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

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


                   THE NEW YEAR'S EVIL EDITION III

       CHRONICLES OF CHAOS e-Zine, January 16, 1999, Issue #36
               http://www.interlog.com/~ginof/coc.html

Editor-in-Chief: Gino Filicetti <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>
Coordinator: Adrian Bromley <mailto:energizr@interlog.com>
Contributor/Copy Editor: Pedro Azevedo <mailto:ei94048@tom.fe.up.pt>
Contributor/Asst. Copy Editor: Paul Schwarz <mailto:saul@mcmail.com>
Assistant Copy Editor: John Weathers <mailto:grief@bellsouth.net>
Contributor: Alain M. Gaudrault <mailto:alain@gaudrault.net>
Contributor: Brian Meloon <mailto:bmeloon@math.cornell.edu>
Contributor: Adam Wasylyk <mailto:macabre@interlog.com>
Contributor: Aaron McKay <mailto:aaronm@trxinc.com>
Contributor: David Rocher <mailto:drocher@pratique.fr>
Contributor: Gabriel Sanchez <mailto:mwnoise@yahoo.com>
Contributor: Alex Cantwell <mailto:cvantwell@juno.com>

Mailing List provided by: The University of Colorado at Boulder

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

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

Issue #36 Contents, 1/16/99
---------------------------
* Editorial
* Loud Letters
* Deadly Dialogues
-- Bolt Thrower: Mercenaries; Battling for Victory
-- Enslaved: A Viking Vengeance, in Blood
-- The Gathering: A Gathering in Perpetual Motion
-- A Canorous Quintet: Liber Legis Metalli
-- Tristania: Flowing Midwintertears
-- Siebenburgen: Swedish Vampire Tales
-- Dying Fetus: Nothing but Absolute Defiance
-- Grip Inc.: Gripping With Style
-- Crack Up: Keeping it Sane
-- Children of Bodom: Wild Child
-- Drown: Misfits of the Mainstream
* Independent Interrogations
-- Abigail: A Different Shade of Sonnet
* Album Asylum
-- Adramelech - _Seven_
-- Agathodaimon - _Blacken the Angel_
-- Anasarca - _Godmachine_
-- Benumb - _Soul of the Martyr_
-- Bethlehem - _Sardonischer Untergang in Zeichen irreligioser
                Darbietung_
-- Black Spiral - _Defeat_
-- Black Sabbath - _Reunion_
-- Borknagar - _The Archaic Course_
-- Bride of the Atom - _Web of Spider_
-- Burn it Down - _Eat Sleep Mate Defend_
-- Carnal Forge - _Who's Gonna Burn_
-- Conquest - _Rage_
-- Daemonarch - _Hermeticum_
-- Dargaard - _Eternity Rites_
-- Devin Townsend - _Infinity_
-- Diabolical Masquerade - _Nightwork_
-- Dio - _Inferno: Last in Live_
-- Dissecting Table - _Life_
-- Driller Killer - _Reality Bites_
-- Drown - _Product of a Two-Faced World_
-- Epoch of Unlight - _What Will Be Has Been_
-- Various - _Feuersturm Vol. II: The Ultimate Storm_
-- Frank's Enemy - _Illumination_
-- Various - _From Kaamos to Midnight Sun_
-- God Dethroned - _The Grand Grimoire_
-- Gore Beyond Necropsy - _Noise-A-Go Go!!!_
-- Gothic - _Prelude to Killing_
-- Grievance - _Grievance_
-- Hate Theory - _Your Dead Reflection_
-- Himminbjorg - _Where Ravens Fly_
-- Humectant Interruption / MO*TE - _Rest Stop Entrapment_
-- Impious - _Evilized_
-- Japanese Torture Comedy Hour / MSBR - _Split_
-- Judas Priest - _'98 Live Meltdown_
-- Jungle Rot - _Slaughter the Weak_
-- Limbonic Art - _Epitome of Illusions_
-- Macronympha - _Then And Now_
-- Magic Wave - _Magic Wave_
-- Master - _Faith Is in Season_
-- Merzbow - _Tauromachine_
-- Meshuggah - _Chaosphere_
-- M-Squad - _M-Squad_
-- Odhinn - _The North Brigade_
-- Ophthalamia - _Dominion_
-- Oxiplegatz - _Sidereal Journey_
-- Plan E - _Songs for a Rainy Day_
-- Riger - _Der Wanderer_
-- Ritual Carnage - _The Highest Law_
-- Various - _Roadkill_
-- Run Devil Run - _The Killing Civilization_
-- Runemagick - _The Supreme Force of Eternity_
-- Scepter - _I'm Going to Hell_
-- Scholomance - _A Treatise on Love_
-- Seth - _Les Blessures de l'Ame_
-- 16 - _Scott Case_
-- Skin Crime - _Collection_
-- Skinlab - _Eyesore_
-- Solstice - _New Dark Age_
-- Soulquake System - _A Firm Statement_
-- Stampin' Ground - _An Expression of Repressed Violence_
-- The Crown - _Hell Is Here_
-- The Gathering - _How to Measure a Planet?_
-- The Great Kat - _Bloody Vivaldi_
-- The Sins of thy Beloved - _Lake of Sorrow_
-- Urgehal - _Massive Terrestrial Strike_
-- Vader - _Live in Japan_
-- Visionaire - _Mystical Dominion_
-- Various - _Wardance_
-- Withered Earth - _Forgotten Sunrise_
-- World Against World - _When the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee
                          Away_
-- Yattering - _Human's Pain_
* New Noise
-- Abjathar - _Nothing Undamaged_
-- Brutal Insanity - _Greatest Clubbing Anthems_
-- Detrimental - _Incomplete_
-- Grot - _Sweet Sick-Teen_
-- Infestation - _Curse of Creation_
-- Malintent - _Part 1_
-- Sanctificica - _In the Bleak Midwinter_
-- Undertakers - _Advance Tape 1998_
* Chaotic Concerts
-- Facing the Slayers, Down in the Grave: Slayer, Sepultura and
                                          System of a Down
-- Dying Under the Hammer: Death and HammerFall
-- The Smell of Napalm in the Dark: Cradle of Filth, Napalm Death and
                                    Borknagar
-- Evil to None: Firstborn Evil and Withering
* What We Have Cranked, Top 10 of 1998
* Details

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

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

                          by: Gino Filicetti


     Greeting loyal CoC readers. Without further ado I present to you
CoC #36, our third New Year's Evil Edition.
     This issue is approximately 16 days late, I  apologize  for  not
being able to get it out on New Year's day as I've done in the  past.
As you can imagine, the circumstances  were  beyond  the  control  of
anyone. I know it's hard having to wait for new issues  of  CoC  when
they do not come out monthly, but I'm sure  most  of  you  understand
when I say that we try out best to stick with our deadlines.
     Hopefully the sheer size and  massiveness  of  this  issue  will
offset any jonesing that you're experiencing right now.  This  mother
lode of an issue is our biggest by far, weighing in at a hefty  294k,
it beats our previous "big boy"  (CoC  #33)  by  32k!  We've  got  12
interviews, 70 album reviews, 8 demo reviews and  4  concert  reviews
that are sure to keep you busy for many weeks to come.
     This issue also sees the promotion of four of our part-time  CoC
writers to full-time status. You've seen their writing in  the  past,
and will see their writing for many issues to  come;  help  me  as  I
welcome Aaron, David, Alex and Gabriel to the CoC fold.
     That's about it from me, keep  those  Loud  Letters  coming  and
enjoy the issue; but do yourself a favour and spread out the  reading
over a few sittings, we wouldn't want your ass to get cramped! ;-)

