   ______________                     _____      ______
   __  ____/__  /________________________(_)________  /____________
   _  /    __  __ \_  ___/  __ \_  __ \_  /_  ___/_  /_  _ \_  ___/
   / /___  _  / / /  /   / /_/ /  / / /  / / /__ _  / /  __/(__  )
   \____/  /_/ /_//_/    \____//_/ /_//_/  \___/ /_/  \___//____/

              ________   ______________
        _________  __/   __  ____/__  /_______ ______________
        _  __ \_  /_     _  /    __  __ \  __ `/  __ \_  ___/
        / /_/ /  __/     / /___  _  / / / /_/ // /_/ /(__  )
        \____//_/        \____/  /_/ /_/\__,_/ \____//____/


                   THE NEW YEAR'S EVIL EDITION IV

       CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, January 15, 2000, Issue #45
                   http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:gino@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:adrian@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Copy Ed./Contrib.: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:pedro@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Asst. Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:john@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:brian@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:adam@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:paul@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Aaron McKay <mailto:aaron@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: David Rocher <mailto:david@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez <mailto:gabriel@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Alex Cantwell <mailto:alex@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>
Contributor: Matthias Noll <mailto:matthias@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>

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

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

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

Issue #45 Contents, 1/15/00
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Aeternus: And From the Night Came... Shadows of Old?
-- Satyricon: ...And Thus Spake the Dark Half
-- Autumn Tears: Dark Autumnal Symphonies
-- Amon Amarth: Keeping Metal Simple
-- Forest of Impaled: Coppice of Corpses
-- earthtone9: Evolving Their Noise
-- Vomit Remnants: The Remnants of a Dying Fetus
* Album Asylum
-- Various - _A Tribute to Accept_
-- Adramelech - _Pure Blood Doom_
-- Aeternus - _Shadows of Old_
-- Aion - _Aion_
-- Artillery - _B.A.C.K._
-- Centurian - _Chornzonic Chaos Gods_
-- Cryogenic - _Celephais_
-- Dead Silent Slumber - _Entombed in the Midnight Hour_
-- Defleshed - _Fast Forward_
-- Devilyn - _Reborn in Pain_
-- Dichotic - _Lowest Common Denominator_
-- Dream Into Dust - _The World We Have Lost_
-- Dreck Sau - _Schmerz_
-- Emperor - _Emperial Live Ceremony_ [video]
-- Finntroll - _Midnattens Widunder_
-- Fleshgrind - _Destined for Defilement_
-- Gorbalrog - _Untergang_
-- Limbonic Art - _Ad Noctum - Dynasty of Death_
-- Necrophagia - _Black Blood Vomitorium_
-- Night Conquers Day - _Rebellion Is the Art of Survival_
-- Pitboss 2000 - _Everyone's a Winner_
-- Primordial - _The Burning Season_
-- Rakoth - _Planeshift_
-- Rapture - _Futile_
-- Rebaelliun - _Burn the Promised Land_
-- Runemagick - _Enter the Realm of Death_
-- Scheitan - _Nemesis_
-- Sodom - _Code Red_
-- Sonata Arctica - _Ecliptica_
-- Sun of the Sleepless - _Poems to the Wretches' Hearts_
-- Swordmaster - _Moribund Transgoria_
-- T666 - _Troops of Satan_
-- Tankard - _Disco Destroyer_
-- The Chasm - _Procession to the Infraworld_
-- Various - _To Magic..._
-- Tristania - _Beyond the Veil_
-- True to Form - _New Generation of Aggression_
-- Unida - _Coping With the Urban Coyote_
-- Vassago - _Knights From Hell_
-- Vision of Disorder - _For the Bleeders_
-- Vital Remains - _Dawn of the Apocalypse_
-- Vomit Remnants - _Supreme Entity_
-- Willow Wisp - _Delusion of Grandeur:(A Gathering of Heretics)_
-- Wolverine - _Fervent Dream_
* New Noise
-- Cranial Torment - _Death Is Rising_
-- Enchanted Silence - _Anthropobhobia_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Two Corpses, One God and No Flesh: Cannibal Corpse with Marduk
-- Night of the Living Corpses: Marduk, Angel Corpse and Enthroned
* What We Have Cranked, Best Releases Since the Crucifixion
* Details

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

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

                          by: Gino Filicetti


     So, we made it!! Looks like the world didn't end as expected  at
the stroke of midnight on December 31st. I guess the shotgun and  100
cans of Campbell's soup I bought are gonna go to waste, damn!
     We here at Chronicles of Chaos have been  very  busy  since  our
last issue, and we have more than a few surprises in store for you.
     First,    I'd    like    to    introduce    our    brand    new,
redesigned-from-scratch, ass kicking website. Many thanks go to Pedro
for all the hard work he put in HTML coding  the  new  site;  without
him, it would have been many months before the same job could've been
accomplished. Along with our new  website,  we  have  a  new  URL  to
introduce, we can now be found at our very own site:

     http://www.ChroniclesOfChaos.com

     With the registration of this new domain, we have set  up  email
boxes for every staff member. Email addresses are simply the writer's
first name @ChroniclesOfChaos.com. Also, we've made  subscribing  and
unsubscribing a lot easier: each is achieved with a simple  email  to
either          <mailto:Subscribe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>           or
<mailto:Unsubscribe@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>, respectively. Back issues
can        now        be        requested         by         emailing
<mailto:BackIssues@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>  and  including  the  issue
number you want in the message's subject line. Loud Letters  can  now
be sent to <mailto:LoudLetters@ChroniclesOfChaos.com> as well.
     Our  new  website  features  some  new  goodies  including   the
following:

     - an HTMLized version of the current issue for online browsing
     - easy subscribing and unsubscribing
     - a link exchange form which can be filled in by people who want
       to exchange links with us
     - a form to request back issue delivery by email
     - new and updated staff photos and biographies
     - beautiful graphics

Coming soon, we will also be featuring  a  search  engine  to  search
through our entire back issue archive for keywords.
     Also, we want everyone to know that we are  ALWAYS  looking  for
excellent writers. We believe that no matter how big  the  CoC  staff
becomes, there is always room for outstanding writers who  can  prove
themselves to be head and shoulders above the rest of the  crowd.  We
are looking for individuals that have access to new releases; whether
they come from labels or are personally bought makes no difference to
us, but we can not supply any new writers with material. If you think
you     have     what      it      takes,      email      us      at:
<mailto:Auditions@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.
     Another new thing here at Chronicles of Chaos is our decision to
support demos and albums that exist completely on digital media. That
means if you're a band that  can' t  afford  to  send  us  your  demo
material by postal mail, we will gladly review your material  if  you
provide us with an MP3 version of your ENTIRE  album  and  a  bio  as
usual.  We've  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  bulk  of   music
distribution in the  future  will  consist  of  digital  media  being
exchanged over the internet. Our  stance  will  be  to  support  this
paradigm shift and encourage bands to submit their new material to us
in digital format. We must, however, impose  a  few  restrictions  on
this practice. First of all, we will require  that  you  submit  your
entire demo to us, and not just an excerpt of it. We will not  review
any material that does not consist of a coherent, full album or  demo
of music. As always, we will require a bio with  your  submission.  I
hope our new  stance will help to ring in a new era of cheap and easy
music distribution. To submit a demo as a set of  MP3  files,  simply
email <mailto:Demos@ChroniclesOfChaos.com> and give us  the  location
of a website from which we can download the entire set of MP3  files.
DO NOT send the actual MP3 files to this  address  as  they  are  too
large to be properly handled by our  email  clients.  Good  luck  and
happy recording!
     Now to our issue, this is the FOURTH New Year's Evil Edition  of
Chronicles of Chaos. As usual, we've jam packed  this  issue  with  a
plethora of interviews, record reviews  and  concert  reviews.  We've
also pre-empted our "What We Have Cranked" section to bring  you  our
staff's choice of the Best Releases Since the Crucifixion.
     I hope you all enjoy our first  issue  of  2000.  With  our  new
website and revived spirits, Chronicles of Chaos will be leading  the
pack for many moons to come.

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

                 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: Mon, 29 Nov 1999
From: "alla xul" <thydeath@hotmail.com>
Subject: christian metal

Hi...

Regarding christian metal. I dont see how  any  sentinent  being  can
defend christianity  in  any  form.  Christianity  being  a  religion
manifactured to control the lives of the weaker  humans...  METAL  is
about freedom through brutal power. Christianity  is  about  weakness
and restriction. METAL is the  reaction  of  the  sick  society  that
christianity and similar doctrines are the  root  of.  METAL  is  the
power to break free from all that try to control us... To glorify the
degenerated parasite paedophile god called Jhave Is  the  LAST  thing
that a true metalhead would ever do.

Norman Doll writes
"I can hook you up with some 'true' Christian metal"

that is impossibile.  To  a  true  christian  METAL  would  be  utter
blasphemy.  How  someone  can  draw  paralells  between   metal   and
christianity is laughable.

And dont answer with something like 'everyone can have thier  opinion
on things' because that is what i allso belive and by  attacking  all
powers that restrict peoples potential i will make it so!

hail satan!

/ax


Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999
From: Christian Flaaten <christian.flaaten@online.no>
Subject: Re: Chronicles Of Chaos #44 (2/5)

S: Yeah. Absolutely correct. I mean, the thing is I like working with
   metaphors a lot, you know, and it's always... I like,  in  a  way,
   the middle way -- sometimes a tree is a tree,  you  know,  and  it
   shouldn't be called anything more than  a  tree.  But,  you  know,
   other times you could go a little bit further and... there  is  an
   expression in Norwegian called <goruns greten>, which means adding

Hi,

just thought I should let you  know  that  <goruns  greten>  isn't  a
Norwegian expression. I think what he  said  was  "ga  rundt  groten"
which translates into "go around the porridge". I  think  there's  an
English expression that means the same which goes "beating around the
bush" or something like that.

Later on you printed "<'o'ther d'o'de>", but I have no idea  of  what
this is supposed to be...

Later on in the  The  Kovenant  interview  you  say  Psy  Coma  plays
bass/vocals and that Sverd is in Dimmu Borgir. Both incorrect...

But where are my manners? I should give you some  praise  too...  The
Opeth review contained my thoughts exactly  and  was  an  interesting
read. I thought I was alone to hold MAYH as Opeth's best... Also,  it
is of course a wonderful thing you  have  going  with  interviews  of
interesting bands dumping into the mailbox absolutely free.  Keep  it
up!

Christian


Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1999
From: DER TODESKIN <splattergod@yahoo.com>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

666 Hails to you

First, let me  commend  you  on  your  excellent  e-zine.I  find  the
interviews/reviews to be infomative and entertaining. Who can ask for
more? I would like to respond to some comments that I have noticed in
past issues (I've been unable to respond as I am revamping my site).

1) Black Sabbath was not ( at first, anyway)  a  Satanic  band.  They
started as a catholic/christian band and slowly evolved into  a  dark
satanic/pagan lyrically based band. Doubt this? Listen to songs  such
as WAR PIGS (anti war/ anti satan) and AFTER FOREVER (...God  is  the
only way to love...). Don't get me wrong, I love  Sabbath,  but  they
didn't start out "evil".
2)  I  agree  with  the  comments  concerning  critiques  of  certain
releases. Offer up some valid reasons why the particular  release  is
"a piece of crap". It lends more credibility to  the  writer  of  the
review and gives the readers the information needed to decide whether
to invest their money on the cd in question.
3) Experiments in music is great but  I'm  getting  tired  of  "black
metal" bands totally reinventing themselves in order to  sell  a  few
more cds. 99% of the time, they end  up  a  parody  of  their  former
selves and alienate their true fans yet get very few  new  ones.  I'm
still trying to digest "Kovenant", "Satyricon", "Burzum"  and  "Black
Funeral"'s more recent releases. They could  at  least  change  their
names and start anew in their newly chosen style. I like dark ambient
et al, but I love black and death metal which  is  unadulterated  and
raw.
4) I remember, not so long ago, when Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir
were praised in the black metal circles. Now that  they  are  selling
more cds and signed to larger  labels,  they  are  ostrisized.  Their
music has changed little (perhaps evolved is a better term), and they
put on a hell of a show and are really fan  friendly.....perfect  for
the scene. And I consider them the  marijuana  of  black  metal.  You
start with them then progress to  the  "heroin"  bands  like  Mayhem,
Judas Iscariot, Marduk, etc. Support the scene, don't try  to  divide
it.
5) lastly, some recomendations of earlier releases which helped forge
the  way:Celtic  Frost-Morbid  Tales,  Venom-At   War   With   Satan,
Witchfynde, Coven(the 70's band, first to include satanic rituals  on
their album).

Thanks for letting me sound off. Keep up the good work. I would  also
like to offer  up  my  condolences  for  the  passing  of  "Grim"  of
Borknagor, and  the  demise  of  Acheron.  AVE  SATANAS,  Splattergod
Splattergod's Dark Domain

........ah, the children of the night
They make such beautiful music.........


Date: Thu, 11 Nov 1999
From: cabezudo_me@tsm.es
Subject: 'Attention Loud Letters'

11/11/99 05:15 PM
(subscript: Maria Elisa Cabezudo Pazo@TSM)
Hi to everyone;

   I've been reading for so long The Chronicles of Caos, it's a  good
zine, but I realized that you guys are talking about important  bands
forgetting that there are tons of groups which deserve to  be  talked
about.
   Since I've been listening to this kind of "Metal"  should  I  say,
that from Norway and Finland come out the best black and  doom  metal
bands, but I have to say that here in Spain, there are a lot of bands
who plays as good or even better than bands from the north.  Such  is
the case of a spanish band called "The Heretic", they made  an  album
called "the book of fate" not long ago, and they are  editing  a  new
job in January 2000, Their style is similar, or very  close  to  what
cradle of filth plays, and I invite everyone to  listen  to  them.  I
already did, like two years ago, and this last time  which  was  last
week. Talking to "Emilio", the one who plays the keyboard, he told me
that he was furios with the spanish shops who  promote  international
bands instead of promoting the spanish ones, believe me, he was  very
mad at them, and that made me think if I could help them in any  way,
so I'm writing this.
   This is just a critical letter to those who think the same way  as
I do. We need to promote them, cause they deserve it. I'm  not  their
manager, or sister, or mother or anything from any of the  band,  I'm
just a fan Who thinks they play very good.

Thanx to all.


Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999
From: "Roberto Martinelli" <giorgio75@hotmail.com>
Subject: Chronicles of Chaos

I would like to say again how high a quality  "publication"  CoC  is.
I'm not just gushing for no reason. Recently a friend of mine lent me
a stack of his metal magazines. Amongst them were SOD (a magazine I'd
always  wanted  to  check  out  but  couldn't  because  it's   always
shrink-wrappd and costs 10 bucks in Japan) , Pit, and Metal  Maniacs.
I  couldn't  believe  how  crappy  the  writing  is  in  these  mags!
Especially SOD and Pit. I won't go into word for  word  details,  but
these magazines are replete with awful metaphors  and  similies  that
made me laugh. The mags  read  like  one  big  shitty  press  release
touting a band's new album. Also, I didn't see a single review in SOD
that didn't get less than a 8 1/2 out of 10. Where's the objectivity?
What a ripoff! SOD also seems to enjoy ripping on their  readers  who
write in. Like I'm EVER going to buy that magazine....


Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999
From: "Voors, Mike" <mvoors@uhh.gak.nl>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Pedro Azavedo: 'Into the  Macabre"  by  Necrodeath  sounds  a  little
dated? Has't brought anything new to the  thrashmetal  genre?  That's
because the fucking record was made  in  1987!!  This  record  helped
define thrashmetal as we know it today!  Know  your  classics,  dude!
Same goes for Obscurity's "Damnation  Pride";  You  think  they  play
retro-thrash? This CD contains the two demo's they made  in  1986  en
1987. Retro my ass, this is the real stuff! Mike

[If you are interested in knowing my thoughts about  all  that,  then
read my answer to a letter regarding the same subject in CoC #44.  If
you are interested in knowing how to spell my  name,  then  read  the
zine's header. --Pedro]


Date: Wed, 13 Oct 1999
From: gutterBoy <we3kings@rtd.com>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Re: Chronicles of Chaos #42  and #41

I was reading the Loud Letters section of  #43  when  I  saw  someone
responding to a response to my original letter  in  #41.  I  guess  I
missed Spinoza Ray's "reply" in #42 to my letter.  I  would  like  to
clear something up.

1. I was not requesting more reviews of Christian metal releases.

to quote my letter, "The reason I am writing is to comment on a  your
treatment of releases by bands who  embrace  Christianity."  (I  even
left in my typo).

I was commenting on how only one person seemed to be  covering  these
particular releases, and questioning why the others typically do not.
I never requested more of those releases to be covered, or  even  for
those releases to be reviewed by other writers. It was an observation
and a question.

2. Regarding the following quote from  SRP's  letter,  "i've  debated
gutterboy on these points before, and he has conceded every  time  by
withdrawing from logical debate."

I have rarely joined in to the goats senseless  rambling  matches  on
Usenet. When I was a Usenet baby I started to, but I quickly realized
it was a senseless exercise in futility. To clarify, this futility is
not based on the futility of either side of the argument, it is based
on SRP's desire to debate this point for the sheer  joy  of  debating
this point. He is not seeking to learn and grow, he seeks to argue. I
see this as futile and a waste of time. I have since then on occasion
replied with illogical stupidity, just for fun. You see, that is  the
only valid argument for his rantings...responding in kind. I have not
seriously joined in a discussion of his for  at  least  a  couple  of
years.

SRP's views are his views and he can have them. He  is  not  changing
the world and neither are those who argue with him. I will listen  to
what I want, CoC will review what they want, and life will continue.

chris


Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999
From: "Gordon Bancroft" <gbancroft@hotmail.com>
Subject: Attn: Loud Letters

I'm not going to waste my time scrolling back to find out  what  this
idiot's name was, but I had to respond to his message about grindcore
fans kicking his ass for dissing  Cannibal  Corpse.  If  that  wasn't
enough, he made reference to Soilent Green  as  an  "alt-rock"  band.
It's clear to me that this guy is clueless, or just extremely stoned.
Do you even know what grindcore is? By definition, I can  assure  you
that it is quite different from what  CC  are  doing  (or  have  ever
done). Do yourself a favor and pick up some CDs  or  vinyl  by  bands
like Hellnation, Assuck, and Regurgitate before you make a  fool  out
of yourself again. I'm not even going to respond to the Soilent Green
comment, because it is the most ridiculous  and  asinine  example  of
trying to define genres when one clearly has no grasp  on  what  he's
talking about. Dude, you should categorize music for  Columbia  House
or BMG. Ever seen the ads where they define metal as White  Lion  and
Warrant?

Gordon

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

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

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


              AND FROM THE NIGHT CAME... SHADOWS OF OLD?
              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC chats with Ares of Aeternus
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     After the first wave of good, innovative albums  that  initially
emerges to establish any new style, there tends to be a  second  wave
of inconsequential  rubbish  which  gets  signed  on  the  commercial
potential which the genre's almost inevitable  status  as  a  "trend"
tends to produce. After this there is generally a period  where  many
second-wave bands are purged. Thereafter,  a  few  remain  from  this
second  wave:  those  who  have  through  some  miracle  (though  not
necessarily a miracle that is "of God")  found  their  way  into  the
hearts  of  listeners  despite  their  questionable  originality   or
quality, and  those  who  can  be  generally  regarded  as  "worthy".
Aeternus are applicable to this second category, and  I  for  one  am
thankful that they have been able to  continue  for  long  enough  to
bring their art to the point that it is at now,  which  is  certainly
their peak thus far, and bestow upon the extreme metal world the work
of violent black metal magic which is _Shadows of Old_,  their  third
album. I had a pleasant  chat  with  singer,  guitarist  and  primary
songwriter Ares to discuss the ins and outs of this new opus, and the
band's origins and status. So, get comfy, set _Shadows of Old_ up  on
the old stereo to pleasantly massacre your ears, and enjoy.

