practically none). Being a
German black metal band and  writing  their  lyrics  in  German  will
automatically make them nazis to  some  people,  but  I  think  those
people need to open their minds and realize that the world is not  as
easy to predict as they apparently would want it to be. If you  enjoy
atmospheric black metal, then I definitely think you should check out
this band, even though that is not the easiest thing  to  do  at  the
moment...

Contact: http://welcome.to/ketzer/
 

Gravewuerm - _Ancient Storms of War_  (Barbarian Wrath, 2000)
by: Matthias Noll  (8 out of 10)

Gravewuerm from the US of America sound  old.  Sounding  "old"  these
days mainly seems to have the meaning  of  either  worshipping  Black
Sabbath, Celtic Frost or (German) thrash metal. While _Ancient Storms
of War_ has no connection whatsoever to Black Sabbath or  thrash,  it
sounds as if it could have been  a  record  that  got  worshipped  by
Thomas Gabriel Fischer when he decided to use the  pseudonym  Satanic
Slaughter. _Ancient Storms of War_ achieves no less than to plausibly
come across as if it had a strong influence  on  the  Hellhammer  and
Bathory debuts. The musicianship here is  certainly  nothing  to  get
excited about: the guitar work borders on debility and the drummer is
content with handling the most basic rhythmic challenges,  while  the
bass simply follows the guitar lines. Still, the aptly named sinister
foursome of Tyrant, Blood, Massacre and Funeral has created a  rather
unique and surprisingly  impressive  piece  of  work,  which  in  its
simplicity never exceeds what can be found on tracks like Venom's "In
League With Satan". Short, raw, to the point, mostly in the  slow  to
mid-tempo range, and grooving like Hell. A connection to  what  today
is considered black metal can be made via the  rasping  vocal  style,
the ultra lo-fi recording and the buzzsaw guitar which rips and tears
like Quorthon's hellaxe anno 1984. The fact  that  a  couple  of  the
sixteen short songs simply fade in and/or out gives this  release  an
even more obscure atmosphere -- as if the  material  had  been  taken
from demo tapes where  some  passages  which  couldn't  get  restored
simply got left out. With their approach Gravewuerm almost border  on
parody, but what they created with  _Ancient  Storms  of  War_  isn't
laughable. This is Neanderthal  metal:  no  beauty,  no  finesse,  no
noteworthy skills, just a big, stinking half-ape half-human  creature
crushing your skull with a rock.


Green Carnation - _Light of Day, Day of Darkness_
by: Aaron McKay  (9.5 out of 10)  (Prophecy / The End, January 2002)

Fervency slaloms through Green Carnation as the Nile  navigates  near
Burundi,  its  canopied  source.  Richly  laden  tracks  filled  with
emotion bury the listener under feelings  of  cavernous  despondency,
but simultaneously addictive,  hard-fought  passages  beg  insatiable
satisfaction. Perfectly layered, ex-Emperor bassist  (post  Mortiis),
Tchort, and Carpathian Forest  /  In  the  Woods...  drummer,  Anders
Kobro, realize virtue in their playing  by  way  of  an  exhaustively
dense sound taking the form of  _Light  of  Day,  Day  of  Darkness_.
Nearly limitless tracks and samples comprise this solitary release to
achieve the goal of luxuriant density  so  lavished  throughout  this
effort it burdens the heart. It is nearly impossible to not get  lost
within the ingenuity  of  this  offering.  Clean  vocals  purify  the
sound and arresting movements in Green Carnation's  music  is  almost
extrasensory. I've never uttered the phrase  "stunning  metaphysical"
before, but this band of darkly aristocratic  metal  musicians  would
bend even the most enlightened Borknagar song in half when faced with
Green Carnation's quiescent power. Oh...  did  I  mention  that  this
entire CD is one track totaling an hour plus? _Light of Day,  Day  of
Darkness_ is a vision of excellency and a total conceptual odyssey of
the likes I have never bore witness!

[Pedro Azevedo: "Ambitious this record certainly is, but  it  suffers
 from  two  problems.  First,  the  lack  of  a   consistently   good
 atmosphere, which derives from the attempt to create a wide spectrum
 of moods throughout the disc. And second,  the  presence  of  a  few
 rather pedestrian  riffs  and  weaker  passages  in  this  hour-long
 composition does not help the overall listenability of the album  --
 which is lower than that of, say, Edge of  Sanity's  _Crimson_.  The
 album is lavishly produced and performed, and clearly a vast  amount
 of work went into planning and  creating  it.  There  is  plenty  of
 quality material here -- some of it is indeed excellent -- and it is
 a considerable improvement on the band's debut [CoC  #52].  However,
 its listenability and consistency would have greatly benefited  from
 a fair bit of trimming."]


Horde of Worms - _Wormageddon_  (Bloodbucket Prod., January 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (8 out of 10)

Although this EP is a mere 11  minutes  (a  raucous  and  unnecessary
hidden track which is revealed after a few minutes silence pushes the
length up to just under 17 minutes), Horde of Worms  manage  to  pack
more hatred, more speed and greater intensity into those  11  minutes
than some bands manage to do over the course of a full-length.  These
self-styled purveyors of Canadian blast metal provide four  songs  of
hyper-fast  blackened  riffing  underlaid  by  ferocious  blastbeats,
creating a powerful and  memorable  listening  experience.  There  is
sufficient variation in speed and intensity to ensure  that  even  if
this was  a  proper  full-length  album,  monotony  and  subsequently
boredom would be unlikely to make an appearance.  The  vokills  (this
dumb pun fits in with the excruciatingly weak pun  of  the  title  --
they must have been influenced by the Cradle of  Filth  CD  booklets)
alternate between death growls and ear-piercing black metal  screams.
I can't really think of any negative aspects of  this  album,  except
perhaps the length, which is far too short, and the inclusion of  the
aforementioned completely unnecessary "bonus" track.  It's  debatable
whether Horde of Worms would be able to create material of such speed
and quality over the course of a full-length, but hopefully they will
put  that  argument  to  rest  with  the  recording  of  a  follow-up
full-length.

Contact: Bloodbucket Prod., 1 Anglesey Boulevard, Suite B,
         Islington, Ontario M9A 3B2, Canada
Contact: mailto:wormy_2@hotmail.com


Human Eve - _Children_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (2 out of 10)

Two-man Mexican project Human  Eve  needs  to  figure  out  one  main
ingredient into their music before they can go  on:  production.  The
recording of this six-song  death  metal  outing  is  horrendous.  It
sounds like it was recorded on a cassette  player.  The  drums  sound
weak, the guitar is annoying and the vocals have a distant echo which
gets annoying about two songs in. Granted some of the guitar work  is
pretty good (I mean, I couldn't play it!) but not enough to save this
wreckage. This release is weak on so many angles. I hope they  get  a
better budget next time, or at least know when a  studio  has  ripped
them off.

Contact: mailto:arziel77@hotmail.com


Hypnos - _The Revenge Ride_  (Morbid, September 2001)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

In little over a year, this Czech band progressed a good distance for
a staunchly death metal act: _The Revenge  Ride_  --  Hypnos'  second
album in less years of existence -- is a comfortingly competent death
metal album which owes by far its  heaviest  debt  to  Carcass.  When
Hypnos' self-titled debut EP [CoC #48] evidenced their arise from the
cleaving-in-two of long-time  Czech  death  metal  beacon  Krabathor,
all it really  proved  on  its  own  was  that  Bruno  and  Pegas  --
bassist/vocalist and drummer respectively -- were keeping the  rough,
aggressive death-pounding approach of their former  band  on  minimal
life support with few  visitors  allowed  to  affect  its  character.
_In  Blood  We  Trust_  [CoC  #51]  affirmed  that  Hypnos  were  not
about to take the easier road to  success  in  their  native  country
by blueprinting themselves on  American  death/grind:  _TRR_  is  the
confident follow-through of that first  defiant  blow  against  local
trends. It is obvious that through  practice  Hypnos  have  sharpened
themselves into a tighter, more-technically-able unit; Harris  Johns'
production, mastered at Morrisound,  preserves  instrumental  clarity
while giving individual elements  their  appropriate  power.  Hypnos'
progression on a purely technical level has been simultaneous with  a
progression in the quality of their songs -- but unfortunately Hypnos
have too often chosen to forgo being original in favour of  liberally
borrowing from their predecessors. In fact, it's  substantially  only
Carcass that Hypnos have borrowed directly from,  but  this  is  more
than enough to neuter praise for _TRR_ as a -Hypnos- album. To put it
simply: though much of _TRR_ is good, too many of its best  bits  are
bits of _Necroticism - Descanting the Insalubrious_  regurgitated  in
more or less their  original  form.  Solo  breaks  like  the  one  on
"Endorsed by Satan" are where this can be  most  obviously  heard  --
though more than a hint  of  the  British  legends'  riff  style  now
accents the bulk of Hypnos' music. As you can tell from the mark I've
awarded them, Hypnos' failure to define themselves apart and  -ahead-
of their predecessors does not mean  that  _TRR_  is  an  unenjoyable
listen -- on the contrary, the _Necroticism_-esque solos are probably
my favourite bits of _TRR_. However, as with  Exhumed's  albums,  too
much of the enjoyment of Hypnos 2001 is  the  -real-  work  of  other
bands: Hypnos will have to be more original and  individual  if  they
want to prove themselves to  be  an  original  death  metal  band  of
individual note.


Hypocrisy - _10 Years of Chaos and Confusion_  (Nuclear Blast, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (10 out of 10)

Some days the stars align, you hit the mother load and  you  discover
Summoning! Other days you know Hypocrisy intends to release an  album
and you know you aren't serviced by the band's label --  SHIT!  So  I
did what any red blooded Tagtgren fan would  do:  I  pre-ordered  _10
Years of Chaos and Confusion_. Never dissatisfied with anything  this
man seems to do from Pain  to  The  Abyss,  I  found  myself  totally
enraptured by Peter Tagtgren and Hypocrisy's newest double,  best  of
compilation. Everything from the production (of course!) to the  song
selection to the pictures included in the inlay booklet to the  belch
at the one minute thirty-two second  mark  on  the  2001  re-recorded
"Osculum Obscenum" -- this package deal is beyond words.  It  doesn't
stop there, either. The second CD provides an  unprecedented  glimpse
into the very core of Hypocrisy's soul. Demo material  from  '91  and
'92, including "God Is a  Lie",  "Suffering  Souls",  "To  Escape  Is
to Die", "Nightmare" and  "Left  to  Rot",  are  best  left  to  your
imagination until you bear witness to the raw creativity  of  it  all
for yourself. Is that everything? No! There are  CD-ROM  video  clips
for six tracks from spanning 1992 through 1997, culminating with "The
Final Chapter"; all this manually projecting  Hypocrisy's  genius  in
case you found yourself  too  stupefied  to  do  so  under  your  own
capacity. So that's it... not  exactly.  As  a  bonus  on  disc  two,
Hypocrisy delivers a new  studio  track  for  your  pleasure.  It  is
titled  "Turn  the  Page"  (no,  not  the  Bob  Seger  one).  I  will
give boisterous  kudos  the  guys  for  the  excellent  work  on  the
other re-recorded tracks  on  _10YoCaC_:  "Penetralia",  "The  Fourth
Dimension", "Apocalypse" (with its impeccable bass),  "Left  to  Rot"
and "Pleasure of Molestation". If you are as big of a fan as I am  of
Peter's re-recorded material -- I am thinking of "Roswell 47" off  of
_Death... Is Just the Beginning IV_ -- then _10 Years  of  Chaos  and
Confusion_ should have already been in your player ten  minutes  ago.
Hypocrisy  is  the  unchallenged  in  the  field.  Magnificent  work,
gentlemen!


Impaled Nazarene - _Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace_
by: Alvin Wee  (9 out of 10)  (Osmose, 2001)

Impaled Nazarene albums are hitting the shelves faster than a Krisiun
blastbeat these days, and it's a wonder how sloppiness  never  creeps
in. In fact, _Absence..._ marks the Finnish combo's turn towards  the
tighter, thrashier side of things, achieving the perfect  combination
between _Show No Mercy_-era  Slayer  and  Mika's  original  blackened
tendencies. Kicking things off with a nerve-tingling martial/mystical
intro, the  band  wastes  no  time  in  laying  their  cards  on  the
table with the furiously thrashing title track.  Wildly  melodic  yet
terrifically headbang-inducing scorchers like "The Lost Art  of  Goat
Sacrificing" and "Humble Fuck of Death"  owe  more  to  classic  '80s
metal than the nuclear black metal the band is better known for.  The
abundance of killer solos and harmonic riffing on  the  album  proves
you don't need to go the Children of Bodom way to pay real tribute to
the old metal gods, and the band's ability to  retain  their  extreme
aspect while wholeheartedly rocking-out is  downright  awe-inspiring.
As usual, the band showcase their  knack  for  writing  catchy,  epic
slower tracks (remember "Blood Is Thicker  Than  Water"?)  on  "Never
Forgive", but the killer blow comes  at  the  end  with  the  all-out
death/thrash  blasting  of  the  15-second  "Satan  Wants  You  Dead"
followed instantly by the album's most rock-and-roll track  polishing
things  off  to  a  deliciously  neck-breaking  finish.  A  potential
classic, kicking dirt in the face of all the Finnish melodic acts  --
and did I mention the killer cover?