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

Correction
~~~~~~~~~~

Last issue, in my Malevolent Creation story, I said System Shock  was
a division of Koch International; it is actually a division of Impact
Records. Koch International in fact do distro for Impact.
     -- Paul Schwarz

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

                 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:ginof@interlog.com>  and  enter
'Attention Loud Letters' in the subject field. Hopefully all  letters
received will be featured in upcoming issues of Chronicles of Chaos.


Date: Sun, 18 Oct 1998 05:03:35 PDT
From: marius Frunza <m_frunza@hotmail.com>
Subject: i'm a black metal fan

Hi there I'm one of your readers and I belive that you  are  doing  a
fucking good work specially  in  black  'nd  death  metal  parts.  My
personal opinion is that the black metal scene  is  poluted  by  some
bands of arse holes which play something like a deeper kind of  shit.
Their music is no sense 'cause there is no ideea, no philosophy  only
pure fucking noise (which sometimes is good). For example the Swedish
bands like Marduk or Dark Funeral are  the  abhorence  of  stupidity.
Marduk is the name of an ancient  oriental  god  who  represents  the
order in the univers and does not have any connection  with  satanism
or the anti-christian war( see their first album  "Fuck  me  Jesus").
Many titles of the tracks  are  in  roumanian  (same  case  for  Dark
Funeral) and this is a profanation for this  language.  In  fact  the
Marduk lyrics are about Vlad Dracul and represents another  aberation
of those imbecils. There are other bands like Dimmu Borgir,  Covenant
or Cradle of Filfth which are playing an imitation of black metal and
it doesn't sound like it should  .  This  is  black  metal  made  for
selling albums and doesn't represent the true spirit of  this  style.
If you listen the first Dimmu Borgir releases and their  last  albums
you will see a great difference; now their sound is  more  comercial,
more shit like. The ideea of black metal played by Burzum, Darkthrone
or Mayhem is dead. Contact me at m_frunza@hotmail.com


Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 00:23:53 PST
From: marius Frunza <m_frunza@hotmail.com>
Subject: Attention loud letter!

Hi, I'm one of the Coc readers and I'm very impressed by this  paper.
I listen a lot of black metal and I belive that the Coc team  make  a
good propaganda for this kind of music. Thanks guys for writing  good
things about God, Interitus Dei, Gothic and other roumanian bands but
I think you don't estimate very well that Ghotic stuff. If  you  will
listen more carefully you'll give them 9 in stead of 6.

Happy new year Coc!


Date: Sun, 25 Oct 1998 11:31:09 -0800
From: Tate Bengtson <tbengtso@junction.net>
Subject: Attention Loud Letters

Hello

CoC#34 was your best yet - Death, Sepultura, Bruce Dickinson - I read
it from start to finish in  one  sitting.  I  especially  like  CoC's
willingness to ignore genre boundaries and cover albums like  Lycia's
Estrella, which falls outside of the realm of metal, but is  still  a
great release. While the focus still is (and always should be) metal,
covering bands and albums from outside of that particular genre gives
CoC a unique perspective that I very much enjoy.

Anyways, I just wanted to let your readers know that I  have  created
an ezine list for my zine, Chaotic Critiques. All of  the  text  from
the printed version of Chaotic Critiques will be released via  email,
beginning  with  the  just-released  tenth  issue.  The  tenth  issue
features interviews with  Suffocation,  Index,  Luxt,  Kismet,  label
features on The End Records  and  Slipdisc  Records,  a  black  metal
column, a  prog  rock  /  metal  column,  fanzine  reviews,  a  label
directory, an industrial / gothic feature, and tons of album reviews.

To subscribe to the Chaotic Critiques ezine, go to:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/ChaoticCritiques

Thanks!!!

Tate Bengtson, editor
Chaotic Critiques zine (printed, www, ezine)
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/6031/index.html


Date: Fri, 30 Oct 1998 17:01:29 -0800
From: Darrin McDonel <dethmtld@rosenet.net>
Subject: Kataklysm

Gino,

First of all, I would like to compliment you on  the  tremendous  job
you do with Chronicles Of Chaos. My  only  complaint  with  the  last
issue concerns the Kataklysm review. The reviewer, Paul Schwartz,  is
an admitted non-fan of the group, and therefore, should not have been
given this task. I eagerly awaited this review to see whether or  not
I should purchase their latest effort, only to be denied the  crucial
information I needed. Schwartz inexplicably  failed  to  mention  the
change of vocalists within the group. To me, the band revolved around
the talents of Sylvain Houde and his  unique  lyrics  and  vocals.  I
don't know if you are in the habit of answering your readers personal
inquiries, but if you  would  do  me  the  favor  of  explaining  how
Maurizio's vocals fit in with the overall Kataklysm  sound,  I  would
very much appreciate it. Also, can you  please  tell  me  if  Sylvain
Houde has joined another group or if he  has  left  the  music  scene
entirely. Thank you for your time.

Darrin McDonel
dethmtld@rosenet.net

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

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


  M E R C E N A R I E S ;   B A T T L I N G   F O R   V I C T O R Y
  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC chats with Gavin Ward of Bolt Thrower
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     Bolt Thrower can be compared to a tank both musically and in the
way they approach their longterm career. The band roll straight  over
anything which might try to stand in their way or change them, be  it
labels,  trends  or  line-up  difficulties.  They  also  launch  high
explosive shells at the ears of listeners worldwide in  the  form  of
their always bludgeoning albums. I have to be  honest,  their  latest
strike, and first in four years, in the form of _Mercenary_ (on Metal
Blade) did not blow me away the way _Realm  of  Chaos_  or  _...  For
Victory_ did, but it is still unmistakably Bolt  Thrower  and  should
certainly silence those who considered the band a confirmed  kill.  I
dredged up the past,  discussed  the  present  and  contemplated  the
future with guitarist Gavin Ward. Enter the realm  of  chaos,  survey
the conversational carnage that transpired.

CoC: Do you see _Mercenary_ as the pinnacle of your career or as  one
     more step on the ladder?

Gavin Ward: One more step on the ladder.  Pinnacle?  Who  knows?  You
            could say _Warmaster_ was. Probably a lot of people  have
            <laughs>. I obviously do like it, but it is a  new  album
            and the material is newer to us, whereas some of the  old
            songs we may have played six or seven  hundred  times.  I
            don't really see it album to album, I see it in songs.

CoC: I'd say there isn't a huge progression of Bolt Thrower...

GW: Thank you. We take that as a complement.

CoC: We (the fans) think of a new  Bolt  Thrower  album  coming  out,
     nobody's gonna think the album will be  the  innovation  of  the
     year, but it could be a really  great  album.  You've  certainly
     changed your style  to  some  degree  since  _Realm  of  Chaos_,
     though. The way you tune your strings and the  manner  in  which
     you play. I'd say the approach on  _Warmaster_  and  _Mercenary_
     particularly is slightly less fast, it's got a  lot  less  blast
     beats, especially on this new album.

GW: Yup yup.

CoC: A lot more double bass drums. I am wondering  whether  that  was
     intentional or just chance?

GW: Just chance. There's no set format, and looking for it is stupid.
    We just go along with what sounds good to us. But we are  also  a
    live band. So it's the culmination of  all  the  songs  from  the
    different albums. Some _Mercenary_ will be played with  _...  For
    Victory_, _The Fourth Crusade_ and everything else.

CoC: An example though, if you take "Eternal  War"  from  _Realms  of
     Chaos_, you've got a lot more blastbeats and a lot more  of  the
     grindcore rhythm. _Warmaster_ onwards has far more  normal  song
     structures. Not that they're necessarily  less  extreme,  but  I
     think _RoC_ has a much more "grindcore" feel  to  it.  I  wonder
     whether you tried to move away from the "grindcore" tag?

GW: We've had a lot of tags. "War metal", "death metal", "grindcore",
    "hardcore". From the start, it's  been  about  heavy  music.  The
    label really didn't matter. Some label's going to push  you  down
    some track; Earache, for instance, as death metal  'cause  that's
    the way they  think  we're  coming  in,  with  Morbid  Angel  and
    everything else. It's just a sort of product placement.

CoC: You also used to have your "working relationship" with the Games
     Workshop (makers of tabletop battle games)?

GW: We did, 'cause we used the artwork on the _RoC_ cover.

CoC: There was this sort of massive association, though. 'Cause  back
     in 1990/91, I was into miniature  gaming,  I  wasn't  even  into
     metal, but your name (Bolt Thrower) kept coming up.

GW: I think Games Workshop did a survey on who bought their  products
    and it worked out as metal kids, 14 to 17 year  olds.  Originally
    they approached us to record and do everything. GW were going  to
    start their own label, they wanted ours as the first album,  they
    were going  to  do  the  artwork  and  everything.  Then  Earache
    approached them. So we got the combination and  we  thought  we'd
    use all the imagery and graphics from GW, but  obviously  Earache
    as a record label. I'm sure Games  Workshop,  going  in  for  the
    first time, would have gone under doing that.

CoC: Would you go into a cooperative deal like that again?

GW: No, people like that want a lot more control. If you look at them
    against  Earache,  Earache  were  a  small  label,  GW   were   a
    multi-million dollar company. There was too much  restriction  on
    the artwork. You're paying every time for a license -- it cost us
    fuckin' shitloads, the _RoC_ cover, about seven grand in the end.
    I was happy to pay it 'cause I liked it, but it's  still  fuckin'
    seven grand.

CoC: Your artwork's  altered  a  bit.  The  first  three  covers  are
     cartoonistic,  battlehardened  war  pictures.  Whereas  on  _The
     Fourth Crusade_ you used....

GW: A Delacroix painting.

CoC: The entry of the Turks into Constantinople  [fall  of  the  Holy
     Roman empire, end of  the  Roman  army].  Then  _...FV_,  has  a
     photograph and now  _Mercenary_  has  a  picture,  though  of  a
     different sort. Why did you chose  this  cover  for  _Mercenary_
     and, in general, do you have a particular idea for your artwork?

GW: We've got a particular idea but it would be too  expected  to  do
    _RoC_ again. Everyone sees that as the best cover  that  we  ever
    had. So it would have been easy  to  have  your  gatefold,  Games
    Workshop style and stuff like that. So on _...FV_  we  made  sure
    there was nothing like that.

CoC: I personally like that cover, in some ways it is  better  to  me
     because it is more reflective -- more clever.

GW: <Laughs> True, true enough. For us it was sort of "art war", nice
    sunsets, it's something you wouldn't have as a cover.  A  lot  of
    people didn't like it, but that doesn't really concern us. At the
    end of the day, when it goes in your CD player, the  cover  is  a
    piece  of  paper.  Looking  for  something  is  the  killer.   We
    commissioned four artists for the _Mercenary_ cover.  One  was  a
    _RoC_ special <we both laugh>. The next one, the artist was going
    down some path on his own. We gave him a load  of  ideas  and  he
    just  changed  'em  around,  so  we  thought  "fuck  that".  Then
    eventually we approached this artist who is an actual war artist.
    He'd done work for  the  military.  The  _Mercenary_  picture  is
    what's called a photolithograph, it's like  a  painted  photo.  I
    quite liked the idea -- it's fuckin' rough, it's rough and bleak,
    and I like that.

CoC: The cover and title of the album reflects  the  lyrics,  it's  a
     "Mercenary; Behind Enemy Lines"  (both  songs  on  _Mercenary_).
     Have  you  done  any  sort  of  concept  on   mercenaries   with
     _Mercenary_?

GW: Some bits are probably sort of linked together, but  not  all  of
    it, they never usually are. Not full concept  albums.  You  could
    say _RoC_ was meant to be, but it wasn't.  We  sort  of  gave  GW
    lyrics  that  we  were  happy  with,   not   that   they   wanted
    particularly. Games Workshop  actually  wrote  some  for  us.  We
    didn't  use  any  of  'em,  'cause  they  were  fuckin'   totally
    ridiculous.

CoC: The Carcass of war lyrics?

GW: Exactly, exactly.

CoC: Loads of crazy long words?

GW: Exactly, that is spot on!

CoC: Well yeah, 'cause that's exactly what  the  Games  Workshop  are
     like, if you read their rulebooks.

GW: It was just like that, they were actually embarrassingly funny --
    they rhymed.

CoC: Oh wow. All poetry has to rhyme, of course. [Sarcasm.]

GW: And in that sort of sense, I think they were going a bit past the
    line, they'd stepped over it a bit too much themselves.

CoC: What is the song "Powder Burns" (on _Mercenary_) about?

GW: Drug enhancement. It came from a story of  the  Congo,  obviously
    the mercenaries out  there  were  fighting  against  tribespeople
    called the  Simbas.  Well,  they  were  still  very  tribal  with
    witchdoctors and stuff. There was strain of Shiva  they  used  to
    take, which means you can carry on killing even after you've been
    killed, for about two or three minutes. The story  sort  of  came
    around that for "Powder Burns".

CoC: The band's line-up changed over the last couple of years,  which
     ended up with Karl Willets [long-time BT singer] back,  and  now
     he's left again.

GW: Well, we brought Karl in to do the album, we talked about touring
    -- for us, what we've been looking to do for so many years, is to
    seal a line-up. We tried it with Martin  [Van  Drunen,  ex-Asphyx
    vocalist] and it didn't work out. What we've been trying to do is
    stay as one line-up, but we just don't get the dedication out  of
    the new players. They haven't done enough for Bolt Thrower and if
    they're a bit half arsed, you're lookin' at them like, "you cunt,
    I'm livin' for this and you're half arsed." It gets  embarrassing
    when your fans are more  dedicated  than  your  band.  That's  an
    embarrassing situation to be in, so we usually have to purge.  We
    don't really like the idea, 'cause we're  not  arseholes  who  do
    that kinda shit, but if someone is slackin', they're slackin'. It
    is important to stay pure and the  people  you  get  in  probably
    aren't massive Bolt Thrower fans.

CoC: But Karl, of course, has been in the band quite a while.

GW: Yeah, and it wasn't forced, either. It was totally natural 'cause
    it just felt like old times. We had a good time in there, easy.

CoC: Is your replacement Dave Ingram from Benediction?

GW: Yes, of course.

CoC: Is Dave staying with the band?

GW: He's joined.

CoC: Do you think Karl will go to Benediction and we'll have a Napalm
     Death / ENT for 1998?

GW: No, I don't think so. Who knows, though?

CoC: So, why Dave?

GW: Well, we played a gig with Dave after we kicked  Martin  out  and
    Dave fitted like a glove, personality-wise and on stage. He  just
    seemed like he'd been in BT for years. It wasn't  forced,  that's
    what I liked about it, it was quite natural  and  he's  obviously
    really up for it. We also rate his vocal style. We wanted to keep
    it, sort of extreme vocals, that's originally why we  got  Martin
    in. It would have been so simple for the band,  after  Karl  left
    [originally], to put a singer in. Make  no  mistake,  that  would
    have been the obvious thing: put a singer in, still  quite  heavy
    music, try and go more commercial; but it is  something  we  just
    didn't want.

CoC: _Mercenary_  has  a  different  producer  [Ewan  Davies];  Colin
     Richardson produced _Warmaster_, _... For Victory_...

GW: And _The Fourth Crusade_ and _Realm of Chaos_.

CoC: So, did you move away from him 'cause you weren't happy with his
     previous work or was the change for variety's sake?

GW: We actually asked him, and I don't think  he  wanted  to  do  it.
    Plus, then we heard what the price  was  gonna  be,  and  he  was
    fuckin' dreaming.

CoC: 'Cause he's done all the Fear Factory, etc. albums now.

GW: Unfortunately that's what he was looking for, he's  got  his  own
    agent who was taking a percentage and his wife was  managing  him
    and he was looking for the high  life.  On  _...FV_,  though,  we
    almost recorded without him. Basically, when we did  _...FV_,  at
    the end of the session I looked over to see his face and  he  was
    fuckin' relieved. Not happy, he  was  fuckin'  relieved.  In  the
    past, even though he's produced, we count him as an  adviser.  He
    don't get no say, 'cause the band  are  sitting  in  there  going
    "fuckin' no  way".  On  _FC_  we  tried  him,  we  actually  were
    interested in how he would produce us if we left him to do it. We
    left him with one song and when we  came  back  we  were  fuckin'
    crying with laughter at how shit it was. This one, it worked out.
    He wanted 10,000 pounds (US$ 16,000). He ain't that good.

CoC: I have no idea of production costs...

GW: No, nor have I, but he ain't that good! <We both laugh> He  might
    be five thousand, he might be six, but he certainly is  not  ten.
    With this studio we went in, Lincoln, Ewan works with him. So  we
    had an idea of what he did. But really, _Mercenary_, Bolt Thrower
    produced with Ewan advising and engineering. It is  something  we
    wanted to get more hands on.

CoC: So in the future would you like to found  your  own  studio  and
     produce your albums yourself?

GW: Nah, we have thought about it in the past just  like  we  thought
    about our own record label, but because we do the  merchandising,
    the tours and the management, just trying  to  join  more  in  is
    going to turn it into a fuckin' nightmare and I think you're  not
    gonna concentrate on the band as much  because  you're  gonna  be
    more a business part of it, and I don't like that idea. You still
    wanna be a band and play music, but  unfortunately  some  of  the
    other stuff just comes with it.

CoC: What are your plans for touring?

GW: January will be Europe, then probably America. We also  wanna  do
    some countries we haven't done before.

CoC: When are you touring in the UK?

GW: We're not.

CoC: You're not?

GW: Nah.

CoC: Not again.

GW: Yup.

CoC: It's been a while...

GW: About five and a half years.

CoC: How come, is Metal Blade unhappy to put up the money?

GW: No, and England isn't either. It's just we've played England  and
    had really good gigs and we've played and  not  had  really  good
    gigs. It is weird, but what we usually do is use a UK  gig  as  a
    warm-up show. It's shitter not playing at all. But you  go  where
    you're wanted, pretty simply.

CoC: It's a pity for the fans, but if you can't get the numbers...

GW: Well, it  is  not  just  the  fans  over  here,  the  album,  the
    distribution is so bad over in England. You can't even see it  in
    the shops.  There's  more  of  that  _Who  Dares  Wins_  [Earache
    "rarities" compilation from  which  Bolt  Thrower  get  nothing].
    Nothing to do with the band, you can bet on it, 'cause  we  don't
    like shit like that. Earache are just trying to make  some  cash.
    We thought it was going to be a greatest hits.  You  know  you're
    finished then, you know it is over.

CoC: You've never done a big light and pyrotechnics show  live.  With
     your war image, that surprises me. To have a  band  who  are  so
     into war, but live, don't have that effect. Except musically.

GW: Yeah, it's true. We've never really had that,  but  we  have  had
    pretty decent light shows. We just use a lot of backdrops.

CoC: Will you pretty much be staying the same from here onwards?

GW: We think so. We look for perfection. That's what we're  searching
    for. If we ever think that we can't release an album as  good  as
    the last one, we won't. Releasing a crap or  watered  down  album
    means that it's gone for us, 'cause the music is gone.

CoC: Would you say any of your albums inspired you to write a  better
     album by being bad?

GW: It is hard to say about disappointment, 'cause for us it  is  the
    memory of the time when it was done, so though it might not sound
    as good to you now, you just remember that time. So it  is  still
    positive.

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

       A   V I K I N G   V E N G E A N C E ,   I N   B L O O D
       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      Chronicles of Chaos chats with Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     After the death of the physically extreme Norwegian black  metal
scene of the early '90s (the days of the church burnings,  the  Inner
Circle and, later, the murders), the  bands  who  were  part  of  the
musical scene were forced, or given the chance, to  stand  solely  on
their own  musical  merits.  Today,  black  metal  bands  are  judged
similarly to other bands: primarily on their music and public  image.
One could argue that the events of the early '90s were  about  image,
but I believe real violence  is  beyond  mere  commercial  image,  or
should be. Though some believe that the musically extreme scene  died
along with the physical extremity, I would disagree. Admittedly,  the
shift towards gothed-out commercial black metal, with such albums  as
_Dusk... and Her Embrace_ and _Enthrone Darkness  Triumphant_,  is  a
step away from the harsh, dark  sounds  which  the  scene  originally
emitted, but Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir are not the  last  word
on where black metal is today. This is where Enslaved come  in.  They
were never part of the violence, but they have been part of the music
since, more or less, the beginning. They have shared split  EPs  with
scene greats like Emperor  and  Satyricon  and  produced  such  noted
albums as _Frost_ and, in more recent times, _Eld_. Now  they  return
to the fray once again with _Blodhemn_ (translated as "A Vengeance in
Blood"), a record on which they move away from the epic direction  of
_Eld_ and, to some degree, sway more  towards  the  sound  of  1994's
_Frost_. Speaking to Grutle Kjellson,  it  became  evident  that  his
concern was his music and his band and not with fitting into any kind
of scene, now or in times gone by.

CoC: So, how are you doin'?

Grutle Kjellson: Uhhm, a little bit of a hangover, but otherwise okay.

CoC: <Laughs> How are things in the band?

GK: Oh, things in the band are very good right now. Everything worked
    out perfect.

CoC: How are plans for touring going?

GK: We have some plans for doing a small promotion tour in the US and
    Mexico next year.

CoC: Would that be your first trip out there?

GK: On this album, yes. We've been in the States before, three  years
    ago, but that was on the _Frost_ album.

CoC: What do you think are the  differences  between  _Blodhemn_  and
     _Eld_?

GK: The differences are huge, actually, very much because we have two
    new members [guitarist Richard Kronheim and  drummer  Dirge  Rep]
    and both of them are taking part in the songwriting, both  lyrics
    and music. The drummer is very different  from  the  one  on  the
    _Eld_ album.

CoC: In style or the amount of skill?

GK: The style, mostly the style, because the drummer on _Eld_,  Horgh
    [Harald Helgeson, now with Immortal], is also very good.  But  it
    didn't fit that much into our music, so on this album we tried to
    get hold of a perfect drummer. Dirge Rep fits  perfect  into  the
    band and the drumming has a lot to say in the music, it  is  very
    important. So that's  very  different,  his  playing  is  totally
    different from Horgh's. Also, our new guitarist used to be a rock
    'n' roll guitarist and he took a lot  of  ideas  from  styles  of
    music that we had never been into before. It's  a  more  complete
    album than our other releases.

CoC: So, apart from the addition of new members,  do  you  think  the
     change  of  studio  and  producer,  moving   from   Pytten   and
     Grieghallen, has made a big difference?

GK: Oh yeah, a very big  difference,  because  we  have  worked  with
    Pytten in Grieghallen for  three  records  and  it  is  not  very
    exciting anymore.

CoC: You need a bit of variety?

GK: Oh yeah, nothing wrong about Pytten, but we needed  some  change,
    some new challenges, new  people  to  work  with  and  the  Abyss
    studio, the area around the studio was very nice  and  everything
    worked out perfect.

CoC: Did Peter Tagtgren make any suggestions or  say  anything  which
     changed your music, or did you just basically record with him?

GK: He had some ideas, but basically he just  recorded.  He  actually
    did some backing vocals on one track. He had some ideas here  and
    there, just like a producer should have, without actually  taking
    part in the making of an album. Many producers have a tendency to
    try to run the band. Tagtgren is a perfect producer to work with.

CoC: On this album there are some techniques you haven't used before.
     Some songs have weird electronic parts in them and at the end of
     the album, after  the  outro  is  finished,  there  is  a  weird
     grinding sound, like  grinding  in  a  tunnel.  Who  were  these
     introduced by and are any of them particularly significant?

GK: The outro was something that just came up, I really don't want to
    tell what it is, because that should be a secret. But  the  other
    sounds were done by Ivar [Bjornson, guitars and electronics),  he
    has always done the keyboard stuff and that was his idea from the
    very beginning when he made the  songs.  That's  supposed  to  be
    there. But the outro was just a crazy idea we had.

CoC: A private band thing?

GK: Yeah, that's a private band thing.

CoC: Okay, fair enough. So long as I  don't  read  it  anywhere  else
     <laughs>.

GK: <Laughs> I don't think so, not from me anyway.

CoC: Your previous album title, _Eld_, translated into English, meant
     "Fire".  Now  you  have  "Vengeance  in  Blood".  What  is   the
     significance of this  particular  title?  It  has  a  much  more
     violent feel to it...

GK: Yeah.

CoC: ... And it kind of fits with the faster,  more  violent  musical
     path  you've  taken.  I  was  wondering  whether  there  is  any
     connection between the title of the new album and its style?

GK: Yeah, the title track has lyrics I wrote in quite an insane  mood
    or whatever you want to say, quite angry, and I think the  record
    is pretty much angry, aggressive  and  I  think  the  title  fits
    perfectly well. There are some kind of, not soft,  but  beautiful
    parts.

CoC: But unlike on _Eld_, where there were bits of it peppered around
     the album,  on  this  the  most  "beautiful"  bits  are  at  the
     beginning and the end; in between there is a huge wall of really
     brutal sound. It sounds good but it is a change, you don't  have
     the thirteen minute epic that began _Eld_.

GK: I see what you mean.

CoC: Why do you chose to sing in Old Norse as opposed to  English  or
     Norwegian?

GK: This is actually in Norwegian. We have two languages  in  Norway.
    The western part is a kind of language  called,  I  suppose,  new
    Norwegian. The Norwegian they speak in the Eastern part  is  very
    much like Danish. Very  influenced  by  Danish  writing,  because
    Norway was in union with  Denmark.  The  language  _Blodhemn_  is
    written in is the language we speak and write in the western part
    of Norway. This is new Norwegian and that is something that  came
    up from old dialects. There was an author called Ivan Allson  who
    collected a lot  of  dialects  throughout  the  western  part  of
    Norway. He made this new  Norwegian  writing  language  from  the
    older dialects that had kind of survived from Old Norse.

CoC: I am curious about the album cover. The last album was a  photo.
     This time you've got a picture, and quite a simple picture. What
     is the significance of the shield, the mace and the battle-axe?

GK: You are thinking of the promo cover. That's just a cover  to  get
    the promo CD out.

CoC: What does the real cover look like?

GK: It's a picture of us on a stony "beach", the  sea  and  a  Viking
    ship, swords and all.

CoC: I'm a little confused; the reason I thought mine  was  the  real
     cover is that it was in the Nuclear Blast catalog  and  all  the
     adverts.

GK: That was a mistake. I think the promotion cover looks like Donald
    Duck.

CoC: <Laughs> I wasn't too big on it, that's why I was asking.

GK: <Laughs> It wasn't supposed to  be  released  that  way  at  all,
    that's just the promotion cover,  the  actual  cover  is  totally
    different.

CoC: Musically, you basically fit into the black metal genre,  to  an
     extent...

GK: Concerning the music, yes.  I  think  the  music  is  metal.  The
    category all depends on the lyrics, from my  point  of  view.  As
    long as it is not dealing  with  satanism  or  such  things.  The
    lyrics describe the music, the music is  metal,  but  our  Viking
    lyrics can explain how we're not black metal, so we use the  term
    "Viking metal". It is not really  a  category,  the  category  is
    metal and the Viking stuff is just something with which we've put
    a label on the music many years ago. That has kind  of  become  a
    category now. That's not our fault.

CoC: A few bands from Norway choose not to play live, or don't do  it
     very often. Burzum, Varg refused to play live...

GK: Because it was a one man thing, pretty strange.

CoC: Don't Darkthrone play live anymore?

GK: Darkthrone is put on ice for many years.

CoC: But you guys do go in for live playing and you seem to  take  it
     as quite a priority. When I saw you in  London  you  dressed  in
     stage garments and played with a lot of energy. I was  wondering
     how important live performances are to you?

GK: Live performance is of course very important for  every  band,  I
    think. You have to prove that you can play live; everyone can  do
    a record in the studio, but I don't look upon that as a band.  To
    be a band, it means that you perform in front  of  some  sort  of
    audience. That's my definition of a band. Otherwise it is just  a
    studio project. Don't you agree?

CoC: I know what you mean, but it's something some bands don't  agree
     with.

GK: They, of course, have different points of view and I respect them
    for that, but this is my definition and our definition.

CoC: What are your touring plans for Europe and when are we likely to
     see you?

GK: We have been negotiating with the promotion  agency.  We  haven't
    come up with anything yet, but we will definitely do  a  tour  in
    Europe, probably March and April  or  something,  'cause  we  are
    going to the States at the end of February.

CoC: Anything more you wish to say?

GK: Most people who haven't  recognized  us  yet,  and  if  they  are
    reading this interview, I'd like to say  to  them:  come  to  our
    concerts and we will prove that we are  one  of  the  best  metal
    bands of the ages. Come check us out.

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

    A   G A T H E R I N G   I N   P E R P E T U A L   M O T I O N
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             CoC chats with Hans Rutten of The Gathering
                           by: David Rocher

     With a  musical  career  spanning  over  nearly  a  decade,  The
Gathering may definitely be granted the  right  to  evolve  in  their
craft. Starting out with what can be described as a "symphonic"  doom
album, _Always_, the band developed a strong  underground  following,
so atmospheric, meaningful and very nearly mystical  was  their  art,
that was only to  be  tarnished  by  their  rather  unpopular  second
output,  _Almost  a  Dance_.  However,  with  the  arrival   of   the
enrapturing Anneke van Giersbergen on vocals, the  band  developed  a
new sensitivity on _Mandylion_, which rapidly grew to be  predominant
in their  music,  and  explains  the  immense  distance  between  the
brooding melancholy of _Always_ and the psychedelic, dreamy, somewhat
non-metallic feel of their latest work, _How to Measure  a  Planet?_.
Justice must be done to The Gathering for firmly taking the  perilous
decision to evolve, rather than opting for the  cheap  behavior  that
may best  be  called  "the  Metallica  syndrome".  In  the  following
interview, drummer Hans Rutten displays great conviction when talking
about The Gathering's new offering; a talkative, sincere, and  gentle
musician, who shows no shame in tending to leave the metal world, and
displays great pride in having left a timeless milestone in it.

CoC: Firstly, what's gone on in  the  band  since  the  recording  of
     _Nighttime Birds_?

Hans Rutten: Jelmer [Wiersma, guitars] parted ways with  us,  because
             he didn't feel like playing guitar  anymore.  It's  very
             simple, he was fed up playing guitar, he couldn't  write
             any songs anymore, so we talked  to  him  --  and  we're
             still very good friends. He wanted to do something else,
             he wanted to do more "electronic" music,  and  now  he's
             working as an engineer, mixing bands in a venue, so he's
             happy, and we're happy. We didn't  feel  like  searching
             for  another  guitar   player,   because   Anneke   [van
             Giersbergen, vocals] can play a little guitar,  and  one
             guitar is enough for us now. I guess you can hear it  in
             the songs, [they're] less bombastic... We had a  lot  of
             possibilities all of a sudden, and I guess we used them.
             So, after _Nighttime Birds_, we toured a lot, especially
             with Lacuna  Coil,  and  we  came  to  write  a  lot  of
             material. So, we recorded a double album this summer, in
             Amsterdam, because we were a bit fed up  with  recording
             in Germany, for many reasons.  I  personally  think  too
             many bands record at  the  Woodhouse  studios  nowadays,
             they all have the same  sound,  everybody's  complaining
             about it at Century Media -- well, not at Century Media,
             but the bands are  complaining;  for  Century  Media  of
             course, it's very easy  [convenient?]  to  have  a  home
             studio. So we decided to do it in Amsterdam, with  Attie
             Bauw as a producer, and it was very long, because it was
             a double album -- we spent two months in the studio, but
             this is it: it's finished, we've mastered it,  and  now,
             we're doing interviews for it!

CoC: You were talking about the electronic music Jelmer is now  into;
     what do you think of the way  more  and  more  metal  bands  are
     integrating electronic sounds and influences in their music?

HR: I think it's good to develop, not to be conservative  and  always
    play the same kind of music. You can say  if  you  like  it,  and
    that's a matter of tastes, but I think  it's  good;  experimental
    music is always good, otherwise it's no music for me -- music has
    to be something exciting and something new, and I'm really fed up
    with bands who make the same record every  time,  with  the  same
    producer, and so on... So I think it's good, I like it.

CoC: The way you're using keyboards in The  Gathering  is  over  time
     becoming less atmospheric and more  experimental,  and  kind  of
     psychedelic as well...

HR: Correct.

CoC: What's this due to?

HR: Well, we already did this on _Mandylion_ and  _Nighttime  Birds_.
    Frank [Boeijen, keyboards] and our producer Attie had  a  lot  of
    ideas to experiment, and we did it a lot... I think the keyboards
    are very atmospheric, but in another way; this album is different
    from _Nighttime Birds_, so we did something else.

CoC: I guess the whole of your music is  becoming  more  psychedelic,
     from what I've heard of _How to Measure  a  Planet?_...  Somehow
     moving away from metal, towards a form of  psychedelic...  rock,
     maybe?

HR: Yeah, maybe a sort of doomy, gloomy rock, yes, correct.  I  think
    it's very diverse; we have songs like "Liberty Bell" and  "Rescue
    Me", which are typical [The] Gathering songs to me,  and  on  the
    second CD [_How to Measure a Planet?_  has  been  released  in  a
    limited 2CD edition -- David], you've got  songs  like  "Probably
    Built in the Fifties", which is very  heavy,  or  "Illuminating",
    which is another typical [The] Gathering song; but the title song
    "How to Measure a Planet?" is also on CD #2, but that  lasts  for
    28 minutes,  it's  a  very  long,  epic  soundscape,  a  kind  of
    psychedelic trip. There's a lot of diversity  on  this  album,  I
    think you cannot say it's only psychedelic; some songs  are  very
    short, and, for example,  "Frail",  the  opening  song,  is  very
    "relaxed" -- we wanted to open this CD in  a  very  relaxed  way,
    because we've always opened in a very  heavy  way,  and  I  guess
    we're a little fed up with only playing heavy  guitars;  for  us,
    it's not exciting anymore  --  yeah,  that's  why  we  made  this
    diverse album, I guess.

CoC: Do you still believe The Gathering rate as a metal band, or...?

HR: I don't know... I still love metal, progressive metal  acts  like
    Prong, Voivod, bands who develop, which is in  my  opinion  very,
    very good. But it's  music,  so  it's  only...  categorizing,  as
    always, I hate it! Some songs on _HtMaP?_ are metal,  some  songs
    are psychedelic, some songs are really melodic...

CoC: I noticed you pay great attention to the  visual  appearance  of
     your albums.  When  you  look  at  your  new  release,  are  you
     satisfied with the layout and the cover?

HR: Yeah, it turned out quite well, I guess we're very happy with it;
    especially the CD booklet itself, it's very  nice.  We've  always
    had and still have discussions with record companies  --  Century
    Media didn't think [the cover] was "fairytale" enough,  but  this
    album is  not  "fairytale".  We  already  wrote  two  "fairytale"
    albums, and this is something else, which they didn't  like  that
    much, but hey, it's their problem, because  I'm  playing  in  the
    band, it's our thing. It's a very creative kind of layout,  maybe
    a bit more modern, also.

CoC: On the whole, are you satisfied with the way  things  are  going
     with Century Media?

HR: What do you want, the honest answer or...? <laughs>

CoC: Go ahead, give me the honest answer!

HR: Of course, yeah! Century Media is  only  doing  -metal-,  and  in
    quite a good way, I guess, but they're only pushing  bands  in  a
    metal direction, and I really think Century Media have no -metal-
    acts anymore. I don't consider a team-up as a real metal band, or
    Moonspell, Samael or Lacuna Coil as metal acts -- I think  Lacuna
    Coil are a pop-rock act, and I like them very much,  but  they're
    not really -metal- anymore, though they're more or less stuck  in
    the "metal" field.

CoC: There are still bands like Old Man's Child, Twin Obscenity...

HR: They're black metal, and they don't sell that much,  they're  not
    the biggest acts. Of course, there's black metal,  Century  Media
    want to jump onto the bandwagon, it's stupid... Real black  metal
    acts come from small labels, I guess -- it's  underground  music,
    but it's been booming, a  lot  of  people  have  bought  it,  and
    Century Media wanted to make some money...

CoC: It's dying out pretty fast now, actually.

HR: It is going down now, and right now, it's something else -- heavy
    metal is coming back, acts like HammerFall... and  Century  Media
    have -no- acts  like  HammerFall  [Nocturnal  Rites?  --  David];
    Nuclear Blast have bands like HammerFall, they also have Manowar,
    and they're worth a lot of money. Nuclear Blast is a metal label,
    and they've signed metal acts, they have real heavy metal acts; I
    think Century  Media  have  to  make  the  crossover  to  another