CoC: On _SoO_ you seem to have focused your music more  sharply  than
     on previous albums, and I also detect an element of death  metal
     style playing that has been incorporated. Would you  agree  with
     this assessment of _SoO_?

Ares: Yeah, that's exactly what we did. We felt we needed to do  some
      changes, because in many ways the second and  the  first  album
      are very similar, you know, but then again different. But  this
      time we wanted to make a really good difference in all kinds of
      areas. So we changed the sound: I think we managed to do  it  a
      lot better; we cleaned it up a lot. We only  used  two  guitars
      instead of three. We tuned up our guitars a little bit  and  we
      added the death metal element to the songs  to  make  a  little
      change. We did it very carefully, because we really don't  want
      to be labelled as a death metal band -- we aren't a death metal
      band, so we didn't want to do too much of that, but I think  we
      just did enough to give a very positive... breath kind of thing
      throughout the whole album.

CoC: So you'd still call it "true dark metal", despite the changes?

A: Yeah, we call it dark metal still. I think the changes are just on
   a kind of atmospherical (sic) and  emotional  level  for  me,  you
   know. It's always kind  of  hard  to  explain,  but  I  think  the
   experimenting and the brutality in  the  songs  with  these  death
   metal themes and the thrashy kind of thing that we used  here  and
   there is making everything easier to listen to, and also  smashing
   to the face a little bit more. It's faster and you don't  have  to
   listen to it so much to get into it.

CoC: Is this new stuff easier to play live, then?  Because  I  recall
     when you played in London with Deicide  [CoC  #38]  you  did  it
     without the keyboard parts.

A: It is easier to do the songs from _SoO_ live because they are more
   suitable live not only because of  the  length  but  also  because
   everything has been put together in a much better way.  Everything
   is more catchy and we have just been  working  more  strategically
   with everything. It is very hard for us to figure  out  which  old
   songs to play when we go on tour. We always argue about it because
   those songs are long and some of  us  want  to  shorten  out  some
   riffs, some of us don't, and it becomes difficult to  decide  what
   you take out of a song and what you leave in a song. I think  that
   was also in my head way back when I wrote the  [new]  songs:  make
   them a little bit easier to do live. But you can't only  play  new
   songs live, you have to play some old songs. I think in the future
   we're going to do the same thing and try to step away  from  those
   eight minute, nine minute long songs.

CoC: You've certainly done that.

A: Yeah, we're down to four minutes on one of the songs,  and  that's
   really not Aeternus, but I think it is a good thing for us.

CoC: And this time the record comes  smashing  straight  in,  whereas
     previously you tended to have long intros.

A: Yeah, because at that time we concentrated  on  these  very  long,
   very slow and deep, deep atmospheres. We created very  long  songs
   and very much a wall of sound effect with three guitars and a  lot
   of reverb on them. This time we just cleaned up  all  that.  In  a
   way, we did kind of an opposite  thing,  if  you  talk  about  the
   songs' atmosphere. That was the whole idea of the album. The first
   song smacks off with the big bang, and that's something  which  is
   really cool, because on the previous albums you had these  intros,
   like the piano intro and the synthesiser intro which went into the
   first song on _...And So the Night Became_. But this time we  just
   put that fast song first.

CoC: It certainly is really in your face from the get-go...

A: I think that's good, because I know  a  lot  of  people  who  were
   expecting, you know, it's going to come in with  this  cool  intro
   and shit, so we decided not to do it.

CoC: Does the album have a lyrical concept, and if  so  is  it  based
     around the music?

A: I can see that there is a pattern [on the  album],  but  I  didn't
   really go for that. When "The Prophecy of the Elder Reign"  comes,
   which is more of like a special song, and then the bagpipe  thing,
   it gave a really good closer to the whole CD.  Lyrically,  it  was
   just dealing with dark atmospheres in the same way  as  the  music
   does. We just write about things that we define as dark in our own
   way. But we've tried to write about some  stuff  that  we  haven't
   written about before because in the past  we  have,  in  different
   ways, maybe repeated ourselves with song lyrics. It is  very  easy
   to write about nature and elements and wars and  battles,  because
   it is very appealing. But we tried to set that aside and  Morrigan
   did a lot of the lyrics on this album, which was very good because
   I thought that I was repeating myself a lot, so I figured I should
   step aside from the lyrics this time. She did a lot of lyrics  and
   that was really good for me, because her lyrics are very inspiring
   for me when I compose. But basically the  lyrics  are  just  about
   dark atmospheres and things which appeal to us personally,  but  I
   think the people who buy the CDs also find the  lyrics  appealing,
   and they're not really so deep, you can really get a hang on  what
   it's about. The title of the CD is just a suitable title  for  our
   musical style: bringing the elder shadows of the past up from  the
   deep, you know? "The Summoning of Shadows" is the song  that  goes
   with the title, I just didn't want to use that "title cut" thing.

CoC: What made you decide to include the bagpipe outro, "The Sunset's
     Glory"?

A: One of the things was that on all of the other albums we have used
   a lot of acoustic instruments: flutes and harps and all  kinds  of
   shit. And this time I wanted to change that as well. One idea  was
   not to do an instrumental this time, but I was the one who  really
   didn't want to back down when it came to that, so  we  decided  to
   have a very  short  bagpipe  instrumental  as  a  closer.  At  the
   Edinburgh thing, they always end the show  or  the  whole  concert
   with that particular song, and it actually has another  title;  we
   put another title on it because the actual  title  is  not  really
   metal.

CoC: What is the actual title of the song?

A: It's called "Sleep, Deary, Sleep". So we used that and it's almost
   like in contrast to the other instrumentals that  we've  got,  and
   you picture something much more primitive  than  the  others.  The
   other instrumentals  had  so  much  that  you  could  imagine  and
   fantasise. But this is more to the point with the bagpipes, I mean
   you  just  picture  William  Wallace  standing  there  gazing   at
   Scotland, and that's what I wanted: very simple. I think it really
   worked out.

CoC: A lot of  black  metal  bands  (e.g.  Immortal,  Enslaved)  have
     recently chosen to  leave  the  traditional  Grieghallen  studio
     (where such classics  as  _Pure  Holocaust_,  _Frost_,  _In  the
     Nightside  Eclipse_  and  _De  Mysteriis  Dom   Sathanas_   were
     recorded) and move to Sweden's Abyss. However,  you  have  opted
     once again  to  record  at  Grieghallen  and  use  Pytten  as  a
     producer. Why have you stuck with Grieghallen when so many bands
     have left?

A: Well, we were actually among those bands who  were  going  to  try
   another studio, but everything got fucked up there,  and  we  just
   had to record the CD. So we went to Grieghallen and we  knew  that
   it was going to be really hard to make such a big  change  in  the
   same studio with the same producer. But I think we succeeded and I
   guess we were lucky as well, because it was a lot of hard work but
   a lot of shit  was  just  happening  without  us  actually  really
   knowing what we were doing. I mean, we sat there and worked a  lot
   with the different things and we didn't know how it was  going  to
   turn out. Then, we were done and we listened to it, and ah,  fuck,
   we got it!

CoC: It's interesting, because I like the traditional  production  of
     Grieghallen, but it usually lacks clarity  and  punch,  both  of
     which  you  -have-  captured  well  on  _SoO_.  Would  you   say
     Grieghallen offers options for different productions?

A: Well, Immortal are a good example, because they've done three  CDs
   that sound completely different at Grieghallen. But I know  Abbath
   really doesn't like Grieghallen, he says that it  is  not  a  good
   place for metal recordings and all that, but it is  the  same  guy
   who did _Pure Holocaust_ with his band there, and  that  is  still
   their best CD. In different ways, _Pure Holocaust_ is better  than
   _At the Heart of Winter_. I feel that also _SoO_ shows  that  that
   studio is still a potential studio for making a  very  good  metal
   album. I think that you just have to work really hard  and  really
   take your time with Pytten and have a lot of things  ready  before
   you go into the studio, because I think there are a lot of  people
   who went to that studio and  thought  Grieghallen,  and  this  and
   that, and Mayhem, and maybe they think Pytten  is  a  magician  or
   something. He can't push a button and then deliver a product,  you
   know? Well, of course other studios are easier to work  in  and  I
   guess Pytten is not a super producer, but he is  not  a  very  bad
   producer either: he is a damn good one.  And  I  guess  doing  two
   albums with him, talking to him and knowing him also helped a lot.
   I don't think we would've managed to do this kind of album the way
   it  turned  out  if  we  didn't  know  anything  about  Pytten  or
   Grieghallen. We personally know the guy: we've been in  his  place
   drinking coffee and shit. We see him everyday and that has  a  lot
   to do with things. This time we had a lot of discussions and a lot
   of meetings with him before we went to the studio; we knew exactly
   how many tracks we  needed  for  everything.  We  didn't  do  that
   before, we just went in, recorded and that was it.

CoC: Do you find the history that Grieghallen has inspires  when  you
     record and work there?

A: I think it's cool. I'm really proud  of  walking  around  now  and
   saying that _SoO_ was -actually- done at Grieghallen. Because  the
   big studio now is the Abyss studio  in  Sweden  and  people  think
   Grieghallen is from the old days which are over now,  and  I  just
   walk around and say "Check out our CD". It's still possible to  do
   it, you just have to go there with a really focused mind  on  what
   you want. Then it is very possible to get it. I think it is really
   cool knowing that I  have  done  this  third  CD  in  Grieghallen,
   actually.

CoC: You are latecomers to the black metal scene. What would you  say
     is your purpose? Why are you needed in this burgeoning scene?

A: We try really hard to have our own style and I think that we  have
   succeeded. I think what people really like in our music is that we
   successfully manage to mix a lot of Norse folk music and Irish and
   Scottish folk music  in  the  metal.  We  have  a  lot  of  catchy
   melodies. I think we use riffs and music mixed in with  all  those
   usual brutal and extreme metal riffs in a way that no  other  band
   does. I think that is what people like about it. A lot  of  people
   say what Aeternus deliver is a very deep, deep, deep pounding kind
   of thing, and they don't mean that we play  really  slow  all  the
   time or growl really low, it's just that the atmosphere  over  the
   whole thing is really deep and really dark. When people say  that,
   I feel really good, because that's exactly what  we're  trying  to
   do. We're not trying to be the fastest band  or  the  most  brutal
   band, we're just trying to do an extremely deep and dark thing. To
   express all kinds of really dark emotions through music. It's like
   Abbath said, "Aeternus is  the  only  band  that  comes  from  the
   abyss", and I thought it  was  really  cool  when  he  said  that,
   because that's exactly what it is. If you look down into the caves
   and into the deep, that's where you'll find Aeternus, you know. We
   just do our thing. We never walk around saying this is how  things
   are, we don't give messages to people through our lyrics and music
   and all that. We just create really, really powerful emotions.

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

    . . . A N D   T H U S   S P A K E   T H E   D A R K   H A L F
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC talks to Frost of Satyricon
                           by: David Rocher

     The logical follow-up to Satyr's two appearances  in  Chronicles
of Chaos [interviews perpetrated by Paul in issues #38 and #44], this
twenty-minute conversation with Satyricon's "dark half",  namely  the
calm and mildly taciturn  drummer  Frost,  will  hopefully  enlighten
listeners further as to what the Norwegian  duo  intended  to  inject
into their music with the release  of  the  very  provocative  _Rebel
Extravaganza_ [CoC #43]. This insight into Frost's mind was  obtained
just 24 hours after I had received the promo copy from Nuclear Blast,
and therefore is essentially based on first impressions of  what  the
anno 1999 Satyricon opus had to offer.

CoC: So, how's everything going?

Frost: I think things are going very well for us. Up to now, we  have
       been receiving a lot of great reviews, and we are very pleased
       to see that the album is finally out.

CoC: How does _Rebel Extravaganza_ compare with your previous  album,
     _Nemesis Divina_, and earlier Satyricon releases?

F: I would say we've been taking everything a step further, and  also
   bringing a lot of new elements to our music; I think that we  have
   created something that is really harder and blacker, and even more
   eerie and bizarre than we have ever done so far.  And  I'm  really
   satisfied with the direction of the music!

CoC: I guess the first surprising point of the album to  me  was  the
     distinctly un-black metal title...

F: Hmm... not necessarily, I would say -- it's  very  symptomatic  of
   Satyricon, it's like almost a trademark  --  and  it  pretty  much
   describes Satyricon, in a nutshell. It's not  a  very  "difficult"
   title anyway -- it just jumped into Satyr's head one day,  and  he
   knew that that would be the title of the album. There was actually
   no deep meaning behind the title, we  just  thought  it  was  very
   descriptive of the band's attitude now, and it also  [fitted]  the
   music on the record.

CoC: It seems to me there are quite a lot of new "rock" influences in
     _Rebel Extravaganza_...

F: Yes, there's actually more rock 'n' roll thrown  into  the  music,
   without it actually being rock 'n' roll. It's something that could
   make one suspicious, but actually I think it works more than well.
   Yeah, I'm very pleased with the way it works out.

CoC: You just said that to you, _Rebel Extravaganza_  sounds  blacker
     than what Satyricon played before...

F: Yes, I think so. The feelings in our music are  even  blacker  now
   than they have ever been  before,  and  even  the  music  is  more
   hard-hitting.

CoC: Don't you think that _The Shadowthrone_,  for  instance,  had  a
     more  "occult"  atmosphere  to  it?   As   a   concept,   _Rebel
     Extravaganza_ does seem blacker, but rather less occult?

F: No, I don't think so. I  think  we  have  concentrated  all  those
   feelings and atmospheres that are typical to black metal, and  I'm
   speaking here about the darkness, coldness and  harshness  of  the
   music. I think all those "old" elements are taken even further  on
   our new album, even with all those new elements we bring into  the
   music -- at least, that's the feelings I get when I listen to it!

CoC: Well, precisely,  talking  about  the  "rock"  tones  of  _Rebel
     Extravaganza_ -- what bands are you into at the moment?

F: As always, I'm very much  into  Darkthrone,  Mayhem,  old  Bathory
   stuff, old Celtic Frost and Hellhammer,  and  also  obscure  stuff
   like Diamanda Galas and Klaus Schulze,  you  know?  But  I  mostly
   listen to old black metal bands. [Which, in a bit  of  retrospect,
   doesn't enlighten me in the slightest as to the "rocking" tones of
   _Rebel Extravaganza_! --David]

CoC: And have any recent black metal releases caught your attention?

F: Well, I think the new Dodheimsgard album is  actually  very  good,
   even if I had to listen to it for some time before I got into  the
   music. And I also like the releases from Aura Noir and Inferno.

CoC: You just mentioned Mayhem -- as they were pretty  emblematic  of
     black metal at one time, what do you think of  the  way  they've
     turned out since the death of Euronymous?

F: I think that musically, at least, all the stuff by Mayhem rules --
   everything from the _Pure Fucking Armageddon_ demo to _Wolf's Lair
   Abyss_ -- and I have huge expectations for _A Grand Declaration of
   War_, their forthcoming album. And of course I was  a  little  bit
   wary about what the new Mayhem would become  after  the  departure
   and death of Euronymous, but they showed the metal world that they
   still have something really big going on.

CoC: Getting back to your album, how have  the  lyrics  evolved  with
     regard to the music? There are  no  Norwegian  songs  on  _Rebel
     Extravaganza_...

F: No, no -- they came around better in English this time.  Satyr  is
   our lyricist, and as a poet, he has grown quite  a  lot  over  the
   years; and I think his poetry, that is his lyrics, have  become  a
   lot more direct and in your face now than they were earlier,  even
   when being more poetic, you know?  They  are  written  in  a  very
   poetic manner, I think, but still the message  comes  across  more
   directly than was the  case  earlier.  There  are  very  different
   topics on the album; some are to be looked upon as messages to the
   listener and to the reader of the lyrics,  and  then  again,  some
   lyrics are more like... hysterical aggression. <chuckles>

CoC: And there's something  with  the  visual  appearance  of  _Rebel
     Extravaganza_  --  for  instance,  your  new  make-up  seems  to
     overshoot the traditional visual black metal "thing".

F: Yes, you might say so, because that's actually how I feel  myself.
   It's as black as black metal should be, but even then there's more
   to it; we have taken the style a bit further with this  new  album
   -- and those are quite big words, but I think we can stand  behind
   them.

CoC: What was the new appearance designed to reflect?

F: We didn't strive to have a sombre feeling to this. What  it  meant
   for us was to try out a couple of ideas that we had, and the  main
   idea for _Rebel Extravaganza_ was to make something very  extreme,
   very sick and very hysterical... and I  think  we  succeeded,  and
   that's also the reason why we want to keep it that way.

CoC:  _Nemesis  Divina_  was  released  back  in  1996,  and   _Rebel
     Extravaganza_ was actually a much-awaited album, so what was the
     pressure on you like before the release?

F: The pressure was enormous, and Satyr, as the songwriter, of course
   felt the pressure most. He felt that it was a -necessity- to  make
   this album top what we had done so far, and I think that  we  have
   to conclude that we succeeded. The reason why _Rebel Extravaganza_
   took so long to write was that the creative process was very  hard
   work. We had to throw a lot of the material away, because we  were
   very selective, and this had to be the absolute best --  and  that
   takes time to do.

CoC: We were talking about the visual "codes" of black metal; back at
     the  time  of  Satyricon's  earlier  works,  Emperor's  _In  the
     Nightside Eclipse_, Immortal's _Pure Holocaust_, the stance  and
     attitude of black metal musicians always had me  wondering  what
     their thought patterns could really be -- can you tell  me  more
     about this?

F: Well, I can only speak for myself, of  course,  because  Satyr  is
   evolving in a different way, and maybe he has "individual  thought
   patterns", to use a Death title there  --  but  I'm  still  mostly
   listening to quality black metal stuff,  living  the  black  metal
   way, doing that kind of style, while Satyr is someone  who  always
   likes to explore new things. That's a bigger part of his life than
   of mine; I try to just go further on from where I started, and get
   deeper into it.

CoC: Exactly -- what does "living the black metal way" represent to
     you?

F: Well, you have the thing with clothing and stuff, the interest  in
   music, and the dark ideology that lies behind -- which is a  topic
   which would need a book for it to be  explained  thoroughly.  It's
   the music, the style, the image and the ideology [combined]  which
   can be seen as the basis for this style.

CoC: Concerning the ideology, what do you think of the way how things
     got out of hand a few years back, with the stories of Mayhem and
     Burzum, the church fires...?

F: You know, the scene at that time couldn't handle  all  this  media
   attention, and a lot of the guys into the black metal scene didn't
   actually -feel- so much about the ideology that they  represented.
   So, of course, when confronted with extremists, they  blacked  out
   and couldn't stand the extremity of  some  of  the  most  involved
   persons -- and it's been like that all the time. The  black  metal
   ideology is quite extreme, and only very few  people  really  have
   it, and that's how it's been all the time. But in  the  beginning,
   it seemed that a lot of people were into  the  ideology,  when  in
   fact only maybe ten or twenty people had a really heartfelt  thing
   going on there. And that's still the situation  today:  a  lot  of
   people like the music, but only a few people are actually into the
   ideology of the music.

CoC: I personally view the black metal ideology  as  being  something
     extremely misanthropic...