Infidel? / Castro! - _Case Studies in Bioentropy_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (<Independent>, 2002)

Not only do Colin Marston and George Korein have a good  thing  going
here with the unique sounds of the Infidel? / Castro! release _CSiB_,
but the sky is the limit with what  they  can  do  or  how  they  can
progress the band in the future. So what  do  they  sound  like?  The
website for the band says "an indecisive  amalgam  of  metadelusional
frequencies spawned from the depths of two twitching, tangled  neuron
masses". In short, it is a serious mindfuck! Take the bizarre  sounds
/ styles of bands like Karaboudjan, Old Man Gloom, Soma and  many  of
the same ilk and complexity, and mash  it  all  together,  drain  the
heavy production values and add in some electronic tinkering here and
there (check out "Mobius") and you  have  the  music  of  Infidel?  /
Castro!. Far from a detonating, sonic  assault,  Infidel?  /  Castro!
makes a statement with its tranquil, at times flow and create  segues
into new numbers. An interesting realm of  musical  exploration  that
many should try to stumble upon in the next little while.

Contact: mailto:cjm246@nyu.edu
         http://homepages.nyu.edu/~cjm246/


Internal Bleeding - _Alien Breed (1991-2001)_  (Olympic, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

In anticipation of their upcoming release, _Hateful_,  due  out  this
year, Internal Bleeding decided to remind us what it is like to  beat
about the head  and  chest  with  pummeling  rhythm  after  pummeling
rhythm. Infectious riffs  plague  this  compilation  enough  to  make
Dying Fetus sit  up  and  take  notice.  Crunchy  and  overwhelmingly
fat, tight playing is an  extraordinary  large  feather  in  Internal
Bleeding's, er... skull cap. (?) All fourteen tracks on this  release
have elements of the riff-heavy  "Murky  Waters"  mosh  segment  from
Testament's _Demonic_ album, including the new song,  "Alien  Breed".
Having only known IB since their second effort,  _The  Extinction  of
Benevolence_, I can hear  consistency  and  progression  all  through
_Alien Breed (1991 -  2001)_.  In  my  estimation,  with  bands  like
Fleshgrind and Macabre, Olympic  Records  is  the  natural  home  for
Internal  Bleeding.  If  you  were  unfamiliar  with  this  New  York
five-piece before, I'd probably get to know 'em a  bit.  Chances  are
you'll be hearing a lot about them really soon.


Judas Iscariot - _To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding_
by: Aaron McKay  (4 out of 10)  (Red Stream, 2002)

Sometimes my expectancy supercedes reality where bands that  I  enjoy
are concerned. Such  seems  to  be  the  case  with  Judas  Iscariot.
Normally, the arrival of a new Akhenaten offering  would  set  me  on
Cloud 9 for weeks, but _To Embrace the Corpses Bleeding_ sure fell  a
few "clouds" short of that. Where JI of the past filled a  void  with
yet more frigid obscurity, this release merely  claws  at  a  freezer
door like a toddler after a grape popsicle. Look back upon  CoC  #54,
#53, #50 and #47 if  you  think  Judas  Iscariot  has  not  been  the
beneficiary of mostly positive press by this zine. While I take issue
with some comments and opinions (sorry, Alvin), fans of  black  metal
must know that living up to expectations for a band's next release is
arduous, at best; few will argue that point. While I am in  favor  of
Akhenaten's openness about the error toward the beginning  of  "Where
Eagles Cry and Vultures Laugh", track after  track  _To  Embrace  the
Corpses Bleeding_ seems to be reaching for  former  glory.  Too  much
presumptuous insolence seeps into this album. The CD inlay stands  as
a pretty good testament to that, but the music sets that attitude  to
music in yet another way completely. While  black  metal  is  riddled
with this type of  disposition  (obviously),  JI  manipulates  it  on
_TEtCB_ in a way that has simply  been  worn  to  death.  I've  heard
Akhenaten do better and I am fully aware of his skill and proficiency
because I've been witness to it previously. I can offer little advice
concerning improvement I personally would have made if I possessed an
aptitude on par with  Akhenaten.  That  having  been  said,  I  might
suggest to say grab hold of the splendor set forth on "The Dead Burst
Forth From Their Tombs" and "I Awoke to a Night of Pain and  Carnage"
while filtering that innovation through the _Heaven in  Flames_  [CoC
#47] skillful musicianship, and your next offering,  Akhenaten,  will
be an effort in black metal accuracy, for certain!


Judas Priest - _Sin After Sin_  (originally released in 1977)
Judas Priest - _Stained Class_  (originally released in 1978)
Judas Priest - _Hell Bent for Leather_  (originally released in 1979)
Judas Priest - _Unleashed in the East_  (originally released in 1979)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8, 9, 9 and 9 out of 10)

I'll be the first to admit, I was never a  -huge-  Judas  Priest  fan
growing up -- but I was a fan. I had a few of the earlier albums, and
_Screaming for Vengeance_ has always been my favourite disc of  their
long-running career. While things look a little rough right  now  for
the band (thanks to the lame _Demolition_ offering), it is nice  that
the band has got back into the vaults and  remastered  and  fixed  up
their back catalogue with  some  great  liner  notes,  packaging  and
production. Hmmm... could this be a ploy to divert us from the  awful
results of the new disc? Maybe, who knows? Anyway, here we  are  with
round two of the re-issues of their classic albums (_Sin After  Sin_,
_Stained Class_, _Hell Bent for Leather_ and Unleashed in the  East_)
and the diversity couldn't  be  any  better  than  this.  Their  1977
Columbia Records debut _Sin After Sin_ still sounds good, even better
with the remastering. Rob Halford's vocals are crystal clear as  they
echo above the pounding drive of the band's  rhythm  section  through
numbers like "Let Us Prey / Call for the Priest",  "Starbreaker"  and
the classic opener  "Sinner...".  All  of  the  re-issues  come  with
unreleased and live rarities;  this  album  features  the  blistering
stomp of "Race With the Devil" -- a great gem indeed.  Now  onto  the
leather! Revved up and ready to go, Priest's  _Stained  Class_  is  a
truly classic metal album that reeks of power and passion.  From  the
opening number of "Exciter", onto the title  track  and  "Beyond  the
Realms of Death", _Stained Class_ delivers a satisfying rock 'n' roll
experience. The re-issue comes with a live recording  of  the  Spooky
Tooth cover "Better by You, Better Than Me"  and  the  rare  'n'  raw
sounds of "Fire Burns Below". The band continued to pump  out  albums
in the late  '70s:  _Hell  Bent  for  Leather_,  which  followed  the
well-received _Stained Class_, was  just  another  solid  album  that
would once again prove Judas Priest  was  a  rock  'n'  roll  killing
machine. This was a no holds barred album that was reckless, loud and
brash. No apologies for anything that went on and the fans of  Priest
loved it. No doubt after the success of the past few releases, Priest
just turned the notch up another few levels  and  proceeded  to  kick
fans' asses with songs like the title track, "Delivering the  Goods",
"Killing Machine" and  "Running  Wild".  And  oh  man,  the  re-issue
features an intense unreleased track called "Fight for Your Life" and
a totally crushing  live  version  of  "Riding  on  the  Wind"  (from
_Screaming for Vengeance_.) _HBfL_ set the bar for metal records, and
even though it wasn't always my fave disc, it certainly is the one of
the toughest Priest albums. Closing out the  re-issues  is  the  live
album _Unleashed in the East_, and in my opinion,  one  of  the  best
live albums -ever-! This live album,  which  was  recorded  in  Japan
during the Killing Machine / Hell Bent for Leather tour, features all
the Priest classics ("Sinner", "Victim of Changes" and "Exciter") and
just sounds so awesome. It really captures the  live  sound  and  the
explosive live performance that Priest has always been known for.  It
is a fun live record that just rolls along with  an  intense  passion
and drive. Wickedly fun to listen  to  after  all  these  years!  The
re-issue features extra live material from the same  show,  including
heavy versions of great Priest songs like  "Rock  Forever",  my  fave
"Delivering the Goods", "Hell Bent for  Leather"  and  "Starbreaker".
This re-issue is especially good, adding more material to the already
blistering live set. Listening to these albums  after  all  of  these
years, as well as already cranking the  first  set  of  re-issues  --
_British Steel_ (1980),  _Point  of  Entry_  (1981),  _Screaming  for
Vengeance_ (1982) and _Defenders of the Faith_ (1984)  --  one  can't
deny the impact that Priest has had on the  metal  music  scene.  And
even after years of the metal scene going through  changes,  you  can
always come back to Priest and know when and where and who  you  were
with when you first heard these albums. That, my metal friend,  is  a
great experience to re-discover. So yeah, Priest delivered the  goods
back then and they will continue to do so -- even if the new album is
a tosser! Good news, folks: one more set of re-issues on the  way  in
early 2002 to round out the Priest  classics.  Save  your  money  for
Priest. Up next: _Turbo_ (1986), _Priest... Live!_  (1987),  _Ram  it
Down_ (1988) and _Painkiller_ (1990).


Lux Occulta - _The Mother and the Enemy_  (Maquiavel, January 2002)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8.5 out of 10)

Most discs on the market today tend to fit snuggly into some category
or another,  or  else  sound  like  a  combination  of  a  couple  of
styles. Of course some other albums go a  bit  further  in  terms  of
experimentation and  avantgarde  tendencies  as  well,  with  greatly
varying degrees of success. However, after five  years  of  reviewing
music for CoC, still once in a long time a record  comes  along  that
leaves me quite bewildered by its sheer  complexity  and  uniqueness.
Lux Occulta's fourth full-length effort _The Mother and the Enemy_ is
one such record. It is perhaps useful to mention at this  point  that
Lux Occulta have always tended to be a rather unique band,  with  the
possible exception of their second album _Dionysos_. But saying  that
_The Mother and the Enemy_ simply builds  upon  what  experimentation
could be found on its predecessor _My Guardian Anger_  [CoC  #48]  is
quite  an  understatement.  It  might  even  appear  that  way  until
track five, though. The first three  tracks  after  the  brief  intro
(titled "Breathe In") show you  what  you  will  believe  to  be  the
new Lux Occulta -- that  is  until  "Yet  Another  Armageddon"  comes
along to start proving that you were  only  seeing  the  tip  of  the
proverbial iceberg. Those initial tracks, in their  uniquely  jagged,
jazzy and progressive extreme  metal  style,  resemble  a  reasonably
expectable follow-up to _My Guardian Anger_: more inventive, even  if
overall slightly less powerful, but still  very  dynamic.  Then  "Yet
Another Armageddon" arrives, with sombre, ethereal  female  chanting,
atmospheric  sound  effects  and  a  background  beat,  not  entirely
dissimilar to a very dark Portishead. This track really comes as  one
of the most surprising moments I can remember coming across in a long
time while listening to an album for the first  time,  in  the  sense
that it is so damn unexpected -- and very good as well. "Gambit" then
contributes to the mix a more  electronic/industrial-sounding  broken
dirge that brought to my mind some elements of  Thorns.  Not  bad  at
all, but a bit too long. And then, when you  expected  Lux  Occulta's
more "normal" style to return, "Midnight Crisis"  instead  goes  back
to the dark,  melancholic  female-led  style  akin  to  "Yet  Another
Armageddon", completing a remarkable 16 minute long  intermezzo  that
seems almost unrelated to the rest of  the  album,  and  yet  somehow
manages to fit in nicely. Only afterwards does the style found in the
early tracks reappear,  in  the  form  of  "Pied  Piper"  and  "Missa
Solemnis". The latter  goes  into  an  ambient-esque  passage  midway
through, combining ghostly chants with varied sound effects and  what
sounds to me like a saxophone in the background -- but that  is  just
an example of the kind of unpredictable creativity you will  find  in
this record. "Breathe Out" then melancholically closes the album with
more atmospheric  beats,  saxophone  and  female  vocals.  The  jazzy
touches, the ambient passages, the electronic innuendos, all combined
with Lux Occulta's vibrant extreme metal and the more  subdued  parts
with female vocals, result in one of the most original albums I  have
come across in a very long time indeed. The production on  the  metal
tracks is a bit disappointing, and all the complexity and variety may
become somewhat tiresome on occasion; but after  sufficient  listens,
_The  Mother  and  the  Enemy_  can  also  become  a  very  enjoyable
collection of music, as long as you are able to  take  in  a  lot  of
different styles being skillfully performed and blended into quite  a
unique album.

Contact: http://www.maquiavelmusic.com


Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_  (R.I.P. Records, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (8.5 out of 10)

The cover photo is bad enough (a photo of the leather  clad  vocalist
holding a chainsaw above a prone body), and the lyrics are  laughable
(like this gem from "Flight of Iron Pegasus":  "Time  for  the  final
battle is now / You will burn on Heavy Metal's  might  /  Only  Metal
hearts will survive now"). Plus they  perform  true  metal,  a  genre
which easily lends itself to ridicule (send hate mail  to  the  above
address). But despite everything against this release -- and make  no
mistake, there is a lot --, I thoroughly enjoyed this  album.  Not  a
single dud. My pet hates of true metal -- namely falsetto screams and
interminable guitar solos -- are present, but they are used sparingly
and do not litter the album, thereby destroying the songs.  In  fact,
the guitar solos do  at  times  enhance  the  song  rather  than  act
as a mere  springboard  for  self-indulgent  fretboard  onanism.  The
aforementioned "Flight of the Iron Pegasus" is actually my  favourite
track on the album, and the record as a whole has spent a fair amount
of time in my CD player. Their contagious (not to  mention  blatantly
obvious!) love for heavy metal definitely contributes to my enjoyment
of this album. Sure, it's cheesy  at  times,  but  it's  nevertheless
thoroughly enjoyable. Recommended for everybody, not just true  metal
fans. Take it from someone who normally does not give  a  shit  about
any releases from this genre.