    audience; metal  is  important,  but  [so  are]  the  independent
    magazines and press, they need it... otherwise they'll drown.

CoC: Considering the Dutch metal scene... Holland is  known  for  The
     Gathering, but also more brutal acts such as Consolation, Altar,
     Gorefest... What do you think of these?

HR: I only know a band like Gorefest. We're  in  the  same  business,
    we're colleagues, so we talk a lot, if we see each  other,  which
    is very difficult because they're touring, we do our  own  stuff,
    but it's always nice talks with Gorefest, and  also  with  Within
    Temptation and Orphanage... We're not friends, but colleagues, we
    appreciate each other. But I don't think Holland has some  -very-
    good acts. I think Scandinavia is quite good, but Holland...  no.
    I don't think there's anything really good at  the  moment  right
    now. It's a bit of a pity.

CoC: _Always_ is considered as a cult album in the underground  metal
     world... how do you feel about this?

HR: Great! I have a new story about it: the record company Foundation
    2000 are bankrupt, they're totally gone, and we have  the  rights
    back for our first two CDs; that  means  _Almost  a  Dance_,  but
    especially _Always_. I know _Always_ is an  underground  classic,
    and I'm very, very proud of it, because it still has a very  good
    atmosphere. Of course I'm doing something totally different right
    now, but I don't neglect it, it was a period with which I  had  a
    lot of fun, and you can hear it on the album. It was recorded  in
    five days, and there are a lot of good songs  on  it,  it's  very
    atmospheric... We've started a little label to  release  it,  and
    I'm also going to release the first two  demos,  which  are  very
    hard to get, especially with good quality -- I know  the  quality
    sucks anyway because they were recorded in a very poor situation,
    but a lot of people still ask for them. I'm very happy we've  got
    the rights back, so I can do something big for the  old  fans;  I
    know there are a  lot  of  fans  who  don't  like  The  Gathering
    anymore, but who still like _Always_, and I want to do  something
    for them as well. I'm also very busy doing it  on  vinyl,  [there
    will be] a very limited vinyl version.

CoC: Looking back upon  your  previous  albums,  before  _Mandylion_,
     would you ever consider  re-recording  them  with  your  current
     style, with Anneke on vocals?

HR: No, no, we did them at that time, it would be very stupid. We may
    do some live songs from that period with Anneke...

CoC: As a band, you've been going for ten years, of which about  four
     years with Anneke. What changes do you feel she's brought to the
     band?

HR: She didn't change the music, I guess, because we  all  write  the
    music; Anneke also wrote some music for  the  last  album...  She
    brought the band a beautiful voice, which fits in perfectly  with
    our musical ideas, and of course we became a bigger act thanks to
    Anneke.

CoC: The approach to your music seems different now;  when  you  look
     back on the philosophies and expectations in The Gathering  when
     you started out and what they are now, what has changed?

HR: What can I say? We walk our own way, and I know we've got  a  lot
    of success, but we're not making music because  of  the  success,
    otherwise we would never have made a double album:  commercially,
    it's almost suicide. We love  music,  that's  why  we  made  this
    album, our heart lies in making music...

CoC: What are the lyrical guidelines to  _HtMaP?_?  Anneke  seems  to
     have made the band move away from the sort  of  mysticism  there
     was in the beginning towards a more dreamy, sensual approach...

HR: Yeah, of course, she's a female, and females  always  sing  about
    love, though there's not that much of that on this album anymore;
    there's a little kind of concept behind this album -- as  a  band
    we travel a lot, we see  a  lot  of  things,  we  get  a  lot  of
    impressions which we turn into music, and that's closer  to  what
    this album is about. For example, the  song  "How  to  Measure  a
    Planet?" is inspired by the movie "2001" -- the song  could  even
    be the soundtrack to the movie, it's so long...  Some  songs  are
    more about a kind of inside traveling, for example, a  song  like
    "Liberty Bell" is about the excitement  of  going  into  a  space
    shuttle or a rocket, and there's a lot of excitement in the song,
    musically. The song is really about an astronaut sitting  in  his
    chair, who feels the excitement!

CoC: Did you ever consider that you had written sad songs on _Always_?

HR: Yeah, but Bart [the band's first singer -- I  think  I  got  this
    right... -- David] was into a totally different kind of  poetics;
    Anneke's style is more, in a way, girls' writing, very poetic and
    very "hidden". I guess Anneke is  more  direct  in  her  writing,
    there are a lot of differences between them.

CoC: Talking about Anneke's writing, what inspired  the  track  "Fear
     the Sea"?

HR: The song is about water in all its  aspects,  and  water  is  the
    bringer and the giver of life -- when you're an embryo, you're in
    water --, life came out of water, and that's a  little  bit  what
    the song is about. We don't understand the power of it,  it's  so
    common, people don't think about it anymore -- that's the sort of
    hidden message behind it.

CoC: As a band, you seem to get a lot of inspiration from the majesty
     of nature and the elements...

HR: Especially on _Nighttime Birds_.

CoC: ... Can this be considered as a form of paganism?

HR: Yes, we have a  lot  of  admiration  for  nature.  I  think  it's
    beautiful, I love  to  watch  it  on  Discovery  Channel  --  see
    something, and think "that's the place where I want to go"... and
    you get back to the traveling aspect of this  album,  as  we  all
    like to travel and see things. There's not that  much  nature  on
    _How to Measure a Planet?_. This is more the traveling aspect, to
    go into space but also into yourself, with  or  without  drugs...
    It's a very introspective album, it's very  introvert,  it's  not
    party music like Pantera -- put it on, drink  beer,  and  have  a
    party --; no, this is more difficult, something to put on  before
    you go to sleep, to float away...

CoC: Okay, the last words are yours, anything to add?

HR: Yeah, it's a difficult album, it's not  "poppy"  as  some  people
    say, it's not cheap. You have to listen  to  it  more  carefully,
    there's still a lot of guitars -- some people disagree  with  me,
    but I still think there are a lot of heavy songs  and  heaviness,
    and intense songs don't have to  be  necessarily  guitar-oriented
    for us, so you have to give it more time...

CoC: Metal audiences are kind of narrow-minded...

HR: It's a pity, there are a lot more flavors in  the  musical  world
    than metal. I'm a metalhead, I always was a metalhead; as a  kid,
    I'd always go see Iron Maiden, but when I see  what  Iron  Maiden
    are becoming now... They don't have the guts  to  change,  and  I
    think that's the most stupid thing you can  do  --  you  have  to
    change, and this album is a big change, there's more space,  more
    experimenting, but yeah, give it a chance.

CoC: Thanks for your time, it was really nice talking to you...

HR: Yeah, me too, thank you for the show, good interview!

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                L I B E R   L E G I S   M E T A L L I
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
          CoC interviews Marten Hansen of A Canorous Quintet
                           by: David Rocher

     A Canorous Quintet, though they are one of No  Fashion's  finest
acts, are suffering from a totally unjustified  lack  of  recognition
that is not wholly dissimilar to the story of Swiss thrashers Coroner
-- everybody digs, no-one buys. After two very melodic and  emotional
outputs, namely _As Tears_ and _Silence of  the  World  Beyond_,  the
canorous gang have, anno 1998, released a mean, raging, brutal little
swine, which drops the former brooding quietness and melody of ACQ in
favor of a violent, battering, thrashing death metal assault, that is
very relevant of  their  state  of  mind.  Frontman  and  pure  breed
metalhead Marten Hansen eagerly responded to my  e-mailed  questions,
and his outspoken answers more than speak for themselves...

CoC: Please tell me about the band's history to this  day,  and  what
     you are up to now.

Marten Hansen: Well, the idea of ACQ took place in early  1991,  when
               we formed a band called A Canorous Quartet. As  things
               evolved, we changed members several times and  in  the
               end, parts of the band split up, to form ACQ in  early
               1993. Six months later we  recorded  our  first  demo,
               _The Time of Autumn_. It  was  only  released  in  100
               copies, and isn't something that we  think  represents
               ourselves well, since there was a lot of drinking  and
               unseriousness involved. Later on, we recorded a  promo
               tape that we sent to a few labels; it didn't result in
               a record deal but at least we let the record companies
               know that we existed. In Autumn 1994  we  entered  the
               famous Unisound studio to record our second demo,  _As
               Tears_; it was never  released  as  a  demo  since  No
               Fashion and Chaos Records wanted us  on  their  label.
               _As Tears_ became available as an MCD in late 1995.  A
               couple of months after this release,  we  entered  the
               Abyss studio to record our first  full  length  album,
               _Silence of the World Beyond_.  In  november  1997  we
               entered Sunlight and recorded our most  brutal  effort
               to date, _The Only Pure Hate_, and that's were we  are
               right now. During all of  these  years  we  have  done
               several live  gigs  and  played  with  bands  such  as
               Katatonia, Dissection, Edge of Sanity and Hypocrisy,
               among others.

CoC: For those  who  have  not  yet  heard  your  new  release,  what
     evolution does _The Only Pure Hate_  feature  when  compared  to
     _Silence of the World Beyond_?  Musically  speaking,  _TOPH_  is
     definitely more intense, violent  and  thrashing  than  _SotWB_,
     what inspired this evolution ?

MH: The greatest change from _SotWB_ is that  the  aggression  always
    has been there, but this time we have let it flow free, no  holds
    barred, if you know what I mean. This is how we  feel  about  our
    music today, it's a statement of what we feel the world  deserves
    and needs. We've been through a lot of shit  lately,  and  that's
    also the reason for this evolution  in  musical  terms.  We  also
    wanted a more "back to the roots" feel with this  album,  and  we
    feel that it was a long time  since  an  album  like  _TOPH_  was
    released.

CoC: Compared to your somewhat "poetic" approach in  titles  such  as
     _As Tears_ or _SotWB_, how did you  come  to  the  very  warlike
     title _The Only Pure Hate_? Your lyrics have  evolved  the  same
     way, I guess... What are your inspirations, at the time  of  _As
     Tears_ as well as today, in terms of lyric-writing?

MH: The reason for this title is, as you say, an evolution along with
    our lyrics. With this album, we wanted more of an "in your  face"
    attitude. At the time of _As Tears_, our inspirations were mainly
    the same as today: good music and the feelings we shared at  that
    time; our music and lyrics are very emotional [personal?] to  us.
    My main source  of  inspiration  for  lyrics,  however,  strongly
    depends on the mood I'm in, and I don't write lyrics when I'm  in
    a good mood. It's all about letting the steam out, so  there's  a
    lot of aggression and frustration involved.

CoC: You refer very little to religious matters, such as satanism  or
     paganism, which have become but mere bandwagons. So what are the
     philosophies and expectations behind ACQ ?

MH: As I formerly mentioned, it's all about emotions and how we think
    about many things. We want a more reality-based  experience  when
    you're listening to us, we want people to recognize some of their
    emotions  in  our  lyrics,  and  through  them,  get  a   greater
    understanding of our musical concepts. There are a few exceptions
    from this philosophy, and that's in the  three  ending  songs  of
    _TOPH_. These are parts one to three of a story I wrote  in  '94,
    about magic and mysteries in a world of fantasy.

CoC: What do you think  of  the  way  the  metal  scene  is  evolving
     nowadays, with all these wannabe evil  bands  playing  the  same
     music with keyboards,  female  vocals,  etc.?  Will  A  Canorous
     Quintet ever use such elements? Does the current wave  of  black
     metal bands hold any interest for you ?

MH: I don't mind [the fact] that bands are using these  elements,  as
    long as [their use] doesn't become  a  purpose  in  itself.  Many
    bands I've heard seem to use keyboards just for the sake of using
    them, and that sucks. We have also used keyboards on our  earlier
    efforts, but that was just to  enhance  the  effect  of  what  we
    wanted to achieve. On _TOPH_, we haven't used  any  keyboards  at
    all since we felt that the material already was so strong that we
    wouldn't improve it by  using  keyboards.  Concerning  the  black
    metal wave, I consider it to already have gone out of  hand;  the
    labels seem to be signing anything as long as it's  black  metal,
    that really ruins the scene. But of course there are a few  bands
    that still hold my interest.

CoC: Your influences seem to be essentially heavy  metal  and  thrash
     bands of the '80s, plus maybe a few death metal bands  from  the
     '90s... Which bands have been an influence  for  you?  Have  you
     noticed any really interesting bands lately?

MH: As you say, it's mainly '80s bands and a  couple  of  '90s  bands
    that have inspired us. To mention a few, we have Slayer,  At  The
    Gates, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden,  Kreator,  Deicide.  But  then,
    overall, anything that sounds great and arouses emotions  can  be
    an inspiration. Lately there haven't been many interesting  bands
    coming up, but The Haunted is really cool!

CoC: What does the cover of _TOPH_ depict? _SotWB_ had a picture of a
     dead girl in a bodybag -- was  this  a  -real-  corpse?  Do  you
     believe there is beauty to be found in death ?

MH: The cover of _TOPH_ is a picture of what lies beyond the  silence
    of the world beyond,  everyone  is  dead  and  many  are  [being]
    tortured; if there is an afterlife, this is not where you'd wanna
    be. The painting shows the essence and the  result  of  the  only
    pure hate, it's death and mayhem that is left and creatures  that
    will eat up your remains. In the end there will be  nothing  left
    behind. The dead girl on _SotWB_  is  a  mystery,  no-one  really
    knows, but we  certainly  hope  that  they  revived  that  little
    beauty. I do think you can find beauty in death, where else  will
    you find true peace? However, I  don't  think  you'll  find  this
    peace if you aren't meant to go, if you aren't ready!

CoC: You have tested three recording studios in the  space  of  three
     releases. Are you satisfied with the way each recording  session
     went? Are you going to try recording  your  future  material  in
     another studio, such as Studio Mega or Fredman?  Any  particular
     likes or dislikes among these studios, so far?

MH: At the  time  of  each  recording  we  have  always  been  fairly
    satisfied with  the  result,  but  there  are  always  things  to
    improve, it's only the lack of time that  limits  us.  As  things
    have turned out,  we  have  had  more  and  more  time  for  each
    recording, and have become more  and  more  satisfied  with  each
    recording, but I don't think we have  found  the  perfect  studio
    yet, [though] Sunlight is fairly close [to that]. We really don't
    know which studio we will record further material in -- it  might
    be Sunlight again, as well as any other studio. The only dislikes
    we've had with the studios we tried  concern  the  distance  from
    where we are living and the circumstances we've  been  forced  to
    live through during the  recordings.  Sunlight's  positioning  is
    perfect for us, since it is located in Stockholm, where we live.

CoC: Whereas black metal is literally  becoming  an  industry,  death
     metal has yet again gone underground, thus confining A  Canorous
     Quintet (and  most  other  death  metal  bands)  mainly  to  the
     underground scene. How do you mind this prospect?

MH: I don't mind us being in the underground, but on the  other  hand
    we have never been anything but an  underground  band.  The  only
    thing that's sad about this prospect is how many  listeners  will
    never get a chance to hear us; we wouldn't  mind  selling  a  few
    more albums.

CoC: I am sadly led to believe that A Canorous Quintet are a  grossly
     underestimated band -- I don't see many interviews or reviews of
     your work in zines or elsewhere. Am  I  wrong?  How  are  things
     going for you?

MH: No, sadly enough you are not wrong, I also  consider  ACQ  to  be
    greatly underestimated; here in Sweden we are considered to be  a
    good band with good live performances, but, in other parts of the
    world, we practically don't exist. We hope that this will  change
    in the future, because we are confident that we deserve better.

CoC: How are the opportunities for touring and  promotion  going  for
     the band? Are No Fashion taking care of you as they should?  And
     what do you think of their roster of bands?

MH: We have been offered tours, but  No  Fashion  has  declined  them
    since they would cost them money. The promotion part hardly seems
    to exist, we've been [included] on two compilations as far  as  I
    know, and that's since '95, when we signed  to  them.  It  really
    bothers me that you practically haven't seen any reviews, because
    No Fashion claims to have sent out over 200 promotional copies of
    the album (not that it is that many, but it should result in  100
    reviews at least). So, answering  your  second  question,  no,  I
    really don't think No Fashion are  taking  care  of  us  as  they
    should,  but  be  warned,  we're  not  the  only  ones  who   are
    complaining. Concerning the current No Fashion roster, it doesn't
    impress me very much, but earlier on they had many  of  the  best
    bands of the  Swedish  scene,  like  Dissection,  Unanimated  and
    Marduk. Nowadays I mainly appreciate The Moaning  and  Ablaze  My
    Sorrow, but it seems like both these  bands  have  more  or  less
    resigned from the scene; [as  to]  if  it's  No  Fashions  fault,
    you'll have to ask them personally.

CoC: Are  any  members  of  A  Canorous  Quintet  involved  in  other
     projects? Is the band currently working hard on new material?

MH: Three of the members are involved in a project entitled  Guidance
    of Sin, and it seems like two of our members  will  leave  us  to
    concentrate fully on this project, so I guess we'll have to  find
    two new members, if that's the  case.  Due  to  this  problem  we
    haven't been writing much new  material,  but,  as  always,  time
    shall tell.

CoC: Tell me what film you would like your music to be the soundtrack
     to.

MH: I think our music would fit as a soundtrack to  the  ultra-brutal
    psycho heavy movie "A Clockwork Orange". I can't  answer  for  my
    other brothers in metal, but I think this  movie  best  describes
    the essence of _TOPH_.

CoC: Okay, Marten, that's  it.  The  last  words  are  yours,  please
     conclude as you wish.

MH: Thank you very much  for  your  true  dedication  to  A  Canorous
    Quintet, and for the interview. And  to  you  people  out  there,
    check out our albums and tell us what you think of them, and send
    a whole lotta mail to No Fashion inspiring  them  to  promote  us
    better and send us out on a tour, so that we can meet you all and
    show the world what Swedish death metal is all about! And  always
    remember that metal is the law, stay true to metal.

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               F L O W I N G   M I D W I N T E R T E A R S
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                CoC interviews Anders Hidle of Tristania
                           by: Pedro Azevedo

     Norway may be the land of black metal, but it's also the land of
female vocals in metal, or at least the  country  that  produces  the
most bands in  the  genre.  Tristania  are  one  of  those,  but  the
symphonic metal with death growls and female vocals  found  on  their
1997 self-titled debut MCD [CoC #27] and especially  1998's  _Widow's
Weeds_ [CoC #30] indicates that Tristania are not  an  average  band.
What follows is my  e-mail  interview  with  guitarist  Anders  Hidle
regarding what Tristania have been doing and what they plan to do  in
the future.

CoC: In the past few years, several bands have decided to add  female
     vocals and symphonic arrangements to metal, like you  have.  How
     do Tristania intend to stand out from the rest? What  would  you
     say that you have which makes you special?

Anders  Hidle:  The  basic  idea  behind  adding  female  vocals  and
              symphonic arrangements to the traditional  death  metal
              is to create "brutal music" with melody. The thing that
              attracts me to these elements is the contrast that  you
              get  between  the  heavy/brutal  ingredients  and   the
              calm/melodic parts. When a beautiful melancholic melody
              line is being set up in anticipation of a  heavy  part,
              this melody line becomes even  more  beautiful.  It  is
              also important for Tristania to be a metal band --  now
              and in the future. Morten [Veland]'s death vocals  will
              always be the most important vocal parts in our  music.
              When we recorded _Widow's Weeds_, it was very important
              for   us   to   make   a   record   which   wasn't    a
              "one-of-a-million" gothic  album.  We  wanted  our  own
              special sound, and I think we managed  to  achieve  it.
              One of the things  that  are  special  for  Tristania's
              sound, compared to the  bands  you  mentioned,  is  the
              violinist we used  on  the  album.  His  name  is  Pete
              Johansen, and he plays in  an  Irish  folk  band  [from
              Norway]. We are very satisfied  with  what  he  did  on
              _WW_. One thing that Irish folk music and gothic  music
              have in common is the  gloomy  and  melancholic  sound.
              This guy gets his own sound on the violin, and you  can
              actually hear the Celtic sound on all the  melodies  he
              performs on this CD.

CoC: From Norwegian bands such as Theatre of Tragedy and The 3rd  and
     the Mortal to Dutch  acts  such  as  The  Gathering  and  Within
     Temptation, how do you view the current scene of which  you  are
     now part?

AH: I enjoy listening to all  the  bands  you  mentioned,  especially
    Theatre of Tragedy, of whom I am a big fan. As I said in my first
    answer, Tristania want their own sound. Our band has  often  been
    compared to ToT, and probably not without  reason  --  of  course
    these two bands have much in common, but the differences are also
    quite obvious, in my opinion. ToT has much more  doom  influences
    in their guitars. The vocals are  also  different:  Liv  Kristine
    from ToT and Vibeke [Stene] have very different ways of  singing.
    Liv Kristine uses mainly a calm way of singing. Vibeke uses  many
    different ways of  singing,  especially  powerful  opera  vocals,
    which suit our music very well, I think. Besides, on  Theatre  of
    Tragedy's latest recording there  are  no  growled  male  vocals.
    Raymond only  uses  the  "clean  vocals"  now.  So  I  guess  the
    similarities are no longer so obvious.

CoC: Your band name, Tristania, brings  to  mind  sadness  and  doomy
     music; however, you aren't an extremely doomy band, or at  least
     that doesn't seem to be your main concern. So how did that  name
     come up?

AH: It's true that the name  "Tristania"  refers  to  melancholy  and
    sadness. It's not a real word in any language (as far as I know),
    but it is a result of the Norwegian word for sad (trist) and  our
    own fantasy. We sort of added an ending to that  word.  We  liked
    the  sound  of  it,  and  there's  also  something  that's   very
    important: it's a bandname that has never  been  used  before.  I
    agree with you that we are  not  an  extremely  doomy  band.  But
    making our music as doomy/sad as possible has never been our goal
    (and never will be). Tristania's  music  has  a  melancholic  and
    gloomy mood, but that is because we like to express this kind  of
    mood in our songs. I think the music  would  have  sounded  quite
    stupid if we said to ourselves that it had to be sad and dark and
    all that when we were composing. I think it's very important that
    the music's mood is something natural. So we don't  try  to  make
    the music as sad as possible, although we like a melancholic mood
    and feeling in the music.

CoC: How was the passage from your self-titled EP to _Widow's Weeds_?
     Did everything always go well with Napalm?

AH: Tristania has existed for over five years with different  musical
    styles, line-ups, and different band names. Today's line-up  came
    together as a band in the middle of 1996, and we work  very  well
    together. In May 1997 we recorded our four-song  demo,  which  we
    titled _Tristania_. This was a self-financed album, and we  aimed
    mainly at getting a record contract. But it was also released for
    sale, and 500 copies were printed.  A  couple  of  months  later,
    Napalm Records contacted us and wanted to  sign  us.  We  made  a
    deal, and we signed a contract for three full-length albums and a
    re-released version of the MCD. It was re-released with a new mix
    and a new cover. In December 1997 we  recorded  _Widow's  Weeds_,
    and it was released in early 1998. Our cooperation with  Max  and
    Napalm has been great and we haven't had  any  problems.  We  are
    also quite satisfied with their promotional work. We have already
    been on one European tour with Haggard and Solefald, and  also  a
    couple of festivals and stuff. So we are very pleased with Napalm.

CoC: Having re-recorded "Midwintertears" and "Pale Enchantress"  from
     your self-titled EP for _Widow's Weeds_, why did you  leave  out
     "Cease to Exist"?

AH:  Personally,  I  think  that  both  "Midwintertears"  and   "Pale
    Enchantress" are very good  songs,  and  very  typical  Tristania
    songs. "Cease to Exist" is also a good song, but  this  was  more
    like an  experiment.  "Cease  to  Exist"  can  be  compared  with
    "Angellore" on our new album. These  are  not  typical  Tristania
    songs, but music that we like very much. Personally, I enjoy many
    gothic bands which don't have anything to do  with  metal.  I  am
    sure, though, that Tristania will compose  other  songs  of  this
    kind in the future,  but  the  main  thing  will  always  be  the
    metal-related stuff. Besides, we were very disappointed with  the
    sound quality on the two songs, and we thought that they deserved
    to be released with a better sound. I think that "Midwintertears"
    and "Pale Enchantress" are like two brand new songs  on  _Widow's
    Weeds_, compared to the MCD.

CoC: In your  opinion,  what  are  the  main  improvements  shown  on
     _Widow's Weeds_?

AH: The main improvement is, as I said, the sound  quality.  We  were
    not comfortable with the sound we had on the MCD. On the new  CD,
    the whole recording process was totally different. We went  to  a
    studio with much better equipment, and we had much more time (the
    MCD was recorded in three days, and we used over a month to  make
    _WW_). Terje Refsnes at Sound Suite Studio is  a  great  producer
    and he is quite experienced in this kind of music. He has  worked
    with many Norwegian metal bands, such as Gehenna, Dismal Euphony,
    Twin Obscenity, Malignant Eternal and Carpathian Forest. I  think
    he is one of the best [producers]  in  Norway  in  this  kind  of
    music. We were very satisfied with the sound quality on _WW_.  We
    got what we wanted: a  symphonic  sound  with  punch  and  power.
    Another difference on _Widow's  Weeds_  is  the  variety  in  the
    songs. The album contains  all  music  from  straight  goth-rock,
    represented  with  "Angellore",  to  melodic  black   metal,   in
    "Wasteland's Caress". This musical plurality  is  very  important
    for us, and something which we will hold on to in the future.

CoC: Having  had  a  guest  vocalist  (for  clean  vocals),  a  guest
     violinist and a choir available for the  recording  of  _Widow's
     Weeds_, did you have all the conditions you needed?

AH: We were very lucky with the recording of _WW_,  because  we  know
    many good musicians, and  especially  good  singers.  Osten,  who
    performs clean vocals on "Angellore", is a good friend  of  ours.
    He has a magnificent voice which suits  our  dark-romantic  music
    perfectly. He is the singer in a very good goth band, by the way.
    They're called Morendo, and come from the same part of Norway  as
    ourselves. The band is unsigned, by the way,  so  here's  a  good
    advice for any label who wants  to  sign  interesting  goth  rock
    bands:  sign  them!  Besides  Osten,  myself,  Kenneth   [Olsson,
    drummer], Morten and Vibeke from the band, the choir consisted of
    three more girls. These are friends of Vibeke's from  the  school
    where she takes her musical education, and they  are  all  really
    good. Pete Johansen also did a great job with the  violin,  as  I
    mentioned earlier. We got many of the ingredients we  wanted  for
    this album, but if I am to mention  some  other  things  that  we
    would like to add to Tristania's sound, it must be  more  strings
    and  classical  instruments.  Both  cello  and  flute  are  great
    instruments which we want to use on our next record.

CoC: I know you've been  doing  some  concerts  lately,  namely  with
     Hagaard and Solefald. How has it been going?

AH: Yes, we went on a sixteen days long European tour  with  Solefald
    and Haggard, and it was really cool. Great experience. We  got  a
    very good response from the audience, and it was nice for  us  to
    play for the people in Southern Europe. After all, it's them  who
    appreciate our work and buy our records. Our sales in Norway  are
    almost nothing compared to those in Germany, Austria and  so  on.
    So we had a hell of a great time! One of the gigs in Austria  was
    filmed, and within a few months a live Tristania  video  will  be
    released. Another good thing about the tour was that  the  people
    in Solefald and Haggard are great! We are already looking forward
    to the next tour.

CoC: I heard that you are supposed to record a new album in February.
     What can you tell us about that?

AH: Yes, we are working hard with the new material, and we  will  hit
    the studios in the first week of February. We have planned to use
    the same producer that we  used  for  _Widow's  Weeds_,  and  the
    recordings are planned to take six weeks. Most of the material is
    already finished, but we have a lot of work left,  arranging  and
    stuff. It looks like the next album will be killer! We  are  very
    positive... I think it won't disappoint those who liked  _Widow's
    Weeds_, but the music has also developed since the last album.  I
    think we have  taken  everything  a  step  further.  The  musical
    plurality will be even more important in the future. I think  the
    songs will be more different from each other than on _WW_, though
    they will still belong together in a way. It will still  be  sort
    of a gothic metal album, but, at the same time, so much more.  We
    will  use  even  more  session  musicians,  especially  classical
    instruments. So, everybody, keep your eyes open!

CoC: Any final words for this interview?

AH: Greetings to all the readers of the Chronicles of Chaos  internet
    zine. A big hello and thanks to everybody that went to our  shows
    on the European tour! We are looking forward to meet you again on
    the next tour. Prepare yourself for the next Tristania  album.  I
    promise we will not bore you!

Contact: mailto:anhidle@online.no
         WWW: http://www.tristania.com

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               S W E D I S H   V A M P I R E   T A L E S
               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
              CoC interviews Marcus Ehlin of Siebenburgen
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     _Loreia_ [CoC #22] was one of 1997's most surprising albums  for
some people, mainly because of the female vocals and folk  influences
included in Siebenburgen's mid-paced black  metal.  However,  as  you
shall see in this e-mail interview, Siebenburgen's own  Marcus  Ehlin
(vocals/guitar) doesn't find those components very important in their
music, which may explain why they weren't really developed  in  their
second album, and follow-up to _Loreia_, 1998's _Grimjaur_ [CoC #31].
Below lie some  details  about  what  Siebenburgen  is  about,  their
current situation and future plans.

CoC: I know that Siebenburgen is supposed to be the ancient  name  of
     Transylvania, while  several  of  your  song  titles  relate  to
     vampyrism. What is your  connection  to  that  subject  and  how
     important is it for your music?

Marcus Ehlin: Yes, that's correct; Siebenburgen is the  old  European
              name for Transylvania. And yes, most of our lyrics deal
              with vampires and vampyrism. I am  very  interested  in
              both vampires and vampyrism, and that's why most of our
              songs are related to this subject.

CoC: What exactly is the story  behind  _Loreia_  and  _Grimjaur_?  I
     heard they are supposed to be based upon Swedish  folklore,  but
     what stories do they tell?

ME: They are not based on Swedish folklore; most of  them  are  about
    legends and myths from a fantasy world called Grimjaur, which  my
    ex-girlfriend Mara has  created.  Until  now,  Mara  has  written
    almost all of our lyrics, but after our split I will take care of
    the lyrics. _Loreia_ is the name of a vampire queen in  the  land
    of Grimjaur, and the translation of Grimjaur is midnight.

CoC: Why did the band choose to sing in Swedish? Will you continue to
     do so in future albums? I noticed that  some  of  the  new  song
     titles are in English...

ME: We started to sing in Swedish, and it just  went  along  in  that
    direction. After _Grimjaur_ I wrote some lyrics in English and  I
    thought that they were too good to just throw away. Therefore, we
    decided to include them on our upcoming third album.

CoC: How did the inclusion of vocalist/violinist Louisa Hallstedt  in
     Siebenburgen happen? Was she part of the  plan  to  create  this
     precise kind of sound with  Siebenburgen,  or  did  things  just
     happen by accident? Did you always intend  to  have  a  sort  of
     black/folk sound?

ME: Since the start of the band  I  had  ideas  about  mixing  female
    vocals with our music. When I met Louisa, she seemed  to  be  the
    right person for this, but after a while the two of us didn't get
    along like we did in the beginning. Therefore I decided to end my
    work with her, and start searching for a  new  girl.  We  haven't
    found a replacement for her yet, but I  have  contact  with  some
    people  that  are  interesting,  whom  I  will  meet  very  soon.
    Siebenburgen isn't a "black/folk" band. We play metal, that's it.

CoC: How important would you say  she,  or  any  female  vocalist  in
     general, is for the band?

ME: Not very important; it's not  like  we  are  building  the  music
    around female vocals, it's the other way around.

CoC: I noticed that Louisa's participation in  _Grimjaur_  wasn't  as
     important,  in  a  way,  as  in  _Loreia_.  I  mean,  she   only
     participates in a few tracks, and, except for the last song, her
     participation isn't quite as striking as  in  _Loreia_.  Do  you
     agree? Why did this happen?

ME: Yes, I agree. Louisa's parts on _Grimjaur_ are quite bad.  That's
    one thing that made me end our work with her. She  had  lost  her
    interest and she was only into making money.

CoC: What are your main concerns as  you  plan  another  album?  What
     would you like to see changed relative to your first two albums?

ME: We don't "plan" songwriting or albums.  When  I  write  music,  I
    never know  what  the  final  result  is  going  to  sound  like.
    Everything changes all the time. The only thing we "plan" is  the
    recording. So what I would like to see as a change from  _Loreia_
    and _Grimjaur_ is, first of all, a much better sound quality. And
    that will happen with the next album, since the guy we will  work
    with is very professional and has bought tons of  new  equipment.
    But, of course, some problems will always occur.

CoC: How have things been going in live concerts? Any plans?

ME: We haven't played many live shows yet -- about sixteen. But I  am
    pleased with them. We will go on tour again in May, but right now
    I don't know where or with whom we are going to play with.

CoC: Napalm has a considerable number of black metal bands  in  their
     roster. How do you view that? Are you happy with Napalm?

ME: Napalm Records is a very good label, they have always treated  us
    very well and always supported us. And I don't think that  Napalm
    has so many black metal bands under their wings. They had more  a
    couple of years ago. Right now, they  only  have  about  four  or
    something.

CoC: How involved in the black metal genre would  you  say  you  are?
     Considering that you don't quite fit in "normal" black metal due
     to your folk  influences,  do  you  consider  yourselves  to  be
     outside the black metal genre?

ME: I am not involved in today's black metal scene -- if there is any
    scene left to talk about. There are hardly any great bands  left,
    I think. And what goes for Siebenburgen is that I have never said
    that we are a black metal band. We  play  metal.  I  can't  label
    Siebenburgen.

CoC: What are your main wishes for the future of Siebenburgen?

ME: That this time the recording of the new album will go on  without
    any major problems. We usually  have  this  "studio  curse"  that
    follows us... <laughs>

CoC: That's it. Any final comments you'd like to add?

ME: Thank you for the interview, and STAY METAL!!!!

Contact: mailto:marcus.ehlin@mbox301.swipnet.se
         WWW: http://welcome.to/grimjaur
         WWW: http://home6.swipnet.se/~w-68002

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      N O T H I N G   B U T   A B S O L U T E   D E F I A N C E
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Chronicles of Chaos chats with Jason Netherton of Dying Fetus
                           by: Paul Schwarz

     Crushing, violent, unrelenting -- brilliant. All terms very much
appropriate  to  Dying  Fetus'  most  recent  unleashing   of   sonic
brutality, _Killing on Adrenaline_, which was released at  the  close
of Summer this year by the band and Morbid Records,  in  the  US  and
Europe respectively. The band followed  up  with  a  run  of  touring
throughout the US and even some European  dates.  Additionally,  they
caused both musical and actual havoc at the  Milwaukee  Metalfest,  a
spectacle which I unfortunately  missed.  Dying  Fetus  have  been  a
growing concern on the underground since they unleashed  their  first
release, 1995's _Infatuation With Malevolence_  which  collected  two
earlier demos onto  a  single  compact  disc.  _Purification  Through
Violence_ followed and rose the band profile further, permitting them