F: Yes, of course!

CoC: How then do you feel  about  black  metal  bands  playing  live,
     before an audience?

F: I see your point, of course. I would still say that doing concerts
   shouldn't be a problem for a band, because there is still  a  huge
   gap between the performer and the audience, and we are  expressing
   a visual side of the band; and performing live, in addition to the
   music, of course, is not only meant  to  please  our  audience  --
   which we of course would like to do --  but  it's  also  meant  to
   please ourselves and help the band out, so that powers everything,
   I  think.  And  I  also  would  like  to  point  out  that   being
   misanthropic doesn't necessarily mean you hate -all-  people,  but
   you hate, or are against, people -in general-.

CoC: So you view it like sticking with your kinfolk, I guess?

F: Exactly! That's the point.

CoC: The massive black metal upheaval a couple of years ago  has  now
     completely receded, and many bands have simply vanished from the
     scene, leaving only "reliable"  bands  like  Marduk,  Satyricon,
     Immortal...

F: That's exactly what you would expect, isn't it? It  was  the  same
   thing with death metal -- a lot of people  started  playing  death
   metal because it was up-and-growing metal, and I guess  a  lot  of
   them also saw potential  money  earnings.  Then  it  would  become
   boring to them, and their dedication to the style wasn't that big,
   so... and it was -exactly- the same with black  metal.  A  lot  of
   bands playing death metal turned towards black metal because  they
   couldn't get the attention they wanted when playing  death  metal.
   So some bands just started using corpsepaint, spikes, leather  and
   stuff, and turned their music into black metal, just to  get  more
   attention. But of course, later  on,  they  would  see  that  they
   weren't that much into black metal either, and  that  their  music
   was actually really boring, so then they just gave up.

CoC: Now that _Rebel Extravaganza_ has been released, will  Satyricon
     be shooting any videos for it?

F: Yes, we will; it's planned, and we already have lots of ideas.

CoC: For what song?

F: We don't know yet, that's still to be decided.

CoC: Any ideas about a storyboard?

F: Nothing that I should tell  you  about  now  <chuckles>  --  if  I
   revealed it before we did the video, I would destroy a lot of  the
   shock effect that may be there. <chuckles again>

CoC: Okay... any last words to conclude, Frost?

F: I usually don't give any last words... thanks, and good luck  with
   your magazine.

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

           D A R K   A U T U M N A L   S Y M P H O N I E S
           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC interviews Ted and Erika of Autumn Tears
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     Two years have passed  since  the  release  of  _The  Garden  of
Crystalline Dreams_ [CoC #23], second act  of  the  "Love  Poems  for
Dying Children" series. During this period, Autumn Tears  re-released
their debut _Love Poems for Dying Children_ [CoC  #37]  with  renewed
production, new artwork and a new song. Now they have decided to fill
the  gap  between  _The  Garden  of  Crystalline  Dreams_  and  their
forthcoming third act _Winter and the  Broken  Angel_  with  an  MCD:
_Absolution_ [CoC #43]. For the second time [the first can  be  found
in CoC #23], I have interviewed Ted and Erika in order  to  find  out
more about Autumn Tears -- who  now  have  a  third  element,  singer
Jennifer LeeAnna -- and also their own label Dark  Symphonies,  which
promises to become very active in the year 2000.

CoC: What has happened during this time leading to the release of the
     _Absolution_ MCD? More specifically, what is  the  story  behind
     Erika's near departure from  Autumn  Tears  and  her  subsequent
     return?

Erika: After finishing the recording of _LPfDC Act II_, we were  both
       quite tired of Autumn Tears, especially me. The entire process
       of creating that album was fraught with  tension.  Ted  and  I
       both are  fairly  headstrong  people  and  we  had  a  lot  of
       conflicts over what the music should sound  like.  Because  he
       writes nearly all of it, he felt he should have the  last  say
       on what got used and what didn't, but at  the  time  I  wasn't
       having any of that, so we fought quite  a  bit.  The  idea  of
       having to go through all that negativity again  on  the  third
       album was what made me decide to quit. I didn't feel  I  could
       be involved in Autumn Tears without having input with  regards
       to both the music and the vocals. It wasn't a  near  departure
       -- I was officially out of the band for about a year. 1997 was
       very busy for Dark Symphonies once _LPfDC Act II_ came out.  I
       got really busy  handling  all  the  paperwork,  and  Ted  was
       stretched  very  thin  between  handling  the  daily  business
       activities. Shortly thereafter  they  [Ted  and  new  vocalist
       Jennifer LeeAnna] wrote and recorded "The Intermission", which
       appeared on the repress of _LPfDC Act I_. Business took a turn
       for  the  worse  in  '98  [for  Dark  Symphonies],   when   we
       encountered some explosive  competition.  That  made  it  very
       difficult, because Ted and Jen were working on the music,  but
       there really wasn't enough money to pay for recording as  well
       as release  the  Blood  Fire  Death  label  stuff  (Krieg  and
       Centuries of Deception). Those weren't as  successful  as  Ted
       had planned, either, so we didn't recoup the production  costs
       very quickly. Nevertheless, Ted kept churning out  the  music.
       Of course, since I was involved in Dark Symphonies on a  daily
       basis, I couldn't help but hear how advanced  and  lovely  the
       new material was. It made me feel pretty sad and left  out  to
       not be a part of it, but the bad taste left in my  mouth  from
       _LPfDC Act II_ still hadn't faded. Late '98, Ted was asked  to
       write a track for a compilation themed around the Tarot  deck.
       The song, "The Absolution of What Once Was", was  written  for
       the Death card. Ted kindly asked if I would like to come  back
       as a session member and do the vocals. I said yes,  because  I
       did miss writing and recording. Working on that  song  brought
       the itch back in my veins again. I rejoined, and  things  have
       been moving forward ever since. Ted and I have a better  trust
       and understanding for each other as musicians now. We both did
       quite a bit of growing up in  the  time  between  mid-'96  and
       late-'98. There's none  of  that  tension  from  before.  Dark
       Symphonies has also been extremely successful in '99, and  the
       new CD, _LPfDC Act III:  Winter  and  the  Broken  Angel_,  is
       planned for release in late January.

CoC: Could you give us more details on the  novel  you  are  writing?
     What is it about, when and where it will be available, etc.?

Erika: Ah yes, my infamous novel. I feel badly that everyone got  all
       excited about it and then it fell through like so  many  other
       projects one reads about. I had an agent for a while  but  she
       sucked and didn't do any work for me. She never even read  the
       book. Plus, while I was waiting for this woman to do something
       with my story, I had a change of heart. I really began  taking
       a cold, hard look at what popular writers are  writing  today,
       and realized that if I wanted a chance at getting published by
       a big name publisher I'd have to slash my  story  to  about  a
       third of its length, swallow all my ideals, and basically sell
       out totally. To do  that,  given  my  very  strong  stance  on
       selling out in music, would have been the ultimate  hypocrisy.
       Basically, the book is still a viable idea, and  I  did  start
       writing a little bit of it over, but it's not  going  anywhere
       anytime soon. I also have another book that's  about  a  third
       complete and is much more likely to see the light of day  than
       the first story. I'm debating whether I should  distribute  it
       through Dark Symphonies when it's done. I feel I would reach a
       far  more  appropriate  audience   that   way   than   through
       traditional publishing. However, that's on hold, too: most  of
       my creativity is being put towards finishing _LPfDC Act  III_,
       and also in my solo project, Chaliss.

CoC: Regarding Autumn Tears' new vocalist Jennifer LeeAnna, what will
     be her role and your own in the future of Autumn Tears?

Erika: Jen and I share vocal duties about 50/50. She has her songs, I
       have mine, and we sing together on  a  couple.  Jen  also  has
       written a song, but due to the fact that we  want  to  release
       the CD in January, that song will  be  something  people  will
       find on a compilation CD, should we be asked to participate in
       one. Ted, of course, is the main man for music! There would be
       no Autumn Tears without Ted, especially since  the  vision  is
       solely his. For _LPfDC Act III_, he's singing a lot more  than
       before, and it's working out great. We're all very happy  with
       our roles.

CoC: The _Absolution_ MCD seems to be unrelated to  the  "Love  Poems
     for Dying Children" series and instead  seems  like  more  of  a
     collection of also more or less unrelated  material.  What  were
     the reasons that made you want to release this  MCD  and  choose
     each of its three songs?

Erika: _Absolution_ came about because we knew _LPfDC  Act  III_  was
       going to take a lot longer than we had anticipated. It  was  a
       way of saying to the fans: "Hey,  we  didn't  forget  you  and
       appreciate your waiting for  _LPfDC  Act  III_,  so  here's  a
       little something  to  tide  you  over."  It's  been  met  with
       absolutely fantastic enthusiasm, which  is  quite  heartening,
       since the music is different from the previous releases.  "The
       Never" is the only song that pertains to the story established
       in the first acts. As I mentioned before, "The  Absolution  of
       What Once Was" was meant for a compilation, but there had been
       significant delays and we decided to put that song on the mini
       so  people  would  get  to  hear  it.  "The  Dance"  is  Ted's
       experiment. It's  one  of  those  love/hate  songs.  I  wasn't
       involved with the writing of that at all, so the first time  I
       heard it, after it had been completely recorded, I  was  like,
       "Ted, what the fuck are you thinking?" But now I think it's  a
       great song. No, it's not traditional Autumn Tears. It's  there
       to show that we can do and are  interested  in  other  things.
       People have responded very well to the mini.

CoC: What were the events that lead to the  lyrical  contribution  on
     "The Absolution of What Once Was" by Claudia  Lingstadt-Kukulka?
     Will that happen again in the future?

Ted: Claudia has been a close friend of mine since  August  1997  and
     even since that time I had been  extremely  impressed  with  her
     writing style and vision. Originally from  Germany,  and  having
     English as a second language, she has  adapted  incredibly  with
     her use of the language and its meaning. Based  on  my  fondness
     for her deep, emotional work, I asked her to participate on this
     particular track, which she gratefully agreed to  do.  She  also
     has written the lyrics to our epic 14 minute track on _LPfDC Act
     III_  entitled  "Winter's  Warning",  which   will   beautifully
     illustrate the native seasons as characters in a way never  done
     before by Autumn Tears. I find it both refreshing and  powerful.
     She will also participate in my own project,  entitled  Pandora,
     which I will be involved with next year and which  will  include
     Peter and Ida from Arcana.

CoC: The other two songs on _Absolution_ feature some percussion  and
     rhythmic sections,  especially  "The  Dance",  which  is  rather
     different from what Autumn Tears  has  produced  so  far  --  an
     experiment. Do you intend to use such rhythmic elements often in
     the future? What made you want to experiment in that area?

Ted: No, that was one of the points I was trying to  illustrate  with
     the MCD: it was only -experimentation- and did -not- reflect the
     progression of Autumn Tears. I did it so I could  try  something
     different and satisfy the  urge  in  such  a  way,  rather  than
     completely change the direction and sound of the band as so many
     others have done in the past. I may choose  to  experiment  from
     time to time, but the focus  and  direction  of  the  band  will
     always remain.

CoC: What else can you unveil concerning the upcoming  third  chapter
     of the "Love Poems for Dying Children" series?

Ted: I can assure everyone that it will be the finest, most elaborate
     and darkest work we have ever done, and will most definitely  be
     a progression, yet will not stray too  far  from  what  we  have
     accomplished thus far.

CoC: What do you expect the future of Autumn Tears to be  like  after
     that third full-length album is released?

Ted: Perhaps another MCD with some experimental songs to get  it  out
     of my system, and then we will return with  a  fourth  album  so
     grand that I cannot even conceive it at this time!

CoC: And what have been the developments regarding your  label,  Dark
     Symphonies?

Ted: We have recently opened our doors to signing bands of  integrity
     and excellence. Our upcoming  roster  includes  Maudlin  of  the
     Well, Rain Fell Within, Corvus Corax and  Long  Winters'  Stare,
     which will be released between now  and  May  2000!  Stay  tuned
     until then.

CoC: Final words?

Ted: My deepest apologies for the lateness of this interview  and  my
     sincerest gratitude for this opportunity, Pedro. Thank you
     again.

Contact: mailto:darksympho@aol.com
         http://www.borg.com/~lordxul/tears.htm

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

               K E E P I N G   M E T A L   S I M P L E
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
               CoC interviews Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     Swedish death metal quintet Amon Amarth are a little disgruntled
right now at the metal music scene. At least singer  Johan  Hegg  is.
"There is a lot of metal music out there that is trying to  go  along
this path of being all intricate and using a  lot  of  keyboards  and
samples, and we don't want or need that in what we do",  he  says  in
reference to his band's latest offering _The Avenger_ [CoC #44].  "We
didn't have a plan going into this record, but we did  know  that  we
wanted to make it a lot more simple for us to  play.  We  wanted  the
music more straightforward and a much  angrier  and  more  aggressive
attitude. I think we achieved both."
     Talking more about the metal scene, Hegg  says:  "I  think  it's
been rather boring, especially for death metal music like ours. Black
metal has been the big thing over  the  last  few  years.  The  scene
exploded for them, releasing a bunch of crap  and  drowning  out  the
really good bands. That made the scene totally uninteresting.  A  lot
of people who loved the music from the start really got sick  of  all
the crap. Sure bands like Marduk, Dark Funeral and  Emperor  survived
this scene explosion, but the general level of black music went  down
to this very low standard, unfortunately."
     "As for now, I think the death metal scene is growing  and  that
is cool", he adds. "We're just glad to  be  a  part  of  it  and  the
response has been very  good  for  us,  even  better  than  the  last
record." Unlike the band's debut for Metal  Blade  last  year  (_Once
Sent From the Golden Hall_ [CoC #29]), their new disc _The  Avenger_,
while a bit more simplistic in its approach, definitely shows a  much
stronger and  more  finely-tuned  band.  The  band  (rounded  out  by
guitarists  Johan  Soderberg  and  Olavi  Mikkonen,  drummer  Fredrik
Anderson and bassist Ted Lundstrom) has definitely  grown  accustomed
to the whole recording process. "In a sense I think the songs  are  a
lot more professional this time out", notes Hegg, who writes  all  of
the band's lyrics. "There isn't a lot of unnecessary  stuff  on  this
record. I think a lot of the lyrics and the riffs we  chose  for  the
particular songs work well off one another."
     "When we  are  working  on  material  for  the  record  we  find
ourselves highly influenced by things that are  happening  around  us
and not focusing on what bands who are selling records are doing,  as
some may think. We don't follow trends. We just focus  on  things  in
our lives to inspire the material we write."
     "When we started out, we were into  bands  like  Mercyful  Fate,
Megadeth, Slayer and D.R.I., but when you put on our music you  don't
hear any of those influences. We don't rip off our influences, rather
we take the passion that those bands had back then and see  where  it
takes us."
     One thing that seems to have  gone  right  this  time  is  their
studio time. Hegg explains: "We were much better prepared  this  time
around when we arrived at the studio. We had  recorded  the  previous
album at Sunlight Studios, but it  turned  out  to  be  a  big  mess.
Nothing sounded right. We were not going to release the first record.
We managed to get in touch with Peter Tagtgren at the  Abyss  studios
and he squeezed us in for three weeks. The record came out good. When
it was time for this record,  we  decided  not  to  mess  around  and
recorded at the Abyss studios, because we know  Peter  and  are  very
comfortable with the space there. We produced the new record. He just
added a really strong sound -- something he is  very,  very  good  at
doing."
     And why does Johan play metal music? "I play this music  because
of the aggression", says Hegg. "We like to play the  music  we  enjoy
listening to. Not to say that we only listen to death metal,  but  it
just turns out that we are all into metal and that makes it even more
enjoyable. When you are really into doing  something  it's  bound  to
turn out good."

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

                 C O P P I C E   O F   C O R P S E S
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                   CoC interviews Forest of Impaled
                           by: Aaron McKay

     After listening to  Forest  of  Impaled's  new  release  on  Red
Stream, _Demonvoid_ [CoC #44], more times than I care to  recount,  I
couldn't resist the opportunity to seek out some of the vitals behind
the band through an interview. After requesting some time  from  Mark
Trela, one of Forest of Impaled's guitarists, I was granted an e-mail
exchange with Adrian Adamus, FoI's other axe-wizard. I  was  thrilled
with the candor displayed by Mr. Adamus and intrigued by  the  band's
music as a whole. As they did me, let Adrian's words enlighten you!

CoC: Well, Adrian, some interesting things have happened with  Forest
     of Impaled since forming in 1992, correct?

Adrian Adamus: Yes, many  things  have  changed  both  musically  and
               structurally.  At  first  the  band  was  focused   on
               creating melodic and atmospheric music that was  still
               extreme, but had an almost majestic undertone. As  our
               influences  changed   and   our   musical   capability
               improved, we started to write  more  from  an  extreme
               point of view, yet still managing to keep the  melodic
               side of our music.  "The  Seventh  Dominion"  captures
               both the movement to  a  more  original  direction  of
               extreme black metal and some aspects of death are also
               apparent; overall the album is our  best  material  to
               date and hopefully will be accepted favorably into the
               underground scene.

CoC: You guys started out as a four-piece, right?

AA: Originally we were under the name of Nocturnal Serenity. The band
    was greatly  influenced  by  early  At  the  Gates  and  Amorphis
    material. The original and founding members back then  are  still
    here: Dan Prawica  (vocals),  Mark  Trela  (guitar),  Andy  Rusin
    (percussion) and myself also playing guitar. For the _Mortis Dei_
    MCD we also added the talents of Chris Bulkowski on the  keyboard
    to enhance the overall mood of  the  material.  Although  in  the
    beginning our songs weren't that technical, back  then  it  still
    helped us to develop our skills and a foundation of melodic  song
    structures.

CoC: Then you added a keyboardist before  recording  the  demo,  _The
     Seventh Dominion_.

AA: Yes, Mike Zielinski joined the  horde,  proving  to  be  a  great
    contribution to the extreme yet  symphonic  song  structures  and
    melodies.

CoC: Do you think this  move  increased  your  songwriting  range  to
     include more of a symphonic texture than, let's  say,  from  the
     work on _The Dark Wilderness_?

AA: Actually, when we're writing material  we  mainly  focus  on  the
    guitar and drums; after these two parts are complete, we  try  to
    incorporate keyboards into certain parts.  Usually  we  see  what
    Mike comes up with and then decide if we should use  it  or  not.
    Everyone in the band contributes  and  naturally  has  their  own
    opinion about what sounds good and what doesn't, and this adds to
    the originality of the band itself.  _The  Dark  Wilderness_  had
    some keyboard parts, but those were very basic; with the addition
    of Mike, his experience as a keyboardist proves to be  noteworthy
    and adds great atmosphere to our music.

CoC: How is the new material being received? I  understand  that  you
     guys had -quite- a following even back so far  as  with  _Mortis
     Dei_!

AA: Well, we have no idea how it's being received, since it has  only
    been out for a week. According to our record company, Red Stream,
    they have received many comments from underground zines  such  as
    yours and from other people which are positive, and we think  the
    record will be a  surprise  to  most  of  our  fans  who  may  be
    expecting  something   similar   to   _Mortis   Dei_.   Hopefully
    _Demonvoid_ will mark a new era for the band and  for  our  loyal
    listeners.

CoC: I want to concentrate for a moment on how  absolutely  heavy  as
     -fuck- Forest of Impaled's sound comes across without loosing an
     ounce of the chaotic black metal feel. Will you attempt to "top"
     the heaviness of _Demonvoid_ with the next album?