Contact: R.I.P. Records, PO Box 41182, Chicago Il. 60641, USA
         mailto:riprecords@hotmail.com


Misteltein - _Divine. Desecrate. Complete_
by: David Rocher  (8.5 out of 10)  (No Fashion, December 2001)

Wariness is usually a commendable virtue when  approaching  symphonic
black metal releases nowadays -- the  trademark  "Cradle  of  Borgir"
tones which have flooded the extreme  metal  milieu  have  alas  done
little to maintain decent originality and  quality  standards  within
this genre. Misteletein's 2000  debut  release,  _Rape  in  Rapture_,
despite suffering from a striking lack of originality, somehow  stood
out amidst the corpse-painted mass of symphonic  releases,  owing  to
the diffuse,  yet  very  tangible,  mean  twist  which  these  Swedes
so successfully mesh  into  each  of  their  tracks.  In  fact,  this
distinctive bite actually managed to get my attention off the asinine
paramusical black metal gimmicks which Misteltein tend to indulge  in
-- conceited names, bad corpsepaint and  disputably  evil  attitudes.
Although this feature has sadly not changed with _Divine.  Desecrate.
Complete_, Misteltein's addictive,  envenomed  sting  has  grown  far
more conspicuous with this release; _D.D.D_  is  a  mean,  aggressive
synthetic-laden blackened release, which  cleverly  doesn't  rely  on
being merely "symphonic" -- just  as  the  haunting  siren-like  keys
on the  baleful  opener  "Thy  Kingdom  Cum"  testify  to.  In  fact,
Misteletein's use of  keyboards  is  quite  remarkable  --  adding  a
clever touch of atmosphere at times, gracing a  forlorn  melody  with
touching  beauty  at  others,  "Orchestral  Demonsummoner"  Hel  also
cleverly enhances  this  blasphemous  outfit's  music  with  a  truly
unhallowed, disturbing  touch.  Obviously,  inevitable  Dimmu  Borgir
influences shine through and through at times, but the shape-shifting
rhythmic section, backed up  by  the  impressive  drummer  (sorry,  I
meant "Necropulser") Karagat brilliantly lashes out with  aggressive,
roaring and nonetheless at times truly canorous melodies inspired  by
a variety of styles and emotions -- whether  "standard"  black  metal
segues, Morbid Angel-influenced heaviness or  typically  Scandinavian
aggression. Recorded in the  famed  Berno  studios  (early  Crown  of
Thorns may be an apt reference  here),  this  harsh,  varied  release
should, I hope, help shed some (black) light on a deserving, somewhat
different "symphonic" black metal outfit, amidst  a  genre  which  is
sadly monopolised by Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir.

[Paul Schwarz: "Though they bear stylistic comparison to Dimmu Borgir
 & Cradle of Filth, Misteltein have, describing it  crudely,  a  more
 "underground"  overall  sound.  _D.D.C_  does  not  lack  pleasingly
 biting, brutal, atmospheric and even curiously  jagged  passages  --
 though it does lack  vibrancy.  Leaving  aside  the  'we  are  total
 evil'-type presentation, _D.D.C_ is good album though its  stylistic
 manner is  better  represented  by  Dornenreich's  _Her  Von  Welken
 Nachten_, in my opinion."]


Mork Gryning - _Maelstrom Chaos_  (No Fashion, 2002)
by: Aaron McKay  (6.5 out of 10)

I'll be honest, I have had precious little exposure to Mork Gryning's
earlier material. Most of what  I  -have-  heard  comes  from  casual
contact with  the  band's  efforts  and  whatnot.  _Maelstrom  Chaos_
grabbed me from a patently vibrant standpoint, I will  confess.  This
trio -- comprised of Goth Gorgon  (keyboards,  guitars,  lead/backing
vocals), Draakh  Kimera  (drums,  lead/backing  vocals,  guitars  and
keyboards) and Avatar (lead/rhythm guitars  and  backing  vocals)  --
inspired a similar, but admittedly less potent  tone,  as  The  Abyss
upon cursory listens.  Subsequently,  I'd  have  to  say  the  wicked
skillful guitar Mork Gryning employs invokes feelings of an In Flames
or A  Canorous  Quintet  meets  Old  Man's  Child  (another  personal
favorite -- especially _Pagan Prosperity_). After harvesting exposure
from greats like Dan Swano and Tomas Skogsberg  on  earlier  efforts,
Mork Gryning pushed forward into the grasp of unadulterated confusion
with their newest effort _Maelstrom Chaos_. If you think you've heard
it all, I'm sure  this  outfit  can  make  a  believer  out  of  even
the staunchest  critic  with  _MC_'s  eleven  excruciating  tacks  of
bewilderment. Few will  doubt  Mork  Gryning's  power  on  _Maelstrom
Chaos_, I'd think, but with a lack of overindulgent melody, with  "My
Fiends" at track six being an exception, this band is  heading  in  a
more intensely searing direction -- not wholly unenjoyable,  but  not
their strongest suit either. Consuming in its  raw  energy,  I'd  say
more songs to the  contrary  like  "My  Friends"  and  "The  Darkness
Within" would secure Mork Gryning a much more  visible  seat  on  the
black metal dais where I'd prefer them to be.


Mytile Vey Lorth - _Mytile Vey Lorth_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (5 out of 10)

There is no doubt in my mind  that  Australian  doom/blackened  death
band Mytile Vey Lorth had a lot of good  intentions  assembling  this
six-song release, but in the long run the  seven-piece  seems  to  be
tripping over each other's musical delivery. There seems  to  be  too
much going on with this album,  tossing  and  turning  through  genre
styles, easily weakening the musical binds of the  album's  material.
The album starts off promising with "Visions" and features  one  hell
of a song within "Betrayed and Taken", but by the time you get to the
somewhat sped up / doomy stride of "Beyond  the  Bitter  Mists",  the
life of this  metal  outfit  seems  to  have  dissipated.  Some  cool
atmospheric work can be found here, but not enough to push  the  mark
any higher up than it is. No doubt the band means business,  as  they
are eager to impress; let's just hope next time this band  comes  out
bit more focused and not as jumbled.

Contact: mailto:mytileveylorth@hotmail.com
         http://www.mytileveylorth.com


Naglfar - _Ex Inferis_  (Century Media, November 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (7 out of 10)

_Ex Inferis_ is a collection of the old and the new: two new songs, a
cover of Massacre's "Dawn of Eternity" and two songs from  the  _When
Autumn Storms Come_ 7". Considering the above, along  with  the  fact
that their last full-length _Diabolical_ [CoC #35]  was  released  in
1998, this is obviously a stop-gap EP  to  keep  the  fans'  interest
alive. Unlike many other EPs released for the same purpose,  this  CD
is actually interesting and holds  your  attention.  Naglfar  display
some unexpected restraint on their second new  song,  "Emerging  From
Her Weepings", introducing a piano interlude midway through the song.
Otherwise you are not allowed to breathe for  even  a  minute.  Fast,
furious and aggressive, the CD opens with "Of Gorgons Spawned Through
Witchcraft" -- everything you would  expect  from  Naglfar.  This  is
followed by the Massacre cover: an alright song but not  as  good  as
their original material. Still, it does have its function in that  it
serves to highlight the strength of their own  original  work.  As  a
rule I am ambivalent towards EPs: while they may  and  frequently  do
contain some good songs, all too often they are merely a money making
exercise. So even though I have enjoyed this  EP  and  the  music  is
definitely above average, I still have my  doubts  about  whether  it
would be a worthwhile purchase. As with any CD, but  especially  with
this one, I'd suggest listening before buying.


Necrodeath - _Black as Pitch_  (Scarlet / The End, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (9.5 out of 10)

After only the second time these Italian deviants' new effort spun in
my CD player, I was a fan. Thanks to The End Records, I was  able  to
finally enjoy this powerhouse's infinite rhythmic brutality. Maybe it
was Necrodeath having again recorded at the  Underground  Studios  in
Sweden, or maybe it was their use of producer Pelle  Saether  (Carnal
Forge, Terror 2000) --  and  then  again  it  could  be  a  masterful
stroke of brilliance upon the heels of  the  decade  of  anticipation
before _Mater of All Evil_, but whatever the  contrivance  this  band
employs... it WORKS! Catchy riffs and  unabashed  potency  flow  from
this band like Niagara Falls in the rainy season. If  it  takes  four
albums to create an effort like this, I  might  just  as  well  begin
listening to bands after their junior offering -- _Black as Pitch_ is
that wicked fuckin' severe. If eleven tracks of all out  groove-laden
metal potency don't have you thrashing your  skull,  you're  dead  --
believe me, I mean stone cold fuckin' dead! I  refuse  to  dissect  a
piece as flawless as  _Black  as  Pitch_  any  further  for  fear  my
critic's insecurities will force me to uncover  a  nonexistent  flaw.
_Black as Pitch_ is not a recommendation -- it is a requirement!

[Alvin Wee: "Nothing less than what I  expected  from  these  Italian
 legends. Their brand of controlled mayhem blows away  the  bunch  of
 new pretenders like Krisiun any day. Old-school to the core and full
 of neck-damaging thrashiness, but with  all  the  updated  brutality
 needed to make an impact in today's flooded scene. One of  the  most
 astounding releases of 2001 for sure."]


Nephasth - _Unholy Immortal Triumph_  (Mighty Music, 2001)
by: Matthias Noll  (6.5 out of 10)

It's good to see so many Brazilian bands around these days. It's  not
good to see that the ones I'm aware of all sound  so  close  to  each
other. While in my opinion Rebaelliun are currently the leader of the
pack and have at least managed to release the  album  Krisiun  should
have done after _Conquerors of Armageddon_, Abhorrence sound  like  a
total, slightly weaker Krisiun clone to me. Nephasth  do  also  sound
undeniably "Brazilian", but have worked a bit more to leave their own
fingerprints than just offering ten unreleased Krisiun tracks with  a
different logo. Sure, Nephasth know how to blast  like  Krisiun,  but
they don't do that over the course of a full song or a whole  record.
They come up with far more breaks, do regularly slow down to what was
called "fast" before blast beats became the norm, even  reduce  speed
to  mid-tempo  sometimes  and  have  learned  a  trick  or  two  from
Suffocation.  The  desire  to  keep  things  interesting  is  obvious
throughout _UIT_ and Nephasth manage to keep all  ten  tracks  nicely
short and rather unforeseeable and diverse. Brazilian death metallers
seem to spend quite some time  practising  and  Nephasth's  technical
skills are indeed very good; in addition, _UIT_  has  a  dry,  decent
production. The vocals -- you guessed it  --  sound  like  any  other
band I mentioned here and are  probably  the  least  remarkable  part
of _UIT_. Despite some  quality  that's  certainly  present  on  this
record, it still falls into the overcrowded category of  professional
and aggressive releases which fail  to  be  exciting  and  ultimately
satisfying. Only die hard death metal enthusiasts or  people  with  a
neverending appetite for the Brazilian style  should  seek  out  this
record. I have no doubt that Nephasth are still hungry and willing as
well as able to improve. Maybe we're all in for a surprise next  time
around.


Night in Gales - _Necrodynamic_  (Massacre, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

I'm a little on the fence  with  this  new  album.  This  is  a  much
different album than the German band's last offering, the  criminally
underrated _Nailwork_ (2000) and even further from the heavy drive of
_Thunderbeast_ (1998), but things go on for Night in Gales  and  they
still have  some  pretty  decent  ideas  up  their  sleeves  to  make
_Necrodynamic_ an interesting spin. Whether it be  the  hyper-kinetic
groove of "Doomdrugged"  or  the  rampant  wild-side  of  songs  like
"Blackelectric" and "Song of Something", the band makes an effort  to
bring melody into the death metal equation -- maybe a tad too much at
times. I like singer Bjorn Goosses vocals, but  it  sounds  a  little
forced to work alongside the thrusting drive of the album's material.
Musically, the band has evolved since the  earlier  days,  taking  on
more of a The Haunted / Witchery type speed angle, kind of recklessly
turning up the amps and cranking out whatever they can play faster. I
like the new disc quite a bit, but I miss  the  melodic  death  metal
flow (a la In Flames / Dark Tranquillity) of  their  previous  stuff.
I'll accept the change for  now,  but  I  won't  be  toe  tapping  to
everything on _Necrodynamic_. Some of it, well, irritates me.


Nightly Gale - _...And Jesus Wept_  (Pagan, June 2001)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

Nightly Gale are a Polish doom  band  who  have  a  unique,  eclectic
sound. Their website calls their style "dark suicidal doom", though I
find that somewhat misleading. The majority of  the  music  is  slow,
atmospheric, keyboard-enhanced doom with either  screamed  or  somber
clean vocals. It isn't  particularly  "dark"  or  "suicidal",  though
there certainly are parts which could be described as such.  However,
they cover enough different sounds and change them often enough  that
no one sound dominates their music. The sections vary  from  a  sound
similar to the industrial soundscapes of Brighter Death Now to a more
traditional  gothic  rock  /  metal  sound  to  mid-'90s  atmospheric
death to almost Burzum-like black metal and  everywhere  in  between.
They throw in a few questionable  twists  here  and  there,  such  as
bluesy wah-wah  guitar  solos  and  jazz/fusion  keyboard  solos,  an
electronica/trance beat,  and  some  horns.  But  the  music  doesn't
rigorously adhere to any particular genre, so such touches don't seem
as out of place as you might think. Somewhat surprisingly, the  songs
flow pretty well, which makes their  long  running  times  (the  five
songs clock in at just over an hour, and the shortest is  9:16)  seem
much shorter. This is an interesting release, and should  be  enjoyed
by adventurous and open-minded doom fans.