to tour the States  more  extensively.  Now,  with  the  strength  of
_Killing on Adrenaline_ behind them, Dying Fetus are in a position to
move to a new level of recognition and popularity. At  present,  they
are back in the grind of normal life for a while,  recuperating  from
touring and dealing with other concerns. This interview  was  one  of
those concerns.

CoC: _Killing on Adrenaline_ is basically your  third  album,  you've
     been around for a little while now and you have  an  underground
     following. What is the significance of this record, compared  to
     your others? Do you think it is significantly better, reaches  a
     wider audience, etc.?

Jason Netherton: It's definitely our best one, the best  songwriting,
                 the best production and all that  stuff.  So  it  is
                 definitely a step forward for the band and as far as
                 a wider audience  goes,  the  record  label,  Morbid
                 Records, helped that. They've taken care of a lot of
                 the promotion and distribution; we did a lot of that
                 ourselves in the past. Especially in Europe, they've
                 done a lot more for us there. We still do a  lot  of
                 the American work ourselves, we print the CDs
                 ourselves here.

CoC: In terms of press recognition, you guys got a  recent  write  up
     and picture of the album cover in Metal Maniacs, you got quite a
     bit of notice for Milwaukee, the stage invasion. I hadn't caught
     on to you guys until just recently.

JN: Yeah, a lot of people haven't.

CoC: So do you think, with all that taken into account, you could  go
     further with this record, that it will take  you  up  to  a  new
     level?

JN: Yeah, we definitely think the new album will take  us  to  a  new
    level. The tours help and we set up  our  longest  tours  in  the
    States, 25 shows this time around. We book  that  all  ourselves;
    the Milwaukee Metalfest  we  set  up  at  the  last  minute.  The
    European tour was set up by Morbid, they took care of  all  that.
    On the tour we met a lot of people and got the chance to hang out
    with a lot of people, too.

CoC: _Killing on Adrenaline_ is pretty fuckin' brutal  musically  and
     you have quite an extreme, hard edged political stance too, with
     stuff like "Absolute Defiance". Is that the way you guys like to
     make music, with brutality in the music -and- the lyrics?

JN: The lyrics are my department, whereas the music's  mainly  John's
    department, with the guitars, etc. I wrote one song on the  album
    ["We Are Your Enemy"], he wrote the rest of  them.  We've  always
    wanted to play this  kind  of  music.  We  don't  concentrate  on
    writing brutal songs, we write songs which are  catchy.  We  like
    it, that heavy soynd, and we're glad it comes out  that  way.  As
    far as the lyrics go, I like to keep them interesting, too.  Half
    of them are more kind of traditional death metal lyrics, I guess,
    along the lines of anger, frustration, pain. The other  half  are
    more politically oriented, that's because that's what I study  at
    university, the international global economy. I like to take that
    kind of stuff and put it into lyrics and make it more  accessible
    to play to a wider audience. To make them  take  the  lyrics  and
    bring them down to a more personal level, I guess.

CoC: It kinda steps up the intelligence factor, stuff  like  "We  Are
     Your Enemy": "No one  left  in  peace,  a  policy  of  mandatory
     greed..."

JN: That's something I feel very strongly about.

CoC: The technical stuff is one of the  things  you  are  noted  for.
     You've got the groove and the catchy riffs, but you've also  got
     quite a lot of technicality in there, the  twinges  in  it,  the
     higher  bits.  Do  you  think  that  has  become  part  of  your
     "trademark" now, do you think you've developed more of your  own
     style?

JN: I think we always had that to a certain extent, and now as a band
    we've grown a little more and become even more critical with  our
    songwriting.  We  always  like  to  make  sure  that  songs  flow
    naturally, all the riffs  go  together,  everything  is  in  key,
    nothing is off with the time changes. We concentrate  on  that  a
    lot. That includes keeping  it  interesting,  to  have  technical
    parts, groove parts and maybe even like a hardcore style, we just
    wanna keep things interesting. We're lucky enough to  have  John,
    who's really talented and can do a  lot  of  the  more  technical
    stuff. We've always had a little bit of  technicality  in  there;
    not really as technical as it sounds, though. It sounds that way,
    but a lot of it is pretty basic. We've been playing for about ten
    years and John's been playing guitar for about fifteen  and  that
    is about where I guess a musician should  be.  We're  not  really
    that exceptional. The drummer is pretty good; I consider myself a
    pretty average bass player, 'cause I just follow  a  lot  of  the
    guitar stuff. I can handle all the bass, no problem, but  as  far
    as doing funk or slap I'm not what you'd call traditional.

CoC: As a band, do you think you'd ever  go  one  step  further  than
     catchy riffs and use keyboards or different vocals,  or  do  you
     think you are going to just stick with these basic elements  and
     twist them around a bit?

JN: If we ever release an album by Dying Fetus, it will always be  in
    this style; if it changes it all,  it  would  have  to  be  under
    another name.

CoC: Like a side-project?

JN: Well John has a side-project and he is doing that right now, full
    time as a matter of fact. We're not going to be writing new stuff
    'till next year.

CoC: What was the reason for doing  the  Integrity  cover  "Judgement
     Day"?

JN: John listens to a lot of hardcore. He liked the song a lot and he
    thought if it was done again -- it was written around '91 and the
    guitar sound is a bit thin [on the original]. We  thought  if  it
    was done in a heavier, death metal style it would come  across  a
    lot more powerful. Plus, we had seven songs and we decided to  do
    another one and have an eight song album.

CoC: It's interesting, 'cause a lot of death metal bands would  do  a
     thrash or death metal cover but not a hardcore or punk cover.  I
     think a lot of people will be surprised to  find  out  that  the
     track is by Integrity.

JN: That's 'cause John is a lot more into  hardcore  these  days.  He
    listens to more hardcore and goes to hardcore shows. He loves  to
    play death metal, but he's not really getting satisfied with what
    is out there, so he's turned to hardcore.

CoC: You've toured, you've put out the album; in terms of  the  band,
     how do you guys work, do you like to put out albums  or  do  you
     like to go on tour?

JN: We definitely love to tour, but  we  are  really  constrained  by
    other priorities. Of the other guys in the band, John  and  Brian
    both play full time, they're in their late twenties now and  they
    can't really afford to take off and travel around the world every
    Summer. We've been lucky enough in that we've managed to tour. We
    did a tour in 1996, three weeks in North America, and this Summer
    we were lucky 'cause we  managed  to  put  together  back-to-back
    European and US tours. Right now, it is looking like we won't  be
    able to tour until maybe 2000 and something.  Certainly  not  for
    more than four or five weeks.

CoC: So if you got offered, say, part of the Morbid Angel tour, you'd
     think about it?

JN: Yeah, we couldn't do it now because we just did  it.  Maybe  next
    Summer, we're thinking about going out on the west coast.

CoC: The problem with playing a style of music which  isn't  so  well
     sold is that you still have to work.

JN: You do it for fun.

CoC: It's almost not even a "professional" career.

JN: It's a hobby for us.

CoC: OK, say this album gave you quite a bit of popularity; if it got
     you a bit further, would you change your style a bit, make  life
     easier, do you think that would be an option?

JN: I don't think that, for us, a change in style  would  necessarily
    improve our sales. People like us for what we are, if we  changed
    it all, it would have to be  another  band  or  something.  We've
    always been this way, since 1992.

CoC: There is a small following of bands trying to  get  death  metal
     back now.

JN: I'm really not too impressed with a lot of bands now.

CoC: Any bands in particular which you do or don't like?

JN: I like a lot of stuff, I like the  new  Cryptopsy  a  lot,  we've
    always been friends with them. A lot of  bands,  I  can't  really
    think of any off the top of my head.

CoC: What kind of stuff influenced you to do Dying Fetus  originally,
     what did you listen to when you were growing up?

JN: Well, we grew up in the '80s and we listened to a lot  of  metal.
    We were into Iron Maiden and stuff, Alice  Cooper,  and  we  just
    kept getting into heavier and heavier stuff. We had a thrash band
    in the late '80s early '90s and we left that to form Dying Fetus.
    Along the lines of Death, Dark Angel, Deicide,  Terrorizer,  we'd
    just heard Suffocation then.

CoC: So do you hope that you inspire a whole new generation of bands?

JN: Well, I think it's great [if we do that]. Definitely. We spend  a
    lot of our free time putting energy into this music and  when  we
    do find out that people are really getting  into  it  and  really
    giving us respect for it, that's really special. We don't see  it
    every day, we only hear it every now and then.

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                G R I P P I N G   W I T H   S T Y L E
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                       CoC interviews Grip Inc.
                           by: David Rocher

     It seems that three full years after the release  of  _Power  of
Inner Strength_, Grip Inc. are finally earning the  recognition  they
so strongly deserve as a competent, determined four-piece  band,  and
no  longer  as  "Slayer's  ex-drummer  Dave   Lombardo   plus   three
unimportant guys who also play in this project of Slayer's ex-drummer
Dave Lombardo". After _Nemesis_ managed to put great distance between
Grip Inc. and the all-too-large ghost of Slayer's  style,  _Solidify_
ventures further  into  the  orientation  that  _Nemesis_  announced,
comforting the band's very personal touch. The following interview is
composed of two parts. Firstly, a greatly talkative,  very  outspoken
(and rather jolly)  Gus  Chambers  answered  my  many  interrogations
relative to the band and their excellent  latest  output;  then,  the
more introvert axeman  Waldemar  Sorychta  --  who,  if  you  recall,
started out in the  thrash  metal  outfit  named  Despair,  alongside
Century Media boss Rob Kampf -- phoned back to answer some  questions
relative to his very personal playing  style  and  his  career  as  a
musician in Grip Inc., but also as the renowned sound engineer of the
Woodhouse studio.

CoC: How's the tour going?

Gus Chambers: Very  hectic.  We've  had  like  three  days  of  heavy
              schedule, getting to bed at two or three and getting up
              at five, but that's okay -- we can do that. But  a  sad
              thing is that every time I come to  Paris,  I'm  either
              very tired or very hung-over, and I can't enjoy  it  so
              much! <laughs> I wish I could come here and relax for a
              couple of days, and have a good time,  but  ah  --  you
              know, I'm sure I will one day...

CoC: Hopefully! So, basically, what's gone on since  the  release  of
     _Nemesis_?

GC: Well, we toured for about six months on _Nemesis_. We  wanted  to
    tour more, but the business is what it is, and we  were  supposed
    to go on a big tour -- I don't want to say who  it  was,  but  we
    didn't get the tour. We were waiting and  waiting  to  do  Europe
    again, and it didn't come through, and then we were  supposed  to
    go to Australia, and that fell through too. So,  at  the  end  of
    '97, we said "forget it, we're gonna start  working  on  the  new
    album", and well, we started working on that in January, I think.
    We recorded it and it was all complete in  September  this  year,
    and now we're ready to go out and kick some ass! <laughs>

CoC: Where and how did the recording of _Solidify_ take place?

GC: Well, we recorded it in Hagen, Germany, again.  You  know,  we've
    done our last three albums there, and we're quite happy with this
    place. Sometimes it's a lot to do with the  budget  too,  and  it
    makes good business sense to go there on the  budget  we  get  to
    record an album, and we get a good product from there, too --  we
    would go somewhere else if we had a bit more money, I think,  but
    we like the Woodhouse, and the end result is good,  and  Waldemar
    works there a lot too, so he knows the board and he knows all the
    equipment, so we don't waste a lot of time.

CoC: The Woodhouse are the home recording studios for Century Media...

GC: Yeah, I think they go there a lot! <laughs>

CoC: You said you wanted to go and  record  somewhere  else  --  what
     studios were you thinking of?

GC: Well, I was thinking about going  to  Miami,  maybe  --  I  can't
    remember their names,  but  we  looked  into  them...  Sometimes,
    recording in the same studio, you fall into the trap of  sounding
    a bit the same, but hopefully we haven't done  that,  because  we
    worked hard on the sound and stuff like that. I think  next  time
    we will go somewhere maybe like Toronto, where Fear  Factory  did
    their last album -- somewhere out the way, though, because I know
    if we go to a place like L.A., we'll get interrupted a lot, we'll
    have people coming and "hey, let's have a beer!" and  stuff,  and
    we like to really get down to business when we're in there, so we
    sort of go off to where no-one knows us that well!  <laughs>  But
    as far as the names of the studios are concerned, I really  don't
    know any, I can't remember! <laughs again!>

CoC: What do the lyrics on the various songs of _Solidify_ deal with?

GC: Well, they're a very personal side of me, I  always  write  about
    stuff that happens to me personally, or something that  makes  me
    angry and I feel like I should approach it in a creative way,  or
    something that pisses me off. I usually sing about the darker and
    more depressive side of life, but I find that in a way  good  for
    me as a singer, to express myself, a good therapy to get it  away
    from me. And I think a lot of bands don't go that deep sometimes,
    and I'm not the type of singer to sing about cars and dragons and
    whatever, all the shallow things, I like to really get  into  the
    song, and that means I have to sort  of  relate  to  the  lyrical
    content, so I get quite personal with it. And it's  from  a  wide
    spectrum of life, a lot of experiences that  are  basically  from
    life.

CoC: You were talking about the darker side of things -- what do  you
     think of all these bands that claim to be dark?

GC: I don't find that  dark,  actually,  I  find  that  quite  silly!
    <laughs> I can't relate to that stuff, I'm not into that --  it's
    something I can't  get  into.  I'm  not  dragging  them  down  or
    slagging them off, or anything like that -- I mean, good luck  to
    them --, but personally, I just don't understand that stuff.

CoC: On _Nemesis_, the  song  "Scream  at  the  Sky"  was  about  UFO
     sightings and the way they're denied. Are you into this?

GC: Yeah, I am, actually. When I went to America, I actually tried to
    get to Area 51, and I was turned away -- well, if there's nothing
    there, why the hell are [they] not letting people go there?  That
    song really is more [about] frustration of certain governments or
    certain agencies that are obviously hiding  something;  obviously
    something's going on, but we don't know what it is, and for  them
    to cover up  something  like  that,  then  obviously  something's
    there. But who knows what it is?

CoC: The titles of your various albums seem  interesting;  the  first
     one, _Power of Inner Strength_ is  fairly  straightforward,  but
     _Nemesis_ is a word for "revenge" -- what was  the  idea  behind
     this?

GC: Well, that was a kind of stab at the sceptics, because there were
    always a lot of rumors about Grip Inc.; first of all,  it's  like
    "we're trying to be Slayer, we're  trying  to  copy;"  there  was
    basically a lot of negativity  directed  towards  us  in  certain
    areas, so with _Nemesis_ we wanted to show we didn't rely on just
    one formula, a thrash formula, and so we started going a bit more
    melodic, we started using a lot of ambient sounds and stuff  like
    this to get more depth. Really, _Nemesis_ was  like  a  "this  is
    your Nemesis, eat it all, leave us alone." And _Solidify_,  well,
    people say "did you call it _Solidify_ to show that the  band  is
    one unit and everybody's solid?", and this  kind  of  stuff,  but
    that's actually not what I was trying to get at. We all come from
    different backgrounds, different cultures,  different  countries,
    different musical backgrounds, different musical tastes, and what
    we do, as musicians, when we work together,  is  draw  from  each
    background a piece of us, what we get influenced by. And then, we
    put it together and solidify it,  basically,  to  make  the  good
    sound. So, hopefully, it sounds a bit unique, in a  way,  because
    when we do our songs, we don't want to sound like a  "the  flavor
    of the month" type of thing, we don't want to jump on  any  trend
    or any bandwagon -- we basically  do  what  we  feel  and  what's
    coming from inside of us, instead of being trendy.

CoC: It seems that since  _Nemesis_  you've  really  found  your  own
     style,  -the-  Grip  Inc.  style,   with   which   you're   very
     comfortable; how would you define this style?

GC: It was a natural progression, actually, it  wasn't  forced;  over
    the years, you either sort of fall  to  pieces,  and  it  doesn't
    work, or you actually draw tighter as musicians,  and  learn  how
    each of them is going to play, and how he can approach a type  of
    thing; because no-one in this band actually  wags  a  finger  and
    says "right, this is the way we're gonna do it, and if you  don't
    like it..."; there's none of that. It's just four  creative  guys
    and everybody has ideas, everybody has the chance to do what  [he
    feels], and if it sounds good and everybody's into  it,  then  we
    use it. As I said before, we don't like to use the same  formulas
    of music; on this one, we wanted Dave to play different beats and
    different tempos  and  stuff  like  this,  actually  for  him  to
    challenge himself too, because Dave's well known for  his  thrash
    style, you know, "the double-bass guy". We just wanted to make it
    more challenging and interesting, and hopefully people will  like
    it! <laughs>

CoC: Well -- I think _Solidify_ is good, I'm actually really into it.

GC: Okay, thank you very much, that's good news! <laughs again>

CoC: What is the cover going to be -- is it the photo of you there is
     on the cardboard promo?

GC: Yeah, it's going to be that, but it's going to be a  digipak.  We
    wanted to keep it kind of simple,  we  wanted  to  make  it  more
    organic and with a less computerized, cold feel; we did  that  on
    the _Nemesis_ album with the statues and stuff, and we wanted  to
    make it more simple -- we've never been into it,  but  a  lot  of
    bands are into monsters and whatever...  We  wanted  to  keep  it
    really simple, basic, and let the music do the  talking.  Someone
    said to me yesterday: "Hey, have you seen the new Metallica? It's
    near enough the same format!" -- it's got _Garage, Inc._ on  top,
    with a picture! What a coincidence! I  hope  people  don't  think
    that we're trying to do what they did! <laughs>

CoC: What exactly was the meaning of the _Nemesis_ cover?

GC: It's very deep, I think it went over a  lot  of  people's  heads.
    There are three statues that represent certain Greek gods, and  I
    don't want to get too deep into it, but... erm,  hmm  <definitely
    hesitant> -- I dunno, you'll have to ask the artist -- how  about
    that?! I completely forgot! <laughs>

CoC: It seems Grip Inc. are now  finally  earning  recognition  as  a
     band, and no longer as "Dave Lombardo plus three musicians". How
     do you feel about this?

GC: You know, there are always a lot of  rumors  going  around  about
    Grip Inc., "Dave's doing this, Dave's doing that, [Grip Inc.]  is
    a project"... but it's not! Me and  Waldemar  are  basically  the
    main songwriters, and always have been; Dave does  contribute  to
    the songwriting process with his drumming style, of  course,  but
    well -- Dave's had a lot more success and a  lot  more  notoriety
    than us, and of course people will hook into him before  us,  but
    hopefully the band does merit a little bit of [recognition? --  I
    absolutely can't make out what Gus  said  here...  --  David]  --
    there isn't just one guy drumming, I think the music  speaks  for
    itself, now.

CoC: Sure. How is recognition globally going for the band?

GC: Ah... Tough. Japan -- good! America -- forget  it;  it's  such  a
    hard scene, there... England, FORGET IT! Oh man,  they  hate  us,
    because we're not a part of whatever's going on -- you know, it's
    all fashion over there. Heavy music, or real music as I call  it,
    is sort of cast aside for trendy bands, whatever's  "in"  at  the
    time... I'm an Englishman, but I don't really have that  much  to
    do with these guys -- I'm really disgusted with the  music  scene
    now, I think it's terrible; there are some  great  musicians  who
    are not being given the chance to do anything, it's horrible.

CoC: And in the rest of Europe?

GC: In Europe actually, France, for some  reason  I  don't  know,  is
    great, they really like Grip Inc.. It's a big territory  for  us,
    every time we play we have a  great  time,  the  fans  are  real,
    they're there for the right reason. Germany  also,  but  I  think
    France is the main place in Europe for us -- I love it!

CoC: Last question: if you had the chance to write the soundtrack  to
     a film, what film would you choose?

GC: Oh God... <laughs> That's a hard one, because I haven't  been  to
    the pictures for ages! Erm... well... I'll tell you what it would
    be -- you know the Tellytubbies from England?

CoC: Erm... yeah?

GC: If they made a film, I think we'd do the soundtrack for that, how
    about that?! <laughs>

CoC: <bewildered> Tellytubbies? <dubious> Right...

GC: Nah, I hate them! <laughs> No, actually, I think it  would  be  a
    horror  film  like  "Hellraiser"  or  something  like  that,   or
    something with a lot of suspense in it, maybe... Yeah,  something
    like that -- I don't really know! That's a good question, because
    I've never been asked that before! I know Waldemar is really into
    soundtracks and making music like that -- I'm going to  tell  him
    to call you back!

CoC: Last words?

GC: To everybody that did buy the album, I just  want  to  say  thank
    you. We will be here, in some way, shape or form, and  we  really
    do appreciate the fans and we'll see you in the new  year.  Thank
    you very much! Keep rocking!

[Shortly after, Waldemar Sorychta calls back.]

CoC: So, you and Gus are the main songwriters in Grip Inc....

Waldemar Sorychta: Yeah, Gus writes all the lyrics...

CoC: ... And you deal with  the  music,  so  what  are  your  musical
     influences?

WS: Actually from everywhere, I listen to a lot of different  styles,
    and it is not just one style which gives me ideas; but I'm not  a
    person who is picking from [music]  --  if  there's  something  I
    like, I absolutely don't try to do it the same way; it just gives
    me some impressions. I'll just tell you, for example,  about  the
    guitar style; I'm a guitar player who is known for  playing  this
    hard kind of music, but my biggest  influences  are  actually  in
    Spanish flamenco guitars, they are my biggest  actual  influences
    for guitar, because I think that  flamenco  guitar  is  the  most
    aggressive and emotional, and also rhythmical guitar style of all
    different styles when you take rock, or blues, or jazz.  Flamenco
    is the most aggressive and living guitar, I'm really into  it;  I
    don't have idols  like  other  guitar  players  have  in  Ritchie
    Blackmoore or whoever in metal or hardrock guitar players. I like
    to listen to a lot of different things, but they  don't  actually
    give me that thing that flamenco guitar does. It's the same  with
    songwriting -- it's not like "I listen to different styles,  they
    influence me and I sit down to do the same thing"; it's just that
    everyday I go through different moods, everyday you're  at  least
    one day older, and you're constantly  moving  forward,  at  least
    that is the supposed to be the way you are,  as  a  human  being,
    moving forward,  and  not  back  --  and  that  gives  me  enough
    influences for  my  songs.  When  I'm  really  pissed  off  about
    something, I come with ideas that are very aggressive;  when  I'm
    sad about something, then songs like _Human?_ come out.

CoC: When you play a solo, you're not backed up by a  rhythm  guitar,
     which I  guess  is  the  way  you  sound  live.  Have  you  ever
     considered having a second/rhythm guitar?

WS: Actually, when the band started to exist, we had  another  guitar
    player, Bobby Gustafsson, who was an ex-Overkill  [member].  I've
    all my life been used to play with two guitar players, and  after
    the split with him, we started practicing with just three people,
    and I started getting used to it, it gives me a kind of  freedom.
    Everyone is individual -- guitar,  bass,  drums,  vocals  --  and
    everyone is doing this  very  well,  100%.  Sometimes,  with  two
    guitar players, you may have kind  of  conflicts  in  your  band,
    about who is better, who writes better songs and stuff like that.
    So, that gives us freedom to do what we want, as a band --  we've
    got used to it, and it actually feels very good.

CoC: Gus told me you're pretty much into soundtracks...

WS: Yeah, I listen to soundtracks, and I'm a guy  who  is  constantly
    making music; I've been playing the accordion and the piano since
    I was six years old, so it depends on the mood which  I'm  in,  I
    don't come home and tell myself "OK, now I'll do a song for  Grip
    Inc., which will be fast and  aggressive."  That  way,  it  won't
    work; I come home, and get influence from what  happened  to  me,
    and put my emotions into music. Depending on the  day,  I'll  sit
    down and write a piano song or a song which is actually meant for
    an orchestra -- but I don't have an orchestra at home, so  I  get
    close to that by just using keyboard sounds. Sometimes, I'll just
    write a rock song using a clean acoustic  guitar,  and  sometimes
    I'll be in the mood to grab my  electric  guitar  and  play  some
    aggressive songs.

CoC: You're as renowned for your participation in Grip  Inc.  as  for
     your work in the Woodhouse studios; do you  and  Gus  share  the
     same opinion on the black metal question? On the whole, what  do
     you think of the bands you produce?

WS: The black metal acts I've produced so far are Samael and Alastis.
    I  see  big  potential  behind  those  people,  although  in  the
    beginning, I didn't  agree  with  this  image  they  were  giving
    themselves; but then I met them, and saw that they're  very  nice
    people -- because your personality is the most important point. I
    don't care what you believe in, as long as you don't  hurt  other
    people with your beliefs and respect others',  so  I  don't  care
    about what they believe in -- Satan, God, or whatever. The  worst
    belief is what all the western countries are getting into, that's
    believing only in money, that's the worst belief you can have.

CoC: That's all from me; the last words are yours...

WS: Thank you very much!

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

                    K E E P I N G   I T   S A N E
                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        CoC talks to Crack Up
                          by: Adrian Bromley


     Most bands nowadays feel the need to go with  the  flow,  follow
trends, and/or make music that'll sell records. Bands gear themselves
towards making music that is far from original. Their intent? To  put
money in their pockets, in the process ripping off the music buyer by
giving them merely re-hashed or uninspired material. Those bands  are
very common in this industry, but there are many out  there  that  do
this "music thing" for the sheer love of it. Germany's Crack Up is  a
prime example of this. This band couldn't care less about making  the
big bucks; rather, they are  into  making  music  that'll  keep  them
fascinated with creating music.
     Now, onto their third record, _Heads Will Roll_,  (their  second
for Nuclear Blast  and  follow-up  to  1997's  ultra-cool  _From  the
Ground_), Crack Up continue on with their death n' roll  groove,  but
with a dash of detonating death metal tendencies.  It's  rough,  it's
ugly, but oh-so appealing to the ear. Your ears will bleed blood  red
as _Heads Will Roll_ keeps kicking you with its attitude in the shape
of a thick-laced boot of metal.
     "This was a lot of fun to make," says  bassist/singer/songwriter
Tim about the truly fun, grooving vibe of _HWR_.  "This  record  just
seems to radiate our feelings and ideas that we brought into it. This
is truly us. The songs fit more to our characters now and that allows
us to really let things go with the music."
     And as for having a fresh sound as a relatively  young,  unknown
band? Must be hard, right?  "It  is  very  difficult,  especially  in
Germany and Europe. It's hard for  other  types  of  metal  to  exist
anymore when all there is right now is heavy metal [i.e., retro]  and
black metal. It's a lot harder for a band like  us  to  get  anywhere
'cause of the music we play. We could easily do well, but that  would
mean we would have to jump on a trend, and we don't need to do  that.
Enough bands have done that already. We have chosen  the  way  to  do
things and it is the -only- way we will do things. We try to showcase
in our music and our attitudes that what we do is the best thing  for
us. No need to bend any certain way; Crack Up is Crack Up."
     "It's a lot of work and fun for us to  make  music.  We  try  to
really do things our way rather than take ideas from other bands  and
reproduce them within what we do. Why would we bring some other genre
band's style into our music? It just doesn't seem right.  A  majority
of the material you hear here  came  from  us  just  jamming  in  our
studio."
     And the cover songs that  seem  to  come  with  every  Crack  Up
release? The band had a killer cover of L.A. punk band Fang's classic
"Money Will Roll Right In". The new LP features a cover  of  Viking's
"Next Big Thing" and  Turbonegro's  "Bad  Mongo".  Why  those  songs?
"'Cause they rule!!", says Tim  enthusiastically.  "Those  two  songs
were chosen because: a) we like them; and b) we find  covering  songs
helps in the development of our music. It moves [us] to make music as
good as the songs we cover. It's funny 'cause "Bad Mongo" sounds like
a Crack Up song, like something we would write.  It  fits  right  in.
Crack Up enjoys doing cover songs, and who knows? Maybe  there'll  be
an EP [of ours] with just cover songs on it. We'd like to do an  Iggy
Pop song. I hope we can do that."
     One thing that seems to run deep within the music of Crack Up is
the band's lack of technicality. That's not a bad thing, either.  The
band has just decided to keep things on a simpler level for us  metal
fans to digest. Call it sloppy, call it rough  death  rock,  but  one
thing is for sure: these guys like to keep things moving.  No  fluffy
guitar solos here,  kiddies.  "I  appreciate  a  lot  of  what  these
technical bands are doing nowadays, I just am not into it. I used  to
be really into bands like Cynic, and some Death, of  course,  but  as
the years go on and I am getting more into this business, and  making
music, I find that you can express a lot more within your music  when
it is simpler. It's also much more enjoyable for  me  to  create  and
play this music. I couldn't imagine myself playing music  on  a  very
technical level. When Nirvana came out, they kind of  changed  things
and showed bands that a little went a long way. They had  songs  with
one riff and it worked. Many bands  are  out  there  playing  simpler
music and we're one of them. We enjoy our music  to  be  played  this
way."
     As for his take on today's music scene, he comments: "I dunno. I
am not too into what kind of music is surfacing nowadays. I hate  all
of the heavy metal crap that is coming out right now and  being  very
popular. I like to listen  to  death  metal,  old  death  metal  like
Obituary, Malevolent Creation and Vader. I don't think there are many
good death metal albums out right now, so I'm finding myself  looking
elsewhere, too. I like old  Soundgarden  and  am  really  into  newer
hardcore bands like Hatebreed."
     The topic turns to the label, Nuclear Blast, and touring.  About
label support, Tim answers, "We are very satisfied  with  their  work
and it's amazing how successful  they  are  becoming  over  there  in
Europe, seeing that they are a metal label. But being on a label like
Nuclear Blast is hard, 'cause as they  grow,  their  expectations  of
their bands do too. They look to keep bands that sell on their label,
like Dimmu Borgir, HammerFall and Manowar, and that is hard  to  deal
with at times. But on the other hand, we are grateful that they  have
given us the chance to be able to put out  our  records.  They  don't
pressure us to be a certain way or anything.  It's  all  us,  and  we
appreciate it. We have full control. Every band wants the best from a
label, but there are things that come along with  this  business  and
you have to wallow [through] them and move on."
     1998 was a busy year for the band. With recording a priority for
the band, they still found time to tour with  a  lot  of  respectable
partners: Unleashed, Hypocrisy  and  Benediction.  "It  was  a  great
experience for us," says Tim. "It was great to have a good tour  with
Unleashed when the last record came out. It opened us up to a lot  of
new fans. Other tours came and it was great. While  _HWR_  is  coming
out soon over there [slated for January 1999], we have  already  done
some tour dates with Dismember and Children of Bodom since the record
came out in October. We also did some touring with Death  here,  too.
We've been lucky. We are dying to come  over  to  North  America  and
play. If there is any chance, we will do so. We are ready to go."
     In closing, I ask Tim if it has all been worth  it  up  to  this
point. He answers: "Yeah. I look back at the development of the  band
over the last few years, and I am proud of what we went through as  a
band to mold us into what we are currently. We're a  bit  bigger  now
than when we started off, but [we] still have some ideas to bring  to
the band in the future."

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

                         W I L D   C H I L D
                         ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
           CoC chats with Alexi Laiho of Children of Bodom
                           by: Aaron McKay

     More than a month ago, I had the distinct pleasure  of  speaking
with one of the two founding members of Finland's Children of  Bodom,
Alexi Laiho.  An  accomplished,  dedicated,  and  appreciative  Alexi
answered question after question as I riddled him, one after another,
in  an  attempt  to  surface  the  undercurrent  of  greatness-tinged
mysticism that pervades Children of Bodom and their music.  The  band
has  a  unique  symphonic  metal   torrent,   present   alongside   a
neo-classical acuity [see CoC #32]. It is now my  understanding  that
the forthcoming effort by the group is presently being  recorded  and
has been promised a release  date  toward  the  end  of  February  in
Finland with  Europe  soon  to  follow.  Please  allow  yourself  the
opportunity to experience Children of Bodom's splendor, if  you  have
yet to do so, but preface it with Alexi's following thoughts to  whet
your appetite.

CoC: Children of Bodom have hit #1 in Finnish sales. What a  terrific
     accomplishment for the band.

Alexi Laiho: Yes,  that's  true.  It's  pretty  cool.  Especially  in
             Finland, we are becoming pretty popular. When we did the
             album, and after we finished, I was  convinced  that  no
             one was going to buy this shitty album and  no  one  was
             going to like it, because I thought  it  was  too  black
             metal for heavy metal fans and maybe too heavy metal for
             black metal fans. So we  didn't  expect  something  like
             this would happen. So, in Finland it is  selling  pretty
             well. We released the single  ["Children  of  Bodom"]  a
             couple of months ago and it went to number  one  in  the
             single charts for two months.

CoC: In a perfect world, would you have -picked- "Children of  Bodom"
     to be the song that the band is known for?

AL: I don't know. I think the best... Well, to be honest, I am pretty
    sick of the whole album. If I had to  choose,  it  would  be  the
    first song, "Deadnight Warrior".

CoC: That's a great song.

AL: Thank you. It's always a compliment to hear stuff like that.

CoC: I wanted to ask about the intricacies of the band's music. It is
     very heavy and extremely melodic. How  do  you  work  these  two
     styles together so well?

AL: I think that it is the musical influences. Maybe  three  or  four
    years ago, I was a die-hard black metal and death metal  fan.  At
    that time, I liked only totally aggressive death and black  metal
    material, but nowadays I am more into  older  heavy  metal,  like
    Manowar, Judas Priest and stuff like that. I don't listen to much
    black metal anymore, but it is kinda my roots, so that is why our
    music is still aggressive, but influenced with  classical  music,
    too. I listen to a lot of classical.

CoC: I think that I read once that the name of the band and the song,
     Children of Bodom, isn't necessarily about the  history  of  the
     murders at Lake  Bodom  (in  Finland),  but  more  like  fantasy
     combined with the history.

AL: Exactly.

CoC: Would you say that CoB's music is in a fantasy vein?

AL: No! Definitely not. Only one or  two  songs  actually  [are  like
    that]. When it comes to lyrics, and, I think, when  it  comes  to
    the music itself, I try to describe my  own  emotions  at  times.
    Feelings like, sometimes, hatred and  depression  --  stuff  like
    that. There are many inspirations for me as far as the lyrics and
    the music are concerned as well. Sometimes  I  like  to  do  this
    fantasy kinda thing, which is, obviously, like [Lake]  Bodom  and
    the Children of Bodom. I think it would be  pretty  boring  if  i
    would just scream my head off...

CoC: I think that the vocal style came across very well.

AL: Yeah, if we would say that we were a black  metal  band,  then  I
    guess people would [ask] why the hell we sing like that. I  think
    that it's cool to do different kinds of vocals depending on  what
    part of the song is going on. Like if it is  some  melodic  death
    metal [part of the song], then I just do it.

CoC: I think that the way CoB laced the  lyrics  in  made  the  songs
     powerful and loaded with emotion. Is that how the band  intended
     the album to come across?

AL: Yeah, that's true. If I had all the lyrics for  like  [the  song,
    "Children of] Bodom", or some fantasy thing, I don't  think  that
    it would sound so aggressive, like what  you  were  saying  about
    what [one] thinks or what is going on  in  [one's]  head.  [That]
    makes the vocals sound more powerful and aggressive, I think...

CoC: ... And "real". It makes the vocals sound "real".

AL: YEAH.

CoC: You and Jaska [Raatikainen -- drums] are original members of the
     band. Would you mind giving the Chronicles of  Chaos  readers  a