AA: Yeah, the sound of _Demonvoid_ is very impressive and we are very
    satisfied with our producer Jason Walsh. Actually,  we  had  done
    three final mixes of the material, which gave us some options for
    the sound of the album, but overall it captures  the  essence  of
    Forest of Impaled in its present  state,  which  is  hostile  and
    aggressive in  nature.  This  album  is  basically  our  stab  at
    creating something a bit more catchy  and  rhythmic  while  still
    keeping the majestic nature and power of black metal in  general.
    Our next album will surely be an all  out  attack  of  power  and
    chaos, as hinted by some of the songs on _Demonvoid_.

CoC:  In  my  review  of  the  _Demonvoid_  album,  I   singled   out
     "Metamorphosis  (Birth  of  the  Seventh)"  as  having  a   some
     incredible riffs. What are your thoughts on  that?  What  pulled
     the band in that direction?

AA: Well, "Metamorphosis" is a fairly old song -- I believe we  wrote
    it about a year and a half ago --, but it still has a great  vibe
    and mood to  it.  It  tries  to  incorporate  a  more  methodical
    approach to writing and composing metal music. One may  say  that
    it has many aspects of traditional black metal, but at  the  same
    time it features a more rhythmic centered guitar work. Basically,
    we were trying to create music that is both original and contains
    memorable riffs  that  are  catchy  yet  still  otherworldly  and
    melodic. This has been the main goal of ours since the start, and
    _Demonvoid_ proves to be a work of this type.

CoC: How do you pull off recording what can only be  described  as  a
     thick, corpulent black metal gateway to an unspoiled expanse  of
     entropy?

AA: The heavy sound has always been something we have  been  striving
    to achieve. Unlike many bands who focus on  high  pitched  guitar
    riffs, we try to compromise  with  one  guitar  playing  a  lower
    octave  of  the  same  riff  or  a  deeper  harmony,  but   still
    incorporated into the overall song as an important  contribution.
    Also, on the final mixes we decided to turn the bass up a  notch,
    just enough to balance the sometimes trebly guitar. We also thank
    our producer for giving us input and his thoughts on  the  sound,
    which helped us make some important decisions during recording.

CoC: In my opinion, the mid-west could use more bands like Forest  of
     Impaled. How is the area -- Chicago, specifically -- treating
     you?

AA: In my opinion, the Chicago scene is good and thriving in that  it
    possesses a lot of talented  bands,  such  as  Gorgasm,  Scepter,
    Cianide, Usurper, Disinter, Fleshgrind and a lot of  other  bands
    that give rise to the scene. The only problem is that most of the
    local shows are often attended by people who  are  already  doing
    something in the scene, such as band members,  zine  writers  and
    merchandisers. It's not that  there  aren't  that  many  fans  of
    extreme metal, it's just that most of these people will only show
    up if a national or big  act  is  playing.  At  that  point  they
    suddenly appear, but where were they last  week  when  the  local
    bands were playing? In general, we have a  good  loyal  following
    that comes to our shows and just supports the onslaught of mayhem
    in Chicago.

CoC: Is there anyone around you guys there in the "Windy  City"  that
     you know personally, or have  played  with,  that  might  be  of
     interest to the Chronicles of Chaos  readers,  possibly,  paying
     particular attention to more "underground" bands?

AA: One band that has been in the scene since the early days and  has
    proven to be a big name in the scene is Gorgasm. We  have  played
    many shows with them and respect their brutal death / grind style
    that is almost a hallmark of the Chicago  sound.  Recently,  they
    have recruited Dave Culross (ex-Suffocation  drummer)  to  record
    their follow-up to  _Stabwound  Intercourse_,  a  most  excellent
    album that incorporates the best of  the  grind/death  style  but
    also a melodic aspect. Anyone into technical death  metal  should
    definitely check this band out.

CoC: Who are you listening to currently? Any major influences?

AA: Currently I just picked up the new Kovenant  album  and  am  very
    surprised by the way  they  changed  into  an  almost  mainstream
    techno/metal band, except for the voice. The album is still  very
    well played and arranged and I must say it is  a  masterpiece  of
    new age black metal. Other stuff I'm  listening  to  is  the  new
    Satyricon _Rebel Extravaganza_, Samael's _Eternal_, The  Haunted,
    Abigor and the new Deeds of Flesh album.  As  for  influences,  I
    guess all the above can be  accounted  for  as  influences  since
    anything that one listens to leaves some kind  of  impression  on
    your thoughts -- even though you may not be aware of  it  at  the
    time, it may show up while writing your next song... who knows?

CoC: Where does, in your opinion, Forest of Impaled see itself in the
     black metal scene?

AA: Forest of Impaled is a band that constantly evolves  and  changes
    direction while still keeping its black metal roots. We feel that
    originality is the key for the future of black metal. In a  world
    of countless bands, Forest of Impaled tries to deliver  this  new
    form on _Demonvoid_ and we will continue to  strive  for  extreme
    chaos and devastation in our future releases.

CoC: From a marketing standpoint, and as a fan of music, as I'm  sure
     you are, what would you say  the  group's  most  valuable  asset
     would be, musically speaking?

AA: Forest of Impaled's most valuable asset is that we compose  music
    that can appeal to both death and  black  metal  enthusiasts.  We
    also spend a lot of time contemplating the structure of our music
    and must say we are very selective in our arrangements  of  riffs
    and drumming. In the end, we try to put out music that  satisfies
    our creative needs  but  still  is  very  well  thought  out  and
    composed for the listener.

CoC: In conclusion, I want to thank you -very-  much  for  everything
     Forest of Impaled has accomplished in its seven  years  and  its
     contribution to metal thus far!

AA: Thanks for the interview and hail to all our fans, "For  Ours  is
    the Kingdom and we shall forever Desecrate the Heavens."

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

               E V O L V I N G   T H E I R   N O I S E
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                      CoC interviews earthtone9
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     The great thing about  earthtone9  (et9)  is  their  ability  to
create music that is not only mesmerizing but also truly powerful  in
its onslaught on our senses and psyche. The experience is worth it.
     To get more in depth about the material, I'd  have  to  say  the
music of et9 is a rabid  flailing  of  sonic  realms  and  mystifying
passages (nestled nicely  between  Tool  and  Neurosis,  though  more
hardcore fuelled) that cradle within your mind. With power and might,
the music ends up causing a temporary breakdown in all  things  real,
thus taking you on a whirlwind experience  of  aggression  and  music
wizardry.
     "The music of et9 just comes together so well, the ideas and the
sounds manage to bind as one when  we  are  in  the  studio",  starts
guitarist Owen down the line from Nottingham, England about  the  new
disc, _Off Kilter Enhancement_ [CoC #42]. "But to be honest with you,
the last  two  records  we  have  put  out  (_OKE_  and  last  year's
_lo-def(inition) discord_ [CoC #35]) were kind of rushed. We  had  to
go in the studio and come out  with  something.  We're  glad  it  all
worked out, but to be honest, more  time  would  have  helped.  We're
hoping next time out we can spend a bit more time working out all the
glitches in our music and make it much stronger than what it  already
is."
     "We want to boost up all the things that  excite  us  about  our
music", he quips. "When you go out on the road and tour and play  all
the songs live you really start to get a feeling of  what  you  think
needs to be added to your music. We started to hear and/or  see  some
things that might have been  neglected  while  it  went  through  the
studio process. These are things we will bring back with us  when  we
work on record number three."
     While the band has done some extensive touring over the last few
years with their two releases, Owen states that the band (rounded out
by vocalist Karl, guitarist Joe, bassist Gray and drummer Si) doesn't
slack off in the song writing department when they are on  the  road.
"That has never been the case. Writing comes very  easy  for  us.  It
always has. We already have a big chunk of the third  record  set  to
go. It's just a matter of when we get off the road and when  we  find
time to hit the studio."
     "It seems like forever that we have been out on  the  road",  he
says. "God! It seems like forever. We play with anybody. Anybody that
comes along we take. We just enjoy performing."
     From start to finish, _OKE_ is ten times more vibrant  than  the
music found on _ldd_, not to say it is much  better,  it  just  seems
that the band has managed to find their groove. A feat that not  many
bands achieve this early in their careers, or, in some  cases,  never
find at all.
     "Like most bands and with us, as time goes  along  your  musical
identity becomes a lot clearer. What was weird for us  was  that  the
first album was completely financed and when it was released we  were
going to split up. We had all been doing  this  for  years  in  other
bands and had never gotten  anywhere.  But  with  this  album  things
started looking very good for us and we  got  some  great  responses.
That persuaded us to continue and it was funny,  because  we  already
had the second album almost done and we were almost going to call  it
quits. We stuck around, put out the second record and  here  we  are.
Sure both records had been assembled at about the same  time,  as  we
were waiting  for  things  to  happen,  but  there  was  a  sense  of
progression there. I can see it."
     He  adds:  "The  thing  with  bands  is  that  through   natural
progression of material you learn to really scope out  what  you  are
all about and if you can venture further from the first  record  then
you are doing something right. We obviously were going in  the  right
direction with _OKE_."
     On the subject of today's music scene,  he  comments:  "I  don't
really like to point figures at  people,  but  it  is  definitely  an
interesting time for music at the moment. Extreme music  has  managed
to somehow work its way into mainstream music these days and  it  has
made it a bit more interesting than what it  has  been  like  in  the
past. That is also  something  very  difficult  to  handle  as  well,
because bands that  really  try  to  do  something  different  aren't
guaranteed to sell loads of records  compared  to  those  bands  that
stick to a popular style. I don't like many bands nowadays,  to  tell
you the truth. I find it a very boring time. But if I had to  pick  a
few bands out there that are keeping me interested, I'd have  to  say
Tool, a great UK band called Floor and Korn."
     Korn?, I ask.
     "Yeah, not that they affect what we do at all -- they don't  --,
it's just that they brought a really unique  sound  and  approach  to
music when they came onto the scene and it allowed a lot of bands  to
mix up their sound. But unfortunately  the  repercussions  from  that
were tremendous. All these bands out there wanted to  be  like  them.
They didn't and still don't get it. It wasn't about  following  them,
it was about exploring  music  like  they  did.  Take  a  chance.  Be
creative. That's the way it has always been with us."
     On defining just where they  sit  with  their  own  sound,  Owen
responds: "I think we have been very lucky with what we do.  I  think
we are a perennial, unfashionable type of  band.  We  don't  live  in
London or in the right music circles. We existed in a vacuum kind  of
existence, I think. And because we have  done  things  on  a  smaller
scale working with an indie label [Copro Records] and because we have
no expectations of what we were doing, we really didn't have a reason
to incorporate any popular styles into what we do."
     "To be honest with you, I don't think we could ever be contrived
about what we do", notes Owen. "It just always turns out the  way  we
always meant it  to  come  out.  If  we  tried  to  insert  something
artificially, I think it would stand out quite noticeably."
     He finishes: "There are a lot of things  that  come  along  with
being in a band, a lot of problems and frustrations,  but  I  get  so
much enjoyment from being in a band... it just feels like  it  has  a
real valid purpose above and beyond just work. I don't think we  have
some huge political or sociological message that  we  are  trying  to
push across to anyone. We just play real heavy music. Being in a band
has been very cathartic for the five of us and it has been a good way
of maintaining a strong relationship with a great  group  of  people.
Most people don't ever experience that, and I'm glad I have it."

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

      T H E   R E M N A N T S   O F   A   D Y I N G   F E T U S
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC talks to Keisuke of Vomit Remnants
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     The influence of certain bands, and often it is the better ones,
can reach far across the globe, and this certainly seems to have been
the case in terms of the impact the USA's suffocatingly brutal  death
metal act Dying Fetus have had on Vomit Remnants,  the  Japanese  act
who this interview concerns. Having received their CD  through  loyal
CoC reader Roberto Martinelli, and finding it an  enjoyable,  if  not
wholly original, musical product, I felt they  were  worthy  of  this
exposure. Through broken English, somewhat  hyperbolic  language  and
the fact that his answers were e-mailed through his phone,  this  was
what I got out of drummer Keisuke.

CoC:  There  is  a  very  distinct,  and  acknowledged,  Dying  Fetus
     influence in the music you play. How important are  DF  to  your
     musical ideas, and why them rather than any other band?

Keisuke: We try real violence [and] brutality to be new  death  metal
         but not totally typical. I  don't  think  we  are  the  most
         original band playing brutal death. Of  course  Dying  Fetus
         influences [the] music we play. But say what you guys  like,
         they are gods! They play best way  in  mixed  style  between
         blast and groove. It's kicked our fucking goddamn asses!!

CoC: Your presentation, lyrics and music all seem very to the  point.
     What impression do you hope to  make  on  people  with  _Supreme
     Entity_ musically, lyrically, visually, etc.?

K: Fuck humanity! Totally full of violence.

CoC: Who are Soils of Fate, and why did you choose to  cover  one  of
     their songs on this record?

K: They are [an] underground brutal act from Sweden. I just wanted to
   make bonds of friendly ship  on  the  album  'cause  we  are  good
   friends since I started the band. He is coolest!!

CoC: Japan is not renowned for its death metal scene. Could you  tell
     the North American public what the situation is  in  Japan  with
     metal and specifically death metal, and mention any particularly
     note-worthy bands emerging from Japan or the  Far  East  at  the
     moment?

K: Um...  Japanese  death  metal  scene  is  quite  poor.  There  are
   extremely few  bands,  no  zines,  only  a  label/distro  (Macabre
   Mementos), no shows... We also fucking  hate  this  situation  and
   Japanese culture. I think [it's]  very  difficult  to  play  death
   metal in Japan. Defiled and Distemper are good bands  from  Japan.
   But we've never heard more brutaler than us or same  brutality  as
   us from Asia.

CoC: Though your music has some  unusual  structures  and  unexpected
     changes, for the most part you are producing death metal derived
     from a tried and tested formula. In the future, do  you  aim  to
     stick to being merely brutal and to-the-point  or  do  you  feel
     that you want to push yourselves to  innovate  or  revolutionise
     the scene?

K: Thanks for the very kind words! We want to revolutionise the scene
   for way of stick to being brutal in  the  scene  of  global  death
   metal underground. No fucking compromise!

CoC: You've recently been touring around Japan; do you have plans  to
     do a full tour in either the US or Europe? If so, with whom?

K: We will go to Europe for tour with  Fleshless  and  maybe  Godless
   Truth in June/July of 2000. Maybe we will play in Czech  Republic,
   Slovakia, Germany,  Holland  and  Belgium.  That  would  be  sick!
   Hopefully, we want [to] go to [the] USA again (we went [to]  Ohio,
   New York in May '99).

CoC: You have some interesting and amusing samples on the album.  Why
     did you decide to use samples and why these particular ones?

K: The samples feel just funny, but the conversations  are  sick!  We
   liked their gap. It's taken from [a] famous hip hop group. Do  you
   know [which]?

CoC: No, which one?

K: We [have] taken all of the samples from Cypress Hill.

CoC: Apart from Dying Fetus,  what  bands  would  you  cite  as  your
     biggest influences?

K: Suffocation. Internal Bleeding. Pyrexia. Mortal Decay. Our today's
   favorites are: Deeds of Flesh, Gorgasm, Disgorge (US), Devourment,
   Entorturement, Dehumanized, Skinless... I can't stop.

CoC: Finally, anything you'd like to say  about  your  music,  scene,
     opinions, etc., do so now.

K: Thank you man, and thank  you  all  for  supporting  brutal  death
   metal. You all better pick up Vomit  Remnants'  _Supreme  Entity_,
   you can either get it through your favorite underground distro  or
   through us -- just send US$16. Our next material [is] coming  soon
   on Extremities Prod.!

[See the Vomit Remnants review for contact information.]

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


Various - _A Tribute to Accept_  (Nuclear Blast, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll  (2 out of 10)

So let's ask ourselves again: what's the purpose of  tribute  albums?
To honour important and influential bands and make some  easy  money.
Judging by the increasing amount of tributes  released  in  the  last
couple of years, at least the  money-making  aspect  of  such  albums
seems to work perfectly. The honour aspect is also okay  with  me  if
the band deserves it,  and  in  the  case  of  Accept  a  tribute  is
justified. But what about the covers themselves? Should the  goal  be
to cover a song as closely to the original as  possible,  or  try  to
make it better, to bring forth hidden qualities and/or make  it  your
own song and bring in your own trademarks? Personally, I opt for  the
latter, because I simply see no point in recording an 120%  identical
version. Unfortunately, the majority of the  bands  on  this  tribute
album come from the true or power metal genre and  apparently  prefer
the  120%  approach  without  even  attempting  to  go  for  a  minor
improvement -- like, for example, better/heavier sound. This  is  not
very surprising to me, because in my opinion most of their  so-called
"own" material is nothing more than the exact rehash of  things  that
have been done countless times before and  basically  nothing  but  a
bunch of covers. Considering Accept's influential status in the early
'80s, especially with regard to the Bay Area thrash metal scene, it's
a shame that this tribute leaves the impression that their  work  was
only important for some of the  cheesiest  and  most  obsolete  bands
around today. The usual suspects, all guilty of  the  120%  approach,
are: Sinner - "Metal Heart", Pegazus - "Restless and Wild",  Axxis  -
"Flash Rockin' Man", HammerFall - "Head Over Heels",  Primal  Fear  -
"Breaker",  Steel  Prophet  -  "Fast  as  a  Shark",  Gravedigger   -
"Starlight", Seven Witches - "Monsterman", Sacred Steel -  "Fight  it
Back" and New Eden - "China Lady". Well, guys, the good thing is that
when your career is over you will all qualify for  the  weekend  slot
for  cover  bands  in  the  pub  next  door.  One  of   the   biggest
disappointments is the appearance of former progressive metal legends
Watchtower. The only "idea" with which they come up is  a  couple  of
drum breaks underneath the solo section in "Run If You Can".  Besides
that, what do we have here that at least  slightly  offers  something
more than pure reproduction? Tankard  do  "Son  of  a  Bitch"  in  an
uptempo version, with singer Gerre attempting to  make  the  listener
believe he really wants the corporate bloodsuckers to kiss  his  arse
-- okay, but nothing more. Next in line are Sodom doing the rock  'n'
roll-ish "I'm a Rebel". Unfortunately it sounds like  Onkel  Tom  and
his idiotic booze metal versions  of  German  "Schlager"  instead  of
Sodom. Atrocity rape Accept's  anthem  to  the  art  of  headbanging,
"Shake Your Heads", with the extensive use  of  EBM  music  elements.
Sounds like a third rate copy of Rammstein  and  all  the  power  the
original had is gone. German hardcore veterans  Rykers  give  "London
Leatherboys" a special treatment  and  transform  it  into  something
which could have been on an early Biohazard album. While I give  them
credit for trying  something  really  different,  it  sounds  like  a
parody. Therion do "The King" mainly with piano and female vocals  --
forgettable. Finally, we have Dimmu Borgir and "Metal  Heart",  which
had already been released on their _Godless Savage  Garden_  EP  [CoC
#35]. The amazing (I should say  "sad"  instead)  thing  is  that  it
sounded rather boring and uninspired  on  _GSG_,  while  amongst  the
other stuff  on  this  tribute  it  nearly  defines  the  maximum  of
rearrangements and changes in comparison to the original.  So  what's
the verdict? If you are: a) the world's biggest Accept fan  with  the
desire to buy everything related  to  your  heroes;  b)  a  die  hard
supporter of the "new" true, power, whatever revival -- then get this
record. Everybody else: avoid it.