Occult - _Rage to Revenge_  (Painkiller, 2001)
by: Alvin Wee  (8 out of 10)

This is one eagerly anticipated slab after  Painkiller  sent  us  the
face-ripping promo-single (_Violence and Hatred_) a few months  back.
Expect more of the  same  hair-raising  mayhem  on  this  full-length
ritual; like most all Dutch death metal combos, Occult seem to have a
knack for churning out  bucketfuls  of  clench-fisted  riffs  without
lapsing  into  the  monotony  of  countless   play-as-fast-as-you-can
deathsters. Distinctly _Necroticism_-era  Carcass  (the  twin  vocals
don't help either), _RtR_ may not rank high on the originality chart,
but that doesn't stop  it  from  grabbing  you  by  the  throat  from
the very outset with blazing  old-school  riffs  whizzing  past  like
machine-gun fire. Take a  faster,  less  tongue-in-cheek  version  of
_Necroticism_, throw in a bunch of  headbang-inducing  thrash  riffs,
and you can imagine the punch this little 35-minute  scorcher  packs.
Musicianship is as tight as you could ask for -- crucial for such  an
intense album -- and the fluent songwriting reflects the decade or so
of experience this combo has behind them. Certainly an album  to  put
them alongside other Dutch  greats  like  Pentacle,  Asphyx  and  God
Dethroned, and worthy of the  four  or  five  formats  Painkiller  is
planning on releasing it in.

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


Phobia - _Serenity Through Pain_  (Necropolis, November 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

One thing I can say convincingly about Phobia is that I have  enjoyed
their work consistently since _Return to Desolation_ was released  on
Relapse (Raymond Herrera from Fear Factory sitting in  as  a  session
drummer didn't hurt either). Since then, this  California  four-piece
has seen their fair share of time  on  other  labels,  and  they  now
reside with Necropolis. Phobia's cross-section of madness and visible
music aptitude are a perfect mix. Speed and  lavishly  lustful  riffs
pound out twenty-three versatile tracks  of  infinite  radiance.  Not
nearly as  straightforward  grindcore  as,  say,  Napalm  Death,  but
savagely aggressive in their own right; Phobia isn't  afraid  to  mix
things up. Samples befittingly pepper _Serenity Through Pain_ with an
uncommon style. In a genre of abused of (evil)  exaggeration,  Phobia
throws metal a not so unsuspected curve with  intelligent  commentary
on worldly matters (among other things) while still taking life  with
the proverbial grain of salt; I can appreciate that  kind  of  style.
Listen up for "Mental Incarceration", my favorite on  this,  Phobia's
latest. It  embodies  all  the  finest  aspects  of  the  band,  from
change-ups to Pig Destroyer-like devastation, yet riddled with stingy
but addictive catchiness. I know these fuckers are  capable  of  more
than just what I enjoy on _STP_ and I eagerly await the day they find
their predetermined calling -- then woe be  us  all!  Ferocious  shit
here and I like it...


Rampage - _Monolith to an Abandoned Past_  (Unsung Heroes, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (7.5 out of 10)

Following on the heels of 2000's Viking metal epic _Bellum Infinitum_
and a couple of black metal tracks on the _New World Blasphemy_ split
with Song of Melkor and Cross Sodomy, prolific  one-man  act  Rampage
has now  put  those  musical  styles  behind  them  with  _MtaAP_,  a
doom-based record. It would be a mistake to call this a doom  record,
as Rampage has not managed to put these styles completely behind him,
and their influence, along with other musical  styles,  can  be  felt
throughout the album.  For  instance,  while  the  opening  track  is
reminiscent of  _Forest  of  Equilibrium_-era  Cathedral  with  slow,
heavy, grieving guitars, the beginning of the following track reminds
one of the  likes  of  My  Dying  Bride  with  its  slow  arpeggiated
guitar overlaying a more distorted guitar wailing mournfully  in  the
background. Here Rampage's experience in metal's  various  genres  is
evident, as the second part of this song sounds more like Dio than My
Dying Bride. (It really isn't as bad as it sounds!) Two out of  eight
songs are covers, one of which is a passable cover of Black Sabbath's
"Wheels of Confusion", its groove a far cry from the doomy riffs that
litter most of this album. The last track, which is simply  indicated
with an ellipsis, is upon listening revealed as a cover  of  Mayhem's
classic "Funeral Fog". By far and away the heaviest, fastest song  on
this album, it betrays Rampage's  origins  as  a  death/thrash  band.
Despite all the various elements  in  the  album,  it  is  remarkably
coherent, largely because they represent a natural development  of  a
man inclined towards  experimentation  rather  then  a  kitchen  sink
approach to songwriting.

Contact: http://unsungheroesrecords.cjb.net
 

Running Wild - _The Brotherhood_  (Gun, 2002)
by: Alvin Wee  (9 out of 10)

A welcome return to  form  for  Rolf  Kasparek  and  crew  after  two
less-than-satisfactory  concept  albums  in  the  past   few   years.
Allegations  of  drummer  Angelo  Sasso  being  a  drum  machine  are
unfounded, and while die-hards may  miss  the  halcyon  Jorg  Michael
days, percussion on the new album can hardly  be  faulted  for  being
insipid like on _Victory_.  Opener  "Welcome  to  Hell"  signals  the
band's re-discovered knack for simple, fist-pumping  riffs,  but  the
lack of the customary intro track must surely  disappoint  hordes  of
hardcore fans. The next few  tracks  trot  along  at  a  surprisingly
laid-back pace, but traditional RW-epics like the title track and the
ten-minute Lawrence of Arabia-tribute "The Ghost" boast the memorable
leads we've come to expect from the band's better days, and certainly
herald an improvement over the  forgettable  material  of  _Victory_.
Strangely  enough,  Rolf's  songwriting  seems  to  have   taken   an
AC/DC-esque turn on a few tracks, which surprisingly sits comfortably
enough amidst the more traditional stuff.  The  aptly-titled  "Pirate
Song" must be one of  the  most  eagerly  anticipated  tracks  in  RW
history, and lives up to expectations as a -classic- RW  anthem  with
its simplistic power-chord riffing  and  sing-along  chorus.  Without
doubt the best track on the album, a surefire crowd-pleaser on stage,
and an instant classic that renews our wilting faith in the  Captain.
Lackluster artwork aside, this album  is  the  one  the  band's  cult
following have been waiting for ever since 1995's  _Masquerade_,  and
deserves the attention less worthy Helloween clones have been getting
Stateside. It's also been said that the limited  digipak  edition  is
the only version of the album worth buying; the two bonus  tracks  on
it are easily among the best on the album  and  it's  a  wonder  they
aren't included in the main body.


Scholomance - _The Immortality Murder_  (The End, 2002)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Scholomance's second album is  a  rather  ambitious  effort,  a  2-CD
concept album. The first disc is similar in style to their debut [CoC
#36]: a fusion of  the  styles  of  early  Dream  Theater  and  later
Emperor. The vocals are black metal  style  raspy  screams,  and  the
music  is  progressive  metal  played  with  a  melodic  black  metal
aesthetic. Their progmetal roots poke through this black metal facade
in a few places, such as keyboard solos and tones and their flair for
flashy and flamboyant instrumental sections. In general, the music is
layered and complex, and it takes a few listens to  really  start  to
get a handle on. Once you do, you'll find that the music is generally
quite good and surprisingly memorable. The playing is generally  very
good, which is remarkable given the  technicality  of  the  material.
However, there is a big problem with the music, and it's the same one
that hampered their debut: the guitar solos. They  sound  cheap,  the
playing is sometimes embarrassingly sloppy or inappropriate, and  the
tone is terrible. It's a very hollow, Strat-like tone, and it's  much
louder than the other instruments. This might not be so  bad  if  the
rest of the music wasn't completely  different.  The  rhythm  guitars
have a very tight, solid tone, and the music as a whole has a  solid,
compressed feel. Atop this background, the  guitar  solos  stick  out
like sore thumbs. The second disc contains instrumental  versions  of
some  of  the  tracks  from  the  first  disc  and  some  solo  piano
interludes. The piano interludes are completely improvised and uncut,
which means that they meander about aimlessly, and  are  occasionally
sloppy. Those who don't have a problem with black metal  vocals  will
therefore find little in the second disc to interest them. But it  is
interesting to hear de-vocalized  versions  of  the  songs,  and  the
complexity of the music is such that the songs hold up pretty well as
instrumentals. Overall, this is a good offering, but  with  a  little
work on the production, could have been even better.

[Aaron McKay: "Penetrating like  so  many  cryptic  stares  from  the
 uneducated, Scholomance is the  epitome  of  masterful  showmanship.
 Skillful,  but  incredibly  powerful  arrangements  complicate  this
 double disc set in such a way that  your  mind  thirsts  to  swallow
 the ingenuity whole!  The  intricacies  of  this  woven  progressive
 orchestration  are  transcended  only  by   the   material   itself.
 Disc one's  four  movements,  followed  stupendously  by  four  more
 un-numerated tracks, seek to overpower the listener with all but too
 much skillful radiance. Words fail to wholly encompass  Scholomance,
 but the second CD remains in a class by itself. If  I  were  forced,
 and I do mean -forced-, to put a term to this music phenomenon,  I'd
 call Scholomance "progressively complex  aristocrat  metal".  Coming
 from a true fan crossing the Viking Crown to Epoch of Unlight  void,
 Scholomance more than satisfies!"]


Sinckwhole - _Cease to Exist_  (<Independent>, 2001)
by: Adrian Bromley  (2 out of 10)

Okay, you know what, I like Slipknot and I knew  when  the  band  was
starting to get big that dozens and dozens of bands  like  Sinckwhole
would come out of the woodwork and try to  capitalize  on  the  whole
aggro-rock / DJ  scratching  /  heavy  groove  schtick.  Well,  after
hearing Sinckwhole, I hope all those bands go away and leave Slipknot
to finish their time in the spotlight. This is  second-rate  Slipknot
and fans should stick with  the  original.  Awful  "disturbed  audio"
(scratching?) from a guy named Dunce. Some  gullible  kid  out  there
looking for heavy music will fall for this, not  me.  Their  business
cards say: "Reversing the effect of modern  music  changing  people's
lives." Whatever. Lame.

Contact: http://www.sinckwhole.com


Skullview - _Consequences of Failure_  (R.I.P. Records, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (4.5 out of 10)

I'm  far  from  being  considered  the  world's  biggest   lover   of
traditional metal, but I fail to see how this album could  appeal  to
even the most die-hard fans of this genre. Overuse  of  high  pitched
screams combined with a vocalist who is trying his best to sound like
Rob Halford does not a good album make. The most  enjoyable  song  is
"The Archmage", the slow song pace of which prevents the use of inane
ear-piercing vocals. At less than two and a half minutes long, it  is
the shortest song on the album. Guess that's how  long  the  vocalist
could contain himself  before  bursting  into  falsetto.  "Leviticas"
isn't too  bad  either,  featuring  a  cool  bass  interlude  despite
the  Halfordisms.  "Armed  With  an  Axe",  on  the  other  hand,  is
unintentionally hilarious. You can get away with dumb lyrics such  as
"Armed with an axe / An axe! / An axe! / An axe!" in death metal, but
not in this genre where the lyrics  are  enunciated  pretty  clearly.
Song titles such as  "The  Archmage"  and  "Wrath  of  the  Sorcerer"
suggest a preoccupation with the typical, yet inexplicable power/true
metal fascination with fantastical, Tolkien-esque topics.  (Oh  wait,
there is a song called "Digital Bitch"; maybe  the  advances  of  the
past fifteen years haven't entirely evaded  them.)  Creative  talents
were not overstretched during the construction of  this  album.  Will
the real Judas Priest please stand up?

Contact: R.I.P. Records, PO Box 41182, Chicago Il. 60641, USA
         mailto:riprecords@hotmail.com


Sleepless - _Winds Blow Higher_
by: Aaron McKay (5 out of 10) (Raven Music / The End, November 2001)

I am not a fan of qualifying my reviews from  the  outset,  but  with
Sleepless I feel I must. This duo from Israel communicates  a  secret
darkness in their degenerative progrock/goth whispers -- that I  will
not repudiate. Where I falter in my intrigue for  Sleepless  is  with
_Winds Blow Higher_'s follow through: there is little  congruity  and
my  focus  diverges  nearly  immediately  no  matter  where  I  begin
listening to the album. The low-end (fretless) bass work,  especially
on the nearly five minute "Sands of Time", is sensorial monopolizing.
Sleepless attempts to expand the concept of  subdued  slumber  to  an
extreme, but fundamentally embedded is  a  jazz  concept  that  works
wonders for David  Bendayan  and  Maor  Appelbaum,  Sleepless's  core
members. Another area that disagreed with me is the intermittent  use
of female vocals. I would have argued vehemently -against- myself  on
this point before totally digesting _Winds Blow Higher_, but  I  know
the addition of the occasional feminine vocal approach wasn't the way
to go. With solid male  technique  vocally  and  supremely  supported
backing vocals, the airiness of  anything  else  clearly  misses  its
mark. As I said, this contradicts everything I  would  have  believed
prior to taking in the whole album, but, nonetheless, I find that  to
be the case.  Nine  tracks  of  convincingly  progressive  atmosphere
lay in  wait  for  you  if  you're  the  sort  for  mostly  colorless
mood-infusions.