     bit of the band's history?

AL: We started the band in 1993.  In  1995,  kicked  out  the  second
    guitar player because he was more into drinking than  rehearsing.
    Then the guy playing now, Henkka [Blacksmith --  guitar],  turned
    out to be a pretty cool guy; pretty good guitarist. Then  I  just
    asked him if he wanted to joint the band.  The  other  guy  is  a
    keyboard player [Janne Wirman]. We started without one. We took a
    keyboard player in '95, which is actually the same guy that  used
    to play guitar, which is pretty fucked up <laughs>. He played for
    a couple of years, from 1995 to 1997. He was good  and  rehearsed
    with us a lot. In 1997, [the band]  became  frustrated.  We  were
    rehearsing like hell, but didn't get a record  deal  or  anything
    like that. Then he would mess around and not come  to  rehearsals
    -- I don't know what the fuck he was doing...

CoC: Was the group becoming discouraged that it was not being noticed
     by any big labels?

AL: Yeah. I totally understand that. I was quitting the  band  twenty
    times all the time. I don't know, something just kept me going. I
    didn't ever believe that anything would ever happen.

CoC: Now it has.

AL: I'm happy that it has.

CoC: Did you find it challenging to split your time between  Children
     of Bodom and Thy Serpent?

AL: Yeah! It was actually -too- challenging. So I don't play  in  Thy
    Serpent anymore. I was supposed to be  a  steady  member  in  the
    band, but it just didn't work. I just didn't have time to play in
    two bands which I like. Thy Serpent is a  three-piece,  I  think,
    right now, and they are going to play some  gigs,  I  don't  know
    where, but I think I am going to play the gig  [with  them]  too.
    I'm not going to play on the album or anything like that. It  was
    actually total hell, for me, to play in two bands.

CoC: I can see that. You just decided to dedicate most of  your  time
     to Children of Bodom, huh?

AL: Yeah. Now I play in a  Swedish  band  called  Synergy.  There  is
    Jesper [Stromblad] from In Flames, Sharlee D'Angelo from Mercyful
    Fate, and Kimberly Gross from Dimmu Borgir / Therion / Ancient.

CoC: Quite a line-up!

AL: It's pretty cool. I was  in  Gothenburg  one  month  ago  and  we
    rehearsed; got the whole album ready. It will  be  released  next
    March or something like that. I think [Synergy] are going  to  be
    pretty cool. Definitely not black or death metal; it is like pure
    heavy metal. I'm just doing the album. I'm  not  going  to  be  a
    steady member or anything like that.

CoC: I noticed that you got picked up  by  Spinefarm,  was  it  three
     years ago?

AL: Just a year ago, actually. We signed with Spinefarm  and  have  a
    license deal with Nuclear Blast. Even  before  we  released  this
    album, we played a gig supporting Dimmu Borgir in Finland;  there
    was one guy from Nuclear Blast, just watching the gig. He saw our
    gig first and said to [our] label manager  that  [Nuclear  Blast]
    wanted to sign us on a licensing deal  or  something  like  that.
    It's working pretty well. I think it's pretty good for us  to  be
    at this point. Spinefarm is a small label, but it's big enough to
    do the promotion in Finland and Scandinavia. It's  kind  of  like
    they are a small label and we are kind of a big  band  for  them.
    They treat us pretty well and take care of us. If  we  were  just
    [on] Nuclear Blast, then I think that we would  be  just  another
    Nuclear Blast band. They have a lot of  bands.  They  are  really
    good [with] promotion when it comes to Dimmu  Borgir,  HammerFall
    or bands like that, but there are too  many  bands  that  Nuclear
    Blast doesn't do anything for. But they  have  done  pretty  good
    promotion for us.

CoC: I think that they've done a good  job  with  promotion  for  you
     also, especially since I owe them a great  deal  of  credit  for
     this interview. It certainly appears that they are  pretty  well
     behind Children of Bodom.

AL: Yeah.

CoC: Do you have any sense of how it is  going  with  promotion  over
     here in the States?

AL: I don't know. I don't have a clue. It is impossible to  think  of
    what is happening [in the U.S.]. It feels just like another world
    to me. At this point, I am interested  in  how  it  will  be,  in
    Europe, like in Germany.  The  response  from  Germany  has  been
    really cool. I think [the album] will sell well enough.  I  don't
    know about the States. It seems  like  these  Florida  bands  are
    popular there, like Death or something.

CoC: Death has -always- been big over here. I think that the  States,
     in a lot of respects, tend to follow what the European trend is,
     especially for the type of genre that you guys are in. With  any
     luck, we will follow suit and we will get to see you  guys  over
     here.

AL: I hope so.

CoC: I hope so, too. Spinefarm put CoB on a sampler with Cryhavoc and
     Wizzard. Do you have any feel on how that sampler is doing,  for
     Children of Bodom in particular?

AL: That is the single, "Children of  Bodom".  The  single  is  doing
    well, being at #1 on the single chart in Finland, so it is  doing
    well.

CoC: Do you have any opinion of the other bands that you are  on  the
     sampler with?

AL: Yes. Cryhavoc -- I like it. When they had their old singer  --  I
    like it. I think it is cool.  The  other  band,  Wizzard,  to  be
    honest, I don't really like that <laughs>. Yeah, I think Cryhavoc
    is cool.

CoC: Any tour plans, particularly in the United States?

AL: Actually, we are going to do an  European  tour  with  Dismember,
    Gorgoroth, and a Swedish band called Raise Hell, that got  signed
    to Nuclear Blast. We are going to play Germany, Austria, etc..

CoC: Is the tour a couple of weeks long?

AL: It should be three weeks.

CoC: That tour should help get Children of Bodom's name out there.

AL: I hope so.

CoC: If you could pick any band that you could hit the road with,  do
     you have any idea who that would be?

AL: That's a hard one. I think that it would be pretty cool  to  tour
    with Hypocrisy again. We toured with them before. Maybe some  big
    band, Manowar. That would be cool. Is black metal popular [in the
    U.S.] right now?

CoC: I think so. Black metal is finding  its  own  niche  here,  like
     Absu, from Texas, are as big as black metal gets in the  States.
     I think that a helluva package tour could be put together to  go
     through the States.  Does  Children  of  Bodom  draw  a  lot  of
     influence from Manowar?

AL: Yeah! I'm  a  die-hard  Manowar  fan  and  I  guess  that  almost
    everybody in our band is... We have influences from them.

CoC: Is there anything you would  like  to  say  to  the  readers  of
     Chronicles of Chaos?

AL: All I have to say right now is just check out our album. I  think
    that it is really weird to think that it could  do  well  in  the
    States, but I hope it will.

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

          M I S F I T S   O F   T H E   M A I N S T R E A M
          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                  CoC interviews California's Drown
                          by: Adrian Bromley

     If Drown lead singer Lauren had any control over  things,  every
corporate whore and reject in this music business  would  have  their
throat checked and their head crushed beneath his  boots.  The  music
industry hasn't been fair to California act Drown over the  past  few
years and I'm pretty sure Lauren would love to vent some  frustration
on some unexpecting label hussy.
     Instead, despite band turmoil and label  jumps,  and  with  true
dedication,  the  band  releases  to  the  world  their  long-awaited
sophomore effort _Product of a Two-Faced World_, proving to all  that
Drown had not gone away -- they just regrouped and  organized  and  a
better battle plan.
     Singer Lauren starts over the phone from a truck stop  somewhere
in Nevada: "This record is two years in the making. It was a strained
birth if you will, but we are glad just to see it get  the  light  of
day. It was a whole mess for us over the last little while [in short:
leaving Elektra after their debut disc  and  onto  nonexistent  label
support from Geffen, which lead  them  to  hook  up  with  Slip  Disc
Records / Mercury]. It's surprising for us after all the bullshit  to
have this out and [be] touring the material."
     "We have an urge  to  go  back  into  the  studio  and  work  on
something new," says Lauren. "This record  was  a  lot  of  work.  We
recorded thirty two songs for it and only thirteen made  the  record.
There are several songs we are working with for the new LP, like  six
or seven new songs, so it shouldn't be that  hard  to  get  something
going. Writing music is something we don't lag  on.  My  music  is  a
soundtrack for my emotions. It comes out the  way  I'm  feeling.  I'm
happy to be making music for people to understand and enjoy."
     With other members (bassist Sean E.  Demott,  guitarist  Patrick
Sprawl and drummer Marco Forcone), Drown is gearing up  to  face  the
evolving industry with a fist of fury. No more bullshit.  They  stand
firm and will not be broken like many  other  bands  who  litter  the
wayside of this business. "It's a curse  to  be  still  doing  this,"
laughs Lauren. "No, really... growing up, music was  the  only  thing
that ever really got me out of bed and going. I dunno, it just  moved
me and it still does. For me, this is a part of what I am and what  I
do. It's strange to imagine doing this for as long as  we  have  [the
band began in 1989], but it's been a learning experience."
     About being in limbo with this record, he says,  "It's  been  an
interesting few years with this record and its material.  Every  time
we had something going [i.e., Geffen] the timing or something did not
work out. We thought about scrapping this material and putting out an
EP, but felt  strong  with  what  we  had.  This  whole  label  thing
irritates me. For as much as I am concerned, Geffen has  their  heads
up their ass, as do many other major labels nowadays."
     As for signing with SlipDisc, "It was the right choice. They are
an independent label and let us do our thing and be in control of how
things happen. It's great to be in control and we really are  control
freaks. We like to know just what the hell is going on with our band.
It's great and all how things worked out, I just can't really say how
I feel about this industry anymore. It's just a mess."
     For those of you not in the  know,  the  music  of  Drown  is  a
concoction of severe grooves, monstrous guitar riffs and a real knack
for delving deep into a truly powerful noise arsenal. Potent, yet  in
control. "It's hard to really pinpoint where Drown fits in," explains
Lauren. "I have been doing this whole thing since  1987  and  I  have
never given in to the trends. A  lot  of  new  bands  that  come  out
nowadays only have influences that are a few years old.  All  of  the
music they are creating is coming from music only a  few  years  old,
thus making it fall into the same category as  it  sounds  the  exact
same. It's scary, but bands nowadays have  no  real  style  or  ideas
going into their music. Influences are great to understand the art of
making music, rather than copying it. I can hear  the  influences  of
most new bands out there in the first two tracks and that's scary."
     He continues: "Take a band like the Deftones, for example.  They
have been gigging for almost ten years and all of a sudden  they  are
big and all these kids start creating new bands  that  sound  exactly
like the Deftones. Why? Why copy something that is already out in the
market place? And the sad thing is, labels sign them up because  they
can. Record labels are brain-dead machines that have  no  idea  about
what is going  on  anymore.  Labels  are  jumping  on  way  too  late
sometimes, 'cause that wave they have jumped on has already made  its
way to shore. Labels are just waiting for bands  to  get  popular  so
they can sign a band, just like that."
     More  in-depth  about  label  control  and  aggravation,  Lauren
comments: "When we were shopping material for our first album, labels
were telling me to write a song like Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot" or
White Zombie's "More Human Than Human". They wanted to put a  tag  on
what I did. Why would I want to do what those bands  are  doing  when
they are already  doing  it?  The  way  this  business  is  built  is
pathetic. Most people are idiots and looking for  trends  to  follow.
Bands need to be innovative  and  get  out  there  and  do  something
different. The problem is, labels are afraid to sign bands  that  are
doing something different. They want a  sound  that's  already  doing
something [sales-wise] out there. They never learn.  See  what  we've
had to put up with?" He laughs.
     As I end my conversation with Lauren, seeing that the band needs
to get to their gig after a short  20  minute  break,  he  says  with
sincerity: "I hate being in a situation where I can't  do  things  my
way. It's been that way for the last little while. Enough of that,  I
just want to play and make music."

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


        A   D I F F E R E N T   S H A D E   O F   S O N N E T
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                        CoC chats with Abigail
                           by: Alex Cantwell

     Abigail are carving a niche for themselves in  the  vast  global
marketplace of metal. They play a style which few attempt, relying on
atmosphere and melody as much as crushing heaviness, in  evidence  on
their debut, _Sonnets_ [CoC #33]. It is a cassette only release,  but
that is its only limitation, because once the play button is  pushed,
sonic brilliance ensues. CoC recently asked a few questions  to  lead
guitarist / vocalist Razvan Alexandru.

CoC: How long has the band Abigail been around?

RA: Abigail was born in the Winter of 1994.

CoC: I hear an obvious Paradise Lost influence in  your  music.  What
     other bands have influenced Abigail?

RA: Well, these bands are well known in the world: Anathema, My Dying
    Bride,  Depeche  Mode,  Cathedral,   Sentenced,   Amorphis,   old
    Metallica, etc.

CoC: I was impressed with both the sound quality and the  playing  on
     _Sonnets_.  How  does  being  from  Romania  affect   the   band
     financially, as far as access to good equipment and studios?

RA: This one is a serious question. If you don't have a job it  might
    not be possible to afford a good instrument or a rehearsal space.
    We don't have good drums, but for rehearsals the set that we have
    will do. Thanks to God, from our salaries we  were  able  to  get
    good guitars and effects, as well as keyboards. The cost  for  an
    hour in any of the good studios is basically low, around 14  US$.
    But I'm working as a computer animator and I have the custody  of
    a medium recording studio that we use now.

CoC: So does Bestial Records have a corner on the market  as  far  as
     metal bands from Romania  are  concerned?  Tell  me  about  your
     contract with them -- are you pleased with them?

RA: Our contract with Bestial  Records  is  not  a  restrictive  one.
    Knowing the economic situation of Romania, they did not  want  to
    constrain us. The contract is only a moral one. We have  to  give
    them the recorded material and they have to release it. If  there
    are any profits (which there aren't), they are split between  us.
    Simple, huh? Rights? What rights? We produced this EP  ourselves,
    therefore we own the rights.

CoC: What is the metal scene like in Romania?

RA: Well, the metal scene in Romania doesn't  exist  for  underground
    bands like us. There are only a few old bands  that  are  playing
    all the concerts. I imagine that the only concerts we go  to  are
    our own. We only see about three concerts per year.

CoC: What bands have you played shows with, and where?

RA: They were only Romanian bands from the underground, so that's not
    very important.

CoC: Your lyrics seem to be interwoven with spiritual themes. Can you
     tell me about that, and perhaps how the personal beliefs of  the
     band members affect the lyrics?

RA: The lyrics are written mainly by me and the only thing I can tell
    you is that they come from my experiences. They seem  sad  but  I
    like to say that I'm an optimistic person.

CoC: Do you have any other releases besides _Sonnets_? Will _Sonnets_
     be available on CD?

RA: CDs? Here? No way. If you want to lose some money, make some  CDs
    here. If you want some CDs, no problem, I will make a few for you
    on my computer. We have three demos, but we  are  preparing  that
    material for the album, which will appear maybe  in  the  Spring.
    Anyway, Romania is not a good market for  us,  for  our  kind  of
    metal, only for black  metal.  So  it  is  not  hard  for  us  to
    understand why we have lower sales compared to any other band  on
    Bestial Records. At the moment, we wonder for whom we  play.  Can
    you tell me?

CoC: What was the first metal band that you ever heard?

RA: Oh, it was a Romanian one in 1986. Some glammy guys.

Raz concludes with this: "Thanks for being interested in us, this was
a nice thing to happen to us. Stay interested and we promise we  will
keep up the good work."

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


Adramelech - _Seven_  (Repulse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

This release is my first experience of Adramelech's music. This is  a
five track EP which is broken down thus: two  new,  one  redone,  two
live (from their last album _Psychostasia_, recorded on the Repulsive
Tour '97). The first  three  were  obviously  recorded  together  and
showcase a well produced and played, but ultimately rather  stagnant,
brand of death metal. I am reminded of  Broken  Hope  with  yet  more
inconsequential vocals. The music is never hyper-speed, involves lots
of double  bass,  non  blast-snare  blast  beats  and  lots  of  low,
repetitive chord progressions with the  rather  insignificant  vocals
adding nothing to the result. Leads tend to be rather uninspired  and
overall the music has a dirge-like quality which doesn't inspire  me,
and reminds me of the way Broken Hope's _Loathing_ failed to  do  the
same. The live tracks only offer differently arranged  elements:  the
style is quite the same, though the production is rather good  for  a
live recording, with slightly trebled drums but overall  clarity.  To
paraphrase "The Man of Steel",  Adramelech  are  five  to  ten  years
behind the developed death metal world; they need to catch it  up  in
(less than) one.


Agathodaimon - _Blacken the Angel_  (Nuclear Blast, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

As a "soft" black metal album, _Blacken the Angel_ is  just  average;
but as a black/doom album, it can get very good. In the  second  half
of "Ribbons/Requiem", several parts of the fifteen minute long  "Near
Dark" and most of  the  superb  "Tristetea  Vehementa",  Agathodaimon
showcase high quality black/doom. The rest of the album, however,  is
made of mostly rather unremarkable blackened metal.  Not  that  there
aren't  several  good  parts  in  these  other  tracks,  but  they're
generally neither harsh, extreme or simply good enough to  match  the
quality of the black/doom sections of _Blacken the Angel_. Therefore,
there are several tracks in this hour long  album  that  should  have
been merged into some sort of medley. The fact that keyboards  (which
are so important in the three songs above) are  less  used  in  these
tracks doesn't help, either. Apart from that,  the  three  black/doom
songs that I mentioned before fortunately total about half  an  hour,
which puts _Blacken the Angel_,  overall,  a  bit  above  average  --
mainly thanks to "Tristetea  Vehementa".  It  could  have  been  much
better, though.


Anasarca - _Godmachine_  (Repulse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)

Anasarca have here a solid, listenable debut album which seems to  me
to be the cream of Repulse's current crop. The label's description of
them as "a mixture of the grinding US and "melodical" European style"
of death metal is pretty accurate, and  over  _Godmachine_'s  40  odd
minute expanse one is  treated  to  doses  of  each.  Low-powerchord,
bass-heavy chuggings and their double bass backing  in  the  Cannibal
Corpse-style is melded  with,  for  example,  Centinex-esque  melodic
manipulations. The result, which is  peppered  with  blast  sections,
holds few more surprises, but is good within these boundaries.  "Like
Thorns in My Head" and "Scorn" particularly, have riffs  which  stick
in the head and occasionally throughout the  album  there  are  parts
where all the right factors combine to evoke the  kind  of  dark  and
powerful feelings that death metal of this sort  ultimately  aims  to
achieve. Though I am  curious  about  what  "pretentious  and  brutal
death/grind" (apparently the style of their earlier demo) is, I think
that Anasarca have probably  moved  forward  to  better  things  with
_Godmachine_. However, they are not, as is claimed, "The best  German
death metal band", an accolade which I bestow on Impending Doom  [CoC
#34].


Benumb - _Soul of the Martyr_  (Relapse, July 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

Benumb produced mixed feelings in me. On the positive side,  they  do
not evoke memories of  the  stagnant  "precise  death/grind"  or  the
incomprehensible boredom of "white-noise  grindcore".  I  think  what
they are doing with the style is  commendable.  The  band's  approach
seems primarily to be the original spirit of grindcore --  play  fast
and insanely -- mixed with some of the  trademarks  of  hardcore,  as
opposed to sticking to the punk which grind was founded on. They draw
vague comparisons to Brutal Truth (sadly now departed),  though  only
in style and not in excellence, as far as I  am  concerned.  Benumb's
efforts to mix things up are successful and the multitude  of  sudden
stops, starts and unpredictable blasts is assailing  and  technically
impressive. The band have also bestowed the buyer with thirteen bonus
tracks. Twelve are taken from various 7"s, and one is an  eight  song
live performance. Though a minority of you may have  most  of  these,
they are still easily accessible and double  the  CD's  length  while
only repeating a few songs live and none recorded. The result of  all
this  is  a  CD  with  very  good  value  for  tracks  and  a  pretty
uncomfortable little journey into Benumb's world of blasting hardcore
grind. Whether I want to go there again, though, only time will tell.


Bethlehem - _Sardonischer Untergang in Zeichen irreligioser
             Darbietung_  (Red Stream, 1998)
by: David Rocher  (7 out of 10)

The third chapter in this German bands' career, _SUiZiD_  twists  the
knife in the mean wound opened by the enigmatic _Dictius te  Necare_.
_SUiZiD_ is a  threnody  of  frightful  sadness,  that  is  borne  by
haunting guitar riffs and  bass  lines,  muscular  drumming  and  the
terribly tormented, hateful, psychotic  laments  of  vocalists  Marco
Kehran and Cathrin Campen. Bethlehem don't  use  the  presence  of  a
female vocalist as an excuse to  massively  indulge  in  sickly-sweet
vocal melodies, since Cathrin's chants are far closer to  what  you'd
expect to hear in the psychiatric aisle of a hospital  than  to  what
you'll endure on a  Theatre  of  Tragedy  album...  Voluntarily  rare
despairingly melancholic interludes  are  inserted  as  purveyors  of
illusive serenity, their sole purpose  seeming  to  be  to  trap  the
listener in the  neurotic  blackness  of  this  unearthly  moment  of
"musical" perversion. _SUiZiD_ is furthermore graced  with  an  ample
and powerful sound, and can very simply  be  defined  as  a  strongly
addictive lethal poison.


Black Spiral - _Defeat_  (Broken Image, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (6 out of 10)

First off, the sound of this nine-song CD is pretty bad, thus  making
it hard to enjoy this band's music to the fullest.  I  still  carried
on, numerous listens I did indulge in,  and  after  that  I  actually
became quite interested in some of the work here.  It  sounds  better
after a few spins, my friends. Anyway, through muffled production and
some less-than-perfect knob  twirling,  this  three-piece  manage  to
salvage some moments while they play some really crusty  thrash/death
metal that is a throwback to '80s thrash metal  gurus  Testament  and
Sacred Reich. Overall, the guitar work is pretty good and the  vocals
and drumming sound about average. Not a lot going  for  them  in  the
long  run  to  break  away  from  other  metal  bands  in  terms   of
originality, but a good record to bang head to every once in a while.

Contact: 1143 Flagmore Dr. Katy, Texas 77450
         WWW: http://web.wt.net/~turk1602/broken.htm


Black Sabbath - _Reunion_  (Sony/Epic, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

Before I list the pros and cons of this record, I want to point  this
out: a Black Sabbath live record featuring one entire show, with  the
original line-up, reunited in 1997,  in  their  hometown,  should  be
worthy of a 10 out of 10 from a Sabbath fan such as myself. I was  at
this show (December 5th, 1997) and it was a momentous experience, but
I had problems with the set list and performance offered at the time,
and thus I have problems  with  _Reunion_.  There  are  sixteen  live
tracks on offer here.  Twelve  come  from  the  first  three  Sabbath
records, only three come from albums four to six and there is  "Dirty
Women" from _Technical Ecstasy_. I don't really like  "Dirty  Women",
so to me this is somewhat a waste of six odd minutes of valuable  set
time,  and  I  feel  that   albums   four   to   six   are   unfairly
under-represented.  Classics  like   "Supernaut"   and   "Wheels   of
Confusion" from _Vol.4_ are missed and  nothing  from  _Sabotage_  is
even played. There are  two  tracks  ("Sabbath  Bloody  Sabbath"  and
"Spiral Architect") from _Sabbath Bloody Sabbath_ (my favorite album)
and, though there are plenty more off this album I wish they had also
played, my main point of contention with  these  two  tracks  is  the
performance given of them. Ozzy can no longer reach the high  pitched
lines like "[...] the truth  I  want  to  know"  in  "Sabbath  Bloody
Sabbath", and instead goes down an octave  to  sing  them  --  it  is
disappointing and in some ways makes me wish they had just not played
these songs. Of course, from the twelve songs  off  the  first  three
albums I can't say any shouldn't have been included on a Sabbath live
album, it's just that I feel the band could have been  more  balanced
in their set list allocations. There are times  when  small  mistakes
are made or Ozzy's voice cracks, but this is all  part  of  the  live
feel and doesn't dent the record's near unshaking musical excellence.
The crowd sound great and are  amazingly  loud  (talk  about  patting
yourself on the back...) and Ozzy's comments and exchanges are funny,
giving _Reunion_ further live character. The two  new  studio  tracks
are decent, though nothing to write home about, and I  would  suggest
listening to them in a separate sitting, as  they  otherwise  totally
screw with the whole "live performance" feeling. Overall, despite  my
gripes, this is  a  great  live  record  documenting  the  show  near
flawlessly and making you feel like you're there (again).  It's  also
quite a good record to play to those who haven't heard the  band  and
don't understand "what all the fuss is about". Even  though  I  think
albums four to six are under/mis-represented here, this is  still  an
essential for any fan of classic Black Sabbath.


Borknagar - _The Archaic Course_  (Century Media, October 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

After the majestic and uplifting _The Olden Domain_, Borknagar return
with _The Archaic Course_. Garm has left the band; the  new  vocalist
is Simen Hestnaes, who performed lead vocals on Arcturus' "The  Chaos
Path" and some backing vox on a couple  other  tracks  on  that  same
album,  _La  Masquerade  Infernale_.  I'd  say   that   Hestnaes   is
technically superior to Garm, but he  can't  match  Garm's  emotional
vocals. Nevertheless, Borknagar still have a very  talented  vocalist
capable of doing a fine job with both clean and black  vocals  (which
aren't used as often as in _The Olden Domain_). The music  is  a  bit
less harsh and emotional than before, but  equally  majestic  (except
for the fact that Garm doesn't participate in the album) and  perhaps
slightly more dynamic at times. It also contains a few more technical
details, a bit like what happens  with  the  vocals.  Borknagar  show
their talent again, especially in songs like  "Universal",  "Witching
Hour" and "The Black Token", with melodies as remarkably  catchy  and
unusual as those found in _The Olden Domain_. The total length of the
album is a bit disappointing (less than 38 minutes),  and  the  other
songs are, although still very good, slightly inferior to these three
-- otherwise, a 9 out of 10 would certainly have been given. Overall,
I still like _The Olden  Domain_  a  bit  better,  but  _The  Archaic
Course_ also has a good number of truly excellent moments.


Bride of the Atom - _Web of Spider_  (Broken Image, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

This is quite the listen. Quite a unique ensemble of  characters  and
idea makers form the abstract sounds  of  Australia's  Bride  of  the
Atom. Think ambient noise a la Skinny Puppy and the  weird  ways  of,
say, Soma or Tribes of Neurot, add a really bizarre vocal  style  and
you've got a good idea of what BotA are all about. Hard  to  grip  at
times, BotA is actually quite the listening  experience  if  you  can
handle the task at getting into it. In steps of moving things forward
at a smooth pace, BotA make sure their music grows as  we  go  deeper
into the bowels of the  record's  creativity.  Hard  to  believe  the
momentum this band attains  through  softened  vocal  style  and  odd
timing of their musical instruments. Fourteen tracks shape this  disc
into a wild journey for us all to take if we're up  to  it.  Not  for
everyone, but guaranteed satisfaction for those that actually want to
put things aside and let the mind wander off a bit.

Contact: P.O. Box 37, Armadale North, 3143 Victoria, Australia


Burn it Down - _Eat Sleep Mate Defend_  (Broken Image, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8.5 out of 10)

From the opening number "Kill  Their  Idols",  noisecore  /  abrasive
hardcore outfit Burn it Down has you by the throat. Take deep breaths
people, 'cause the choke hold doesn't end 'till the seven-song outing
comes to a close. Ball-busting vocals take  charge  as  the  speeding
train bearing the name Burn it Down comes at  us  at  high  velocity,
roughing us up and knocking all weak things to the side. Does it  get
any heavier than this? Just listen to "Slave  Identity"  or  "Bed  of
Nails". I think not. Why can some bands just reach a total  state  of
violent anarchy and vicious overtones, yet sound so cool and tight in
their  groove?  I'm  baffled.  Few  bands  manage  to   capture   the
essentially visible, powerful traits that Burn it  Down  bestow  upon
their music. Marked by sincerity in life and positive messages within
their music (unlike what Run Devil Run attempted to do), Burn it Down
paint the picture loud and clear and it's up to us to decide just how
we are going to take in their knowledge. A record with real edge  and
real promise. Scout this one out, people.


Carnal Forge - _Who's Gonna Burn_  (WAR Music, September 1998)
by: David Rocher  (7 out of 10)

Talk about vicious... Love it, hate it, or  just  ignore  it,  _Who's
Gonna  Burn_  is  one  of  1998's  most  viciously  mean,   blatantly
aggressive musical bastards, an ultraviolent fusion of  hardcore  and
rabid Swedish death metal -- note that the shouter here is Jens Nyren
of  In  thy  Dreams  /  Armageddon  (RIP).  Burnt  deep   onto   this
testosterone-sweating  CD  are  29  minutes  of  raw,  uncompromising
aggressivity, somewhere between At  the  Gates  and  Agnostic  Front.
However, Carnal Forge, though convincing on the  whole,  seem  to  be
suffering from some kind of  musical  tachycardia,  and  _WGB_  shows
desperate signs of not really knowing how to ease off when it should;
besides, a weird mix makes the snare drum stand out a lot  more  than
it should, and when the music speeds up (i.e., most of the time), all
that can be heard is the irritating,  continuous  "whack-whack-whack"
of the snare over a muffled wall  of  undertuned  guitars  and  bass.
Despite being the work of the very talented Jens  Nyren,  the  vocals
unfailingly get in my face, as Jens sounds like he's struggling  hard
with an overwhelming temptation to leap around  like  a  very  virile
uneducated primate (Phil Anselmo?) yelling  "down  in  da  pit!"  and
other  mosh-pit  classics.  Nonetheless,  in  spite  of  these   very
blackened  edges,  don't   underestimate   this   raw   offering   of
nearly-musical brutality; if you're the kind of person who sneers  at
melody and finesse in music and enjoys tearing the  heads  off  jelly
bears (oooh!), _WGB_ is the smack in the jaw you've been waiting for.
Decent material, but kind of unimaginative,  and  clearly  below  WAR
music's usually high standards.


Conquest - _Rage_  (Scream Productions, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (3 out of 10)

Have you ever heard Cerebral Fix's _Tower of Spite_? Remember how the
only good song on it was "Unity  for  Who?"  and  it  was  about  two
minutes long?  Apparently,  Conquest  have  been  listening  to  that
solitary album for the past five years, and have tried their best  to
make "Tower of Spite Volume 2". Okay, so that's  not  entirely  fair,
and I can't end the review like that. They also borrow the most basic
elements from Testament, in a stripped  down,  generic,  garage  band
kind of way, and vocalist  Derrick  Brumley  often  sounds  like  Ron
Reinhart (ex-Dark Angel, Oil). That's it. Somewhere,  some  guys  are
sitting around drinking Keystone and saying "dude, this rocks".

Contact: Scream Productions, 6054 Odell St., St. Louis, Mo 63139, USA
         mailto:questone@earthlink.net


Daemonarch - _Hermeticum_  (Century Media, September 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

"Well, well. So this is Moonspell's black metal side  project,  huh?"
Similar thoughts must have crossed the minds of many who used to like
Moonspell's music as they prepared to listen to _Hermeticum_ for  the
first  time.  Having  only  really  liked  _Wolfheart_  and  some  of
_Irreligious_, and having disliked _Sin_, I wasn't exactly anxious to
hear this, either; but, noting that this is by no means  Scandinavian
black metal, _Hermeticum_ is  actually  a  good  album.  _Hermeticum_
basically sounds somewhat similar to Samael, but  it's  faster,  less
technical and has less keyboard work. The fact that a drum machine is
also used here adds to the  list  of  similarities,  even  though  it
doesn't sound much like the one used on _Passage_ (mainly because its
output is much  less  complex).  This  is  all  very  different  from
Moonspell, except for  some  occasional  parts  (especially  in  "The
Seventh Daemonarch" and  "Hymn  to  Lucifer"),  although  it's  quite
obvious that it's Fernando Ribeiro who's doing the vocals  --  which,
by the way, consist of relatively few clean parts and a lot  of  well
performed screaming. In fact, although the music isn't generally soft
or very melodic, it's the harshness of most of the vocals that stands
out. Overall, however, it's not as harsh as I heard it would be.  The
quality level is reasonably constant, although "Of a Thousand Young",
"Corpus Hermeticum" and "The Seventh Daemonarch" stand  out.  Not  an
amazing album at any level, but definitely far more enjoyable for  me
than most of what Moonspell have been doing since _Wolfheart_.


Dargaard - _Eternity Rites_  (Draenor Prod. / Napalm, October 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

There are certainly plenty of ingredients  here  that  are  bound  to
please many listeners who enjoy certain  gothic  elements  in  metal,
even though _Eternity Rites_ presents a lot of darkwave and no  metal
whatsoever. The music  produced  by  this  duo  is  often  beautiful,
although generally attempting to  remain  dark,  and  usually  has  a
somewhat medieval feel. Dargaard show how good _Eternity  Rites_  can
really get when the crystalline female vocals  entwine  with  a  well
woven musical  background,  creating  a  beautiful  and,  in  a  way,
majestic result in tracks such as "Demon Eyes", "Down to the Halls of
the Blind" and "... Of Broken Stones". Things get  really  moody  and
very  well  done  in  these  and  other  songs,  achieving  quite  an
impressive result.  Nevertheless,  despite  the  eerie  intro  (which
includes most of the album's few black snarls), the rest of _Eternity
Rites_  isn't  remarkably  dark  --  there's  just  a  somewhat  dark
atmosphere surrounding most of the music. What's not so  great  about
all this is that the medieval touches  occasionally  get  a  bit  too
folky ("Fuer Grissa Est Dranka", for example), and while this doesn't
necessarily ruin  the  songs,  it  does  subtract  from  the  overall
atmosphere  --  what's  worse  is  that  some  songs  become  a   bit
repetitive. Still, this is a very good album that has  the  potential
to attract many metal fans.


Devin Townsend - _Infinity_  (USG/EastWest, November 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (6 out of 10)

I, like a legion  of  Japanese  devotees,  very  much  enjoyed  Devin
Townsend's last two offerings in  the  form  of  _City_,  the  second
Strapping Young Lad album, and Ocean Machine's  _Biomech_  debut.  He
masterminded both earlier projects, and _Infinity_, the first  to  be
cataloged as a "solo" album, is the third in this "trilogy" of sorts.
The story I got was that _City_ was the "bad" (the  heavy  aggressive
side) and _Biomech_ was the "good" (the melodic calm side), but  what
_Infinity_ was intended to be was not clear to me.  Unfortunately,  I
feel that it is the "ugly" of this allusion.  _Infinity_  sees  Devin
manipulate melody in a way similar to the tactics of  _Biomech_,  but
the songs aren't as strong  or  effective,  making  the  melody  feel
almost token-like. I can only describe  a  lot  of  what  I  hear  on
_Infinity_ as "weird". This is narrow-minded, I admit, but  on  songs
like "Bad Devil" and "War", things spiral in strange directions which
seem  overindulgent  and  just  don't  excite  me.  Devin  seems   to
concentrating a lot on experimenting, at least  with  music  that  is
away from metal's  mainstream,  but  he  continually  comes  back  to
catchy, somewhat poppy, choruses ("Christeen", "Wild  Colonial  Boy")
which somehow let things down. On _Biomech_, the melody really worked
for him; here,  it  doesn't.  Overall,  I  am  not  a  great  fan  of
_Infinity_, though the production is crystal clear and the songs  are
worthwhile. My displeasure reminds me  of  my  experience  with  Fear
Factory's _Obsolete_. An overuse, in unconvincing ways, of melody and
the incorporation of uncommon instruments for their own sake  plagues
both releases. Ultimately, my problem  is  that  I  don't  appreciate
Devin's chosen direction. I think he did the best he  could  in  this
area with _Biomech_ and I would rather hear a new SYL  album,  or  at
least music in that vein, which was more consistent and  longer  than
_City_ was. If Devin could write an entire album where all the  songs
were up to the standards of "Detox" and "All Hail the New Flesh",  he
would rule my world. _Infinity_ is as  insignificant  to  me  in  the
scheme of things as the butterfly which adorns the  back  cover.  Its
qualities of "beauty", at least in the common, conventional,  popular
sense, are also comparable.


Diabolical Masquerade - _Nightwork_  (Avantgarde, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

Most of the CoC readers  will  know  Blackheim  from  his  days  with
Katatonia. While I confess that I am -not- the world's biggest fan of
Katatonia, Diabolical Masquerade is the true essence of why  I  enjoy
side-projects so much. Blackheim lets his Swedish black metal musical
expertise run absolutely -wild- on _Nightwork_. This release is  mood
invoking yet calming, as the music devastates your unconscious  self.
Listen after listen, _Nightwork_ consistently reminds me of a  ransom
note. Pieced together haphazardly, yet devastatingly  effective  with
its message. Along with Dan Swano (drums / keyboards / FX  /  backing