Adramelech - _Pure Blood Doom_  (Severe Music, December 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

Finland hasn't produced much death metal lately -- at least not  that
I know of --, but Adramelech seem very  determined  to  change  that.
Having formed a label of their own, they now release this _Pure Blood
Doom_ and state their intentions of producing quality  Finnish  death
metal. They have  succeeded  in  doing  so  with  _PBD_,  though  not
brilliantly nor through great innovation. _Pure Blood Doom_  is  well
written, performed and produced. Adramelech generally keep the  songs
varied in pace and approach, with good  riffs  and  rhythm  and  also
competent (though somewhat unremarkable)  vocals.  A  few  highlights
scattered throughout the album help  them  gain  the  extra  mark  --
namely  "Centuries  of  Murder",  "Thingstead"  and  "Spawn  of   the
Suffering". The rest of the album clearly isn't  unremarkable  enough
to virtually turn this into a three-song EP; the rest of the material
is  generally  a  bit  more  standard,  but  still  quite  competent,
enjoyable and varied enough. It's good to see a  band  determined  in
playing and releasing the music they like (and doing  it  well)  even
though the genre's local scene has been rather forsaken, as the  band
states and as indeed appears to be the case.

Contact: Severe Music, PL 96, 32201 Loimaa, Finland
         http://www.severemusic.com


Aeternus - _Shadows of Old_  (Hammerheart, November 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Aeternus' last  album,  _...And  So  the  Night  Became_,  though  an
impressive show of the band's talents, was somewhat ponderous  and  a
little rough around the edges. By comparison, _Shadows of Old_  is  a
far more convincing and  polished  work.  Its  production  (which  is
testament to the fact that Pytten, working at Grieghallen, can  still
produce brilliant metal records) focuses the  band's  creative  skill
and aggressive energy and, when combined  with  the  tightly  focused
compositions, results in an album which is  truly  destructive  while
also diverse and dynamic; though Aeternus  forthrightly  go  for  the
jugular, they have been careful not to lose their dynamic  edge.  The
soothing melodic plucking of an acoustic guitar or a gentle  wash  of
keyboard soundscapes still provide sudden and subtle breaks from  the
cascading mounds of intense riffage, and are  also  intertwined  into
them at points (e.g. the sitar on "Prophecy  of  the  Elder  Reign").
With a bagpipe outro ("The Sunset's Glory") moving out of  the  pitch
black shadow of the rest of the album, I  am  left  highly  impressed
though not unequivocally converted to Aeternus' cause.


Aion - _Aion_  (<Independent>, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (3 out of 10)

With the opening minute or so of this CD I thought I  was  in  for  a
good arse kicking, but that first bit of music is deceptive. For  the
duration of the disc, the guitars and drums are very powerful indeed,
but unfortunately these nine songs are littered with awful  keyboards
that reduce the available power  of  Aion  to  that  of,  say,  Human
League. The situation  worsens  when  the  singer  opens  his  mouth,
spewing forth grunts that sound akin to Iced Earth's vocalist chasing
pigs. If the members who form the foundation of this band --  meaning
the drummer, guitarists, and bassist -- would ditch the vocalist  and
the keyboardist/programmer, the results would be great, I'm sure; but
until then they will be kept far away from -my- CD players.

Contact: Michal Litewka, Ul. Kopanina 5, 60-105, Poznan, Poland
         mailto:aionband@friko6.onct.pl


Artillery - _B.A.C.K._  (Diehard, November 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

Artillery are yet another "pioneering" thrash  metal  band  who  have
been conspicuously forgotten since their mid-eighties heyday and have
chosen the late-nineties to re-emerge into the dubious "thrash metal"
scene of today, which is composed of a  polarisation  of  cheeky  but
hugely gratifying nostalgia, and hideously awful rehashes of what  in
the past were glories. Artillery may have come back to win over a new
audience with their distinctly nineties production  sheen,  and  even
hints of nineties playing styles, but it seems far more  likely  they
have returned for the sake and at the behest of the more dedicated of
their  fans.  With  recognisable  names  from  both  the  Danish  and
international metal scene (Andy Sneap, Bo Lund, Tue Madsen and Anders
Lundermark) assisting in the production of this comeback,  it  is  no
surprise that the result is no crusty, misplaced nostalgia trip,  but
rather a refreshingly hungry and heavy modern-sounding thrash record,
though one with very distinctly old roots  and  little  sway  to  the
commercial viability of the mosh-core or true metal(tm) fraternities.
_B.A.C.K._ is nonetheless no album of the year and, though  enjoyable
and convincing, merely proves that comeback records don't  -have-  to
make a band sound idiotic if they do us the service of taking account
of the seven or more years in music  and  development  in  production
that has taken place since they last graced us with a release.


Centurian - _Chornzonic Chaos Gods_  (Full Moon Productions, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (8.5 out of 10)

Boiled down to its bare essence, Centurian is about  as  underground,
straightforward,  blast-infested,   carnage-laden,   feverishly-paced
metal as you could ever conceptualize.  No  fully  rhythmic  passages
here. As it turns out, this might only distract the listener,  to  be
honest. Centurian has quite some experience with music in this  vein.
Formed by ex-Inquisitor bandmates, Centurian put out a demo  on  Full
Moon in the Spring of last year. From all accounts I have  uncovered,
the demo, _Of Purest Fire_, was so well received, even without a full
band line-up at the time, that Centurian wasted little  time  getting
the full CD out for mass consumption. Back to the music, I will point
out that  as  fast  as  Centurian  are,  the  band  -does-,  however,
"thin-out" a song here and there to allow some skilful  bass  playing
and drumming blast-beats to ebb through. Such is  the  case  with  my
favorite track, six, on _Chornzonic Chaos Gods_ entitled  "Blood  for
Satan". The last couple of songs on this hellishly performed release,
"Cross of Fury" and "In the  Name  of  Chaos",  by  the  same  token,
exhibits the arrant guitar prowess of  the  group.  Not  as  fast  in
places and enshrouding in its own majestic right. I  won't  hide  the
fact that I prefer my metal -- black, death or otherwise -- a  little
more rhythmic and groove aligned, but I couldn't deduct  points  away
from Centurian for this, now, could I? Especially when they  do  what
they do so well. Oh yeah, the cover art was created in a pool of  the
band's own blood. Interested yet?


Cryogenic - _Celephais_  (Solistitium, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (8.5 out of 10)

I am very impressed with this band, but  have  no  bio,  pictures  or
lyrics to give me an idea of whom I am writing  about.  Whoever  they
are, Cryogenic are accomplished  musicians  within  the  black  metal
style, and every instrument gets a moment in the spotlight within the
ten songs. The band does nothing to set itself apart  from  countless
others; their use of keyboards and acoustic  guitars  is  similar  in
style  to  Norway's  Twin  Obscenity,  but  without  the  heavy  folk
leanings. The keyboard work also brings to mind Bal-Sagoth, only  not
as happy sounding. The guitar work  is  razor  sharp,  and  when  the
keyboards are not creating thick layers of atmosphere or laying  down
smooth piano lines, the aggression goes full tilt and the band grinds
out one underground masterpiece after another at a  frantic  pace.  I
would like to know where these guys came from (all of the song titles
are in a foreign language), and what they plan to do  in  the  future
with all of the talent that is displayed on _Celephais_. In  closing,
all I can say is that Cryogenic play black metal, and  they  play  it
well.

Contact: Solistitium, PO Box 1210, 26802, Moormerland, Germany


Dead Silent Slumber - _Entombed in the Midnight Hour_
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)  (Hammerheart, December 1999)

Naglfar singer Jens Ryden has ventured out from the vicious onslaught
of Naglfar to a much more sonic-pleasing  solo  project  called  Dead
Silent Slumber. The music of DSS is a mixture of  melody,  keyboards,
razor-sharp guitar work  and  equally  powerful  vocals.  This  is  a
one-man show worth of noting,  as  it  doesn't  come  across  as  too
pompous or too sissy-like. DSS's debut release shines with brilliance
and dedication. On top of the exceptional solo  work  assembling  the
music here, the production on _EitMH_ is to die for. The vocals never
falter and the keyboard work that lines each song sounds so blissful.
My only problem with DSS on this release (though numbers like "In the
Glare of the Moon" and "Smell the Incense"  kick  ass)  is  the  very
similar sound running throughout the disc. Variety is achieved  here,
but not enough, even though Ryden  does  his  best  to  alter  vocals
throughout. Still worthy of blasting from your boombox.


Defleshed - _Fast Forward_  (War Records, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll  (8 out of 10)

Wasn't I the one who complained about retro  metal  in  exactly  this
issue? Yet I give 8  points  to  Defleshed,  a  band  that  has  this
confrontational word stamped on their foreheads. But I'm not making a
difference between retro thrash and retro power metal  here.  There's
another  difference,  the  one  which  actually  matters.  Basically,
Defleshed's music is based on classic thrash metal riffing. Think  of
a fusion of Destruction, _Infernal  Overkill_  era,  with  top  notch
mid-eighties Bay Area thrash. A fast  and  furious  guitar  dominates
this record and shreds through all the songs  without  ever  stopping
its relentless barrage of pure amplified aggression.  While  now  and
then riffs  do  indeed  sound  familiar,  there's  a  whole  load  of
brilliant moments and surprising twists and  turns  that  will  leave
every thrash metal addict gasp for air before continuing with  insane
headbanging. The rhythm section supports the violence with a  mixture
of blast speed passages and straight high speed drumming, reminiscent
of the early  death/thrash  hybrids  like  Malevolent  Creation.  The
overall production is excellent and while the snare drum  is  a  tiny
bit  too  hollow,  the  devastating  six  string  sound   more   than
compensates that. The vocals, you might have guessed it, come  across
like Mille with rabies and are my first  point  of  criticism.  Quite
often do they sound repetitive, formulaic and even pretentious. Yeah,
they work well and completely  fit  the  music,  but  with  a  better
singer, one with more  personality,  this  record  would  haven  been
better. The other gripe I have is a  certain  lack  of  variety.  All
songs are performed at breakneck speed or faster and do not sound too
different from each other. The album length of 30 minutes (the _Reign
in Blood_ benchmark) works in favor of the overall impression, but  I
still feel that the addition of two  high  quality  mid-tempo  tracks
would have made this record a 9 instead of 8 out of 10.  This  aside,
_Fast Forward_ is a prime example of  how  music  can  of  course  be
"retro" without being an annoying imitation. Take the best  from  the
past,  play  it  faster,  more  aggressively  and  better  than   the
originators, add a minimum of up to  date  ingredients  (blast  speed
parts, production) and, if done well, what you get is a record  which
every self-respecting thrasher, no matter if she or he is born in the
'60s, '70s or '80s, should add to his collection. Thrash or die!


Devilyn - _Reborn in Pain_  (Listenable Records, 1999)
by: David Rocher  (6 out of 10)

Devilyn's first album, 1997's _Anger_,  had  introduced  this  Polish
band as technically  competent  purveyors  of  unfortunately  deja-vu
death metal in the veins of Morbid  Angel  and  Deicide,  which  just
tended to lack personality; additionally, I didn't feel that  Devilyn
succeeded in delivering the evilness or  the  unhallowed  atmospheres
that an album like _Covenant_ exudes. Their second  release,  _Reborn
in Pain_, despite boasting more intricate,  mature  compositions  and
musicianship, sadly falls into the same sort of trap -- sure, _Reborn
in Pain_ is a good, extreme death metal album, but its  energy  fails
to smack me in the face  the  way  bands  like  Vader,  Cryptopsy  or
Deranged do, and their music just doesn't strike me as being as  dark
as they would like it to be. Devilyn are  indeed  skilled  musicians,
extreme composers, and probably live their death metal  to  the  very
end of their  toenails,  but  they  don't  provoke  the  massive  and
addictive rush of adrenaline that some referential bands tapping  the
same musical vein as them, such as the aforementioned Morbid Angel or
Vader, unfailingly deliver. Despite these  unconvinced  observations,
_Reborn  in  Pain_  nonetheless  represents  a  vast  improvement  on
_Anger_, and since  Devilyn  are  far  from  being  as  overrated  or
big-headed as Deicide, it is more than likely that they  will  evolve
to spawn a fine release in their future career.


Dichotic - _Lowest Common Denominator_
by: Adrian Bromley (9 out of 10) (Discorporate Music, December 1999)

Well, well, well. The beast  from  the  East  returns.  As  if  their
pummelling last record  _Collapse  Into  Despair_  [CoC  #37]  wasn't
enough brutality for us  Canucks  to  handle,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia
heavies Dichotic return before the millennium with a totally barbaric
assault of death metal madness. While equally as abrasive  as  _CID_,
_LCD_ is ten times more violent, with bottom  of  the  barrel  vocals
meshed with razor-sharp riffs and tuned-down  production  encouraging
this release to rip us apart. The band shows no remorse for what they
end up doing to you with  this  harmful  record.  If  you're  craving
brutal death metal, then this is the ticket. Yet again another  great
unknown band from Canada -- hopefully not for long.

Contact: mailto:dichotic@hotmail.com
         http://home.istar.ca/~discm/dichotic


Dream Into Dust - _The World We Have Lost_  (Elfenblut, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

Soundscapes of desolate fields and shattered lives left behind by the
battles of an all-encompassing war -- this is the best description  I
can think of for what Dream Into Dust try to achieve with _The  World
We Have  Lost_.  The  music  consists  of  a  mix  of  dark  ambient,
occasionally some simple and generally unobtrusive industrial/warlike
background percussion, mostly keyboard-generated  string  instruments
such as violin and cello  together  with  some  guitar,  and  usually
sombre clean vocals on top. The elements used by Dream Into Dust tend
to vary somewhat from track to track, but they are generally part  of
the list above; however, this variety isn't always good. Sometimes  a
bit too melodic (usually vocal-wise), more often relying  excessively
on barren atmospheric passages, Dream Into Dust have some  difficulty
achieving the right mix during _The World We Have Lost_ -- which they
do often enough to keep the album  interesting,  though  occasionally
just  barely.  Plenty  of  tracks  contain  fine   moments,   though,
particularly "Cross the Abyss" and "Not Above But Apart"  --  a  song
which reminded me a bit of At the Gates' superb acoustic  track  "And
the World Returned" from _Terminal Spirit Disease_. Add to this  some
very  interesting  and  highly  adequate  misanthropic   lyrics   and
well-chosen artwork, and the resulting dark, desolate atmosphere that
enshrouds _The World We Have Lost_ is certainly a  very  good  reason
for me to feel like listening to it despite the fact that  the  music
tends to wander off a bit too much for my taste.

Contact: http://www.chthonicstreams.com


Dreck Sau - _Schmerz_  (Nuclear Blast, November 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

Labelling Dreck Sau as "Machine Head wannabes" would be more than  an
exercise in lazy journalism, it would be a mistake. For much  as  the
bolshy, simplistic riffs slam down  like  so  many  Ten  Ton  Hammers
(sic), the abrasive chops and percussive thumps of  Dreck  Sau  don't
embody  the  same  from-the-streets  attitude.  The  oppressive  feel
surrounding the repetitive pounding, the  name  ("Filthy  Pig"),  the
album title ("Pain") and song titles  of  a  similar  depressive  and
negative nature give Dreck Sau a more stark character and  puts  them
more in alignment with the industrial contingent, and that's not even
mentioning the fact that  their  sound  has  closer  similarities  to
Sinister  than  Skinlab.  Unfortunately,  however,  much  as  I   can
differentiate Dreck Sau from any one specific  stereotype,  the  fact
remains that what they produce musically is  rather  uninventive  and
also rather unexciting.


Emperor - _Emperial Live Ceremony_ [video]
by: Pedro Azevedo  (10 out of 10)  (Candlelight, November 1999)

With _Emperial Live Ceremony_, Emperor have released a  superb  video
testimony  to  their  live  excellence;  but   I   hesitated   before
attributing full marks to _Emperial Live Ceremony_, however. The live
section is only about 45 minutes long (plus  a  video  clip),  so  it
could have been longer, and it doesn't include "The Loss and Curse of
Reverence" (only featured as a  video  clip  to  end  the  tape)  nor
"Decrystallizing Reason", for  example.  But  that's  it  as  far  as
complaints are concerned, and those arguments  against  giving  _ELC_
full marks really fall apart when one considers  its  sheer  quality.
Very good song selection overall, despite what I mentioned  above  --
of course I would have wanted a few more tracks from their first  two
full-length albums to be present, but they generally  made  excellent
choices  and  avoided  the  less  brilliant  tracks  found   on   _IX
Equilibrium_. The image quality is very good (except for  the  rather
clumsy "fast-forward" effect  during  the  faster  section  of  "With
Strength I Burn"), while the sound  is  simply  excellent.  But  what
really blew me away was how tightly Emperor can  play  live  and  how
they manage to add that to  the  outstanding  intensity  inherent  to
their music. Emperor's black metal is usually complex and fast; live,
everything seems to somehow flow effortlessly,  from  the  incredibly
precise drumming to the perfectionist  guitar  playing.  Contrary  to
some black metal bands I've  seen  live,  virtually  every  riff  and
guitar melody is  there,  as  well  as  the  keyboards.  Ihsahn  also
performs very competent live vocals. Track listing:  "Curse  You  All
Men!", "Thus Spake the Nightspirit", "I Am the  Black  Wizards",  "An
Elegy of Icaros", "With Strength I  Burn",  "Sworn",  "Night  of  the
Graveless Souls", "Inno a Satana", "Ye Entrancemperium" and "The Loss
and Curse of Reverence" (video clip). All the tracks  are  great  and
brilliantly performed, but for me "I Am the Black Wizards" and  "With
Strength I Burn" stand out. During "With Strength I Burn", the moment
when the  song  climaxes  before  collapsing  monumentally  with  the
spine-chilling "hear my call" sequence is underlined  with  a  pause:
the band inserted a few seconds of silence precisely in the middle of
this song's particularly outstanding climax, in an attempt to magnify
even more the huge energy release that follows it with the  "hear  my
call" line. I personally like the original continuous version better,
but still the intensity they achieve with this pause  live  is  truly
impressive. Having said all this, I can only advise you  to  purchase
this video tape and witness the stunning live band that Emperor is in
addition to their already outstanding studio skills.


Finntroll - _Midnattens Widunder_  (Spikefarm Records, December 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

For the thirty minutes that  this  nine-song  release  played  on,  I
couldn't help but think of what I was going to  write.  I  mean,  the
music found here was a  bizarre  arrangement  of  flutes,  keyboards,
abstract guitar plucking and a real trollish-like  feel.  After  all,
the label claims in the bio (get this, ehehehehe) that  Finntroll  do
"trollish metal no one else."; I wonder if Arkanum has been contacted
about this -- he might be pissed.  Anyway,  the  trollish  sounds  of
Finntroll are rather exciting; a little odd, yes, but  for  the  most
part creative due to their use of folkish instruments and  keyboards.
I laugh with each listen of this at what  I  wrote  about  in  my  In
Extremo review [CoC #42]. If In Extremo had  been  talented  and  not
drunk on their asses (it sure sounded that  way),  then  the  results
could have been somewhat worthy of repeated  listens.  The  music  of
Finntroll is definitely worthy of it, though it does come  across  as
cheesy sometimes. Worthy of a chance, I say. Note:  contains  members
of Barathrum, Rapture and Moonsorrow.