Testament - _First Strike Still Deadly_  (Spitfire, October 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

As you might have guessed from the title, this  new  effort  is  some
truly intense (re-done) material from one of the bands that  has  set
the thrash metal standard for ages. This is a "best of" album with  a
unique twist; Testament reinvented itself and brought  back  line-ups
from ages past. Recognize the names Alex Skolnick, John Tempesta  and
Steve Souza? You should if you call yourself a Testament fan,  and  I
sure as hell do. From the first three efforts, this  -long-  standing
Bay Area staple rips though near and dear favs like "Into  the  Pit",
"Trial by Fire", "Over the Wall" and "The New Order". Mr. Souza takes
center stage on "Alone in the Dark"  and  "Reign  of  Terror"  for  a
couple of tracks assured to put a smile on your face and your fist in
the fuckin' air! The impregnable Chuck Billy is in faultless form  --
even his backing vocals are incredible and absolute;  a  really  well
incorporated (very, very sparingly)  use  of  Billy's  "death  metal"
voice from _Demonic_ can be heard now and again. I have  wondered  at
various times what it might sound like  to  have  Chuck's  experience
applied to  albums  like  _The  New  Order_  (my  favorite  Testament
release, by the way). I guess I now have my answer. On another  note,
I've always appreciated and respected Alex's guitar style  since  day
one, so it is a  rare  and  welcome  privilege  to  have  his  talent
demonstrated once again on  this  forcefully  executed  release.  Pay
special, close attention to the fantastic ability of  the  rare  demo
(re-)recording of "Reign of Terror" -- that much proficiency so  long
ago when this band was called The  Legacy  is  nearly  inconceivable.
Well worth the price of admission, boys and girls; I am spinning this
one a helluva lot. On a personal note, I'd just like to say God bless
Mr. Billy and I wish him the speediest of recoveries!

[Matthias Noll: "Re-recorded old Testament tracks -- yawn.  Two  with
 Zetro -- yeah right, so who gives a damn? Hadn't a  friend  of  mine
 bought this, I would have never been tempted to check it out. And  I
 would have screwed up big time! In  Paul  (R.I.P.)  Baloff's  words:
 this is older than shit, heavier than time! For me "Reign of Terror"
 is the best of the eleven tracks and I can't stop fantasizing  about
 how cool _The Legacy_  would  have  sounded  with  the  ripping  and
 snarling Steve Souza hadn't he joined  Exodus.  If  you've  got  the
 slightest interest in thrash metal, then go get this  now,  set  the
 volume to eleven, fall  to  your  knees  and  bow  to  these  Thrash
 Lords!"]

[Paul  Schwarz:  "New  performances  with  a  modern  production   of
 _Legacy_-era Testament sounded like a  recipe  for  excellence.  And
 despite the fact that the new "Over the Wall" is sadly no match  for
 its thirteen-year-old original, almost every single one of these new
 versions improves on its original, with "Disciples of the Watch" the
 crushingly reworked highlight."]


Various - _The Bells of the Mystical Empire_
by: Quentin Kalis  (7.5 out of 10)  (Moon Soon Records, 2001)

A compilation of death metal, black metal and  everything  in-between
of promising acts from the  realms  of  the  underground.  Like  most
compilations, this is a mixed bag  featuring  some  very  good  songs
buried amongst some extremely mediocre songs  --  although,  somewhat
unusually for a compilation, it has managed to  avoid  including  any
really terrible songs. Even the hardcore number  by  Dreadline  isn't
that bad (though I still fast-forward to the next  track  whenever  I
hear it.) The album opens with a fairly  good  number  from  Blizzard
which would have been an excellent  number  if  it  weren't  for  the
vocalist's tendency to sound  like  Louis  Armstrong  with  a  throat
cold. They use a different vocalist  on  a  second  song  who  sounds
considerably better. Japanese band Gorgon's  selection  also  suffers
from the inclusion of lame and inadequate vocals, the singer sounding
as if he had more than just a few tots of Jack Daniels  before  going
on stage (Gorgon contribute a live track). The song is saved  by  the
music, undoubtedly  heavily  influenced  by  Black  Sabbath.  But  my
favourite is "Organised Chaos", the contribution from French band The
End. The title describes the  song  perfectly.  Fast,  ferocious  and
extremely raw, with a slight hardcore  punk  edge  (punk  as  in  old
school greats like Minor Threat and Verbal Abuse, not the Offspring /
Blink 182 pop nonsense). Listening to a full-length of The End  could
very well test my patience, but on a compilation surrounded by other,
totally different bands, it is totally killer. A good introduction to
some largely unknown bands.


The Black League - _Utopia A.D._  (Spinefarm, February 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

There was something unique about The  Black  League's  debut,  2000's
_Ichor_, something thought caught my attention right from the get go.
It might have been the fact that ex-Sentenced singer Taneli Jarva was
the ringleader of the band, a great performer who had sung on classic
death metal albums like _Amok_ and  _North  From  Here_,  and  I  was
anxious to hear his new band and  his  growth  as  a  musician  after
leaving Sentenced. Whatever the case was,  I  was  intrigued  by  the
dark, eccentric ways of The Black League, a wonderful arrangement  of
death metal, hard rock and gothic overtones -- none overshadowing one
another, but all working as one. A unique package  indeed.  Following
the release of the successful _The Doomsday EP_, Jarva and The  Black
League return with _Utopia A.D._, a  wonderful  continuation  of  the
band's sound and style, though much more expansive and in  some  ways
boisterous than their first outing. Jarva has successfully managed to
create a world of beautifully  crafted  numbers  with  intensity  and
bite, but at the same time  technical,  passionate  and,  above  all,
unique sounding. Be drawn  in  by  the  wonderful  tracks  "Empiria",
"Harbour of Hatred" and "Citizen Cain" and  you'll  come  to  realize
that _Utopia A.D._ is not like any  other  record  you'll  hear  this
year. It isn't at all predictable and that works in such a grand  way
for The Black League. On the edge, _Utopia A.D._ is fearless  in  its
undying need for exploration of metal music. As  if  crafted  by  the
Gods themselves, _Utopia A.D._ stands tall in a world of metal  music
where uniquely crafted albums are as  rare  as  an  albino  elephant.
Discover _Utopia A.D._.


The Haunted - _Live Rounds in Tokyo_  (Earache, January 2002)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Though  Earache's  release  of   this   fifteen-track,   fifty-minute
live-album-with-studio-track-tacked-on as a  double  CD  with  2000's
_The Haunted Made Me Do It_ [CoC #49] may make it initially  seem  an
expensive, unattractive proposition, think a  minute.  If  you  don't
have _THMMDI_, this package will give you two class-A thrash releases
-- and for less than a tenner each in all  likelihood.  To  be  frank
though, if you -have- got a copy  of  _THMMDI_,  you'll  wanna  start
looking for places to sell it, 'cause you're gonna be wanting _LRiT_.
_LRiT_ is the single release that  alone  exemplifies  The  Haunted's
important place in the  metal  scene  of  today.  It  was  the  final
catalyst to convincing me of how truly -killer-  The  Haunted  really
are. When _The Haunted_ [CoC #34] arrived in 1998, I never  "got  it"
the way others did; all I saw in The Haunted was some ex-At the Gates
members, with friends, doing good thrash. I hardly even gave _THMMDI_
a chance until over a year after its release. What turned me 130%  on
The Haunted was seeing them live at  Wacken  last  year.  Six  months
passed in which I went back to both Haunted albums  repeatedly,  then
_LRiT_ turned up. A few high-volume spins later,  everything  clicked
into place. The Haunted aren't just a great thrash  band,  they're  a
metal band of  truly  exceptional  excellence:  I'd  bet  they  could
support Slayer in Germany and get a pit going. Releasing a live album
with only two full-lengths under your belt might seem a  cheeky  move
coming from most bands, but from The Haunted, it just seems  -right-:
live is where The Haunted  come  into  their  element;  _LRiT_  is  a
profoundly powerful  live  thrash  metal  album  which,  figuratively
speaking, grabs every band still playing the style by the collar  and
asks, "WHO'S THE DADDY NOW?!"

[Pedro Azevedo:  "If  it  hadn't  been  for  Marco  Aro's  pedestrian
 interaction with the crowd and the  omission  of  my  two  favourite
 tracks from The  Haunted's  eponymous  debut  ("Soul  Fracture"  and
 "Forensick"), this would have been a superb live disc. Nevertheless,
 it still is an impeccable live rendition of  a  fine  collection  of
 songs (including every highlight from their superior second  album),
 and a very strong extra reason for you to buy _The Haunted  Made  Me
 Do It_ if you haven't done so yet."]


The Seventh Gate - _None so Bloody as the Kingdom of Christ_
by: Adrian Bromley  (6.5 out of 10)  (Satan Rock Records, 2002)

In a furious rage of aggression,  this  record  opens  to  a  massive
barrage of death metal intensity, heavy-set grind grooves and vicious
vocals. For some it may be a bit too much -- a whirlwind of intensity
that will leave you fumbling  for  your  balance  --  but  for  those
metalheads that like to get knocked around from the get go, the solid
stride of The Seventh Gate will leave a smile on their  bloody  lips.
Musically the band is pretty proficient at what they  do:  some  nice
guitar tones match up well with the vocals, and the band has a  knack
for bringing a slight technical feel to  this  demented  death  metal
groove (check out numbers like "The Eternal"  and  "To  Forget").  My
only problem with The Seventh Gate's release is that, while there  is
some variety in the album, there doesn't seem to be enough to set  it
apart. A lot of the  material  follows  the  same  routine  and  that
provides us with little to go on or be attached with at some times. A
little more variety and a step up (a notch) in  the  production  end,
and The Seventh Gate will be ready to take on any signed band.

Contact: mailto:silenceinheaven@aol.com
         http://www.satanrock.com


Thragedium - _Theatrum XXIII_  (Half Beast, 2001)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

"Lusitanian essence" is a designation that this Portuguese band likes
to associate their music with, and it is  shown  mainly  through  the
pronounced folk  influences  in  their  sound.  Classical  Portuguese
acoustic guitar is often used throughout  Thragedium's  doomy  metal,
which is somewhat reminiscent of mid-era Paradise Lost. And  although
this self-applied "Lusitanian essence" tag can  seem  rather  pompous
and exaggerated, Thragedium do at least merit  some  praise  for  the
effort to live up to it: the Portuguese acoustic guitar  carries  its
traditionally vibrant sound into Thragedium's music  very  well,  and
imbues it with something special and distinctive.  Apart  from  that,
Thragedium's music is competent, at times  achieving  good  emotional
passages, even if, as  I  mentioned  before,  it  occasionally  seems
somewhat derivative. The  disc  finishes  with  a  poem  by  Fernando
Pessoa, recited  by  Moonspell's  Fernando  Ribeiro,  accompanied  by
acoustic guitar and background sounds of ocean waves  --  a  suitable
ending that turned out better than I  initially  imagined  it  could.
This last track has a rather lengthy atmospheric  component,  though,
and the remainder of the album is not much more than  a  lengthy  EP;
nevertheless, the music on offer possesses enough quality, uniqueness
and dedication to warrant  attention.  If  they  don't  rush  things,
Thragedium may very well be on their way  to  creating  a  remarkable
follow-up disc.

Contact: mailto:halfbeast@clix.pt


Through the Discipline - _Our Lady of Death_  (<Independent>, 2002)
by: Adrian Bromley (6 out of 10)

I'm not sure what to make of the  music  of  Through  the  Discipline
after numerous listens. Musically the band plays  a  kaleidoscope  of
death metal  numbers,  drawing  several  different  mood  swings  and
styles, each unique in their own right, thus bringing a strong  sense
of variety to their music. One of the things that I think TtD's music
need to adjust a bit more to make more of an impact are the vocals of
singer Mike Centrone. He isn't a bad singer, I just  find  his  death
metal growls are a tad bit weak for the heavy set stuff that the band
churns out, and as for the much more slowed down  parts,  his  vocals
seem out of place. The band has a good  death  metal  stride  intact,
they just need to tighten the wheels and make sure  they  don't  fall
off during their death metal blitz. I know the potential is there for
TtD; there is just a little bit of tweaking needed for it all to fall
into place for music fans and critics  to  take  note.  Choice  cuts:
"Requiem Mass" and "Hunted Down".

Contact: http://www.throughthediscipline.com


Trails of Anguish - _Relentless Abhorrence of Misery's Grievance_
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)  (<Independent>, 2001)

From the cold regions of Canada -- otherwise known as the black metal
province of Quebec -- comes the duo of Trails of Anguish.  Playing  a
rather feisty black metal in the vein of mid-era  Immortal,  the  duo
waste no time at laying waste to the listener with  punishing  opener
"The Scythe of Engrieved Melancholia" and onto such epic  battle  cry
of "Reaping Life's Frailty" and the haunting "The  Final  Soliloquy".
With a  rabid  flow  of  things,  rarely  pausing  for  any  kind  of
atmospheric black metal  sound,  Trails  of  Anguish  play  fast  and
furious, storming through this five-song  EP  like  a  massive  storm
blast. With a rather impressive (though still fairly raw) sound, this
is one of the best black metal bands I have heard from Canada in some
time -- Quebec's Frozen Shadows and the  East  Coast's  Burning  Moon
being the others  worth  mentioning.  With  a  lot  of  strength  and
determination, Trails of Anguish could  make  an  impact  with  their
music; we'll just wait to see if others grasp onto their black  metal
assault. Intense and basking in mighty momentum.