vocals) at The Sanctuary, Blackheim pasted this musical  ransom  note
together  as  a  horrific  work  of  art.  I  will   let   Diabolical
Masquerade's music speak for  itself,  but  if  you  are  up  to  the
challenge  of  Blackeim's  most  intricate  work  yet,  pay   special
attention to track number six, "The Eerie Obzidian Circuz", for  some
of the most killer black metal riffing and mind-numbing  incantations
ever laid to music.


Dio - _Inferno: Last in Live_  (Mayhem 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (8 out of 10)

I can't help but like this guy. Fans of Henry  Rollins'  spoken  word
albums will remember Hank's diatribe on Dio. "Black, black, LOOKOUT",
exclaims  Mr.  Rollins  regarding  Dio's  favorite   sayings.   Henry
continues: "You know that the guy has been hammered -flat- by  chicks
'cause he is like this little, evil gnome... There  is  one,  usually
three, "evil woman, LOOKOUT" songs." That whole Rollins bit cracks me
up, but enough of that. This double live disc pretty  much  could  be
summarized  as  a  quintessential  rock  'n'  roll  or  metal  album,
depending on your point of reference. Dio has released  a  very  well
balanced package here. A couple of Black Sabbath pieces are  present,
"Heaven and Hell" and "The  Mob  Rules",  right  along  side  my  two
favorite new tunes from _Angry Machines_,  "Double  Monday"  and  the
incomparable "Hunter of the Heart" (the latter, arguably one of Dio's
finest). Of course the ol' standbys are here:  "The  Last  in  Line,"
"Rainbow in  the  Dark"  and  "We  Rock".  _Inferno_  showcases  some
impeccable guitar work by Tracy G. and demonstrates  a  near  perfect
recording and a very well laid out live disc.  I  will  now  take  my
leave because "... the exit is that way; evil lurks.  Evil  lurks  in
twilight; dances in  the  dark."  If  you  are  a  Dio  supporter  or
contemplating your first Dio purchase, give _Inferno: Last in Live_ a
shot. There's a little something here for everybody.


Dissecting Table - _Life_  (Release, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (9 out of 10)

Once again, if there is any one word to describe Ichiro Tsuji and his
industrial/ambient/noise/etc. project Dissecting  Table,  "masterful"
would be the one that most quickly comes to mind. This is his  second
output on the Relapse experimental sub-label Release and  once  again
listeners are treated to four new Dissecting Table  tracks,  clocking
in at just over 45 minutes. Much like  his  previous  output  on  the
label, _Human Breeding_, the production value on this  disc  is  much
higher than earlier recordings and therefore allows for a  much  more
dynamic and powerful Dissecting Table to come ripping  through  one's
speaker system. Featured on this disc are all of the Dissecting Table
standards: analog  drum  machine,  electronic  organs,  synthesizers,
animal sounds, and some of the most inhuman, deranged  and  at  times
hilarious growls and screams, all wonderfully mixed together to  give
an actual sense of cohesiveness to the  chaotic  sounds  used.  While
some may choose to complain that Dissecting Table  releases  tend  to
run together or sound overly similar, I personally find no reason for
such observations to  be  anything  short  of  compliments.  If  more
so-called industrial or "experimental electronic" acts chose  to  use
even a portion of the chaotic and ingenious formula which  Dissecting
Table uses so well, the genre itself would be all the better for  it.
The bottom line is this is purely one of the  essential  releases  of
1998, whether you are a fan of industrial or not. For the  noise  and
experimental fan, there is more than enough in both areas to  satisfy
even the "hardcores" of the genre. This is easily  my  pick  for  the
best album of 1998, as it touches on  and  equally  excels  in  every
extreme music genre out there. Highly recommended.

Contact: Relapse/Release, PO Box 251
         Millersville, PA, 17551, USA
         mailto:release@relapse.com


Driller Killer - _Reality Bites_  (Osmose, October 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

Those  crust  merchants  whose  debut  album  was   unsubtlely,   but
appropriately, titled _Fuck the World_, return with  this  40  minute
ordeal of aural battery. The  album  does  not  strike  me  as  being
original, but, on the other hand,  punk,  and  even  pure  thrash,  I
suppose, is not about  musicianship  and  innovation  --  it's  about
nailing a groove, turning up and rocking the fuck out. Driller Killer
have no problems as far as this goes. "Scream Suffer Die" is a  great
opener and "God Forgives", "The Scum That Rules" and "Where  the  Sun
Never Shines" also stand out as particular highlights of  what  is  a
pretty consistent album. The band utilize some nice solos and bit  of
harmony and melody, but for the most part it's the simple,  thrashing
punk riffs that dominate. Occasional blast beats show themselves, but
this band's attitude and feel is firmly rooted in punk before it goes
nuts and becomes grind.  Add  an  uncredited  fifteenth  track  which
comprises a half hour live performance and you not only have  quality
but also quantity on offer. That, to me, seems  like  a  pretty  damn
enticing combination.


Drown - _Product of a Two-Faced World_  (SlipDisc, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

It's been a while since I  last  heard  anything  about  Los  Angeles
outfit Drown -- I thought they'd disappeared. Guess not. Lunging back
into the noise/groovecore element of metal music, Drown has sized  up
their talent and shaped it into an interesting array  of  song  ideas
that not only are modern sounding, but a cut above the rest at times.
Led by screamer/innovator Lauren, Drown bashes its way  through  some
killer numbers (such as "The Day I  Walked  Away"  and  ""My  Private
War"), rarely slowing down and losing the listener. What  also  makes
this a pleasant spin is the fact that not everything flows  in  sync.
It's a little messed up in places, making it a listen that takes some
getting used to. On the downside, I hear shades of Korn on this disc;
not a lot, but enough to see that the band needs to find new ideas to
spark life into this  project.  Granted,  this  record  has  material
that's two years old and a bastard child of label jumps  --  I  still
have faith in the future of this worthy quartet.


Epoch of Unlight - _What Will Be Has Been_  (The End, Oct, 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (8 out of 10)

Epoch of Unlight are from Tennessee and play an impressive variety of
blackened death metal. The description "an evil In Flames"  would  be
appropriate, although a  little  misleading.  Their  basic  style  is
melodic death metal, but with a black metal feel. Part of this  black
metal feel comes from the chaotic and disjointed way that  the  music
is played. The drums are very busy, throwing in fills constantly, and
changing patterns (including  some  blast  beats)  very  quickly  and
often. There is often a strong decoupling  of  the  guitars  and  the
drums, with polymetrics used frequently.  In  some  places,  the  two
guitars, the vocals and the drums are all playing independent  lines.
This gives the music a slightly sloppy sound, which, along  with  the
raspy vocals, yields the black metal comparisons. The  production  is
good, but it could use a little  more  power:  the  guitars  sound  a
little weak (adding to the black metal feel), and a  thicker,  denser
sound would've made the music more  effective.  Despite  the  album's
black metal sound, the guitar parts are mostly death metal. They  are
moderately melodic, but not as hook heavy as bands like In Flames. In
contrast with the drums, the  guitar  parts  aren't  overly  complex,
though they are inventive and interesting at times. Overall,  I  find
this a very good offering. At times it's a demanding listen,  and  at
others I find it a little lacking. Still, they're one  band  I'll  be
looking forward to hearing more of in the future.


Various - _Feuersturm Vol. II: The Ultimate Storm_
by: Paul Schwarz  (7 out of 10)  (Century Media, December 1998)

Whether you can call this  compilation  "good"  depends  on  how  you
define "good" in the context of a 2CD sampler. It  is  a  given  that
this provides you with 27 tracks of metal; it is a bonus that a large
majority of these tracks are from bands I enjoy  or  whose  music  is
worth knowing about, like it or not. Though a Century Media  sampler,
this features tracks from many labels -- Necropolis and Nuclear Blast
in particular seem to  have  had  a  substantial  stake  in  it.  All
positive so far; here are some of the snags. Virtually none of  these
tracks are from albums not already out and none are unreleased. As  a
consequence, there is no incentive to buy  this  as  anything  but  a
sampler. This claims to be a definitive black metal compilation -- it
is not advertised or intended as simply a  metal  compilation.  Quite
honestly, this seems to me false advertising.  Cryptopsy,  Hypocrisy,
Witchery -- these are not black metal bands. They may be good  and  I
definitely think they are more than worthy of a place on  a  sampler,
but to call them black  metal  is  like  calling  Morbid  Angel  "The
Godfathers of Black Metal": it's a way to falsely make  them  trendy,
it's a tactic intended  only  to  shift  units.  Since  the  task  of
constructing a definitive black metal compilation is near impossible,
with all the different labels the various bands  are  on,  I  am  not
really criticizing Century Media et al. for failing, but  for  trying
and  presuming  they  had  succeeded.  Overall,  this  is   a   metal
compilation and it is a good one. It pits newer bands, many of whom I
was pleased to have the chance to sample,  against  more  established
acts (some in a category I would term "essential") very well and thus
is a wide reaching sampler which will  probably  lead  to  some  good
money spent and  saved.  Bands  featured  include:  Cryptopsy,  Dawn,
Gorgoroth, Cradle of Filth, War,  Ancient  Rites,  Mork  Gryning  and
Limbonic Art, among nineteen others.


Frank's Enemy - _Illumination_  (Cling, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)

I was really hoping that I could give this a  higher  rating,  as  my
expectancy level was high for this release after thoroughly  enjoying
1997's _Neoblasphemies_. The production holds this release back quite
a bit, with songs mastered at different  volumes,  and  some  of  the
guitar tones sounding like they were recorded inside  a  tunnel.  The
all-out grind songs are just killer, played  with  an  aggressiveness
and level of obscurity that  only  Julio  Rey  (guitar/vocals)  could
create. Unfortunately, there are too many filler tracks which are not
grind, including the  grind-infused  punk  songs  that  bassist  Marc
shouts over. Overall, _Illumination_ does provide a fun  listen.  You
know you're in for a good time  when  the  first  track  "Codebasher"
starts off with a samba beat and horns, only to be interrupted  by  a
full-on grind assault -- bbbbllllaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhh!!!

Contact: Frank's Enemy, P.O. Box 523899, Miami, FL 33152-3899, USA
         mailto:silenot@safari.net


Various - _From Kaamos to Midnight Sun -- Finnish Metal Compilation_
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)  (Little Rose, November 1998)

This is a compilation featuring all the bands that make up the lineup
of the fledgling label Little Rose. Immortal Souls kick  things  off,
and man, have they improved since their _Reflections  of  Doom_  demo
[CoC #33]. Some of the characteristics that  gave  them  an  original
touch, such as acoustic guitar playing along with most of the  guitar
lines, are not present in these songs, however,  and  there  is  much
less doom and more of a lethal death/black attack. Manefestium  bring
forth  two  new  tracks,  and  both  are  along   the   same   lines,
production-wise  and  music-wise,  as  their  last  demo   _Dawn   of
Domination_ [CoC #33]. These guys are making some good music, and  if
you can believe it, are actually playing a style that  I  would  call
Finnish metal; although I know it's not really correct to assign that
tag to  Finnish  bands,  because  there  really  is  no  factor  that
determines what "Finnish metal" is, in comparison to "Norwegian black
metal", "Swedish death metal", or "the Gothenburg sound". Anyway,  it
sounds freakin' Finnish, OK? Two tracks from Deuteronomium's  _Street
Corner Queen_ [CoC #34] are  included,  and  are  probably  the  best
tracks from that CD -- the black metal tracks.  The  one  track  from
newcomers Mordecai is surprisingly good. A bit similar to Mythotin in
style, Mordecai play atmospheric black metal which also  employs  the
use of clean vocals. Two "hard rock"  bands  are  featured  as  well,
Scream and Hallowed, and neither is too great, so on  to  Cruciferae,
who finish this platter. They too have improved greatly  since  their
demo, playing solid, atmospheric death/black metal with  cool  guitar
melodies, keyboards, and hooks that draw  you  into  the  experience.
Cruciferae also have benefited from using clean vocals,  and  overall
have come a long way from the weak  death/thrash  material  on  their
demo. This is a  good  showcase  of  what  this  new  label  and  the
underground in Finland have to contribute to the global metal scene.

Contact: Little Rose Productions Ky, PO Box 533
         FIN -40101, Jyvaskyla, Finland
         mailto:lrose@sci.fi


God Dethroned - _The Grand Grimoire_  (Metal Blade, 1997)
by: Aaron McKay  (6.5 out of 10)

Let me begin this review by saying that the score that God  Dethroned
has now is a helluva lot higher than what I had them  tallied  at  my
first few times through _The Grand Grimoire_. GD utilizes  relatively
forgettable vocals and a more-or-less tired  musical  style.  Believe
me, you -have- heard this effort before in different  ways  on  other
discs. I will say this for GD, these Dutchmen can play a mean guitar.
This fact alone -almost- single handedly saves _TGG_, but the  band's
flair for injecting much more articulate,  melodic  parts  into  weak
songs is a gift as great as their guitar prowess, and man,  can  they
solo. With the benefit of possessing GD's first effort,  1992's  _The
Christhunt_ to listen to in its entirety, I have to say that _TGG_ is
a full step backward for the band. Maybe  blame  partially  falls  on
Metal Blade's shoulders for throwing what looks to be a hefty  budget
at them, judging from the  almost  Top  40  packaging  of  their  new
release, but I kinda doubt it. The reason for the  long  gap  between
_The Christhunt_ and _TGG_ is the existence of  GD's  pointman  Henri
Sattler's side project, Ministry of Terror. While on tour with MoT, I
understand that Henri was repeatedly asked about GD. So, in  lieu  of
this, he reformed GD to bring about the second coming of  the  group.
God Dethroned's show opening resume includes Cradle of Filth and  Six
Feet Under, two bands that I happen to enjoy for  different  reasons;
so I am, for once, glad I missed both tours. You could do a lot worse
in buying this release, but when you could fill your GD void  with  a
superior effort, embodied in their _The Christhunt_ release, why  buy
damaged goods?


Gore Beyond Necropsy - _Noise-A-Go Go!!!_  (Relapse, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (1 out of 10)

Well, that was short. I can think of little else  "positive"  to  say
about this MCD. Gore Beyond Necropsy fall into a category I regard as
"white-noise grindcore". They use basic three chord  structures  and,
through the  use  of  a  drum  machine,  quickly  make  the  jump  to
hyperspeed  and   incomprehensibility   in   every   one   of   their
compositions. GBN paint their album a slightly  less  dull  shade  of
grey by peppering various  samples  throughout  the  album's  course,
which are somewhat more captivating than the  "music"  itself.  Apart
from the dull music, the reason I dislike this disc,  and  it  scores
-so- low, is that it is only 24 minutes long. When the inlay shows 59
tracks, a buyer might expect even an EP to be longer than this is and
buy it with this in mind. I  once  jammed  with  two  of  my  friends
(drummer and  bassist/vocalist);  we  had  virtually  no  experience,
questionable talent and little time, but I can honestly say  we  made
music of about this standard, and we didn't even cheat and use a drum
machine.


Gothic - _Prelude to Killing_  (<Independent>, September 1997)
by: David Rocher  (8.5 out of 10)

With a notoriously  renowned  MCD  (_Brutal  Conditions  for  Extreme
Alchemy_, 1996) already  on  their  bio,  these  Parisian  deathsters
obviously  aren't  your  usual  newcomers...   Where   _BCfEA_   only
efficiently demonstrated an unhealthy interest for musical brutality,
_PtK_ kicks in hard with coldly calculated violence, delivering music
that indulges in melody but never looses its  brutal  edge;  Gothic's
music is varied, well thought out, and features  very  heavy,  catchy
hooks and frequently shifting vocals and riffing styles.  Despite  an
obviously limited recording budget,  _PtK_  sounds  loud,  clear  and
boasts a nice, thick, crunchy guitar sound. What's  more,  few  metal
acts this rough may claim to have a female  guitar  player  in  their
ranks, which is but another kick in the balls to  all  the  brainless
machos who claim girls have no place in true extreme  metal...  _PtK_
is the kind of insanely intense MCD that leaves you craving for more.
Highly recommendable, definitely non-mainstream death metal, which is
furthermore available for a measly US$ 8 from the address below.

Contact: GOTHIC, P.O. Box 60, 9 Rue A. Lahaye,
         93 170 Bagnolet, France


Grievance - _Grievance_  (Head Not Found, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (9.5 out of 10)

Maybe it is petty on my part, but the -only- reason why this  MCD  is
not getting a 10 out of 10 is because it is only, -really- only three
songs long. The  opening  track,  "Enterance",  is  an  instrumental,
followed by three spectacular pieces, ranging in duration  from  four
to six minutes, comprising a blissful near nineteen minute  MCD.  You
might be thinking to yourself: "ASSHOLE! Don't your realize that MCDs
are, by definition, supposed to be short?" Of  this  I  am  painfully
aware, I assure you. I guess what chaps  my  hide  is  that  if  this
astonishing release by Grievance was an -hour- and  nineteen  minutes
long, I'm positive that I would still be salivating for  yet  another
couple of song-morsels to devour. To say that this release is  genius
might be selling it short for the lack  of  better  terminology.  The
presence of the music is ALL and NOTHING, simultaneously!  It  washes
images of so many black metal acts over the  listener,  yet,  by  the
same token, reminds you of no one in particular.


Hate Theory - _Your Dead Reflection_  (Dimm Records, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8.5 out of 10)

Some really solid ideas flowing from the  pores  of  Hate  Theory  --
detonating guitar riffs, matched  by  superb  drumming  and  maniacal
vocals to deliver the final blow to your head.  Imagine  violent-bred
hardcore, mixed  with  vicious  grindcore/noisecore  tendencies.  One
fucked up freak session, eh? You got that right, buckos!  _Your  Dead
Reflection_ is a promising record  that  breaks  away  from  standard
practices of many hardcore bands adding variety to their sound -- and
in their own stage of creativity,  the  band  opts  to  use  a  truly
sinister circle of aggression to cast weight and intensity into their
music, while at the same time blasting us with bombardments that only
few mosh-heads would be able to take in all at once. Brutal? Yes. Out
of control? Definitely. I am hoping to catch this  band  live,  as  I
know they will truly maim me for no reason at all. Scary shit, folks,
and that's a good thing.

Contact: Dimm Records P.O. Box 7605 Akron, Ohio 44306
         WWW: http://www.akron.infi.net/~hat3/dimmrecords.html


Himminbjorg - _Where Ravens Fly_  (Red Stream, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)

These French guys have it together. They have  succeeded  in  putting
together an album that I enjoy and will listen to on  occasion;  cool
packaging and cool music. As Red Stream is great  at  finding  talent
and then packaging it properly, Himminbjorg serves as a testament  to
their cause. _Where Ravens Fly_ features well put together riffs  and
song structures, playing warring  metal  in  the  black  metal  vein.
Although this CD is comprised of only six songs, it is indeed a  full
length. Celestial atmospheres are created by wise  use  of  keyboards
and make for great segueways between tracks.  A  good,  solid  effort
from a band that was until now unknown to me always makes for a  good
surprise. So dress for battle, sharpen thy ax and  sword,  mount  thy
steed, go forth unto thy sofa and take a good listen to Himminbjorg.

Contact: Mathrien D., c/o Ludivic Tournier, "Sous La Vellaz", 01510
         Artemare, France


Humectant Interruption / MO*TE - _Rest Stop Entrapment_
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (7.5 out of 10)  (Uncut, 1998)

Once again I find myself listening to another recording from  one  of
Japan's more unsung noise artists MO*TE  and  now-fellow  Michigander
noisehead Joel St. German's project Hemectant Interruption.  What  is
offered on this split release is both  artists  using  source  sounds
provided by the other in order to produce two  separate  and  lengthy
pieces of sound that fluctuate from ear piercingly harsh  to  surreal
moments of sub-bass ambiance. HI's side is a mixture  of  both  these
techniques, letting out a quick assault of  sound  mixed  in  with  a
constant "buzzing" effect. This track slides in and out of the  realm
of being harsh, and while it brings nothing amazing to the table,  it
certainly leaves no room for complaints. MO*TE's side is  a  tad  bit
more assaulting on the senses and focuses less on any attempts to add
major dynamic sounds, but instead keeps the listener entranced with a
mix of rhythmic pulsations and swirling attacks of sound. Once again,
MO*TE's side offers  nothing  in  the  realm  of  being  particularly
amazing, but placing it up with the usual output of this  artist,  it
certainly is on the good standard that all of his work lives  up  to.
If anything, this release offers  the  more  ambitious  noise  fan  a
chance to check out two very unsung artists in the field today,  both
from Japan and the United States, and  unlike  so  much  noise  being
produced today, holds very little to complain  about  or  grow  bored
with. Recommended.

Contact: Uncut, 56 Takahisa Yoshikawa-shi, Saitama 342-0035, Japan
         mailto:uncut@mb.infoweb.ne.jp


Impious - _Evilized_  (Black Sun Records, September 1998)
by: David Rocher  (10 out of 10)

So, -another- Swedish death metal band, this one  cunningly  blending
US-death metal elements in with Swedish death  metal  elements,  both
modern (i.e., what is now referred to as  "Gothenburg  death  metal")
and traditional (early Entombed, Grave and so forth).  But  what,  in
guise of a mild lack  of  originality,  often  constitutes  the  main
weakness of a band, becomes, when placed in this quartet's  hands,  a
devastating, murderous weapon. Gifted with what many bands lack, that
is  astounding  technical  abilities,  Impious'  members   have   the
creativity to match; thus their music opens  fire  with  ultra-brutal
low-case riffing backed up by a hysterical blast beat  assault,  then
instantly  switches  to  melodic  riffing  a  la  Gothenburg,  before
suddenly calming down to a quiet, acoustic passage similar  to  those
that were early In Flames' trademark.  Half  a  second,  and  another
grinding riff kicks in, hammered  home  by  heroic  drumming  antics,
granting clearance for an  awesomely  heavy  and  fast  guitar  lead,
definitely branding _Evilized_ as  one  of  1998's  heaviest  albums.
Alternating vocal styles (ultra-profound death metal grunts switching
to aggressive, guttural screams, similar to those of Johan Lindstrand
of The Crown) are used to great effect, as are the rare  samples  and
eerie female vox. Rarely has the first onslaught of a band been  this
convincing,  and  this  outrageously  violent  display  of  brutality
comfortably notches itself among this  year's  top  ten  albums.  The
extremely raw Sunlight  sound  is  somewhat  disconcerting,  but  not
unpleasant, and reinforces the utterly  crushing  heaviness  of  this
masterpiece. Enough said.


Japanese Torture Comedy Hour / MSBR - _Split_  (Extraction, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8.5 out of 10)

It can pretty much be said that  a  constant  in  many  of  my  noise
reviews is my praise of the unsung artists out there in  the  extreme
"music" field. This is not just some attempt at  trying  to  be  more
"obscure" or "underground" than others by praising such artists,  but
simply because more times than not, it seems it is the  lesser  known
and praised artists who strive to produce the best works.  The  split
between  American  grindcore  sensation  Scott  Hull's   (Agoraphobic
Nosebleed) Japanese Torture  Comedy  Hour  and  Japan's  MSBR  is  an
excellent  example  of   two   lesser   praised   artists   producing
extraordinary works. JTCH's side kicks off with a mind grinding  live
track entitled "Man Tar", which envelopes the listener in an  endless
sea of low-end distortion and rippling waves of feedback.  The  other
two tracks bring about a mixture  of  JTCH's  usual  "in  your  face"
low-end assault and moments of more surreal, almost  industrial-esque
soundscapes that serve as a break  from  the  usual  one  dimensional
attack and provide an extra level of depth to the compositions.  MSBR
in turn produce more beautiful harsh ambient sound  structures  which
freely flow from moments of aural chaos to audio surrealism  with  no
noticeable break in the overall structure of the piece. Perhaps it is
a testament to MSBR's genius that he can so stretch and  contort  the
thin line between barbaric harshness and dark ambiance  that  by  the
time one comes to the end of an MSBR piece, it seems there was  never
a line to be drawn in the first place. Like  all  MSBR  compositions,
this is another  in  a  long  line  of  noise  scapes  which  can  be
experienced over and over again and never once could a listener  even
hope to track  down  and  contain  every  sound  exploration.  Easily
another in a growing line of split releases from more  obscure  noise
artists which demands attention from even the most casual listener of
the noise genre.

Contact: Extraction, PO Box 1213, Quogue, NH 11959, USA
         mailto:irzine@aol.com


Judas Priest - _'98 Live Meltdown_  (BMG/RCA, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Kicking off with the melodic brilliance of "The Hellion" and  flowing
effortlessly into the classic "Electric Eye", Judas Priest deliver an
opening  salvo  which  sets  the  precedent  of  quality  and   sheer
hardrockin' brilliance which this  live  album  rarely  lets  up  on.
Firstly and foremostly, the Priest's live sound has  been  reproduced
with clarity  and  power.  Couple  with  this  the  -superb-  musical
performances, which put some of the original recorded performances to
shame, and you have the perfect conditions to deal out an  incredible
live collection. One final element is needed: a good  set  of  songs.
_'98 Live Meltdown_ features the  set  which  the  Priest  have  been
touring the world with recently and it is,  overall,  excellent.  The
band's most essential songs are, of  course,  played:  "Living  After
Midnight", "Breaking the Law", "Victim of Changes", etc., but, as  is
often the case with live records, the set list is the place  where  I
start having doubts. Some classics, e.g. "Exiter", are left out, but,
more prominently, the band's last two albums are overly  focused  on.
Nine of these 24 songs are either from  _Jugulator_  or  _Painkiller_
and, as far as the _Jugulator_ material goes, I am baffled as to  why
the band didn't include "Jugulator" or play "Cathedral  Spires".  For
me, this ranks among my favorite live documents -- it's up there with
Slayer's _Decade of Aggression_, and beats out the Black  Sabbath  in
solid, unwavering quality, if not in  its  uniqueness  as  a  reunion
record. Priest's songs are superb and their legacy  undeniable.  They
are still more than worthy of every metaller's attention, respect and
neck injuries.


Jungle Rot - _Slaughter the Weak_  (Pavement, 1998)
by: Aaron McKay  (9 out of 10)

No shittin', I'm becoming an  increasingly  bigger  fan  of  Pavement
music. This label, as most of you are already aware, boasts  some  of
the undisputed best in metal, like Malevolent Creation, Vader  (hell,
yea!) and Forbidden. Well, sons of bitches, add Jungle  Rot  to  that
list of bands extraordinaire. I -had- given JR an 8.5 out of 10,  but
fuck that! These guys are intense! Their music leaves little doubt of
the firm grasp that the band holds on what their fans are looking for
and certainly what it takes to acquire new ones. Dave  Matrise,  JR's
menacing lead singer / guitarist, has a  succinct  death  rasp  vocal
style  that  adds  a  dimension  to  the  delivery  of  each   song's
free-flowing carnage. Rob Panoola (drums), Jim Bell (guitar / backing
vocals), and Mike Legros (bass) finalize the  line-up  to  move  this
fervent force forward. Not a  lot  of  exhibition  or  showcasing  of
individual members here that often pervades  groups  of  this  genre,
just chunky, killer riffing death metal. JR is dictionary  indicative
of the word "heavy" with all the  musical  precision  of  the  atomic
clock. Pavement has Jungle  Rot  as  the  probable  opening  act  for
Malevolent Creation on an upcoming  tour  beginning  early  February.
Snow or no snow,  this  writer  is  at  -any-  show  in  the  Midwest
anywhere. Period.


Limbonic Art - _Epitome of Illusions_  (Nocturnal Art, October 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (8 out of 10)

This is -not- new material from Limbonic Art  --  unfortunately,  but
not too surprisingly, considering that their latest  full-length  _In
Abhorrence Dementia_ came out just over  a  year  ago.  Nevertheless,
this time gap may already be long enough to  lead  some  people  into
thinking that _Epitome of Illusions_ contains new material, when what
it does contain is in fact 45 minutes of re-recorded  demo  material.
The sound quality is therefore good, since this wasn't directly taken
from some demo tape, and it generally avoids sounding much like  demo
material. Nevertheless, knowing what Limbonic  Art  have  done  since
then, most of the music here is inferior to both of  their  brilliant
albums. This doesn't mean that _Epitome  of  Illusions_  isn't  worth
purchasing for someone who likes Limbonic Art, just that the keyboard
work isn't as amazing and multi-layered as in their other two  albums
and the drum machine is used in a much more linear way, for  example.
What could have been really interesting here, since it  was  unlikely
that the music itself would be as good as their full-length releases,
was that it might have been even darker than the -very- dark _Moon in
the Scorpio_, my favorite Limbonic Art album; but  unfortunately  the
music here turns out to be less extreme in every way than both  _Moon
in the Scorpio_ and _In Abhorrence Dementia_. Still, like I mentioned
before, these two albums are so brilliant that these statements don't
necessarily spell doom upon _Epitome of Illusions_,  which  is  still
very enjoyable; furthermore, as far as demo re-releases go,  this  is
the best I can recall hearing.


Macronympha - _Then and Now_  (Extraction, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (8.5 out of 10)

I  have  heard  the  comparison  that  Joe  Roemer's  Macronympha  is
America's answer to Merzbow. While this  may  be  true  in  terms  of
influence on the noise scene and the volume of noise each artist  has
released, considering some of the more recent attempts  at  noise  by
Masami Akita, I would have to say such a remark is nothing  short  of
an insult. Macronympha is once again out to  impress  new  noiseheads
and keep old ones begging for more with  a  furious  and  unrelenting
attack on ones speakers, ear drums, and any fragile objects within  a
50 ft. radius of your stereo. Once again featuring Stimbox mastermind
Tim  Oliveira,  this  release  never  makes  any  attempt  to  become
atmospheric or ambient. It simply is noise and offers  nothing  more,
and certainly nothing less. If one could imagine the sound  of  three
atomic bombs detonating at strategic points with you  in  the  middle
while, at the same time, listening to every household  appliance  you
can imagine short-out at once, you may have a  slight  grasp  at  the
sounds Macronympha produces on this release. While some may choose to
argue about the anti-dynamic nature of Macronympha, I cannot help but
ignore such squabble as I have found too much of a perverse  pleasure
in being barreled over with Mr. Roemer's  lovely  compositions.  Once
again, another essential release that  every  noisehead  should  have
sitting  in  his/her  collection  and  a   great   (though   possibly
overwhelming) place for the uninitiated to begin.

Contact: Extraction, PO Box 1213, Quogue, NH 11959
         mailto:irzine@aol.com


Magic Wave - _Magic Wave_  (<Independent>, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7.5 out of 10)

Radiating ultra-Monster Magnet vibes and  a  good  solid  psychedelic
doom feel, Finnish moody metallers Magic Wave play their  hearts  out
here on this rather impressive debut disc. Throw  in  comparisons  to
early Black Sabbath at times (it's in the vocals) and the real crunch
of the simpleton-like guitar work a la AC/DC and  this  really  flows
deep and hard as a stoner disc to take part in and just light up  and
rock out to. While at times  the  music  looses  itself  in  somewhat
stalling jam sessions, for the most  part  Magic  Wave  kicks  it  in
motion. I'm totally impressed by the band's true professional  manner
on disc, playing as well as any signed band out there. Worth  looking
into, people, as Magic Wave keeps the ball rolling and will keep  the
rolling papers  rolling  just  as  much.  Choice  cuts:  "Get  Down",
"Trapped" and opener "Dead & Gone". I  still  can't  believe  they're
from Finland!

Contact: Kristofer Becker, Kyrkoesplanaden 6 C 15
         FIN-65100, Vasa, Finland


Master - _Faith Is in Season_  (Pavement Europe, September 1998)
by: David Rocher  (2 out of 10)

Behold the awaited return of Paul Speckmann and his minions... To put
it quite bluntly, only some listeners  won't  be  disappointed  after
enduring this feeble metal drag --  namely  those  who  have  already
pulled the chain on Master. I've personally never deemed this band to
be much of a revelation,  and  it  is  extremely  unlikely  the  lame
collection of "musical" porridge named _Faith Is in Season_  will  do
anything to change this. Fifteen short tracks tediously display their
writers' fine sense for  uninspired  riffing,  blunt  melodies,  poor
guitar solos and uneventful, boring drum work. _FIiS_ is nothing more
than a very monotonous, unconvinced  snoozefest  of  weak  deathrash,
which could even succeed in making Grave sound extremely technical...
The album  cover  also  happens  to  be  one  of  the  ugliest,  most
meaningless displays of chocky pixels I've witnessed  in  a  lifetime
(they could even have called on Jean-Claude  van  Damme  for  greater
chances of a meaningful result), but I must admit -- it does  reflect
the contents of the CD with great precision.


Merzbow - _Tauromachine_  (Release, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (6 out of 10)

When one thinks of the amount of volume  that  Masami  Akita's  noise
project Merzbow releases within the span of a year, it is not hard to
understand why his releases can tend to veer towards being  very  hit
and miss. Merzbow's fifth output on Release (two splits,  three  full
lengths) seems to be less of an actual harsh noise assault  and  more
of an exhibition of industrial sounds mixed in with  Pain  Jerk-esque
editing  techniques.  While   this   album   has   been   billed   by
Relapse/Release as being  harsher  than  the  previous  Merzbow  full
length _Pulse Demon_, I found it to be  anything  but.  While  _Pulse
Demon_ had a mild psychedelic influence on it, _Tauromachine_  hardly
delivers any sort of brutal  sound  assault  that  would  humble  it.
Perhaps I am being unfair to this disc in the  sense  that,  by  what
Relapse/Release was promoting, I had anticipated another  masterpiece
such as _Venerology_ but instead I was  left  with  an  output  that,
while being above and beyond many noise acts,  falls  very  short  by
Merzbow standards. This is more than likely worth looking into if you
are ambitious (read: stupid) enough to try  and  find  every  Merzbow
release, but there  is  a  plethora  of  other  offerings  from  this
Japanese noise master that are easy 9s or 10s on  the  rating  scale,
and much more worthy of attention.

Contact: Relapse/Release, PO Box 251, Millersville, PA, 17551, USA
         mailto:release@relapse.com


Meshuggah - _Chaosphere_  (Nuclear Blast, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9.5 out of 10)

If there was any band out there that had a  new  record  on  my  most
eagerly  anticipated  releases  list,   it   had   to   be   Sweden's
industrial/metal-fusion monsters Meshuggah. Their  last  full-length,
1995's _Destroy Erase Improve_, was the record that put them in check
with metal fans worldwide, a release so intense and pleasurable  that
new fans were craving older material, while fans of  the  band's  old
stuff (like myself) were pleased with the consistent evolution of the
band. It was a milestone for metal music in my mind,  a  record  that
defined where a band could go  with  fusioned  metal  sounds,  and  a
stepping stone for many bands to follow. To this day  I  still  stand
behind it. _DEI_ is truly that good.  Following  a  rather  neat  EP,
1997's _The True Human Design_ (a bit of a teaser of things  to  come
plus remixes  of  classic  cut  _Future  Breed  Machine_),  the  band
regrouped their sound and style and got heavier and more compact. The
latest offering by Meshuggah finds the band pedal to the  metal  with
some of the most abrasive and truly downright  barbs  of  anger  this
year. Sure it's chock-full of repetition -- what Meshuggah LP  isn't?
-- but it's the work around the repetitive guitar work  and  choruses
that builds this metal machine into a roaring beast. It claws,  kicks
and grinds into our psyche an abominable force of metal  mayhem  that
only we can digest with the utmost concentration. Not  gonna  happen.
This is too heavy to understand and, like other Meshuggah LPs,  there
is a lot going on. Don't fight this, just crank it. Lots  of  goodies
here, primarily in tracks like "Corridor of Chameleons",  "Sane"  and
"Neurotica". It doesn't get better than this.


M-Squad - _M-Squad_  (Primate, June 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)

The band name imbued me with an image of a militant,  socio-political
hardcore band, with the name containing some kind of Orwellian tie-in
(e.g. Memory-Squad = Thought Police). As I quickly learned  that  the
"M" in fact stood for "mush"  and,  when  expanded,  "mushroom",  the
picture of a drugged out stoner-rock band became much more  prominent
in my mind and provided a much closer  approximation  of  the  truth.
M-Squad's closest musical  cousins  are  somewhat  legendary  stoners
Kyuss, but the band, which  features  three  former  members  of  the
death/doom band Bloodfarmers, have a lot  more  to  offer  than  just
sound-a-like music. They have the definite advantage over many  other
bands of being able to pen some pretty killer  riffs  (see  "Tractor"
and "Meant for Dying" for prime examples) and well constructed  songs
and have a reasonable amount to offer in  originality  of  their  own
too. For me, on this offering, the main source of  originality  stems
from the track "Hoedown Blues", which is, as the  band  chuckle  just
before they play it, "a regular hoedown". Parallels can be  drawn  to
offerings of other bands, but the particular choice and purity of the
jam gives  it  its  own  edge,  whether  you  like  hoedown  or  not.
Definitely an impressive offering among this  year's  bunch  in  this
genre and, overall, an album which shows considerable ability  and  a
fair amount of  talent,  along  with  the  possible  effects  various
hallucinogens and intoxicants can have.

Contact: Primate/M-Squad, 241-12th Street
         Brooklyn, New York, 11215-3919, USA
         mailto:mushsquad@aol.com
         WWW: http://members.tripod.com/~Msquad/index.html


Odhinn - _The North Brigade_  (Napalm Records, November 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (5 out of 10)