Fleshgrind - _Destined for Defilement_  (Pavement, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (9.5 out of 10)

Extremely impressive. Fleshgrind is breaking some severe ground  with
_Destined for Defilement_. I can only liken this work  of  celebrated
eminence to the near unblemished sound of Dying Fetus. We  only  have
about half an hour playtime on  this  release,  but  Fleshgrind  uses
-every- minute to the fullest. For sure nothing out of the  ordinary,
but Rich Lipscomb's vocals on _DfD_ are, frankly, some  of  the  most
truly honest, gut-twisting and all-around finest vocal strokes  since
Chris Barnes on 1991's _Butchered at Birth_  --  particularly  "Vomit
the Soul", which  was,  naturally,  accentuated  by  Glen  Benton  of
Deicide. All said and done, Rick's vocal prowess is  definitely  more
guttural, but spectacularly executed on _DfD_. Choppy riffs the way I
like 'em and a fast-paced, feeding-frenzy of staggering  guitar  riff
after riff -- ominous and formidable,  to  not  belabour  the  point!
Listen in particular  to  "Lurid  Impurity".  Hear  the  Broken  Hope
influences? Hear the awesome bass work on "Rape Culture"?  So  do  I.
Perfect assimilation of outside factors into Fleshgrind's own  sound.
"Chamber of Obscurity" holds my personal intense interest. Brutal and
soul-slicing with its inflexible rectitude precision  chops.  Wicked!
Pick this newest release by Chicago's own. While I -patiently-  await
Martyr Music to present yours truly with the much anticipated  newest
Broken Hope effort, Fleshgrind -more- than pacify!


Gorbalrog - _Untergang_  (Solistitium, 1999)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)

Germany's Gorbalrog is made up of  two  former  members  of  Veil  of
Winter and have recorded three demos prior to their debut full length
_Untergang_. In my opinion, Gorbalrog draw not from the  rich  thrash
history of their homeland for  influence,  but  instead  have  looked
northward to Norway. The result is bombastic black metal with only  a
touch of thrash influence, keyboards for  texture  and  clean  guitar
parts for mood; not far removed from the sound of Mork Gryning.  Most
of the songs on _Untergang_  range  from  six  to  eight  minutes  in
length, and in that duration these two gentlemen have a  healthy  mix
of fast and slow, using the combination of both brutality and  beauty
to a good end result; the vocals  are  equally  as  varied.  Producer
Harris Johns has caught all of this, making this release a  well  put
together underground treasure that is worth seeking out. All  of  the
lyrics are in German, and were not included with my promo  copy,  but
according to their bio, the conceptual background of this release  is
based upon "hatred for the  existing  world  and  the  stupidity  and
ignorance of mankind", which tells me that the lyrics are most likely
somewhat intelligent, and although I can  relate  to  what  they  are
attempting to get across, I could do without the misanthropy, please.
I'm sure that  this  band  will  prove  to  be  a  wise  signing  for
Solistitium, as their sound and musical ability,  as  well  as  their
creativity in songsmithing, is comparable to many well known bands in
the genre.

Contact: Solistitium, PO Box 1210, 26802, Moormerland, Germany


Limbonic Art - _Ad Noctum - Dynasty of Death_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)  (Nocturnal Art, October 1999)

Limbonic Art have delivered a  third  opus  (not  counting  the  demo
re-recordings album, _Epitome of Illusions_ [CoC #36]) which  is,  on
one hand, remarkably intense and especially -fast-, but on the  other
hand lacks some of the symphonic brilliance of its predecessors. I'll
have to keep saving their 10 out of 10 for the day when Limbonic  Art
manage to blend the extraordinary atmosphere of _Moon in the Scorpio_
[CoC #18], the outstanding keyboard  work  of  both  _MitS_  and  _In
Abhorrence Dementia_  [CoC  #28]  and  the  kind  of  aggression  and
intensity they achieve on _Ad Noctum_. This may come as a surprise to
many, but on _Ad Noctum_ the guitar work is actually predominant  and
the keyboards tend to be low in the mix and  seldom  take  the  lead.
Limbonic Art are more outstanding keyboard-wise, but  they  are  also
able to create some very good riffs; _Ad  Noctum_  is  certainly  not
keyboard-less or anything either, and  the  extra  guitar  sound  and
increased   drum   machine   speed   give   it   other    interesting
characteristics.  Things  get  especially  great  during  the  highly
intense and supersonic "Pits of the Cold Beyond", but  sometimes  the
guitar work is less remarkable and the  relative  lack  of  keyboards
becomes much more noticeable. Still, this is another excellent record
from Limbonic Art; maybe next time they  will  achieve  the  blend  I
mentioned before.


Necrophagia - _Black Blood Vomitorium_  (Red Stream, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (10 out of 10)

MORE, DAMNIT -- MORE! I can't be at all happy with this 15 minute MCD
bullshit! The problem with getting a little of exactly what you  like
is you inherently -need- more! I use the word  "need"  because  these
four  tracks  fashioning  Necrophagia's  brand-spanking  new  venture
snakes itself through your psyche like some childhood trauma. More of
a full sound than on _Holocausto de  la  Morte_  [CoC  #38],  but  an
extravagantly forceful progression at the same time. Favorite  track,
you ask? Well, if I  have  to  tell,  "It  Lives  in  the  Woods"  is
-supreme-!  Almost  like  -nothing-  you've  ever   heard   before...
Necrophagia is the hollowed-out  communication  with  living  carnage
through  music.  They  have  yet  to  disappoint  and  _Black   Blood
Vomitorium_ attests to the fact that they  reign  majestic  upon  the
hallucinatory death/black metal throne of gore!


Night Conquers Day - _Rebellion Is the Art of Survival_
By: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)  (Hammerheart, December 1999)

If you think you have enough metal know-how to  stomach  a  blackened
thrash 'n' doom version of King Diamond, then listen up. If you can't
stomach it, go put on any of the King's  numerous  solo  outings.  So
what the hell has New York State-based metal ensemble Night  Conquers
Day been toying with here? I am not so sure, but as some  of  us  are
aware, it is sometimes hard to explain just how things work out. They
just do. While the total Kind Diamond-style vocals surface throughout
this record, it's the black metal snarls  and  stirring  guitar  work
that keeps this project in focus. Basking in a stellar array of  song
structure, NCD aim to please us with _RItAoS_ even if their music has
a few bleak moments. Choice cuts? Title track  and  "Mirror  Gazing".
Some black metal fans might find this a bit too much (I  mean  corpse
paint is bad enough to digest!?) but some may find some salvation  in
the unique experiences that seem to have some form of a grip on NCD's
work.

Contact: Night Conquers Day, 34 Peck Road, Hilton, NY 14468, USA
         mailto:mikael@frontiernet.net


Pitboss 2000 - _Everyone's a Winner_
by: Adrian Bromley  (2 out of 10)  (I Scream Records, December 1999)

I don't know about you people, but I am just getting  real  tired  of
coming in contact with music (be it metal, hardcore, or ambient) that
just seems to be assembled for the sheer pleasure of trying to  raise
an eyebrow or garner attention. Pitboss 2000 is the  perfect  example
of this. These hardcore fuckos just seem to  stroll  into  each  song
with a huge chip on their shoulders, ripping on anyone  who  holds  a
grudge against them and making notion that  they  are  as  badass  as
badass can be. Let me tell you something,  PB  2000:  S.O.D.  did  it
better thirteen years ago and continue to do it better  (having  seen
them a few weeks ago live) than you and your hardcore pose could ever
do. Go back to your parents' basement and watch some Jerry  Springer.
I'm tired of your music and your attitude. I'm sure almost anyone who
hears your disc will agree with me. It is true what they  say:  every
profession has its share of assholes.


Primordial - _The Burning Season_  (Hammerheart, November 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

While _A Journey's End_ [CoC #33] was one of 1998's finest  and  most
surprising releases for me, 1999 comes to an end without the  release
of a new full-length from Primordial, which is a shame. But with  the
band now signed to Hammerheart after the end of Misanthropy  Records,
_The Burning Season_ is an MCD intended to fill the  gap  between  _A
Journey's End_ and the next Primordial full-length. It  contains  two
new songs and two re-recordings. "The Calling", which is basically an
excellent long kind of  intro,  and  "The  Burning  Season"  are  the
novelties. The title track, which is therefore the main highlight  as
far as new material is concerned, is what might be called  expectable
(in a good way) after _A Journey's  End_:  not  very  different,  but
still excellent. The progressive blackening of Alan's  voice  towards
the end of the song is especially remarkable. "Among the Lazarae"  is
a seven year old song from their _Dark Romanticism_  demo  tape,  but
this re-recording turned out to be a highly enjoyable track for me as
well. (Not knowing the original, I cannot compare the two  versions.)
Very slow and doomy start, followed by a spoken section, and then out
of nowhere comes a blackened fast part with matching  vocal  delivery
and great, subtle guitar melody. It then  becomes  slower  again  and
eventually ends with another spoken part. Finally, closing track "Let
the Sun Set on Life Forever" (quite an evocative song title as  well)
is a re-recording from their debut _Imrama_ [CoC  #8].  Another  slow
and doomy start leading to a highly effective blackened attack  which
then slows down again, but despite the similar description  the  song
is quite different from "Among the Lazarae". Personally, I find  this
new version of "Let the Sun Set on  Life  Forever"  superior  to  the
original one from _Imrama_, and it's not simply a direct re-recording
just to get a different production on the same song. Primordial  have
again achieved a superb blend of dark emotion, atmosphere  and  music
with this half-hour  long  MCD,  which  wasn't  easy  considering  it
includes  two  re-recordings.  I  can  hardly  wait  for  their  next
full-length.


Rakoth - _Planeshift_  (Code666, December 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

As this release comes from a new Italian label and an unknown Russian
band, it will probably end up being overlooked by many, but  unfairly
so: _Planeshift_ has enough quality to deserve attention.  The  style
that Rakoth play can be described  as  something  like  dark  fantasy
metal, if that makes  any  sense.  They  basically  play  a  kind  of
blackened metal with plenty of (not necessarily very dark) melody and
clean vocals upon fantasy-related lyrics -- they generally avoid  the
"happy" sounds of Bal-Sagoth, though. Rakoth use a drum  machine  for
some basic but generally effective  rhythm,  as  well  as  flute  and
acoustic guitar, while the keyboards are especially well handled. The
only song that doesn't quite fit the description above is the doomier
"The Unquiet Grave", which turns out to be my  favourite  track.  The
rest of the songs are all quite good as well,  however,  and  overall
this is a  consistent  album:  the  dynamic  songwriting  guides  the
listener through plenty of interesting  sections  and  fine  melodies
throughout the album. The fact that you  will  find  black-like  fast
sections as well as very melodic ones and plenty  others  in  between
guarantees considerable variety, which the  band  generally  uses  to
their advantage. While many records out there are rather  pretentious
and lack contents, _Planeshift_ seems quite modest, but has plenty of
quality and creativity inside -- which is what really counts.

Contact: Code666, c/o Emiliano Lanzoni, Via Billi 2,
         40026 Imola (BO), Italy
         mailto:code666@imola.queen.it
         http://www.code666.cjb.net


Rapture - _Futile_  (Spikefarm, December 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

As if the work of Katatonia and Opeth -- the two marvellous poets  of
emotionally sombre metal music currently  winning  over  critics  and
fans worldwide -- wasn't enough, we now are forced to fall victim  to
the passion-filled numbers of Finnish  act  Rapture.  A  little  more
aggressive than the two aforementioned acts, but equally  as  diverse
and as tremendously talented, Rapture do their best  on  their  debut
eight-song release. The rough snarls of singer  Petri  Eskelinen  are
among the strongest elements here, coating the symphonic and harmonic
numbers with a venomous attack. Listeners will  no  doubt  get  drawn
into the gripping work found on "This Is Where I Am"  or  "Someone  I
(Don't) Know". Intended for those who like  their  music  with  ample
amounts of passion, but still metal sounding. A strong debut.


Rebaelliun - _Burn the Promised Land_  (Hammerheart, December 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Opening with a hail of gunfire, Rebaelliun  sets  the  tone  of  this
record with the shit-kicking death metal  scowl  calling  itself  "At
War". This is a crushing war machine of death  metal  and  any  metal
music lover that should not go along with the marching  orders  shall
be crushed. While the Brazilian quartet showcase their Morbid Angel /
Slayer influences proudly, it is quite obvious  through  their  sheer
dedication and lots of blood and  sweat  (tears  are  for  pussies!),
these crazy fuckers have managed to  proudly  showcase  an  appealing
death metal release. From opener "At War" to "Killing for the Domain"
and the title track, Rebaelliun mean business. May God have mercy  on
the souls who cross their path. On with the battle!


Runemagick - _Enter the Realm of Death_  (Century Media, 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

If there is any artist who has masterminded and/or played on as  many
releases as Niklas "Terror" Rudolfson has in such a short a period of
time in metal history, I want to know who it is.  However,  if  their
outputs are as overlong and thin on the ground in terms of quality, I
really wonder whether I want to -hear- who it is. God damn  it,  this
guy plays on two albums reviewed this -month-! What is  then  perhaps
surprising about _EtRoD_  is  that  it  is  not  wholly  bad.  It  is
seriously overlong, clocking in at a whopping 54 minutes, and doesn't
warrant this exceptional playing time, but the riffs have  a  bit  of
kick and their backing in parts by subtle  keyboards  --  in  a  _The
Fourth Dimension_-reminiscent Hypocrisy style --  puts  them  a  good
distance above the pathetic retro-ramblings of Rudolfson's Deathwitch
project. If you really dig this guy's stuff, then I guess this one is
for you, as it has most of his trademarks, swaying on the simple side
of his tendencies in a similar though superior fashion to Deathwitch.
However, for the section of the human race who realise that this  has
all been done before in at least a -slightly- better -- if not -much-
better -- format, give _EtRoD_ a miss; it  really  isn't  worth  your
time.


Scheitan - _Nemesis_  (Century Media, September 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

Combining a gothic feel, rasping  black  metal  vocals  and,  in  the
guitar department,  a  vague  death-rock  leaning  has  never  in  my
experience produced  a  record  worthy  of  my  sustained  attention.
Scheitan's latest is no exception. Sentenced have an  exuberance  and
pure metal punch accompanying their gothicisms;  Amorphis,  My  Dying
Bride or  Anathema  have  mysterious,  almost  chilling  atmospheres.
Scheitan, on the other hand, occupy an ill-furnished  half-way  house
with no charm or character worth calling their own.  They  never  get
heavy, intense or fast enough, and  they  never  go  slow,  heady  or
melodic enough to pull the strings of one's emotions as a  record  of
this kind must to be worth taking time over. "Emergency" and "Forgive
Me" respectively go some way towards trying to attain these  powerful
extremes, but Scheitan's best, if this is it, is  by  no  means  good
enough to even hold my attention for 34 minutes,  let  alone  compete
with the more experienced and accomplished names in the business.


Sodom - _Code Red_  (Drakkar Records, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll  (6 out of 10)

The years go by and Tom Angelripper still keeps going. He  might  not
have many other choices than that and unfortunately that's a bit  how
this records sounds. I read a couple of posts on the net where people
were praising _Code Red_ as one of the thrash records of 1999. Thrash
metal it is, definitely, but if you are looking  for  anything  which
has not been done at least 30 times before you won't  find  it  here.
This might not surprise anyone, because Sodom, while still benefiting
from their legendary status, never really  have  been  an  innovative
band. Logically, what you get is the usual mix of the obvious mid and
fast paced slabs of simple thrash metal together with Sodom's biggest
trademark, Angelripper's unique gruff vocals with  the  broad  German
accent. Fortunately, there are also some positive things  about  this
record. First of all, the sound is decent. More important than  that,
the material is among  the  fastest  and  heaviest  Sodom  have  ever
written  and  some  of  the  songs  do  indeed  sound  confident  and
enthusiastic, a fact which partially neutralizes the outdated  nature
of their style and song structures. On the other hand,  judging  this
record in the context of  1999,  a  year  that  spawned  albums  like
_Conquering the Throne_ by Hate Eternal [CoC #43] or _The Inexorable_
by Angel Corpse [CoC #44] (and these didn't  even  receive  9  or  10
ratings), I'm not impressed at all. I have been thinking for quite  a
long time about how many points this  release  deserves.  It's  quite
possible that I have bought too many great death and thrash metal CDs
in the last couple of months so that it's just the  wrong  moment  in
time for _Code Red_ to "click", but today I don't  want  to  give  it
more than 6 out of 10. In case you have been a  Sodom  supporter  for
years or an old school thrash lunatic, then go ahead and turn  the  6
upside down. If you need further proof that all reviews are of a very
subjective nature, my CoC metal brother Aaron wants me  to  tell  you
that he thinks _Code Red_ is "pretty fucking spectacular".


Sonata Arctica - _Ecliptica_  (Spinefarm Records, 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

First off, a little too "happy and all smiles" for me, folks. I  like
metal music with some melody and good cheer, but straight off the bat
Sonata  Arctica's  keyboard-driven  melodic  power  metal  comes  off
sounding like a crazed mental patient all souped up on lithium.  Tone
it down, boys, geesh! What can be said about this Finnish four-piece?
Well, these guys have no doubt done their  homework,  as  the  band's
work and production are top notch. Crystal  clear  keyboards  radiate
throughout the release as singer Tony Kakko  belts  out  each  number
with sincerity. And the guitar work? To die  for.  Seriously.  Killer
guitar riffs are all over this release. Check out  "8th  Commandment"
-- you'll be blown away. I have to say this is one of  the  strongest
power metal records I have heard in a while. Fans  of  Stratovarious,
Rhapsody and even HammerFall will  already  have  knowledge  of  this
band. If you don't, then you should  scope  this  out,  because  here
comes another band you can play air-guitar to.


Sun of the Sleepless - _Poems to the Wretches' Hearts_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (10 out of 10)  (Prophecy Productions, 1999)

Having become simply enthralled by the Sun of the Sleepless track  on
Prophecy Productions' _To Magic..._  compilation  [also  reviewed  in
this issue] the very first time I listened to it,  I  just  -had-  to
seek this  MCD  of  theirs.  Sun  of  the  Sleepless  is  Schwadorf's
(Empyrium) black metal solo  project  and  _Poems  to  the  Wretches'
Hearts_  is  the  very  adequately  titled  debut  MCD.  It  did  not
disappoint me. Prophecy's description of the music  contained  herein
is very accurate when they use the expression "grimme, yet  dirgelike
black metal". No fancy production here; cold  and  harsh,  but  still
very intense instead of simply dirty. Superb sad guitar melodies  and
riffs  in  (generally  fast)  black  metal  format,  with   excellent
anguished vox and very good lyrics  as  well.  The  grim,  emotional,
heartfelt music on this MCD captures most of the feelings and  sounds
I seek in black metal, especially with opener "Thou, Whose Face  Hath
Felt the Winter's Wind", which  reminded  me  of  a  better  produced
"Transylvanian Hunger" (Darkthrone). The track that I  had  initially
heard in the Prophecy compilation was the  brilliant  remix  of  this
already superb song that opens the MCD, a remix which will be part of
a forthcoming SotS 7" EP. The two  other  tracks  on  _Poems  to  the
Wretches' Hearts_, "Grimme Pain" and the slightly more  Empyrium-like
"Nebelmond", are both equally superb. This MCD  is  only  15  minutes
long, but in my opinion virtually every minute of it is  worth  a  10
out of 10 -- if you can truly -feel- the music and essence of Sun  of
the Sleepless, that is; otherwise, you're unlikely to  find  anything
really special here. I know I will be repeatedly listening to  _Poems
to  the  Wretches'  Hearts_  many  times  while  hoping  for  a  SotS
full-length of similar ilk to be released.