Contact: Maxime Ducharme Abraham, 1689 Rue Longueuil, Chambly,
         PQ Canada, J3L 4N1
         http://go.to/trailsofanguish/


Ulver - _Silencing the Singing_  (Jester Records, 2001)
by: Quentin Kalis  (9.5 out of 10)

Ulver have frequently been described  as  chameleons,  due  to  their
propensity for drastic changes in musical styles, but I disagree with
this observation. A chameleon always  changes  to  fit  in  with  its
environment, and at no time have Ulver  ever  tried  to  match  their
surroundings, instead always choosing to do whatever they felt  like,
whenever they felt like it. _Silencing the Singing_  is  their  third
releases for 2001 and it is essentially a companion  EP  to  _Silence
Teaches You How to Sing_ [CoC #55]. Instead of presenting us  with  a
single monstrous track, _StS_  contains  a  more  conventional  three
songs (though averaging about nine minutes each, they're  hardly  the
perfect pop song length). As suggested  by  the  title,  this  is  an
instrumental release. Bits of static noise and various other bits  of
white noise litter the album at what appears to be  seemingly  random
spots -- but this is Ulver, after all, and one  gets  the  impression
that each bit of noise is  placed  where  it  is  for  a  reason.  My
personal favourite  is  "Not  Saved",  a  beautiful,  haunting  song,
calming by its very repetitiveness  yet  also  creating  a  sense  of
sorrow. As the song fades out and you think the album has come  to  a
close, it then returns with a vengeance, seemingly  louder  and  more
ominous then before. You'd never think that  this  was  by  the  same
Ulver that released the violent _Nattens Madrigal_ some four to  five
years ago. This time around, Ulver have also wised  up  to  the  fact
that people are buying their EPs and have printed 3000. Now you  have
no excuse for not having a copy.


Umbakrail - _In Unity Paienne_  (DeadSun Records, October 2001)
by: David Rocher  (4 out of 10)

The brainchild of one man, S'aamed, Umbakrail fuses raw  black  metal
with rather distinctive, shape-shifting  keyboards  and  vocals.  The
outcome, however, fails to whet my appetite; although  the  music  on
_In Unity Paienne_ is obviously the work of  a  truly  tortured  soul
(according to the enclosed bio, S'aamed apparently attempted  to  put
an end to his life last year), I  fail  to  make  out  anything  more
than mostly stereotypical black metal with  a  terrible  guitar  fuzz
and linear drum machine  programming,  truly  grim  vocals  that  are
frequently badly let down by frightfully cheesy proclamatory  chants,
and keyboards  which  unfortunately  sound  out  of  place,  and  are
excessively loud in the mix, to make matters worse. Only  one  track,
the intriguing "Dome", actually hits home, and the remainder  of  _In
Unity Paienne_, whether tentatively chilling black  metal  onslaughts
or synthetic interludes, simply  fails  to  convey  anything  to  me.
Referential bands such as vintage Burzum or Darkthrone have shown the
path in terms of raw, chilling black  metal  releases,  spawning,  in
their wake, genuinely talented  and  unhallowed  formations  such  as
Craft [CoC #53], and unfortunately, the project named  Umbakrail  can
not -- as of yet, at all rates -- claim to shed the same blackness as
its predecessors.


Underoath - _The Changing of Times_  (Solid State, 2002)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

Mostly what is appealing to me about this Clearwater,  Florida  based
six-piece is that they have the balls to separate themselves from the
death metal scene  that  surrounds  them.  As  you  well  know,  that
particular style, while not  completely  foreign  to  this  reviewer,
pervades the entire "Sunshine State". What can only be  described  as
a metal-core, techno-ish,  ambient  saturated  wonderment,  Underoath
leaves precious little to the imagination and -so-  few  unchallenged
guitar riffs unplayed that I  am,  as  a  fan  and  reviewer,  almost
without means  to  articulate  this  band's  penetrating  prerogative
predominance. Wanna example? I encourage you to take a crack  at  the
tempestuously descriptive effort on "Angel Below" or the  bludgeoning
to follow with the power played out on "The Best  of  Me".  Underoath
ties  a  screamingly  distressed  vocal  style,  courtesy  of  Dallas
Taliaferro Taylor, into rhythms that stir the soul. This outfit  will
see better days ahead, I am sure. Talent like that  can't  be  locked
out from the safety of the positive public opinion for long.  Do  all
of us a favor and give Underoath a listen; it'll signify  a  positive
change in the time you invest supporting  this  band.  Like  a  three
Martini lunch, _The Changing of Times_ should  make  your  whole  day
that much better!

Contact: http://www.solidstaterecords.com


Virulence - _A Conflict Scenario_  (Morbid, September 2001)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Probably the only band on Morbid records from Boston USA, Virulence's
origins say far  more  about  their  chosen  musical  direction  than
does their choice of record  label.  _A  Conflict  Scenario_  may  be
among the most "death  metal"  of  noisecore/metalcore  records,  but
it most certainly  is  manically  experimental  in  that  manner  and
sonic atmosphere that is not in  even  semi-traditional  death  metal
territory. Speed-switching drastically and  frequently  seems  to  be
Virulence's "big gun" when it comes to  sonic  battery;  the  jagged,
frantic and manic feel of _A  Conflict  Scenario_  will  likely  mean
conservative listeners give up after  less  than  one  spin  of  this
twenty-six minute disc. Thankfully, for those  who  persevere  beyond
_ACS_'s peripherary, there is much more going  on  than  mere  clever
technical trickery. Though grounded firmly in the  art  of  shredding
the metal/grind way, Virulence, as musicians, just  generally  shred.
Period. Virulence's high technical ability is evident on _ACS_ --  it
is  unfortunate  that  their  skill  in  using  technicality  is  not
as  exceptional.  Impressive  though  the  likes  of  "Entrance"  and
"Cementing With Introspection" are -- with quick changes  and  fusion
dabblings often spicing things up that additional bit --  it  is  the
soundtrack to a  tribal-percussion-infused,  bad-river-boat-acid-trip
that is penultimate track "Pipeline Dialogue",  that  gives  me  most
hope for the band's future.  Virulence  are  an  impressive,  diverse
grind/noisecore band; they are more Cephalic Carnage than Naked City,
more Cryptopsy than Converge; their biggest problem is  that  at  the
moment they are in the same league as none of the above  --  and  -I-
think unless they capitalise  on  what  they  tapped  with  "Pipeline
Dialogue", they won't be. Nonetheless,  _ACS_  is  a  fine  and  bold
extreme metal album, sure to satisfy your hunger  if  you're  looking
for something "stupid".*

*"Stupid [sic], of course, is the metal/hardcore equivalent of saying
'bad' to a hip-hopper." -- Kevin Stewart-Panko, Unrestrained! #16, May
2001


Vortex - _Colours Out From the Emptiness_  (Psychic Scream, 2001)
by: Brian Meloon  (7 out of 10)

Judging from the music coming out of your speakers, you'd be  tempted
to say that Vortex are a European melodic death metal band, and  this
release is from the mid-to-late '90s. And of course, you'd be  wrong,
because Vortex are from Japan, and this disc  was  released  in  late
2001. The music is mostly thrashy death metal,  with  growled/shouted
vocals, but they add some progressive touches,  jazzy  clean  breaks,
off-key male clean vocals, and some better-than-average  guitar  work
in places.  Their  sound  is  not  particularly  original,  but  it's
enjoyable nonetheless. Unfortunately,  like  most  bands  doing  this
style, they have trouble generating enough good material for  a  full
album, and some songs are much better than  others.  Aside  from  the
patchy quality of some of the songs, everything  else  is  fine:  the
playing and production are top-notch.  Ultimately,  though,  this  is
just an okay release. It's enjoyable, but not groundbreaking  in  any
sense. I look forward to future releases from them  though,  as  they
clearly show some potential.


Wurdulak - _Ceremony in Flames_  (Baphomet / Housecore Records, 2001)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

I refuse to apologize for loving this virtual "who's who" of  extreme
metal. Wurdulak is a death and black metal lover's dream.  Fug  (Soul
Forsaken), Frediablo (Gorelord) and Ihizahg (Perished) twine together
a pattern of blackness so extravagant it necessitates the combination
of insipidly wicked layered vocals rooted in  the  works  of  Killjoy
(Necrophagia /  Viking  Crown)  and  Maniac  (ex-Mayhem)  to  further
extenuate the extremity of Wurdulak's style. Beauty  fails  to  exist
here; only torment and systematic  persecution  remain.  Wurdulak  is
evil extraordinaire. Choppy riffs of an  immeasurable  magnitude  rip
unceremoniously from beginning to end on _Ceremony in Flames_. Highly
developed passages of unimpaired low end, drums and guitar  interplay
constitute a healthy  portion  of  Wurdulak's  collusion.  Ultimately
finishing up the  album's  eight  tracks  of  havoc  is  "Gospels  of
Depravity", complete with lyrics by Maniac -- my favorite cut off  of
_Ceremony in Flames_. While the entire effort is more than worth your
time and money, this song in particular will have your cash  in  hand
already for Wurdulak's next release in 2002. And they say  nuns  have
no fun...

[Matthias Noll: "All hail the mighty Heavy Metal riff! _CiF_ is based
 on the wicked groove of Celtic Frost without copying their trademark
 guitar work and sound. Metallic to the bone, straightforwardness and
 simplicity prevail here. Sounding suspiciously  close  to  the  only
 released Eibon track, this is another nail  into  the  already  more
 than well-sealed coffin of once  true  Norwegian  black  metal.  I'm
 already afraid of the next pan continental collaborations to come. A
 "featuring Burton C. Bell" sticker on the  next  Carpathian  Forest,
 maybe? Still, this is highly  enjoyable  once  the  music  does  the
 talking."]

[Paul Schwarz: "Not as  embarrassingly  desperately  seeking  "necro"
 points as labelmates Gorelord, Wurdulak  use  Celtic  Frost  as  the
 basis for the mostly-groovy,  sometimes-blasting  retro-necro  black
 metal sound they  present  with  their  debut  album,  _Ceremony  in
 Flames_.  Their  sincerity  and  probable  longevity  are  certainly
 questionable, but Wurdulak have nonetheless made  a  good  album  in
 _CiF_ -- even if it is a sonically shallow and musically  unoriginal
 album."]

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

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


AAAAARGH! Bloody 2-Handed Chainaxe Blow - _Elliptic White Square_
by: Adrian Bromley  (*----)  (7-track demo)

Pathetic name aside, I guess you could say that the band went all out
to make this monstrous heap of noise. And I'm sure they threw in  the
kitchen sink too! With a continuous distorted,  industrial  flow  and
grinding guitar riffs  and  screams  echoing  throughout,  the  noise
manipulation of the band increases and decreases throughout. Some  of
the stuff is okay to sample, but for the  most  part  irritating  and
will have many skipping to the next  track.  Not  to  say  that  this
sucks shit -- it just grows tired  very  fast  and  I'm  sure  9  out
of 10  metalheads  would  have  a  hard  time  sitting  through  this
grind/industrial/noise outfit. Maybe that was the point? Whatever the
case may be, this is one mound of musical mayhem that just seems  too
congested and too long (at 60+ minutes).


Actual Time - _Time Frame_  (6-track demo)
by: Brian Meloon  (****-)

Virginia's Actual Time have released their second offering, following
on the heels of their self-titled 1999 five-song demo [CoC #48]. This
time around, it's a six-song offering, with a  similar  but  slightly
more aggressive sound. Their music is all instrumental, based heavily
upon complex rhythms  and  tight  syncopation.  Odd  time  signatures
abound and shift frequently, but only the  most  observant  listeners
(or those who read the liner notes) will pick up on them, as the band
does a good job of making their odd  meters  accessible.  Thankfully,
the band keep their songs short (between three and four minutes each)
as their heavily rhythmic instrumental  nature  would  tend  to  make
longer songs repetitive and boring. But they're able  to  keep  their
songs interesting, and  even  make  them  somewhat  distinctive.  The
production is very good, and the  playing  is  rock  solid  and  very
tight. Overall, this is an improvement over their  demo,  and  should
satisfy those looking for a heavy instrumental disc to groove to.


Crushing Belial - _Crushing Belial_  (3-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (****-)

Oh my, what is this? With a drum sound that  makes  the  new  Krisiun
release sound like Nick Menza's fine work  on  _Rust  in  Peace_,  UK
indie death metal outfit unleashes a totally downtrodden, grotesquely
poor  drum  sound  that  when  grouped  together  with  the  menacing
vocals and  sharp  death  metal  riffs  seems  to  be  nullified  and
work. Amazingly, while recorded in the  guitarist's  room  on  Cubase
(anyone?), the flow of this sampler is pretty rock  solid.  The  best
track on this three-song sampler is the second,  "Cleanse  the  Earth
With the Blood of Martyrs". Hell, yeah! So as I sit  here  with  this
demo blaring, I am thinking to myself, "Imagine  if  this  band  gets
into a basement to record  --  or  better  yet  --  a  studio?"  With
determination to record the best demo they could with what they  got,
the strength of their spirit alone should  make  for  an  interesting
follow-up album. I'm here waiting, guys.