I finished my review of Odhinn's debut MCD in CoC #35  stating  that,
in my opinion, "considering the first two tracks, a properly produced
full-length  could  be  interesting."  Well,  it  -could-   be.   The
production here isn't terrible, but it's no more than average  --  it
may well be exactly the production that John Ostlund, sole member  of
Odhinn, wanted, I don't know. The first couple of  tracks  are  quite
good, however (especially the first), and basically sound like a much
less technical version of the superior In Battle. Fast and raw,  with
a certain In Battle feel in the background, these two tracks  display
qualities that are seldom repeated throughout the rest of _The  North
Brigade_. A lot of variety is then added throughout the  album:  some
keyboard lines, a few "Viking" vocals and plenty of  experimentation.
Noises abound, sometimes similar to some  of  the  sound  effects  on
Abigor's _Supreme Immortal Art_, although Abigor's results are better
(and the music itself on _SIA_ is a -lot- better). There's even  some
polished film-like music (some of which is well done), together  with
war sounds and speech sequences. But even with all this sideshow  and
experimentation, _The North Brigade_ is overall below average; if  it
was all more like the first couple of tracks...


Ophthalamia - _Dominion_  (No Fashion Records, September 1998)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

Still bearing in mind the very lame _Via Dolorosa_, which  stood  out
as one of the feeblest albums to plague the  year  1995,  I  welcomed
_Dominion_ with a knowledgeable, not-very-lenient grin, and sharpened
my keyboard as I got ready to carve this sucker into strips. In fact,
the grin instantly faded as the beautiful guitar  lead  of  "Elishias
Mistresses Gather" kicked in; slow,  beautiful,  heavy  Swedish  dark
metal is truly what _Dominion_ has on offer. Fantastic, lyrical, dark
melodies (that succeed, despite their sweetness, in never  giving  in
to vomitory goo a la Theatre of Tragedy) combine with  a  very  heavy
rhythmic section to create a mysterious, epic work  of  Swedish  dark
metal that occasionally indulges  in  a  bit  of  rock'n'roll  guitar
work... Sparingly used synthetics back  up  the  beautiful,  freezing
cold guitar lines on _Dominion_  and  succeed  in  finely  carving  a
deadly, calculated yet emotive masterpiece. It seems that Ophthalamia
have finally found a stable line-up in the presence of It, Mist, All,
Bone and Night -- this man being no less than Jon Notveidt's brother,
his presence may explain the sometimes striking musical  similarities
of present-day Ophthalamia with a slower, more lyrical interpretation
of the mighty Dissection. [Since All is not in the scene anymore  (he
fled to Finland after  Jon  Notveidt  threatened  to  kill  him)  the
line-up again lacks stability -- Paul]


Oxiplegatz - _Sidereal Journey_  (Season of Mist, 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (6 out of 10)

Alf Svensson, former member of the legendary At the  Gates,  presents
us with another epic opera of sci-fi metal. As  if  this  description
wasn't strange enough, Svensson uses a very synthetic  sounding  drum
machine and an unusual (and rather weak) guitar sound, together  with
plenty of strange rhythms, sounds and sequences.  By  the  way,  this
whole album is just one song, over 40 minutes long and  divided  into
33 tracks that only seem to be there to allow the listener to  browse
through the album more easily than, for example, on Edge of  Sanity's
classic _Crimson_. The metallic components of _Sidereal Journey_,  if
regarded as such, are below average, despite  the  musical  qualities
often displayed throughout the album. It  sounds  too  synthetic  and
bland for my taste, which strongly subtracts  from  those  particular
musical qualities; the appearance of plenty of less than  interesting
sections doesn't help, either. A pleasant sequence of tracks is often
followed by an annoying one, and the fluctuation of the quality level
is therefore  quite  high.  Programming  out  some  tracks  obviously
doesn't work well in this particular album.  Sara  Svensson's  varied
and well performed vocals are what I find most interesting here,  and
she fortunately appears in  just  over  half  the  tracks.  (You  may
remember her name from Dark Tranquillity's superb  _The  Mind's  I_.)
Overall, the album isn't bad, but it does have a considerable  amount
of annoying characteristics that overshadow many of its qualities.


Plan E - _Songs for a Rainy Day_  (Solardisk, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (7 out of 10)

Ah, yes... another release from Finland outfit Plan E. We have always
featured the music of Plan E in Chronicles of  Chaos  and  rightfully
so: they are good. Seems as though every year or  so  we  see  a  new
release or two from them, constantly picking up where they  left  off
with their unique, yet delicate soundscape/ambient sounds meshed with
stellar rhythm and impressive emotionally-charged vocals. The latest,
_Songs for a Rainy Day_, is probably the  best  of  the  lot,  driven
primarily by strong keyboards  and  singer  Jani  Lehtosaari's  vocal
deliverance, though the rhythm section superbly keeps  things  going.
Fans of odd timing of instruments and keyboard work might  fancy  the
work of Plan E. As was the case with Bride of the  Atom,  Plan  E  is
something few will really learn to appreciate, while others might  be
turned off by the band's choice of ideas. I'm digging it,  as  I  had
expected.

Contact: P.O. Box 50, 90251 Oulu, Finland
         WWW: http://www.solardisk.com


Riger - _Der Wanderer_  (CCP Records, October 1998)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

Hailing from Germany, Riger (one of Odin's many nicknames, if I'm not
mistaken) appear  to  be  one  of  1998's  most  talented  newcomers.
Cleverly mixing death, black and doom  metal  styles  with  fantastic
medieval and epic atmospheres, this six-member act  have  created  an
impressive opus of grim, majestic metal that clocks  in  at  a  proud
playing time of 55 minutes (for nine tracks plus outro). Fronted by a
very impressive vocalist whose aptitude to switch vocal registries is
very convincing, the band don't simply rely on only one instrument to
carve this masterpiece into shape; thus does _Der  Wanderer_  feature
intricate synth work, clever guitar melodies and very nicely  thought
out arrangements. Speed is on the whole kept at a medium  pace,  even
if a few passages brutally  lash  out  with  cavalcading  double-bass
rhythms and/or rapid / blast beat drumming. Even  if  _Der  Wanderer_
can't always match the majestic atmospheres  masters  like  Satyricon
may achieve, some tracks, such as "Baum" or "Autodafe", stand out  as
a display of genuine musical genius.  The  lyrics,  sung  in  German,
grant Riger a strong personality in a  sadly  increasingly  anonymous
scene, and demonstrate that some truly talented  new  bands  may  yet
have an identity of their own. By  all  standards,  considering  _Der
Wanderer_ is Riger's first output, the  quality  of  their  music  is
unusually high. A very recommendable and personal album.


Ritual Carnage - _The Highest Law_  (Osmose, September 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (3 out of 10)

As one scene fades,  over  the  course  of  time,  into  another,  an
attentive observer can examine and assess  the  influence  which  the
previous "generation" exerts over the  one  following  it.  Sometimes
newer bands impress us with their originality or ability  to  develop
and build upon a previous style. Sometimes new bands sound derivative
of their "elders" and the only  words  to  say  before  throwing  the
source  of  irritation  from  your  stereo   is   "rip-off"   (though
occasionally a band -will- get away with lack of originality  through
sheer good songwriting). Ritual Carnage were cast from my sight  with
the words "rip-off" on my lips.  They  appear  to  love  Kreator  and
they'd probably be excellent, enthusiastic and able candidates for  a
Kreator cover-band.  However,  it  is  painfully  obvious  that  when
attempting to construct a whole album  of  "original"  material  they
forgot one vital ingredient: originality itself. With  the  cover  of
Onslaught's "Death Metal",  which  features  Erik  Rutan  and  George
Corpsegrinder and has led to some rather deceiving  advertising  (for
which Osmose have officially apologized), this clocks in  at  31  odd
minutes; I was thankful it at least didn't take me too long to listen
to this enough to complete my review of it. I do suggest Osmose  sign
a few less of these retro-thrash bands; the "joke" is wearing as thin
as the knees on their jeans.


Various - _Roadkill_  (System Shock / Pavement, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (5 out of 10)

In some  ways  celebrating  the  cooperative  deal  between  the  US'
Pavement music (Hateplow, Malevolent Creation)  and  Europe's  System
Shock (Vader, Evoke), _Roadkill_ showcases bands  from  both  labels'
death metal (ahem) heavy  rosters.  This  is  purely  a  sampler  and
features nothing unreleased. The material  chosen  is  on  the  whole
recent, which is good. "Kingdom" from Vader's EP of the same name and
the title track  of  Malevolent  Creation's  new  album  are  happily
present (although what "No Salvation" from 1995's _Eternal_ is  doing
here is a good question), as are a number of tracks from bands I  had
heretofore not heard.  With  a  few  exceptions  (Solitude  Aeturnus,
Darkside), _Roadkill_ illustrates Pavement / System Shock's faith  in
death metal, though not their selectivity. Though Evoke  prompt  fond
reminiscence to the glory days of Carcass and Entombed, and  Internal
Bleeding show vague  potential,  the  majority  of  these  bands  are
sub-standard and sound like each other  (Demented  Ted  =  Malevolent
Creation). Vader, Malevolent Creation and Hateplow aside,  if  I  was
depressed about the state of our current scene I  would  not  put  on
_Roadkill_ to give me hope for the future.


Run Devil Run - _The Killing Civilization_
by: Adrian Bromley  (4 out of 10)  (<Independent>, November 1998)

At best, this is mediocre hardcore  with  a  truly  powerful  message
about life, love and understanding. The band's total stance on  their
issues is quite evident from lyrics, liner notes and cover artwork --
that I can tolerate; it's just the lean and  lackluster  work  within
the band's sound that really fails to impress and keep  me  going.  I
don't know about many of you out there who delve into hardcore all of
the time or sometimes, but it's supposed to  have  a  real  flair  of
intensity somewhere within the music. This does not. Seems as  though
the messages  within  their  music  trampled  any  direct  sound  and
attitude they were trying to reveal within the music on _The  Killing
Civilization_. Boring.

Contact: 3906 Stoner Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44109, USA


Runemagick - _The Supreme Force of Eternity_
by: David Rocher  (5.5 out of 10)  (Century Media, October 1998)

Featuring in its line-up  Peter  Palmdahl  of  Dissection  and  Nicky
Terror of Swordmaster (very cunningly appearing under his  real  name
Nicklas Rudolfsson, probably in order to disconcert metal audiences),
this project is what you could describe as "old school" Swedish  dark
metal, i.e., no frills, in-your-face  low-case  riffs  and  battering
drums, simplistic song structures, no wimpish keys  or  sissy  female
vocals, just four hairy people indulging in a tense, electrified wall
of sound and hateful songs whose  simplicity  is  clearly  voluntary.
Recorded in the much-acclaimed Fredman studios,  this  opus  has  the
sound to match its heavy claims; this  is  for  the  good  news.  The
not-so-good news is that simplicity seems to be an excuse  for  often
not very inspired songwriting and bass/guitar work, and  even  though
Runemagick have their high times, on the whole, this baby grunts  and
saws its 40 minute  long  way  through  the  listener's  ears  in  an
irksome, annoyingly minimalistic way, and... that's about all _TSFoE_
is about. Add to this the outrageously  feeble,  cliche,  meaningless
lyrics ("Memories of twisted faces / Morbid voices in a race  /  They
fade away as I travel away / ... away"), and you haul sixteen tons of
a  globally  monotonous  metal  lump  that,  despite  featuring  some
enjoyable material,  definitely  does  nothing  to  live  up  to  the
expectances the names  Peter  Palmdahl  and  Nicklas  Rudolfsson  may
awaken.


Scepter - _I'm Going to Hell_  (Merciless, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (1 out of 10)

I refuse to take on the opinion of society which says that people who
listen to metal are stupid. I hold down two jobs,  am  married,  with
one child, and I am responsible. I pay my bills and rent on time when
possible, and don't waste my income on habits.  Therefore,  I  cannot
relate to Scepter. These guys are freakin' idiots and in my mind  are
not representative of what metal is all about. In order to  pen  such
songs as "I'm Going to Hell" and "Ready to Rape", one must live in  a
world totally opposite to that in which I reside. Their  lyrics  have
absolutely nothing to do with metal; they have to do with personality
disorders. The music is admittedly great, being a throwback to  early
Celtic Frost, but  sadly  it  is  a  soundtrack  to  lyrics  like  "I
sodomized an angel of the Lord, I dragged his mangled corpse back  to
my horde, and together on it  we  spilled  our  seed".  Well,  that's
great.  To  all  metalheads  everywhere:  you  MUST  draw  the   line
somewhere! At some point you must say "No! This  is  wrong.  This  is
stupid." I guess I'll be over here trying to improve my life,  trying
to be realistic and humble, and listening to intelligent  bands  like
Fates Warning and Paramaecium.

Contact: Scepter, PO Box 388068, Chicago, IL 60638-8068, USA


Scholomance - _A Treatise on Love_  (The End, October 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (9 out of 10)

Scholomance were the band that impressed  me  the  most  on  The  End
Records' _Until the End of Time_  compilation  [CoC  #31],  and  this
album,  while  it  didn't  quite  live  up  to  my  expectations,  is
excellent. The album has a sound comparable to  bands  like  Emperor,
Cradle  of  Filth,  and  Arcturus,  but  this  is  not  black  metal;
Scholomance are really a  prog  metal  band  at  heart.  Their  music
features the winding song  structures,  long  instrumental  sections,
complexity,  and  (a  few   sections   of)   over-indulgent   musical
showmanship that is more common of  bands  like  Dream  Theater  than
Emperor. The tempos and styles that they use are varied and the songs
generally flow very well. They even throw in  the  occasional  sample
here and there. They make good use of melody (including some  eastern
melodies), harmony, and dissonance, avoiding using any of  the  three
in a predictable or formulaic way. The playing is very  good  on  all
counts. Keyboards are used liberally, both as atmosphere  and  as  an
equal to the guitars, taking a few solos and leading a  few  sections
all by themselves. The playing is excellent; not virtuoso level,  but
dense and complex. The vocals are rasped like black metal, but  don't
sound out of place with the  more  progressive  music.  Although  the
drums are handled by a drum machine, the  programming  is  excellent.
It's clear that a lot of work went into  programming  them,  as  they
utilize a lot of  different  sounds,  and  there  are  a  variety  of
different fills thrown in throughout the album.  Quite  frankly,  the
drum programming is more interesting than most  human  drummers  I've
heard. The rhythm guitar work is very good, but  the  leads  are  the
weak part of the album for me. Compared to the  rest  of  the  music,
they sound cheap and generally inappropriate.  I  find  the  phrasing
awkward and they seem to meander without a sense  of  direction.  The
production is very good: clear and powerful. The band  has  a  unique
sound, and it takes some getting used to at  first,  but  every  time
I've listened to this, I've picked up something new; there really  is
a lot going on. This is highly recommended for fans of the more "high
brow" side of black metal or the heavier side of prog metal.


Seth - _Les Blessures de l'Ame_  (Season of Mist, October 1998)
by: David Rocher  (8 out of 10)

France has, over the years, very justly become notoriously famed  for
the plethoric amount of "uber-black metal" bands it has bestowed upon
the extreme scene, such as Mutiilation, Belketre, Osculum Infame  and
many others. It seems though the tides are finally turning under  the
influence of bands such as Anaon and now Seth,  who  have  chosen  to
replace the very common "untrendier-than-thou"  attitude  by  musical
proficiency and inspiration. The twin guitar attack  on  _LBdl'A_  is
varied, very melodic, yet  eerie  and  mean,  and  is  backed  up  by
efficient, inspired drumming; the vocals are grating,  harsh  screams
that are often layered to great effect,  and  mixed  well  enough  to
sound aggressive whilst  not  being  overtly  brutal  or  excessively
baleful, a la Marduk. Unusually, they  are  sung  in  French,  which,
considering the uninteresting phonetics of this language,  turns  out
very convincing. Finely-woven keyboards add the finishing touches  to
this very convincing symphony, which literally oozes with enrapturing
blackness; strangely,  though,  the  sweet  keyboard  melodies  sadly
sometimes  do  collide  with  Seth's  evil  atmospheres.  This  said,
_LBdl'A_ is one of the most convincing French black metal  albums  to
have been released this year, and possibly even the best black  metal
album ever to have graced the shores of France.


16 - _Scott Case_  (Pessimiser Records, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (9 out of 10)

Nothing like getting your hands on one of your fave band's early  out
of   print   material,   right?   Totally   underrated,    California
sludge/noisecore outfit 16 have worked hard over the  years  to  dish
out some of the most bastard noise concoctions that has surfaced.  It
was dirty, ruthless and sometimes unbearable to listen to. But it was
great. Fucked up and doped out to the max, 16 has managed to assemble
a truly killer group of old numbers that  really  define  the  band's
evolution over the years. From jagged numbers like  "Attention  Span"
onto "Loafer" and "Texas Tunnel", this California  outfit  dig  their
dirty fangs into us, spreading their fiendishly grotesque moments  of
creativity onto us in a rough fashion, similar to the  way  a  school
yard bully would rough you up for your lunch money. I hope this don't
signify the end of 16, as I'm always up for new material from one  of
the best bands out there. Music fans interested in hearing some  good
recent 16 material, be  sure  to  check  out  1996's  _Drop  Out_  on
Theologian Records.


Skin Crime - _Collection_  (<Independent>, 1998)
by: Gabriel Sanchez  (9 out of 10)

There is that elite circle of Americanoise artists whose outputs  can
continually  rival  and  even  surpass  those   of   their   Japanese
counterparts, and Skin Crime has proven time after time that they are
one of them. This six CD  collection  brings  together  Skin  Crime's
early  tape  releases  on  Self  Abuse  Records  along  with  classic
recordings such as _Genital Modification_ and _Whorebutcher_. If that
was  not  enough,  also  included  on  this  collection  are  various
compilation tracks, the B-Side to their RRR recycled tape, and a  new
track of Skin Crime recorded live  in  1996.  The  noise  Skin  Crime
produces shifts from atmospheric and structured at points to no holds
barred low-end kick backs of pure  aural  energy.  I  gave  up  after
listening to the collection straight through twice to find  any  sort
of progression or pattern in the sounds of Skin Crime, for there  are
none. Skin Crime manages to hit on every area of noise at one time or
another during the course of this  collection,  and  truly  leave  no
stone unturned when producing noise that is  so  compelling  that  it
becomes challenging for other artists in the field to come  close  to
matching it. For those who are  willing  to  drop  the  $50  on  this
collection, it is more than well worth the investment  in  money  for
the sheer amount of noise one gets back (nearly  seven  hours  worth)
and that much of the material on this collection is out of  print  or
extremely obscure. Easily the single best collection of noise in  one
place put out by any artist in the field today.

Contact: SAR, 26 S. Main St. #277, Concord, NH 03301, USA
         mailto:selfabuse@selfabuse.mv.com


Skinlab - _Eyesore_  (Century Media, November 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

All I have to say is that Skinlab has balls for  covering  Brujeria's
killer "Raza Odiada (Pito Wilson)". It sounds good and heavy  (phew!)
and acts as one of the stronger  angles  of  the  band's  limited  EP
_Eyesore_. Much in the vein of the band's 1997 release _Bound, Gagged
and Blindfolded_, the new material here ("So Far From the Truth"  and
"Noah") continues on where these Bay Area thrashers left off:  heavy.
Rich in solid guitar work and a real  awesome  thrash  metal  groove,
Skinlab feeds us with intense doses of metal for us to  digest  'till
their next full-length surfaces. The live version track of "Paleface"
doesn't sound too good, as the vocals are severely muffled, but not a
concern as it gets overshadowed by much better material anyway.  Good
five-song EP.


Solstice - _New Dark Age_  (Misanthropy Records, December 1998)
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)

Solstice build their doom metal with plenty of guitar work,  a  heavy
guitar sound and rather unusual clean vocals. It is  the  combination
of these three aspects of their music that will  most  likely  decide
whether the listener enjoys it or not. If he  does,  then  _New  Dark
Age_ provides him with over an hour of music and several songs around
the ten  minute  mark.  Although  I  usually  like  long  songs  with
interesting complex structures, most of  Solstice's  song  structures
aren't very interesting (they're definitely not Opeth), and therefore
some of the songs are a bit too long for  their  own  good;  however,
this doesn't tend to become too much of a  problem,  either,  just  a
relatively minor fault. Their sound, like I mentioned above, is based
upon heavy guitars and a lot of  more  technical  work  as  well  (no
keyboards are ever used), the result depending a lot on the  specific
song. The guitar work can get really  good  (in  "Alchemiculte",  for
example), but then it  can  also  enter  some  unremarkable  sections
during these long songs.  The  clean  vocals  definitely  aren't  for
everyone's taste,  and,  although  they  generally  seem  technically
correct, they could have suited the music better. In fact, there  are
several acoustic and/or folk-inspired songs  in  the  album;  two  of
these have vocals, and they suit these songs better  than  they  suit
the "normal" ones. Nevertheless, this  is  still  a  reasonably  good
album, especially for those who tend to enjoy  most  kinds  of  clean
vocals.


Soulquake System - _A Firm Statement_  (Black Mark / St. Clair, 1998)
by: Adrian Bromley  (8 out of 10)

Soulquake System returns to the music scene with a thunderous wallop.
While their debut disc,  _Angry  by  Nature,  Ugly  by  Choice_,  was
Pantera-esque rage rolled into a  slight  hardcore  momentum,  things
have changed here. New singer Danile Engman  gets  the  troops  going
with the raw death/rock/groove of their music.  Sounding  as  if  you
blended Entombed, Meshuggah and Transport  League,  Soulquake  System
aren't afraid to let things get out of hand, showcasing loose  guitar
riffs, raging vocals and a pounding rhythm section that  could  crush
one's skull. This band is one of the few Black Mark signees over  the
last few years I've been into, Auberon being the other, and I'm happy
to see that the band has been given another record on Black  Mark  to
show their quality. If ya like your metal music  a  little  "off  the
handle", then this baby's for ya. Choice cuts: opener "Illegal Love",
"Equal Treatment" and "Corrupdead".


Stampin' Ground - _An Expression of Repressed Violence_
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out of 10)  (Century Media, October 1998)

Stampin' Ground, though signed to Century Media's hardcore subsidiary
Kingfisher, owe as much to Slayer or  Exodus  as  they  do  to  Minor
Threat or Agnostic Front. It is funny how musical leanings seem to go
round in ever-decreasing circles. To  create  thrash,  pioneers  like
Slayer  combined  the  speed  and  intensity  of  hardcore  with  the
technicality and  crunch  of  metal.  Now,  SG  and  their  ilk  have
plundered the metallic crunch of Slayer's style of thrash and twinned
it with hardcore's direct  approach,  especially  to  lyric  writing.
Scene speculating aside, in _AEoRV_ Stampin' Ground have  produced  a
very confident second album. With solid, though standard, songwriting
and Andy Sneap's crisp production, _AEoRV_ proves to be  a  bulldozer
of a record. From beginning to end, it is bludgeoning without  mercy.
One of its assets is the technical ability shown by SG's drummer.  In
songs like "My Will Be Done" and "The Death You  Deserve",  he  busts
the kit with  precision,  variation  and  technicality.  If  SG  keep
improving at the rate they have been, then the future bodes well  for
them.


The Crown - _Hell Is Here_  (Metal Blade, November 1998)
by: David Rocher  (9 out of 10)

New label, new name (due to legal threats from the  feeble  Christian
US glam-rock outfit fronted by Jean  Beauvoir)  for  the  high-speed,
brutally heavy Swedes previously  known  as  Crown  of  Thorns.  What
springs to mind within 30 seconds of the opener "The Poison"  is  the
amazing technical control that The Crown  exert  upon  the  brutality
that _HIH_ exudes; this bitter-sweet  feeling  of  restraint  remains
very tangible and clear throughout  the  whole  album,  and  although
_HIH_ undoubtedly rates as a -very-  wild  Scandinavian  death  metal
offering, the overtly clean melodies, arrangements and  sound  awaken
some kind of nostalgia for the harsh, violent and raw assaults of The
Crown's previous work, _Eternal Death_. However, The Crown's  newborn
spawn  delivers  more  than  its  fair  share   of   adrenaline   and
viciousness, and is by no means tame or weak -- in a way,  one  could
define The Crown's evolution between _ED_ and _HIH_ as being somewhat
similar to that of Morbid  Angel  between  _Altars  of  Madness_  and
_Blessed Are the  Sick_,  although  these  band's  respective  styles
obviously don't have  much  in  common.  As  always  in  The  Crown's
history, the musical skill demonstrated on  _HIH_  attains  extremely
high standards; the rhythm and lead guitars are more  intricate  than
they ever were, and Janne Saarenpaa's drumming reaches a  new  summit
in terms of velocity and technicality. As always, Johan  Lindstrand's
vocal performances are awesomely rabid and hateful. In fact, the sole
drawback of this album, if this may be  called  a  drawback,  is  its
squeaky  clean  sound,  that  somewhat  deprives  The  Crown  of  the
monolithic power they really deserve and don't fail to deliver.


The Gathering - _How to Measure a Planet?_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (7 out of 10)  (Century Media, November 1998)

What usually happens whenever a band establishes a  considerable  fan
base through a certain  musical  style  (_Mandylion_  and  _Nighttime
Birds_)   and   then   ventures   into   unpredictable   realms    of
experimentation is that some fans will be terribly  disappointed  and
some others amazed at how the band managed to conquer the borders  of
their previous style. And then, of course, a few will  consider  that
these new realms also contain musical quality, but simultaneously ask
if it was really necessary to go this far and lose  so  much  in  the
process -- wasn't there a better level of equilibrium between  what's
gained through experimentation and the loss of old characteristics? A
lot of electronic sounds have been thrown  into  _How  to  Measure  a
Planet?_,  together  with   experiments   using   several   different
instruments. Most of the music  is  also  much  softer  than  before,
giving Anneke's voice more room -- which is by no  means  surprising.
Speaking of Anneke van Giersbergen,  The  Gathering's  highly  gifted
singer hasn't lost any of her qualities, as one would expect, and her
voice is by far what I find most interesting in this album. The  rest
of the music doesn't do much to become the center of  the  listener's
attention most of the time, although there are a few exceptions;  The
Gathering have  overall  disappointed  me  in  the  heavier  sections
("Rescue Me", for example, has some very good softer components,  but
the heavier  instrumental  part  towards  the  end  of  the  song  is
mediocre) and the new electronic sounds are usually very superfluous.
But what is truly annoying is finding those parts of the  album  that
show just how great it all  could  have  been,  in  "Red  Is  a  Slow
Colour", "Travel" and a few others, because most other  songs  aren't
really very remarkable, except for Anneke's  vocals.  The  double  CD
edition of the album totals over 100 minutes, almost half of which is
on the bonus CD (which includes  a  nearly  half  hour  long  ambient
track). For those of you who are into ambient  experimentation,  this
could be a jewel; but for me, some important ingredients are missing,
although I'd settle for an album that would just have  much  more  of
the kind of passages that I mentioned above.


The Great Kat - _Bloody Vivaldi_  (The Great Kat, October 1998)
by: Brian Meloon  (5 out of 10)

Once again, The Great Kat has released an EP, and this  one  is  even
shorter than her last effort [CoC #18]. It clocks  in  at  less  than
seven and a half minutes. She says she  releases  short  EPs  because
people can't handle any more of her music. I think she has  a  point.
Anyway, starting off the EP is a relatively straightforward cover  of
Summer (Presto movement) from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons",  arranged
for guitars, violins, bass, and drums.  It's  very  impressive,  with
fast violin work and almost equally fast guitar work. Her violin work
is clearly superior to her guitar work, as the guitars  aren't  quite
able to keep up in some parts, and she takes some liberties with  the
violin sections transcribed to guitar.  To  her  credit  though,  her
version is noticeably faster than the orchestral version I have. This
is clearly the best song here, as  the  frenetic  pace  of  the  song
translates well to a metal format. If all  of  the  songs  were  this
good, it'd  be  great.  Unfortunately,  the  next  song  is  "Torture
Chamber", which basically consists of a bunch of  screaming  (by  Kat
and some guy she's supposedly torturing) over sloppy,  chaotic  speed
metal. Next is the half-minute long "Blood", which reminds me of  Kat
covering AC. It even has some growled vocals in  the  background,  in
addition to Kat's screaming in the foreground. Last up is  Sarasate's
"Carmen Fantasy", again arranged for guitar, bass, violin and  drums.
While this piece misses  the  all-out  fury  and  dynamics  that  the
Vivaldi had, it is still pretty good, and a huge improvement over the
middle two songs. In general,  the  arrangements  for  the  classical
pieces are well done, keeping a good balance between violin parts and
guitar parts. The drumming seems a little too straightforward to  me,
but I realize it's difficult to add a drum part to a classical piece.
Overall, this release does nothing except cement the view that I  had
before I heard  it:  if  The  Great  Kat  would  focus  on  arranging
classical pieces in a metal format, lose the dominatrix schtick,  and
put out a full-length album, she'd be very good. As it is, there  are
a little over four minutes of good material here, and  three  minutes
of utter crap.


The Sins of thy Beloved - _Lake of Sorrow_
by: Pedro Azevedo  (9 out of 10)  (Napalm Records, November 1998)

_Lake of Sorrow_, the debut from this seven-piece band, sounds rather
close to Tristania's, especially the guitars; the presence  of  death
and  female  vox  and  plenty  of  keyboard  arrangements  are  other
similarities between the two bands, and both use a violin (played  by
Pete Johansen in both cases, actually) -- but the violin is much more
important for The Sins of thy Beloved. While  TSotB  present  a  less
bombastic sound than Tristania, the two bands become more similar  in
the softer  parts;  and  while  Tristania  are  generally  better  at
creating catchy melodic lines,  TSotB  are  a  bit  doomier.  TSotB's
female vocalist reminds me  of  Theatre  of  Tragedy's  Liv  Kristine
Espenaes, at least in the softness of her voice and the soothing  way
she sings, even though she doesn't seem to be as technically good  as
Liv and doesn't really try anything  remarkably  difficult  with  her
voice. Nevertheless, her performance is very good and suits the music
perfectly  well.  While  the  keyboards  are  handled  well   enough,
especially  the  piano  parts,  the  violin  sections   are   clearly
responsible for making _Lake of Sorrow_ really interesting, and these
appear very frequently. Sometimes replacing or following  the  guitar
lines, other times together with the piano or even solo,  the  violin
is the highlight of the album -- although the  female  vocals  should
not be forgotten, either. The rest of the music is usually also  very
good, and, overall, despite a clear lack of originality,  this  is  a
highly impressive debut.


Urgehal - _Massive Terrestrial Strike_  (No Colours, October 1998)
by: Alvin Wee  (8.5 out of 10)

No Colours Records has long since established themselves as purveyors
of absolutely obscure material of the highest quality, and the latest
cut on their chopping block proves worthy to join the ranks  of  this
truly underground label. Many thanks to Kay from NCR for braving  the
horrifying postage costs and sending me this  jewel.  Touted  as  raw
black metal mixed with thrash/speed, _MTS_, Urgehal's second offering
with this label, doesn't leave a reviewer  very  much  more  to  add.
Opening festivities  in  a  truly  retro  vein  is  "The  Sodomizer",
instantly bringing black leather jackets and gleaming spikes to  this
listener's mind. Rather than resolving themselves  into  yet  another
Destruction/Kreator rip-off a la Inferno, this  terrifying  threesome
pummel out riffs  that  manage  to  be  so  primitive,  yet  fiercely
original, that it's hard to believe there isn't some  diabolic  force
behind them. Just as I thought truly grim and primitive  black  metal
had left its heyday back in 1993,  tracks  like  "Supreme  Evil"  and
"Flames of Black Candles" bring back to mind the  good  old  days  of
Darkthrone vinyl without resorting to '80s thrash rip-offs. The  fact
that  they  manage  to  do  all  this  while  maintaining  a   highly
respectable technical level (unlike, say, Von) should  be  more  than
enough to indicate the quality of this release. Black metal neophytes
still suckling their Covenant albums should think thrice  about  this
(or any No Colours release for  that  matter),  but  if  memories  of
xeroxed covers and blood-smeared letters still make your blood  boil,
then don't hesitate to drop a line (and $22) to Kay  at  the  contact
address below.

Contact: No Colours Records, Postfach 32, 04541 Borna, Germany


Vader - _Live in Japan_  (System Shock / Pavement, December 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (9 out of 10)

Well, it finally came:  a  live  album  from  Vader  which  showcases
material from all three of their albums. I  imagine  that  many  will
complain that _Live in Japan_ was released at all.  From  1996  'till
now, Europe has seen the release of two full-length albums, two  live
albums, one compilation of covers, one compilation of old  demos  and
an EP from Vader (disregarding _An Act of Darkness /  I  Feel  You_).
Myself being a Vader fanatic, I have snapped up all of these products
and enjoy them all to varying degrees. Vader have got a lot of  money
out of myself and others and many resent that. I don't. If  I  didn't
like any of Vader's releases, I would get rid  of  them.  I  wouldn't
have bought them in the first place if I wasn't interested  in  them.
Vader have made a lot of stuff  available  but  none  of  it  is,  of
necessity,  at  an  extortionate  price  and  different  versions  or
overlapping tracks are hardly an issue. They have offered their  fans
a wide range of releases and if people are too weak minded not to buy
things they don't  want  that  is  their  trouble,  not  the  band's.
Digression aside, _LiJ_ is an accurate sonic rendition of Vader live.
Having seen them twice, I can say with all confidence that the  build
up  of  the  intro  into  opener   "Sothis"   is   well   reproduced.
Unfortunately, part of the brilliance is the dark, visual effect  and
the anticipation of the unknown set ahead. Also,  you  only  get  the
anticipation once on the live album and the whole set list is on  the
back cover. _LiJ_ features  a  well  chosen  set.  "Sothis",  "Silent
Empire", "Carnal", "Dark Age" and "Reborn  in  Flames"  all  make  an
appearance. Some of my  favorites  are  missing  ("Revolt",  "Vicious
Circle", "An Act of Darkness") and I feel the new album _Black to the
Blind_ is a tad over-represented (six out of ten songs). But no  live
album has a perfect set list for everybody and  this  one  is  pretty
good for me. The sound is amazing and makes me wonder how "live" this
record really is. Though I don't think the band would "fake" the live
recording, nor would they need to, judging by the gigs  I  have  been
to, I still find it has that "too good to be true" feel to it,  along
with quite an honor roll of mixers and digital  editors.  Ultimately,
though, this is a great live album if you go in for them and  also  a
very good pick of Vader's material if you have never heard  the  band
before. It also includes cool covers of "Black Sabbath" and  "Raining
Blood" to boot, so, if you want it, get it; if you don't, don't.


Visionaire - _Mystical Dominion_  (Millenial Sun, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell  (7 out of 10)

This is a high quality release, both in layout design and music,  all
written and performed by one James Allin, who seems to like  to  take
glamour shots with candles. Jokes aside, this is extremely impressive
at first glance and also first listen, but a deeper look reveals some
weak lyric writing and some subject  matter  that  is  quite  bizarre
("Mystical Dominion", "Icarian"). Those who listen to music only  (or
so they say), who don't give a rip about  lyrical  content,  will  be
able to overlook this to a degree. However, most of the lyrics are in
fact understandable, which of course is rare in the genre,  and  adds
uniqueness to this release. This is because James  often  utilizes  a
combination of a low, monotone singing voice. The  music  is  melodic
death with doom influences, built with riffs that flow in and out  of
each other fluidly, often with keyboards adding to the structure, and
in fact for many songs building the structure.  These  well  written,
well placed riffs formulate  songs  that  use  a  verse/bridge/chorus
approach that is a breath of fresh air. Impressive debut, for sure.

Contact: Visionaire, c/o James Allin, 4138 19th St #237
         Lynden, WA 98264


Various - _Wardance_  (WAR, August 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8 out 10)

I am not the greatest fan of compilations; however, I realize that it
is sensible to hear a band before committing to buying  their  album.
Compilations can also help one to discover bands you had no  previous
knowledge of. However,  compilations  themselves  cost  money  and  I
always find it hard to give the price of a CD to get a compilation; I
feel like I am wasting money on a  means,  not  an  end.  Two  things
alleviate this problem: cut price samplers  (e.g.  _Earplugged_),  of
which this is not one, and presence of  unreleased  or  rare  tracks,
which  _Wardance_  has,  in  abundance.  Basically,  this   hour-long
fourteen tracker has something from most of the bands on WAR music or
the (now deceased) Wrong Again label. Therefore, we get  tracks  from
both of Naglfar's albums and even "Slit Your Guts"  from  Cryptopsy's
_None So Vile_. These are not the tracks that  allow  this  to  score
high, however. It is stuff like  "Losing  Faith"  from  the  Japanese
_Black Earth_, "Biosphere" from  In  Flames'  _Subterranean_  or  the
unreleased Armageddon track which make  this  compilation  worthy  of
consideration. I accept re-releasing rare tracks may be a slap in the