Contact: http://sots.black.art.pl


Swordmaster - _Moribund Transgoria_  (Osmose, October 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7.5 out of 10)

Swordmaster have improved their production, playing  and  songwriting
since last I heard from them on 1997's _Postmortem Tales_. This  time
out  the  vocals  are  less  restrained,  having  not   been   pushed
unceremoniously behind  a  wall  of  distortion  and  all-too-regular
percussion. Additionally, _Moribund Transgoria_'s melodic flirtations
are far more convincing  and  with  the  production's  clarity  these
sections help to make _Moribund Transgoria_ a far more dynamic record
than its predecessor. However, there is  still  a  residual  lack  of
originality in most of my favourite bits (the melodic Dissection lead
on "Sulphur Skelethrones" is  a  particular  anti-highlight  in  this
sense) and in any case Swordmaster still display an overall  lack  of
brilliance   in    terms    of    songwriting.    They    do    their
post-thrash/death/black thing very competently and with significantly
more style than most, but there are other  acts  doing  very  similar
things, and doing them at least a little better. On the  other  hand,
it's the best release featuring Niklas  "Terror"  Rudolfson  which  I
have yet heard.


T666 - _Troops of Satan_  (T666 Death Metal Co., December 1999)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

With only three songs to get their message  across  loud  and  clear,
T666 do just that. All three songs ("Comrades in Slaughter," "Execute
All Christians" and "Smash the Cross")  are  executed  with  a  truly
sincere sinister, rampaging sense of madness. Blistering guitar riffs
and totally Armageddon-like blast  beats  help  spur  on  this  total
Christian-hating quartet. As the band crushes through ten minutes  of
metal mayhem, the anger within becomes so real and  the  music  is  a
massive  force  to  be  reckoned  with.  Looking  forward   to   more
expeditions by these boys from "Down Under" in their crusade  against
all things Christian. Burn the cross, throw the disc on and  as  Paul
Hogan (aka "Crocodile" Dundee) once said,  "throw  a  shrimp  on  the
barbie". This fucker smokes!

Contact: http://www.t666.com


Tankard - _Disco Destroyer_  (Century Media, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll  (3 out of 10)

Oh my god, what happened to German thrash metal?  It  seems  it  died
long ago. Tankard, from my hometown Frankfurt, have been one  of  the
most unique bands in the German scene. They were the  band  with  the
least obvious US influences and the silliest image (alcoholic metal),
and they were also one of the best and  most  energetic  German  live
bands in the mid eighties. Personally, I still love their  first  two
records and maybe that's the reason why _Disco Destroyer_ is  not  my
piece of cake. I still remember them as  a  thrashing,  fast,  heavy,
entertaining and enthusiastic band, but not a  single  one  of  these
attributes relates to _Disco  Destroyer_.  This  record  plods  along
aimlessly and  is  not  even  heavy.  One  reason  is  the  powerless
production from Harris Johns, who, like Tankard, seems to  have  left
his best days long behind. A band with such  simple  songs  needs  at
least a considerable amount of heaviness. The second  reason  is  the
songwriting. Tankard always suffered a bit from their  limited  style
and -- like Sodom, for example -- have never been a  technical  band.
Unlike others, they have not chosen  to  go  into  the  more  extreme
direction, but on  a  couple  of  songs  add  more  melody  to  their
choruses. Melody itself is not a bad thing, but it should be good and
not some third rate fun punk singalong crap. Even if my heart bleeds,
I have to say that this record is shit and the only reason why I give
them three points is for the inclusion of the demo classic "Death  by
Whips" and the song "Queen of Hearts". Sorry, guys, but I think  it's
time to end the fight for pure beer.


The Chasm - _Procession to the Infraworld_  (Dwell, April 2000)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

I knew they could do it, and they have. _PttI_ fulfils the  seeds  of
expectation sown by The Chasm's recent  demo  [CoC  #43]  and  1998's
_Deathcult for Eternity: The Triumph_  album  [CoC  #40].  It  is  an
improvement musically on the latter, and has been  tweaked  perfectly
to assure a far superior production to the former, a production which
brings out all of The Chasm's various aspects  in  powerful  balanced
harmony. What makes The Chasm  special  in  this  age  of  Gothenburg
over-melody and American anti-melodic stalwartism is their talent for
creating death metal of the  brutal  variety  which  doesn't  forsake
melody  and,  most  importantly,  retains  the  dark  atmospheres  so
important to the genius of great death metal works, from  Autopsy  to
early Entombed. Opening with the gathering storm of an  introduction,
"The Spectral Sons of the Mictlan", _PttI_ runs through a  number  of
good tracks before coming to its crowning achievement, "Return of the
Banished". This track is a perfect example  of  all  of  The  Chasm's
strengths interacting dynamically to form a crushing and moving whole
of a song. The Chasm are one of the few  bands  able  to  thrash  the
listener mercilessly and darkly while  not  forsaking  melody.  Their
occasional  bouts  of  Dismember-like  (think   "Dreaming   in   Red"
particularly) solos with melodiously dark atmospheric power and their
use of subtle acoustics, minor scales and Daniel  Corchado's  (he  of
Incantation's _Diabolical Conquest_) despair-ridden vocals all add up
to a crushing and haunting piece of modern death metal, and  a  great
record to start the new year, century and millennium.


Various - _To Magic..._  (Prophecy Productions, 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

As far as compilations go, Prophecy Productions have put  together  a
highly interesting release which shows that their roster  is  growing
rapidly and incorporating  plenty  of  quality.  The  compilation  is
organized in such a way that the even-numbered  songs  are  generally
acoustic, with only one exception (track eight, which ended up  being
my favourite). Plenty of variety here,  but  mostly  kept  within  an
unifying spirit.  The  first  three  bands  on  the  compilation  are
probably  the  most  well-known:  In  the  Woods...,   Empyrium   and
Bethlehem. ItW, who recently signed to Prophecy after the  demise  of
Misanthropy Records, are represented with  "Karmakosmik"  from  their
new _Epitaph_ 7" EP (the third and last of their 7" EP  series). This
doesn't really subtract much from the interest of the  EP,  which  is
mainly  intended  for  collectors  anyway,  and  does  increase   the
interest of the compilation. It's a long, emotional  and  melancholic
song, and somehow pretty much what I expected to find here from  ItW.
Apparently this fine track was recorded in the _Omnio_ [CoC #25] era.
Empyrium are perhaps the band that ended up more poorly  represented,
as the chosen track was taken from their  acoustic  album  _Where  at
Night the Wood Grouse Plays_ [CoC #42]. A good  song,  but  hardly  a
great example of Empyrium's music; so why not  a  normal  track  from
_Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_ [CoC #30]? That would have  been  far
more representative of their music. Next is  Bethlehem,  another  new
band on  Prophecy's  roster,  but  their  new  material  sounds  very
mediocre to me.  Vastly  different  from  the  music  found  on  past
releases, "Von Bittersuessem Suizid"  features  clean  singing,  some
easy guitar and vocal lines and generally  makes  me  think  of  goth
rock. Get the picture? Clearly the worst track  here,  and  also  the
most disappointing one if this  really  is  their  new  style  (which
apparently is the case). Tenhi follow with their dark folk:  acoustic
guitars, clean male vocals, percussion  and  what  appears  to  be  a
distant background keyboard. Quite  good,  but  somewhat  repetitive.
Blazing  Eternity  increase  the  interest   level   again,   though.
Reminiscent of _Brave Murder Day_-era  Katatonia,  but  able  to  mix
those influences with other elements, their contribution  promises  a
very interesting full-length if they can keep up the  quality  level.
Next is possibly the strangest band on the compilation: Coven.  Often
fast and mostly repetitive acoustic guitar in  the  background,  some
percussion and -intense- vocals.  The  man  speaks,  sings,  screams,
weeps... the image left on my mind is of someone locked up in a room,
inside an asylum, with a wintry landscape on the  window,  feverishly
walking around, talking to himself,  surrounded  by  ghosts  who  are
taking away the remains of his sanity. Autumnblaze take  us  back  to
metal, more specifically melodic doom, not too far  from  Paragon  of
Beauty (another Prophecy band). Both harsh and  doomy  clean  vocals,
good sad melodies and attempts at variety; their album  may  well  be
interesting. What comes next is the gem of this compilation:  Sun  of
the  Sleepless.  This  -really-  impressed  me  --  so  much  that  I
immediately sought their _Poems to the Wretches'  Hearts_  MCD  [also
reviewed in this issue]. This particular  song  is  a  remix  of  the
opening track from that MCD, and it is quite simply the  first  remix
ever to blow me away. This is a sad, melancholic black metal dirge of
the highest quality. Schwadorf masterfully transformed  the  original
fast track into a  -much-  slower  and  atmospheric  song,  literally
dripping with black sadness, alternating between  deeply  melancholic
passages and slow, painful, dirgeful, yet harsh black sections.  Only
lyrics and the essence of certain passages remain from the  original.
This specific track is not part of the aforementioned  MCD,  however;
instead,  it  will  be  featured  in  a  forthcoming  7"  EP.   Well,
practically any track after this one would be  rather  hopeless,  but
the  Drawn  song  is  actually  rather  poor   by   itself,   despite
contribution of Jan Svithjod, the  In  the  Woods...  vocalist.  Very
standard, unremarkable metal until halfway through  the  song,  which
then tries to sound like ItW. Inconsistent and  uninteresting.  Next,
Naervaer, who are rather hard to label, but with acoustics (including
what appears to be a cello) and both male  and  female  vocals,  they
create an excellent emotional dark atmosphere. Both vocalists tend to
remind me of In the Woods..., and the atmosphere isn't very far  from
ItW, either; very good. Nox  Mortis  play  very  decent,  though  not
especially innovative or remarkable, doom/death.  Gods  Tower  follow
with a track that sounds more  like  an  intro  than  anything  else.
Finally, Paragon of Beauty end this  fine  compilation  with  "To  My
Unfading Sorrow", taken from their forthcoming MCD. A very good song,
actually doomier than their previous material; melodic, sorrowful and
overall  more  interesting  than  before.  _To  Magic..._   therefore
contains plenty of quality material, half a dozen really good  songs,
a couple of tracks from 7" EPs, some unreleased material and quite  a
few tracks from new or unknown bands. As usual with compilations, _To
Magic..._ also contains some weaker tracks, which prevents  a  higher
rating, but it will apparently be available for quite  a  low  price,
making it even more interesting.

Contact: Prophecy Productions, Kurfuerstenstrasse 5,
         54492 Zeltingen-Rachtig, Deutschland
         mailto:info@prophecyproductions.de
         http://www.prophecyproductions.de


Tristania - _Beyond the Veil_  (Napalm Records, October 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)

Tristania's debut full-length _Widow's Weeds_ [CoC #30] impressed  me
with its mix of fine melodies  and  bombastic  passages,  and  it  is
through the talented blending of those two fundamental elements  that
their second full-length effort, _Beyond the Veil_,  keeps  up  their
quality level. A very  varied  record,  _BtV_  frequently  alternates
between angelic choirs and thundering death vox, charming violins and
aggressive guitars, and in general soft passages and  stronger  ones.
Tristania were able to do this again  without  really  repeating  the
formula of their debut too much, as the music itself includes  plenty
of new elements and details. This doesn't make  _BtV_  a  necessarily
superior album  to  its  somewhat  simpler,  but  equally  effective,
predecessor;  just  different,  even  though  the  similarities   are
obvious, and fortunately Tristania did -not- soften up on  this  one.
The variety of vocal styles used serves to illustrate the album's own
variety: female vox, male and  female  choirs,  death  and  blackened
vocals, clean male singing... The  guest  male  singer  who  performs
clean vocals on a few tracks  has  a  bit  of  a  gothic  tinge,  but
actually does a decent job and avoids sounding excessively  misplaced
within Tristania's metallic  symphonies.  The  female  vocals  remain
superb and the male vox highly effective; the keyboard work  is  also
very good and the occasional violin touches  are  very  welcome.  The
production is excellent. Main highlights for me: "Aphelion", "Angina"
and "Heretique". Overall, _BtV_'s qualities  may  eventually  take  a
while longer to fully appreciate than _WW_'s (at  least  that's  what
happened in my case), but _BtV_ is  definitely  a  quality  follow-up
from this talented band who does have  a  remarkable  grasp  of  this
musical genre.


True to Form - _New Generation of Aggression_
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)  (<Independent>, December 1999)

While there seems to be a lot of really  good  ideas  flowing  within
this seven-song release and the aggression is  there,  the  music  of
True to Form just seems to end up surfacing  as  an  amalgamation  of
many music styles  commonly  found  within  '90s  metal  music.  Mesh
together the ways of Sepultura, Prong, Stuck Mojo, Korn and  Skinlab,
for example, and I guarantee you'll find some resemblance here within
this act's offering. It's not bad to show respect and be  influenced,
but this whole music business is set upon making a name for  yourself
rather than going along with certain sounds or styles. I'm sure  they
have a solid live show, as their song "What Is the Way" must  destroy
live, but on disc it all starts to go in one ear and  out  the  other
with repeated listens. Maybe things will  change  down  the  road  --
maybe not.

Contact: http://www.truetoform.com


Unida - _Coping With the Urban Coyote_  (Man's Ruin, 1999)
by: Matthias Noll  (9 out of 10)

John Garcia is back again. For those of you  not  familiar  with  the
man: John Garcia is the singer of  disbanded  stoner  rock  /  desert
metal kings Kyuss, who,  after  a  short  intermezzo  with  the  band
Slo-Burn, now has  reappeared.  Given  the  closeness  of  Slo-Burn's
single output to Kyuss, the main question here seems to be: are Unida
just a Kyuss revival band or do  they  have  something  different  to
offer? Sound-wise, _Coping With the Urban Coyote_ does of course  use
ingredients similar to Kyuss: a bass laden, heavily distorted wall of
guitar and bass in the slow to uptempo  range.  The  first  thing  to
notice is that the production work is amazing. Heavy but crisper  and
with a better  definition  of  each  instrument  than  on  any  other
Garcia-related  output.  Besides  this  improvement,   a   difference
fortunately also shows in the songwriting.  Though  two  out  of  the
eight songs, the straight uptempo tracks  "Black  Woman"  and  "Dwarf
It", could have been  among  the  best  on  Kyuss'  _Welcome  to  Sky
Valley_, in general Unida are far less trippy  and  psychedelic  than
Kyuss. They are straighter, more rock 'n' roll and  blues  based  and
catchier. Garcia himself shows his best work to date on this  record.
He sounds clearer and more powerful than ever, he's not buried in the
mix like on _And the Circus Leaves Town_ and is obviously  attempting
to go for his limits in style and range. It's simply amazing how  his
voice twists and turns around the melody lines, like  a  Spitfire  in
the Battle of Britain, and I  admire  his  unique  ability  to  offer
something different each time he does a chorus or  repeats  parts  of
the lyrics. To sum it up: this record is  on  par  with  Kyuss'  best
efforts and highly recommended to all stoner rock fans.


Vassago - _Knights From Hell_  (No Fashion Records, November 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

Though they're "ready to fight the world" (and ripping off Manowar is
no way to get ahead in my view) and may not "deal with  any  romantic
bullshit", Vassago have certainly not produced the  "fastest,  rawest
metal album so far". Bold claims generally ride on the back of rather
inadequate musical achievements, and Vassago prove the  rule,  rather
than provide an exception to it. They are better than  War  and  that
-is- something to be thankful for, but let's face it,  that  is  also
not a difficult achievement. Arming themselves heavily with a barrage
of  basic  and  traditional  death   metal   riffs   and   screeching
Satanic-centred war  cries  in  stereotyped  black  metal  tradition,
Vassago proceed to pound out thirty  odd  minutes  of  furious  metal
closely akin to Deathwitch and their regressively minded peers.  It's
intense and even impressively so  at  very  brief  points,  but  what
little I get out of Vassago I can get out  of  Possessed  or  Slayer,
multiplied by tenfold, in half the time, and  with  some  captivating
atmosphere thrown in free of charge.  If  you're  still  looking  for
balls-out metal based solidly around the effects of  speed  and  good
drum production (and let's face it, with releases of the  quality  of
Angel  Corpse's  _The  Inexorable_  [CoC  #44]  and  Hate   Eternal's
_Conquering the Throne_ [CoC #43] emerging in this  year  alone,  you
shouldn't be), you may want to check out Vassago; if not, I'd suggest
keeping your distance.


Vision of Disorder - _For the Bleeders_  (Go Kart, November 1999)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

Despite being short, at barely  half  an  hour,  and  ninety  percent
re-recorded demo tracks, _For the Bleeders_ is still a  great  little
release, especially if you're a salivating VoD  fan  who  just  can't
hold on until they release a new album to get your  satisfaction.  As
usual, the band rage, groove and ultimately rock  with  a  degree  of
style denied to most bands. Melody and emotions other than pure  rage
punctuate the vocal barrages of  Tim  Williams,  while  Baumbach  and
Kennedy's guitars cut with near-chainsaw  fury.  Definitely  one  for
fans, certainly obsessed but also  less  dedicated,  and  a  kick-ass
release of its own right.


Vital Remains - _Dawn of the Apocalypse_  (Osmose, 1999)
by: Aaron McKay  (10 out of 10)

No question about it! One of the -finest- releases of this year,  and
quite possibly of the last decade.  Vital  Remains  has  perfected  a
sound all their own, as I hear it, emphasizing and molding  only  the
finest points from Malevolent  Creation,  Morbid  Angel,  Vader,  and
Incantation, and even a smidgen of Sinister,  I  do  believe.  Citing
these groups can only provide you with a ball-park idea  of  what  VR
has set forth on this completely and utterly paralyzing effort. _Dawn
of the Apocalypse_ has something for everyone, as I think  Joe  Lewis
communicated so very well in our interview in CoC #44. As powerful as
_DotA_ is, I could not help but listen in awe at  the  total  supreme
beauty the album yielded forth. As  I  write  this  review,  my  only
concern  is  that  I  may  fail  in  conveying  the  refinement-laden
inhumanity set forth on this  newest  Vital  Remains  effort.  To  be
honest, I wouldn't hesitate to issue an eleven  out  of  ten  in  its
favor for many reasons, not the least  of  which  is  their  original
emotion invoking passages forced together  with  completely  blinding
ferocity like the unstoppable force  meeting  the  unmovable  object.
Allow me to tell you this: for the most part, title tracks do  little
to peak my interest, but VR put theirs as track three and words  fail
me; I can't say enough about this  song.  Perfect  in  every  regard!
Also,  let  the  uncompromisingly  heavy  riffs   of   "Sanctity   in
Blasphemous  Ruin"  devastate  your   existence.   All   told,   this
nine-track, near hour incursion is, as I see it, an  absolute  -must-
for any fan of _Forever Underground_ [CoC #20]. This release is  sure
to impress. Now the only trick will be to see how my  boys  in  Vital
Remains attempt to out-do this release -next time- around.


Vomit Remnants - _Supreme Entity_  (Macabre Mementos, June 1999)
By: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

It seems that there are some outside North America who realised  what
a truly crushing force  Dying  Fetus  are.  Though  not  embarrassing
themselves by wholly ripping off  the  kings  of  crushing-but-catchy
death metal devastation, Vomit Remnants  have  pretty  much  grounded
their entire musical identity as entirely on the aforementioned as is
humanly possible. This is not a wholly bad thing  as  not  only  does
_Supreme Entity_ do a meagre few things which  Vomit  Remnants  might
call their own, but the other 90% of the time they play their  little
Dying Fetus-infatuated hearts out, showcasing technical precision and
a tight, crushingly efficient production along the way. "Original" is
certainly not a word applicable to this release, but "listenable" is,
and if there is any more satiating way to wait for a new Dying  Fetus
record, I'm waiting to hear it. Additionally, with this harsh  little
beast as a starting point, Vomit Remnants could conceivably head  off
in their own direction in the  future.  For  now,  they've  given  us
nothing new, but something more than worth  its  twenty-eight  minute
playing time.