Contact: mailto:kuragrindsaki@aol.com
         http://www.crushingbelial.co.uk


Datakill - _L'Odio_  (5-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (****-)

Over the last few years, I have received a lot  of  releases  (mostly
indie acts) from Italy that play hardcore/metal-inspired music.  They
love the stuff over there. So when I got the new release by  Datakill
in, I was ready for  some  hardcore/metal  action!  After  the  first
listen, I quite enjoyed  this  five-song  demo  from  Datakill.  With
definite influences from veterans like Suicidal Tendencies,  Cro-Mags
and Biohazard, it launches into a truly potent dose of  tight,  tough
grooves that would send any mosh pit into a  frenzy  (check  out  the
title track). They band also had enough balls to cover  the  Suicidal
Tendencies' classic "Fascist Pig". Nice job, mi  amici!  I'm  excited
for this band and want to hear more. Right now all I can do is  cheer
them on, as Datakill are in charge of  their  own  destiny.  I  think
they'll make the right choices.

Contact: mailto:datakill@libero.it


Malkavian - _Malkavian_  (7-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

While far from the destructive and monstrous flow of  fellow  Italian
act Cripple  Bastards  (they  rule!),  Italy's  Malkavian  eight-song
self-titled release is an interesting grindcore romp, full  of  fancy
guitar riffs and some genuinely  interesting  melodies  --  if  there
could be any in such heavy music. Musically this band is  tight,  but
somehow the poor production quality takes away from what  could  have
been an abrasive assault on us. With  a  bit  more  experience  under
their belts, I'm sure this band could assemble quite a solid release,
as they show  potential  with  opener  "Sunburnt"  and  other  tracks
"Grabbed by the Neck" and "Vampires". But for now  they  must  follow
the work of Cripple Bastards, who not only are the reigning kings  of
Italian grindcore, but are seriously fucked up. Can they be  matched?
Only time with tell if Malkavian can do so.

Contact: mailto:mlakviangrind@hotmail.com
         http://www.malkaviangrind.cjb.net


Pagan Reign - _Gates of Hell_  (8-track demo)
by: Aaron McKay  (***--)

I listened to this band's entire music  catalog  online,  so  I  will
refrain from CD quality speculation and take Pagan  Reign  completely
at face value. First, the vocals are varied;  scratchy  and  gravely.
They seem to work well for these  guys  when  PR  doesn't  decide  to
actually -sing- ("Worth Hating For...") -- that isn't a  strong  suit
for the band. The elongated "yell-out" vocal approach on  songs  like
"Force of Will" is an appropriate touch. This Irish  four-piece  from
Dublin demonstrates  a  dynamic  understanding  of  metal's  need  to
challenge direction and preconceived  notions.  Legitimately  skilled
guitar dominates _Gates of Hell_ with an underlying  bass  line  that
the band would benefit from exploiting more. A completely respectable
discography under their belts (two EPs -- one live --, a single,  and
a German fanzine CD track), Pagan Reign has what's needed to  make  a
go of it  if  given  a  decent  opportunity.  A  re-done  version  of
"Iconoclast" with harsher sustained vocals very  well  could  be  the
catalyst to the next level for Pagan Reign. Check 'em out.

Contact: http://www.paganreign.com


Serca - _Singularity_  (6-track demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (**---)

With Serca citing such influences as Nine  Inch  Nails,  Pitchshifter
and Deftones, it had piqued my interest when  I  finally  decided  to
tackle this six-song demo from the British act. The band's  tranquil,
electronic feel is interesting, but not really memorable, and nowhere
as aggressive as I thought it might be. A lot of the songs sound  the
same, as if they are taken from the  same  skeletal  song  structure,
just  loosened  up  a  bit  and  added  into  sound  snippets,  vocal
arrangements and beats. I wish this album had  been  heavier,  as  it
would have provided  some  of  the  songs  with  a  definite  crunch,
especially my fave track "Reinvention". Maybe my hopes were too  high
for this band after seeing their influences, but at  least  the  band
got my attention for a short period of time. Add a little more  spark
to the sound and get back to me.

Contact: 4 Moat Drive, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 4RX, England
         mailto:contact@serca.net


Shadeworks - _Sooty Limbs_  (4-track demo)
by: David Rocher  (*****)

With more emphasis  placed  on  giving  this  beauty  a  professional
packaging  worthy  of  its  unbelievable  musical   splendour,   this
four-track self-released MCD could proudly become an  essential  item
in any atmospheric, progressive music lover's collection.  Shadeworks
is the magnificently moody brainchild of one man (ex-Obsidian drummer
Arnaud Nicolas), who plays -- and very competently, at  that  --  all
instruments on this recording, and  is  assisted  by  the  enchanting
voice of singer Fae. Sadly, putting Shadeworks in words can only fail
to do this release any justice;  both  very  potent  and  beautifully
atmospheric, tracks such as the eponymous opener or  "Blind  Healing"
give life to the unique and unlikely  confluence  of  acts  such  The
Gathering, Elegeion, Dream Theater, Anathema, Katatonia and Arcturus.
Intrigued yet? Mesmerising,  simply  beautiful  guitar  melodies  and
enrapturing female vocal lines are intricately woven  into  shifting,
subdued then  powerful  rhythmic  segues,  backed  up  by  energetic,
innovative drum patterns, giving each of the four tracks showcased on
this gem a resolutely unique identity of its own. The only weak point
are Nicolas' nonetheless pleasant low, smooth chants, which  fail  to
recapture the silky, soothing charisma of singers  such  as  Tiamat's
Johan Edlund or Diabolique's Kristian  Wahlin,  despite  striving  in
their  general  direction.  Fortunately,  however,  the  dramatically
facile solution consisting in throwing in a load  of  Tristania-style
death metal vocals has wisely been avoided, and the eerily  tangible,
beautifully restrained metallic power emanating  from  _Sooty  Limbs_
never looses touch with the frailty of Fae's chants or  the  delicate
intricacy of Arnaud's guitar work. A beautiful, moody  and  ineffably
enchanting demo, which  no  fan  of  atmospheric  music  should  even
consider going without.

Contact: Arnaud Nicolas, 22 rue Reniers, 1090 Jette, Belgium
         mailto:anicolas777@lycos.com

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


                       A G G R O C U L T U R E
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            CoC reviews Slayer with Hatebreed and Diecast
     February 2nd 2002, Clive, Iowa, at the 7 Flags Event Center
                           by: Aaron McKay


     Let's forget that this event took place on the  precipice  of  a
milestone birthday for me and let's forget that I've seen Slayer live
in concert well more than ten times with dozens of opening acts  from
Overkill to Testament to the Clash of the Titans where they  recorded
_Decade of Aggression_ in Lakeland, Florida. More than all of this --
Slayer has -never- been better than they were this night!
     Better why, you might ask... The obvious starting point to  this
evening that was aggressively infused with toxically  high  doses  of
musical wonderment -- the opening  bands.  Having  -always-  been  an
incredibly huge fan of Diecast's ruff  'n'  tuff,  tight  crunch  'n'
punch sound, I was thrilled beyond reason  when  these  fuckers  were
added to a  tour  that  would  expose  them  to  a  wider,  receptive
audience.
     This Now or Never Records outfit erupted on stage in  a  fashion
equal to bands with -twice- Diecast's  longevity.  My  concert  going
gang and I were just  making  our  way  through  the  7  Flags  Event
Center doors when Diecast was first pounding  out  their  lead  song.
Immediately if not sooner, the four other people I came with  --  and
myself for sure -- were caught up in the  riveting  potency  of  this
band's presence like the slow motion bullets ripping through the  air
in the movie "Matrix". Sometimes mistakenly referred to as "tough guy
metal", Diecast is far beyond this inadequate characterization.  Even
before February 2nd, I  was  a  Diecast  fan,  but  since  then  I've
transcended that designation, too!  I've  actually  spent  more  time
listening to Diecast's  newest  effort,  _Day  of  Reckoning_,  since
bearing witness to their awe-inspiring live show than I have  clocked
off sleeping this month, for shit's sake. They were, no  question,  a
perfect opening choice for an ultimately flawless evening.
     Hatebreed graced us next with their potent  strength  and  power
amalgamation. Not nearly as comfortable with their material as I  was
with Diecast's, Hatebreed took only a matter of seconds to make  true
believers out of everyone in attendance  that  memorable  evening  in
Clive, Iowa. While I loathe to sweepingly characterize  a  class  act
like these guys, Hatebreed is about as "back to the basics"  hardcore
outfit as you'll ever find. Like I mentioned,  it  was  mere  seconds
after the stage change until Hatebreed's  crushing,  world-collapsing
pressure had the crowd thrashing to tight, hard  hitting  rhythms  --
Hatebreed style. Another prime choice opening act for Slayer.
     After a beer or two more, I was primed for the last of  the  Big
Four. Once upon  a  time  there  used  to  be  a  platform  of  metal
heavyweights braced by a quadrangle of support: Megadeth,  Metallica,
Exodus and Slayer. Two of these bands have  inexplicably  lost  their
edge, there other two have a story, but I'll wait  on  one  of  those
points for just a minute.
     Slayer's commanding presence filled the  7  Flags  Event  Center
like so much wet cement poured into a swimming pool.  "God  hates  us
all" emblazoned in  red  on  the  black  stage  curtains  behind  the
band became distinctively  evident  as  Slayer  expelled  a  flawless
version of the  track  off  the  new  effort  boldly  embracing  that
potently descriptive phrase -- "Disciple".  Things  got  better  from
there. Slayer peeled  off  a  perfect  mix  of  time-tested  material
like "Chemical  Warfare",  "Angel  of  Death",  "Mandatory  Suicide",
"Postmortem" and "South of  Heaven"  complete  with  a  peppering  of
soon-to-be favorite Slayer material.  Their  sound  after  more  than
twenty years of this is refined yet raw, but never,  ever  boring  or
wanting for power. Slayer has refined their technique into a rare and
priceless gem and their sound quality tonight was far,  -far-  beyond
reproach.
     As for the last mentioned of the Big Four,  Mr.  Araya  informed
the crowd this fateful evening that  earlier  that  very  day  Exodus
vocalist Paul Baloff passed away. We've  lost  too  many  of  metal's
greats in recent months and Mr.  Baloff  was  the  most  recent.  Tom
Araya's news was received heart-felt and heavy by this  reviewer  and
Slayer's befitting tribute was  well-received  and  recognized  by  a
receptive crowd.
     Many, many pieces made this night's puzzle of events one of  the
most surreal and memorable Slayer concerts  on  record  for  me.  The
venue was sensational, the bands were  class  A  top-notch,  and  the
performances were first rate, but the sad news that night of  metal's
loss of Mr. Baloff (on the heels of the widely respected and  beloved
Chuck Schuldiner of Death) was something not soon forgotten by anyone
there or removed that evening.
     A -big- thanks to Slayer for their dedication and commitment  in
finally getting to play live in the Des Moines, Iowa area after a few
failed attempts in the past; you have my  utmost  thanks,  gentlemen.
While expressing this personally to the band would  have  been  -all-
the birthday present I would have needed, I wasn't that lucky. If you
know anyone associated with Slayer, however, please let them  know  I
thought -- beyond any doubt at all -- that they've never,  ever  have
been in as fine a form than they were in Clive  that  night!  Whoever
said Iowa AGGROCULTURE was as boring as the state's scenery?!

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

            W H A T   W E   H A V E   C R A N K E D ! ! !
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         Best Albums of 2001


     Opeth reign supreme this year, with their _Blackwater Park_ opus
consistently making it into the vast majority of our staff's  choices
and comfortably conquering the crown -- My Dying Bride,  Absu,  Shape
of Despair and Katatonia were all left fighting for second place.
     This time we have also taken the opportunity to nominate  albums
or bands for a list of categories. The Revelation and  Disappointment
categories, as well as Most Innovative Album, speak  for  themselves;
the Most Underrated and Most Overlooked album categories refer not to
CoC itself, but rather to our perception of  how  records  have  been
generally received; and finally, the  Unpretentiously  Enjoyable  Gem
aims to highlight records that we have found to  be  damn  good  fun,
even if the band clearly set aside any  thoughts  of  reinventing  or
expanding the genre before recording the album.