face for those who paid, for example, $40 for a Japanese  edition  of
an album but, quite honestly, I'm glad the track is available in some
affordable format. This compilation is a very good show of the talent
WAR have (or Wrong Again had) on offer, and,  despite  imperfections,
it is one of the  more  worthwhile  compilations  out  there,  in  my
opinion.


Withered Earth - _Forgotten Sunrise_  (Cryptic Soul, December 1997)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

I really hadn't a clue what _Forgotten Sunrise_ was  going  to  bring
forth. When a creepy intro,  reminiscent  of  those  found  on  early
Hypocrisy albums, came to occupy the first minute and a half  of  the
album, I did still wonder what would follow it. A good intro, as this
was, can often expose a mediocre band. Withered Earth  are,  however,
in no danger here. They have  musical  ability,  creativity  and  the
skill to intelligently combine the two. The core of  their  sound  is
undoubtedly what I call  death  metal.  The  sound  of  each  element
reminds me favorably but distinctly of Incantation. However, they are
not even close to an Incantation clone. The band incorporate quite  a
lot of doom and liken themselves only towards  the  slower,  sludgier
sections of Incantation at the most. The band kick off with an almost
groove-styled riff and return to the theme of catchy guitar a  number
of times in the album. Yet what they never do is let the groove  take
them away from the evil, dark feel of their core sound. They  further
enhance the experience of _Forgotten Sunrise_ by the interweaving  of
acoustics, playing the distorted and  undistorted  off  against  each
other,  sometimes  with  augmentation  by  keyboards,  to  astounding
effect. The slight similarities of each song's main focus,  on  heavy
distorted riffing, doesn't let this  down  much  and  Withered  Earth
generally make  more  of  an  effort  to  be  varied,  and  are  more
successful, than the majority of bands. This is most impressive for a
debut full length.

Contact: Withered Earth, 5 Beekwood Dr. Rochester, NY 14606, USA
         Cryptic Soul, Via Fundania, 31, 02100 Rieti, Italy
         Voice/Fax: 0039 746 271732


World Against World - _When the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee Away_
by: Alex Cantwell  (8 out of 10)  (Bulletproof, 1998)

There once was a band called Spudgun who  played  simple,  old-school
hardcore punk, and in 1997 put out a self-titled album  that  no  one
really liked. Enter 1998, and two  of  the  young  men  who  were  in
Spudgun get inspired with fresh vision and  inspiration,  employ  the
drummer from Canadian hardcore monsters Warlord and record a somewhat
incredible (and bound to be  overlooked)  avantgarde  hardcore  album
infused with doom. What a shocker. While _WtDBatSFA_ is not something
I would want to listen to everyday, put in proper perspective, it  is
an incredible  album.  I  think  that  their  music  would  still  be
considered hardcore of sorts, but there is a lot of  doom,  and  some
progressive work here as well. The  lyrics  are  very  in-depth,  and
strikingly positive, and are all part of an intellectual feast.  With
song titles such as "We Dance With the Moment on  the  2nd  Story  of
Finality, Unaware of the Flames Slowly Spreading Up the Stairs", with
distorted bass as your guide, you know you're  in  for  something  --
what that might be  I  don't  know,  but  you're  definitely  in  for
something.


Yattering - _Human's Pain_  (Moonlight, June 1998)
by: Paul Schwarz  (8.5 out of 10)

I  found  this  a  pretty  astounding   debut   album.   Though   the
Benscoter-esque artwork and studio/producer led me  to  believe  this
was a Vader rip-off band, my assumptions were wrong. The band  mirror
Vader in only one significant way: they are a  great,  brutal,  death
metal band from  Poland  with  a  distinct  spark  of  individuality.
Yattering's approach is more in the Cryptopsy/Suffocation  vein  than
Vader's Slayer / Morbid Angel take on the style  and  Yattering  are,
technically, the more "brutal" of the two. What initially  struck  me
(square in the face), once the band's lengthy intro had finished  and
"The Feeling" got in motion, was the band's  incredible  and  precise
technicality, which, armed with Adrezj/Andy Bomba's clear and violent
production, crafts gnarly and twisted  riffs,  cunningly  spontaneous
drums and harsh vocals into a solid brutal  whole  which  nails  some
great grooves and often has the ability to  really  impress  me.  Two
problems dog the band,  however.  The  first  is  minor:  the  band's
English is bad, a fact evident from the title, which I am sure should
be "Humanity's Pain",  and  their  lyrics  contain  numerous  grammar
mistakes. This makes them a little open to criticism, but  really  it
is a minor problem and, since the band's music is -so- well in order,
easily excusable. The more affecting problem is the  band's  decision
to include, spliced in, two tracks from their earlier  promo  on  the
album. These songs are  of  inferior  production  standards  and  are
significantly less vibrant than the majority of the material on  here
and they break up the album's flow badly. I recommend  tracking  them
out on a CD copy -- at present this is only available on tape, but  a
CD version is (apparently) coming soon. Small flaws  aside,  this  is
definitely one of the most promising debuts I have  heard  this  year
and I hope to see the band grow in greatness and popularity in  years
to come.

Contact: Yattering, PO Box 666, 80-958 Gdansk 50, Poland
         Moonlight, PO Box 22, 78-400 Szczecinek 1, Poland
         mailto:deceased@polbox.com

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

If you have a band, don't forget to send us your demo with a  bio  if
you want to be reviewed; our address is included in the zine's
header.

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


Abjathar - _Nothing Undamaged_  (6-track demo)
by: Alex Cantwell  (***--)

A somewhat impressive effort from this Belgian quartet. In short,  it
is well-executed death metal built upon simple  song  structures  and
using very basic riffs, but since  it  is  so  well  played  and  put
together, it proves to be a solid  foundation  from  which  they  can
build. Lyrically, five of the six songs are instances of woe,  ending
with a final line of redemption, but hilariously juvenile  in  places
("I'm  wearing  black  clothes  all  day,  my   back   is   full   of
inflammations")  from  "Confession  of  Guilt",  and  especially  the
closing track "Beware of the Black", which keeps referring to a party
known only as "they", whose identity remains undisclosed. Who is  it?
Evildoers? The big black dogs next door? Come on, let's not be  vague
and generic, guys.

Contact: Abjathar, Achaje Huysmans, Owenslei 37, 2400 Mol, Belgium


Brutal Insanity - _Greatest Clubbing Anthems_  (6-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (***--)

The last time I encountered this band, via their  _Sick  Perversions_
cassette, they received a 3 out of 5; note the same mark  is  present
here. Brutal Insanity have actually produced a better demo than  last
time with this, which is not a collection of  bizarre  house  covers,
and I can even hear  hints  of  progression.  However,  the  Cannibal
Corpse-isms are still prominent,  though  lessened  somewhat  by  the
overall focus on serious speed, and basically the band have moved on,
but only as much as I would expect any band to within the course of a
year. _GCA_ has better songwriting, it is technically better,  it  is
better produced; but it still isn't music to write home about, though.

Contact: J. Rushforth, Killingwold Cottage, Beverley Road
         Bishop Burton, East Yorkshire, HU17 8QY, England
         mailto:Jon@brutal.karoo.co.uk
         Cost: $3 / 1.50 pounds or a blank tape.


Detrimental - _Incomplete_  (1-track promo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (****-)

Detrimental have one component of a good death metal band  down  pat:
good technical ability. In the one track  on  offer  here,  for  free
apparently,  they  showcase  little  which  could  fairly  be  called
original. However, the demo's production  is  very  professional  and
imbues their somewhat derivative music with  the  power,  energy  and
dark feeling which death metal is grounded  on.  All  elements,  from
vocals to drums and  guitars,  are  spot  on  technically  and  sound
stellar. If the band can work on their songs to filter  out  some  of
the overbearing influences of Deicide and Cannibal Corpse, I  feel  a
debut album from them could be something impressive.

Contact: 2510 E. Arkansas Lane, #110-116, Arlington, TX 76014
         mailto:maggutts@hotmail.com
         mailto:maggutts@flash.net
         WWW: http://www.detrimental.com


Grot - _Sweet Sick-Teen_  (16-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (****-)

Grot's latest offering is a short collection of pure, fast and brutal
grindcore numbers. However, a  surprisingly  clear  production  gives
this tape an edge, especially over many other demos,  with  which  to
kick ass. There are also attempts, some of them successful, to show a
new side to this sort of grindcore,  something  that  is  too  rarely
attempted,  let  alone  achieved.  Thus  black  metal  tinged   riffs
sometimes take command, mid-paced groove occasionally plays its  part
and various  other  small  touches  prevent  _Sweet  Sick-Teen_  from
sinking slowly into the already overflowing mire of stagnation. Add a
decent sense of humor, covers of Anal Cunt,  Sarcophagus  and  Fallen
Christ and a cool outro, and you're left with a very pleasing attempt
to do something at least a little individual with the standard  grind
template.

Contact: J. Rushforth, Killingwold Cottage, Beverley Road
         Bishop Burton, East Yorkshire, HU17 8QY, England
         mailto:Jon@brutal.karoo.co.uk
         Cost: $3 / 1.50 pounds or a blank tape.


Infestation - _Curse of Creation_  (4-track demo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (*****)

Before anyone gets the wrong idea, this is Infestation  from  the  UK
and, to my knowledge, have no connection to Mike DiSalvo's (currently
of Cryptopsy) old band.  With  formalities  aside,  I  can  say  with
conviction that this is the single most promising death metal demo  I
have heard this year. I don't know where this band have been  hiding,
but it is time for them to come out into the cold light  of  day  and
show the world what they can do. Bits of Cryptopsy, old Hypocrisy and
various other bands show up within the songs which make up _Curse  of
Creation_'s eighteen odd minutes, but without due or undue plagiarism
of style or content. A visceral but adequately clear production gives
the band the finely sharpened knife edge  they  need  to  work  their
brutal, vicious magic on their unsuspecting listener.  I  don't  hear
the next Cynic or Nocturnus emerging yet, but I do hear a brutal  and
creative band capable of great progression  and  ascension  within  a
scene  where  even  survival  is  tough.  Infestation  deserve   your
attention and you'd be a fool to pass  up  a  release  as  worthy  as
_Curse of Creation_ for your first taste of their music.

Contact: Infestation, 22, SM6 9DN, England


Malintent - _Part 1_  (Eternity Records / Abyss Records)
by: Adrian Bromley  (***--)

Straight outta the Megadeth school of metal music, with  a  twist  of
Overkill thrash metal tendencies mixed in (singer Jamie Vandelly is a
ringer for Overkill frontman 'Blitz at times),  Virginia's  Malintent
get things going strong from the opening  number  "Slayground".  Good
production and really slick musicianship is abundant here as the band
rips through a rather impressive array  of  material.  Strong  guitar
playing shines from this release as Malintent weave their music  into
a frenzied assault that'll have you singing the choruses by the third
or  fourth  track.  If  you're  missing  what  Megadeth  should  have
continued doing after _Rust In Peace_, then this  just  may  be  your
choice. Strong release.

Contact: Abyss Records, P.O. Box 732, Centreville, VA 20120, USA
         WWW: http://ww.ABYSS-RECORDS.com/Malintent.htm


Sanctificica - _In the Bleak Midwinter_  (7-track demo)
by: Alex Cantwell (****-)

Sanctifica hail from Sweden, and pronounce  their  place  within  the
metal kingdom with this, their first demo. They  play  a  very  good,
although somewhat  basic,  brand  of  atmospheric  black  metal.  The
production is quite good, and they even do leads, which is refreshing
to hear in  black  metal.  Sanctifica  utilize  keyboards  to  create
menacing atmospheres, and employ both shrill  and  clean  vocals.  It
seems to me that they listen to Enslaved quite a bit, which is a good
thing. Of course, with demos there's always room for improvement, and
I think that attention would  need  to  be  directed  simply  to  the
overall songsmithing itself. A very good demo on all counts.

Contact: Sanctifica, c/o Jonathan, Mog. 3, S-565 33 Mullsjo, Sweden
         mailto:sanctifica@earthling.net


Undertakers - _Advance Tape 1998_  (3-track promo)
by: Paul Schwarz  (****-)

These three tracks are intended  for  the  new  _Vision,  Distortion,
Perversion_ CD, planned to  appear  sometime  in  1999,  in  versions
recorded on an eight track recorder  (without  a  professional  sound
recording). I have to  admit,  though  their  _Suffering  Within_  CD
showed some potential, Undertakers have  pushed  themselves  somewhat
with these new songs. There is less of  the  Deicide-isms  I  noticed
before, they have begun to utilize atonal chord flourishes  and  have
imbued themselves with considerable groove  with  it.  The  recording
sounds good, a little rough, but it works for the music. If their new
release keeps up the pace and keeps things a little varied, I feel it
could be something worthwhile.

Contact: Enrico Giannone, Via San Rocco 31
         80016 Marano, Napoli, Italy
         Voice/Fax: +39 81 7424110
         mailto:engiann@tin.it
         WWW: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/6895

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



                FACING THE SLAYERS, DOWN IN THE GRAVE
                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                Slayer, Sepultura and System of a Down
           Joint review by: Matthias Noll and Paul Schwarz

Stadthalle, Offenbach, Germany, November 20, 1998
by: Matthias Noll

     The vast majority of German Slayer fans seem  to  rest  in  some
kind of timeless tomb when their favorite band  is  not  touring.  As
soon as the four-piece sets its feet on German ground, their  fanbase
emerges  from  their  resting  places  in  large  numbers,  seemingly
unchanged in outfit and attitude since Slayer's first European  visit
in 1985. About 3000 of these rather  conservative  lunatics  gathered
and where definitely not amused to  see  the  billing's  first  band,
System of a Down, on stage. Even if  I  don't  even  know  the  exact
location of the timeless tomb mentioned above, I wasn't in the  right
mood to see yet another bunch of neo-metallers (or whatever you might
call the style System of a Down is  playing),  either.  The  reaction
from the crowd was close to zero, the only  noise  coming  from  some
guys yelling for Slayer between songs. The performance,  as  well  as
the music, was less than noteworthy, with some  typical  "bring  your
nose as close to the stage as possible while playing" poses from  the
guitar and bass players. The good thing about the  set  was  that  it
lasted for only 30 minutes.
     Sepultura came next and I was  more  than  curious.  I  consider
myself a fan since I had the luck to see them for the first time back
in 1990, but _Against_ does  plain  nothing  for  me.  Having  forced
myself to listen to the  album  numerous  times,  I  still  have  the
feeling that this patchwork of songs should have been worked upon for
another year or so until it was ready for release. The  small  amount
of Sepultura shirts in the audience seemed to indicate that  I'm  not
alone in that judgement. The band started  with  the  album's  opener
"Against", and  from  the  first  song  some  things  became  obvious
(believe me, I try hard to be objective). First of  all,  new  singer
Derrick is far  from  being  a  frontman.  The  guy  has  some  stage
experience from the previous parts of the tour; still, he seems to be
unable to do anything on stage but put his foot on a monitor box  and
wave his right arm in sync with the lyrics. Even worse, the lack of a
second guitar and extensive use of effects by Andreas  Kisser  leaves
Sepultura with only half of their former power. Fortunately,  drummer
Igor still plays in the premier league of metal drummers, maybe  even
better than before. Four of the first five songs  were  new  material
and audience and band seemed trapped in an emotionless  stasis  until
Sepultura  skipped  the  new  material  and  played   the   classics.
"Refuse/Resist", "Territory", "Dead Embryonic Cells",  "Inner  Self",
"Arise", "Beneath the Remains", "Troops of  Doom"  and  "Roots"  woke
everybody up and finally a part of the  old  spirit  was  back.  Igor
going for the limits of high-speed drumming, driving the rest of  the
band onwards at breakneck speed, while the whole unit still  delivers
precision, aggression and brutality. That was, and to a lesser extent
still is, one of Sepultura's major qualities. The set was quite long,
and in the end most of the audience, as well as the band,  definitely
was content and satisfied. Nevertheless, risking to  come  across  as
someone who's only here to complain:  if  I  had  to  choose  between
Soulfly and Sepultura, I would vote for the former. If I could have a
wish come true, I would make the original line up come together again.
     A short while later, Slayer entered the stage and "Bitter Peace"
had been picked as the opening track. The last time I saw Slayer,  it
was on the _Divine Intervention_ tour in exactly the  same  location,
and back then they delivered a mind shattering show. My  expectations
were nothing far from that. Unfortunately, the soundman fucked up big
time and what came from the PA was a bass laden chaos with no crunch,
no power and no precision. Vocals were hardly heard at all. This mess
was so bad it even ruined classics  like  "Hell  Awaits",  "Reign  in
Blood" and "South of Heaven". The band seemed more  static  and  less
enthusiastic than ever and rather routinely presented a greatest hits
collection. Besides the inclusion of "Evil Has  No  Boundaries",  the
set list was similar to that of _Decade of Agression_, with some  new
songs replacing _Seasons in the Abyss_  stuff.  Halfway  through  the
gig, the sound finally  got  better,  but  remained  far  from  being
impressive or doing justice to  the  natural  heaviness  of  Slayer's
material. In the past, I always shook my head at Motorhead gigs  when
some lunatics yelled "louder" even if half the audience's  ears  were
already bleeding, but this time I would have payed some  extra  bucks
for more volume. Even if you would have seen me  frantically  banging
my head to  "Chemical  Warfare",  I  have  to  say  that,  by  Slayer
standards, this performance was  quite  mediocre.  Still,  they  have
proven themselves countless times before and I'll be back  next  time
(hopefully in less time than another four years).

London Astoria, London, England, November 26, 1998
by: Paul Schwarz

     This gig had been a long time coming. By the time myself and Mr.
Bromley, who braved airplane food and the bizarre rituals of  British
customs to witness these live performances, were in the  Astoria  and
readying ourselves for first act System of a Down, expectations,  for
me at least, were running high. Would System of a Down cut  it  live?
Would Derrick do the Sepultura legend justice? Would Slayer rule?  My
questions were soon to be answered.
     System of a Down have  impressed  many  with  their  self-titled
debut disc. I was not altogether convinced by the time said disc  had
left my player and tonight did not convert me to their cause.  Though
System of a Down musically surpass the LA-groove-core tag, their live
performance reeks of the scenes cliches. They get a pit  going,  they
bounce around on stage, and end up looking  like  Coal  Chamber  with
better songs. Some songs of theirs,  particularly  "Suite-Pee",  came
across excellently live and had me singing  and  tapping  along,  but
overall I still feel this band are overrated.
     A time of judgement was now  upon  me.  As  Sepultura  took  the
stage, I felt a surge of real anticipation. How would  Derrick  fare?
Well, the band's three long-time members  played  exceptionally  well
and musically were equal to, or better than, their  final  show  with
Max nearly two years ago in this fair city. Derrick proved that there
were -very- good reasons why he was chosen for this job. Not only did
he reproduce the vitriol and menace of his  performances  on  record,
but he  reproduced  the  older  Sepultura  material  with  skill  and
conviction sufficient to silence any  detractors.  As  the  likes  of
"Slave New World", "Troops of Doom", "Territory" and  "Refuse/Resist"
flew by, one could not help but marvel at  what  a  great  repertoire
Sepultura have. A pity it is then that the band  continue  to  medley
songs from _Arise_ and _Beneath the Remains_,  and  of  course  don't
play the likes of "Slaves of Pain" and "Lobotomy".  Thus  we  weren't
treated to full versions of some of my favorite Sepultura songs,  but
what's new there? A good selection of  material  from  _Against_  was
aired and I can happily say that  their  new  material  comes  across
excellently live. None other than Slayer's Kerry King joined the band
on  stage  to  play  "Propaganda".  This  was  a  pleasingly   public
indication that the band's press feud of four or five  years  ago  is
now properly in the past. Overall, the band need time with Derrick to
make their physical appearance on stage more impressive.  They  exude
the tentative feel of the new band, which, in terms of how long  this
line-up has been together, they are. I feel that in  a  year  Derrick
will be wooing the crowd with his stage performance and the  rest  of
the band will  feel  more  comfortable  interacting  live  with  him.
Despite my own personal set list disagreements, Sepultura  more  than
adequately showed that the departure of a founding  member  will  not
stop them from giving their fans what they crave, good on them.
     Slayer reigned in blood, crowned supreme on their metal  throne.
I have witnessed their live assault at least once a year  since  they
first pounded me to submission at Donnington 1995 and I don't want to
give up this habit, if at all possible.  I  expected  devastation,  I
expected brilliance, and I got it, in spades. Using new track "Bitter
Peace" as an opener was amazing, especially because  this  is  a  new
track I have been dying to hear them play live. From there on, it was
Slayer being Slayer all the way --  few  words,  tons  of  brilliant,
heavy music. All in all, the band played a healthy four  tracks  from
their newest release _Diabolus in Musica_ and made  up  the  rest  of
their set out of various songs  from  nearly  all  periods  of  their
existence. Hence "Die by the Sword", "War Ensemble",  "Hell  Awaits",
"Raining Blood", "Captor  of  Sin"  and  "South  of  Heaven"  (though
disappointingly using an intro tape for the  initial  riff)  are  all
featured songs, along with others. However, strangely enough,  Slayer
chose to play nothing from _Divine  Intervention_.  I  was  a  little
miffed at this, as some of this album's songs are damn good. However,
ultimately it is my least favorite Slayer album, and I  can't  choose
any songs from the set they played which I  would  sooner  substitute
for songs off _DI_. Slayer, unlike Sepultura,  played  everything  in
full, and I think with Slayer I can safely say we will not be getting
the "Show No Mercy medley" on their next tour. The lightshow was also
very impressive, cleverly augmenting the band's already  considerable
live presence, and a huge  backdrop  of  "Slayer"  emblazoned  burial
crosses completed the image. Tom Araya took a moment just before  the
band did their final three  songs  ("Mandatory  Suicide",  "Angel  of
Death" and "Chemical Warfare") to say to the invigorated London crowd
"Thank you for making us Slayer". No, guys;  thank  -you-  for  being
Slayer.

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

             D Y I N G   U N D E R   T H E   H A M M E R
             ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         Death and HammerFall
   at the Launchpad in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on December 8, 1998
                          by: Alex Cantwell

     I counted it a privilege to  actually  see  in  person  Sweden's
HammerFall play on my home soil. They played to a few hundred  people
as they would to thousands, putting on a killer show and  drawing  in
the barely receptive crowd as much as possible. Basically, only a few
people in the whole place even knew who  they  were,  let  alone  the
words to the songs, so the sing-along parts that vocalist Joacim Cans
tried to get the crowd to participate in didn't achieve  the  desired
affect. It was amazing how  many  people  left  the  room  when  they
discovered, 30 seconds into their set, that Joacim doesn't  growl.  A
typical, stupid, fickle Albuquerque crowd, for sure.  The  sound  was
good, and it was rad to hear them nail those killer leads. HammerFall
are definitely leaders in  the  metal  revival,  and  their  set  was
complete with a bit of "metal choreography", and ended with "Breaking
the Law", for which they all traded instruments.
     Death, on the other hand, successfully engaged the entire  crowd
with their incredibly technical catalog  of  material.  Seeing  Chuck
Schuldiner and the boys up close and live is amazing, especially when
they play so flawlessly. "The Philosopher" started  things  out,  and
their masterful set included much new material  alongside  highpoints
such as "Suicide Machine"  and  "Flattening  of  Emotions"  from  the
speedy _Human_ album, as well as "Crystal Mountain", from _Symbolic_.
I would imagine that there has never been  a  crowd  that  would  let
Death, in all of their many incarnations, get off the  stage  without
playing "Zombie Ritual", and indeed they fulfilled that duty.  Sadly,
they played -nothing- from _Spiritual Healing_,  despite  me  yelling
for "Genetic Reconstruction"  after  every  song.  I  was  also  very
disappointed that they left out "Lack of Comprehension", since it  is
such a killer song and is so interesting musically. Are Death at  the
musical highpoint of their existence? It's debatable, but  one  thing
is for sure -- the brilliant music that they continue to churn out is
sure to inspire many, myself included, and they simply must be one of
the best live bands ever.

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

    T H E   S M E L L   O F   N A P A L M   I N   T H E   D A R K
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             Cradle of Filth, Napalm Death and Borknagar
               at the Paradise Garage, Lisbon, Portugal
                          November 18, 1998
                          by: Pedro Azevedo

     After spending the whole afternoon traveling on the highway that
connects Porto to Lisbon, and having had dinner, there was still more
waiting to be endured before the concert started.  Visiting  Lisbon's
Paradise Garage for the first time, I was  ready  to  compare  it  to
Porto's (or should I say Gaia's) Hard Club; however, there really  is
nothing to be compared, as the Hard Club is  superior  in  every  way
that I can think of. Initially, I couldn't see much of the  stage  in
the crowded room, but it was clear that Borknagar's vocalist was also
taking care of bass duties; I also heard that it  wasn't  Borknagar's
drummer who was playing. Since I enjoyed their _The Olden Domain_ and
_The Archaic Course_ a lot, Borknagar were  by  far  the  number  one
reason why I traveled all the way to Lisbon in order  to  watch  this
concert. Nevertheless, I was prepared for some disappointment,  as  I
expected that  Borknagar  would  have  trouble  reproducing  all  the
technical details that make their CDs so good. And  that's  precisely
what happened: they just played the basics  of  each  song.  The  new
vocalist did his job, although I doubt  that  his  bass  playing  was
anywhere near perfect.  If  I  remember  their  set  list  correctly,
Borknagar opened their 30 minutes long performance  with  "Universal"
and "Oceans Rise" from their new album  _The  Archaic  Course_,  then
played a track from their first, self-titled album,  followed  by  "A
Tale of Pagan Tongue" and "The Dawn  of  the  End"  from  _The  Olden
Domain_ and finally a keyboard-less "Ad Noctum",  again  from  _TAC_.
The set list choices weren't, in my opinion, the best  possible,  but
they were acceptable, and the sound  quality  was  average.  Quite  a
shame that they were very far from perfect, instrumentally.
     Napalm Death followed, opening with  "Unchallenged  Hate",  from
their second album _From Enslavement to Obliteration_, followed by "I
Abstain" (_Utopia Banished_) and my favorite  of  their  set,  "Greed
Killing"  (_Diatribes_).  They  also  played  "Suffer  the  Children"
(_Harmony Corruption_), "Breed to Breathe" (_Inside the Torn Apart_),
"Next of Kin to Chaos", "The Infiltraitor" and "Cleanse Impure" (from
their new album _Words From the Exit Wound_) and also  "Control"  and
"Scum" (from their debut _Scum_). In the middle of "Scum", there  was
a complete blackout, which lasted for about  50  minutes  --  not  an
incredibly fun hour spent in the heat and obscurity. When the  lights
and sound returned, ND played "Scum" from the beginning and  finished
what ended up being a 40 minute set with their  Dead  Kennedys  cover
"Nazi Punks Fuck Off". Most likely due to the blackout,  they  didn't
play anything from _Fear, Emptiness, Despair_ and only one song  from
_Diatribes_. The sound was good, Napalm Death performed very well, as
one would expect from them, and they had  plenty  of  crowd  support.
Overall, they turned out to be the best band of the  night,  although
their studio sound is much easier to reproduce live than  Borknagar's
or CoF's. [Many thanks to Nuno Almeida for the Napalm Death set list.]
     As for Cradle of Filth, who definitely didn't have sound quality
on their side, their major fault was the same as Borknagar's: lack of
technical detail, especially in the keyboards and  guitars,  and  not
even the two girls they brought for their performance managed to hide
it. Their set lasted for about one hour and 35 minutes  and,  besides
practically all the songs one would  expect  from  all  their  albums
(which I see no need to name one by one  here),  included  "A  Gothic
Romance (Red Roses for the Devil's  Whore)"  from  _Dusk...  and  Her
Embrace_ and "Queen of Winter, Throned" from  _Vempire_,  which  were
two nice surprises for me. The best songs in  this  live  environment
turned out to be "The Twisted  Nails  of  Faith"  (_Cruelty  and  the
Beast_) and the always emotional  "The  Black  Goddess  Rises"  (from
their debut _The Principle of Evil  Made  Flesh_),  which  must  have
caused some tears to be shed in the audience, as usual. I expected  a
better performance from Cradle of Filth,  although,  as  I  mentioned
before, the sound quality definitely didn't help them. Not a complete
loss, but not the concert it could have been, either.

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

                       E V I L   T O   N O N E
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                    Firstborn Evil and Withering
                  at the Hard Club, Gaia, Portugal
                          December 3, 1998
                by: Nuno Almeida <messiah@pulhas.org>

     It was a truly chilling December night, as I  walked  along  the
empty, silent streets leading to the Hard Club. A  thin  fog  emerged
from the river beside me. You could say it  was  almost  the  perfect
scenario to see a black metal act such as  Firstborn  Evil  --  you'd
probably be right. About the Hard Club: it's a really good place  for
shows (see Pedro Azevedo's reviews of Entwined / Vader / Morbid Angel
and Darkside / Therion / Moonspell), located near the  river,  facing
the city of Porto. The view from its windows is  always  magnificent,
but that night,  the  proximity  of  the  river  only  increased  the
chilling cold.
     When I entered, Withering  were  already  playing.  What  really
surprised me was the  lack  of  attendants  --  only  around  fifteen
persons. (Remember this place can  hold  up  to  750.)  Obviously,  I
feared for the night's success. Being  the  first  time  they  played
here, I expected a more welcoming reception to this band from  Seixal
(near  Lisbon).  Oh  well...  I  sat  upstairs  to  see  the  end  of
Withering's set and, thank goodness, they only played two more songs.
Not that they are terrible; they're  a  local  band  playing  classic
thrash metal, and they play it well. The problem concerned the sound:
way too loud for that empty room.
     They left and I prepared to see Firstborn  Evil.  They  appeared
wearing full corpse-paint. Drummer, bassist, two guitarists, keyboard
player and vocalist. After a short intro, they  started  their  show.
Fortunately, the sound quality changed a lot: now that it  wasn't  so
loud, all the instruments could be heard perfectly. The  vocals  were
pretty good, ranging from death growls to  high-pitched  screams  and
"clean" vocal parts. Most of the time, the music is  mid-paced  black
metal, with an epic/battle edge, but they  speed  it  up  once  in  a
while. There's a lot happening all the time.  Like  the  vocals,  the
rhythm often changes as well, and they have slow, melodic parts where
they drop a guitar solo once in a while. The  keyboards  add  a  more
epic and very melodic touch to the music. The playing is always  very
good, with the  fast  parts  delivered  perfectly,  thanks  to  their
excellent drummer and the competent guitarists.  They  played  mostly
songs from their demo,  _The  Awakening  of  Evil_,  and  from  their
recently released debut CD _Rebirth of Evil_. Near  the  end  of  the
show, they played a Manowar cover, "Blood  of  My  Enemies"  --  well
executed, like all  the  rest.  After  approximately  50  minutes  of
performance, they ended the show with "A Quest for Vengeance",  which
is also the last song of their debut.  Despite  the  somewhat  "evil"
look, they chose a lighter attitude, with the vocalist  joking  about
the "crowd" attending the show, about Porto wine (he opened a  bottle
in the beginning of the show, which himself  and  the  other  members
drank during the performance) and even  about  the  titles  of  their
songs.
     Musically speaking, it was a good show; shame about the lack  of
attendance. I'll be looking forward to seeing  them  in  better  (and
crowded) conditions.

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            W H A T   W E   H A V E   C R A N K E D ! ! !
            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
            CoC Writers Choose their Top 10 albums of 1998

Gino's Top 10

 1. Absu - _In the Eyes of Ioldanach_
 2. Monster Magnet - _Powertrip_
 3. Pitchshifter - _www.pitchshifter.com_
 4. Marilyn Manson - _Mechanical Animals_
 5. Bolt Thrower - _Mercenary_
 6. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
 7. Zaraza - _Slavic Blasphemy_
 8. Sleep - _Jerusalem_
 9. Isis - _The Mosquito Control EP_
10. Slayer - _Diabolus In Musica_

Adrian's Top 10

 1. Pitchshifter - _www.pitchshifter.com_
 2. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_
 3. Monster Magnet - _Powertrip_
 4. Bruce Dickinson - _The Chemical Wedding_
 5. Sepultura - _Against_
 6. Strapping Young Lad - _No Sleep 'Till Bedtime_
 7. In Ruins - _Four Seasons of Grey_
 8. Slayer - _Diabolus In Musica_
 9. Cave-In - _Until Your Heart Stops_
10. Queens Of The Stone Age - _Queens Of The Stone Age_

Alain's Top 10

 1. Suffocation - _Despise the Sun_
 2. Genitorturers - _Sin City_
 3. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
 4. Gorguts - _Obscura_
 5. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_
 6. Dying Fetus - _Killing on Adrenaline_
 7. Bolt Thrower - _Mercenary_
 8. Abuse - _A Sunday Morning Killing Spree_
 9. Cryptopsy - _Whisper Supremacy_
10. Dark Funeral - _Vobiscum Satanas_

Adam's Top 10

 1. Morbid Angel - _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_
 2. Katatonia - _Discouraged Ones_
 3. Pungent Stench - _Praise the Names of the Musical Assassins_
 4. Marduk - _Nightwing_
 5. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_
 6. Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_
 7. Fear Factory - _Obsolete_
 8. Malevolent Creation - _The Fine Art of Murder_
 9. Daemonarch - _Hermeticum_
10. Sepultura - _Against_

Pedro's Top 10

 1. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
 2. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
 3. Therion - _Vovin_
 4. Anathema - _Alternative 4_
 5. Enslaved - _Blodhemn_
 6. Katatonia - _Discouraged Ones_
 7. Primordial - _A Journey's End_
 8. Elend - _The Umbersun_
 9. In Ruins - _Four Seasons of Grey_
10. Aeternus - _... And So the Night Became_

Paul's Top 10

 1. Morbid Angel - _Formulas Fatal to the Flesh_
 2. Cryptopsy - _Whisper Supremacy_
 3. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
 4. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_
 5. Gorguts - _Obscura_
 6. Vision of Disorder - _Imprint_
 7. Incantation - _Diabolical Conquest_
 8. Angel Corpse - _Exterminate_
 9. Opeth - _My Arms, Your Hearse_
10. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_

Aaron's Top 10

 1. Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_
 2. Gorgoroth - _Destroyer_
 3. Sculptured - _The Spear of the Lily is Aureoled_
 4. Stuck Mojo - _Rising_
 5. Bruce Dickinson - _The Chemical Wedding_
 6. Malevolent Creation - _The Fine Art of Murder_
 7. Nokturnal Mortum - _Goat Horns_
 8. Old Man's Child - _Ill Natured Spiritual Invasion_
 9. Nile - _Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka_
10. Dying Fetus - _Killing on Adrenaline_

David's Top 10

 1. A Canorous Quintet - _The Only Pure Hate_
 2. Aeternus - _...And So The Night Became_
 3. Arch Enemy - _Stigmata_
 4. Dawn - _Slaughtersun (Crown of the Triarchy)_
 5. Gehenna - _Adimiron Black_
 6. Impious - _Evilized_
 7. Meshuggah - _Chaosphere_
 8. Naglfar - _Diabolical_
 9. Therion - _Vovin_
10. Thy Serpent - _Christcrusher_

Gabriel's Top 10

 1. Dissecting Table - _Life_
 2. Masonna - _Frequency LSD_
 3. Soulfly - _Soulfly_
 4. Shellac - _Terraform_
 5. Tribes of Neurot + Walking Time Bombs - _Static
    Migration_
 6. Aube - _Pages From The Book_
 7. Skincrime - _Collection_
 8. Agoraphobic Nosebleed - _Honky Reduction_
 9. Facialmess - _The Madcap Barely Smiles_
10. Rush - _Different Stages_

Alex's Top 10

 1. Extol - _Burial_
 2. Zao - _When Blood and Fire Bring Rest_
 3. Ultimatum - _Puppet of Destruction_
 4. Embodiment - _Embrace the Eternal_
 5. Death - _The Sound of Perseverance_
 6. Manegarm - _Nordstjarnans Tidsalder_
 7. From Kaamos to Midnight Sun - _Finnish Metal Compilation_
 8. Zao/Training For Utopia - Split EP
 9. Death List - _Severed_
10. Hammerfall - _Legacy of Kings_

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DESCRIPTION
~~~~~~~~~~~
Chronicles of Chaos is a monthly magazine electronically  distributed
worldwide via the Internet. Chronicles of Chaos focuses on all  forms
of chaotic music including black, death and doom metal, dark/ambient,
industrial and electronic/noise as well as  classic  and  progressive
metal. Each issue will feature a plethora of  album  reviews  from  a
wide range  of  bands,  as  well  as  interviews  with  some  of  the
underground's best acts. Also included in each issue are demo reviews
and indie band interviews.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You may subscribe to Chronicles of Chaos at any  time  by  sending  a
message with "coc subscribe <your_name_here>" in the SUBJECT of  your
message to <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>. Please note that this command
must NOT be sent to the list address <coc-ezine@lists.colorado.edu>.

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  us  at   <mailto:ginof@interlog.com>.   The
'Subject:' field of your message must read: "send file X"  where  'X'
is the name of the requested file (do not include the  quotes).  Back
issues are named 'coc-n', where  'n'  is  the  issue  number.  For  a
description of all files available through this  fileserver,  request
'list'. Remember to use lowercase letters for all file names.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
End Chronicles of Chaos, Issue #36

All contents copyright 1998 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.