Contact: Keisuke Tsuboi, 4-7-26#201 Izumi-Cho, Hoya-City,
         Tokyo 202-0011, Japan
         Macabre Mementos, c/o Tadishi Minemoto,
         2-15-23 Mikageyamate, Higashinagada-ku,
         Kobe Hyogo 658-0065, Japan
         mailto:death@bc.mbn.or.jp


Willow Wisp - _Delusion of Grandeur:(A Gathering of Heretics)_
by: Aaron McKay  (7.5 out of 10)  (Full Moon Productions, 1999)

For starters, a rather unusual choice for Full Moon to go with  here,
but not uncharacteristic for the label  by  any  means.  We  have  in
Willow  Wisp's  release  _Delusion  of   Grandeur:(A   Gathering   of
Heretics)_ the Satanic (or at least a  strong  agnostic  disposition)
prerequisite most definitely present. What constitutes  the  singular
significant  preoccupation  in   Willow   Wisp's   music   is   their
symphonizing of so very many angles of  metal  into  what  they  call
their own. I'm not saying this has never been  done  before,  but  WW
certainly provides their own flavor to the musical soup. At times,  I
hear the serpentine vocals associated with Epoch  of  Unlight;  other
times I might swear that I was listening to an old  Bauhaus  or  Cure
record. The opening of track seven,  "Copulation  in  thy  Paranormal
Forest", is truly one to hold up to comparison  to  Dimmu  Borgir  or
Cradle of Filth. Willow Wisp's song  titles  are  also  a  relatively
large selling point for me as well. For instance, "Cruel, Despicable,
Non-Caring  Breed"  and  "Time:  A  Journey  to   Failure".   Nothing
particularly insightful in these titles, but  they  -do-  communicate
the dark direction of the band.  More  than  sixty-seven  minutes  of
music on twelve tracks are offered to the listener  on  _Delusion  of
Grandeur:(A Gathering of Heretics)_. If  you  are  close-minded,  you
might be better advised to avoid this, but for the rest of us, Willow
Wisp opens a rather nice diversion into some aspects of metal not yet
exploited.


Wolverine - _Fervent Dream_  (Zizania, December 1999)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

While progmetal was never one of  my  favourite  genres,  Wolverine's
approach to that style certainly ended up  becoming  quite  enjoyable
for me. Mixing somewhat Amorphis-like clean vocals and  death  grunts
isn't what I expect from a progmetal band, but it works very well for
Wolverine. The clean singing is varied, but not harmful to the music,
with the partial exception of some of "Echoes".  Instrumentally,  the
band is both skilled and creative,  and  --  despite  the  occasional
somewhat excessive guitar solo -- keeps the songs flowing quite  well
during their average seven minute length. The production is very good
as well, and the MCD totals over 30 minutes. The Heden String Quartet
also participates in this MCD, but their presence is  overall  rather
brief; an increased participation from them seems advisable  for  the
band's upcoming full-length album (which can be expected  in  October
2000, according to them). This is a rather interesting appetiser.

Contact: Rene Janssen, Vergelt 5a, 5991 PJ Baarlo, The Netherlands
         Fax: +31 77 4778310
         mailto:wolverine@dprp.vuurwerk.nl
         http://www.dprp.vuurwerk.nl/bands/wolverine/
         (Price: $7,50 / f15 / DM15, including P&P)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                 __                    __      _
              /\ \ \_____      __   /\ \ \___ (_)___  ___
             /  \/ / _ \ \ /\ / /  /  \/ / _ \| / __|/ _ \
            / /\  /  __/\ 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.     Email     us     at
<mailto:Demos@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>  to  know  which  is  the   most
appropriate postal address for you to send your CD  or  tape,  or  to 
indicate the location of a website from which we can download the MP3 
files of your entire demo (DO NOT send any  files  attached  to  your
email).

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


Cranial Torment - _Death Is Rising_  (4-song demo)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

Ahhh -- the lovely sounds of brutal, gargle-like death  metal,  chock
full of bashing drums and down-tuned guitars.  Greek  outfit  Cranial
Torment give it all on this totally crushing state  of  death  metal.
The vocals are so damn heavy that they just  take  the  music  deeper
into the bowels of Hell. It's sick 'n' brutal  if  you  ask  me,  but
still fans  who  crave  metal  music  outside  of  this  genre  might
appreciate where these guys are coming from. I think Cranial  Torment
have a strong sound, it's just that I can see some death  metal  fans
saying that Cannibal Corpse do it better. It's tough to get  by  when
you're starting out, but these Greek metalheads  have  a  good  start
under  their  demonic  wings.  My  favorite  track:  "Thoughts  of  a
Graverobber".

Contact: Cranial Torment, c/o Bill Benakis,
         32 Paradison St. Peristeri, 121 36 Athens, Greece


Enchanted Silence - _Anthropobhobia_  (4-track demo)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (***--)

This  Norwegian/Finnish  band  plays   some   decent   keyboard-laden
doom/death; their main problem seems to be that the  quality  of  the
clean vocals is rather  unstable.  Sometimes  they  are  kept  at  an
acceptable level, some other times (especially during "The Colorist")
they degenerate into rather mediocre  and  very  misplaced  goth-like
vocals. I don't mean that the band should necessarily get rid of  the
clean vocals, though that might be a solution, but at the very  least
they need to make a much better selection of what to use and what  to
leave out and improve the overall quality of  the  clean  vox.  Apart
from that, good production and playing  and  reasonable  songwriting;
some passages indicate that the band may have an  interesting  future
if they can make the right choices.

Contact: mailto:enchanted.silence@as.online.no
         http://welcome.to/enchanted.silence

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


                  TWO CORPSES, ONE GOD AND NO FLESH
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Cannibal Corpse, Marduk, Angel Corpse, Aeternus and Defleshed
                 at the Hafenbahn, Offenbach, Germany
                           November 6, 1999
                          by: Matthias Noll

     Call me dumbass. Once again I missed the first band of a  killer
package, this time Darkane, and so the show did start with Defleshed.
I think their new record, _Fast Forward_ [reviewed in this issue], is
fantastic, but the impression I got from their gig was that they  are
one of those bands that shouldn't leave the studio  or  the  basement
where they probably practice. Their singer / bass  player  fucked  up
the first three songs in a row  with  constant  timing  problems  and
throughout the whole set the band acted very static and seemed to  be
painfully under-rehearsed. Although I have nothing  positive  to  say
about their live performance, I highly recommend their new album.
     Aeternus also failed to deliver anything  better  than  average.
Partially, it might not have been their fault, because the sound  was
so bass laden that  it  was  impossible  to  hear  much  besides  the
constant double bass drumming and snippets from  Ares'  vocals.  What
was audible sounded OK, but that was it.
     From make up time to killing  time:  Angel  Corpse  were  simply
phenomenal and only after this show I was able to  really  appreciate
their new record _The Inexorable_ [CoC #44]. Not only does  the  band
look dangerous, they mutate  to  manic  beasts  on  stage  and  their
_Altars of Madness_ on adrenaline style completely blew  me  and  the
majority of the audience away. Unlike their two  predecessors,  Angel
Corpse benefited from a good sound, but this alone didn't explain the
greatness of their performance. Seldom before have I heard  something
similarly rabid.  "Stormgods  Unbound",  "Smoldering  in  Exile"  and
"Wolflust" are total killer songs and tonight they sounded like  they
should -- a spiralling ultra-brutal madness which left all  witnesses
breathless. One snippet from the "Wolflust" lyrics brings it  to  the
point: "Eat, fuck, die!". One last word: do me  a  favor,  guys,  and
look for a new producer -- Scott Burns is just not capable of  giving
you the sound you deserve.
     True black metallers Marduk were the unofficial headliners for a
huge part of the audience. I hadn't seen the band  before,  but  both
_Nightwing_  and  _Panzer  Division  Marduk_  are  pretty  impressive
records from my point of view, so I expected at least a  good  amount
of violence from these Swedish grunts. Unfortunately,  what  happened
on stage was rather a defensive battle fought by a tired "Volkssturm"
battalion than an assault by a Panzer Division (for hate mail see  my
e-mail address above). Rather than pulverizing me with grinding slabs
of black metal, Marduk sounded powerless and simply average. I admit,
fast they were, but it was neither brutal nor heavy,  but  formulaic,
exhausted, pretentious speed for the sake of speed instead.  Produced
by Tagtgren, a kindergarten melody played on a  gazillion  beats  per
minute can have a devastating effect, but tonight the band was trying
to catch up with the intensity of their recorded material and, in  my
opinion, lost the  race.  In  the  process  their  weaknesses  became
painfully obvious. Legion is definitely the worst and most monotonous
vocalist I have ever seen.  Excessive  posing  doesn't  make  it  any
better and I wonder how long he has trained the silly "two arms  form
an inverted cross, one hand shows the devil's sign  while  the  other
flips the bird" move. Try learning a second note instead. The  guitar
totally failed to crunch and/or sound powerful while  the  bass  work
was at least looking impressive -- but hardly audible. The  drummer's
speed was amazing, but on slower parts he unveiled a  major  lack  of
feeling for groove (maybe that's only a black music thing) and failed
to add the necessary drive to such simple songs as "Dreams  of  Blood
and Iron" from _Nightwing_. The black metal part of the audience  was
completely freaking out and chanting for  "Christ  Raping  Metal"  in
between every song, but for me Marduk were a major disappointment.
     Death metal veterans Cannibal Corpse followed shortly after and,
like  Angel  Corpse,  ruled  completely.  Sound,  stage  acting   and
musicianship were nothing but perfect and the band's  back  catalogue
does contain enough killer material to play for hours -- even if  the
band's first three records are banned in Germany and they aren't even
allowed to play anything from those albums live. Astoundingly for me,
CC unleashed such power that even material that's rather  average  by
their own standards (a couple of songs off  _Vile_  and  _Gallery  of
Suicide_) sounded absolutely killer. Vocalist Corpsegrinder, like the
rest of the band, was in top form  and  entertained  the  crowd  with
humorous announcements like  "This  is  for  all  the  women  in  the
audience... "Fucked With a Knife"!" My personal  faves  this  evening
were  "Staring  Through  the  Eyes  of  the  Dead",  "Unleashing  the
Bloodthirsty" and their final gem "Hammer Smashed  Face",  which  the
audience had been demanding from the beginning. With this show (and I
think their new album does likewise), CC have proven that they  still
belong in the premium league of death  metal  and  can  easily  stand
their ground against all newer or younger contenders for the throne.

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

        N I G H T   O F   T H E   L I V I N G   C O R P S E S
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  Marduk, Angel Corpse and Enthroned
                   at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal
                           October 20, 1999
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     I was  driving  to  the  Hard  Club  on  this  wednesday  night,
following  my  usual  route,  which  was  rather  deserted  on   that
particular midweek night. It was already  time  for  the  concert  to
start as I descended towards the riverside and the  Hard  Club.  That
was when I saw parts of the empty road before me torn  asunder...  as
if there were open graves in the pavement. But no, I did -not- end up
having to fight off any recently unearthed undead cadavers; just some
measly road works that made  me  take  a  half-hour  long  detour.  I
therefore missed the first two bands of  the  night:  Goldenpyre  and
Firstborn Evil, both Portuguese.
     It was only when I arrived at the Hard Club that  the  "corpses"
started to appear almost everywhere: two most  likely  corpse-painted
black metal bands and also Angel Corpse were scheduled to play;  some
of the attendants also wore corpse-paint (as one should expect);  and
after the concert I saw an announcement which  stated  that  Cannibal
Corpse would be playing at the Hard Club the following month.
     The Belgian Enthroned ended up being the first band I  saw  that
night. Not being familiar with any  of  their  records,  I  was  also
unimpressed with their live performance and therefore felt no  desire
to seek their work on CD. Not that their show  was  especially  poor,
but they just played some rather unremarkable  black  metal,  without
any outstanding brutal or artistic elements.
     Despite the presence of Marduk, the band I was  looking  forward
to the most was Angel Corpse, and they  did  not  disappoint.  Having
listened to their _The Inexorable_  record  [CoC  #44]  quite  a  lot
during the days that preceded the concert, I  knew  they  could  play
some very intense and enjoyable death metal and had  a  feeling  they
might be able to make it work live. And they did. Their live show  is
quite close to the original songs, and they  managed  to  incorporate
some major energy in their performance and made an impression on most
of the crowd. "Stormgods Unbound" and "Begotten  (Through  Blood  and
Flame)"  --  my  favourite  songs  on  the  CD  --  were   especially
outstanding live, as I expected. Fine performance; for me, they  were
the best band of the night.
     Finally, an almost god-like reception for Marduk from the  crowd
(a very significant part of which had to travel  north  all  the  way
from the Lisbon area, since Marduk only played in the Hard Club).  As
their latest effort _Panzer Division Marduk_ (which I  hadn't  had  a
chance to fully analyse yet) was considered by many as a  masterpiece
in black metal brutality, I was looking forward to seeing  what  they
could do live as well. The result was a mild disappointment -- a  bit
similar to what happened with Dark Funeral [CoC #39].  Marduk's  live
performance was brutal and effective, but lacked the  ability  to  be
anything more than that -- it didn't captivate me. The level of their
brutality didn't blow me away, neither did the quality of their  live
riffs or vocals. Not that any of those  elements  weren't  decent  --
they just didn't  live  up  to  my  expectations.  Vocalist  Legion's
delight  with  the  crowd's  "Marduk,  Marduk"  chants   was   rather
exaggerated and his reactions further subtracted from what could have
been a dense black metal atmosphere, but which they never were  fully
able to create (despite Legion's firebreathing  show).  Entertaining,
but overall not as good as I expected.
     When the concert was over, I  was  already  thinking  about  the
Cannibal  Corpse  show  scheduled  for  November,  especially   since
Aeternus were the main support band. However, I ended up missing that
show (but at least CC didn't play my favourite song of theirs, "Blood
Drenched Execution") and also  Primordial's  Iberian  tour  in  early
December, which I -really- wanted to see.  All  this  due  to  -very-
poorly timed illness, which lasted for less than a  month  but  still
made me miss  both  concerts.  And  over  here  months  usually  pass
-without- any interesting concerts whatsoever...

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

            W H A T   W E   H A V E   C R A N K E D ! ! !
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                 Best Releases Since the Crucifixion

Gino's Top 10 + 1 [alphabetically ordered]

_. Absu - _The Sun of Tiphareth_
_. Black Sabbath - _Paranoid_
_. Brutal Truth - _Need To Control_
_. Carcass - _Necroticism - Descanting The Insalubrious_
_. Entombed - _Clandestine_
_. Metallica - _Master of Puppets_
_. Napalm Death - _Fear, Emptiness, Despair_
_. Obituary - _World Demise_
_. Pan-Thy-Monium - _Khaooohs & Kon-fus-ion_
_. Slayer - _Reign In Blood_
_. Venom - _The Best of Venom: In Memorium_


Adrian's Top 10 [alphabetically ordered]

_. Burzum - "Hermodr a Helferd"
_. Christ's cries on the cross
_. Def Leppard - _Pyromania_
_. E-mail sound when I have new e-mail
_. Ear ringing sound after loud show
_. In Flames - _The Jester Race_
_. Iron Maiden - _Piece of Mind_
_. Opera piece: "Ride of the Valkyries"
_. Pitchshifter - _www.pitchshifter.com_
_. Theme song from "Three's Company"


Alain's Top 10 + 1 [chronologically ordered]

1. Black Sabbath - _Black Sabbath_
2. Alice Cooper - _Killer_
3. Pink Floyd - _Dark Side of the Moon_
4. Judas Priest - _Sad Wings of Destiny_
5. AC/DC - _Back in Black_
6. Ozzy Osbourne - _Diary of a Madman_
7. Metallica - _Ride the Lightning_
8. Mercyful Fate - _Don't Break the Oath_
9. Slayer - _Reign in Blood_
10. Dream Theater - _Images and Words_
11. Cryptopsy - _None So Vile_


Adam's Top 10 [alphabetically ordered]

_. Amorphis - _Tales From The Thousand Lakes_
_. Burzum - _Hvis Lyset Tar Oss_
_. Darkthrone - _Transylvanian Hunger_
_. Darkthrone - _Panzerfaust_
_. Emperor - _Into the Nightside Eclipse_
_. Morbid Angel - _Altars of Madness_
_. Pan-Thy-Monium - _Khaooohs & Kon-fus-ion_
_. Satyricon - _Dark Medieval Times_
_. Samael - _Ceremony of Opposites_
_. Type O Negative - _Origin of the Feces_


Pedro's Top 10 + 1 [alphabetically ordered]

_. Anathema - _Serenades_, _The Silent Enigma_
_. At the Gates - _Slaughter of the Soul_
_. Dark Tranquillity - _The Gallery_
_. Emperor - _Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk_
_. Empyrium - _Songs of Moors & Misty Fields_
_. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
_. Katatonia - _Dance of December Souls_
_. My Dying Bride - _Turn Loose the Swans_
_. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
_. Summoning - _Stronghold_


Aaron's Top 10 + 1

1.  W.A.S.P. - _The Last Command_
2.  Nasty Savage - _Penetration Point_
3.  Death - _Scream Bloody Gore_
4.  Death Angel - _Frolic Through the Park_
5.  Kiss - _Alive_
=.  Violence - _Eternal Nightmare_
6.  Angel Witch - _Frontal Assault_
7.  Crumbsuckers - _Beast on My Back_
8.  Sacrifice - _Soldiers of Misfortune_
9.  Nuclear Assault - _The Plague_
10. Slayer - _Reign in Blood_


David's Top 10

1. Metallica - _Master of Puppets_
2. Slayer - _Decade of Aggression_
3. Sepultura - _Beneath the Remains_
4. Iron Maiden - _Somewhere in Time_
5. Gorefest - _False_
6. Death - _Leprosy_
7. Emperor - _In the Nightside Eclipse_
8. In Flames - _Subterranean_
9. Hypocrisy - _Abducted_
10. Mayhem - _De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas_


Matthias' Top 10

1. Slayer - _Reign in Blood_
2. AC/DC - _Let There Be Rock_
3. Judas Priest - _Unleashed in the East_
4. Metallica - _Kill 'em All_
5. The Beatles - _White Album_
6. Massive Attack - _Protection_
7. Possessed - _Seven Churches_
8. Overkill - _Taking Over_
9. Danzig - _Lucifuge_
10. Exodus - _Bonded by Blood_

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


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

--> Interested in being reviewed? Send us your demo and bio to:
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
                         CHRONICLES OF CHAOS
                           57 Lexfield Ave
                            Downsview Ont.
                           M3M-1M6, Canada
             Fax: (416) 693-5240   Voice: (416) 693-9517
                  e-mail: gino@ChroniclesOfChaos.com
                                 ----
                Our European Office can be reached at:
                     CHRONICLES OF CHAOS (Europe)
                           Urb. Souto n.20
                       4500-117 Anta, PORTUGAL
                 e-mail: pedro@ChroniclesOfChaos.com
 -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


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


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

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


AUTOMATIC FILESERVER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All back issues and various other CoC related files are available for
automatic retrieval through our e-mail fileserver. All you have to do
is send a message to  <mailto:BackIssues@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.  The
'Subject:' field of your message should contain the issue number that
you want (all other text is ignored). To get a copy of our back issue
index, send a blank email to <mailto:Index@ChroniclesOfChaos.com>.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #45

All contents copyright 2000 by individual creators of included  work.
All opinions expressed herein are those of the individuals expressing
them, and do not necessarily reflect the views of anyone else.