Overall CoC Writers' Top 20
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Based on each of the writers' personal top 20]

 1. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 2. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
 3. Absu - _Tara_
 4. Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_
 5. Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
 6. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_
 7. Thorns - _Thorns_
 8. Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
 9. Akercocke - _The Goat of Mendes_
10. Pig Destroyer - _Prowler in the Yard_
11. Evoken - _Quietus_
12. Rammstein - _Mutter_
 =. Ulver - _Perdition City_
14. Gamma Ray - _No World Order_
 =. Iced Earth - _Horror Show_
16. Anaal Nathrakh - _The Codex Necro_
 =. Anorexia Nervosa - _New Obscurantis Order_
 =. Evergrey - _In Search of Truth_
 =. System of a Down - _Toxicity_
20. Anathema - _A Fine Day to Exit_
 =. Arch Enemy - _Wages of Sin_
 =. Disbelief - _Worst Enemy_


Gino's Top 10

 1. Absu - _Tara_
 2. Immemoreal - _Temple of Retribution_
 3. Desiderii Marginis - _Deadbeat_
 4. Pig Destroyer - _Prowler in the Yard_
 5. Proscriptor - _The Serpentine Has Risen_
 6. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 7. Bolt Thrower - _Honour, Valour, Pride_
 8. Agathodaimon - _Chapter III_
 9. Mastodon - _Lifesblood_
10. Solefald - _Pills Against the Ageless Ills_

[Revelation: Desiderii Marginis]
[Disappointment: Fear Factory]
[Most Overlooked: Immemoreal - _Temple of Retribution_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: 
     Bolt Thrower - _Honour, Valour, Pride_]


Adrian's Top 20

 1. Darkest Hour - _So Sedate, So Secure_
 2. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 3. Jag Panzer - _Mechanized Warfare_
 4. Anathema - _A Fine Day to Exit_
 5. Amorphis - _Am Universum_
 6. Sleepless - _Winds Blow Higher_
 7. Ozzy Osbourne - _Down to Earth_
 8. Sodom - _M-16_
 9. Slayer - _God Hates Us All_
10. Malefaction - _Crush the Dream_
11. Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
12. Evergrey - _In Search of Truth_
13. The Chasm - _Reaching the Veil of Death_
14. Kataklysm - _Epic (The Poetry of War)_
15. Atomsmasher - _Atomsmasher_
16. Converge - _Jane Doe_
17. Sigh - _Imaginary Sonicscape_
18. Circle of Dead Children - _The Genocide Machine_
19. Godflesh - _Hymns_
20. Tool - _Lateralus_

[Revelation: Angra]
[Disappointment: Megadeth]
[Most Underrated: The Black League - _Utopia A.D._]
[Most Overlooked: Sigh - _Imaginary Sonicscape_]
[Most Innovative: Devin Townsend - _Terria_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Ozzy Osbourne - _Down to Earth_]


Brian's Top 20

 1. Winter Bestowed - _Within My Labyrinthine Heart_
 2. Sceptic - _Pathetic Being_
 3. 7 Angels 7 Plagues - _Jhazmyne's Lullaby_
 4. Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_
 5. Profanum - _Musaeum Esotericum_
 6. Vuvr - _Pilgrimage_
 7. Hematovore - _Demo 2001_
 8. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 9. Virulence - _A Conflict Scenario_
10. Kalmah - _Swamplord_
11. Novembre - _Novembrine Waltz_
12. Aydra - _Icon of Sin_
13. Alas - _Absolute Purity_
14. Vortex - _Colours Out From the Emptiness_
15. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_
16. Nightly Gale - _And Jesus Wept_
17. Anorexia Nervosa - _New Obscurantis Order_
18. Finntroll - _Jaktens Tid_
19. Therion - _Secret of the Runes_
20. Dismal Euphony - _Python Zero_

[Revelation: Shape of Despair]
[Disappointment: Epoch of Unlight]
[Most Underrated: Alas - _Absolute Purity_]
[Most Overlooked: none]
[Most Innovative: Profanum - _Musaeum Esotericum_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Kalmah - _Swamplord_]


Alain's Top 20

 1. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 2. Akercocke - _The Goat of Mendes_
 3. Tool - _Lateralus_
 4. Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
 5. Thorns - _Thorns_
 6. Punchdrunk - _Music for Them Asses_ (1999)
 7. Zyklon - _World ov Worms_
 8. Devin Townsend - _Terria_
 9. Aborym - _Fire Walk With Us_
10. Lacrimosa - _Fassade_
11. Thyrane - _The Spirit of Rebellion_ (2000)
12. The Demonseeds - _Knee Deep in Hell's Grasp_ (1999)
13. Darkest Hour - _So Sedate, So Secure_
14. Keelhaul - _II_
15. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
16. Immortal - _Damned in Black_ (2000)
17. Cadaver Inc. - _Discipline_
18. Withered Earth - _Into the Deepest Wounds_
19. Monster Magnet - _God Says No_
20. Iommi - _Iommi_

[Revelation: Aborym]
[Disappointment: Ozzy Osbourne]
[Most Innovative: Keelhaul - _II_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Iommi - _Iommi_]


Pedro's Top 20

 1. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
 2. Evoken - _Quietus_
 3. Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
 4. The Forsaken - _Manifest of Hate_
 5. Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_
 6. Madder Mortem - _All Flesh Is Grass_
 7. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 8. Borknagar - _Empiricism_
 9. Disbelief - _Worst Enemy_
10. Cadaver Inc. - _Discipline_
11. Anaal Nathrakh - _The Codex Necro_
12. Lost Soul - _Scream of the Mourning Star_
13. Anorexia Nervosa - _New Obscurantis Order_
14. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_
15. Dornenreich - _Her Von Welken Nachten_
16. Summoning - _Let Mortal Heroes Sing Your Fame_
17. Solefald - _Pills Against the Ageless Ills_
18. Absu - _Tara_
19. Blood Red Throne - _Monument of Death_
20. Soilwork - _A Predator's Portrait_

[Revelation: Anaal Nathrakh, Shape of Despair]
[Disappointment: Anathema, Emperor]
[Most Underrated: The Forsaken - _Manifest of Hate_]
[Most Overlooked: Evoken - _Quietus_, Disbelief - _Worst Enemy_]
[Most Innovative: Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: The Forsaken - _Manifest of Hate_]


Paul's Top 20

 1. Keelhaul - _II_
 2. Akercocke - _The Goat of Mendes_
 3. Absu - _Tara_
 4. Converge - _Jane Doe_
 5. Atomsmasher - _Atomsmasher_
 6. Lost Soul - _Scream of the Mourning Star_
 7. Old Man Gloom - 
         _Seminar II: The Holy Rites of Primitivism Regression_
 8. Cadaver Inc. - _Discipline_
 9. Anaal Nathrakh - _The Codex Necro_
10. Isis - _Celestial_
11. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
12. Aborym - _Fire Walk With Us!_
13. Svartsyn - _His Majesty_
14. Association Area - _Loathsome Deco_
15. Tool - _Lateralus_
16. Khanate - _Khanate_
17. Melechesh - _Djinn_
18. Enslaved - _Monumension_
19. Sigh - _Imaginary Sonicscape_
20. Pungent Stench - _Masters of Moral Servants of Sin_

[Revelation: Kaddish (Scotland, unsigned)]
[Disappointment: Thorns]
[Most Underrated: Absu - _Tara_ (not least by me!)]
[Most Overlooked: Keelhaul - _II_]
[Most Innovative: Atomsmasher - _Atomsmasher_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: 
     Manipulated Slaves - _The Legendary Black Jade_]


Aaron's Top 15

 1. Pig Destroyer - _Prowler in the Yard_
 2. Epoch of Unlight - _Caught in the Unlight_
 3. Evergrey - _In Search of Truth_
 4. In Aeternum - _Past and Present Sins_
 5. Dragonlord - _Rapture_
 6. Circle of Dead Children - _The Genocide Machine_
 7. Marduk - _La Grande Danse Macabre_
 8. Soilent Green - _A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down_
 9. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_
10. Testament - _First Strike Still Deadly_
11. Witchery - _Symphony for the Devil_
12. Mortician - _Domain of Death_
13. Hypocrisy - _10 Years of Chaos and Confusion_
14. Green Carnation - _Light of Day, Day of Darkness_
15. Slayer - _God Hates Us All_


David's Top 10

 1. Arch Enemy - _Wages of Sin_
 2. Rammstein - _Mutter_
 3. Wolverine - _The Window Purpose_
 4. Andromeda - _Extension of the Wish_
 5. Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_
 6. Iced Earth - _Horror Show_
 7. Finntroll - _Jaktens Tid_
 8. Diablerie - _Seraphyde_
 9. Aborted - _Engineering the Dead_
10. Decapitated - _Nihility_

[Revelation: Wolverine]
[Disappointment: Elegeion]
[Most Underrated: Thyrane - _The Art of Rebellion_ (2000)]
[Most Overlooked: Iniquity -_Grime_]
[Most Innovative: Wolverine - _The Window Purpose_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Bloodshed - _Skullcrusher_]


Matthias' Top 20

 1. System of a Down - _Toxicity_
 2. Disbelief - _Worst Enemy_
 3. Rebaelliun - _Annihilation_
 4. Burnt by the Sun - _Burnt by the Sun_
 5. Thorns - _Thorns_
 6. Blood Red Throne - _Monument of Death_
 7. Amon Amarth - _The Crusher_
 8. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 9. Katatonia - _Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
10. Anathema - _A Fine Day to Exit_
11. Anaal Nathrakh - _The Codex Necro_
12. Akercocke - _The Goat of Mendes_
13. Absu - _Tara_
14. Solefald - _Pills Against the Ageless Ills_
15. Evoken - _Quietus_
16. Sigh - _Imaginary Sonicscape_
17. Green Carnation - _Light of Day, Day of Darkness_
18. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
19. Pig Destroyer - _Prowler in the Yard_
20. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_

[Revelation: Burnt by the Sun, Disbelief]
[Disappointment: Opeth]
[Most Underrated: Rebaelliun - _Annihilation_]
[Most Overlooked:  Rebaelliun - _Annihilation]
[Most Innovative: System of a Down - _Toxicity_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: 
     Blood Red Throne - _Monument of Death_]


Alvin's Top 20

 1. Falconer - _Falconer_
 2. Cathedral - _Endtyme_
 3. Impaled Nazarene - _Absence of War Does Not Mean Peace_
 4. Edguy - _Mandrake_
 5. Absu - _Tara_
 6. Blackmore's Night - _Fires at Midnight_
 7. Necrodeath - _Black as Pitch_
 8. Grand Belial's Key - _Judeobeast Assassination_
 9. Watain - _Rabid Death's Curse_
10. Clandestine Blaze / Deathspell Omega - _split LP_
11. Sonata Arctica - _Silence_
12. Ulver - _Perdition City_
13. Sadistic Intent - _Resurrection of the Ancient Black Earth_
14. Gamma Ray - _No World Order_
15. Svartsyn - _Bloodline / His Majesty_
16. Eternal Majesty / Temple of Baal - _split LP_
17. Exordium - _Exordium 10"_
18. Mortuary Drape - _Tolling 13 Knell_
19. Death in June - _DISCriminate_
20. Emperor - _Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire and Demise_

[Revelation: Falconer]
[Disappointment: Gamma Ray]
[Most Underrated: Blackmore's Night - _Fires at Midnight_]
[Most Overlooked: Grand Belial's Key - _Judeobeast Assassination_]
[Most Innovative: Ulver - _Perdition City_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: 
     Children of Bodom - _Follow the Reaper_]


Chris' Top 20

 1. Anorexia Nervosa - _New Obscurantis Order_
 2. Thorns - _Thorns_
 3. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
 4. Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
 5. Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_
 6. Soilwork - _A Predator's Portrait_
 7. The Provenance - _25th Hour; Bleeding_
 8. Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_
 9. Ark - _Burn the Sun_
10. Arch Enemy - _Wages of Sin_
11. Ambeon - _Fate of a Dreamer_
12. Rebaelliun - _Annihilation_
13. Borknagar - _Empiricism_
14. Ulver - _Perdition City_
15. Solefald - _Pills Against the Ageless Ills_
16. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
17. Devin Townsend - _Terria_
18. Anathema - _A Fine Day to Exit_
19. Susperia - _Predominance_
20. Zyklon - _World ov Worms_

[Revelation: Forest of Shadows]
[Disappointment: Emperor]
[Most Underrated: Shape of Despair - _Angels of Distress_]
[Most Overlooked: Pale Forest - _Exit Mould_]
[Most Innovative: Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: 
     Anorexia Nervosa - _New Obscurantis Order_]


Quentin's Top 10

 1. Ulver - _Perdition City_
 2. Opeth - _Blackwater Park_
 3. Katatonia -_Last Fair Deal Gone Down_
 4. Emperor - _Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire and Demise_
 5. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
 6. Zyklon - _World ov Worms_
 7. Death - _Live in LA - Death and Raw_
 8. Gamma Ray - _No World Order_
 9. Evoken - _Quietus_
10. Diabolical Masquerade -_Death's Design_

[Revelation: Abigail]
[Disappointment: Dimmu Borgir]
[Most Underrated: The Chasm - _Reaching the Veil of Death_]
[Most Overlooked: Abigail - _Welcome All Hell Fuckers]
[Most Innovative: Diabolical Masquerade - _Death's Design_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Metalucifer - _Heavy Metal Chainsaw_]


Vincent's Top 20

 1. Iced Earth - _Horror Show_
 2. Therion - _Secret of the Runes_
 3. Hollenthon - _With Vilest of Worms to Dwell_
 4. Rammstein - _Mutter_
 5. Dimmu Borgir - _Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia_
 6. Gamma Ray - _No World Order_
 7. Within Temptation - _Mother Earth_
 8. Rob Zombie - _The Sinister Urge_
 9. System of a Down - _Toxicity_
10. Ancient Rites - _Dim Carcosa_
11. Tristania - _World of Glass_
12. Queensryche - _Live Evolution_
13. Blackmore's Night - _Fires at Midnight_
14. Judas Priest - _Demolition_
15. My Dying Bride - _The Dreadful Hours_
16. Evergrey - _In Search of Truth_
17. Rhapsody - _Rain of a Thousand Flames_
18. Kreator - _Violent Revolution_
19. Pig Destroyer - _Prowler in the Yard_
20. Annihilator - _Carnival Diablos_

[Revelation: Pig Destroyer]
[Disappointment: Moonspell]
[Most Underrated: Judas Priest - _Demolition_]
[Most Overlooked: Rakoth - _Jabberworks_]
[Most Innovative: Hollenthon - _With Vilest of Worms to Dwell_]
[Unpretentiously Enjoyable Gem: Night in Gales - _Necrodynamic_]

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


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End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #57

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